School Principal

After almost one hour straight of lessons with teacher Andre, the class was finally over.

As soon as the bell rang, Neo's table was flooded with about 7 of the 10 girls in the classroom.

Neo tried to swiftly stand up and left, but the crowd came way faster than Neo had predicted, leaving him unable to leave the place.

His lips twitched as he tried hard to maintain his smiling face and friendly expression.

Unbeknownst to most of the students that were flooding the new student's table, they were able to stay alive only because a certain somebody was giving his 100% in controlling his impulsive and deadly nature.

It was really taking a toll at his mentality and willpower, maintaining such facade and false personality in front of this bunch of complete strangers.

"Hey, what's your surname? You haven't told us in you presentation."

"Do you have a girlfriend?"

"Are into boys or girls?"

One question after another, some normal, and other very personal.

Neo's forehead veins were bulging and pulsating as he kept his stiff smile plastered in his face.

He was on the verge of exploding. If he really did explode, the consequences...would be dire.

A dark aura started to slowly seep out from his body. He was previously concentrated in keeping it under control, but now that he was being bombarded with such a strange situation, he lost focus and his guard lowered a little, allowing a little of his aura to seep.

The girls around the table instantly shuddered as they felt a chilling air slowly covering them.

They looked around searching for the source of the cold air, but they were unable to spot it.

"Neo..."

A single voice voice was enough to shook Neo from his situation. He was on the brink of lashing out at the people that was around him.

If Elana, that was by the classroom door, hadn't called out Neo's name, he would had lost his reason and went in a killing spree right there.

"Come, I was assigned by the teacher Andre to show you the school grounds." Elana said with a friendly smile on her face as she motioned for him to follow her.

"Elana Feuer..." The 1-S students instantly recognized the beautiful, red-haired girl by the door.

The girls were very confused as to why a student of the second year would be the one in charge of showing the school to a first year.

Usually this job was given to the representative of the third year students.

But what really caught the attention of the sharp eye girls was the fact that both of them knew each other.

From the minuscule change of expression and body lenguage they were able to see that Elana and Neo were more than simple acquaintances.

Rion's eyes glinted with a sharp light as she watched Neo apologizing to the girls and then swiftly escaping from them.

"That's an interesting fellow, isn't him?"

She heard a familiar, masculine voice coming from some place not so far from her.

Turning her head to the side, she was facing the source of the previous voice.

It was 16 years old, normal-looking boy. He had a short black hair and luteos eyes. He had nothing but his eyes that could caught the attention of anyone. His height was average and he had a very slim body.

In a crowd of people no one would bat an eye at him, he was just this ordinary-looking.

[Ed Gein...] Rion cast a side glance at the boy before ignoring him. Different from everyone she met, this particular boy always had a gloomy and dangerous aura hovering around him.

Ever since the first time she entered in contact with him, her senses screamed with alert, and so she always tried to maintain a certain distance from him.

Even when Ed was smiling, it always felt to Rion that it was completely fake, just like she was able to tell that Neo was also faking it.

The only reasonable conclusion was that Ed was dangerous and she should stay as far as possible from him.

"Such a strange person, isn't him?" Ed Gain turned his head and asked Rion while he had a cheeky and innocent smile on his face. "Such strong dark aura... I never felt something like that before, but despite this, his soul's almost completely white... strange..."

"At least he isn't as handsome as me..." Said another boy.

It was another 16 years old boy, but this one was slightly more good looking than Ed. What really catch the attention when looking at this boy, beside his overall appearance, was his silky silver hair, and his enchanting crimson eyes. His name was Raychovik Crest.

[Another weirdo...] Rion helplessly sighed inwardly. [Why am I surrounded by strange, dangerous people?]

"Not really, Ray." Ed said while checking up and down at Raychovik, after that, he smirked and said, "If we are talking about looks alone, he's a lot more handsome than you."

The smile on Ray's face froze after he heard Ed. He recovered after a few seconds and fiercely glared at Ed.

"Ed..." Ray said through his gritted teeth, "Just you wait to the Magic Practice Class. I'm going to teach you a lesson."

"Oh..." Ed exclaimed as a strange and dangerous light flickered inside his eyes. "I'll be more than happy to see what type of 'lesson' you can teach me."

