The Dark Rebirth of Pandora: Revenge of the Abyss

Chapter 528: A Moment of Calm at the Academy

”...Sister Aqua, Sister Aqua, what’s this ’practical class’ thing?” Lycoris asks as Professor Akari leads the four of us, along with several students from the advanced class, to the school’s training area, where a powerful barrier ensures the training won’t destroy anything.

”Practical class means we’ll train using our powers—maybe duels, maybe hitting something with magic, anything where we can actually use spells!” I explain to her simply.

It’s been a few days since we joined the advanced classes with regular students, but unfortunately, none of us have made friends. The other students don’t seem to like the four of us much, since we’re the Demon King’s daughters and have certain ”advantages” they consider unfair.

”I see! So we’ll get to practice!” She gets excited as we follow the line, arriving at the training ground. It’s huge, and even I can sense how powerful the barrier here is. I honestly don’t see how any of us four could break it.

’Really impressive...’

”Alright, students. I’ve brought you here for your first practical training session. I hope you’re excited,” Professor Akari says with a smile as everyone spreads out across the field.

”Teacher! Teacher! What kind of training is it?” Azazel asks excitedly, waving her hands energetically and bouncing on her feet, while some of the other students roll their eyes.

”First, we’ll do a magical attack exercise using only Mana. You’ll attack that training golem over there, and it will measure your strength. Based on the force of your attacks, you’ll have friendly duels with each other.”

”Isn’t it dangerous to have students fight?” Eclipsya asks, confused, and I actually agree—not because I underestimate the others, but because many here probably have pretty lethal abilities, and most likely don’t have regeneration.

”Naturally, and you could even die. But don’t worry—the academy’s barrier is a special relic created by the great demon alchemist. This barrier rewinds time by thirty seconds for the targets while preserving all their memories.”

”It also reduces damage taken, so even if you die, the barrier will activate and nothing will happen! Of course, that’s an emergency measure. You are not to try to kill each other. Anyone who intentionally attempts murder will be punished.”

”And that applies to you four as well. Don’t think the punishment will be light. Elena, who’s currently managing the kingdom in Pandora’s place, has made it clear that attempted murder will be taken seriously.” Akari says, staring directly at the four of us.

”Does anyone want to go first? Or shall I choose?” When Akari says this, everyone tenses up. Whoever goes first might be at a disadvantage—they might not have understood everything, or they might miss weaknesses in the test that others could exploit.

”Me!! Me! Can I go?” Lycoris says excitedly, and I feel a bit more at ease. If she goes first, she’ll set a high standard and reveal any issues with the test. And since she’s probably the student with the most raw power, she’ll do well even if not at her absolute maximum.

”Of course. But you can only use a Mana attack—not a spell or anything similar. Just fire pure Mana. You can attack that golem over there. It doesn’t matter if it breaks.” She says as Lycoris steps forward, stopping at a line on the ground.

”...” All the students watch her. Many have nasty looks on their faces, which irritates me. They underestimate her too much and are looking at her like she’s being arrogant, when she’s just excited to show she’s good.

’Why do they seem so prejudiced against us? Is it because Mommy Pandora destroyed the humans, so now the demonized humans hate us?’ I don’t understand where the hatred comes from—even some regular demons don’t like us.

”Sister Aqua!! Watch!!” Lycoris waves to me, then turns to face the target. She spreads her legs slightly, opens her wings and her mouth, and a massive ball of magic forms in front of her mouth. The magic is so dense the ground beneath her cracks.

When she fires, a huge beam of magic shoots forward, carving a deep trail at least a meter deep along the path to the golem. The golem itself withstands the hit, but for everyone here, it’s impossible to discharge that much mana.

’Her stats really are monstrous... I’d get dizzy if I released that much Mana at once, and many students here would pass out from mana depletion if they tried it.’ She’s already shown me her status, and she’s undoubtedly incredibly strong—too strong compared to everyone here in raw power.

”Excellent...” Akari starts jotting something down before calling the next person. Azazel, showing off, takes the spot where Lycoris stood and points at the golem with a grin.

”Bang.” She fires a tiny, slow-moving ball of magic. Some students snicker softly at her—until it hits. A mana explosion so large it reaches the top of the barrier and creates a huge crater around the golem. It’s weaker than Lycoris’s attack, but far more refined and efficient.

