Ronan thought he’d misread for a second.
He looked at the projection again, finding his na in the sa place.
Ronan Ashbourne – Class S
He’d expected B class at most. Maybe A class if the Academy felt generous, though that seed unlikely given his combat weakness.
But S class?
It didn’t make sense.
No, it made so sense.
The Academy clearly saw potential in him – tactical reasoning, strategic positioning, adaptability under pressure. Those were the qualities they’d been watching for during the Inter-Class War.
The students there were the ones the Academy believed could shape battles, lead entire classes, or destroy opposition alone.
Ronan was none of those things, at least not yet.
He briefly wondered if the Academy had sohow detected the Demon Leech and decided to place him in S class for observation or containnt. But that seed paranoid. If they knew, he’d already be in a cell sowhere, not standing in the main hall.
They must have seen sothing I didn’t realize I was showing.
But this wasn’t entirely unwelco, especially since his circumstances had changed.
Class S ant resources. Better instructors, better facilities, better access to restricted training grounds. It was exactly the kind of environnt he needed now that the Demon Leech had assimilated into his body.
But it also ant scrutiny.
Grace, Iris, Irene, Aura, Luca, Freya, Kazuma – every dangerous person in the first year would now be close enough to breathe down his neck.
Most of the students in the hall were absorbed in their own results, checking where they placed, how far they’d moved, whether they’d climbed or fallen.
Few noticed his na.
Elara did, however.
Ronan felt her stare before he turned his head.
She stood about fifteen ters away, arms crossed, her expression hovering sowhere between puzzled and suspicious. Her eyes flicked from the projection to him, then back again, as if confirming she hadn’t imagined it.
Ronan didn’t think her the type to care more about other people’s results over her own, but it seed he’d been mistaken.
Their eyes t.
Elara didn’t look away.
Ronan gave her a small, neutral nod, and turned back toward the the front.
The headmaster was already gone.
Ronan took that as his cue to leave.
None of the other students were yet, but if the headmaster was gone, that ant there was nothing else that had to be said.
He slipped through the crowd without drawing attention.
When Ronan reached his room, the first thing he noticed was a black cat.
It sat on the windowsill, tail curled between its paws, watching him with athyst eyes that practically glowed in the dim room.
To anyone else, it might have looked like a stray. Harmless. Maybe even cute.
Ronan knew better.
He closed the door behind him, locked it, and walked toward the cat without hesitation.
The creature didn’t move.
Just stared.
Ronan bent down, scooped it up with both hands, and held it at eye level.
"You know," he said, scratching behind its ears, "I think I’ll adopt you. Pretty little thing. I’ll call you Princess."
The cat’s pupils narrowed into slits.
Its fur bristled, claws pointing outwards suddenly.
Then it snarled – a low, angry sound no housecat should ever make – and swiped at his face with claws that left three thin scratches across his cheek.
Blood trickled down his skin at the shallow cuts.
Ronan didn’t flinch.
The cat leaped from his hands, landed smoothly on the floor, and backed up several paces.
Then it shifted.
Darkness rippled outward from the small form, and in less than a breath, the cat was gone.
In its place stood a girl, around five-foot-three, with dark flowing hair that spilled over her shoulders and the sa athyst eyes that now glared at him with open irritation.
Ronan widened his eyes on purpose, faking surprise.
"A demon!?"
Aura snarled.
"You think yourself a codian. And I will have to ask you not to call that accursed nickna again."
Aura huffed, arms crossed.
A small pout ford on her face, barely visible. It looked more from annoyance than anything.
He’d never seen that before.
Curious, he opened her character screen.
[Aura Acheron]
Affection: -8
Trust: -6
Loyalty: 3
The numbers had changed, and quite a bit actually since before the war.
Affection and trust were still negative, but they’d climbed into the single digits.
Loyalty had risen slightly as well.
Ronan studied the values, then closed the screen.
He didn’t fully understand why.
Maybe it was kinship. The Demon Leech inside him made him sothing closer to her now, even if only partially. Maybe she recognized that shift on so instinctive level.
Or maybe it was sothing else entirely.
Either way, her affection and trust going up was useful. He’d take it.
"Did you see?" Ronan asked, leaning back against his desk. "I made Class S."
"I did."
Silence.
Ronan smirked. "Not gonna praise ?"
Aura stared at him, her face a fierce deadpan, clearly not amused.
[System Alert: Affection -1]
Ronan ntally rolled his eyes. Of course.
He waved the notification away and shifted his tone.
"So. What do you want?"
"What makes you think I want sothing?"
"You only co into my room like this when you need sothing specific." Ronan gestured vaguely at the window she’d climbed through. "Otherwise, you’d have waited for a summons."
Aura’s face twisted when he said that. She obviously didn’t like that, but she didn’t deny it.
She took a breath and said, "Our relationship does not feel like the mutual agreent that was promised in the contract."
Ronan tilted his head. "What do you an?"
Her face twisted, frustration bleeding through her usual composure. "You’ve been giving orders left and right like a slave."
Ronan raised an eyebrow. "I did save you."
"You said this was a partnership," Aura shot back.
Ronan paused, then smiled faintly. "Did I really say those exact words?"
"I don’t care about the semantics."
"Clearly."
She stepped forward, athyst eyes sharp. "I want you to do sothing for now."
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