The Red Disaster's Welcome
The auditorium was wrapped in perfect silence, as if the chaos from just moments ago had all been a lie.
Those who had been fighting the monsters, those groaning from their injuries—none of them dared open their mouths rashly.
Every gaze was locked onto the girl descending from above.
She had fiery red hair tied roughly into twin tails. The clothes she wore held not a trace of dignity no matter how hard you searched for it—just loose, comfortable-looking garments perfect for moving around in.
Her face itself had delicate features and striking eyes and nose, pretty enough that she would probably break quite a few men's hearts once she grew up. But the crooked expression plastered across it that screamed everything is such a hassle mercilessly ruined that beauty.
Thanks to that, the first impression that slammed into your brain wasn't "pretty" but "extremely arrogant." From any angle, she looked like nothing more than an ordinary girl with a bit of attitude.
“......”
Not a single person gathered in the auditorium could move so much as a finger. They weren't doing anything at all, yet the moment they saw her, they instinctively understood.
She was a life form on an entirely different level.
Even our gutsy young lady had gone quiet, completely intimidated... huh?
“My lady, what are you doing?”
“It's obvious she's the boss.”
So saying, my lady began gathering her mana. Thanks to Sword Saint and Mind's Eye sharpening my senses, I could clearly see her circles spinning fiercely. At the same time, the shadows lurking at her feet rushed toward her fingertips and began forming a black orb.
Is that my lady's ultimate technique? The black... something-or-other?
As expected of my lady. The way she handles mana is so clean.
There's not a single waste in the process—from the mana starting in her heart, flowing through her body, and gathering in her hand.
Seeing how much she's grown from three years ago when she couldn't even handle mana properly... it's deeply moving... but this isn't the time!
I quickly moved to my lady's side and lowered the arm she had aimed at the girl.
“What the—! Don't interfere! It's clear she's strong, so I need to hit her first!”
“My lady, even if you hit first, you'll lose. So please just stay still...”
I raised her, but she really grew up with some serious firepower...
But no matter how unbelievably strong my lady had become for the start of the game, she was still no match for that monster. That was obvious. Because that girl was the principal of Stella Academy, the strongest being in this world—the Red Disaster, Lustil.
Principal Lustil, who had been floating leisurely in the air, finally stepped lightly onto the shattered podium of the grand auditorium.
Tap.
It was a silent landing that didn't scatter even a speck of dust, yet the moment her feet touched the ground, the intangible pressure weighing down the entire hall grew even heavier.
Lustil nervously swept back her twin-tailed red hair in a rough motion, then slowly scanned the new students lined up in the auditorium—from the blood bags panting and bleeding, to the crown prince who had somehow formed ranks and gripped his weapon tightly, all the way to my lady, who was still huffing angrily with her arm caught in my grasp.
Only after that mechanical gaze had swept across every living thing in the grand auditorium did Lustil's lips finally part.
“I see your level.”
Her voice itself was drenched in the tone of someone who found everything annoyingly tiresome. But the density of mana carried in that low murmur was so vicious that just hearing it sent chills down the spine and made the heart feel violently squeezed.
Lustil let her shoulders slump and let out a deep, heavy sigh. The words that followed completely dropped the already frozen atmosphere of the auditorium into the abyss.
“...It's so boring I want to die.”
Having uttered a line that somehow reminded me of a soccer genius, the principal sat down roughly on the broken debris as if she truly found it all boring. Given her outfit, her loose clothes left everything underneath completely visible, but she didn't seem to care in the slightest.
In the game they cleverly angled the camera so you couldn't see anything, but here it's all on display.
This is how I keep realizing this place is reality... coffee beans.
Lustil began her self-introduction.
“I am the principal of Stella Academy, Lustil. Blood bags.”
The moment the name Lustil flowed from her small lips, shallow groans and murmurs erupted from every corner of the frozen auditorium.
“Lustil...? One of the only two 7-Circle Archmages on the entire continent?”
“The Red Disaster...! That little girl is really the strongest on the continent?”
The new students' eyes shook violently. No matter how much of a golden generation of geniuses from every corner of the empire they were, no one could maintain their composure before a living legend and calamity.
Even the crown prince watched Lustil with clear tension as he withdrew his magic circle, and my lady—whose arm was still caught in my hand as she looked for an opening—had her eyes sparkling with interest.
No, my lady, why are your eyes sparkling like that? It's making me nervous. Lustil could kill you with a flick of her finger, you know?
Did I raise my lady too much as a battle maniac...?
Even as I reflected on my lady's education policy, Lustil continued picking at her ear with a bored expression and pointed at several students.
“You, and you. And you. Oh, and the one next to you too.”
The ones she pointed at wore expressions of utter confusion.
“You lot are eliminated. Go home.”
The air in the auditorium subtly rippled at the sight of Lustil resting her chin on her hand, looking down at the students with clear disdain. A commotion broke out among the new students at the sudden elimination announcement.
Well, they had probably gone around bragging to everyone that they had passed the entrance exam for Stella Academy, so suddenly being told they were eliminated would naturally cause panic.
But even amid that uproar, Lustil simply yawned as if none of it concerned her. At her complete indifference, a fierce protest finally erupted from somewhere.
“Isn't this way too harsh no matter how you look at it!”
Pushing through the murmuring crowd, a young man who clearly looked like nobility stepped forward. He was one of those Lustil had named for elimination.
His face—which must have received nothing but respect wherever he went—was covered in dust from the recent attack. He pointed his finger at Lustil on the podium and huffed angrily.
“No matter if you're the principal, we are people who earned legitimate qualification from all across the empire! Yet before the entrance ceremony even begins, you pull this dangerous stunt without any warning and casually declare us eliminated?!”
