The remaining three weeks passed in a blur of preparation.
Physical training. Combat drills. Practicing fire magic until I could cast reliably without thinking. Learning to suppress my dark mana without Asura's barrier, a painstaking process that involved constantly maintaining a thin layer of neutral mana around my core, masking the dark energy beneath.
"Think of it like covering a black wall with white paint," Asura explained. "The black is still there. You're just hiding it. But you have to maintain the coverage constantly. One slip, and someone with mana sensitivity will notice."
I practiced until it became automatic. A constant mental process running in the background, like breathing.
Cedric and I trained daily, always privately. He never asked about my new fighting style again, but I could see the questions in his eyes. The concern.
"At the Academy, you'll be evaluated constantly," he warned. "Combat trials. Sparring matches. Tournaments. You'll need to show competence without showing everything. Can you do that?"
"I'll manage."
"Your trauma from observation is a problem. Work on it. Find a way to function under scrutiny or you'll be eaten alive."
I tried. Practiced performing the traditional forms under his watchful eye. But the moment I felt observed, my body locked up. The smooth movements became stiff, forced. Awkward.
It was a problem with no easy solution.
Clara made sure I ate properly, regaining the weight I'd lost. She also helped me pack for the Academy, clothes, supplies, and everything a student would need.
"You'll do wonderfully," she said, folding my things with practiced efficiency. "Your mother would be so proud."
I hoped she was right.
My father returned from his subjugation mission two days before I was scheduled to leave. I waited for him to summon me. To give some final advice. To acknowledge that his son was leaving for the most prestigious Academy in the empire.
He didn't.
The morning of my departure, I waited in the entry hall with my packed bags. The escort of guards was ready. The carriage was prepared.
My father never appeared.
"He's in his study," one of the servants whispered sympathetically. "Working. He said... he said to wish you well at the Academy."
Not enough to see me off himself. Just a message passed through a servant.
The coldness that had started after my mother's death was now complete. I'd become just another obligation. Another disappointment to manage from a distance.
"Fuck him," Asura said from my pocket. Her dagger was packed in my travel bag, but her physical manifestation was outside. She'd learned to make herself small enough to hide. "You don't need his approval. You never did."
She was right. But it still hurt.
I climbed into the carriage without looking back.
The journey to the capital of the Altiligo Kingdom took three days.
Three days of rolling countryside, small villages, and gradually growing cities as we approached the heart of the empire. The guards were professional but distant; they knew my reputation. The depressed noble who'd wasted his preparation time. They didn't expect much from me.
Fine. Low expectations were easier to exceed.
Asura kept me company, staying hidden but providing constant commentary.
"This empire is bigger than I remember. How long was I sealed again?"
"You said decades or was it centuries?"
"Right, right. Things change fast when you're unconscious. These roads are much better than I remember. And are those... street lights? Magic-powered street lights? Fancy."
"You sound like an old person reminiscing."
"I am old. Centuries old. You're the baby here."
The capital came into view on the third day.
Massive. Sprawling. A city that made every other place I'd seen look like a village. Walls that reached impossibly high. Towers that pierced the clouds. Magic everywhere, streetlights, transportation systems, defensive barriers visible in the air like soap bubbles.
And at the center, on a hill overlooking everything: the Royal Academy.
It was less a school and more a fortress. Multiple buildings, each one massive. Training grounds are visible even from a distance. Walls within walls, security layers that made the Ashford manor look undefended.
"Impressive," Asura admitted. "Though I could break in if I wanted to."
"Please don't."
"Relax, I'm not going to cause an incident. Yet."
The carriage took us through the city, up the hill, through security checkpoints where guards verified my identity and enrollment. Finally, we reached the Academy's main gate.
I climbed out, retrieved my bags. The guards who'd escorted me prepared to leave, their job was done. They'd return to the Ashford manor without me.
I stood alone at the entrance to the most prestigious institution in the empire. Fourteen years old. No allies. No reputation. Bound to a demon hidden in my pocket.
