Jax was sitting in his office with Roxana.

She had been explaining the competition for the past hour. What it was. Why it mattered. How it worked.

Throughout the entire explanation, an incredibly awkward atmosphere hung between them. Roxana couldn't meet his eyes. Her face kept flushing at random moments. Her words stumbled over each other whenever she recalled fragments of last night.

Meanwhile, Jax was having the time of his life. Playful smiles. Suggestive glances. Occasional comments that made her want to disappear into the floor.

He didn't fully pay attention to the information dump. His brain simply refused to absorb that much boring content at once. What he understood was simple: the competition was some power display for academies.

Multiple academies from around the globe faced each other. A total mess of various battles and formats that Jax immediately forgot the moment she explained them.

There was the Martial Academy, whose students possessed powers based purely on physical body enhancements. Warriors who could punch through walls and survive being thrown off mountains.

Then there was an academy exclusively for dark magic users. Students who communed with shadows and wielded powers that made normal people uncomfortable just being near them.

Their polar opposite was the Holy Seminary. Practitioners of divine and holy powers. Light magic. Healing. Purification.

Jax was absolutely certain those two groups caused problems at every single competition. Putting dark magic users and holy warriors in the same building was asking for disaster.

Only the top four academies or orders competed in this event.

However, Astryx Academy sat firmly at the top. They had never lost a single competition in the event's entire history.

That triggered something in Jax.

"Then why the fuck do we even have this competition if it's a solo race?"

Roxana explained it thoroughly.

Astryx Academy attracted the strongest students. Those who wanted to be the best naturally gravitated toward the institution that was already the best. A self-perpetuating cycle of excellence.

But the other academies were catching up. They had identified their own potential. Started training students exclusively in single affinities. Specialized rather than generalized.

They even went after students already selected by Astryx Academy. Poached them with greedy proposals. Better funding. Exclusive training. Promises of glory.

The gap was shrinking. Slowly but surely.

Yet Astryx Academy still topped the rankings by a massive margin. And losing even a single competition would change everything. Power dynamics would shift. Perceptions would alter. The academy's dominance would be questioned.

Which made this competition the most important event in the academic world.

The entire globe watched it through runic broadcast. A magical transmission system that projected images and sound across vast distances.

Most royals and nobles attended in person. For them, it was a festival. Entertainment. The fact that their own citizens were competing was secondary to the spectacle itself.

The information dump was too much for Jax's brain. So he did what he always did when bored.

He started teasing.

"So, would our drunk princess take part in this?"

Roxana's face exploded into embarrassment. Fragmented memories from last night surfaced involuntarily. Her begging for beer. The crying. The confession.

After several agonizing seconds, she managed to respond.

"Professors can't participate."

Jax tilted his head. "But that whore who got licked by a demon said I have a part in this."

Roxana blinked. "Who?"

"Come on, there's only one whore in our academy. Remember that demon lord who was puking after licking her pussy? That same one."

He leaned forward conspiratorially.

"I'm telling you, in order to save the world, we need to extract whatever's inside her pussy and weaponize it. Create something so good... I mean so horrifying, that attacking a demon lord with it would cause the most terrible death imaginable."

Roxana made a disgusted face. But she couldn't argue with the logic.

She returned to his original question.

"Well, she was kind of right. Every professor has to choose a team. A team of five students."

Jax raised an eyebrow.

"You have to select the five strongest members from any class, any year. Their performance during the competition is recorded for matchups. And it directly affects your ranking as a professor."

Her expression turned serious.

"Please take this seriously. I can feel you're going to make some mark on history this time. And remember, I'll go down with you as your assistant."

Jax smirked.

"Without me, you would still be going down. Remember last night? When you stumbled and were falling down toward all that broken glass? Remember who saved you from what could have been a very bad injury?"

She didn't reply. Shame colored her cheeks. A soft hiss escaped her lips.

But she changed the topic with practiced skill.

"We can't force students to join our team. They have to draft a letter to the professor they want as their mentor. It's voluntary."

She paused. Her expression fell.

"And I'm afraid we won't be able to fill our team with that system."

Jax frowned. "Why so?"

"Because of you, Professor."

She met his eyes finally.

"Do you honestly think anyone will willingly join you?"

Jax waved dismissively. "Don't worry about that."

Roxana looked at him suspiciously.

'Don't tell me he's planning to threaten the entire team into joining.'

She sighed internally and moved on.

"I think I've covered everything for this topic. So that's it."

Jax smiled. "Is that so? But I think you're missing a part."

"About what?"

"Don't you remember? You wanted to apologize to me."

