Clang!
In the middle of the square, Caesar's Hunting Knife slammed into Chu Zihang's Murasame. Sparks flew as the leaders of Cassell College's two major societies swept past each other.
"Now that's more like it! Again!" Caesar laughed as he turned.
Chu Zihang said nothing. He simply lowered his center of gravity, his blade angled toward the ground.
"Let me interrupt."
A completely flat voice cut in, dousing the tension.
"Lu Mingfei?" Chu Zihang's Golden Eyes shifted slightly, and his grip on his sword tightened.
Caesar sized Lu Mingfei up. "You're that S-rank from China?"
"Call me whatever you like," Lu Mingfei said coldly. "I only have one question."
He frowned, confusion showing in his eyes. "I've been watching from over there for a while. When you recruited me, you said you were all elites with Word Spirits. Instead of using them, you pull out blades and stand around trading moves... are you shooting a martial arts movie?"
Caesar snorted and reversed his grip on his knife. "Freshman, it seems Guderian didn't even teach you the basics. From the moment you set foot in Cassell, the entire campus was under the vice principal's 'Discipline.' Everyone's Word Spirit is suppressed here."
"Suppressed?"
Lu Mingfei closed his eyes briefly to feel for it, but sensed nothing.
"So you just accepted the nerf built into the rules," Lu Mingfei said, looking at them, "then pulled out blades to play this fair little game of 'turn-based house'?"
"Freshman." Caesar strode closer, turning his wrist. "Since you think this is a game, why not step in and show us how it's done?"
Chu Zihang still said nothing, but silently shifted half a step, neatly cutting off Lu Mingfei's escape route.
"I don't have time to play in the mud with children."
Bam!!!
A screen of light suddenly blasted outward. Caesar and Chu Zihang, who had just closed in on Lu Mingfei, felt as though they had run headfirst into a heavy armored train at full speed.
An absolute repulsive force beyond all reason erupted. Cassell's two kings grunted in unison as they were hurled backward and slammed into the ground.
Within three meters of Lu Mingfei, the repulsive force had stripped away every scrap of turf, exposing the brown soil beneath.
"Not strong enough. Couldn't stop."
Leaving that dry apology behind, he stepped past the two struggling bodies and walked toward Fingel, who was cowering behind the statue of Odin with his hands over his head.
A stirring march rang across campus. The campus broadcasting system, silent for so long, seemed to have just woken from a nap.
After an Angel invasion, NERV's logistics staff began cleaning up the battlefield.
Carrying folding stretchers and black body bags, they hurried into the shelter corridor after the lockdown was lifted. Lu Mingfei followed, pushing a metal logistics cart, its wheels bumping through the cracks between broken floor tiles. The corridor's ceiling had collapsed, and rebar jutted out of the concrete like broken ribs.
The recovery team stopped ahead and began lifting people onto stretchers. Lu Mingfei worked behind them. He saw things scattered across the floor: slippers, insulated cups, family photos...
Lu Mingfei pushed the cart onward. By the time he reached the spot where they had been working, the person on the floor had been bagged and carried away, leaving a dark wet stain. A large splash of something dark red covered the wall, smeared from waist height all the way to the ceiling.
He took the pressure washer off the cart, connected its hose to the corridor's fire hydrant, and squeezed the trigger. The jet struck the wall, throwing up a pink mist. He turned his face aside and narrowed his eyes, washing it section by section. Some cracks in the wall needed three or four passes before the color faded.
Once washed clean, the corridor looked as good as new, but the smell took a long time to dissipate.
"What a disaster! My Roman columns!"
The doors of an unidentified building swung wide, and doctors and nurses poured out. Carrying first-aid kits marked with the half-rotted World Tree emblem, they moved expertly among the "corpses" littering the ground, administering injections and handing out saline. Students who had just been shot in the head sat up, rubbing their necks and laughing as they discussed their earlier positioning.
Dead people did not sit up after an injection, swearing and rubbing their shoulders.
An old man with a bald crown charged over in a fury, holding a handkerchief over his nose, his leather shoes slipping on spent casings. He glared at Lu Mingfei, the only person still standing, and bellowed, "Where did you come from, freshman? Didn't the Disciplinary Committee teach you to stay away from firefights?!"
"I was passing through on my way back to the dorm," Lu Mingfei said expressionlessly.
On the lawn, Caesar and Chu Zihang had already helped each other to their feet after that brutal hit. The two proud lions, who had spent so long clawing at each other, now moved in perfect harmony, taking positions on either side in front of Lu Mingfei.
