THE SHADOWS OF AETHEL

 He dashed towards the wolf with a downward strike. The wolf rolled to dodge, and in the instant it lunged back towards him, Takemitchi attempted several swings. But each time, the wolf's superior speed and agility allowed it to evade his blade.

 With blinding quickness, the beast tried to slash at his leg. Takemitchi parried the attack and countered with a precise strike, severing the wolf's leg instead. Though it struggled to stand, without its limb the creature became a much easier target.

 Takemitchi didn't hesitate. He hacked methodically at its neck, and with three deliberate swings, he decapitated the beast.

 Taking a deep breath of relief, he said with a smug look of accomplishment, "Did you see that? I finally beat it."

 "Well, you did great considering how pathetic you were a few minutes ago," Ayame replied.

 He walked towards the two girls. "So did you already beat the other wolf?" he asked.

 "Yeah, look over there," Ayame pointed to the wolf on the ground. The creature had no visible injuries except for its eye, but blood streamed from its eyes and pooled all around.

 "What the! How did you kill it? It doesn't have that many wounds," Takemitchi asked with an expression of curiosity. "Wait, did you use magic?"

 "I wish," she replied as she pulled two daggers from under her skirt. "You see these babies." The two daggers had an unusual shape—instead of being flat, they were covered in tiny spikes and gleamed with a dark purple color.

 "They are my trump card. They have poison so lethal it could wipe out a kingdom. All it takes is a single strike, and in less than five seconds, we'll have a dead body."

 "Wow, that's scary," Takemitchi added. "Hey Shizuri, are you alright?" he asked, curious about why she had been quiet and facing the opposite direction the entire time.

 "Yeah, I'm fine. I just got a little distracted," she replied.

 'I guess she must have been watching Ein fight. Anyone would get distracted by that. Now let's see how he handled him...self,' shock hit Ayame like a tidal wave as she saw what was in front of her.

 A huge pile of wolf corpses lay before them, with Ein walking down by stepping on the bodies. When he reached where the three were standing, none of them said anything.

 Ayame was silent from shock, Takemitchi from fear, and Shizuri simply stared with her usual poker face.

 "I'm going back to the academy. Tell Kurumi that it was cold—she'll know what I mean," Ein said before walking away.

 Later, Ein walked through the bustling city streets. The air was calm, people went about their business, and he glanced at his timepiece.

 A timepiece was a magical item similar to watches from the era of technology, except it ran on magical energy like every device in this world.

 After the Fall, technology had been wiped out, but people attempted to rebuild old inventions using magic. While some devices were successfully recreated, others resulted in failure. The prevalence of magic had made people lose interest in technology, causing many ideas and inventions to be lost with time.

 'By now everyone must have gone home. I've missed the first day of class... not that it matters,' he thought.

 As he walked, people moved out of his way. His bored expression and the blood on his cheek made everything about him scream danger.

 'Those three have potential, but they're the type to depend on magic, so they won't get far. The sword boy is still low-level, dagger girl was mid-level, and twin blade was low-level, though her power fluctuated strangely between low and mid,' he reflected.

 'That dungeon wasn't exciting at all. At this point, I might as well go to the Whispering Woods myself.'

 As Ein continued walking, a boy passed by him. Ein instinctively grabbed the boy's shoulder. 'Wait, what was that? For a moment, I couldn't sense any magic from him.'

 He turned for a clearer look. The boy had short black hair, dark blue eyes, and wore the academy's uniform. His appearance was quite pleasant overall.

 Startled by the sudden contact, the boy asked, "Ahm... how may I help you?"

 "That uniform—are you a student at Mana Academy?" Ein asked gently with his deep voice, careful not to alarm the boy.

 The sound of his voice and the heavy aura around him made the boy want to take a few steps back, but he remained still to avoid offense. "Ye-yes, today was my first day," the boy replied quickly, his tone nervous.

