The Anomaly's Path

Back in the Grand Auditorium, the place was a perfect picture of high-class order.

Sylvia von Celestial stood behind the pristine marble podium, her posture flawless. Her long black hair caught the light of the stained-glass windows, and her face carried the exact, ice-cold discipline that the public expected from the Celestial bloodline.

”Welcome, students, teachers, and honored guests from the Astra Union,” Sylvia said, her voice carrying easily across the quiet rows of seats.

On the outside, she looked like a terrifyingly beautiful, untouchable leader. On the inside, she was actively imagining a hundred different ways to skin the student council president alive.

But she didn’t let her internal rage show. She smoothly continued her speech, delivering the perfect, safe lines about academy traditions and hard work.

”Today, we honor the two hundred survivors sitting in the front rows,” Sylvia continued, her cold eyes moving over the crowd.

”You have faced the hard trial of the Sealed Valley. You have proven you can endure. But do not let it go to your heads. Surviving is only the first step. Here, rules and discipline are what matter. Without order, power is nothing but—”

Bang!

Sylvia’s voice was cut off as the big double doors at the back of the hall were thrown open. The heavy wood hit the marble walls so hard the sound echoed like an explosion through the silent room.

The heavy, respectful silence broke instantly. Hundreds of heads snapped around toward the entrance in absolute shock.

From the doorway, a loud laugh echoed through the prestigious silence.

”Hahaha! Fuck! I finally found the damn room!”

Standing right there in the entrance was Leo.

His long white hair was messy from running, and his heavy black cloak was half-crooked over his shoulder. He was breathing hard from running, but he looked completely unfazed by the fact that he had just ruined a live broadcast.

Leo rubbed the back of his neck, completely ignoring the hundreds of stunned eyes locking onto him. He didn’t use any magic; he just yelled across the massive room.

”Seriously, who the hell designed this place?!” Leo shouted toward the stage, throwing his hands up. ”Is this a school or a maze built by a crazy person?! I have been walking in circles past the same pillars for an hour! You guys need to put up some signs!”

The entire auditorium went dead silent.

In the front rows, the top candidates sat frozen. Arthur’s golden eyes widened in pure shock. Alice face went completely rigid, her jaw nearly dropping. Roan, who had been slouching completely in his chair, suddenly sat up, a massive, grin slowly spreading across his face as he stared at the entrance.

Up on the stage, Headmaster Vega stood completely still.

His posture was straight and unyielding, his short cropped silver hair catching the light. His molten gold eyes, sharp and gleaming with an unnatural light, narrowed slightly as they locked onto the crazy white-haired boy.

...And right at the podium, a sharp Crack echoed.

The expensive silver fountain pen in Sylvia’s hand didn’t just snap — it was crushed into flattened metal and splattered ink under the sudden, terrifying grip of her fingers. Her left eye gave a violent, uncontrollable twitch.

The disaster had officially arrived.

_

[Leo’s POV]

I let out a heavy sigh and quickly walked down the main aisle, completely ignoring the hundreds of stunned eyes staring at me. Everyone was stiff as a board, but I did not care. I just needed a seat before my legs gave out from all that pointless running.

Seriously, why is everyone looking at me like I just kicked their favorite puppy? It’s a design flaw. If you build a castle that takes three business days to cross, you can’t get mad when people show up late.

I didn’t even bother looking for the top-rank seating in the front row.

Fuck that.

Sitting right below the stage just meant I’d have to look up at Sylvia’s terrifying glare the whole time. Instead, I turned into the first empty row I saw near the middle section, kicked my boots up onto the back of the chair in front of me, and relaxed.

Looking up at the stage, I gave my sister a casual wave. Her face was switching between five different shades of pure, murderous anger.

”Don’t mind me,” I called out, my voice easily cutting through the dead silence. ”You can start your speech now. Go ahead.”

