"Yborn called these demons the Fallen Saints, as it was believed by the church that these beings were evil reincarnations of the souls who had reached heaven. Whether or not you agree with him is up to you, but regardless, their existence is undeniable."
It had been a while since Leox had experienced true fear. Although he had faced death at the hands of demons and humans many times before, the creature that now stood at the centre of the stage scared him like nothing he had ever experienced.
The white cat no longer resembled an animal at all. If anything, its body was fully human. It stood at the height of a tall man, and its naked, onyx black body was lean with muscle, as though crafted by a master sculptor. Its face was chiselled and handsome, yet its eyes were like two holes of white light that shone like the sun. There was a wound in the man's chest, resembling a crack. Behind it, you could see a glowing golden heart which bled golden light through the wound, pulsing with every heartbeat.
As the being stood there, the blonde-haired boy from before, who had made the initial suggested muttered beneath his breath. "That's not a demon..."
"Yes, it is." Gutaru corrected. "Unlike Imps, the Fallen Saints can appear from the ground. They are harder to find, especially during the early stages of the apocalypse, but with enough research, you will be able to find one."
The world returned to normal, and the demon before them disappeared. This time, there was no chatter amongst the students. They all simply sat there in silent fear.
"One week to bring me the heart of a Fallen Saint. They are not as strong as you might think. We are still in the early stages of the apocalypse, so there's nothing for you to worry about."
Gutaru returned his attention to the papers once more and announced without looking up at the students. "Class dismissed for the rest of the week."
What horror had the students gotten themselves into?
---
Leox walked through the corridors of the Varadna Academy, scratching at his chin. Laughter walked beside him, filling his ear with chatter.
"Can you believe him? I thought academies were for learning. What the hell did we learn in there!"
Laughter openly expressed his anger at the dismissiveness of the Class One professor, but Leox didn't share his sentiment. In his opinion, he had already learned more from the man than he had ever learned about the demons in his life. Not to mention, the professor trusted them enough to throw them in the deep end.
What bothered him more was the fact that these 'fallen saints' were only grade-two demons. It's form looked like the perfect human, which made him wonder what a grade three, or onwards, look like.
No, I should focus on my current task. I have a week to learn enough about these demons to eventually find one and take it down.
A plan had formed in his mind as soon as the professor had given them their task: to ask the others for help. However, that presented a great risk for Leox. If he were to fight with allies who were unaware of his immortality, he would be unable to utilise his greater skill. It was times like these when he wished he could put his trust in others and reveal to them his true power.
If only Ivy were awakened, I could bring her with me...
Luckily for him, Laughter didn't seem to have any intentions of teaming up either. Leox wondered what secrets this new 'friend' of his had that he so desperately wished to hide.
---
Eventually, the pair split up, using the excuse of preparing for their upcoming task. Leox immediately headed to the library, where he found a book on fallen saints, written by none other than 'Yborn Hellmind', a scientist of the Third World. Most of the book was about his own personal beliefs about the saints, and why they existed, but Leox was more focused on what he had written about their strengths, abilities, and where to find them.
It seemed that Fallen Saints had their own 'Overviews', and always possessed a singular class. That class usually fell into one of the more common categories, which was a mage of one of the four main elements, or a fighter specialised in the sword, axe, spear, or bow. Unfortunately for these saints, their bodies were extremely damaged internally, making their 'mana' usage low, and due to being unarmed upon arrival in the world, they usually had no weapons to use their skills with.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
These demons supposedly sought out holy grounds of all kinds. He now had a method for finding the target of his assignment.
By the time lunch had arrived, Leox felt like he had learned a decent amount about the grade-two demons, yet far from enough to feel confident in taking one down. There was still so much unknown to him that only a man with experience could learn.
Why couldn't the professor just teach us, as a normal professor would?
---
After lunch, Leox was supposed to have another lesson with Professor Gutaru, but it seemed the man wasn't kidding about class being dismissed for the week, as he was nowhere to be found. So instead, Leox used this time to return to his room.
In the library, he had found a book called "The Fundamentals Of Overview Progression." If he were not going to be able to learn from his professor, then it seemed the books would be his teacher.
