A day had passed since I had beaten the Cyclops, and I was now back at the same place where its corpse had fallen. The Cyclops was still on the ground, not moving a single muscle just like I had asked him to.
There was something I had noticed when they had been fighting the Cyclops, and I became sure of it once I got closer. Someone had done something to it; there was something strange, related to its hunger.
The Cyclops had only been kept in my bag for one full day, which meant that he was obviously hungry, but for him to reach such a state where he was drooling every time he looked at a student…no, that was too much.
It was early morning, and pretty much everyone in the Academy was sleeping, giving me all the time in the world to examine the Cyclops. I had a small idea as to what had happened to it, but I wanted to be 100% sure. If I were right, then it would mean that the demons hadn’t been eradicated from the face of this world and were still roaming it.
I would have to inform the Emperor about it. I wouldn’t go to the director; if someone in her Academy was a demon, then she might be one as well.
Seeing the Cyclops’s huge body, I jumped on his stomach and pulled out a sword from my spatial pouch. I grabbed it tightly and stabbed the Cyclops right where its heart was supposed to be.
There was an explosion of green, thick blood. But I had changed into dirty clothes for the occasion, so I didn’t bother cleaning myself. It was no time to be worrying about my appearance. I opened up its ribcage with my sword and managed to get a good view of its insides. I could see the veins going from its heart to fuel the rest of its body. However, it was dead, so its heart wasn’t pumping any blood.
But that wasn’t what I was looking for; it was the color of its heart. When I looked at it, I realized that my instincts had been right.
Its heart wasn’t red or green.
It was black.
Now, why does a black heart matter? Well, good question. It’s because demons have the power of corruption, and one of the side effects of using such power on a monster is turning its heart black. So, this Cyclops that I had captured two days ago and kept with me the entire time had been corrupted by someone.
The only moment I had left it alone was when I went to the bathroom in the Apex Building.
However, the chances that a demon managed to sneak into my room to corrupt it were extremely slim, which means that it was corrupted before I even captured it.
I looked up at the sky and sighed. “Demons. You guys are still out there.”
I was annoyed, but at the same time happy. Them still being alive meant that things would get a lot more interesting in the Royal Capital. There was still one thing I didn’t know, and that was whether demons had managed to transform into the appearance of humans.
Derek was my first and only hint on the matter, which meant that he was my first target.
***
A few hours passed, and I got rid of the Cyclops’s body. I didn’t want people to see its black heart, or else there might be a couple of misunderstandings. It was now time for class to start once again.
Oh, and I forgot to mention it, but nothing much happened after the fight with the Cyclops. I told all of my students to go and rest. I also had a fun talk with Alexandra, who had asked to meet me to talk about the earthquake on the Academy grounds. So, I told her about the Cyclops and the test I had planned for my students.
The look on her face was a killer. I couldn’t help but laugh when I saw it. She couldn’t believe that I had made my first-year students fight against a Cyclops on their first day. However, she did mention that she wasn’t surprised anymore by what I could pull off.
-Swoosh!-
With those thoughts out of the way, I entered the Apex classroom, and everyone was sat in the same spot as yesterday. However, the atmosphere within the class had changed completely. None of them were speaking as I entered, all of them looking at me with their eyes wide open, watching my every movement. Even Jackson had his mouth closed and his back straightened out.
“Uh…hello?” I said with a frown. “Are you guys okay?”
The purple-haired girl raised her hand as high as she could.
“You know you don’t need to raise your hand every time you want to speak, right?”
She nodded. “Right, I’m sorry, sir. I just wanted to answer your doubts.”
“Sure, go ahead.”
“Most of us realized yesterday that you are a lot more powerful than we thought. So, given your strength, we decided to be a lot more attentive today.” She looked around herself. “At least, that’s what I realized…”
“I see.”
Well, there was no real surprise there. Most of them probably thought they were even stronger than me given my young age and my lean appearance. But seeing me take down that Cyclops made them realize a thing or two, that’s what I hoped at least.
“Well, alright.” I walked over to my desk and picked up a chalk stick. “I have an announcement for you guys about the curriculum we will be following for this semester, and if all things go correctly, for the entirety of your time at the Royal Academy. You see, I didn’t like how stiff the current curriculum was. That’s why I decided to do something new with you guys.”
Frowns appeared everywhere in the class when I said that. However, no one said anything just yet.
“Each and every one of you will have a different curriculum that I will be making based on your strengths and weaknesses. That way, you will be able to reach your full potential a lot quicker. However, I was only given one week to show results.”
Their whispers echoed within the classroom as they didn’t seem to believe what they had just heard. I ignored them as I coughed once for them to stop talking.
“So, do you want to do it?”
