"Ah! Remember when Igor made a whole scene just to show up again the next day?" shouted Fabio, ensuring Igor would hear him.

Mavis, who was walking next to him, simply nodded. These two had a strange dynamic. Fabio would talk her ear off constantly, and while Mavis would give very cold, and curt replies, she never exactly seemed bothered or disinterested by what he had to say.

Apatia patted Igor's back. "Don't let him get to you. He just likes messing with people." A soft smile curled the corners of her lips, and a warm look filled her eyes.

Igor threw a sideways glance toward her. He then closed his eyes before taking a deep breath and looking away. "Yeah, thanks." He finally said, pulling away from Apatia slightly.

At the head of the small group was Arthur, fervently speaking to a certain someone, stars in his eyes, and wonder in his heart.

"Is that story true!!?? The Dark Night! The story where you defeated an entire demon battalion by yourself?"

Apatia grimaced. 'I… didn't even know he could make a face like that.'

Verity, under the guise of the King of Fools, cleared his throat. "Yeah! Of course it is! The demons didn't stand a chance against the great me." He said, stroking his chin proudly.

Verity smirked. 'Hehe… this is what it's all about! Maybe being a special instructor isn't so bad after all.'

While Verity only had one thing on his mind, that being the death of all demons, he'd be lying if he said that a little recognition was not welcome. After all, from the beginning, Verity's dream had been to be a manga protagonist. Powerful, mysterious, righteous and most importantly… cool!

Besides his alias, that was mostly what he had become.

As proven by Arthur's demeanor around him.

And of course, while the others in the group were not as obvious with it, they too, held Verity, the King of Fools, in extremely high regard.

Apatia the most among them all. She clenched her fist as she watched Arthur. A wide smile stretched the edges of her cheeks. 'Soon enough, everyone will know just how cool Master really is!'

Igor glanced at her, then at Arthur, then back again. Something in his chest twisted, and he clicked his tongue before looking away.

'What am I thinking…'

Fabio leaned onto Mavis' shoulder, to which she showed no reaction at all. "In any case, I was really surprised when sir King of Fools showed up, weren't you? I mean, where did they even find him? I heard he was untraceable!"

Mavis nodded. "...Yeah, but… if it's the ones who came with him… it's not impossible." she added. "And also…Fabio…"

"Yes?"

"...Get off me."

"Ah! Silly me!"

—-

A few hours prior.

An official from the Protectorate, donning their typical burgundy and dark blue uniform, guided the students to a certain location near the human territory border. There were around thirty students from Nexia academy, all wearing either their personal gear, or the standard-issue Protectorate gear.

"I wonder why it wasn't our instructors that guided us here?" A student asked.

Another flicked her hair. "Maybe they want to see if we're any good on our own."

A boy with a shaved head frowned. "Ahead is the Dead Zone… are they really going to throw us in there by ourselves?"

The same girl who'd flicked her hair chuckled. "What? Are you scared?"

The boy stared at her with contempt. "Meaningless provocation."

"Ugh, you people in the Supernova class are no fun… I should have stayed in the lower tiers."

Apatia, who'd been eavesdropping on the conversation, wondered what she meant by that. "I wonder… did she get promoted?"

Mavis who'd been sitting next to her. "It's possible. Jane was always… quite good."

Apatia nearly jumped when she heard her. That girl really had no presence. "Oh… her name was Jane?"

"Yes, she… was in a different group when we were at the Cradle… now she's a… Thief."

Apatia looked at Mavis with an air of surprise. "You sure know a lot, Mavis."

Mavis looked away, the purple streaks in her hair nearly slapping Apatia in the face. "Yes."

'More talkative than usual...'

Apatia looked around.

Arthur was socializing with the ones from the other Supernova groups. He was building connections, expanding his network, as he always did. Fabio was fooling around with a group of boys, playing some sort of fantasy fighting game.

Igor was… he was Igor. Back at the Cradle, he'd always stood out for being somewhat of a loner. Apatia had still talked to him quite a few times back then, simply because she did not like the idea of someone being by themselves perpetually, but he hadn't been very receptive.

'He was– still is, a nice guy. His temper is just more fiery now I suppose.'

She looked down at her calloused hands. 'And so is mine compared to back then.'

For a Protector, it was difficult to have calluses, simply because their innate healing, and durability was much higher than an ordinary human's. The fact that Apatia's hands were calloused to this point simply spoke highly of her efforts.

She looked up when the Protectorate official who had accompanied them clapped his hands. "Now, now. Silence you all, we're about to begin."

He cleared his throat when the student's attention shifted to him. "Ahem. Today will mark your first field expedition into the Dead Zone. As most of you know, the Dead Zone refers to a stretch of land near the western border of the WHDC that separates demon territory from human territory. It is lawless, ownerless, and most importantly, extremely dangerous. "

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Whispers could be heard among the students.

