Before reading this chapter, I recommend everyone catch up with the current manga. If you haven't, you may not understand the context of some scene as well as some characters that aren't explicitly named. It isn't necessary however I really do think catching up with the current manga will enrich the experience, also the story in the manga is getting juicy so it's fun anyways.
"The trial shall commence now."
Your eyes jolted open, the wide scenery of a court hall filling your view The court house was dark, barren almost. The only source of light available in the moment shined down upon you, as the sole eye in the center of the crowd. You could hear things, see shadows of people, yet no actual figures had reached your sight. There were people, no doubt about it, yet only you existed.
Looking over you were thirteen individual podiums, a disfigure standing on each. Their figures were distinguishable compared to the shadows of the jury, yet you were unable to see details like facial features. Even without that vital key information, you could still feel the overbearing power each of them held over your singular life, like a human debating whether to step on a simple bug or not. It was terrifying.
The figure in the middle held up a mallet and slammed it down against the table, Signaling the start of the trail. His deep and malicious voice spoke up towards you.
"[Name] [Lastname], how do you plea?"
"Plea?" You questioned, hysteria lining the edges of your voice. "What do you mean plea?? Where am I? How did I get here?! Who are you people?!"
Your words caused the tall figure to frown further, the tone becoming even more dark than it was before. "We do not tolerate deceit in this court house. Shall I remind you of your crimes against the Gods?"
Taking your silence as a yes, he continued. "You have become much too prideful for our taste. Your humans have become arrogant, sinful and most of all you are arrogant. You truly believe you are on the level of us Gods? How foolish. Tell me, have you created a universe? Have you invented new life? Built the bridges between worlds? controlled the thunder rain and sky all with one mighty hand? No, you haven't, because you're human."
"I never claimed to do any of that shit! You all must be out of your minds-"
"There!" One of the voices from the podium interrupted you. "Right there! You just proved the indomitable human arrogance! How absolutely dare you use such a foul word in the presence of the Gods!"
"You humans think you have the right to modify the world we so graciously bestowed upon you. You think you can pollute the oceans we hand crafted, drill and dig up the earth we synthesize, ruin the ecosystems of what we've built. It's a disgrace to us, like spitting in our face."
"How can you blame me for all of that?!" You argued. "I'm an individual, these problems are because of the entire race! If you want to fix the problems, you have to talk to community leaders and politicians! I don't have the power to-"
Once again, the Gods cut you off. This time, a multitude of voices coming from the podium spoke up against your existence.
"What a typical human response, you're afraid of punishment so you're trying to punish everyone else too. How sinful."
"This is why I loathe human beings, such spiteful creatures."
"Why are we doing this stupid trial anyways? We all know she should be hung for her crimes against nature!"
"That wasn't what I-"
once again, your defense was cut off by the shadow in the middle
"Enough. It is obvious the jury finds the defendant guilty of all charges against the Gods. It is time, how will you repent for your sins, little one?"
Before you could reply, a new voice spoke up. This one was higher and slightly gravely, yet still terrifying all the same.
"Oh! Oh! I have an idea! Pick me!!!" They cried out, a malicious joy excreting from their tone. "It would be way too merciful to just let her die! I say let's torture her!! Oh! Oh! If we do, let's cut her arm off so I can use the bone as a chew toy!!"
"No." Another voice cut in, this time more stoic and calm. "If we torture her, we should use the Ana-tsurushi technique."
"No! No! No!" The high pitched voice cried again. "Yucck! My ideas was way way way better! I said it first, so therefore we're doing it!!"
"Oh..." The stoic voice said dully. "But... I really wanted to do it."
"I asked first!! So that means my idea is a go!!! Someone start detaching her arms already!!"
"...If I said please would it change anything?"
"NO!"
Suddenly a new voice popped up, just as distinguishing, cold and unique as the rest. "I think we should waterboard her, it's much more traumatic."