"Ready?" Asura asked.
"No. But let's go anyway."
The entrance ceremony was held in the Grand Hall, a massive auditorium that could hold thousands. It was packed with new students, their families, Academy staff, and upper-year students observing the fresh meat.
I found a spot toward the back, away from the clusters of noble families. They were easy to identify, expensive clothes, confident bearing, surrounded by guards and servants, even here.
I was technically noble, but nobody here knew me. Nobody cared. The son of a Duke from a distant territory meant nothing in the capital.
Perfect.
The headmaster gave a speech, something about tradition, excellence, the honor of attending the Academy. I barely listened. Too busy scanning the crowd for familiar faces.
Sera. Lucas. They'd be third years now. Probably not even at the entrance ceremony, why would they bother watching first-years arrive?
Relief and disappointment mixed in equal measure.
"Now," the headmaster announced, "we'll measure your magical affinities. Please line up and approach the Resonance Stone when called."
The Resonance Stone sat on a pedestal at the front of the hall. A large crystal, maybe three feet in diameter, that glowed with inner light. Students approached one by one, placed their hands on it, and the stone would glow with colors indicating their affinities.
Blue for water. Red for fire. Green for Plant affinity, Brown for Earth. White for wind. Various combinations for those with multiple affinities. Bright, pure colors for strong affinities. Dim colors for weak ones.
I watched as noble after noble displayed impressive results. Strong fire. Dual water and wind. Even one student with rare lightning affinity, blue-white light that made the crowd murmur in approval.
Then my name was called.
"Aldric Ashford, House Ashford, Ravenhold Territory."
I walked to the stone, aware of every eye on me. Something tickled at my consciousness, but I pushed it down. This wasn't combat. Just a test.
I placed my hand on the stone.
It glowed. Faint red. Barely visible. Weak fire affinity.
The crowd's murmur was different this time. Disappointed. Pitying.
"Fire affinity, low resonance," the examiner announced. "Suitable for the swordsmanship department with basic magical enhancement."
Weak. They'd declared me weak in front of everyone.
I removed my hand, walked back to my spot. Ignored the stares and whispers.
"That's it?" someone nearby muttered. "A Duke's son with barely any magical talent?"
"Heard he spent the past year locked in his room. Depressed or something."
"Waste of a noble lineage."
Asura was vibrating with rage in my pocket.
"That stone is bullshit! You have massive mana reserves! Dark mana just doesn't register on their stupid crystal? That's..."
I know, I thought back to her. It's fine. Let them think I'm weak.
"It's not fine! You should show them what you can really do!"
And get executed by the Church for dark magic? No thanks.
She grumbled but subsided.
The ceremony continued. More students measured. More judgments passed.
Finally, it ended. Room assignments were distributed.
There were three dormitories. Diamond Dorm for top students, prodigies, high nobles, and those with exceptional talent. Pearl Dorm for average nobles and skilled commoners. And Stone Dorm for everyone else.
My assignment: Stone Dorm. Room 47.
I was the only noble child assigned to Stone Dorm. Every other noble had made it to at least Pearl. Some to Diamond.
But not me. The Duke's son with weak fire affinity and no accomplishments. I belonged with the commoners and the mediocre.
The humiliation should have stung more. But honestly, I preferred it. Diamond Dorm would mean constant scrutiny. Social obligations. Politics.
Stone Dorm meant being left alone.
"You're taking this too well," Asura observed as I made my way to the dorm. "Most nobles would be having a breakdown right now."
"Most nobles didn't spend a year in isolation training with a demon. My priorities are different."
Stone Dorm was smaller than the others. Older building, fewer amenities. But functional.
The dorm head, a tired-looking woman in her thirties, showed me to my room.
"You're fortunate, Lord Ashford," she said. "Normally commoner students share rooms. But given your... status, we've arranged a private room. You'll still eat with the others in the common dining area, but you'll have your own space."
