The Return Of The Exiled Villain

Clap!

Suddenly, Ronan clapped his hands together with a loud sound that made half the table flinch.

"So! Tell me, guys—any clue what the physical midterm's gonna be like?"

Gray blinked once.

'That... was actually a decent question...'

Selina sighed softly, crossing her arms. "Professor Otto didn't say anything... at all! He just smiled like a creep."

"Yeah, my professor did the same," Ronan said with a laugh. "Man, that guy's smile gives me nightmares. It's like he enjoys watching us suffer."

Lyra puffed her cheeks.

"He does enjoy it. The upperclassmen told me that he made them run around the training field thirty times before the exam even started."

"Thirty?!" Roan gasped in surprise, leaning forward.

"Wait, I thought that was a rumor!"

"It's not," Lyra said flatly, stabbing her fork into her pastry. "A few of them even passed out halfway through."

"Oh, dear… physical tests do weed out the weak, don't they?" Selene chuckled under her breath, twirling her spoon slowly.

Her tone was calm, but there was something a little strange behind it, like she wasn't talking about "tests" at all.

Gray's eyebrow twitched, but before he could respond, Ronan jumped right back in.

"Ha! Weak? Nah, I'll crush it! I've been training like crazy lately. Even learned a new stance!"

He stood up, puffing his chest, and awkwardly tried to demonstrate in the middle of the cafeteria.

"See? You plant your feet here—and then twist like this—uh, wait—"

His foot slipped.

Clang!

His tray hit the ground.

Half the cafeteria turned to look.

"...Ronan," Gray said dryly, rubbing his temple.

"Ha-ha-ha! A little slip, bro, no big deal!" Ronan quickly picked it all up, grinning sheepishly.

"Anyway, the point is—if it's about combat, I'm ready! What about you, Gray? You've been training, right?"

Gray paused, realizing everyone was suddenly staring at him. Even Lyra stopped eating, curious.

He shrugged lightly.

"A bit. Nothing special."

"Nothing special," Selina repeated with a quiet snort. "Says the guy who can already beat half the second-years."

Lyra frowned, turning to him.

"Wait, what?"

Selina blinked, clearly realizing she might've said too much.

"Oh, um… just a rumor I heard!" she said quickly, waving her hand.

"Don't listen to her. People exaggerate," Gray tried to shrug it off.

Selene leaned her chin on her hand, her smile faint but sly. "Hmm… maybe. But some rumors have a bit of truth, don't they?"

Lyra's hand tightened slightly around Gray's sleeve.

"Well, I don't really care about rumors," she said softly.

"I know what he's capable of."

Ronan, noticing the tension, quickly cut in with a loud, exaggerated laugh.

"Right, right! Rumors are for bored people, am I right? Hahaha!"

No one laughed.

He laughed anyway.

Then, trying again, he leaned toward Lira, who was quietly eating her soup. "Hey, Lira, you're top of the class in mana control, right? What do you think our professor's gonna throw at us?"

'Wait a second... now that I noticed... a few days ago, Ronan was challenged... did he really lose his spot in Class A-1 like that?' Gray frowned.

No wonder no one was annoying him during classes.

'But what about Lira...? Did something with her also happen, causing her rank to drop?' His gaze stood on her for a few seconds before he simply shrugged it off.

"Probably something dangerous, besides, it's the main professor Otto, who's going to supervise the exam," Lira looked up, expression blank as always.

Ronan blinked.

"Uh… yeah, like what?"

"Demons."

The table went quiet again.

"Demons?!" Lyra repeated, half-joking.

"He wouldn't do that, would he?"

"...He probably would." Gray leaned back, glancing at the window.

From his classes, Gray could tell that Professor Otto was anything but normal. He probably was some kind of sadist, too.

That earned him a few uneasy stares.

"He does have that… reputation. Last year's test, I heard, involved a high-ranking demon. The kind that would need at least five master-level students to deal with." Selene smiled faintly

"...Oh, come on," Ronan said weakly, "that's just to scare us, right?"

"Do you really think Professor Otto cares about scaring or not scaring you?" Selina tilted her head.

"…Good point." Ronan froze.

Lyra looked at Gray again.

"If that's true, are we even ready for something like that?"

Gray didn't answer right away.

He took a small bite from his pastry and finally said, "If it's Otto, we should be ready for anything."

The quiet weight in his tone made the others pause.

Selene's smile softened slightly. Selina looked away. Even Ronan stopped fidgeting for a second.

But then, Ronan, bless him, snapped his fingers and grinned again.