"Hell nah man, apparently drowning is a super peaceful way to die. It would be way more fun to get an elephant to trample all the bones in her body."
"I say let's give her the brazen bull. The smell of burning flesh is always pleasant."
"I was hoping I could use her body for some experiments..."
"I wanna rip her teeth out and make her eat it with her new toothless gums."
"Silence." The dominant shadow figure said, sending waves through the dark hall. "We shall get to all of those things, but first we will show her the wrath of the gods. Only then will you learn, not to defy us."
"I'm telling you! I didn't do anything!"
With a final glare, the figure brought their arm up, going the mallet above their head. For a second they paused, bringing dramatic tension before finally brining it down onto the table, solidifying your criminal sentence.
Then, you woke up.
The scenery of the dark hall and shadowed figures was now replaced by your dorm room. The sun shining through your window hit your face, leaving a soft warm, feeling for you to bask in. You should have felt comfortable, but the only thing that stood out to you was the cold sweat you had developed in your sleep. You had to remind yourself it was just a dream, and you were safe from the glaring eyes of the shadows...
But were you really all the more safe here?
Your thoughts were overpowered by the sound of your alarm, reminding you that today was your first official day of school.
You could feel your heart beating against your ribcage, both nervousness and excitement spreading through your body like a wave. Today you would finally become an honored student of C.Maximus! A once in a lifetime opportunity!
You had yet to see the inside of the actual school but considering how extravagant the outside community of this school was, it was sure to blow you away just like everyone else had up to this point.
You sat up and reached for your phone to turn off your alarm. You took a quick second to stretch afterwards, loosening up your joint for the day, then you got ready.
Immediately you headed for the bathroom to fix yourself up. The cold morning air hit your skin as you walked to the bathroom, the feeling giving you small chills. Once you got to the washroom, you started your morning routine. Washing your face, brushing your teeth, fixing up your hair and face, and everything in between. You wanted to look good for your first day, so you put a little extra care into your appearance.
Once you were finally satisfied with your appearance, you left the bathroom and went to do the final thing on your checklist of getting ready, putting on your new uniform. The high quality clothing was laid out of your bed, practically begging for you to put it on. And so, you did.
The soft, silky fabric pressed up against your skin, reminding you of the material your bed sheets were made of. Not to mention the uniform was tailored perfectly against your body, accentuating and giving form to your natural body. Not to mention the stitching and embroidery on the uniform. Ged bless whoever made this uniform, because it made you look hot as hell!
You smiled at your appearance and smoothed out your uniform in the front. You didn't want to feed your ego too much, but you had to admit you looked pretty darn cute!
With that, you were finally ready to leave. Like a baby bird leaving the nest, you left your room and headed to the lobby. Bruinhild had texted you last night, explaining that she would pick you up in your dorm lobby and take you to the school cafeteria. There, all the students would be served meals like breakfast, lunch and dinner. The cafeteria was also open from 6am-12pm, if students were craving a snack in-between classes. Yum!
And after breakfast, she would walk you to your first class of the day and your first battle would begin!
You stood in the lobby, waiting for Bruinhild to pick you. In the meantime, you decided to play a cute cat game on your phone. You couldn't help but smile as your finger dragged across the screen, petting the virtual kitten. Even if it was fake, it was still so adorable.
A few minutes had past and you were about to text Brunhild asking where she was. Suddenly you felt a chill on the back of your neck. You couldn't explain it, but something was off... Slowly you turned around, only to see a man with a pretty face directly behind you, peeking over your shoulder to see your phone.
You took a huge step back, dining distance between you and this creep.
"What the fuck are you doing?!" You couldn't help but utter in disgust due to the breach of privacy. You expected to find some kind of embarrassment, some kind of shame even on this boy's face, yet it remained just as stoic as it was before you caught him.
His mellow gray eyes period themselves from your own, and pointed down to the phone in your hand.
"That cat, it's cute."