’Since she’s the oldest sister, it makes sense she has better magic control... The privileges of being born first...’

”Guess it’s my turn.” I walk to the same spot they used, thinking about what to do.

’I’m not good at using just Mana to attack... Wait... She said to use only Mana, but elemental Mana is still Mana, right?’ I glance at Professor Akari, who didn’t specify.

’Great, then I just need to use Water-element Mana, and it’ll still be a pure Mana attack...’

”...” I point at the golem and snap my fingers. A large navy-blue dome appears, and inside, the water pressure becomes so intense, so highly pressurized, that everything around is compressed. The golem cracks all over its body, as if yielding to the water pressure.

’Seems that’s my limit.’ I undo the attack, and the compressed crater is left flooded with water. But all the regular students stare at me like I’m a monster for damaging the golem. Lycoris smiles at me, and Azazel does too.

”Not bad... but... still pathetic.” Eclipsya says as she passes me. I snarl at her for calling me pathetic.

”What did you say?! Then do better, you—” Before I can finish, she points at the golem, using Wind and Darkness elemental Mana. Her mana is so precise, refined, and powerful that the golem is sliced into several pieces, and the Darkness element corrodes the smaller pieces, turning the golem to dust.

”...”

”You show-off bitch!” I shove her—she clearly did that to humiliate me. She doesn’t push back, just looks at me and gives me an arrogant smile.

”Hey, Professor Akari, she and I will probably be opponents, right?” Eclipsya asks, ignoring me completely.

”...Probably, since so far you’re the only ones who damaged the golem. But don’t underestimate the other students. There may still be some who can break the golem after your little display.” Professor Akari says, writing more notes in her notebook.

”Tsk...” I click my tongue and step away from that damn girl.

’I can’t believe I was humiliated like that... I should’ve tried to destroy more of the golem...’ I didn’t think Eclipsya could literally destroy it. Since Azazel is the oldest, I thought she’d have the best magical control.

The other students start going now—some confident, others barely trying because they know they don’t stand a chance anymore—while Lycoris and I stay in one corner, and Azazel and Eclipsya stay in another.

”Listen, Lycoris. You’ll probably fight Azazel, since you two had the most brute-force Mana attacks. You need to win!!” Unfortunately, strength isn’t everything. Lycoris has a lot of raw power, but that’s about it.

”I’ll win!! And... a-after I win... c-could we do that thing?” She asks timidly, rubbing her legs together. I pat her head with a smile.

”If you win, I’ll reward you with ’that thing’ as much as you want!” Even though I’m worried about Lycoris winning, I should be more worried about myself.

’It seems when it comes to magic, Eclipsya is the best among all of us... She must’ve practiced a lot to learn to use magic like that... What do I do...’ I’m almost certain no one else will damage the new golem that arrived, so our fight is practically guaranteed.

I’ll have to be careful. I know I’m strong, and I trust my strength, but I can also feel how strong Eclipsya is. Even though she doesn’t have flashy destructive power, she’s clever, strategic, and patient, with a magic control that makes her more dangerous than fighting Lycoris’s pure power.

’Even so... they’re strong...’ I watch the confident students, and their Mana attacks are absurd too. They’re more powerful and talented than I expected.

’The advanced class really shouldn’t be underestimated...’

”...!!!?” Lycoris and I look on in shock at a student who releases a Fire elemental Mana blast so strong it rivals Azazel’s attack.

”...It’s weird to know there are people as strong as us...” Lycoris says, sounding unsettled.

”Well... I guess it doesn’t matter, right? We’re still young! We’ll become way more powerful in the future! It was an impressive attack, sure, but it doesn’t even come close to the power you showed without using any element at all.” I praise her, watching her tail wag.

’Still... aren’t the academy’s standards way too high?’ From what I know, the four of us are still weaker than Mommy Pandora was when she was much younger than us.

Mommy Pandora went through a lot of dangerous experiences and much more extreme training, so we’re nowhere near as strong as Mommy Pandora was at our age. But even so, I expected everyone at the academy to be weaker.

Yet here in the advanced class, there are students with strength comparable to us four in certain areas, showing that the academy only accepts the best of the best into the advanced class.

’Mommy Pandora is incredible...’ Even knowing she’s a submissive, she’s still truly impressive.