His voice grew louder and louder with rising fury until he was practically shouting. Several noble students around him nodded in agreement and began to stir. Of course, they were all ones who had been named for elimination too.
Lustil, still sitting on the podium, stared blankly at the young man pointing at her. For the briefest moment, a strange gleam flickered in her dull eyes that had looked bored by everything.
Lustil pointed her finger at the young man with a sharp chk.
“...!”
The young man flinched violently at Lustil's sudden movement. But one second passed. Two seconds. Nothing happened in the grand auditorium.
As the silence stretched, relief began to creep into the young man's eyes that had been warily watching the tip of her finger. But I quietly sheathed my sword.
At the same time, my vision was swallowed by darkness.
“...Dia, why? The really fun part is about to start.”
“Ah, I'm not really a fan of gory stuff.”
“?”
Even the game had mosaics for this scene.
I pulled my lady—who had been watching with sparkling interest—into my arms and covered her eyes. Of course, since Mind's Eye was always active, I could still roughly grasp what was happening even without sight.
“Ah! What are you doing! Get this off!”
“Please stay still.”
While my lady and I struggled, the young man grew even bolder and raised his voice higher.
“I will officially report this to His Majesty the Emperor! Even if you beg for mercy then...!”
Boom—!
In that instant, without any warning, the young man's body exploded into a mist of blood. The sticky crimson splattered mercilessly across the faces and uniforms of the students who had been nodding along with him just moments before.
“Kyaaaaaak!”
“H-he's dead?!”
The students around them, unable to process the sudden change, screamed in horror. Since I had closed my eyes beforehand, I didn't have to witness the scene directly. But through Mind's Eye, the movement of mana was vividly clear.
It's not even magic. She's just crushing him with raw mana...
It was as if someone had pressed down on an ant with their finger. The mana Lustil had spread throughout the auditorium instantly exerted enormous pressure and burst the young man apart. A godlike technique born from mana beyond common sense and inhuman control. Of course, Lustil wasn't human to begin with, but impressive was still impressive.
Meanwhile, my lady—who was still trapped in my arms with her vision blocked—grumbled in a thoroughly dissatisfied voice.
“Dia, let go! I heard a sound! There was a boom! Why won't you let me see?!”
“No can do, my lady. This is extremely harmful to a child's emotional development. I cannot show it for educational reasons.”
“I'm not a child! I'm an adult! Let go already!”
What are you talking about? You can't even drink alcohol yet.
While firmly holding my struggling lady's head against me, I focused on Lustil's cool voice coming from the podium.
By the way, my lady's hair smells like lavender. I didn't know that.
“Anyone else have complaints?”
Lustil's short question sliced sharply through the auditorium.
The faces of the students who had been nodding along with the young man's anger turned deathly pale. Without even thinking to wipe the blood splattered on their uniforms, they all buried their heads toward the floor as if on cue. They weren't even breathing loudly, desperately trying to avoid making any sound at all.
Lustil looked down at them apathetically, tilted her head slightly, and continued.
“You all seem to be misunderstanding something. The emperor and all that nonsense means nothing here.”
Every time Lustil spoke in that low voice, the overwhelming mana filling the auditorium pressed down harder, heavily weighing on the students' shoulders.
“The only thing that matters here is talent.”
Lustil slowly rose from her seat. Her red hair fluttered wildly like flames in response to the aura she emitted.
“The outstanding rise upward. Everything else is merely a stepping stone. That is the rule of this place, Stella Academy. And the one standing at the very top is—”
Lustil poked her own chest with her finger.
“—me.”
After speaking, Lustil glanced around at the silent students and calmed the mana that had filled the space.
“There. With this much said, you understand now, right?”
Snap!
Lustil flicked her fingers lightly. The moment the clear sound rang through the auditorium—
“!”
A bizarre phenomenon occurred, as if time itself was rewinding.
The blood that had soaked the floor and the students' clothes defied gravity, soaring upward before gathering in one place and rapidly reforming. Torn flesh and bone reconnected organically, and the torn uniform fabric mended in an instant.
In less than a single second, the young man who had exploded in every direction stood tall once more, completely unharmed without a single wound.
To me with Mind's Eye, the entire process was vividly clear. To everyone else, it must have looked like time had simply reversed in the blink of an eye.
“Uh... uhh?”
“Wh-what just...?”
A magic so close to divine authority that it toyed with the boundary between life and death. Everyone in the grand auditorium wore expressions of soul-shattering shock at the overwhelming sight.
And the young man who had literally just returned from the abyss of death stared blankly down at his own pale, intact hands before—
“...Hik, hik!”
—his whole body began convulsing. The horrifying sensation of death, deeply etched into his mind, finally caught up to him and took over.
Strength completely drained from his legs, he collapsed unsightly onto the floor, gasping for breath. And on top of that... damn it! The guy pissed himself!
I frowned at the yellow puddle spreading across the floor and the acrid smell slowly filling the auditorium. Mind's Eye was annoyingly high-performance at times like these. Even with my eyes closed, my sensitive senses picked everything up.
“Dia, what's that smell?!”
“My lady, shh. Right now, a man's dignity is being socially obliterated.”
“Ugh, I want to see it too! You didn't show me the boom either—why are you the only one who gets to watch?!”
I absolutely would not let her. I held down the struggling lady with force.
Lustil, now wearing a satisfied expression at the sight of the collapsed young man and the thoroughly cowed new students, slowly rose from the debris. She began floating upward just as she had when she first appeared, gradually dissolving into a faint bluish glow of mana.
As if assimilating into space itself and vanishing, Lustil gave one last smile that seemed to swallow the entire auditorium.
Leaving only the echo of her voice behind in the air, Lustil completely vanished.
Having carved an unforgettable, terrifying, and intense first impression into the new students, the entrance ceremony of Stella Academy thus came to a close.