"Professor Manstein, I broke the flower bed," Caesar said, wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth. "Send the bill to the Student Union."
"The Lionheart Society will cover half the repairs," Chu Zihang interjected coldly.
"Fine! Just fine! Caesar, Chu Zihang, you've got some nerve! This isn't about money anymore. You're challenging the Disciplinary Committee's limits!" Manstein's hands shook with anger. He pulled his phone straight out of his jacket and jabbed the speakerphone button. "I'm reporting this directly to the principal!"
The square fell silent in an instant. Every student stopped what they were doing.
The call connected, and a hint of laughter came through the speaker. "Manstein, another bill for the Day of Freedom?"
"Principal Angers! You have no idea what these bastards have done!" Manstein accused them at the top of his lungs. "They blew up a statue from the college's founding days! They have absolutely no respect for disciplinary rules!"
"Young people need an outlet for their hormones. Caesar and Chu Zihang have always been like this. You should be used to it by now," the principal said. "Charge the repairs to the Board of Trustees Fund. Once you've enjoyed your 'Day of Freedom,' remember to work hard at your studies too, my children."
The students in the square exchanged glances, then erupted into deafening cheers. They untied their armbands and tossed them into the air. Some even pulled mocking faces at Manstein.
Fucking hell.
A bunch of elite Hybrids who claimed they would fight world-destroying Dragonkind had reduced their campus to rubble. In the end, a kindly old principal paid the bill through a foundation, and everyone cheered as though they had won a football game.
"I'd also like to say hello to someone," the principal's voice came through the speaker again, cutting through the cheers.
Everything fell silent at once.
"Is our S-rank freshman, Lu Mingfei, there?" Angers asked over the phone.
"He's here, Principal." Guderian appeared from somewhere, jogged up, and held the phone to Lu Mingfei's mouth.
"Welcome to Cassell, Lu Mingfei. This is your world. How does it feel?" The principal's voice echoed around them.
"Very disappointing."
"Disappointing?" A trace of interest entered Angers's voice. "Could you be more specific?"
"I thought I was coming to humanity's greatest bastion against the end of the world. But all I see is a theme park."
"A bunch of elite Hybrids with Word Spirits, shut inside a campus where their Word Spirits are suppressed, drawing blades and hacking at one another. Once the fighting's over, the principal's foundation pays, and everyone cheers."
Lu Mingfei's voice grew colder. "Principal, if Dragonkind really is as terrifying as you describe, then your entire teaching system is nothing short of irresponsible murder."
A stir ran through the crowd. No one dared speak like that to the legendary leader of the dragon slayers, and no one could challenge all of Cassell College so brazenly.
"An exceptionally incisive assessment. Every stroke cuts deep. Lu Mingfei..." Angers paused. "Rest assured, Cassell's blade is still in its sheath. But on the day it truly draws blood, it certainly won't disappoint you."
"It had better not."
Sunlight slanted through the porthole. Angers ended the call and gazed at the waves outside.
"This... this is the student you rated S-rank?" Professor Mance Rondstadt sounded worried.
"You think he's arrogant?" Angers lifted his teacup and took a small sip.
"No." Mans shook his head. "I deliberately delayed the CC1000's pickup to extend the time we had to observe him. He seems to have very severe PTSD."
Angers smiled and looked through the porthole at the two towering peaks that stood like the pillars of a great gate-Kui Gate.
"Don't be too surprised when I tell you this: I don't understand Lu Mingfei well enough either. I don't know what he can do. But there's a reason for his 'S' rank. I just can't tell you yet."
"It's been ten years. Ever since that tragedy in the Greenland Ice Sea, we've been reflecting. Do we need to build an army, or nurture geniuses? But Lu Mingfei has given me a third answer."
"What answer?" Mans asked.
"We need a tyrant," Angers said. "Dragonkind is brutal. What kills an evil dragon will never be a courteous, refined knight. Only a monster more ruthless and more desperate than they are."
"He's declaring war on all of Cassell College. He doesn't think we're worthy of saving the world alongside him." He chuckled. "Interesting, isn't it? A real monster has finally entered our zoo."
Mans drew a deep breath and turned his gaze toward the dark river outside.
"I hope he really is what you imagine. In a week, the Kui Gate Project begins. Ye Sheng and Aki are ready to dive. If the Bronze and Fire King really is in that underwater city..."
"Don't wake him." Angers's smile faded. "An exalted First Generation—no one can fathom his power. Come back safely, Mans."