Sparks could be seen in the air as both boys stared at each other.

Rion just turned her head to the side and ignored the two of them. She and the other students were already used to seeing both boys clashing.

"I'm surprised." Said Elana as she looked at Neo. "I never thought you would be able to hide the true state of your soul even from my eyes."

"It's a simple spell..." Neo dropped his friendly and gentle facade, returning to his cold and harsh self. "Coupled with new...power, or so to speak, make it even easier."

Elana and Neo were still on the edifice that all the students from the S class have their classes.

She was taking him to a specific place that he knew nothing about, he was just following her.

"New power?" Elana's eyes flashed with curiosity. "What's it?"

"Why would I tell you?" Neo rolled his eyes at Elana's question. "As far as I know, I'm here against my will because you forced me to do so. From a logical point of view, I would like nothing more than that you would end up dead somewhere." His tone was flat and without the slightest emotion behind it.

"Is that your true thoughts?" She asked unafraid. She knew that he hasn't told his real thoughts, after all he wouldn't be so dumb to say out loud his intentions.

"No." He immediately answered back. "I'm just trying to earn your trust so that I can stab you in back and regain my freedom." His lips moved upward, slowly forming a chilling smile.

Elana, that was walking on the front, glanced back and caught sight of that smile that creeped out in Neo's face and also saw the ruthless that just flashed in his eyes. Something similar to a black smoke started to enclose the area around both of them

She stopped walking as her body touched the black smoke and as felt a chill that was able to be felt even deep into her soul. She unconsciously raised her guard and became ready to cast a spell at any sign of danger.

"I was just kidding, no need to get so worked up." Neo stopped his smile and resumed his expressionless face. "Stop staring at me like I'm your mortal enemy, like I said, I was just joking around."

"You call that a joke?" She glared In disbelief at Neo. "Looks like it isn't just your personality that is twisted, your sense of humour is as well."

After she complained a little, she resumed her walk. Neo slightly smiled and silently followed along.

They only stopped walking once they reached a wooden double door that had a sign on top which read "Principal".

Once Elana opened the door, the first thing that caught Neo's attention was the person behind the desk that was in the middle of the stylish room.

It was a beautiful woman, in her twenties, with smooth black hair, charming black eyes, and a silky grayish-brown skin. He figure had a huge sex appeal with her somewhat big chest and round bottom. She was wearing a formal suit that pretty much resemble the students' uniform, the only glaring difference was the black coloration of her clothes. On her face, she had a black-rimmed glasses that couple with calm and serene aura, it make her look like a scholar of sorts.

Neo's eyes were attracted to the woman's eyes that gleamed with wisdom.

Even though she was very beautiful, what made Neo stare was the fact that he was completely unable to see her soul and strength despite him having those special eyes.

If it wasn't for his acute senses, honed after years of experiences and trials, he would have thought she was just a normal human being.

Even with the woman using some kind of technique or Artifact to hide such informations from Neo's eyes, he could still feel the invisible pressure that surely belong to someone stronger than him coming from her.

Of course Neo didn't flinch nor showed any discomfort in his expression, he just placed the casual and gentle smile on his face and followed behind Elana.

The woman's eyes flashed with an unknown light the moment she saw Neo, but it soon returned to normal like nothing happened at all.

"Good morning, Elana." The woman said with a serene and enchanting voice while she let loose a slight polite smile I'm her red lips.

"Good morning, principal April." Elana greeted the woman very politely.

"Good morning." Neo followed suit and also greeted the woman whose name apparently was April.

"This is...Neo, if I'm not mistaken." The principal asked while staring hard at Neo, like she wanted to see beyond what lies in the surface.

"You're correct." Neo said calmly, not avoiding April's scanning gaze. "I'm indeed Neo, without surname. It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss April." He offered his hand in a friendly manner.

"Scientia, April Scientia, but you can me just by my title of Principal, you don't need to call me Miss or something like that." April stood up and reached to clasp hands with Neo while smiling.

The moment her hands touched with Neo's, her eyebrows wrinkled a little before returning to normal.