"Thank you."
"Classes start tomorrow. Swordsmanship department, correct?"
"Yes."
"Good luck." She said it like I'd need it.
Room 47 was small. Bed, desk, wardrobe, window overlooking the training grounds. Basic. Sparse. Perfect.
I unpacked quickly. Clothes in the wardrobe. Supplies on the desk. Asura's dagger hidden under the mattress, wrapped in cloth to muffle any dark mana leakage.
"Seriously?" Asura complained. "Under the mattress?"
"Where else? I can't carry a cursed dagger to classes."
"I'm not cursed, I'm blessed. With me. There's a difference."
"You're blessed with ego."
"Damn right I am."
I'd learned to suppress my dark mana without her barrier spell now. It took constant concentration, but I could manage it. As long as I didn't use dark magic actively, nobody would detect anything unusual.
Probably.
That night, I left the dorm to train.
The Academy had extensive training facilities. Outdoor yards for group practice. Indoor training halls with equipment. And individual training rooms, twenty small chambers where students could practice alone with environmental controls.
During club recruitment hours, most students were busy. The training facilities were empty.
Perfect.
I found an unoccupied room, number 13, appropriately, and locked the door behind me.
The control panel on the wall offered options: temperature adjustment, gravity increase, oxygen reduction, atmospheric pressure, and even magical resistance fields.
I started simple. Standard gravity, normal temperature. Just me, a practice sword, and empty space.
I ran through Asura's chaotic forms. The wild, unpredictable movements had confused Cedric. Combined them with traditional techniques, finding the balance between chaos and structure.
Hours passed. Sweat soaked through my clothes. My muscles burned pleasantly.
This was familiar. Comfortable. Just me and the training.
No audience. No judgment. No pressure.
I'd do this every night. Build strength in private while maintaining mediocrity in public.
The first day of classes confirmed my outsider status.
The swordsmanship department gathered in a large training hall. Maybe fifty years, all sorted by preliminary skill assessments. I was placed in the lower-middle group, not the worst, but far from the best.
The instructor, a scarred veteran named Master Torvald, outlined expectations.
"Combat trials every month. Rankings updated based on performance. The top ten students get additional resources, advanced instruction, and Academy prestige. Bottom ten get remedial training. Everyone else...you're average. Work harder or stay average. Your choice."
He paired us off for basic sparring. I was matched against a commoner boy who looked terrified to be facing a noble, even a weak one.
I won easily. But not too easily. Showed competence, but nothing exceptional. Just another average student.
Asura's voice nagged in my head the entire time.
"You could destroy him. Why are you holding back?"
Because I don't need or like attention.
"You need respect. You need a ranking. You need..."
I need to be left alone. That's what I need.
She grumbled but went quiet.
Classes continued. Basic magical theory. Combat formations. Mana enhancement techniques.
I paid attention, took notes, and asked occasional questions. The model of a student with little knowledge trying to catch up.
It wasn't entirely an act. The Academy's instruction was comprehensive, covering things I'd never learned. I absorbed everything, storing it away for later use.
Asura provided commentary the entire time.
"This instructor has no idea what he's talking about. Mana doesn't flow that way. It's more like..."
Not now.
"I'm just saying, centuries of experience here. I could teach this class better."
You're a demon. You'd probably eat the students or something like that.
"Only the annoying ones."
After classes, club recruitment began. Upper-year students prowled the halls, looking for promising first-years to join their organizations.
Combat clubs. Magic research groups. Social societies for nobles. Dozens of options.
I waited for someone to approach me.
Nobody did.
The other nobles were swamped with offers. Even skilled commoners got attention. But me? The weak-affinity Duke's son in Stone Dorm?
I was invisible.
I slipped away while everyone else was being recruited, made my way to the training rooms. Found number 13 again, I'd claimed it as mine and locked myself in.
This became my routine. Classes during the day, playing the struggling student. Training rooms at night, pushing my actual limits.
