Kyra was at the dining table, eating her breakfast when the rest of her family slowly trickled into the dining room. She got there first because she was too hungry and had to eat something. Usually, she will be one of the last few to arrive.

“How are your wounds?” Silvain asked.

“Errr, I’m fine now.” Kyra’s bruises from last night had already healed thanks to a good night’s sleep. Kyra was the only one in the family who healed pretty fast. She used to joke that she got the good genes from their ancestors.

Kyra finished her meal and was just about to leave the table when Silvain called for her.

“Kyra, you have another assignment. Or rather something that you have to attend.”

“Attend?” Kyra asked.

“Yes. You are going to enroll in the Academy of Arts today.”

Kyra was puzzled. “You want me to study at the Academy of Arts? But why?”

“To improve your skills and more importantly, learn Arts.”

Arts. It is true that Kyra was not knowledgeable about Arts and that learning it could be very useful. However, attending an Academy was something that she did not look forward too.

“You seem to not like this idea. Are you refusing to enroll?” Silvain questioned.

Kyra panicked a little and reposed herself, “No..not at all. I just think maybe Tatem could teach me Arts instead.”

“Tatem and the rest of us have other duties. Think of this as a good opportunity to carve your name in the school like the rest of us.”

Kyra knew what he was talking about. Her siblings had all graduated being top of their year. Even though Silvain did not outright said it, he wanted Kyra to be at the top.  Kyra was just the another Fukagi in line to be at the top.

“Ok, I’ll do it.”

“Pack your things. The enrollment begins at noon. The maids will send you to the Academy.”

Kyra nodded and left for her room.

After Kyra was out of sight, Asa looked at her brother and questioned him, “Is it really a good idea to send her there? You will be giving her to them. Even, we had a hard time in that school. They surely aren’t going to make it any easier for her.”

Silvain replied with confidence, “Kyra won’t be aiming for the top. She will crush the Academy down to its last brick.”

In Kyra’s room, she was slowly packing her necessities and weapons. Aiming for the top surely did not seem like a bad idea. However, she cannot help but wonder if there’s more to it. The Academy of Arts were where almost all the top killers in the city came from. Not only that, they teach Arts and Vis manipulation which would be very useful for Kyra. She called a servant to take her stuff to the car and proceeded to head to the Nexmor Garden.

The garden’s scenery never got old. It was as if a red bloody sea was swaying left and right. Kyra harvested a few flowers so that she could grow a few Nexmors in her dormitory. After picking the suitable ones, she put them all in separate containers which were able to sustain the flowers for weeks.

Kyra went to the mansion’s front door to find Yue, one of the family’s senior maids, waiting with an escort car.

“Are you prepared to leave for the Academy, Miss Kyra?” Yue asked at once.

Kyra replied, “Yea, let’s head over to this Academy.”

The car ride was silent and solemn as if there was an invisible uneasy air between the two of them. Kyra could not help but feel uncomfortable, occasionally shifting in her seat and trying to find things to gaze outside the window. It was not as if there was bad blood with Yue. It was just Kyra had been so disconnected with her family for such a long period of time that she grew distant with almost everyone.

Putting that aside, Kyra could not help but wonder what kind of place the Academy was. She had heard different stories, rumors and seen forums online about the Academy. They were all varied and forums about it were very limited, to say the least. It did feel that any information regarding the Academy was being regulated carefully.

As if to read her troubled mind, Yue spoke while looking at Kyra in mirror, “The Academy is a different kind of hell. One could say it specializes in helping you completely becoming one with this hell of a city.”

Before Kyra could reply, the car stopped.

“We’re here.” Yue left the car to remove Kyra’s belongings.

Kyra took a look outside to see a large white building. Even in the car, it felt that the building was towering over her. She exited the car and saw the words, “Academy of Arts”. One could tell that the building was very well maintained to the point it was almost in mint condition.

Yue proceeded to walk towards the building. Kyra followed suit. Kyra noticed there were a lot of other people heading towards the building. She could only guess that they were just like her trying to be accepted into this school.

The atmosphere completely changed when Kyra walked into the door. A cold wind breezed past her face. The temperature inside was definitely cooler than the sweltering heat outside.

Yue pointed to the left, “I will head over to the dormitory to place your stuff. You head on straight to the main hall for registration.”

With that, Yue turned the corner with Kyra’s luggage and bags.

