---

Hello, whoever may be reading this—probably my future generations, if I survive.

If I don’t, then this will be read to show the future generations the suffering of their predecessors.

The name of this martyr is Zephyr Vale.

A humble student of Asterea Academy with a professor so evil you would have to change the metric of evil.

The professor is the villain of this memoir.

Who would have thought that after waiting to be taught properly by him, we would all regret having him as our professor? Yes, we. I speak for all my classmates.

That man is a devil. A devil, I tell you.

---

In the first week of our training, we were still getting accustomed to the rigorous schedule ahead of us—according to the professor.

We trained for a minimum of nine hours each day, killing monsters of different ranks in the thousands, all while having limitations placed on us.

It was manageable. The strongest monsters we faced were S-Rank.

At the start of the second week, the evil dictator changed our training intensity. Twelve hours. The monsters were S-Rank, each with their own innate abilities. The good thing? They numbered only in the hundreds. The bad thing? We had even worse limiters.

We faced twice our normal gravity.

We were beaten. Killed. Resurrected. And the procedure continued.

The aim? Kill three hundred S-Ranked monsters in seven hours, dying only three times.

Three times?

I died more than five times. I stopped counting after the fifth.

It was a group effort, but we all died—well, other than Kenshin. He was our heavy hitter, and that only seemed to annoy the dictator.

After we completed the objective—killing the monsters in seven hours—he amped up the difficulty in the third week.

One hundred S-Rank monsters. Three times gravity. And Kenshin’s infinite stamina and regenerative ability were removed.

"Did you think I did not take your ability into consideration?" the dictator said. "I just wanted to give you a confidence booster. Now your torment begins."

I will never forget those words. Your torment begins.

With that evil smirk.

The hundred S-Ranked monsters we had to fight had much more effective abilities and were far more elite than the three hundred we had faced. Alongside our limitations, we had the roughest fight of the three weeks.

The worst part? Our mental and physical strain accompanied us back to the real world. Without it, we wouldn’t grow in our stats, and that would make the training redundant.

That was the dictator’s excuse. A very solid reason, but an excuse nonetheless.

The good thing? After a day of training, we had the next day to rest as our bodies healed. But did the dictator allow us rest time?

Of course not. He decided we needed theoretical knowledge.

Again, a solid reason.

It became a routine: physical training one day, theory the next.

---

But it didn’t take us until the fourth week before we could kill all one hundred, dying less than five times.

The next objective was not dying at all. Any death resulted in a restart of our progress.

And when one of our teammates died, we continued the battle without that teammate. Once we had all died, we would begin again, facing a hundred S-Ranked monsters.

Sometimes we were limited to only our innate abilities. Other times, pure skill. Other times, magic alone.

And most often, we had to use everything in our arsenals. That usually resulted in the fewest deaths before the training time elapsed.

We have been facing the hundred S-Ranked monsters for four weeks now, and we have reached the milestone of killing around thirty monsters before our team gets wiped out.

The one who lasted the longest was Nyssara. She simply teleported around.

Once her lethality had reduced, or the odds of her actually accomplishing our goal stretched past a certain time constraint, the dictator would pull her out.

Then we would begin again.

---

"Zephyr."

"Are you writing that stupid memoir?"

"I told you—a memoir isn’t writing the same thing every day. You’re not giving enough details."

Zeke plucked the small notebook from Zephyr’s hand.

"Aish." Zephyr groaned. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Zeke read through the page quickly.

"Six hundred and seventy-eight words." He smacked Zephyr with the notebook. "That’s too short for a memoir. And who are you calling a dictator?" He pointed the notebook at the students. "Is that how you all see me?"

The students all found something worthy of attention in different parts of the room.

"You bastards." Zeke shook his head dramatically. "And here I am, trying to tell you about the break you’ll be getting. But it seems I’m too much of a dictator. You’ll just have to train hard."

"Eh?!"

The class turned toward him.

"Of course not!" Kenshin shot up from his chair. "You’re not a dictator. Who said that? Come here. You’re the kindest and most benevolent professor."

"Kenshin, hold that bastard." Dean smiled fawningly before jumping at Zephyr.

"I have him right here." Aelric grabbed Zephyr’s arms. "How dare he slander our altruistic professor."

"You betrayers!" Zephyr shouted. "You coined the term!"

"That’s a lie, Professor." Rhaegar nodded solemnly. "I can tell from his brain waves."

"And I believe Rhaegar." Virelle smiled. "I also know that our professor is the best."

