The professor's voice rang clear. "The story began when Moro's world shattered. Everything changed—not through magic, not through fate, but through his actions alone. He searched relentlessly for his parents' killers, but the trail led nowhere. Questions multiplied while answers remained elusive.
Then a stranger appeared at his door. This mysterious visitor, whose identity remains unknown to this day, delivered devastating news: a goddess had murdered Moro's parents. As the first being born with pure magical energy, Moro had disrupted the cosmic balance. The gods, threatened by this anomaly, decided to eliminate his family, unaware whether Moro himself was home. Fortunately for him, he wasn't.
When Moro heard this revelation, he stared at the sky with pure rage. The stranger departed, leaving him alone with his fury. Moro began hunting goddesses across the world. Those who knew nothing of his parents' deaths, he killed outright. Those who knew but did nothing, he tortured before ending their lives. But first, he needed strength.
His magical abilities were insufficient, so he trained for years. Then his massacre began. Every goddess fell, along with any god who dared defend them. We're talking about the origin of magic itself," the professor continued, his audience completely captivated.
"Eventually, Moro developed his first true magical skill at age thirty-five. Before that, flying and shooting energy beams were merely energy manipulation. This new ability allowed him to embed magical runes into human DNA, granting their children magic. He altered dozens of pregnant women, planning to create an army that would slaughter every goddess and finally satisfy his rage. He also craved companionship—to no longer be alone, no longer be called a freak."
The professor's voice turned somber on those final words.
"However, the army didn't materialize as planned. Some rebelled, choosing their own paths. Moro didn't care about those who refused to join him. But others did join, and their names deserve recognition as the most renowned first magic users: Bail, Arthur, Molina, Morrow, Witch, and Ray. These members fought alongside Moro and eventually won.
Now, I must remind you—every person with magic descends from those original thirty. Each of you, including myself, carries the bloodline of one of those thirty individuals. You might even descend from the heroes themselves, though no one descends from Moro. He never pursued love or family, consumed entirely by revenge."
The students, including Arthur, sat stunned. They had believed only Moro possessed magic and that they all descended from him alone. According to the professor, they actually descended from the thirty people Moro had gifted with power.
*Wait a minute,* Arthur thought. *One of those first magic users was named Arthur. Could I be his descendant? Just sharing a name doesn't prove anything, but still... which Arthur's body did I inhabit during my first life? When I entered the void and lived for those five minutes, whose body was I in? Could it have been my ancestor—the Arthur from the original magic users, or perhaps his son?*
While Arthur's thoughts spiraled, the professor continued. "After that war, nearly everyone without magic perished. I say 'nearly' because some people today still lack magical abilities. They might descend from those who never had magic, or their DNA might have reset to its original code—the code that never included magic. The second option seems most likely, since everyone without magic supposedly died. Perhaps their DNA wasn't reset at all. Perhaps they simply never had magic."
The professor's questions hung in the air. Students struggled to comprehend the paradoxes layered upon paradoxes.
Kai rested his head on the table and dozed off—not from exhaustion, but from boredom. His well-educated parents had already taught him most of this information.
"All right, now that we've finished—well, we've covered everything essential, though I've omitted considerable detail for brevity. We'll now move to the history of Goddess Wayne, the last goddess to ever live."
Meanwhile, a portal opened before the academy. Talon stepped through. "All right, so what do I do from here?" His voice remained monotone and emotionless as he approached the only doors visible. He pulled them open with a loud creak.
The academy's interior was breathtaking—exactly what one would expect from such an institution. Marble covered nearly every surface, and chandeliers hung from the ceiling. Talon wandered until he found it: the Awakening ceremony. He pressed his ear to the door, hearing numerous students within. He opened it quietly, though the door's loud creak made stealth impossible.
A young woman greeted him. She had black hair, wore purple clothing, and possessed gorgeous purple eyes. She smiled. "You're a new student, right? Good, we were expecting you. Sit in the bleachers and wait for your name to be called."
Talon complied. He climbed to the top of the bleachers and watched students undergo their Awakening, pressing their hands on the circle, hoping they wouldn't receive direct magic—which would result in immediate expulsion. The rules were harsh, but the academy refused to accept weak mages.
"Talon!" the woman called.
He rose, jumped down from the bleachers, and approached the large crystal—twice the size of his head. He placed his hand on it.
The results appeared: *Magic: Unknown. This user has magic, but this system cannot identify what it is.*
The woman's eyes widened. Random magic? Meaning he could do anything? He possessed all magical power? How? Barely a thousand students had ever achieved such a thing. She didn't even need to know his rank—this was even better than when Arthur had drink magic. She'd been interested in Arthur because he'd somehow achieved H rank, below the lowest possible FFF rank. The H class didn't even exist, meaning Arthur's magic was negative—which should have been impossible.
But this kid shocked her even more than Arthur had.
She stared blankly for several moments before finally speaking. "You... you pass."
That was all Talon needed to hear. He walked out of the auditorium and down the hall, but the woman hurried after him. "Wait! We need to assign you your dorm room and roommate."
"No need," he said. "I don't have a room in mind."
Talon didn't know anyone here. He would pick a room by luck. In fact, he didn't even know if anyone here was strange. He was supposed to investigate the academy for anything unusual or any strange people, then throw them into the large ruined opening inside the wall in the theater's room. If he found nothing, he would simply leave.
*Let's hope I pick the right room,* he thought as he approached one of the dormitories. Classes were still in session, so no one would be inside yet. Not that he cared. He phased through the door like it was nothing and entered without issue.
"No, no, no. Why would you sneak into someone's room like that?" a voice said—silky and calm.
Talon whipped around. A tall man stood before him with dark eyes, black hair, dark clothing, and a large sword in his right hand. Cain exuded an aura that screamed murder.
Talon stood motionless. No shiver ran down his spine. He had no instinct to run—it simply wasn't there. Ever since childhood, he'd felt no emotion, no fear, no survival instincts whatsoever. His body never reacted on impulse.
Cain walked toward him, sword dragging against the ground with a metallic scrape.
The confrontation had begun.
But before either could move, the lights flickered. Then died completely. In the sudden darkness, Talon heard something that made even his emotionless heart pause—a third presence in the room, breathing softly behind him.
Someone else had been watching them both all along.