Adei was standing in an empty white space… It was quite eerie, fog surrounding him from every direction, yet… it was oddly calming. Any sound he made would send slight shockwaves through the shallow water under him...

He suddenly felt a presence. When he turned around, he saw an ethereal person– no, more of a figure. It was too humanoid to call it a creature, but you couldn’t say it was a person either. It was tall, faceless with eight wings, one pair on its head and three large wings on its back, spanning about three meters in length. It had weird markings and eyes covering his body and a tail. Rings with countless eyes on it, surrounding his head and long neck, a tail with a black and white flame at the end of it and a peculiar white horn on the left of his head.

Although paralysed by the sheer pressure of its presence, Adei tried to speak to it, but he couldn’t utter a thing. He thought to himself “What a powerful entity… It can stop any mortal only by the sight of it… Its presence is that of a god. Although it is evident that it’s a god, it’s not just any god, it’s ███…”

He suddenly woke up, drenched with sweat. Greeted by the loud blaring of his alarm clock, he turned it off and laid back down to stare at the ceiling to collect his thoughts.

Turns out it was merely a dream. Although he always dreams of the same thing, it never gets old. Though he had this dream so many times, it sometimes does get boring, he always wondered about the last part of his sentence... “what is it that I am missing?”

He quickly sat back up, that’s right, how could he forget? It’s…

–“The entrance ceremony today..!”

He washed himself, made himself breakfast and quickly got ready, just do be outside the door by 10 AM. It was the day he would become a sophomore in his school, the respected and sought by all, Begonia Magical Academy.

Despite his family background, he always sought high-end education. He worked harder and harder, until he got into the Begonia Magical Academy by full scholarship. It was a miracle that he even got in, because for some reason he had no magical energy, or mana, since the day he was born. It's like someone hollowed out his mana core and just replaced it with an empty shell. He also signed up for the most hated classes of all, the Magic Theory. It wasn’t a bad one in particular, it’s just people hated the idea of a magic class without any practical training. Because of that, only a few selected it as their main educational course. Those people were considered weak and cowardly, or as the others call it, “nerds”.

Despite his slightly above-average looks, since he was a scholarship student with no mana, no prestigious background and a “nerd”, he was often bullied in his freshman years. But not in this school year, he decided to also sign up for Demon Weaponry class.

Demon Weaponry also has a bad reputation, it’s not because it’s a boring class or because the people who take it are cowards in any way, but because of the usage of demon weapons.

Demon weapons are feared by most, not only because of how they are made but also because of their story.

Back in the day, the demons and humans had a great war against each other. They fought for years, the humans were close to finally ending this war, and win against the demons. But another horde came to interrupt the war. At first the humans thought the demons called for backup, but they were wrong. They not only brutally slaughtered the humans but their own kind. The humans named battalion the “Ultio Battalion”, and the one who led them was the demon tyrant, the fallen goddess, the one who was the trigger for the great Tribus War, Nimue Kardia.

It was looking dire for humans, but a great sorcerer turned the captured demons into something that could be used as a weapon against their own, a demon weapon. With the great sorcery of Kryfa Theos, they defeated both the demons and the Ultio Battalion.

The only way to use a demon weapon was to make a contract with the demon inside which is why the use of demon weapons quickly dropped after the Tribus War.

The thought of a fellow student making a contract with a demon scared the others and made them an outcast, but also scared away everyone. It was the perfect cure against bullying! For Adei, it was the easiest route to stop the constant bullying, but also a new experience. He always wanted to engage in practical combat, but he didn’t have any ways to do so, due to his lack of mana. But now, he had a way to actually start fighting.

The only problem was, demon weapons are horribly expensive. Back in the day, it was easy to find a demon in the human realm because of the war. But nowadays, you not only had to find a demon in the human realm, where they rarely go nowadays, but also defeat them and force their souls into a high-quality weapon, so it could handle the weight of a demon’s soul. To not feel discouraged, Adei looked at his list and planned to buy everything other than a demon weapon.

Shopping List

–      New standard uniform

–      Training uniform

–      A pair of new leather boots (extra durable)

–      New notebook for Magic Theory

–      New set of pens and rulers

–      Scissors

–      New set of pencils

–      Magic imbued chalk

–      Demon weapon

–       “History of Magic Theory” by Luena Nescio

–      “Magic Theory Grade 2” by Thomas Quispiam

–      “Demon Weaponry Guide Grade 2” by Xavier Iocularis

–      “History of Demon Weaponry” by Somnium Prosopo Z

By the time he finished shopping for all the items except the demon weapon, it was already 1 PM. The entrance ceremony would start at 6 PM, so he will have approximately 5 hours to try to find a cheap demon weapon. He searched every nook and canny of the market, looked at every shop, asked every person, that came his way, some were rude, some were scared, some were actually trying to help, but no one knew where to find a demon weapon for such a cheap price. When he was about to give up, he saw a salesman, who appeared to be selling demon weapons. The person was quite shady, you couldn’t tell whether they were a female or a male from the black cloak they were wearing, but he guessed he was a male. He quickly walked up to the salesman, who was his last hope, and tried to strike a business.

–“Excuse me-“

–“Hi fellow customer, if you’re in need.. please have this demon weapon for free…”

–“…?”

“What!?” Adei thought, “Not only she has a female voice, but she also wants to give me a demon weapon for free!?” Although he didn’t want to accept the deal at first because it was so shady, but he was in a desperate situation, and this could be his last chance to even get a demon weapon. He hesitantly took the demon weapon, quickly bowed, and bolted off like lightning. When he was at a safe distance from the suspicious saleslady, he slowed down to take a breath.

Now that he stopped, he glanced at the demon weapon. It was a pitch-black scythe with purple markings, and ominous eyes on the blade that looked straight at him. The scythe was about two and a half meters tall, everyone around him looked horrified just by the size of it, not to mention it’s a demon weapon. He looked a little nervous after he checked out the demon weapon, but he shook it off. After his short break from frantically running away from the saleslady, he realised it’s already 5:50 PM. By the time the entrance ceremony starts, the school will shut every one of their gates. Adei bolted off again to the Begonia Academy building, he was about to pass out from all this running, but he knew his life depended on it.

By the time he got to the main gate, it was 5:59 PM. He barely slid in the narrow gap between the two gates, and made it to the entrance ceremony.

After the entrance ceremony, everyone was given their dorm room keys and left them to find it on their own. Adei was a little surprised by this development, “I guess even the most prestigious schools have their own flaws…” but he quickly accepted his fate and went to find his dorm room.

When he got to his dorm, all the luggage he brought was already in his room, organised.

He was quite happy that this year, the academy organised their luggage, because now he can finally rest without any interruptions. He glanced at the bed, walked up to it and collapsed. After all this running, he needed some rest…