The girls positioned themselves in front of Zeke, deploying their best versions of puppy eyes.

Zeke smiled. He looked at Sam and Daemion. You won’t join in?

Sam raised his hands in denial.

Daemion stared at his classmates, then shook his head.

Over his dead body.

"Heh." Zeke scoffed.

He clapped once, summoning their attention.

"I’ll be unavailable for a while. I have urgent matters to attend to, so for a while, you’re allowed to do whatever you want." He raised a finger. "Aside from causing too much mayhem in the academy."

"Keyword: too much." Kenshin gave an OK sign, a wide grin spreading across his face.

"Where are you going, Professor?" Nyssara asked.

"Awwn. Someone cares." Zeke glanced at the rest of the class. "Unlike the rest of you, who want me gone as quickly as possible."

The class offered sheepish grins.

"Well, I have a family gathering. I’ll be attending it."

"Oooh, you have family?" Virelle cooed.

"That’s a stupid question." Aelric deadpanned.

Virelle punched his shoulder.

"How long will you be gone?" Sam asked.

"A week to two weeks at most." Zeke’s smile widened. "If you need me, just mention my name three times in front of a mirror. I’ll appear."

"See you, kids."

He waved. And disappeared.

"We’re free!" Kenshin shouted.

"Time for the reappearance of the Twin Stars of Destruction." Dean grinned.

"It’s been a while," Kenshin agreed.

"I’m sure the ladies missed me." Dean stretched his arms. "I sure did miss them."

---

"Ahh. Home sweet home."

Zeke smiled as he appeared in the house he and the boys had purchased.

"Time to get the house ready for the party"

He jumped onto the couch.

{Is that your version of getting the house ready for the party?} Zero’s voice drifted into his mind.

"None of your business."

A beat.

"Wait, Zero. Has SAGE not gifted me anything that would help me right now? You know, like another Maxim?"

{No.}

"What the hell? It’s supposed to make my life easier. A butler would do that. Give me a butler, SAGE."

{That’s not how it works.}

"Fuck off."

A beat.

"What has it gifted me recently?"

{The usual nonsense. Nothing of actual use to you.}

"Did I use all my luck with the Crucible?"

{Certainly.}

"Your mother."

{That’s offensive. You should apologize to your grandmother.}

"Who’s your child, you bastard?"

{Hah.}

A beat.

{It’s been a while since we’ve had this kind of banter.}

"Why are you reminding me? Have you gone soft? I might have to reset you, Jarvis."

{Your pig-headed ancestors are bits of Friday.}

"Jokes on you. We love Friday."

A beat.

"What does a reunion party need? What can I even do?"

{You’re putting too much thought into this. Just meet up, joke around, and return to your lives.}

"Is that what a reunion party is? So anticlimactic."

{I know, right? Especially since it’s been three months since you’ve seen each other, and you all text and call constantly.}

Zero’s voice carried the digital equivalent of an eye roll.

"Shut the fuck up."

Click.

The door opened.

Zeke rose from the couch, staring to see who had entered.

"It’s just me." Michael waved as he stepped inside. "Don’t be disappointed."

"And me." Anton said as he swapped places with Michael’s bag.

Michael stared at Anton. "Really?"

"What? You don’t need a bag." Anton patted Michael’s shoulder as he walked past.

Zeke walked toward them and dapped up Anton. "Don’t tell me you waited for Michael to enter the house so you could swap with his bag?"

"I’m lazy. I learned from you."

"That does seem like something I would do." Zeke grinned.

"If your sensory range is that large, swap with something better than my bag," Michael murmured.

"Are you jealous?" Anton shrugged. "You should probably stop being an actor and at least raise your power level to the peak of first-tier saint."

"Perception is quite different from line of sight, though."

"So?"

"Your ability works on line of sight, not perception." Zeke cut in. "So you had to wait, seeing Michael, to use your ability. So Michael’s rating of your sensory range is redundant."

"You must have been invited to a lot of parties." Michael rolled his eyes.

"The party magnet has arrived." Kai stretched out his arms as he entered the house.

Aaron and Jude followed behind him.

"Hi."

"Yo."

The boys dapped each other as they reunited.

"Let’s get this party started!" Kai raved.

’And you said you don’t party at reunions.’

{Hug a pole, bitch.}

Click.

The door opened. Seo Yeon Min walked through.

"Hello, boys." Yeon smiled.

Zeke gulped.

"What are you wearing?" Kai exclaimed.