A somber rain fell on Opinum Academy, painting the world in a dreary gray and monotonous hue. The students quietly made their way to their classrooms, the brightly colored umbrellas were the only light in the early morning.

Even the freshman Myth class was painted in that same bleariness, the students silently sat through their lecture. Their excitement for winning their first simulation was outweighed by the fact that two guards had gone missing, the student council president almost died, and the King class’ defenders were also hospitalized with severe injuries.

When class ended, the trio of Erebus, Vyne, and Tear left and made their way to the infirmary to visit Xaltiq. They hadn’t been there before, but it was easy to find because of the enormous crowd outside. Of course, Erebus’ group wasn’t waiting, so they pushed through the throngs of students and forcibly made their way to Xal’s room.

Erebus didn’t even bother knocking on the door, he strolled right in as if it was his own house.

There were others inside of the room, so everyone turned to the ones who had just entered. The doppelgangers of Xena and Yarah were there, along with Gus and Mark then three other people from the senior Myth class.

“You are...?” Gus asked, surprised by these shameless visitors who didn’t even bother with knocking.

“A concerned friend,” Erebus answered. The irony was not lost on his two companions.

“Ah... is it Erebus, Tear, and Vyne?” a tremulous voice asked. “Friends, come over here,” Xal said.

The trio of concerned friends did as told, and came to Xal’s bedside. His body was still covered in bandages and he was incapable of movement, Xal’s previously healthy complexion had turned a sickly pale color and his cheeks had sunken in.

“You look terrible,” Erebus remarked, pulling over a chair that no one had been sitting in.

Xal let out a scratchy laugh. “Everyone else has been telling me that I looked fine. Could it be that they were all lying?”

“Yeah, they were, you look like Death,” Erebus answered bluntly. Frankly, the only reason he was here was because he wanted to see how his body was holding up or if Xal’s body had started to break down after being forcibly fed mana.

The human was doing well for what he had endured, Erebus knew that he was well on his way to recovery and that there wasn’t actually any need for him to be hospitalized still. His body may have been weak, but the moment he got up and started moving around, he would gain back all his previous vigor.

Of course, the humans didn’t know what had happened to Xal, so they were trying to help him recuperate in the way they knew best: bedrest.

Xena frowned in disdain, her eyes narrowed at Erebus.

The dragon looked up at the doppelganger, his eyes gleaming with humor. “I’ll stop, I’ll stop. We just came to check on you.”

Just then, a voice entered Erebus’ mind, it was Dissolve. Erebus, due to yesterday’s events, the Board that runs this school is having an emergency meeting. All of the important leaders will be there. Shall we pay them a visit? We can’t allow this moment to pass.

Of course we will.

Erebus smiled at Xal. “I just remembered, I have something to attend to. If you’ll excuse us,” he said while bowing his head slightly.

The trio left just as quickly as they came. Vyne and Tear didn’t know what was going on, but their master’s orders were absolute, so they followed him without any hesitation.

“May I ask,” Tear said when they were a safe distance from the mob. “What exactly is going on?”

“It would seem the school board is having a meeting today. Vyne, Dissolve, and I will be greeting them. Tear, you are to recruit Wolf and Xal to our side, their strength interests me so I want them.”

“Wolf, I can do, but it may be difficult to isolate Xal, the ones with him seem to have no intention of leaving.”

“You’re permitted to kill the others, Xena and Yarah will help you since they’re doppelgangers who have sworn their loyalty to us. If they decline, end their lives, I’ll have no further use for them. You may disclose my true identity since that’ll certainly sway them.”

Tear curtsied. “As you wish. I will start with Wolf.” The beautiful woman made her exit.

“Lord Erebus, if I may inquire once again, who is Dissolve?”

“Ah, he’s the tenth seat.”

Vyne’s expression froze. “Of the Dragon Council?”

“Mm.”

As Vyne recalled the less than remarkable teacher of theirs, a vein bulged on his forehead. Was that man immeasurably powerful? The one who looked ready to fall over if the wind blew even just a little bit? That man? “Aha, is that so? That makes sense, fufu, I thought that he was certainly strange.”

“Eh? Vyne was able to detect Dissolve’s strength even with him hiding it so well? I’m proud of you,” Erebus said cheerfully.

Instantly, Vyne felt bad about lying. He had simply been trying to fix the blow to his ego, but Erebus believed him so quickly! They had a lot of faith in their master, but he placed a large (if not equal to) amount in them, too.

Vyne wanted to prostrate on the floor and apologize to his master one trillion times. Or perhaps he should cut off his own tongue so that he could never utter another lie to his master.

As much as he wanted to spew out his guts, he couldn’t bear his master’s look of disappointment either! So, Vyne clutched his heart, which throbbed in immense pain.

“I’m sorry,” Vyne sobbed, his voice cracking.

“About what?” Erebus tilted his head in confusion. He scratched his head and then shrugged. He didn’t really care, so he moved on.

...