A collective, horrified gasp rippled through the surrounding students. A guy sitting two seats down from me actually pulled his collar, sweating like he was sitting next to a live bomb.

Up at the podium, Sylvia’s lips twitched so violently I thought she was having some kind of attack.

Dark ink from her crushed pen was literally dripping off her knuckles, but she just stood there, staring a hole right through my skull. If looks could kill, I would have been reduced to a pile of ash right on the plush cushion.

Man, she really needs to relax, I thought, leaning back and getting comfortable. It’s not even my fault!

I literally took a massive shortcut through the administrative wing right after Seris fixed my tie. I followed the exact directions, turned left where she told me to, and somehow still ended up in a completely different dimension.

How was I supposed to know the academy architects designed this entire campus while high on top-grade mana core?

I spent forty minutes walking in circles past the exact same three pillars. I’m completely convinced this school is haunted. I swear a statue blinked at me around the thirty-minute mark. Either that or I was genuinely hallucinating from total hunger.

They really should consider handing out snacks at the door if they’re going to make us walk a marathon just to hear people talk.

Sylvia forced a deep, ragged breath through her nose.

She closed her eyes for a split second, clearly counting to ten to stop herself from jumping off the stage, sprinting down the aisle, and breaking my neck in front of the whole world. When she opened them, the cold, perfect noble mask was back, though her voice was noticeably tighter.

”....As I was saying,” Sylvia continued, her sharp gaze sweeping away from me to look at the rest of the hall, completely ignoring my existence.

”Rules and discipline are what matter. This academy is not a playground for the arrogant. The nightmare of the Sealed Valley took nearly thirty thousand lives. Nearly thirty thousand candidates who failed to adapt, failed to survive, and were buried under the dirt. Let their deaths be your reminder: out there, the world does not care about your potential. It only cares about results.”

I rolled my eyes mentally.

Yeah, yeah, the usual grim-dark reality check. Blah blah blah. It was standard high-society propaganda — frame the massive tragedy as a ”necessary test” so the parents don’t riot, and call the survivors ”chosen elites” so they feel special for not dying.

...Thirty thousand dead, I thought, the number settling in my chest for a moment. That’s a lot of empty chairs. A lot of families who won’t see their kids again. And here we are, sitting in this fancy hall, listening to speeches about honor while their names get carved into a wall.

...But that’s not Sylvia’s fault. She didn’t make the exam harder. She just has to stand here and talk about it like it’s all part of the plan.

I pushed the thought away. Not the time for that.

”And now,” Sylvia concluded, her voice returning to its smooth, icy, formal tone as she neatly stacked her ruined, ink-stained papers. ”...To officially guide you into this next era, please welcome the leader of our institution, Headmaster Vega.”

The applause that followed was incredibly weak, mostly because everyone was still totally scared of the lingering tension in the room.

Headmaster Vega stepped up to the podium. His straight, unyielding posture made the massive marble structure look like a toy.

His short silver hair caught the light, and those molten gold eyes slowly scanned the crowd. The pressure in the room instantly shifted, turning heavy, thick, and suffocating enough to make your throat feel completely dry.

He opened his mouth and began his speech.

...And within exactly three minutes, I completely stopped listening.

It was the exact same, long-ass, boring bullshit I used to skip through when playing the game. He started droning on about ’false honor,’ the ’weight of the future,’ the ’glory of the Human Domain,’ and how we were the ’shield against the dark.’

”You are the vanguard,” Vega proclaimed, his deep voice echoing off the high ceiling. ”The choices you make within these halls will echo across generations. True strength is not merely the accumulation of mana, but the absolute mastery over one’s purpose...”

His voice was incredibly smooth and deep, but it had the power to put you to sleep like a strong spell.

I wasn’t the only one fighting to stay awake against the boredom. The whole freshman class was slowly dying, their souls practically leaving their bodies as the minutes dragged on.