[Cold...] That was what she felt when she touched his hand. [A coldness that can be felt even in my soul.] She raised her sight from the hand to Neo's eyes and forced a smile in her face. [The thick killing intent hidden behind a charming and gentle smile...he's dangerous, way dangerous than I thought. Not just that, he was even able to somehow hide the true state of his own soul without the use of some kind of Artifact. Now...how should I deal with this person? Kill or not kill?]

[Scientia...] Neo thought while calmly returning his hand after he shook hands with April. [Looks like my guess was right, the Scientia Household of Ancardia is behind this place. The question is, how much are they supporting this operation or something like that? How dangerous is for me to stay in this institution? How useful this institution can be for my plans?]

Both Neo and April kept looking at each other with smile plastered in their faces, but their minds were racing in top speed with questions, suspicions, and calculations.

"Neo...I know someone with this name." April commented out of nowhere while glaring at Neo from the corner of her eyes.

Neo's eyes flashed, bit his face remained normal. "Really? That's a surprise, my name isn't that common."

"Yes, he was quite a troublemaker, let me tell you." April relaxedly sat on the chair and maintened her eye on Neo. "He even tried to kill his own sister, he schemed against his own family. He was a trash, a headstrong, arrogant, and disgusting living being. His crimes weight way more than just this, am I right?" April asked in a light tone.

"I don't know." Neo was unfazed by what April was talking and kept smiling. "From what you told me, he really sounds like a trash human being."

April squinted her eyes at Neo when she saw that was unable to cause any type of reaction at him. "Yes, in the end, even his family was tired of this kind of trash, they just outright exiled him from the family after taking away all his magical powers. I disagree with their actions, they should have just killed him. Letting such dangerous person alive...it isn't a wise choice."

"I don't know about the person in question and neither do I know if there is something else behind this story for me to just jump in conclusion and shame on a person that I know nothing at all." Neo said while his smile turned into a small grin.

April supported her head with one hand while tapping at the table with the finger. She suspiciously stared at Neo and his gentle expression. [Am I wrong? He isn't Neo Lumine? He has the golden eyes and everything...but his personality...it really doesn't seem to be Neo Lumine.]

"So, Elana, why did you brought him to the school?" April decided to leave the investigation for later, she still had more than enough time to look into it.

"Well..." Elana embarrassedly scratched her head. "I'm sorry I kind did this behind your back, but you weren't in Atlas back then, and you told me your job in Ancardia would take a while to finish, so I took the liberty to enrol him here for the time being..."

"Why are you saying sorry? You did what I told you to do, taking people that have the potential to become mages and convince them to enrol her. You did nothing wrong." April gently smiled and comforted the flustered Elana.

She switched her sight from Elana to Neo and asked with a not-so-friendly tone, "Why don't tell me a little about yourself?"

"Not interested. I prefer to keep my past private."

"Really? Alright." April helplessly sighed and turned to Elana. "Tell me what you know about him then."

"Ah!?" Elana exclaimed slightly when she saw both Neo and April turning their sights at her. "Well...huh...I was ordered by my family to investigate the case of demons kidnapping Atlarians, so I found clues about a certain operation taking place in the countryside. I went there and found a certain warehouse with mercenaries acting as security. When I entered in the building I discovered it was a trap designed by a demon. I tried to fight the demon, but he was more powerful than I thought, and his style of magic, I never seen something like that. When I thought o was about to die in the demon's hand, he appeared. He saved me from the demon and almost killed him off, but he fell unconscious after overusing his mana. But what really surprised me was the fact he could use-"

"I'm a Light Mage." Neo interrupted Elana and without giving her chance to speak again, he said, "As a Light Mage, it was relatively easy to fight against the demon that had been greatly weakened by Elana."

He extended his hand and quietly chanted a spell.

{Candlelight}

As his words fell, a small sphere made of something that looked like white gas and emitting a stronger light than the light bulb in the office's ceiling.

"I'm a Light Mage, right?" Neo stared at Elana while his voice had a threatening undertone.

Elana hid the surprise in her eyes and express when she saw the frosty and ruthless light flashing in Neo's eyes as he stared at her.

She decided to hide the truth from April, it was in her best interest as well.

[I can't let him just fall in the Scientia family's hands. He's going to be of great help to the Equalists.] She thought.

April was looking at Neo and not Elana, so she didn't see the surprise in Elana's face and neither could have seen the subtle change in her expression.