"The pain is too much isn't it, I've already suppressed my presence but the damage has already been done. Even surviving this long is because you haven't awakened".
Noir could barely registered what he was hearing the pain occupying all thought, not even noticing his disintegrating body.
"When you entered my range I thought I missed one but you were just out of town weren't you. As the last, I'll take care of you and be on my way".
(What bull, for what reason do I have to die here, all jus...).
He fully disintegrating, not even finishing his thoughts, his clothes fell on the ground, the only evidence of his existence. The hero left the scene. Time passed as it always had, the next day arrived. In the middle of the road darkness was coalescing right where Noir died, taking human shape as it grew.
(This familiar warmth, am I reborn again?).
Feeling the morning sunrays he opened his eyes, looked at himself, he had grown taller, his clothes on the ground would not fit as they are. He changed their size with magic got up and wore them. He did not only resurrect but also awakened and now understood his existence.
"So this is awakening, my true self is no longer bound. That was the hero without a doubt, he didn't even have to lift a finger, his presence alone was enough to extinguish my existence. I will not forget, I'll get strong then go after him, if not for me then for everyone else".
He looked at the ground, more specifically where his shadow should have been.
"So that's how it is, I thought it was a preference when I saw others without shadows when it was actually the other way around".
Knowing that he was the only survivor of his town, he went back to the train station and left for the capital. His father had once told that his grandparents also lived in town perhaps even his great grandparents, which meant they were also gone and he was not aware of any other relative, even if that wasn't the case he would not seek them out.
"The awakening has changed me, my expression of emotions is lacking at best and my magic has improved in ways I can't describe". ( That place is now a ghost town, I wonder what the ruling class will do. Speaking of, what is this scroll).
He pulled out the scroll from his pants while opening it he noticed a seven pointed star circle on the back of his hand and he recognised it immediately, it was the same as the one on the cover of the demon summoning Grimoire.
"So nothing went wrong with it's activation, and why is one point faded, it's barely visible".
He put the scroll aside for a moment and analysed the mark intending to understand its magic. But he found nothing his analysis told him it was nothing more than a birth mark but he knew that wasn't the case.
(Was awakening the condition of its appearance or was it death. Forget it, let's see what the scroll says).
Written on the scroll were directives for when he arrived at the capital and while the latter parts served as proof for a recommendation for the Royal Demon Academy. Not long after he arrived at the capital's train station and went straight for the demon king's castle. The castle was larger than the demon lord's by a considerable degree. At the gates he showed them the scroll and was allowed to enter guided by a guard. While following the guard he looked around saw that though it was larger it was less decorated. When he entered the castle he felt something he'd never felt before, coming from several places in the castle but inside he saw no maids nor butlers to manage the place which led him to believe it was from the other demons in the castle.
"My lords I have brought a young lord in need of recommendation letter for the academy".
The guard bowed to three individuals they encountered along the corridor. One of them was the demon lord of the east.
"Knight you are dismissed, and you let me see this proof of yours".
Noir took out the scroll and handed it over, the demon lord looked it over.
"As the demon lord in charge of the central territory in place of the demon king I give you this letter of recommendation for the academy. You can decide if you will stay at the academy dorms or an inn".
"Thank you my lord, if there's nothing else I'll see myself out".
He said then took the letter. Now that he was this close to some of the demons in the castle, that feeling was much stronger than before which he was not to happy with. He was about to leave when he heard.
"I'm sure you saw it on your way to the castle, the second largest building after the castle, that's the academy".
The demon lords continued on their walk in the castle, led by Freign.
"That scroll was from you wasn't it".
"Yes. He's the survivor of that town and the one who dealt with the holy knights yesterday. Delaying him saved his life though he still lost a lot".
Noir followed the road leading to the academy. From what he saw while going to the castle he knew they were close to one another but when he arrived he was surprised to see the academy was more of a backyard of the palace, with even an entrance between the two at back of the palace.
"Bastards didn't even bother to tell me about the entrance, and what was that feeling, felt like a force was pulling me to them and suprisingly it made me feel at ease, which is scary".
