The Anomaly's Path

The sudden, sharp sound of knocking cut through the quiet of the top floor.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

I stopped in the middle of the room, my hand hanging in the air. My brow furrowed as I stared at the heavy wooden door.

The training had completely drained my body, and my head was still light from the sheer exhaustion of pushing my soul space. Lyra had promised me no one would bother me for the next few hours.

Who the hell is that?

I walked to the door with quiet, careful steps and placed my hand on the lock. The heavy mechanism clicked, and the door slid open.

I blinked.

Standing in the doorway was a tall figure, illuminated by the dim light of the hallway. Long, pristine black hair fell over her shoulders, and a pair of sharp, ocean-blue eyes — the exact same color as mine, locked onto my face with a terrifying focus.

Sylvia von Celestial. My older sister. The Student Council Vice President.

I didn’t even wait for her to speak. My survival instincts kicked in instantly. I slammed my hand back onto the sensor, and the heavy door shot out of the wall, slamming shut right in her face with a loud, resounding thud.

I leaned my back against the wood, my chest heaving as I stared at the ceiling. What the fuck? Why is she here? Did someone tell her about the lecture? Is she here to finish the job because I survived Morgana? Or is she here to execute me because of what I did at the orientation ceremony?

No... wait. This is the academy place.

She surely couldn’t try to assassinate me inside the school grounds, right? I hoped so, but with her, you could never be too sure...

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The door literally shook behind my back.

”Open the door, Leo!” her voice barked through the barrier, muffled but boiling with rage. ”I know you are standing right there! Do not make me use force!”

I cleared my throat, forcing my voice to sound as weak, frail, and distant as possible. ”Uhh... no. I will not open it. Go away, Sylvia.”

”What the hell are you doing?” she snapped, the handle rattling violently. ”Why are you locking your own sister out? Open this damn door right now!”

”Uh, well... I am not feeling well, Sylvia,” I lied, leaning my entire weight against the wood. ”We will talk later. Just go back to your floor.”

”Like hell you are sick!” she yelled back. ”Now open the damn door before I make an opening myself!”

A cold shiver went straight down my spine. Knowing her, she would actually blast the door off its hinges. I panicked internally and swallowed hard.

”Fine! Fine!” I yelled back, holding my hands up defensively even though she couldn’t see me. ”But promise me you won’t kill me first! Give me your word!”

The banging stopped. A long, heavy silence stretched out in the hallway.

”...What?” Sylvia’s voice came through, sounding genuinely bewildered. ”Why would I kill you? Have you completely lost your mind, you idiot?”

I paused, blinking at the door. Wait. Did she forget about everything? Or is she just acting normal?

I felt a huge wave of relief, and right after that, I realized how stupid I must have looked. I rubbed my face, cleared my head, and took a deep breath.

”...Fine. Wait a minute. I’m opening it,” I muttered.

I hit the lock again. The door slid open, revealing Sylvia standing there with her arms crossed, her chin up, and a glare that could turn milk sour. But the exact moment the gap was wide enough for a person to fit, her shoulder shifted.

A fast blur of white and silver lunged directly at my chest.

My space affinity reacted before my mind did. The space behind me folded, and I took a sharp step backward, teleporting myself three feet into the room just as her hand cut through the empty air where my neck had been.

I landed on my feet, instantly pointing an accusing finger at her. ”I knew it! You crazy bitch! Didn’t you just say you weren’t going to kill me?!”

Sylvia clicked her tongue, her ocean-blue eyes tracking my new spot with a small flick of annoyance. ”Tch. You dodged. Your reaction time is getting better.”

She stepped inside, and the door slid shut behind her. The scary, oppressive pressure vanished right away, replaced by her usual bossy, high-and-mighty attitude. She looked around the expansive lounge, her eyes stopping for a second on the dust still clinging to my loose clothes.

”Don’t worry, I am not here to kill you,” she said, rolling her eyes as she walked past me. ”What do you even think of me? Do I look like a person who just goes around murdering people and picking random fights?”

”...”

I said absolutely nothing. I just stared at her with a completely deadpan expression.

Sylvia coughed slightly, turning her face away to hide a faint twitch of guilt. She cleared her throat and looked toward the far corner of the room. ”Anyway... that’s not the point.”

I rubbed the back of my neck. ”So... why are you here then? If you are not trying to assassinate the new Primus, what do you want?”

Sylvia turned around, a sharp, smug grin playing on her lips. ”Oh, I am truly touched, Leo. Since when do you care so much about my motives? Can’t an older sister check on her brother after his first day of classes?”

I did not believe the doting sister act for a single second. Instead, I narrowed my eyes and stepped closer, analyzing the thick, flow of mana around her body.

”Oh, wait...” I said, my senses finally locking onto her core. ”Did you really break through? You are actually a Master Low now? Damn... when did you pull that off?”

Her grin widened, her chest puffing out slightly with pure, unadulterated pride.

”Hehe, I broke through at dawn today. While you were busy getting thrown around like a ragdoll by Instructor Morgana, I was busy securing the top spot of the upperclassmen. You should be honored, Leo. You are officially looking at the strongest student in this building.”

”Yeah, yeah, congratulations on becoming a slightly more dangerous monster,” I muttered.

But inside, a small spark of genuine relief settled. If she was getting stronger, it meant the family was safer. I wasn’t about to tell her that, though.

Sylvia ignored my sarcasm and turned her attention to the far corner of the lounge. Her eyes locked onto the shiny, dark wood bar counter — a sleek setup complete with cushioned stools and glass shelves holding expensive bottles of amber whiskey, clear spirits, and deep red wine.