Her face scrunched in confusion. "Apologize? And why would I do that?"

Jax leaned back in his chair.

"Weird, isn't it? Looks like I drank too much yesterday. I imagined a girl saying..."

He cleared his throat. Pitched his voice higher. Mimicked her perfectly.

"'He was a nice guy, you know? And he died before I could apologize to him.'"

Roxana's blood turned to ice. "There's no way I said that."

Jax nodded seriously. "Yup, that's what I thought too. Maybe I was too drunk and imagined things."

Her face went completely red. Beetroot red. Tomato red. The kind of red that indicated a person was about to combust from embarrassment.

She immediately averted her gaze. Shot up from her chair.

"I'll take my leave. I'm working on my thesis."

She started walking toward the door.

Jax's voice followed her. "'Don't leave me alone, Professor. I'm scared.'"

She walked faster.

"'Can you please sleep with me?' I mean, sit beside me."

Roxana nearly sprinted out of the room. She couldn't take this anymore. The memory of her drunk self clinging to his hand like a child was too much.

She vanished around the corner.

Jax sat alone, grinning like a demon who had just claimed a soul.

"Oh god, that was just a teaser. I'm going to make her cry soon."

After his entertainment concluded, Jax realized his class was next.

The schedule had been adjusted. His lecture was now right after lunch due to the morning interrogation sessions.

He stood. Stretched. Walked through the halls until he reached his classroom.

Pushed open the door.

Stepped inside.

The students' faces told a story. They had been informed he was alive. They knew he would be teaching today.

But seeing him in person? They looked like they'd witnessed a ghost manifesting before their eyes.

Most of them seemed distinctly unsatisfied by his survival. Jax could practically hear them cursing the demons for failing to finish the job.

He was completely unbothered.

He walked to the front of the class. Stood tall. Surveyed his students like a general addressing troops before battle.

"Now, my students."

His voice carried across the room.

"It's that time. That moment when we show the world who we are."

He began pacing.

"It's that moment when we show everyone who once mocked us. Who once looked down on you. Who once whispered behind your backs that you would never amount to anything."

His voice rose with passion.

"This is the time when we rise from the ashes of their doubt! When we take their expectations and shatter them beneath our feet! When we prove that greatness isn't given, it's TAKEN!"

He slammed his fist against the desk.

"Every champion was once a contender who refused to give up! Every legend was once a nobody who dared to dream! And every single one of you has the potential to become something MORE!"

He spread his arms wide.

"The world is watching! Royalty is watching! History itself is watching! And when they look at us, what will they see? Failures who crumbled under pressure? Or WARRIORS who rose to claim their destiny?!"

His speech reached its crescendo.

"So I ask you now! Who wants to WIN?!"

Silence.

"Who wants to DOMINATE?!"

More silence.

"Who wants to JOIN ME?!"

Dead. Absolute. Suffocating. Silence.

Not a single hand raised. Not a single voice responded. The students stared at him like he had grown a second head.

Jax's eye twitched.

"What the hell? For all that to happen, you need to actually join me."

He took a breath.

"I think you didn't listen properly due to my awesome and emotional speech. Let me rephrase it simply."

He pointed at the class.

"Raise your hands if you want to join my team. Raise them only if you want a mentor who will lead you to victory."

Silence.

Students began glancing at each other. Eyes asking the same question.

'Who would be insane enough?'

Astrid and Seris sat together near the back. Neither bothered looking around. They already knew no one would be mad enough to choose him.

Then Jax noticed movement.

Seraphina had started raising her hand.

Her brother immediately grabbed it. Pulled it back down. Shot her a look that said 'What the hell are you doing?'

She lowered her hand reluctantly.

But then Jax saw it.

One hand. Raised high. Trembling slightly.

Lilith.

The same girl from before. The one who had defended him when others mocked. The one with quiet determination in her eyes.

She was nervous. Hesitant. Every stare in the room had turned to her with a mixture of shock and pity.

But her hand stayed up.

One hand. Out of an entire class.

Jax was pissed.

He had wasted so much energy on that speech. Poured his soul into motivation. And this was the result.

He snapped.

"You scums don't deserve a mentor like me. You all belong in gutters."

His voice dripped with venom.

"So I think Zharina would be perfect for you. She belongs in that category as well."

He gathered his things.

"Good luck getting your asses kicked by other academies."

He walked toward the door.

"I have plenty of options. I'll pick from a better class. A better year."

He paused at the threshold. Looked back at the stunned faces.

"Or maybe this is what the gods wanted me to do. Find students actually worthy of my time."

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