Kyra continued walking down the hallway to the double doors.

There were already plenty of people standing around the hall. Kyra looked around her. Everyone was carrying different kind of weapons, ranging from swords, guns, rifles, the works. She noticed various people, a burly guy, short girl, hooded guy and a guy with dead fish eyes to say the least. She stopped walking. A girl beside her caught Kyra’s attention. She had a pair of pistols by her waist holster. The pistols were huge and engraved. But her outfit was just straight up weird! Kyra couldn’t help but stare at her. Her pants had a big hole at her crotch area that went straight down to her thighs. Her panties exposed for all to see. Upon closer look, there were also side pistols and magazines tucked away in the inner pants.

Kyra looked up and saw the girl looking back at her in the eye. No matter how you looked at it, Kyra was the perverted one to stare. Uncertain, she said, “Nice guns.”

“You…. Are all Fukagis perverts?” the girl spoke with a smirk.

Kyra subconsciously covered her family’s sigil on her jacket.

“What about you?”

“Who knows? I’m Marine.”

“Kyra.”

“Welcome to Academy of the Arts.” A voice boomed in the chattery hall. Everyone went silent and focused on the speaker at the stage.

The voice belonged to a woman in a suit that could be described as too small for her chest. Her cleavage was clearly visible. Kyra wondered if she will meet more people with questionable tastes. But she could not argue if you had assets like her. Why hide it?

“I am the headmaster. Sheryn Alkiel. In a short while, you will participate in Registration. But first, accept the Identification Device, or ID for short, that is being passed around by our staff.”

The ID arrived into Kyra’s hands. It was basically a smartphone however it was heavier and larger than the average smartphone.

“The ID has every function of a regular smartphone. Not only that, it has extra functions and features that is catered to the school. For example, clearance to enter certain facilities, pay for your meals and to enter tournaments. The ID is part of your school life. Literally. Do not lose it by any means.”

Kyra looked at her ID in her hands. It seemed the entire school system was based around the ID. It was critical that she had the ID with her at all times. To her left, Marine had begun tossing and catching her phone mid-air repeatedly. Marine noticed her and gave her a face of what?

Alkiel continued, “Let’s go through the rules. Or the Laws of this school as the students like to call it. First Law. No killing of students and or staff unless authorized.”

Kyra repeated that sentence in her head. Unless authorized? There was a lot of questions. Kyra assumed that the headmaster and probably some of high ranking in this school could give authorization. Permission to kill one? Several? Or everyone? There were no specific parameters in the rule.

“You can through the Laws on your ID. Once you are done looking through, press “Register”, fill in your particulars and scan your thumbprint.”

Kyra skimmed through the rules and registered her thumbprint. A pop-up appeared on her screen. “Welcome Kyra Fukagi – Year 1 Student Class A Tag 1”

“What class are you in?” Marine asked.

“A.”

“Well, what do you know? I’m in A too. I can tell we are going to have so much fun together.”

“What’s this Tag?” questioned Kyra, ignoring her last statement.

“No idea. I have Tag 2.”

“Tag 1 for me.”

Kyra listened to the buzz around her. It seemed that some people had the same tags and the numbering goes 1 to 4.

“You may notice a Tag in your profile. Find other students who have different Tags and stand in a rectangle that are around the hall.” Alkiel spoke.

It just so happened that Kyra and Marine were different Tags and they manage to find two other students. They stood together on a rectangle.

“Now, we shall begin the Entrance Exam. Rules are simple. You may notice a Tag in your profile. In order to pass and become an official student of this prestigious academy, you must procure another tag of the same number by any means necessary. For example, Tag 1 student must obtain another Tag 1 student’s ID. Scan the player’s tag to reveal the checkpoint. The exam does not end until you reach the checkpoint with ID still in hand.”

Kyra grabbed the hilt of her sword as if to anticipate something ominous happening. This exam would be a bloodbath.

“Let the culling begin.” Alkiel smiled sinisterly.

The floor below opened and Kyra fell into the darkness.

Afterword

I finally got this chapter out. Among learning Japanese and drawing, writing is a low priority unfortunately. Since, I have advanced quite a bit in Japanese, I will focused a bit more on the novel. So Kyra has to enroll in an academy. The academy isn’t something I really wanted to do. But all I can say most of the story would not be centered around the Academy. It will still be a main point but the biggest one will have been the city.