Asura grew increasingly bored with the routine.
"This is tedious. You're stagnating. We should do something interesting."
"Like what?"
"I don't know. Cause chaos? Fight someone important? Steal something valuable?"
"How about no."
She pouted. I could feel it even though she wasn't manifested.
One evening, about a week into term, I returned to my room after training to find her sitting on my desk.
Full manifestation. Six-inch chibi form.
Wearing... completely different clothes.
Not the tattered black dress I was used to. Instead, she wore a black crop top that exposed her tiny midriff and a short black skirt. Modern clothes. Earth clothes.
Clothes that shouldn't exist in this world.
I stopped dead. "What are you wearing?"
She spun around, the skirt flaring. "Like it? I got bored, so I went through your memories looking for fashion ideas. Found some really interesting stuff from that Earth place you came from." She struck a pose. "This style is called... crop top and mini skirt? Very practical. Much better than that torn dress."
"You went through my memories? Without asking?"
"I'm a demon bound to your soul. I don't need permission." She flew up to hover at eye level. "Besides, you have fascinating memories. Two whole worlds of experiences. That Earth place had such a weird fashion. I loved it. Made copies of several outfits using magic."
"Several outfits."
"Yep! I've got a whole wardrobe now. Modern Earth fashion is great. Way better than these boring medieval dresses everyone here wears." She did another spin. "What do you think? Does it suit me?"
I stared at the tiny demon in a crop top and miniskirt. Her white hair was styled differently, too, still long, but with some kind of side-swept bangs she definitely hadn't had before.
"I have so many questions."
"That's not an answer. Do I look good or not?"
"You look... different. Very different."
"Good different or bad different?"
"I... don't know how to answer that. You're six inches tall and wearing clothes from a world you've never been to after stealing memories from my past life."
"So that's a yes on the good different. Excellent." She flew to my shoulder, settled in her new outfit. "I was getting tired of looking like a stereotypical demon. This is much better. More modern. More me."
"More you."
"I've been sealed for decades. I deserve a wardrobe update. Sue me."
I couldn't help it. I laughed.
The tiny demon wearing stolen fashion from my past life, perched on my shoulder, looking incredibly pleased with herself.
It was absurd. All of it. My entire situation was absurd.
And yet somehow, it was also perfect.
"Okay," I said. "Fine. New wardrobe. Whatever makes you happy."
"Really?"
"Really. Just... warn me before you go digging through my memories again. Some of those aren't pleasant."
Her expression softened slightly. "I know. I saw. Both lives. All of it." She paused. "For what it's worth, I think you're handling this reincarnation thing pretty well. Most people would have broken by now."
"I did break. Multiple times."
"But you put yourself back together. That counts." She adjusted her new skirt. "Now, speaking of fashion, you should get some better clothes too. These Academy uniforms are boring. You need style."
"I need to not stand out."
"You can not stand out with style. Trust me, I'm an expert now. I've seen two worlds of fashion."
"You saw my memories of fashion. That's not the same as being an expert."
"Close enough." She yawned, apparently, demons in crop tops could still get tired. "I'm going back into the dagger. This manifestation is draining. But tomorrow, we're getting you better clothes. And maybe some pastries. Definitely pastries."
She vanished, flowing back into the dagger hidden under my mattress.
I sat on my bed, processing the last ten minutes.
My demon had discovered Earth fashion through my memories and given herself a wardrobe update.
This was my life now.
I changed into sleeping clothes, lay down, stared at the ceiling.
First week of the Academy complete. No incidents. No attention. No drama.
Exactly as planned.
Tomorrow would bring more of the same. Classes. Training. Staying invisible.
Until eventually, inevitably, I'd encounter Sera and Lucas.
That was a problem for future me.
Present me just needed to sleep.
I closed my eyes and let exhaustion take me.
In the dagger under my mattress, I could have sworn I heard Asura humming something that sounded suspiciously like a pop song from K-pop ***** Hunters.
Gods help me.