CHAPTER 49: THE SPIRIT REALM

By the time I reached the classroom, I was almost late.

Most of the first-years were inside, chatting, laughing, and making friends like this was the first Chapter of some bright, perfect college life.

The plaque above the door read [North Wing – Lecture Hall 3].

From the other side of the door, I could hear the noises of students — loud voices, bursts of laughter, carefree giggles. All of it blissfully unaware of what was coming.

The Empire had done well covering up the whole Holy Grail incident.

Common folk didn’t lose sleep over it. Their faith in Pendragon’s dragon was unshakable — the strongest ruler of the strongest empire. The kind of power people cling to without question.

The students here were no different. They didn’t care about the Grail.

They cared about making friends, finding love, graduating, and settling into a safe, neat little life.

That was their dream. A pitifully childish dream.

"Hah..."

I slid the door open and stepped inside.

As soon as I entered, the previous laughter filling the room died down. A blanket of silence enveloped everything.

It was a big room with around a hundred students. And all of their eyes were locked onto me.

They didn’t know what to make of me.

Was I just the idiot with Moe Lester

as a last name?

Or was I the one who’d beaten one of the stronger students in the batch like it was nothing.

The fool? Or the one who’d scored higher than Serena herself?

I couldn’t blame them for being confused. I didn’t know the answer myself.

The line between who I was and what I pretended to be was wearing thin.

But the oath... the oath still burned in my head every day. Reminding me of where I came from. Reminding me why I was here.

I would see the end of this story.

I quickly made my way to the last seat beside the window and sat down.

Pets weren’t allowed in classes, of course. So I had left Nyx out to sleep in the garden.

I could already imagine him flirting with the female staff.

I had too much on my mind and no way to solve any of it yet.

The only thing I could do was keep moving forward and save as many of the so-called "main characters" as I could.

In the novel, the author had been merciless, killing off the main cast long before the final battle for the Holy Grail.

By the time the final battle came, humanity had already been losing badly.

The Kalis and Nether Fiend had barely lost any of their pieces, while humanity’s white cards had been cut in half.

That alone was enough to tell me this world was destined to fall, even without reading the last arc.

And now, with events moving ahead of the original timeline, the situation was already worse.

***

A few minutes later, the so-called main cast started trickling in, taking their seats.

Aurelia entered first, and the room shifted instantly.

People swarmed her like moths to a flame, their voices dripping with flattery. She carried herself like royalty, which wasn’t surprising, considering she was one.

Everyone around treated her like a goddess.

Ray was right beside her, as calm and unreadable as ever. People who wanted to get close to the princess would glance at him... and instantly rethink their life choices.

In the novel, Aurelia had been a master puppeteer — controlling, calculating, and always pulling strings from behind the curtain.

But Ray was different. His past was a mystery to most, but I knew better.

He was kind by nature, yes... until it came to Aurelia. Then the switch flipped.

Tortured and trained as an assassin from childhood, Ray was a walking contradiction. His loyalty to Aurelia was absolute, carved into him by the fact that she had been the one to save him.

Then there was Freya. A tomboy with a brain as straightforward as they come.

If she liked you, she liked you. If she hated you... Well, may the gods have mercy.

And if anyone dared mess with her, they’d have to answer to Belmont Vermillion, her grandfather — the Golden Lion himself. The man’s reputation alone could make generals lose sleep.

Serena was already buried in the first seat with a mountain of books that looked heavier than she was.

Across the room sat Louie, the walking definition of a brooding loner.

He was the kind of guy who’d rather stab you with than tell you how he feels.

Beside him was Nathan, his best friend and human contrast, happily munching on a bag of chips like this was a picnic.

Louie would rather die than admit Nathan was his best friend... but anyone with eyes could see it.

Sebastian, the class’s self-appointed villain, lounged at his desk with his noble lackeys clustered around him, each trying to look more important than the last.

And Redmane? He was nowhere to be seen. Which, for him, was perfectly on brand.

And just as the low hum of chatter began to creep back into the room, the tension from my entrance slowly dissolving.

The door at the front slammed open.

It wasn’t the kind of sound you make by accident — it was a deliberate bang, sharp enough to snap necks toward the source.

In walked a man in a perfectly pressed black coat, his boots clicking against the marble floor with military precision. His hair was silver, cut short, and his face had the sort of hard, angular lines that suggested he’d been born frowning.

He didn’t carry a single paper, pen, or book. He didn’t need to.

The air shifted around him, the way it does when a predator steps into the clearing.

His gaze swept across the room once just once and the students straightened without being told.

"Sit. Down."

Half the class was already seated, but anyone still lingering scrambled to obey.

He stopped at the center of the podium, hands clasped behind his back, and spoke in a voice so deep and sharp it felt like each word was carved into stone.

"I am Professor Kaine. For the next year, you will follow my instructions without hesitation. You will obey my rules without complaint. And you will survive my lessons, if you are capable."

He didn’t blink. Not even once.

"I am not here to be your friend. I am not here to ’inspire’ you. I am here to turn you into something useful. Fail to meet my standards, and you will be removed from my class... or the Academy entirely."

No one moved. Even the ones who’d been whispering moments before looked like they’d forgotten how to breathe.

Satisfied with the silence, Kaine reached into his coat and pulled out a small chalk stick.

With a single, swift motion, he turned to the board and began writing.

"Lesson one," he said without looking back. "Survival begins with knowledge. If you cannot understand the world, you will never be able to survive it."

I leaned back in my chair, eyes narrowing.

So... the first class had officially begun.

And it was going to be about [Spirit Realm], the home of Spirit beasts.