The school had finally been rebuilt and all the damages that were caused were fixed. Although it had taken 2 weeks to handle all the legal matters and reports with the government, it allowed me to focus on recovery and strengthen my mana pool.

“Why do we have to go back to school? Zeref, you should have destroyed the whole building.” Jace whined. 

“If he did that we’d still have to attend school but one that is even further away, dummy.” Naz smacked his head.

“Naz and I were waiting for 20 minutes for you three!” Sara added on.

Malia walked by my side but she was quieter than usual. These past 2 weeks must have been lonely for her. She was probably used to talking to Nina on a daily basis and now that she is gone, it must have been hard for her to adjust.

For me it was a hard concept to accept but I had already lost her once. The second time was just as painful but I was able to channel that frustration into my training. It was my therapy for two weeks.

I live as Zeref Amara now and she was just a fragment of my past life.

As soon as we had arrived, the guards rushed us to our form rooms urgently. We all scurried to our form as we were running late.

“We’re going to be late on the first day back because you slept in!” Naz scolded Jace running into the school building.

We followed behind her and the group split up when we made it to our own form rooms. Naz, Jace and I ran into our room while Sara and Malia ran into theirs which was opposite ours.

“Sorry miss, we’re late.” Jace apologised.

Everyone looked at us, shaking their heads. 

“Well hurry up and sit down. Are you going to stare at me the whole day?” The teacher snapped.

Once we settled down a register was taken.

“Welcome back students. Firstly, I want to start off by commending all of you on your brave and outstanding attitude during the blood moon. 

“All the teachers have agreed you all handled the matter extremely well. If any of you need anyone to talk to about how you’re feeling, Miss Minche, our new school therapist will be in room 5 everyday after school.

“Lastly, we all need to head to the hall for a special assembly.” The teacher smiled, making the students burst into gossip.

“What do you think it’s about?” Jace whispered as Naz leaned in. 

“It’s probably about the Blood Moon.” I answered. 

“Okay that’s enough! Now head down to the hall in silence and in silence!” The professor shouted, silencing everyone.

**

  The whole school’s kids were huddled into the hall.

“Students. Please move in, there are still students trying to get in.” One of the teachers shouted over the bustling in the hall. 

Why was this hall so small? It made no sense. After a couple minutes, when everyone had settled down he made his entrance.

Xanxus.

The students burst out into a cheer, seeing their former principal again and understood the message.

“Hello students. It’s an honour to be back on this stage and to be once again the principal of this prestigious academy. I’m still in shock by the betrayal of the previous principal’s devilish actions and I want to commend you all for the bravery that you all have shown.

“This is the true essence of Xanxus Academy. No matter how strong the opponent, we will fight back.” He began speech.

A small burst of claps shook the hall before it died down again.

“As I’m back I will bring in some new changes. Firstly, we will have a new disciplinary committee, consisting of the most elite and powerful students. Their numbers will show their strength and authority around the school.

“The Blood Moon showed how weak our school defence system was and I plan to change that. Even though the security will ensure your safety to an extent from now on each and every one of you will receive an extra combat class in your timetables.

“The world is changing and we must hone all of you into strong people, who can fend for themselves in times of danger.

“Okay. I will now be announcing our 10 Disciplinary members. Please make your way to the stage, if I call your names out. Rank 1: Zeref Amara.” Xanxus announced with a smile.

Everyone’s heads turned towards me, shocked, before they started clapping. What was this geezer thinking?!

“Go get ’em!” Jace slapped my back.

I reluctantly made my way to the top of the stage and stood by his side.

“Rank 2, Malia Stronghold. Rank 3, Moira Belle. Rank 4, Derek Fullman…” As Xanxus carried on reading the list, one by one the students made their way to the stage until the 10 of us all stood side by side.

A teacher came with golden badges, pinning it on our blazers with numbers of our ranking engraved on them.

A final burst of claps and cheers arose for us, before Xanxus began speaking again.

“These 10 new disciplinary members have been carefully picked by all the teachers and it was evident in how reliable they were during the Blood Moon.

“That will be all for now. I look forward to seeing you all around the school. Can everyone apart from the new disciplinary committee members please leave.” Xanxus concluded his speech earning a round of applause.

The teachers slowly began to dismiss the students to their first lesson of the day and after a couple minutes only the 10 new committee members and Xanxus was left in the hall.

“Okay team. I will be taking you all to the Disciplinary Committee Office. Please follow me.” Xanxus hurried us along, making us all rush behind him as he sped walked out of the hall room and into the corridor.