A few rows ahead of me, Roan was sliding out of his chair. His chin was buried in his chest, his eyes glazed over as he stared blankly at the floor. Next to him, his sister Lyssaria looked like she was ready to do something crazy just to make the old dragon stop talking.

Every time Roan’s eyes started to close, she would dig her elbow into his ribs, making him gasp and sit up straight for about twelve seconds before he started slumping again.

Further down the row, Alice sat stiff as a board.

She was not sleeping, but her fists were clenched so tight in her lap that her knuckles were white. She looked like she was using all her willpower just to block out the sound of Vega’s voice so she would not lose her mind.

Even Caster, the half-dwarf engineer who was usually a nervous mess, was completely drained. He was slumped low in his seat, his leg still bouncing out of habit, but his eyes were glazed over.

He let out a big, silent yawn that brought tears to his eyes, then blinked hard and tried to sit up straighter. It didn’t work. His head kept nodding down like a broken clock, and he didn’t even bother fighting it anymore.

Every single student who had survived the horrors of the Sealed Valley looked like they were being defeated by a simple twenty-minute speech.

I let out a massive yawn, shielding my eyes from the bright light streaming through the windows. Five minutes passed. Then ten. Then twenty.

Holy shit, does this dragon ever run out of air? I thought, my eyelids growing heavier by the second.

I was really about to fall completely asleep right there in the chair, my chin resting against my chest as his words turned into a blurry hum of boring school talk.

My brain was slowly dying from how long the speech was dragging on. It felt like a psychological torture method. I mean, sure, you’re an ancient powerhouse, but can we speed this up? Some of us haven’t had breakfast yet!

Then, finally, his tone shifted, dropping into a slightly lower register that signaled the merciful end.

”...Therefore, let us carry the names of the fallen into the light of tomorrow,” Vega concluded, folding his hands over the podium.

”Ah! Finally! Thank God!”

I slammed my hands together, clapping loudly and enthusiastically with a massive, relieved grin on my face. ”Woo! Finally that speech ended! Great job! Fantastic!”

My loud clapping echoed through the quiet room.

Several students near me slowly turned around, looking at me like I was a literal psychopath who had lost his mind.

But the silence did not last.

From the front row, a sudden laugh broke the quiet. Roan could not hold it in. He burst out laughing loud and hard, slapping his knee as he turned around in his chair to point back at me.

”Pfft—hahaha! Oh my god, he actually did it!” Roan roared, completely ignoring his sister’s desperate attempt to choke him out from behind. ”Brilliant! Best speech ever! Good job, Headmaster!”

Alice slapped her hand against her forehead and let out a loud, miserable groan. ”I can’t do this. I really cannot survive a whole damn year in the same class as these two idiots.”

Up on the stage, Headmaster Vega’s left eyebrow twitched, his golden eyes narrowing slightly as they locked onto me. Even an ancient dragon was not immune to the lack of shame in the room.

I just leaned back in my seat and crossed my arms, a small smirk on my face.

Heh. Totally worth it, I thought.

Vega cleared his throat. ”...I will now conclude the opening remarks. It is time to reveal the final freshman ranks and introduce the esteemed leadership who will oversee your progression.”

He gestured slightly toward the special balcony where the high-ranking officials were seated.

”To mark the gravity of this new generation, we are honored to have a representative from the highest authority of the Domain,” Vega announced, his voice echoing clearly across the stands.

”I would like to introduce a member of the Astra Union — one who holds a legendary position among the twelve seats of the high council.”

I leaned my head back against the cushion, mildly curious. Oh, one of the Twelve Seats? Wonder which old politician they dragged out of their retirement home to wave at the cameras.

”Please welcome,” Vega proclaimed, his voice carrying an unexpected weight of absolute respect, ”the previous head of House Celestial, one of the strongest powerhouses of the Human Domain... the Lightning Sovereign, Zephyr von Celestial.”

My eyes instantly widened, my boots dropping off the chair in front of me with a loud, echoing thud.

Grandpa?!