Was that all he had to say? The cat was cute? No apology for creeping on you? This guy was a complete weirdo... You would have been inclined to believe he was just some random dude who managed to accidentally bypass security, but the school uniform he wore said otherwise.
You awkwardly shifted in place. You really didn't want to make enemies on your first day of school (hell, your first day school hasn't even technically started yet), so you decided to just let it go for now.
With an awkward nod, you replied to him. "Yeah.. Most cats are cute too."
Silence filled the room once more, taking the heavy awkward atmosphere into the stratosphere. The worst part was, that it looked like the guy across from you didn't even realize how awkward this entire interaction was. If he figured this was a casual conversation, you would hate to find out what his idea of awkward is.
After a minute of silence, he spoke up again.
"What game is that?"
"It's called Kleptocats." You said, still keeping a reasonable distance between you two. "It's pretty fun, you can play mini games and collect cats..."
He let out a soft hum in understanding and pulled out his phone, which you presumed was to download the game. You watched as he pulled his phone out from his pocket and your jaw almost dropped.
This guy had a flip phone... and not one of those trendy cute remodeled ones that were meant to look vintage, he had a flip phone that looked like it was about to crumble not dust. It was one of those old Nokia phones from the 2000's, and functioned more as a handheld landline than anything that was ever remotely modern.
The boy fumbled with the buttons for a few seconds, before turning to you. "How do I get that game on my phone...?"
You didn't know how to respond. This guy's lack of technological awareness was comparably bad, almost worse than his social skills.
"Yeah... you can't download it on that kind of phone. It's too old." You mumbled awkwardly.
You watched as his face visibly deflated hearing this, and for a second you felt a prick of pity for him. He ruffled his platinum blond hair, and stuffed the ancient device back into his pocket.
"I see. That's too bad." He said. "I really wanted to play that game."
His eyes fell to the floor and that's when you really felt bad for the boy. Even if he wasn't outwardly expressing his disappointment, you could tell it was there. You knew you should have ended the interaction, it was the perfect opportunity too. This guy was creepy as hell by watching your phone, you had every right to brush him off... and yet you couldn't find it in you to do that.
Why? Who knows.
With a sigh, you opened the app on your phone and extended it out to him. His eyes looked up from the ground and onto your extended hand with confusion.
"Here." You gestured to your phone, urging him to take it. "You can play on my phone until I have to leave."
Despite the stoic expression on his face, you could have sworn you saw his eyes light up as he carefully took the phone out of your hands and held it like a newborn baby. His eyes were fixated on the digital feline, as he tapped away at the screen. You watched him play on your phone, monitoring his progress just on the off chance he would want to log out of the game and sneak through other parts of your phone.
Not that you thought he would. If the guy couldn't download a game on his own, then you doubted he could do anything malicious with the information on your phone. Still, it didn't hurt to be careful.
As the boy played on your phone, you couldn't help but wonder more about the mysterious nature surrounding him. How was he able to afford coming to C.Maximus, if he didn't even have a modern smartphone? Hell, how was he able to survive at all? That's not just speaking from the perspective of a teenager who was addicted to their phone, so many things required access to technology that you had to have some form of technological communication to survive socially.
Was he perhaps a scholarship student like you? That wouldn't make sense, you had to apply for scholarships online... though, it's not like you applied online either. So maybe he really was a scholarship student after all? Then again, Brunhild said they were really cut-throat with scholarship students, the likelihood of another one was pretty low.
"So... how did you like... I don't know, get into this school?" You said awkwardly, cringing deeply at your own words. Luckily for you the boy didn't take any notice of your odd demeanor, and instead chose to focus on the game in his hands.
"Uhhh you know, family and stuff." He replied, not taking his eyes off the game once.
"Family?" You said in surprise. If his family were the ones to get him into this school, then you would have figured they would at least buy him an iPhone that wasn't completely outdated. "So your family, what do they do?"
