Chapter 33: Back to School P1
~33.1~
*****
When we returned from the meeting in Athas, we called for an impromptu royal council meeting in Atlantis, where we introduced the council members to Athanasia, Artemios, and Alexandros. The story about rescuing them was quite a tale to them, and even moreso was the part where some of us gained a hundred years of time. Technically as Kye Akari, I would be one hundred twenty-four years old.
Alethea and I withheld Mavel's meddling from the council, electing only to speak of it to our six guardians. Alethea gained the biggest change, in that Maya Alexandria was not human at all, and I decided to leave any further revelations to her. If she decided to tell anyone about her living world heritage, I would support her in it.
After the royal council meeting, Athy, Alethea, Sanae, and I wrote up an article with our guardians that Lanti would announce to the world at the end of the first semester. Athy didn't need much catching up for school, considering we covered everything in the hundred years. We didn't only train our bodies, okay? So, she joined our class.
During the break between the first and second terms, the news spread across the entire empire, as well as to world leaders on Elea. I also forwarded the article to Eliana, Elias, Katriel, and Kadmiel, and gave them permission to spread it however they saw fit amongst their realms.
Elea leaders were discussing bringing the planet into the Atlantis empire. I would have to bring down the boundary around the realm, but that wouldn't be much of an issue now. Archmage Lanrathor and Lord Calithil also expressed interest in discussing the same thing, but their timeline would take longer, as Elea had already been exposed to me for over a year, and they hadn't. Atalante, being officially appointed governor of Atlantis; that being the ten realms as a whole, not the empire specifically; was determined to bring prosperity to all ten realms. And I believed she could.
Anyway, all that aside, the entire world knew about our rescue of Athy and the boys, as well as the hundred years that the lot of us went through. Athy could have simply chosen to go straight to the university, but decided to enter the academy as a sixth year with us. Alethea, Liliana, Aliana, and I were already virtually done with the academy, and only really staying on as students because we wanted to, but now Sanae, Rei, Sora, Kaede, and Joey were suddenly advanced.
Sanae was transferred to my class, but the kids stayed in their own classes. Everyone was exempt from afternoon courses, except the kids. I made Rei, Sora, Kaede, and Joey stay with their siblings, despite their extra hundred years. I told them to help their classmates. None of them argued, since their instructors were myself for mana class, Alethea for combat class, and dear ole Uncle James for magic class.
Luma still had a habit of ditching her duties to sit in on my afternoon classes and even brought Lana and Lane with her sometimes. Alethea was initially uncomfortable around Lana, given what had happened, but that barrier had slowly lowered in the break between the first and second terms. We frequently went to Elea during the break, taking Adele and Adara with us, and of course Liliana and Aliana, too.
Those two went everyone I went, but did start splitting their guard duties between Sanae and I. The more they got to know Sanae, the more attached to her they got. Since we were originally one person, it wasn't all that surprising how similar we were. We had developed our own distinct personalities, but at our core, we were still more alike than any other two people.
During our frequent trips to Elea, Alethea openly walked around with her cat ears and tail out. We visited many world leaders, with Luma and Lana escorting us, sometimes Lane, as well. And I scouted more students for the Slayer Academy.
Probably the most important thing we did before the second term started was a visit to Daemonheim. Alethea, Sanae, and I had been discussing a plan with Atalante and Athanasia and the others to eliminate the threat of the demon beasts entirely. Eliminate the threat, not kill them outright.
"<<Eye of Providence>>!"
I used the world spell to locate every demon beast on Daemonheim. There were still a few at high levels, but none that served as a threat to us anymore. Only a SS-Class was a threat now, and even then… Awakening and Aether Drive would be enough to fight the one that Allison killed last year.
Once located, I had Sanae help me with a massive world level origin magic spell. We both had to use Radiant Burst with Joey awakened for one of us, to pump out enough power to complete the spell. I had told the council before that I could heal the demon beasts, but it would take a long time. That was before the hundred years and safe access to origin magic. Sanae, Alethea, and I can all use origin magic safely now that Mavel tampered with our DNA. The system can't touch any Alexandrian. With that option available now, we meant to cure them in one go. Alethea and Kaede were ready to transport the entire population that we were healing to a prepared location near the capital to accommodate them.
""<<Zen Purification>>!""
The massive spell did exactly as we intended. Almost the entire population was instantly cured and transported to safety, even up to A-Class. Only the few remaining S-Class beasts needed more attention, and they received all of it. We had to channel for the entire duration of Radiant Burst and then continued past that with Aether Drive. It only took about half an hour to cleanse them.
We made sure no more demon beasts remained on Daemonheim. All were cleansed of Phantom's corruption. Apollyon was beyond grateful, but I iterated that it was not a service that needed to be repaid. Rather it was my duty to the people as King of the World.
And I meant to keep going beyond Daemonheim. Part of why we made frequent trips to Elea was to figure out why monsters constantly respawned there and solve that problem, too. We couldn't solve it before second term began, but that just meant we needed more time to work on it.
*****
"It's so incredible!" Athanasia cheered as she ran into the academy courtyard. "I know the stories you told me, Eli, but seeing it in person is incredible! This entire facility is a school?"
Kye smiled as she and the others followed behind the enthusiastic princess on their way to the auditorium. "That's right."
"Wow…"
"Athy, you've seen it before!" Alethea hollered as she ran behind her sister.
"Well, sure," the princess replied. "But this is my first time walking through!"
The two imperials slowed down and chatted about the school on the way to the auditorium. Behind them, Michelle was still hung up on the idea. "You are such a cheater."
"I'm sorry, Mimi, it just kinda happened!"
"Yeah, uh huh." She mumbled something under her breath.
"Come again?"
"I should've jumped through that damn portal with you." She clenched her fist. "Well, Miss King of the World, what are you gonna do for us? You left Adele and me behind and spent a hundred years in the past."
Kye smiled apologetically. "You've been asking me every day since then."
"You still haven't given us an answer," Adele said, walking backwards in front of Kye. "C'mon. And what about Sanae? I know it'd be weird to have her on the certificate, but you know Alethea isn't the only one that wants to be with her. Adara and I have our old memories now, too. From the older worldlines and Alexandria. We remember what it was like before you two split. And being able to explain the weird attraction I had to your 'older sister' after you split is nice."
"Pfft." Kye and Michelle giggled at Adele.
"What?"
She had no clue. Suddenly, Adele felt a slap on her back.
*****
Revision: 2024-10-28