After that, a female teacher, also wearing a military uniform with a lieutenant's rank, turned to face Marco, Lana, Kiara, and Gizelle, who were lined up beside her desk. Austin stood near the door, arms crossed over his chest.
"Alright, time for introductions. I'm your instructor, Lieutenant Chloe Aetos," Instructor Chloe said.
"Yes, Ma'am," Gizelle, Marco, Lana, and Kiara replied.
One by one, they introduced themselves to the class. When it was Gizelle's turn, she stepped slightly forward.
"My name is Gizelle. When I transform into a boy, my name is Grey. Nice to meet you all," Gizelle announced.
Suddenly, "Draak," a smug-looking blonde youth stood up and walked to the front, carrying a thermos. He stood directly in front of Gizelle. "Hee," he sneered, popping open the thermos and pouring hot coffee straight onto Gizelle's head. A bright light flashed, and Gizelle instantly shifted into Grey, his uniform now ridiculously small and tight.
"Hahahaha… it's true! He really does change! Look, his uniform is way too tight!" the youth roared with laughter.
"Hahahaha… savage!" the entire class yelled, except for Team 10 and Seong Ho.
Grey wiped his face, then stared chillingly at the youth in front of him. After that, he glanced at Norman, Cynthia, Hazel, Karim, and Ivan, who were sitting near Seong Ho.
"All of you, get up here, now!" Grey commanded.
Norman, Cynthia, Hazel, Karim, Ivan, and Seong Ho immediately rushed to the front. Once they were all standing behind Grey, "Graaaaaaaaaah," Grey unleashed his Berserker Stun Howl. The entire class instantly froze, unable to move—including the youth standing in front of him, whose expression went from smug, confusion to sheer terror. Grey spread his arms and ripped open a black portal, pulling out a long sword hilt. "Bwuuuuung," a massive, black-and-white two-handed light-saber blade materialized.
"You're right, I change when splashed with cold or hot water. But that's not my only trick. You wanna try out some of my other abilities, huh?" Grey asked in a low, calm, and icy voice, placing the laser blade against the youth's neck, smiling and staring sharply, ready to kill.
The youth, stiff and unable to speak, could only dart his eyes down at the massive black-and-white glowing blade at his throat. Cold sweat and tears immediately soaked his rigid body. "Plok… plok," Grey turned to see Austin walking forward, clapping. His face looked like someone who had just witnessed superb entertainment.
"That's enough, kid. Put the sword away," Austin instructed.
"Huh… fine," Grey replied, lowering the sword, re-sheathing the laser, and putting the hilt back into the black hole before stepping back.
Chloe immediately walked over and started cleaning Grey's head with a towel. Austin then stood at the front of the class.
"Do you understand now? No one in the Special Unit is weak. You need to accept your new teammates. We are all on the same team. We are all fighting for our lives. We are all fighting for humanity. If I hear of anything like this happening again, or if I hear of any bullying here, I will personally deal with every one of you. Do you understand?" Austin roared.
There was, of course, no answer, even though the entire class seemed to comprehend what Austin had said.
"Where is your answer?" Austin yelled again.
"Um… Sir, the effect of my ability still has about three minutes before they can move. Sorry," Grey explained.
"Oh… right. (He looked at the class) Well, they seem to get it. Everyone here is from Team 4 through 9. Teams One, Two, and Three are already on the front lines because their power is far above average," Austin said.
"Is that so, Sir?" Grey asked.
"It is. The problem with the lot in this class is that they always think of themselves as superheroes… or whatever else makes them think they're above everyone else. I'm glad someone could finally teach them a lesson," Austin replied.
"Thank you, Sir," Grey said.
"Alright, now all of you get back to your seats, quickly. We need to start the lesson," Chloe said.
"Yes, Ma'am," the ten people at the front, including Grey, replied.
They all walked up the steps to sit in the highest and furthest row in the back, while their classmates remained frozen, stiff, and watching them as they passed. After sitting down next to Seong Ho and Ivan,
"Wow… turns out you're not pathetic like you were in the first life, Big Brother, huh," Gizelle commented.
"Of course not. I was a famous noble in the second life, a space fighter colonel in the third, a demon prince in the fourth, a tribal chief's son in the fifth, and a priest in the sixth. If they want to challenge me on arrogance, cockiness, and looking down on others, I'm leagues above them. Don't you dare try to disrespect me or bully me. I'm just not like you, who goes straight to killing without talking first," Grey replied.
"Hehe… that's true, we're a package deal, then," Gizelle said proudly.
"Hey… I wasn't complimenting you," Grey countered.
"But it feels like a compliment to me, Big Brother, hehehe," Gizelle replied happily.
"You psycho little sister," Grey muttered.
"Deal with it, hehe," Gizelle shot back.
A moment later, "Huaaah," the entire class was able to move again, but not a single person dared to look back. The arrogant youth who had stood in front of the class remained frozen, his legs trembling. "Crsssss," water streamed onto the floor from between his legs. Chloe, who had been reading, looked up and saw the youth.
"My God, Bryan! Get out, change your uniform, grab a mop, and clean this classroom! You've made the class filthy and smelly!" Chloe yelled, furious.
"Y-yes, Ma'am," Bryan stammered, his head down, covering his vital area and shaking.
"Pffft," the entire class visibly held back their laughter, including Norman, Cynthia, Hazel, Karim, Ivan, Marco, Lana, Kiara, and Seong Ho. Bryan looked at the class, his eyes locking onto Grey, who was sitting in the back row.
He glared at Grey with pure vengeance. Grey raised his finger and saluted Bryan with a cynical smile, practically challenging him. The class dynamic instantly flipped. The other classmates were also smiling now, watching Bryan get saluted by Grey.
Bryan, finding no support or defense, turned away with a face of defeat and rage, then ran out of the classroom, slamming the door. Marco, sitting at the end of the row, leaned forward toward Grey.
"Thanks, Grey. Because of you, we got into this class safely," Marco whispered.
"Yeah, seriously, thank you. They were cornering us during introductions, too," Norman added.
"Whew… thank goodness you were here, Grey. Otherwise, we all would've been bullied in here," Cynthia admitted.
"Maybe not bullied, but definitely ostracized," Lana added.
"True. But thankfully Grey was here. It seems like we really are soft, just like Lieutenant Austin said," Karim added.
"We have to get stronger. If we stick together, we can do it. We've never been to war before and we lived in a city—it's natural that we're soft," Ivan said, trying to encourage Karim next to him.
"I didn't really want to be a soldier, but I had no choice… I don't have any family… and Ivan's right, I want to change myself by being here," Hazel admitted.
"Same here. I never thought I'd be a soldier, but, well… what can you do, hehe," Kiara added.
"Stop talking, or Lieutenant Chloe will get mad. She's much scarier than Lieutenant Austin," Seong Ho warned.
Everyone immediately quieted down and listened as Chloe started explaining the slides on the whiteboard about Shifters and Cherubs.
"Oh… so there are different types of Shifters and Cherubs, I never knew," Grey thought in his head.
"Yeah, I didn't know that either," Gizelle replied in her head.
The two listened to Chloe's lesson from that point on, ignoring their friends' discussion, until Bryan returned, wearing a gym uniform and carrying a mop and bucket, and began cleaning the classroom floor.