A month earlier: Prophecy (1)

"Welcome to the Empire Palace, Otherworlders!"

A middle-aged man with blonde hair and light-skinned, wearing a red and blue gorgeous robe, exclaimed. His greetings were welcomed by the group of people wearing the same clothes akin to a uniform, standing inside a vast runic circle.

All eyes instantly landed on the middle-aged man, but he wasn't perturbed, still keeping his genial smile as though he had no enemy with his extremely friendly attitude.

All students instantly had a good impression of him.

The middle-aged man was holding a book with his one hand, placing it formally towards his stomach. After a quick glance at all the students, he secretly counted them and judged with a single sweep of his eyes. Not waiting for the students to react, he said:

"I'm confident that all of you have countless questions inside your head. Please don't be shy. We will do our best to answer it."

He swept his eyes, expressing that "we" was another group of people with the same bearing as him. Not only that, but they also had a similar appearance, and all of them surprisingly had blonde hair!

The only difference was their robe, conveying the difference in their rank. Of course, it wasn't the color since their robe had the same color, but from the image of a full-face view with a crown on his head. The image almost covers the center of their robe, their upper torso.

The crown, if observed closely, had a different frame for each group of people, better-called nobles.

The full-face view was certainly not the face of the Goddess, but instead, it was a stern face full of wrinkles. He had long hair by boys' standards, and it was blonde. He wore a crown, but as stated above, different robes had different crown frames.

They stood beside the vast teleportation magic array since the Emperor Palace was wide, to begin with. It could even accommodate thousands of people, much less a small amount of people inside.

The students were silent despite the middle-aged man allowing them a chance to speak or ask questions. And Michael was also quiet, surprisingly.

The middle-aged man waited patiently, and his eyes only locked on the sole student, who had blonde hair, Michael.

The others seemed insignificant, and even the nobles acted the same; their disdainful eyes appeared whenever they eyed the other students.

Finally, Michael opened his mouth.

"What is the reason for summoning us?"

The middle-aged blonde man was stunned and replied with a perplexed tone:

"The Goddess didn't say anything regarding it?"

Despite the bewilderment, his tone was respectful when mentioning the Goddess. Questioning the Goddess's actions should be blasphemous, the bishop present let it be as he was also confused, itching for an answer.

Michael was speechless, and his hate towards the Goddess consumed his thoughts again. Thankfully, no one noticed it, and instead of Michael answering their questions, it was the Rock's voice that garnered their attention.

"Something happened."

His voice was cold, and his eyes narrowed. The nobles' distasteful gazes couldn't hide their amiable smile from the Rock, causing him to feel offended by it. He didn't know what was the actual cause, but he was already trembling from madness.

The nobles' looked at him, perceiving his cold temperament, but they still kept their genial smile and nodded.

"I see."

The middle-aged man nodded, not intending to inquire more of the clearer picture about "something happened" when they met with the Goddess. It was not like he couldn't acquire the information later, after all.

"Let me introduce myself first. My name is Anbu, an Imperial advisor. Emperor Ikaris Rekha, the third, is the current and sixth Emperor. He may not be here, but he is listening and observing all of us.

Next is the venerable Archduke, the right hand of the Emperor, people called him by his Legendary Class Title, Paladin, an S rank, respected by many because of the insurmountable amount of demons he killed, and a Royal Captain Guard."

The Imperial Advisor pointed his hand respectfully with a slight bow on another blonde man, staring at the students with a cold gaze, surrounded by other people that seemed like a soldier.

He wore light golden armor with a single-handed sword on his waist, resting in the pristine scabbard that reflected its surroundings. He gazed at the Imperial Advisor with crossed arms, still cold, and acknowledged the introduction on his behalf by nodding slightly.

"He is Archduke Louis Laurence."

The nobles' clapped and were influenced by them, and the students, too, with awkward faces. Michael seemed awakened from a stupor and gazed at the Archduke, and the latter did the same with cold eyes.

Their staring competition garnered everyone's attention, and even the Imperial Advisor couldn't help but smile in satisfaction.

"He will be your combat instructor. With his boundless experience of dealing with demons, without a doubt, he's your perfect instructor for fighting against them."

This time, the Imperial Advisor's genial face changed to a solemn one, even the nobles' were the same. Affected by the solemn atmosphere, the students heightened their senses as they knew the next topic would be crucial to them.

"Demons. They are a race that was born because they were corrupted from evil, destruction, and darkness Aether Element. They are also the reason why the Goddess summoned you all.

We have been fighting them for a thousand years, and it could be said we are equal, or we dominated them more if it wasn't because of the abyss."

The Imperial Advisor thought for a moment if he should introduce the abyss but decided to be direct about the reason why Michael and others were summoned.

"We received a prophecy about the advent of the Demon Emperor. The prophecy is authentic since it came from the Pontiff, who received it from the Goddess. Therefore, as an immediate solution, the Pontiff stated we should create a vast teleportation magic array and welcome the group of humans sent from the Goddess.

They will fight against the Demon Emperor and the demon race and bring peace and prosperity to the human race."