A single wolfman sat on a bench, he faced the setting sun, but his eyes were closed as he basked in the warmth. Yesterday’s events were still fresh in his mind, he could vividly remember the bitterness he felt.

Weak. He was weak. Wolf clenched his hairy hands into a fist. “Damn,” he muttered to himself.

“Is something wrong?” an angelic voice asked him. Wolf’s eyes opened, he surprised that he hadn’t noticed someone approach him.

There stood a divine woman with the sun radiating around her figure, surrounding her in a golden glow that Wolf wondered for a second if she was an angel. She pushed a lock of her pale hair behind her ear as she smiled at Wolf.

“Tear?” he said once he finally regained his bearings. Opening his eyes to a sight like that wasn’t good for his heart. “Uh, hello.”

She giggled, “Hello.” She gestured to the seat next to him. “May I sit?” He answered by scooting aside and allowing space for her small body. “Thank you.”

“What brings you here?” he asked her.

“I have an offer for you, ‘kay?”

In that moment, a terrible sense of dread filled his body. Wolf could only turn his head to stare at Tear, her previously tranquil aura had turned into a terrifying one full with the desire to kill.

“Swear your allegiance to our Lord Erebus, and I’ll let you live.” A wicked sneer spread across her face, morphing her previously gorgeous features into something befitting of a demented creature.

“What...”

Her hands wrapped around his beefy neck. Wolf could feel her exerting a horrific amount of strength that he didn’t think her frail arms were capable of on his neck. Tear spoke with her voice full of malice, “Swear it. This is the chance of a lifetime for you, a maggot such as yourself has been offered a life of eternal servitude to our Lord Erebus. Come on now, this is the best you’ll ever be able to achieve in your life... Wait, I’ll kill you if you say no. I think your choice should be obvious.”

“I-I understand. I’ll swear my loyalty to... Lord Erebus.”

She released him. “Good decision. Follow me, we have more work to do.”

Wolf nodded his head and scrambled after her as they made their way to the infirmary. “What are we doing here?”

“Shut up.”

He clamped his mouth shut.

The crowd from not too long ago had basically thinned out, so they didn’t have to fight their way through and quickly arrived at the door to Xal’s room. Tear, no longer caring about appearances, kicked open the door and burst into the room.

“What the? What is with all the rude people in this school,” Mark shouted, walking over to Tear. “There’s a sick ma--”

In a beautiful arc, a head was sent flying. The blood sprayed onto the faces of Tear and Wolf, the latter cowered in fear. His ears pressed against his head and his tail flicked between his legs, he was incredibly happy that he had agreed to Tear or else his death would have been as swift as that.

“Shut up, piece of shit. I don’t want to hear the words from your filthy mouth, I feel as if I’m violated just by listening to you speak.” She walked over and slammed her foot on the head, effectively crushing it. “Disgusting, how repulsive.” She turned to the two doppelgangers. “Kill them all except for Xal.”

She reverted into the true self she kept hidden very well from Erebus.

Everyone who had been frozen in shock finally jumped into action, but they were too late. Tear’s hands were like two blades and she sliced Gus cleanly in half. Xena and Yarah had torn one of the visitors from the Myth class into pieces like a pair of savage dogs.

Tear shot forward and easily killed off the last two remaining members with a few swings of her hands. The joy she gained from murdering humans was palpable in the air, she was in a state of delirium already.

She was going to burst, ah! Tear clenched her legs together, trying to rein herself in. It was too much, she was overflowing, their despair filled her with ecstasy!

Tear exhaled, calming herself down before she exploded. “Eat your fill, you did well,” her hands were shaking, but she managed to speak evenly to the doppelgangers.

The creatures wasted no time and began tearing off chunks of meat from the blonde they had killed and shoved it into their mouths, eating like ravenous, uncultured monsters. They would occasionally stop chewing and grin at each other, revealing their sharp and bloody teeth.

Wolf was overwhelmed by the thick scent of blood, along with the gruesome sight of the doppelgangers crude and unclean eating. He doubled over and hurled on the tile, his vomit only added another putrid element to the air. His vision was murky as he beheld the gore spread out before him, within a matter of seconds, the room was painted in red and decorated by the body parts of young students. Even he couldn’t stand unfazed by this, he, who had killed before. He, who had stood on the battlefield, it may have been simulated, but the danger was there.

But this... this was too real. What had they done to die like that?

Uncaring of Wolf’s feelings, Tear strolled over to Xal who had been sleeping but awoke during the commotion. He was in a bewildered state as Tear approached. What had just happened? All he could do was watch.

She dragged a bloodied chair over and plopped down in it, crossing her legs and smiling as if she wasn’t drenched in bright, crimson liquid from head to toe. The sunlight shone through the window, illuminating her heavenly body.

Xal realized that a barbarous, if not demonic, being that disguised itself as an angel sat before him.

“Now then, Xal... let’s talk,” she said, a frenzied look in her eyes as she licked her lips slowly. Leaning forward, she told him, “I have an offer for you, ‘kay?”