The sunlight came hitting Roy's face, waking him up. He got up, rubbed his eyes, then looked around, finding himself in his room with a note on the desk.

  He got out of bed and went to read the note. As he took it, it read:

  "Come to class when you get up. Don't worry about how late you are."

  Roy took his phone out of his pocket and opened it. It was 10 AM, two hours after class had started.

  He stretched his arms, then started changing and getting ready to go to class while thinking,

  'It's been a long time since I used that power. Let's pray there are no consequences.'

  Roy left his room and went to his classroom. As he got closer, he saw four students standing beside the door, their backs straight against the wall: a boy with messy brown hair, a blond boy who looked miserable, and a pair of white-haired twins.

  He went to the first one, a boy just shorter than Roy with messy brown hair.

  "What are you guys doing here?" Roy asked.

  "Look, man, if I knew, I would tell you. We've been standing here for two hours. So if you're from this class, can you ask your teacher what he wants from us? Please," the boy said, trying to get Roy to help.

  "I would, but he won't answer me. So..." Roy shrugged and went to the door and opened it.

  As Roy opened the door, Darius saw him.

  "You finally came. Quick, go take a seat. There's an important thing you all need to hear."

  Roy, hearing that, went fast to his place in the last row, giving Omar a quick dab as he passed him.

  The moment he sat down:

  "If you hear your name, stand." Darius took one of the many papers in front of him and began naming people.

  "Omar Khalil, Marie Quinn, Marcus Brunt, Valeria Stormrend, Elise Richter, Roy Nasser."

  As he said the names, every one of them stood up, nervous. Then Darius continued.

  "If you didn't hear your name, go out. You've been deranked to Class B." He returned the paper and started looking for another one, murmuring, "Normally I would have said the names for the ones who will leave, but this way is easier."

  The students who didn't hear their names began arguing and protesting.

  "You don't get to choose that alone," one of them argued.

  "It's my class. I am the rules," Darius said back. "And if you don't leave in a minute, I will get all of you out of this place today."

  His look went from the easy expression when he said the names to a serious one that could put fear into whoever stood in front of him.

  The students began leaving in fear while still having anger in them, slamming the door as the last one left.

  "Sit down."

  Darius told them to sit back down as he held another paper. He quickly teleported to the door, opened it, and teleported back to his place.

  "When you hear your name, enter and take a seat," he said.

  "Jax Clay."

  The boy Roy talked with entered and went to the last row and sat next to the wall.

  "Ren Link."

  A boy with blond hair, looking like he regretted coming here, entered and sat at the same bench as Jax but at the end of it. He already had his head on the desk.

  "Dorian and Vivienne Crest."

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  The white-haired twins entered and sat in the first row, next to each other, closing the door as they went in.

  After everyone got seated, Darius put down the paper and walked to be in front of his desk.

  He crossed his arms and leaned on the desk.

  "Okay, I'm legally required to say that after what I will say, you all have the right to refuse and leave."

  A second of silence followed, everyone waiting to see what Darius would say. Roy, knowing what was coming, didn't care much.

  "So, this year, the best class of every one of the biggest three academies will be different than normal." Darius finally continued.

  "They will have more information, most of which are classified and only known by a number of people in the world. A budget only for them to train. The ability to test new technology first. And they will be treated as Rank 1 even while they're studying."

  Darius put his hand on the desk behind him.

  "How does this sound?"

  "There's nothing for free. What's the price?" Jax sat straight.

  Darius smiled.

  "You will be a part of a team that will be used as the final defense for Earth and must be ready to sacrifice yourselves fighting all three Rank 0s if they get deemed too dangerous or turned into villains. And your identity will be a secret. If you die, only the closest to you will be informed that you were in the team. But you can have your normal hero or any public life you want."

  Darius stopped for a moment to see their faces, but not enough for them to say anything.

  He crossed his arms again.

  "And you will be sent on missions while studying here as a part of the training, which will include killing, detective work, and more. Any questions?"

  Valeria was the first to ask.

  "From what this sounds like, there's a punishment for leaking info or not answering orders."

  "Good thinking," Darius said. "Yes. When you become a part of this and something happens like what you just said, you will be treated as a villain, and an order of 'kill on sight' will be issued for you."

  Silence filled the room.

  "You said killing. Who will decide who to kill?" Elise asked.

  "Before you graduate, it will be me. After you graduate, you'll get the right to refuse an order, as long as it wasn't made by every world leader combined. But don't worry, you won't kill innocent people. This team is to help them, not to kill them," Darius answered.

  "From your look and the way you talk, I have a feeling that we can't really refuse," Ren said.

  "Good observation. I didn't choose you for no reason. But if you're able to go to the door and open it..." He smiled a little. "...I'll let you leave."

  The room fell into silence.

  The ones from the old students who wanted to leave knew they wouldn't be able to, and the new ones sat waiting for someone to move before they tried. Or, in Ren's case, didn't want to try.

  After a minute of silence, Jax stood and turned invisible.

  Darius stood in his place.

  Then he moved his hand, grabbed Jax, and threw him into the wall, away from the door.

  Jax flew toward the wall, hitting it hard enough to hurt, soft enough to not cause injuries.

  "Invisibility doesn't cancel sound. You'll need a better way." Darius was still looking at the rest. "Any other tries?"

  "If there's someone who deserves to be in this team, it's no one but people of the upper class. We won't leave," Vivienne said with a cold look toward Jax, who was still on the ground while wearing obviously cheap clothes.

  "It sounds like the perfect place for me," Valeria added.

  "Sounds cool," Omar said, crossing his arms.

  "I came here to be a hero who protects people, not to be famous," Marcus Brunt said, followed by an agreeing nod from Elise.

  "Looks like there are no more dumb trie—"

  Before Darius could finish talking, Roy stood up.

  Darius stopped talking and focused on him.

  Roy walked past Omar and Marie, going to the stairs in the middle of the room, and started walking down, his hands in his pockets.

  Everyone stared at him as he walked down.

  A disappointed look from Valeria. A worried one from Marie. A confused one from Omar.

  He reached the end of the stairs and walked just in front of Darius, who let him walk past without doing or saying anything.

  All the different looks became one: confusion.

  "What? You'll let him leave but not me?" A protest no one answered.

  Before Roy reached the door, he said to Darius,

  "You'll let me leave? I thought you'd at least try to make me stay with words."

  Roy reached the door. As he took his hands out of his pockets, he heard:

  "Normally I would, but I didn't realize how much of a coward you are." Darius's voice went down as he continued. "Looks like I was wrong about you."

  Hearing this, Roy's hand stopped, holding the handle of the door right before opening it, as he began thinking.

  'Looks like the consequences already took place.'

  His grip on the handle grew stronger.

  '"Coward." A word I normally wouldn't care about getting called. But now...'

  He broke the handle off.

  'Now, it really is pissing me off.'

  Roy's face was a mask of stretched skin and bulging vessels, his rage written in the violet lines all over his face.