“During the rebuilding of the school we were able to create a special meeting room for the Disciplinary Committee and even make a training room for you all to spar and train during your free periods. Some lessons like combat classes have been removed from your time tables as you all are exceptional.

“Prepare to be amazed.” Xanxus looked back and smiled, before opening the 2 large doors that seemed to be enchanted with runes.

“Woooaaahhh!” Most of the students cooed as we all entered the grand room. 

The white walls were decorated intricately with gold markings and colossal paintings of famous mages and historical beings spread around the room. A round table sat in the middle of the room with 10 chairs around it.

It was amazing they were able to build this all and rebuild the school in a matter of 2 weeks. 

“Now that I’ve shown you this. We’ll be having a vote to elect the Leader of the committee. Just because Zeref is rank 001, it doesn’t mean he will automatically be the leader. 

“Do any of you want to lead?” Xanxus scanned the students around him and one of the older students raised his hand. 

He had an arrogant look as if he were looking down on all of us here. I could sense a strong mana pressure coming from him but it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary.

‘Let’s test his abilities.’ Voad smirked.

‘Why though? That’s just a hassle.’

‘Entertain me a little. School is boring.’

I sighed, raising my hand. 

Xanxus’s face beamed with happiness, when he spotted my hand go up.

“Okay, how should we settle it then? A vote-“

“No. I want to fight him.” The older kid snapped, cutting Xanxus off.

“That’s fine. We’ll also be able to see the training area too.” Moira commented, earning some nods of agreements from the other curious students.

It seemed that Malia and I were the youngest out of all the members so I would have to make them respect us.

**

“Begin!” Mr Xanxus shouted, swinging his arm down and leaping back off the stage.

The student smirked, weaving hand signs and zigzagging towards me. 

-Puff!

A dark smoke surrounded the stage and my field of view had been covered. I coughed a little, realising there was poison in the smoke he had conjured.

[You are immune to the poison effect]

“What are you going to do Rank 1?” The student’s voice resonated from every angle of the cloud like he had become one with it.

‘Seikuken: 20 Metres.’

[500 MP will be consumed per minute]

Seikuken’s range increased and I could now sense every intricate movement within the circle. A swing of a blade came from behind but I dodged it easily. I already knew he was circling me, using the smoke as cover and trying to attack my blind spots. Even his exact positions and trajectory of attacks: I could sense them all.

Gathering Ice mana in my hands, I punched the ground causing a large shockwave to shake the ground and cracks to form under me. A burst of ice spread around me and spiked all around. The shockwave caused the dense fog to disappear and reveal the panting student on the other end of the stage.

“AAAARghhhhh!” He roared, charging towards me and throwing 2 knives simultaneously. 

I weaved to the side, dodging them successfully. His sword was inches away from my chest, failing to make contact. Gripping his sword harder, he quickly recovered and swung the sword in a desperate attempt to cut me down. 

I danced around, avoiding all of his swings, earning some cheers from the crowd of students. 

“Stop dancing around and fight me!” he yelled, getting frustrated.

He leapt up, enhancing his body with mana. His sword swung down with force towards my head.

Another shockwave shook the atmosphere and specks of dust flew everywhere.

“What the-” 

I caught his sword with my hand and stopped his full brute attack.

“Why can’t I move?”

“Do you see the difference between us now?” I smiled.

-BOOM!

My punch sent him flying back like a baseball, as he crashed into a large boulder. 

I dusted myself off and jumped off the stage. 

An overwhelming victory.

“You monster!” Derek slapped my back cheerfully, before wrapping his arm around my neck.

“How the hell did you dodge all those attacks? That guy is the son of one of the kingdom’s strongest swordsmen.” 

“Where did you learn to move like that?” 

The students surrounded me and it had become a full on interview.

“Okay, okay that’s enough.” Xanxus pushed through the students and stood by my side.

“You two please take Mr Hardman to the infirmary. This was Zeref’s complete victory so he will keep his authority. You all will follow his commands. Great! You may all go back to your lessons now.” he said cheerily.

**

-South of the Vrimeon Kingdom-

Pzzzzttt! Crackk!

The distortion in the space and time rippled throughout the atmosphere, creating a crack. The crack slowly opened up until a red portal appeared, and countless large figures, clad in dark robes, had begun exiting.

“That b*stard was right! We were able to exit through the portal. He actually kept his end of the deal. Vanos, come here.”

“Yes sire, what are your orders General?”

“Begin infiltration. We were right, this planet is seething with life. Absorb every life form in this vicinity and gather resources so we can build a nest for the females to give birth. It’s almost time for them to give birth to the new generation of trolls.. From now on we’re claiming this place.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep