The hallway outside Room Zero was silent. The kind of silence that didn't invite peace, but warned of something waiting beneath it.
Alyss Renwyn stood with her arms crossed, posture straight and unyielding like a blade at rest. Her uniform clung to her like second skin — crisp, regulation-tight, every thread exactly where it belonged. Her long black hair fell past her shoulders in silken, calculated waves, framing a face too sharp to be soft. Her golden eyes didn't blink. A single mole rested beneath her right eye — not a flaw, but a focal point, like a mark left there on purpose.
She wasn't there to look beautiful. She wasn't there to socialize.
She was there to observe.
Behind her, a group of students whispered — faint, nervous murmurs that barely dared to rise above the stillness. Alyss ignored them. She always did.
"She's waiting for someone," one voice said.
"Who could it be? Another Class A transfer?"
"No way. You think she's dating someone?"
"Don't be stupid. Alyss doesn't date."
Their voices were pebbles tossed at a mountain.
She didn't turn.
Didn't flinch.
Didn't even acknowledge them.
Her focus remained locked on the sealed, matte-black door in front of her — Room Zero. A door that hadn't opened in years. Some students didn't even know it existed. Those who did… spoke of it in a half-joking, half-fearful tone.
Room Zero was for anomalies — those with unknown bloodlines, unpredictable behavior, unstable minds. It wasn't a classroom. It was a testing chamber.
So why had it been used today?
And why… for him?
She had read his file three times that morning.
No family crest. No recorded bloodline. No previous academy affiliations.
Just a single word.
Noven.
No last name. No background. No explanation.
The name itself irritated her — too clean, too deliberate. Like a label slapped on a test subject that no one intended to keep around long enough to bother naming properly.
She didn't like puzzles with missing corners.
Then — the hiss.
A pressurized sigh escaped as Room Zero's door finally opened.
Her gaze sharpened.
He stepped out.
No visible injuries. No signs of trauma. Not a bead of sweat. No hesitation as his eyes scanned the hallway.
He didn't even flinch at the light.
Alyss narrowed her eyes.
He walked like he wasn't familiar with this place — and yet, not a single movement betrayed confusion. No wandering glances. No twitch of doubt.
He moved with quiet precision.
Like someone walking across a battlefield that had already been cleared.
That's him?
That's Noven?
She took a step forward before realizing it. Words came out before she could stop them.
"…Noven?"
He looked at her.
His eyes were red.
Not crimson like fire. Not glowing like some fantasy mutation. Just deep, blood-washed red. Cold. Still. Controlled.
He nodded once. "Yeah."
"You're the new one?"
His head tilted slightly, voice low, casual — detached.
"No. Just a replacement."
She blinked.
That wasn't an answer. That was a redirection — delivered flatly, but with purpose. Like he was testing how closely she'd listen.
He walked past her.
She didn't know why she followed.
Maybe instinct. Maybe something stranger.
"You don't talk much," she said, matching his pace.
He glanced at her sideways. "You talk too much."
The way he said it… it wasn't rude. Wasn't defensive. It was clinical. Like he was stating a weather report. No edge. No emotion.
Just fact.
Her lips curled slightly. "Cocky."
"No. Just busy."
Busy?
She raised an eyebrow. "Busy being average?"
That made him stop.
He turned.
Their eyes met.
For the first time, she really saw him.
Not emptiness. Not arrogance.
Control.
His face didn't move. But there was something just beneath the surface — something that flickered, like a blade unsheathed an inch too far. His eyes, an unnatural shade of crimson, didn't match the rest of him. They weren't just red — they were wrong. Too calm. Too still. Like a mirror that reflected nothing back.
A defect? No… they're beautiful, Alyss thought, catching herself. Sharp. Cold. Not human, but… captivating.
She blinked the thought away, annoyed she even noticed. But the image stayed — those red eyes, watching, calculating.
Then he turned away and kept walking.
And just like that… Alyss Renwyn stopped viewing him as a transfer.
She started watching him like a threat.
Later — Observation Deck
From the glass-walled upper floor, Alyss stood at the edge of the overlook, eyes fixed on the massive arcane screen that flickered to life.
Student names scrolled across it, glowing in pale blue.
The crowd below exploded into chatter.
Most students fought for position, desperate to see where they landed.
Alyss didn't move.
She was already focused on one name.
Noven — Class D
She stared at it for a long second.
That couldn't be right.
There were only two types of students who landed in Class D: the hopeless… and the lazy.
And Noven was neither.
He had walked out of Room Zero like it was an elevator ride. No tremble. No relief. No adrenaline hangover.
Class D?
Impossible.
"He tanked it," she muttered under her breath.
A voice behind her responded casually. "You sure?"
Professor Kaien stepped up beside her, sipping coffee like none of this mattered. His silver hair fell lazily over his forehead, his robes half-wrinkled. He looked like he had just woken up — but his eyes were sharp.
"I watched his answer pattern," Alyss replied. "He moved too confidently through the test… until tactical flowcharting. That's a section built around common sense and reaction time. He flubbed it deliberately."
"Odd place to make a mistake," Kaien said.
"It wasn't a mistake. It was a message."
"You're not usually the type to obsess over placements."
"I'm not."
"So what is it?" he asked, eyes narrowing slightly.
She didn't answer.
Not immediately.
Instead, she looked back down toward the glass.
There he was — Noven. Sitting at a corner table by the window, alone, back to the wall. His red eyes stared at the clouds outside like nothing inside the academy could interest him in the slightest.
"No last name," she said quietly. "No crest. No bloodline. Walks like a soldier. Scores like a strategist. Hides like a politician."
Kaien gave a soft hum. "Sounds like someone we should keep an eye on."
Alyss's voice was calm. Unshaken.
"No."
Her eyes locked on the boy below.
"It sounds like someone who's already watching us."