It was three hundred years ago that the Calamity War began, marking the end of humanity's golden age among the stars...
Humans have long abandoned verbal restraints, and what began as political disputes has turned into a full-out war for dominance across nations and the outer worlds. With a fear of death, humanity developed Mobile Armour, a terrifying artificial intelligence to fight for them.
These weapons eventually turned against their creators...
The Mobile Armours attacked without distinction. Entire cities and colonies were destroyed, and hundreds of millions of people were killed. For the first time, humanity faced the real possibility of extinction.
With no alternative remaining, mankind abandoned its internal conflicts and united against a common enemy. When the Calamity War finally ended, the damage was irreversible. Billions had died, most governments had collapsed, and the political order that once governed the stars no longer existed.
In the aftermath of the war, the surviving nations confronted the consequences of their own actions. To preserve the fragile peace they had secured, they established a new governing authority known as Gjallarhorn. Its purpose was to enforce order, regulate military power, and ensure that a calamity on the same scale would never threaten humanity again...
[???'s POV]
*Thud*
I fell onto the bathroom floor, my cheek burning from the impact. I drew in a sharp breath and forced myself up, only for a boot to slam into my stomach. The air was driven from my lungs as I collapsed again.
"How vile," the man standing over me muttered.
"A Martian like you doesn't belong here. Your existence stains the image of Gjallarhorn."
Before I could react, his foot came down hard on the back of my head. My vision blurred as laughter echoed around the cramped room. I struggled to stay conscious, my body refusing to respond.
The beating only stopped when a loud bell rang in the distance, signalling the start of class. Reluctantly, they stepped away, leaving me lying on the floor.
Clicking their tongues in annoyance, the men quietly left. When silence finally settled over the bathroom, I pushed myself upright, my legs trembling as I caught the edge of the sink to steady myself.
Wiping the blood from my nose, I looked up at the mirror. A boy with sharp green eyes and pitch-black hair stared back at me. His face was narrow, his skin marked by half-faded bruises that refused to disappear. He was lean, the academy uniform hanging stiffly on his frame.
I glanced down at my dirtied uniform and clicked my teeth before carefully washing the cuts along my face. As I cleaned the blood away, the door creaked open. Footsteps echoed softly against the tiled floor. My shoulders tensed, and from the corner of my eye, I glanced toward the entrance.
A young man stepped inside. He had golden hair, well-defined features, and clear blue eyes. He looked composed, almost out of place in the cramped bathroom, like someone who belonged elsewhere. His posture was straight, his movements unhurried, and his gaze calm. Everything about him appeared controlled and deliberate.
"Why did you not defend yourself?" he asked, his voice calm and measured. "It is clear you possess far greater physical strength than they do."
I had assumed he was only here to use the stalls, and the question caught me off guard. I frowned and turned away.
"I… can't," I said quietly. "People like me aren't allowed to strike nobles." My fists tightened as I spoke. I exhaled slowly, forcing myself to stay composed.
I headed for the door, wanting nothing more than to leave. A firm hand closed around my shoulder, stopping me in place.
"But what if you could?" he asked, his voice still calm, almost quiet. I shot him an irritated glare. "If nobles were no longer beyond consequence, would you act?" He remained calm under my glare, and his pupils flickered as he studied me closely.
"Reality doesn't change just because I pretend it does," I muttered, pulling free of his hand.
"So you choose to remain bound by a system designed to keep you beneath them?"
"Then what should I do?" I snapped. I stared past him, my body shaking with anger. Blood slipped between my fingers as I clenched my fists.
However, eventually, I sighed and relaxed my body, "I'm leaving..." I muttered and turned towards the exit.
By the time I reached the door, I stopped and spoke in an exhausted tone, "If what you said really becomes true, I will make sure they will pay." I begrudgingly answered before finally leaving the room, as the man smiled, watching the door close behind me...
Days Later...
I had already pushed the exchange to the back of my mind. It was not the first time I had been harassed, and dwelling on it would only leave a bitter aftertaste.
Seated at the back of the lecture hall, I listened in silence as the instructor droned on about world history. This was not an ordinary academy. Völundr Academy existed for a single purpose: to train officers for Gjallarhorn. Every lesson, every evaluation, was conducted under the scrutiny of its upper ranks.
Almost all students who graduate here become soldiers since there's no better way to raise a family's standing than through military merit. That means the vast majority of students here have noble backgrounds.