"Oh, I don't really know. I'm not really involved in all that stuff." He said nonchalantly. "Their name is like Cronus Corp or something along those lines, I'm a distant relative of the family so they let me in."
Cronus corp? That name was familiar to you. You remember Brunhild told you they were the family that owned the school, as well as a junction of multi-billion dollar business. You couldn't believe that this guy was part of their family, especially after meeting the other pair of boys yesterday who were part of the student council.
The two boys you met, Poseidon and Hades, gave you the impression of men who held themselves as sophisticated and well educated individuals (despite being total pricks to you in your short time here). Meanwhile the boy in front of you was the farthest thing from that. His blonde hair was messy and his overall vibe gave the impression that he didn't care to be here, maybe even disliked it.
Still, despite his uncaring demeanor there was something genuine about him that the brothers from yesterday lacked.
"Oh, I don't think I ever got your name." You said suddenly, giving him a soft smile that he probably missed due to the screen he was facing. "I'm [Name], it's nice to meet you...?"
"Adam... I'm Adam."
Before you could respond, the two of you were interrupted by a feminine voice calling out your name.
"[Name], sorry I'm late. My younger sister held me up." Brunhild explained, approaching you and the man. "Oh? What's this? You made a friend already?"
You chuckled nervously. "I guess you could say that..."
"Good. Connections are the best thing you can learn from a school like this." She nodded in approval. "If we're all ready, we should get going. We lost a bit of time because I was late, but we should still have a substantial amount of time to eat."
Before you could reply, your phone was placed back in your hands. The boy gave a small nod along with a quiet 'Thank you', before walking off. You and Brunhild watched him walk off, and the latter let out a sigh of relief.
"Good, he's gone." She mumbled, causing you to raise an eyebrow in confusion. Why did she sound so relieved?
"Is there a problem with him being here?"
Her posture seemed to stiffen and she coughed into her fist. "No... There isn't anything technically wrong. it's just that, heisn't the most ideal person to be seen with."
Isn't the most ideal person to be seen with? But why? He didn't seem like a shady person or a bad person by any means, maybe a bit unconventional but that's the extent of it. Besides, he was part of the Cronus family, was he not? It was Brunhild who told you that the people from that family were incredibly powerful and important, so why wouldn't it be a good idea to make a connection with him?
The girl started walking to the canteen before elaborating further, with you trailing close behind.
"Look, I'm not trying to dictate who you can and can't be friends with, but the bottom line is that in a place like this reputation is everything." She explained carefully. "And you're already starting at the bottom, being a scholarship student means you'll be the prime target for bullying. If there's anything privileged people love putting down, it's those that are different from them."
"That family, they all have a superiority complex against everyone else..." She muttered. Out of the corner of your eye you could see her fist tighten as she mentioned the Cronus family. "I mean, they're not even that great. Sure, they excel at almost everything they do, but that's only because their rich ass family buys them the best... everything! It's completely unfair! Ugh, and then they act like they're entitled to everything! Like newsflash, just cause you're rich doesn't mean you run the world! And the worst part is that anyone who opposes them just gets thrown in the trash! They're a bunch of fucking-"
It was pretty obvious the girl had some negative feelings towards the Cronus family, and that was putting it lightly.
She stopped her rant and cleared her throat. "Sorry, I went off topic. Point is, the family doesn't like people who stray from the norm. It makes you... unpredictable in their eyes."
"Um that's great and all but I still don't know what any of this has to do with Adam..."
"Oh, right. You don't know any of the gossip since you just got here." The brunette hummed in thought as you walked. "Apparently he's an illegitimate kid. His dad was like a third cousin of the Cronus family or something, and he cheated on his wife with a prostitute. Then his father paid eventually off his mom to fuck off so he wouldn't have to be involved with his kid's life. No one heard from him for years, until randomly he appeared in the school a few years back."
"Woah."