The grounds were empty no students in sight only a dozen possible professors of the academy. And it would be like this for the entire week unlike the Common Demon Academy which was already operational from today onwards. And was just kilometers away from here. Assisted by observation magic he headed straight for the administration office. The door to the office was open, inside was a familiar face standing by the window behind the desk, he'd seen him recently, Stephen. He also give off the a similar presence to the demon lords though vastly weaker.
"Oh, look who it is. I didn't think I'd see you here, and is that letter for me perhaps, you can put on the desk. If it is what I think it is, you can be on your way, classes start next week but you can stay at the dorms at your discretion".
He was also not expecting to run into Stephen, he was sure the man was also a victim of the hero but considering what he said on that day finding him here was not much of a surprise.
"Well I'll put it here then Sir".
Stephen turned around and looked at Noir as he left and corrected him.
"It's not Sir but Professor".
Noir did not stop to listen but continued on his way to check out the dorms. There were several dorms throughout the academy and what surprised him was that he could stay alone in any of these mansion sized dorms.
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
"This level of freedom of choice is overwhelming for someone like me, l should be logical and go with the one closest to the academy hall".
On his way to his chosen dorm he ran into the prince, apparently the prince was waiting for him. When the two met, Noir him felt the same kind of presence he felt when he met the demon lords and had a guess, the higher a demons rank the greater the presence but why couldn't he feel it before.
"So you are the commoner that got the pass to attend the Royal Demon Academy, you were more or less involved with two rare events. I'm willing to bet you'll go far. Mind showing me your magic".
Noir was startled not only was the prince waiting for him now he wanted to see his magic.
(What is his aim, he didn't greet me is he expecting me to greet him first, I'll play it safe and just do what he wants and use simple magic). "How's this your highness".
He said after forming a ball of fire on his half raised hand. After looking at the fire and hand for a while the prince looked disappointed.
"Your magic has no fault but your application is beyond flawed, and you don't have to be formal, call me Xeta, here at the academy everyone is equal".
Noir relaxed at those words and felt comfortable enough to ask his question.
"How is it flawed?"
"An ocean doesn't need rivers and water pipes within itself to expell water out. You would have realised it yourself sooner or later but consider it an investment. I plan on making you a noble, so I suggest reading about the origin of nobles"
He left without saying anything else and leaving Noir who was still digesting his words. When he arrived at his chosen dorm he looked around to see what was available, and found the academy uniform already in his dorm. Black with gold lining in military style. When he was done he went to the academy library.
"Make me a noble he says, does that mean I'll be lord of territory. I guess I'll finally understand the distinct presence nobles have. I can't sense their presence with magic but there is this feeling when I'm near them".
The library here was more advanced, equipped with a book search system. Using that system he found the book with no effort on his part. He did not even bother to take it to a reading spot, choosing to read it right beside the book shelf.
"So nobles are the demons that closely followed and learned under the demon lords as a result of being related to them in some way during the early days. As their understanding of apostles increased they were able to break through the limit of being incapable of reaching infinity. And as time went on, demon lords were chosen from existing nobles and thus no new nobles were formed this way to this day. The feeling must be a result them being different some how, also explains why it's threatenly greater when coming from a demon lord, the prince too".
He closed the book and returned it on the shelf and moved on to a book detailing the geography of the continent.The search system made things easy just enter description of the type of book and it lists and provides their exact location in the library.
"Let's see here, the demon continent is divided into five major parts with one at the center, with the others being East, West, South and North. The other four are the dukedoms while the center is just the demon capital. The Holy Empire east of the demon continent is divided into more major territories mostly based on culture..."
That night he thought back to what the prince said as he lay in bed.
(I am the ocean, by rivers and pipes he must have been referring to my magic circuits. I have been so preoccupied with other stuff that I overlooked the fact that using magic circuits to move my mana around is meaningless when my whole body is made of mana. And by extension the whole world becomes a medium of magic. I don't have to touch something to influence its mana).
The day of the academy opening arrived and before then he further improved his magic. In uniform he walked with the other students into the academy's hall, and sat before the podium, they all looked older than him.
(I know demon population is not that high but for noble children from all over the continent to not even reach thirty is still surprising. The red haired demon lord, it slipped my mind last time. Of all the demons I've met he's the only one whose hair is not black).
