The Anomaly's Path

What the hell am I even doing here?

I looked down at the arena ring, my mind blank. Just a while ago, I was in the library, minding my own business. Then Roan dragged me into the stadium. I thought I was just going to watch a fight from the shadows.

It was supposed to be a relaxing afternoon. Instead, it had turned into this. Everyone in the stadium was waiting to fight me.

It is truly amazing, I thought, rubbing my temples as the absurdity of my life hit me. How does every path I take end up in chaos? Is it a family thing? Does Sylvia have this problem too, or am I just cursed?

”I, Arthur Vale, challenge you, Leo von Celestial, for the title of Primus! Come down and defeat me! I put some of my credits on the line!”

Arthur’s voice carried across the stadium, loud and clear. He stood in the center of the floor, his sword pointed straight up at me in the front row.

I looked at him calmly, ignoring the intense stares of thousands of students. The guy was dead serious. He actually thought this was a good time for a big showdown. I was about to tell him to go find a therapist, but Roan beat me to it.

”Wait a fucking minute! This is wrong! Absolutely wrong! Hell nah!”

Roan slammed his hands on the front railing, leaning over so far I thought his silver hair was going to touch the dirt below. He sounded less like the scary Rank 2 student and more like a crying kid whose sibling had just taken the first bite of their favorite cake.

I gave him a slow, strange look. What is wrong with him now?

”Arthur, you have to wait in line, you thief!” Roan kept yelling, his face red with real anger. ”Leo is mine! I will be the first one he fights! We have an understanding! We are rivals! Get your own Primus!”

I just stared to the side of Roan’s head, my left eyebrow twitching. An understanding? Rivals? Since when did I agree to any of this?

”I also challenge you, Leo, for the title of Primus,” a cold voice said. Riven sat forward from a few seats over, his arms crossed, his steel-red eyes locked on me.

Before Riven could finish his dramatic pause, Alice let out a sharp, mocking laugh from my left. ”Oh, please, Riven. You could not even handle a fraction of his pressure during the ceremony, and now you are acting tough? Do not make me laugh. But...”

She paused, a competitive smile on her lips as her amber eyes locked onto me. ”I would not mind testing the waters myself.”

Then, a calm, steady voice broke through from our row.

”I... I also want to challenge you, Leo.”

I blinked, looking over. It was Amelia. She stood with her usual grace, her posture perfect.

But under that warm, gentle outside she always showed, her face held a fierce seriousness. She was not looking down, she was staring straight ahead, showing her inner strength as she stepped forward.

She wasn’t the only one, either.

”I want to challenge you too!” Nyra barked, her wolf ears twitching as her beastkin eyes gleamed with a need to fight.

”Count me in as well,” Cordelia said, standing up. Her green eyes locked onto me, her calm face hiding a fierce determination. ”I also want to fight you, Leo.”

I cursed under my breath, my face burying into my palm. What the hell is going on right now? What is wrong with all of them? Did someone put something in the school food?

”Uh... well... I...” Julia fidgeted with her uniform, her face red. ”I also want to challenge you, Lord Leo! I just... I want you to see my progress!”

I let out a big, tired sigh. Just what is happening to my peaceful academy life?

Suddenly, Marius stood up from the front rows. There was no angry pride or noble arrogance on him anymore. The weight of the exam had broken that, leaving him humbled and quieter, carrying the guilt of his past actions.

He looked at me with a heavy, serious focus — no longer driven by a big ego, but by a quiet wish to test himself on the long road toward becoming someone worthy of respect.

”I am throwing my name in as well,” Marius said, his voice level and steady. ”I want to challenge you, Lord Leo.”

That was the breaking point. Seeing Marius, a noble who usually kept to himself or played political games, openly say he wanted to fight sparked something across the whole arena. It was like a dam breaking.

”Wait! I want to fight that bastard too!” another voice yelled from the upper rows.

”No, me first! He called us nameless fodder during the ceremony!”

”Yeah! Didn’t he say back then that if we thought we were any better, we should just come at him? He probably doesn’t even remember our damn names!”

”Today, I am surely going to make him remember my name! Let’s beat the arrogant ass of this narcissistic bastard!”

The stadium exploded. It was like a chain reaction of pure anger.

I sat there in my front row seat, listening to them repeat the exact speech I gave during the ceremony.

Back then, I had purposely provoked them — insulted them, called them weak, told them they were just side characters in a story. I did it because I knew the real war was coming, and if their hatred for me pushed them to fight just a little longer to survive, it was worth it.

But looking at the size of the angry crowd below, I realized one thing: They really, really took that personally.

Out of the students in the freshman year, a few stayed completely still in their seats. Malva was staring blankly into space, ignoring everything. Right next to her, Elisabeth sat completely still. Her icy face was solid, her eyes frozen as she watched the circus.

Nearby, Lyssaria looked very amused by the chaos.

Every other eye in the stadium was locked onto me. Even the seniors in the upper rows had stopped talking, leaning over the railings with grins on their faces.