Excitement.

Apprehension.

Concern.

He continued. "Due to lack of personnel, Gate breaks occur within the Dead Zone regularly. As such, monsters are free to roam within it, and demons often use it as their personal hunting grounds." He paused to look at the students. "Usually…Human entry is strictly forbidden, but today you have been granted an exemption from such rules by the Protectorate."

A student raised his hand. "Are you saying you're simply going to send us in there without any sort of preparation?"

The Protectorate official shook his head. "Of course not. Sending young talent to a slaughter house is not in the best interest of the WHDC, but it has been agreed that without exposure to demon kind, you cannot grow."

A girl with platinum blond hair attached in a bun atop her head smirked as she whispered. "...Seems like the rumors were true."

Another next to her frowned. "What rumors?"

The Protectorate official took a breath. "Hence, from today onward, you will be accompanied by 'special' instructors into the Dead Zone, just short of demon territory."

"Special instructors?"

"A-rankers at the very top of the rankings?"

"Someone like Lucas Storm? He's in the top fifty now after all."

"Oh! Lucas Storm would be amazing! His fire magic is so advanced!"

"Or Gavin Brown…!"

"Isaiah's brother? Yeah right… as if someone affiliated with the Ten Pillars would come here…"

The official sighed and rolled his eyes. "Alright… Well, none of you are listening at this point, so let's just cut the lengthy explanation short. Once a month, you all will be guided into the Dead Zone by these special instructors…"

'It was originally supposed to be once a week but I guess even they can't get everything they want when they're up against the old vultures at the top.'

He fired a flare into the sky. "And… the floor is yours."

Somewhere far away, a woman with blond hair perked up. "Oh! That's the signal!! Go! You're first!!!"

"But of course mademoiselle. Your wish is my command."

"Hmph! As it should be!"

Silence fell over the students as the flare was fired into the sky.

For a moment, there was nothing, not a sound, not even the wind dared disturb the moment.

And then…

'Oh….!'

Something obstructed the sun. A large, incredibly large mass stood before it, as if casting nightfall over the students.

One of the students wearing a quiver on his back could barely string together a sentence when he understood what was happening. "I-It's… no way…!!"

"IT'S THE RAINBOW DRAGON!!!!!"

A student with large gauntlets over his fist raised an eyebrow. "The… rainbow dragon?"

And then his jaw dropped. "THE rainbow dragon!??"

The creature drew closer to the students, and in a display of grace and elegance, it slowly landed on the ground.

It was a colossal beast in the image of the ancient dragons from eastern folklore. It's elongated body was adorned in rainbow scales and it seemed to be able to fly without possessing wings. When it touched ground, it let out a domineering roar, and its piercing gaze landed right on the humans before it.

From its back, a figure jumped down. A young man, in his mid to late twenties. His hair was curly and tied behind his head. His skin was slightly tanned and a small mole sat right under his left eye.

A brilliant smile spread across his lips as he stood upright and he bowed. "Thomas Wagner at your service, dear students of Nexia academy."

The crowd of aspiring Protectors broke in gasps of disbeliefs and looks of awe.

"I guess Nexia really is no joke huh… I'm glad I applied for this program…!" Said one of them.

Thomas signaled to the beast, and in an explosion of harmless smoke, it shrunk to the size of his fist. It then landed on his shoulder and seemed to fall asleep.

The students were already in shock at the appearance of one of the ten pillars of the WHDC, but before they could regain their composure, the ground shook.

It shook, and shook, and shook.

Subtle at first, but growing more powerful with each new tremor.

As if the reason for this phenomenon was growing closer.

Some of the students took a step back apprehensively, but when they noticed that Thomas Wagner did not seem to be on guard, they understood.

"No way!"

"A-Another one!?"

"Who is it this time??"

The boy with a shaved head and thick gauntlets pumped his fist. "There's only one person who could make the earth shake like this!"

The students looked up.

Like a meteor descending from the heavens, a colossal figure landed before them. Upon impact, it created a crater so large one might have thought an asteroid had actually struck the earth.

When the smoke cleared, the individual's identity was revealed. Standing at nine feet tall with a body of sculpted muscle and raw strength. The Strongest Man. The Martial King had descended onto the field.

"Ahah! I'll be in your care!"

Is what he said outwardly, but inwardly, he wanted to hide in a hole. 'I can't believe she convinced all of us to do this…! Damn Hoshino!!'

—

…Are we seriously doing this?

I think it's a good idea!

Hmph! As expected of my Knight of Joy! We'll do this in the order of rankings, which means you, then Iron, me, Joy, you, and Truth last!

