The gates of Nova Academy rose high, dark and imposing, with silver runes shining along their surface. A thousand students stood before them, each one selected from tens of thousands for their skill.
For many, this was triumph. For others, terror.
For Adrian Kaelthorn, it was nothing more than another battlefield.
Whispers rippled across the crowd as the Headmaster stepped onto the platform.
Eldric Vaelor. Rank SS. Black robes, green eyes, white beard, and hair. The weight of his presence was overwhelming, and yet his voice was calm when he spoke.
"Welcome… to Nova Academy. One thousand stand here. Only one thousand. You were chosen because you killed, because you clawed, because you proved yourselves stronger than those who fell."
Murmurs broke out, and his emerald gaze silenced them instantly.
"But strength is fleeting. Today, we reveal the Ten who stand at the summit. Your rulers. Your rivals. Your executioners, should you falter."
Behind him, the crystal monolith blazed with golden light. Names appeared.
First Place:
Adrian Kaelthorn.
White hair. Black eyes. Calm, cold, indifferent.
Kill count: 226.
A gasp tore through the plaza.
"Adrian… Kaelthorn?"
"The useless son, the one who left his family!"
"They said he disappeared a year ago. I thought he was dead!"
Adrian Kaelthorn.
Born Adrian Ravenshade, the weak and unwanted child of one of the great noble houses. Bullied by his siblings, ignored by his parents, discarded as worthless.
Until the night he vanished.
For a year, he was gone. People forgot him, as if he had never existed. Some said he ran away, others thought he was dead or sold as a slave. No one knew for sure.
But now he stood again, not as Ravenshade, but as Kaelthorn.
The boy they mocked as weak had returned at the top.
The Sovereign.
Second Place: Kael Rivers.
Black hair, ember-gold eyes burning with stubborn fury.
Kill count: 202.
A commoner among nobles. His ranking sent ripples of outrage through the crowd.
"A commoner second?! Impossible."
"He's filth. He must have cheated."
Kael Rivers ignored them, his eyes locked on the glowing name above his own. Adrian Kaelthorn. A wall he swore to climb, or die trying.
Third Place: Lucian Auraldane.
The Crown Prince. Golden hair, deep blue eyes, regal bearing.
Kill count: 192.
"The prince is only third?"
"He should be first! How can royalty be beneath a nobody?"
Lucian's smile was calm, princely. But inside, his pride burned. He had never in his life stood beneath a commoner, nor beneath a boy the world had called weak.
Fourth: Nymera Dravenholt.
Lionkin princess, emerald-eyed predator.
183 kills.
Fifth: Carmila Noctharyn.
Vampire princess, with a crimson smile on her gorgeous face.
176 kills.
Sixth: Seris Eryndor.
Elf princess, moonlit bow.
174 kills.
Seventh: Evelyne Auraldane.
Ice to her brother's fire.
171 kills.
Eighth: Theodore Ashbourne.
Steel made flesh.
170 kills.
Ninth: Selene Ravenshade.
Black-eyed shadow.
167 kills.
Tenth: Viviene Ashbourne.
Silver-haired blade-dancer.
165 kills.
Gasps and whispers filled the air. Envy and hatred flickered in thousands of eyes, but everyone kept looking back to the top.
To Adrian Kaelthorn.
He was the boy everyone thought would amount to nothing. Now, he had surpassed them all, leaving his old family name behind and making a new one through his own actions.
Headmaster Eldric's voice cut through the noise.
"Adrian Kaelthorn. Step forward."
The crowd parted, a wave of fear and curiosity. Adrian's footsteps were steady as he climbed the platform. His white hair caught the sunlight, his black eyes calm as winter.
"Today, you stand at the summit," Eldric said. "As Sovereign, you will address your peers. Speak. Let them hear the will of the one above them."
The plaza held its breath. Even the Crown Prince leaned forward, watching.
Adrian looked over the crowd: the nobles who had sneered at him, the princes and princesses who thought they were special, and the commoners who fought hard to get here.
His voice was quiet, but it carried like steel across the silence.
"I am Adrian Kaelthorn, the former heir of Duke, the one who was mocked as the weakest noble and bullied in many social events, the one whom his parent ignored, and the one whom his sister shunned for being a disgrace to the family, and as a fiancée, I was an embarrassment to the princess."
The words struck like stones. Murmurs broke instantly.
His gaze flickered briefly toward the ninth name glowing on the crystal—Selene Ravenshade—and her jaw tightened. His gaze then moved towards his former fiancée, Evelyne Auraldane, whose face turned pale after being called out in the speech.
"I disappear for a year. In that time, I trained and killed again and again, I strived to become so strong that my hair became white, and I maintained this routine till I became strong enough, and weakness burned from me."
"I have no friends, no love, and no feelings left. All that remains in me is the drive to become the strongest."
I suddenly remember in my past lives I was weak and useless, that is why I lost everything, but not this time.
"My only desire is to become the strongest because Weakness is a sin. The weak do not have a place in this world; they are trampled upon by the strong and left for the mercy of the strong."
" I am only here to become the strongest and rise to the highest place possible, and whoever stands in my way, whether they be the princess, heirs, or the top crownless, and even the emperors, I will kill them and make an example out of them."
"My name is Adrian Kaelthorn, the one who will become the strongest of them all. Remember my name and etch it into your bones because either you chase after me or you will be crushed beneath me."
The silence broke.
Kael Rivers clenched his fists until they bled. If he climbed that high, so can I.
Lucian Auraldane's princely mask cracked, his deep blue eyes cold. A discarded dog dares to stand above me?
Evelyne Auraldane, his former fiancée, turned away, jaw tight. I once laughed at him. Cast him aside. And now… he stands beyond my reach.
Selene Ravenshade froze when the name appeared. Adrian Kaelthorn… brother.
Shame twisted in her chest—she remembered mocking him, wishing him gone. Now he stood above them all.
Her fists trembled, caught between envy and something she couldn't name. Do I hate you? Envy you? Or… am I proud?
Nymera Dravenholt's lips curved into a predator's smile. Finally. A hunt worth chasing.
Carmila Noctharyn licked her lips, crimson eyes gleaming. So cold. So dangerous. Mm… how delicious.
Seris Eryndor lowered her lashes, thoughtful. Is he a tyrant… or a broken soul?
Around them, whispers spread like fire. Awe. Fear. Envy. Hatred.
And at the center, Adrian Kaelthorn stood indifferent, as though he had spoken nothing more than the truth.
Headmaster Eldric's lips curled faintly. "Good. Fear him. Hate him. Worship him. But never forget him. For today, a Sovereign has spoken."