”Oh my, oh my~” Cynthia chuckled over the speakers, her voice dripping with pure entertainment. ”Aren’t we popular today, young Primus? The crowd is practically begging for your presence. Care to say a few words to your adoring fans?”

I closed my eyes, let out one last curse, and stood up from the bench.

I didn’t bother walking down the stairs. Instead, I used my space affinity, folding the distance between me and the arena floor. In a split second, I vanished from the front row and appeared in the center of the ring.

The sudden, silent teleport caught the crowd off guard, cutting the shouting in half. I stood there, right in front of Arthur, with my hands shoved deep into my pockets. My face was blank.

”Tch. What a hassle...” I said, my voice carrying through the silent arena. I looked around at the sea of angry faces and smiled. ”Listen, you all fucke—”

I stopped myself just in time, realizing what I was about to say in front of the entire faculty. I cleared my throat loudly, but the damage was done. The gaze of every student grew heavier, a wave of irritation washing over them.

”Ahem. I mean... dear brothers and sisters,” I corrected smoothly. ”I really didn’t know you all loved me this much. It’s truly a burden, being this naturally gifted and incredibly handsome. I can barely handle the affection.”

Veins popped on the foreheads of half the students in the front row.

”But fine. If you want a piece of the Primus, I will fight you,” I said, raising my right hand and extending one finger. ”But only on three conditions.”

”First: If I win, no one challenges me again. I mean no one, unless I say so. Until the end of our first year, you leave me alone to enjoy my peace. Got it?”

I raised a second finger. ”Second: I am putting my Primus title on the line, which means you all have to put something equal on the line. That is the school rule for a formal challenge, is it not? You have to wager points. So before you step into this ring, make sure you are ready to empty half your pockets into my account.”

Finally, I raised a third finger, a lazy, mocking smile on my lips. ”And last... you all come at me at once. I do not have time to waste on weaklings in a 1-on-1 line.”

The whole arena fell into a dead silence.

The students stared at me like I had lost my mind? In the history of Aegis Academy’s freshman year, such a thing was completely unheard of. It was pure madness. It wasn’t just arrogant; it was suicidal.

The mention of credits made the crowd hesitate. Losing half their points so early in the semester was a huge risk. Most students didn’t even have many credits to begin with, so the stakes were high. But their pride and anger won out in the end.

Before the crowd could even process the shock, a loud shout broke the silence as Roan jumped down from the front row, landing on the arena sand with a heavy thud.

”Nah! I object! I reject this!” Roan shouted, pointing a furious finger at my face. There was no arrogance in his voice, only the raw anger of a powerful fighter who felt insulted. ”Why are you putting me in a group with these weaklings?! I wanted to fight you 1-on-1, Leo!”

As the Rank 2 student and one of the strongest in our year, he had every right to say that.

I simply shrugged, keeping my hands in my pockets. ”Then you will just have to wait until next year, Roan. Take it or leave it.”

Roan clicked his tongue in frustration, kicking the sand under his boots. ”That is not fair! You are avoiding me!”

I ignored his complaining and turned my eyes back to the rest of the crowd. ”Now... it is all up to you. Are you going to put your money where your mouth is, or are you going to sit back down?”

A sudden, sharp burst of laughter cut through the tension. Down from the teachers’ balcony, a figure jumped over the railing without a care.

Professor Morgana dropped like a rock, landing hard on the arena with a careless, rough grace that kicked up a cloud of dust.

She straightened up, fixing her loose grey jacket, her wild aura flaring out. She looked at me, her face twisting into a sharp, mocking smile. She loved chaos, and this circus of a fight was exactly the kind of entertainment she lived for.

”Are you sure you want to do it this way, Leo?” Morgana asked, her voice carrying a reckless, mocking edge. ”A big crowd full of power, all aiming for your throat at the same time. If you get trampled, I have to fill out the paperwork!”

”I am sure, Professor,” I replied, my voice steady. ”It saves time.”

Arthur, Riven, Roan, Alice, Amelia, Cordelia, Julia, Nyra, and Marius slowly moved to the outer edge of the ring. They did not leave the arena floor, but their pride as top rankers would not let them join a messy, unorganized pile.

They stood on the far sides of the big field, leaving a wide open space of sand between me and the rest of the students. Roan had a dark, grumpy look on his face, his arms crossed as he glared from the edge.

Meanwhile, nearly a hundred students took the gamble, letting their anger cloud their judgment. They flooded into the ring, pulling out swords, staves, and daggers, forming a dense wall of steel and magic right in front of me.

The lines were drawn. It was one man against a whole crowd.

Professor Morgana stepped back, her dark purple eyes gleaming with crazy excitement as she raised her hand high into the air. The heavy weight of her low-rank Transcendent power flared for a second, a scary reminder that she taught through violence, forcing the whole stadium to hold its breath.

”Rules are simple: No killing, no permanent damage! If you pass out or step out of the ring, you are out!” Morgana announced, her grin widening as she snapped her hand downward.

”Start!”