After confirming that the crystal would arrive by morning, Kael tossed on a black training jacket, tied his hair back loosely, and left his dorm.
"I need to burn some steam off. Maybe practice some footwork or go through Form 3 again."
As he walked through the dim hallway toward the academy's private S-rank training facility, the only sound was the soft hum of mana pulsing in the walls. Quiet. Peaceful.
Until.
CRASH!
A body came flying through a metal door to Kael's right, hitting the wall hard enough to dent it. The guy slumped over, groaning in pain. Kael froze.
"...What the hell?"
Before he could fully process, another body flew out, landing on top of the first, groaning. Then a third. All of them wore the uniform of second-year students.
From inside the room, a low hum of pressure exploded outward. It made Kael's coat flap. A pulse of aura. Intense. Refined. Heavy.
Kael slowly peeked through the broken doorframe.
Inside stood Jin Eldraven, calm as ever, one hand in his pocket, surrounded by broken training dummies and sparking mana panels. His icy blue eyes glanced toward the doorway casually, like he'd been expecting an audience.
The first injured senior got up, coughing, then locked eyes with Kael.
"Stay out of this, first year!" the senior roared.
He surged toward Kael, enraged and stupid.
Kael stood still, eyes calm, hands still in his pockets.
As the punch came toward him, Kael shifted his torso slightly, the fist whistling past his face.
"Fast. These seniors really are no joke."
In a blur, Kael twisted and delivered a kick to the man's ribs, laced with mana. The senior's eyes went wide, and his body launched back into the opposite wall, collapsing with a crack. Unconscious.
Kael exhaled slowly and muttered,
"Guess I'm stronger than I thought."
Jin stepped out of the ruined room, brushing nonexistent dust from his sleeve.
"I didn't need help."
Kael shrugged, eyes narrowed slightly.
"Didn't look like it. But I was sensing demonic aura coming off that last guy."
They both turned toward the collapsed senior. His veins were turning dark, skin fading into ash-gray, black marks spreading across his neck and face. Jin's eyes narrowed as Kael crouched beside the body.
"Yep. He's decaying. He's a demi-demon. Died during the fight."
Kael stood back up, brushing his hands off.
"Why'd you beat the shit out of them anyway?"
Jin gave a small smirk, the closest thing to a smile he ever showed.
"They pissed me off."
Kael chuckled and shook his head.
"Man, you've got anger problems."
Jin didn't respond just walked past him, mana cloak slightly flickering as he left, aura calm again.
Kael watched him go, then tapped his watch and called the academy staff.
"Yeah, this is Kael Vernier. I'm reporting a dead senior student. Body's showing demonic decay signs. You might wanna get the suppression division down here… Yeah, we're outside Training Room 7. Got it."
He ended the call and looked back down at the corpse, now almost completely black and crumbling.
"That makes one demi-demon I've seen since I got here. Something's off…"
He stood and cracked his neck.