The academy bell rang at dusk.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Every student knew what that meant.
Rankings.
The central plaza filled quickly—too quickly. Hundreds of students gathered beneath the towering projection obelisk, voices overlapping in nervous excitement. For some, this was validation. For others, humiliation.
For a few—
It would be dangerous.
I stood near the edge of the crowd, Lena beside me, Ren and Doran a few steps back.
"You ready?" Ren asked lightly.
"No," I said honestly.
The obelisk flared to life.
Light spilled outward, forming lines of names that began to scroll slowly from bottom to top.
Gasps erupted immediately.
"Class C—already eliminated?"
"That guy's in Class B? No way!"
"Look at the noble rankings—!"
The first section passed quickly.
Then the air shifted.
The projection darkened.
A new category appeared.
SPECIAL OBSERVATION RANKINGS
The crowd fell silent.
Lena's fingers tightened slightly at her side.
"So they really did it," she murmured.
Names appeared—few of them.
Doran — Rank 4
Ren — Rank 3
Ren blinked. "Huh. Thought I'd be higher."
Then—
Lena Valecross — Rank 2
Whispers exploded.
"Valecross?"
"That name—wasn't it erased?"
"Why is she in Special Observation at all?"
I felt eyes turn toward us.
The final name appeared alone, larger than the rest.
At the very top.
Kai — Rank 1
For a heartbeat—
The plaza went completely silent.
Then—
Chaos.
"That's him!"
"The Guardian killer!"
"No way a first-year ranks above nobles—!"
"He's dangerous—!"
Mana flared instinctively across the crowd. Not attacks—yet—but pressure, hostility, fear. Some students stepped back from me. Others stared openly, resentment burning in their eyes.
I didn't move.
Above us, instructors watched from elevated platforms.
None intervened.
Ren let out a low whistle. "Congrats," he said. "You've officially painted a target on your back."
Lena's gaze swept the crowd. "Multiple hostile intentions," she said quietly. "Not just students."
I felt it too.
Despair Sense pulsed steadily—envy, hatred, ambition.
And something colder.
Calculated.
A noble stepped forward from the crowd, his uniform marked with gold trim. His expression was polite—but his eyes were sharp.
"Kai," he said, voice amplified by mana. "Rankings like this demand explanation."
The crowd leaned in.
Here it was.
"I suggest," the noble continued smoothly,
"that you demonstrate why you deserve that position."
The air tightened.
A challenge.
Public. Political. Dangerous.
Ren's smile vanished. Doran tensed.
Lena leaned closer to me. "They're trying to provoke you."
I met the noble's gaze.
Slowly—
I smiled.
"Demonstrations," I said calmly,
"are for people who doubt themselves."
Murmurs rippled.
I turned away.
And that—
That angered them far more than any fight would have.
Behind me, I felt it.
Multiple gazes hardening.
Promises forming.
Tonight, rankings didn't just decide status.
They decided enemies.
And as the crowd slowly dispersed, one truth settled deep in my chest—
The academy had just stopped pretending I was a student.
From this moment on—
I was a variable.