Like me, a handful of students came from the same place, but that was very few. In the end, I was able to secure a position through luck and my father's efforts...
My expression eased briefly at the thought of my father, then settled again. That was why I needed to endure and graduate without incident.
Lost in thought, I failed to notice a Gjallarhorn Officer enter the room. They whispered something to the lecturer, and a moment later, I felt their attention shift toward me.
"You there. Leave with the officer," the teacher said.
Confused, I stood and left the classroom, drawing irritated looks from the other students. We walked down the empty hallway in silence. I watched the staff member from behind.
"Where are we going?" I asked after a moment, but I was ignored.
My attention drifted to the insignia on his back. It showed a black lion set against a blue shield, and my mind wandered to the officer's identity.
"Stop," the officer said sharply, pulling me out of my thoughts.
I looked around and realised we were at the back of the academy, in an empty space between the auditorium and the main building. It resembled a wide service alley. Before I could speak, the officer turned and left without explanation.
"Why are you here?"
My body stiffened at the familiar voice. I turned and saw the group of noble students from a couple of days ago facing me, their expressions openly hostile. Another officer stood behind them for a brief moment, then stepped away and left the area as well.
"Hey, Martian. Answer me," the leader demanded. I clenched my fists without thinking.
A setup? The thought crossed my mind, and I frowned. I looked at them and shook my head. "I don't know."
"What?" one of them snapped. "So you're saying you dragged us out here for nothing?"
Hands grabbed my collar and shoved me down. I hit the ground hard, forcing myself to stay still as irritation crept in. When I started to push myself up, they laughed.
"Look at you," one of them said. "On the ground already. Just like your father back then, begging to get you into this school."
"How did you..."
I froze, and my eyes widened in shock upon hearing the secret that I desperately wished to hide. Noticing my change in expression, the student's smile widened, "I heard he was practically kissing the principal's shoe. I refuse to believe a person like him could ever be a soldier of Gjallarhorn!"
"Shut... up..."
A deep groan escaped through my lips. It was as if the string holding my sanity together snapped. By the time I stood up, my body was already lunging forward.
My fist struck his face, and I heard a loud crack. Clutching his broken nose, the noble stared at me in shock and screamed, "Kill him!"
The alley exploded into motion. Shouts, impacts, and pain blurred together as bodies collided and fell. Blood smeared across the once-clean pavement, nobles crumpling where they stood.
When it was over, I stood there panting. I wiped the blood from my nose, the rush draining from my limbs as silence crept back into the alley.
Catching my breath, I fell onto one knee. Suddenly, footsteps echoed in the alleyway, and my pupils flickered in recognition upon seeing the man that I met in that bathroom days ago.
"…It's you," I muttered, my voice hoarse. "You're the one who told them, didn't you?" The blond-haired man stopped a few meters away.
"I did," he answered plainly.
I stared at him, too tired to summon anger. "Why?"
He walked past the groaning nobles with a faint click of his tongue, as if disappointed by their performance. Then he stopped in front of me and extended a neatly folded handkerchief.
"To see how you would respond," he said confidently. "Strength comes in many forms. I wished to know which kind you possessed."
I hesitated, unsure whether to slap his hand away or take it, but unbothered, he continued. "You could have endured the humiliation, as many in your situation would, where you will eventually break."
He paused, studying the bruises on my face. "You chose none of those."
"So what, you told them about my father to get a rise out of me?" I growled, feeling the annoyance suddenly flare, "Where in the hell did you even get that information from?"
"I have my ways. But for deceiving you, I owe you an apology. My methods were crude, yet I didn't misjudge you." The man readily apologised and bowed slowly.
I froze and laughed in disbelief. If anyone else saw this, it would spark a massive controversy in the academy.
"For a noble, you sure lower your head quite easily."
"Punishment befitting of the crime," The man smiled, and my eyelid twitched.
"I'm McGillis Fareed." He introduced himself and extended his hand, "I wish to have a cooperative relationship with you."
Staring at his hand, I glanced at his smiling face and frowned. With a deep, exhausted sigh, I grasped his hand and shook it, "Ren Ordis... It doesn't even matter anyway since I will probably be expelled soon."
"Well, then let me help you with that," McGillis smirked, and I felt a sudden unease.
"Ren. Please punch me."
"Huh?" I let out a strange sound, and my first impression of this "friend" was that he's truly insane...
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[McGillis Fareed]