"Alright, alright! Enough scary talk! Let's eat before my stomach starts fighting me."

He grabbed his spoon dramatically.

"To survive tomorrow—and not die horribly!"

"You're so weird." Lyra laughed, a small giggle slipping out.

"Hey, if being weird keeps the mood light, I'll take it!" Ronan said proudly, pointing his spoon at her like a weapon.

"You and Gray should thank me for saving your date!"

"....Mhm," Gray nodded lightly.

"I guess..." Lyra smirked lightly, brushing her hand against Gray's arm, as she silently looked at Lira, the only girl that she actually knew who liked Gray.

"A date, hm? How… cute." Selene's eyes sparkled dangerously.

Lira looked up, completely serious.

"Dates usually involve fewer people."

"Hah! You're not wrong!" Ronan burst out laughing while Selina silently glared at Gray, and surprisingly, no one seemed to notice it.

"Alright, alright—no fighting, please. Let's just eat before someone dies of embarrassment." Lyra sighed, clearly trying to hold her ground but amused by the chaos.

Selina finally chuckled softly.

"Fair enough."

At their words, Gray's lips twitched lightly, but he ignored them, shaking his head lightly.

Selene relaxed slightly, resting her cheek against her hand again, eyes still glancing at Gray from time to time.

Lira went back to eating, and Ronan kept talking about how he was definitely going to "punch a monster in the face" in just a few hours.

But soon, the calm atmosphere was interrupted.

RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINGGGGG!

"Alreaaddyyy?!" Ronan groaned, his face dropping dramatically.

"I didn't even finish my food!" he complained before starting to eat his food in the fastest way possible, stuffing more and more into his mouth.

"I didn't even finish my food!" he complained, and then proceeded to stuff spoon after spoon into his mouth at record speed.

Bits of food nearly flew out as he chewed noisily.

"Mmmph—no waste—of good food—mmhh!"

"You're going to choke at this rate." Lyra laughed helplessly, covering her mouth.

Ronan waved her off with his spoon.

"Worth it!" he managed to say between bites.

Gray stood up, stretching lightly.

"Guess that's our cue."

"Yeah," Selina said, getting up beside him.

Selene rose as well, fixing her hair with an almost lazy grace.

"Let's go. Wouldn't want to be late for our doom."

Lira quietly placed her fork down, finishing the last of her soup.

"Good luck," she said flatly, looking at Gray for a moment before turning away.

"Yeah, good luck, Gray!" Ronan said with his mouth still half full, flashing a thumbs-up.

"Show them who's boss!"

Lyra smiled, standing as well.

"Don't push yourself too hard, okay?"

"I'll be fine," Gray gave her a small grin and nodded before pinching her cheeks lightly.

Then, the small group started splitting apart.

Lyra, Ronan, and Lira walked down the right corridor toward their class training wing, while Gray, Selina, and Selene headed left, toward A-1's classroom.

The hallway was already buzzing with excitement and nerves, somehow. It seems that they had gotten some early information.

"I heard there's a monster round!"

"No, it's team battles this year!"

"They said only one person gets full marks, crazy, right?"

Gray ignored it all, hands in his pockets as he walked beside Selene and Selina.

As soon as they reached the classroom door, Selina reached out to open it, but the moment her fingers touched the handle...

FLASH!

A brilliant white light engulfed them.

"—Wha—?!"

In the blink of an eye, the three of them were standing not in a classroom, but in a vast open arena surrounded by high stone walls and shimmering barriers.

The ground beneath them was solid earth, rough and uneven, marked with scratches and old battle scars.

One hundred and twenty stood all around, divided into groups... every class of the first year was here. The noise of confusion, gasps, and murmurs filled the air.

"What the hell—!?" a student shouted somewhere behind them.

"Instant teleportation array?" Gray raised an eyebrow in surprise.

He didn't feel Otto's presence the moment they were teleported.

"Looks like it," Selene replied, crossing her arms while Selina nodded lightly.

Then, from the far end of the arena, a single voice boomed across the field.

"Attention, students."

The voice was calm but carried authority strong enough to silence the entire crowd.

Professor Otto stood atop a floating platform made of light, hands clasped behind his back. His expression, as always, carried that faint, scary smile that clearly made people uneasy.

"Welcome to the second part of your midterm examination," he said.

"The physical test."

Whispers spread again, but Otto raised a hand, and the noise died instantly.

"This time," he continued, "you will be facing something different from previous years."

He gestured, and several glowing rings of light appeared around the arena, marking out different sections.

"This exam," he said slowly.

"Will be a gladiator-type assessment."