Opening my eyes again: "No, thank you." Although I know the young woman with golden hair is doing this out of goodwill... I can't accept it. I know it might seem stupid, I understand, it's not out of pride or anything like that, it's out of indignation. Accepting these jewels would be like receiving charity from the same family that adopted Charlotte. If it were the same family that donated to the church, it would be gladly accepted; after all, it's as if I were returning the kindness the church, old Colder, and Sister Jenny showed her. But trying to accept the jewels from my older sister... I simply can't accept it.
"Are you stupid, Aspirant?" The young woman with blue hair frowned, looking at me as if I were stupid for not accepting her friend's charity.
I can feel in her gaze that air of superiority. They think they're better than the others, but you can't deny that they are. They were lucky to be born into a better family than the rest, with bloodlines running through their veins, a cradle of gold without having to worry about the next day's food, free from the troubles people like us suffer. Gleaming outfits filled with gems... you can't blame them. You could say the world is unfair, of course it is, but you don't get anything by complaining about it and crying miserably about your bad luck. The only thing you can do is move forward or settle for it. I don't blame her for feeling this way either. She doesn't understand my position, just as I can't understand hers. We live in totally different worlds.
"Angela, stop." The young woman with golden hair looked at her friend. The jewels in her hand disappeared.
"But..." Angela tried to say something, but fell silent...
Cristina looked back at the young man in front of her: "My name is Cristina Von Luciana, representative of the second-year students of the Sacred Imperial Academy."
"My name is Angela De Acuario." The young woman, Angela, said somewhat grumpily.
"I'm Abadon Crisol, nice to meet you!" The young man smiled and returned to the same position as before.
"I'm Nox." I don't have a surname; a clear difference between nobles and commoners. Not having a surname means being a commoner, with no legacy, no descendants—just a nobody, in short...
"You must know why we are here, right?" The young woman with golden hair looked at me with a small smile.
"Yes, I know." I replied, nodding my head.
"First things first." Cristina looked at Angela. She nodded, and suddenly a white sphere appeared. Angela approached: "Put your hand on the crystal."
Placing my hand, the sphere began to glow for a moment before changing to a deep black color. Sinister, ghostly silhouettes began to appear inside...
"Necromancer?" The young Angela frowned as she looked at the dark figures...
"Hmm... It's the first time I've seen something like this... I suppose it has to do with dark mana." Cristina stayed silent for a few moments... "Its mana quality is very pure, impressive. It was worth coming to this place." Cristina nodded to herself, pulling out a small crystal of pure white. She looked at Nox for a moment: "I will report this to my superior. I will ask you a few questions. I advise you to answer honestly. It won't be bad; on the contrary, it will be beneficial for you and much easier for you to join the academy without too much paperwork or unnecessary problems."
"Necromancer?" A bit confused... Isn't that when you have the power to revive a dead person? Frowning... I don't think this has anything to do with shadows or darkness, but I stayed silent... for now, I'll just watch and see what happens...
"God of Shadows... I understand now!" Angela put a beautiful smile on her lips. She looked at me deeply: "It's the first time I've seen it; I've only read about it in books." Crossing her arms: "I understand that it's disappeared for many years. The last time a dark magic user appeared was centuries ago, and since then, none have reappeared."
Cristina's eyes sparkled, but she stayed silent: "It's decided now, next step." She clenched her hands, and a glow like stars appeared from them. Soon, what seemed to be a starry cloak appeared. A moment later, an image of a woman appeared. Her face couldn't be seen, everything was blurry, but what was visible was that she was sitting in what seemed to be an office...
"Your grace." Cristina lowered her head and respectfully greeted the image of the woman...
"Excellent work, you managed to kill the demon successfully. I'm glad for you. You will be rewarded for your efforts." The voice coming from the starry cloak was melodious and youthful, full of life and incredibly sweet...
"Thank you very much for your words, but I need to report an unforeseen issue." The young woman with golden hair raised her head: "The demon that was roaming the area is classified as a C-5 class demon, just one step away from reaching class B. A demon with mental powers. We have secured the body in my dimensional ring for further examination."
"Perfect, I'm very glad you are well. Setting that aside, I suppose you've already met the aspirant."
"Yes, but as I informed you, I have to tell you a few things." The young Cristina looked at me for a moment...
"That sounds interesting. Tell me, dear, what happened?"
"First..." Cristina told everything in detail, not skipping any facts about how the fight against the demon went, how the three of them had to activate their bloodlines, the demon's strange abilities with just hearing its voice, the way it split, and finally, how they had to use divine energy to kill it...
"Actually, it was aspirant Nox who dealt the final blow to the demon in its last attempt to escape." Cristina's words were calm as she narrated everything: "It was of great help. Without his intervention, we would have had a great chase to kill it." She fell silent for a few moments: "We were careless."
The woman behind the starry cloak stayed silent... "May I see him?"
"Of course." The starry cloak turned to face Nox... He looked at it carefully... what he could see was that the woman behind the image had light green hair... "Young aspirant Nox, right?"
"Uh... Yes, what do you want?" Lowering my head awkwardly... her voice is strange, full of life and energy like never before.