He thanked Ivy silently for teaching him how to read.
This book told him the basics of what it took to progress one's rank. As he expected, using your skills in combat was one of the greatest ways to progress. For instance, if a strike hit into a defensive barrier cast by an awakened, it would increase progression. However, there were two types of skills: Internal Skills and External skills. External Skills, like Weave Current and Mud Wall, were skills that interacted with things outside of the body, whilst internal skills like True Counterstance and Overheat took place from inside his body.
There was a method that could be used to progress through the lower stages, which was to practise Internal Skills alone. This was said to be a lot slower than progression through combat, but still was an efficient method, especially for those of the first rank, though it still had it's limits.
Leox spent the next hour using Overheat. He pumped his entire body with heat before stopping and starting again once his body felt like it had recovered enough. When he checked his stage progression, he saw that it had only moved from 55% to 56%.
"One per cent... this isn't going to cut it."
Leox took in a deep breath and prepared himself. Only then did he realise that it was impossible to prepare for death; he simply had to accept it. Wasn't it a part of the cycle of life?
He took off his clothes, so as not to damage them, then afterwards, he used Overheat with an intensity that his body couldn't physically handle. The ends of his white hair tingled, and his muscles swelled with contained heat, dying to be used.
Leox struggled to contain himself. Even though he was used to the pain, it was still difficult to control the power that his body gained from pushing his skill so far. His eyes landed on the sword on his bed, and with as much care as he could, he lifted it. Afterwards, he slashed the sword through the air horizontally.
The blade seemed to cut the air in half, travelling so fast that it could surely take a man's head off with ease. Leox tried again, this time trying not to fall out of balance as he swung. He repeated this over and over again until eventually, he collapsed. He felt his heart beating so fast that eventually, it just... stopped.
It had felt like a while since he last died. It was no longer strange to him, but rather therapeutic, especially since it was a death by his own hands, rather than another's.
Less than a minute later, Leox's heart started beating again. He rose to his feet, fully recovered from the burns that his body had sustained in his death. Afterwards, he lifted the sword from the floor and started to practise again.
---
Before he knew it, night had arrived. He had gotten so carried away with training, and seeing the progress number of his awakening stage increasing that he had missed his evening meal. The day had come to an end.
Leox checked his Overview.
---
[Awakening Overview]
[Leox Lether]
[Awakening Stage: First Rank]
[Awakening Stage Progress To Next Rank: 63%]
[Classes:]
> Grandmaster Immortal
> Apprentice Monk
> Novice Fire Mage
> Novice Water Mage
> Novice Wind Mage
> Novice Earth Mage
[Class Skills:]
Deathless Rebirth (Immortal Skill)
Weave Current (Water Mage Skill)
Overheat (Fire Mage Skill)
True Counterstance (Monk Skill)
Mud Wall (Earth Mage Skill)
[Rank up for increased Overview complexity...]
---
63%, that's more like it.
He wanted to continue training, despite having died numerous times that day already. Especially since he also felt that his efficiency in using the fire skill was increasing with time, and suspected that he might even increase to the next rank soon. But he had to eat. It was important for his body to return from it's skinny condition.
Leox donned his clothes and stepped out beneath the night sky. The academy was much emptier than it was during the daytime. Luckily for him, the cafeteria still seemed to be serving leftovers for students who had missed meals.
After eating his meal, he returned to his room and continued training until he reached 65% progression through his class, before finally getting into his bed.
Leox slept comfortably that night, looking forward to working on his progression the next day.
---
His mindset shifted as he heard commotion in the cafeteria when he arrived the next morning. The students all seemed to be focused on a student sitting alone at a table.
It was Astra. The boy was eating his breakfast with a smile on his face, paying no attention to the countless students who were staring and pointing at him in disbelief. Once Leox had gotten a better look at the boy, it was clear to see why he was gaining so much attention.
Resting beside his breakfast bowl was the golden heart of a fallen saint, beating, and oozing a golden liquid onto the table.
In less than twenty-four hours, Astra had hunted a fallen saint, completed his assignment, and most importantly, according to his overview, had reached the second stage of his awakening before any other student in his class.