 "No need to be so alarmed, boy. I also go there. I'm a second year. What's your name?" he asked politely.

 "My name..." the boy's thoughts seemed stuck. "Oh, my name. I'm Ryouseibai Kuroyami, a first year," he introduced himself with a bow.

 "A first year. You can call me Ein. Let's talk more tomorrow after school—come to the Dark Knight section," he said before walking away.

 'That was weird but mostly terrifying. The aura around him was scary. I hope I can stay on his good side,' Kuroyami thought as he continued walking.

 Ein was still pondering what he'd felt when he passed Kuroyami. 'That boy... did I imagine that? I've never met anyone who can turn off their aura completely. Clearly I imagined it.'

 The next morning was beautiful. Birds hummed their songs, the breeze carried fresh air, and shopkeepers were just opening their stores.

 'I hope I'll talk to someone other than Claudine today. It's not that talking to her is bad, but the stares I get make me feel out of place,' Kuroyami thought on his way to school.

 As he walked, he felt someone watching him and eventually heard a voice from behind. At first, he couldn't make out the words since they came from far away, so he paid no attention. He continued until he clearly heard someone yell, "Wait!!!"

 He turned to see a boy wearing the same uniform running toward him. "Hey Kuroyami," the boy said, catching his breath.

 Kuroyami didn't recognize him and didn't know what to say. "Hey, hi?" he replied awkwardly.

 The boy lifted his head with a smile. "Yo man, let's walk together to school," he said, adjusting his bag.

 The boy had short green hair with bangs, emerald-colored eyes, and was slightly shorter than Kuroyami with a similar slim build. He looked cheerful, though not as handsome as Kuroyami.

 "S-sure," he replied, and they headed toward the academy together.

 'I wonder who this guy is. He looks about my age, so he must be a first-year. Which class is he in? Is there something he wants to talk about?' Kuroyami wondered.

 "Crazy day yesterday, right?" the boy said, prompting questions in Kuroyami's mind.

 'Wait, yesterday? I don't remember seeing this guy anywhere. I'll learn more if I play along.' He replied with hesitation, "Ye-yeah, it was."

 "Things moved really fast. I wonder how you felt—one moment class starts, the next moment you're class president," the boy said laughingly.

 'So this guy is in my class and was there yesterday. I don't even remember seeing him. He must not have stood out. I wish I was more like him,' Kuroyami thought.

 The two talked while walking to class and got to know each other. When they arrived, most students were already there chatting. Kuroyami took his front-row seat, felt Claudine's stare, and the boy he'd been walking with sat in the last seat of Kuroyami's row.

 Within seconds, Miss Sakkaku entered, and everyone quickly quieted down, hurried to their seats, and stood up in unison.

 "Good morning, Miss Sakkaku," the entire class greeted.

 "Good morning, students. You may take your seats," she replied gently.

 "Thank you very much, ma'am," they said before sitting down.

 Miss Sakkaku began her lesson. Her teaching method differed from anything the students had experienced before, capturing their full attention. She used magic to create small characters on the board that illustrated her lesson like an animation, with her as the narrator.

 "The Three Levels of Magic are this world's classification system based on the amount of magical power a person possesses," she began.

 "The first is the low-level stage, where people who can only use the weakest magic are classified—also known as the commoner's stage. The spells and skills they can use include lifting a book in the air, starting a small fire, or creating a gentle breeze.

 "Then we have the mid-level stage for those who can use magic at much higher levels than the low-level stage.

 People in this stage have magic of higher concentration and quality. Their spells are nothing short of amazing—some can fly, some can create powerful water or fire blasts.

 "Finally, we have the high-level stage, also known as the Elite level. This is reserved for those who can use the highest form of magic, normally found only among nobles.

 "Although the four elements are most common, their use varies according to each individual, and some possess magical abilities outside these elements.

 "You can increase your magical power through training, but it takes a long time, so most people simply work with what they have," she explained.