"Yeah." Brunhild said, resonating with the pure look of shock that had blasted your face. "That's how I reacted when I first found out too. Apparently the kids from the main family didn't like the idea of congregating with the son of a mistress, so they made him and anyone who interacts with him a social outcast. It doesn't help that he's a bit of an odd ball, but that fact mixed with the banishment of the main family and talking to him is like social suicide."
"Holy crap..." You muttered, jaw practically hanging from the floor from the surrealism of it all. The fact that the family had so much social power, that they could completely socially isolate someone, especially a relative was inane to you. Growing up with just you and your mother, the idea of family had been such an important part of your life, you couldn't imagine doing something so horrible to someone who you're supposed to care for.
And that poor boy... to be isolated from everyone, including and perpetuated by your own family must have been a horrible feeling. Now it made sense why he was so socially awkward, how could he not be when he was constantly pushed away from others. First it was from his dad, now his peers and even siblings. Even thought the story would be much more concrete coming from his own mouth, based on what you've heard your heart couldn't help but hurt for Adam.
Then again, rumors tended to be twisted and manipulated to accentuate a certain side of the story. Regardless of what was true and what was fake, the end result would still be punishment for you if you decided to befriend the blond haired boy.
"Hey, Brunhild? What's your opinion of Adam?"
The girl turned to you with a curious gaze. "That's a new one, I suppose I've never really thought about it." She paused. "I guess... I feel pity for him. His situation is unfortunate and it's not his fault that his father cheated on his mother... However I don't feel enough pity for him to put myself on the line for him and become friends, and I think that's how most of the student population feels too. Do you think that makes me a bad person?"
"No, I don't think it does." You replied as you neared the school building. You could see the intricate sync refined details of the school, making it feel more like a castle fit for a king than a school. "Doesn't make you a good person either though, but I can understand the need to protect yourself. Honestly, under normal circumstances I would do the same, putting yourself on the line for someone you barely know is pretty stupid."
The two of you stepped into the dining hall, and the smell of freshly cooked breakfast food invaded your senses. It was heavenly, you could help yourself from drooling at the smell. Along with this, you could see students of all backgrounds and races sitting on the large dining hall benching, conversing and eating with their friends. It felt like something out of hogwarts
The two of you walked straight into the line up of other students waiting to get breakfast and you turned to the girl with a smile. "Lucky for me , I'm not very smart. If I wanna make friends with Adam, then I'll do it.. Regardless of what rumors those elitists spread about me."
"So you wanna play the morally righteous hero, huh?" She said, as the two of you approached the buffet. "We'll see how that turns out for you."
"I'm not doing it to be a good person or anything." You said, as you got closer to the food. "I'm doing it because I don't want to be controlled."
You could see a ghost of a smile on her face as you said that paired with a nod of approval.
"And that's what I like about you."
Looking down the aisle, you could see a large arrangement of gourmet breakfast items from multiple cuisines. As you got closer, the intense mix of sweet, savory and spicy smells inticed you closer.
"Oh my god, there are so many options!" You cried out in excitement. "I don't even know what to pick! It all looks so good!"
You couldn't help but jump from dish to dish, admiring the carefully crafted dishes that looked like they could be served at any fine dining restaurant. Everything was so lavish and so exotic, you just wanted to grab a sample of everything that was displayed and devour it all because it all looked so delicious. Looking over, you could see Brunhild stacking up a hearty meal consisting of meat and bread with a drizzle of honey glazed over it. Actually, hearty was putting it lightly. Her food was stacked on top of her plate like she was preparing for a famine.
After a solid five minutes of debating on what to eat for your first meal on campus, Brunhild quickly grabbed a turkey leg and slapped it on your plate.
"God, just pick something already." She mumbled, while stacking more meat and bread onto your plate until it looked identical to hers. "You have until you graduate to try all the different menu items, that's more than enough time to sample everything the cafeteria has to offer."