Oh! I like that! Though… When do I get a fun nickname like the others?

When you show me the heart of a Knight!

—

Two of the Ten Pillars had arrived, which was frankly, for the ordinary citizen, akin to seeing a pig fly.

For these students, awe could not begin to describe what they felt.

But it was not over.

"Blackout."

Their fields of vision had been reduced to nothing and as soon as it happened, small motes of light rose from the ground below their feet.

"W-Woah, what's this now?"

A few dozen at first, then hundreds, thousands, hundred of thousands.

Mavis' ears perked up. "...It's her."

Apatia tilted her head. "Her…who?"

The motes of light, which were the only source of light around, converged into the air like shooting stars flying through the sky. They accumulated and grew in size until a large ball of radiance large enough to block the sun above had formed.

Then, the artificial sun shrunk, and shrunk, and shrunk, until it had been reduced to the outline of a human's body. A human whose body shined with a blinding glow.

That human then toned down her glow, recalled her darkness, and struck a pose. "I am.... The Star of Justice!! Be amazed, be in awe, for the heroine of humankind breathes before you!"

"It's the Twilight Radiance!!"

'Didn't I just say Star of Justice?' Hoshino thought, annoyed, although she kept hat to herself.

"Three of the Ten Pillars are here!"

"I'm… I can't believe it…"

""Is this it…or are there more…?"

Arthur was also quite taken aback. 'Though I'm not all that interested in them… it is impressive that they're here.'

An Archer, a Mage, and a Martial Artist. A very diverse trio, but of no interest to someone like a swordsman.

Good thing for Arthur the show was only beginning.

Reality was sliced open in an instant, as though spacetime itself had been breached. The sheer pressure from the event knocked a few students back.

"You've got to be kidding me….!"

From the rift in the sky, two figures stepped out.

[This is incredibly childish.]

[You should learn to enjoy life a little. What do you say? A smile and a wave for our cute students?]

[Hmph.]

Elio raised his hand in a salute.

Felicia, on the other hand, smiled brightly and bowed. She then stepped down from the rift in space and landed gracefully on the ground.

Elio did the same, following closely behind her.

"The Dean….AND the sword of Providence!!??"

One girl placed her hands in front of her mouth. "He's even more handsome in person!! I can't believe we're so close to him!"

"Do you think he'll give us his autograph??"

Some boys fixed their hair and straightened their posture at the sight of Felicia. Technically, she was their Dean, but even so, Felicia was an incredibly beautiful woman. Even more so in recent years, as though her beauty grew with time.

While Elio wore a long black trench coat, as he always did, she was wearing her signature Sea Silver armor. It gave her the look of a warrior, which was quite different from her usual appearance at Nexia academy.

One of the students stroked his chin. "Five instructors… but there are six Supernova classes if I'm not mistaken."

Another shrugged. "Maybe one group will be split apart, or merged with another."

"Or maybe another instructor is arriving soon?"

One laughed loudly. "Pff! Who could possibly top the Sword of Providence? You all have gone crazy...I'm telling you this is it."

Apatia, seated next to Mavis, clenched her fists tightly. 'This is it…! He's coming!'

Mavis turned to her, and a strange glint streaked through her eyes. '...'

Right before the students could accept that no one else was coming, something crashed into the ground.

It was a spear. A dark spear, the color of obsidian. And attached to the spear, or rather… impaled by the spear was…. A demon.

The students were quick on the uptake.

"I-it's a demon!!"

"Raise your weapons!!"

"Mages! Set up a disturbance field!!"

The demon struggled with the spear embedded in its chest. "Wait! Wait a second!! I did what you asked!!! Please don't!!! I'll go back to the city!! I won't bother you humans anymore!!! Don-"

BOOOM

The demon's entire body disintegrated under the force of an explosion, an explosion of Aura, and the students slowly lowered their weapons.

Aura detonation?

They'd never seen anything like it before.

Some, who'd surfed the web in search of a certain person, recognized it immediately, however. It was his signature move. Reports of him consistently mentioned this ability.

"That's…!"

Where the spear had struck the ground, illegible inscriptions that had been carved into the cold stone began to glow. They formed a circle around the spear, and their glow became brighter with every second.

Then, as suddenly as it had come, the glow of the inscriptions vanished, as though they'd accomplished their task.

A person now stood within the circle.

As if he'd always been there, a man's hand grabbed the shaft of the spear, and pulled it from the ground. Similar inscriptions to the ones that had summoned him here were carved all across his torso. His eyes were like fire, and a spear as dark as the night now rested on his shoulder.

Both Arthur and Apatia could barely hold in their excitement.

"It's the.... King of Fools….!!" They said in unison.

The crowd of students erupted in a roar of disbelief.

The Guardian of Humanity had come.

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