When I had first seen it, I genuinely thought the Headmaster was trying to entrap me and get me expelled for underage drinking.

She walked straight to it, her boots clicking sharply against the floor, and slid onto one of the stools. She reached over, scanned the shelves, and pulled down a heavy, dark green bottle of wine. She popped the cork with a simple flick of her fingers, grabbed two small glasses, and looked back at me over her shoulder. ”Want a drink?”

I frowned, staying near the center of the room. ”Since when do you drink?”

Sylvia poured a small amount of the dark red liquid into her glass, the rich scent of fermented grapes drifting through the air. ”...Since the Student Council President decided that ’delegating’ his work means dumping months of paperwork on my desk while he goes on a trip in the mountains.”

She took a long sip, leaning her elbow on the counter. ”Sit down, Leo. Do not make me drink alone. It looks pathetic.”

I hesitated for a second, then walked over and dropped onto the stool next to her. I didn’t touch the glass she had filled for me, but I didn’t push it away either. Looking at her face under the warm, lights of the bar, a realization hit me that left a slightly bitter taste in my mouth.

I really don’t know anything about her.

For the last few years, especially after my B-rank core...

I had pushed everyone away so hard that a big, empty gap had grown between us. I knew her as the strict, angry girl of the family, but I did not know what she did when she was tired, or what she liked when she was not yelling at me.

As the minutes went by, the bottle got emptier. I only took a small sip from my glass now and then, keeping my head clear, but Sylvia did not hold back. The clean, perfect Vice President slowly faded after her third glass, replaced by a very stressed older sister who just needed to talk.

And she vented. Loudly.

”That bastard President,” she groaned, slumping forward until her forehead almost hit the polished wood. ”He is a menace, Leo. A real menace. He always dumps his work on me. Oh! And do you know what Seris did to me?”

”Seris?” I frowned.

”Yes! That chocolate-obsessed ghost!” Sylvia slammed her empty glass down on the counter, her cheeks flushed pink.

”I gave her a whole chocolate cake. A nice, incredibly expensive cake from the city! I asked her to help me with the mountain of documents on my desk. She looked me right in the eye and said, ’I will help you.’ Then she stood up, walked out, and completely disappeared! She never came back! Her way of ’helping’ was just eating my bribe and leaving me to suffocate under a pile of paperwork!”

I couldn’t help it — a small laugh escaped me. I leaned my head on my hand and listened to her ramble about the student council, the annoying noble factions trying to lobby her, and how much she hated the academy’s mandatory morning briefings.

”And then there is you,” she said, squinting her hazy, ocean-blue eyes at me through her buzz.

”The biggest headache of them all. Making that stupid speech... do you have any idea how fast my heart was beating? I thought you were going to challenge the entire auditorium to a death match. You are an idiot, Leo. A lucky, stubborn idiot.”

I just listened, throwing in a dry, sarcastic remark from time to time to keep her momentum going. It was funny, loud, and entirely chaotic.

The hours kept going. The fire-lit sky outside the big windows slowly turned into a deep, dark blue, dotted with the small glowing lights of the school grounds.

Eventually, the loud talk started to slow down. Sylvia’s voice got quieter, her words mixing together until she went still, her head resting on her arms on the counter. Her breathing became deep, slow, and steady.

She was asleep.

I let out a long, quiet sigh, spinning the dark liquid in my glass one last time before pushing it away. ”Well... that was a long night,” I said to the empty room.

I didn’t even know what time it was anymore, but looking down at her sleeping face, the old, lingering resentment was entirely gone.

Underneath the sharp tongue and the newly acquired Master-tier strength, she just looked incredibly vulnerable and tired. There were faint, dark rings under her eyes that even her perfect skin could not hide. She had been working herself to the bone between her training and her student council duties.

Because of that damn President? I thought, my eyes narrowing. Should I just find him and kill him? No... maybe that’s too merciful. Maybe beat him half to death? Surely there’s a way to ruin his life, right? Yeah, later. Definitely later. I’ll deal with him then.

I pushed the thought away and sighed again. Now came the real problem. What was I supposed to do with her? I could not let her sleep on a hard bar counter all night, but trying to wake up a drunk Master Low sounded like a quick way to get my ribs broken.

”Well... fuck,” I whispered.

I stood up, walked around the counter, and carefully took her arm, putting it over my neck. I grabbed her around the waist and pulled her up. Even though she was thin, her muscle from training made her feel like a bag of rocks.

”Damn it... she is way heavier than she looks,” I hissed under my breath, dragging her dead-weight body across the floor toward the front entrance. ”She seriously needs to stay away from that cake.”

I managed to balance her shifting weight against my shoulder, using my free hand to smack the door sensor. The heavy wood slid back, and I dragged her out into the quiet, dimly lit private hallway of the top floor, intending to carry her down to the elevator.

But the moment I stepped over the doorway, I froze dead in my tracks.

Standing right there in the middle of the corridor, completely still and silent, was a figure. Long black hair, a pale, expressionless face, and two deep crimson eyes that stared directly into my soul.

Seris Lunaria.

The hallway fell into an absolute, dead silence.

”...”

”...”

Neither of us moved. I was left standing there like a criminal caught red-handed, half-carrying the limp body of the Student Council Vice President over my shoulder.

Seris didn’t even blink. Her crimson eyes slowly drifted from my sweating face, down to Sylvia’s dangling, unconscious arms sweeping the floor, and then back up to lock onto me.

She broke the silence first, her voice entirely flat, and carrying a terrifying weight.

”...Did you kill your sister?”