"Um, yeah I guess so." You replied, while trying to balance the colossal pile of meat that was stacked up on your plate. It was like having the Leaning Tower of Pisa on your plate, only it was made exclusively out of meat and bread. At least you knew you wouldn't be starving anytime soon, which was nice.
After attaining your feast fit for a king, the two of you headed to the drink section. You chose to get a delicious caramel cappuccino and Brunhild just went with a small glass grape juice. Once that was over, came the final battle. Fainting a seat.
Surprisingly, for a private school the cafeteria was super crowded with students. Practically every seat was taken up by groups of kids, all eating and socializing together. Then again, one of the major selling points of the school was that you could interact with other rich people and make connections that would aid you in the future, essentially it was an academic country club that only the most elite could attend... minus you.
After a few minutes of scanning the area, Brunhild decided to take initiative and started walking. You followed her mindlessly like you always did, trusting her judgment over your little knowledge of the school. As you walked past the crowd of people, you could see a variety of students of different backgrounds. A couple of them were complete weirdos too, like this one guy who wore a cover over his eyes. Rich people were odd.
The two of you walked through the hall, making a b-line to an empty spot. Brunhild was much taller than you and as you walked she blocked your view from the front. You tried to look past her, but to no avail, in the end you opted to just stare at her back and follow her like a baby duck. You didn't mind though, it allowed you to appreciate her long dark hair, flowing down her black like water. The more you thought about it, Brunhild was actually gorgeous. Unlike conventional female beauty standards, rather than appealing in a soft way her features were striking and bold, like a sword among roses.
Suddenly your thoughts came to a halt when you felt some weight on your shoulders.
"Hey Brunhild~ Who's this cute little friend of yours?" You looked up to see a green haired male looking down at you, with his arms wrapping around your shoulders as well as Brunhild's shoulders in a friendly manner. His eyes shined with mischief, like a snake playing with his prey. He leaned in close to you, and you could feel the white streak of hair on his head graze your cheek due to your close proximity. "Don't tell me you were planning to hide her from me? Oh~ How cruel you are, 'Hild."
"Don't call me that, Loki." The girl said stoically, while brushing his arm off.
The boy named 'Loki' let out a sigh and brought the arm that was around you up to pinch your cheek in a (not-so) affectionate manner, as if showing you off to her. "You're so mean! Do you really wanna show your bad side in front of your little girlfriend here?"
"Don't touch her." The girl scoffed, pulling you from his arms and into hers. At this point, you felt like a rag doll with how the two were completely manhandling you. "And for your information, she's not my girlfriend."
"Right, right... I see how it is." The boy looked at you two, his eyes narrowed and darkening ever so slightly as his gaze drifted towards Brunhild's arms that were holding you close. The boy bit back a snarl and put on his best fake smile. "Well, it looks like you two don't have a place to sit, why don't you join me and my friends?"
The girl was about to open her mouth to reject his offer, until he turned to look at you with a smile.
"Oh how rude of me! I never introduced myself!" He roughly grabbed our hand out of Brunhild's grasp and planted a kiss on it like a prince, only he was anything but. " The name's Loki, Loki Cronus. I also happen to be part of the student council at this school... trust me, I'm someone you want as a friend instead of a foe."
Despite his kind actions and words, every aspect of him said otherwise. Everything from the malicious look in his eyes, to the way his teeth grit together as he looked at you told you to stay away. And yet despite your instincts trekking you to run, you stayed. Maybe it was because you wanted to prove something. Maybe because you didn't just want to survive, you wanted to thrive too. In the face of a predator, you didn't just want to be prey, no- you wanted to be the bigger predator.
"Let's have breakfast together." The boy said, something more like a threat than an offer. "Shall we, Brunhild and...?
"[Name] [Lastname]" You said, looking at him with a fiery gaze. "And yes, we will eat with you."
His wicked grin grew tenfold.
"That's what I was hoping to hear..."