"Welcome students from every corner of the demon continent. I am Freign demon lord of the capital and Royal Demon Academy headmaster, here you will be turned into proper mages in the shortest time. I will not hold you here go your first class awaits".
""We are in your care headmaster""
The students said before getting up went to their class. A single class of less than thirty students in an auditorium that can accommodate over 200 individuals with space to spare.
"Welcome to your first day of class, I am Stephen, but you will address me as Professor".
The professor said immediately after entering.
"All of you understand what magic is and are able to use magic. But none of you are mages. You still acknowledge and accept the truth of the world as fact, and as long as you do that you will never be mage. Tell me what is magic".
Someone in the front row answered.
"It is the act of creating phenomenon by manipulating mana".
"That's something you all know but have yet to understand. The world is a construct of The One meaning, it is also a type of magic. You must understand any truth of the world is just a subjective truth of The One. A grand mage that is what The One is. In order to be a mage you must reject the world's truth and impose your own truth. That is what it means to be a mage, prioritising subjective over objective..."
Looking around the the auditorium the only familiar faces to Noir was Stephen, the prince at back row and a bit further left from him his sister. Everytime the professor touched on something of interest he would listen wholeheartedly. He was already aware his knowledge of magic was useless here so he did not waste this opportunity.
"... here's why knowledge plays a major part to being a mage. Given three individuals with varying knowledge, all three are given a task of manipulating an equal quantity of matter X. The first is just possesses below average knowledge, the second average the third above average. At most what the first will be able to do is freely change the shape of the matter even switch between states of solid, liquid and gas. For the second they can even control the chemical bonds of the matter and switch to plasma state of matter. While the third does even more they can make other elements with quantity of C≤X thanks to fusion and fission, has access to more than four states of matter and can do anything that's possible with matter even the theoretical".
When class ended the students began to socialise, for them the academy was not just a place to learn they could meet other demons their age from all over the continent with no effort on their part, not to mention even the royal family it self. But for Noir the time to socialise had not come, he went to the library and continued to read more books that had key information on this world. From the events of the Slumbering forest being made by some unknown individual for no apparent reason. To the events of the dragon invasion. Which caused the beast kin to migrate from their original continent to the Slumbering forest, soon after the dragons were defeated and sealed by the combined efforts of the 28th hero and demon king. By the time night came Noir understood what the professor said and what he had carefully omitted.
"A mage is aware, understands and rejects the truth of the world. The three individuals he spoke of are not mages, they only display awareness and understanding of the world's truth. Rejecting the world's truth would be to outright ignore the laws of physics and achieve the impossible, manipulate matter in ways that go against physics. Most of all to reject the world's truth does not require awareness or understanding, the two just make it easier. After all the only way a caged bird is breaking out of the cage it's unaware of is by accident and even then it would not be aware of what it did. A mage rejects the world's truth at will and not by accident".
Though the academy states everyone was equal in its grounds there was still undoubtedly a hierarchy based on their ranks as nobles. But demons being orderly beings did not use the hierarchy to abuse those beneath them. And it was thanks to such a society that Noir had no problem fitting in as one of them even when he ranked lower than those of baron heritage. At their core they were naturally beings who were loyal to their own, more so to the demon king. But even with such an environment Noir was trying not to stand out but plans rarely go accordingly but this was to be expected. On the second day of class Augustus chose to sit next to him.
"I see you've already fixed the flaw".
"Thanks to your guidance I have. Is it alright for you to be speaking so casually to me?".
"As a commoner among nobles you are definitely a person of interest, wouldn't you agree".
From the prince's words he understood and even though he was not sure what getting involved with him would lead to, he knew there would be benefits so embraced the friendship.
"But you won't be a commoner for long at the very least I'll be able to raise your status to baron".
"So you were serious about that".
"We're short on nobles but we can't just raise the status of someone just for that. But we can exaggerate the merits to raise a person's status, and you qualify".
(So he intends on increasing the number of nobles while building a friendship with me. This is a deal I can't pass on). "Where do I sign up".
"Any time you're free you can visit the castle and fill in the paper work".
"Just like that and it's done".
"What more could there be, it's just a formality".
