ROOM 1313

4

For a moment, Liam simply stared at the mirror, his eyes fixed on the last name.

Liam Carter.

The smile on his face slowly faded.

"There has to be another Liam Carter..."

He looked around the plaza, scanning the sea of students, hoping to find someone else.

But the surface of the Mirror of Destiny rippled once more.

A portrait gradually formed beneath each name.

Then, beneath the last one...

A familiar face appeared.

Messy black hair, round glasses, an ordinary face…..

There couldn't have been a clearer picture of him.

It was him.

Liam's mouth slowly fell open.

"...This is absolutely ridiculous," he muttered.

The silence lasted only a heartbeat and then the entire plaza exploded into chaos.

"What?!"

"A human?"

"Room 1313?!"

"This should be impossible!"

"Wait... wasn't that the human who challenged Princess Lily and Prince Karl this morning?"

"I knew that guy was crazy!"

"Forget crazy, he's dead!"

"I'd rather drop out than live in that room."

Thousands of voices overlapped as disbelief spread like wildfire throughout the crowd.

Alex stared at Liam before letting out a helpless laugh.

"I somehow put up with you for eighteen years, bro."

Liam didn't even hear him.

His eyes remained fixed on the mirror as though it might suddenly admit it had made a mistake.

On the opposite side of the plaza, Lily's crimson eyes rested on Liam for a brief moment.

Her expression remained cold, but beneath it was the faintest trace of disbelief.

A human...?

A short distance away, Karl folded his arms, the corners of his lips curling into an amused smile.

"So this is the academy's idea of a joke." He said.

Liam could already feel the pressure surrounding the plaza.

He found himself wondering what would happen when they finally met inside the room.

More importantly, he was seriously considering whether dropping out was still an option.

Unlike the other two, the owner of the third name, Lucas never stepped forward.

Students instinctively searched through the crowd.

"Where is he?"

"I don't see him."

"Did he even come today?"

No one knew.

His name alone was enough to make the atmosphere tense.

One year ago, Lucien had become infamous across the continent after an incident that left both the vampire and werewolf clans hunting for his head to this very day.

He was a demon prince, and his clan was one of the most mysterious on the continent. Even the offended vampire and werewolf clans had to think twice before declaring war against them.

Whether the incident had truly been his fault or not...

No one had forgotten it.

Meanwhile, the noise throughout the plaza only continued to grow.

"This has to be a mistake!"

"There's no way the Mirror paired those four together!"

"How can a human possibly survive?"

Even several professors frowned.

One elderly professor stepped toward Principal Alaric.

"Principal—"

But before he could finish…

"QUIET!" Alaric raised his left hand.

The single word boomed across the academy like thunder and the deafening crowd instantly fell silent.

Thousands of students stood frozen.

Principal Alaric's calm expression had vanished as his sharp gaze swept across the plaza.

"The Mirror of Destiny has watched over this academy for thousands of years."

"It has never made a mistake."

"And even if..." He paused briefly.

"...it had."

"It cannot be changed." His words carried absolute finality.

Deep down, even Alaric felt a rare sense of unease.

In all his years as principal, he had never witnessed a room assignment like this.

For the briefest moment, he even considered suspending the ceremony and gathering the academy elders to determine whether there was any possible way to alter the assignment.

But he knew better, the Mirror's judgment was absolute.

No force in existence had ever overturned one of its decisions.

Alex slowly leaned toward Liam.

"You remember what you said this morning?"

Liam sighed.

"...Which part?"

"'Imagine if those two ended up in the same room.'"

Liam covered his face.

"...I really should've kept my mouth shut." A wry smile appeared on his face.

Alex couldn't help laughing despite the situation.

"You practically cursed yourself." He said.

"I know," Liam groaned.

A faint smile returned to Principal Alaric's face.

"The room assignments are final."

He glanced toward the glowing names on the mirror before speaking once more.

"Students assigned to..." He paused again and looked at the mirror which still had the names and room number on it.

"...Room 1313."

"Step forward."

Every eye immediately turned toward Liam, Lily, and Karl.

Only one of the four was nowhere to be seen.

As the students began making their way toward the academy grounds, Liam quietly brushed a thumb across the silver watch wrapped around his wrist.

He always called it a worthless heirloom. It was majorly the only thing he had left to remember his parents with and his father had kept saying that it was special.

With a soft click, a tiny compartment slid open.

A fine layer of shimmering silver powder coated his fingertips before disappearing into his palm.

Alex immediately noticed the movement.

"Wait..."

He lowered his voice.

"Isn't that the magical silver powder you spent months making?"

"Yup." Liam nodded casually.

Alex's eyes widened.

"You're not seriously planning to fight Karl, are you?"

Liam shook his head.

"No."

He closed the compartment in his watch with another click.

"I'm planning to defend myself."

"I've got a bad feeling."

Lily was dangerous, but she was far more reserved.

Something, however, told Liam that Karl would attack the moment he became annoyed.

The three of them stepped into the open plaza.

Almost instantly, Karl's golden eyes locked onto Liam.

Across from him, Lily's crimson gaze remained just as cold but she too was staring at Liam and it felt as though two predators had fixed their sights on a single piece of prey.

"I really don't like being stared at like that." Liam said.

Karl frowned before taking a step forward.

Each step forced the surrounding freshmen to retreat.

"And what if I do?" He said with a sly smile.

Liam simply looked at him without answering.

"Weakling." Karl let out a mocking laugh.

Liam adjusted his glasses.

"And so are you." He answered calmly.

Karl stopped walking.

"...What did you just say?" He said, his smile gone.

"I said..." Liam met his eyes without the slightest hint of fear.

"...you're a weakling too,, you heard me the first time."

The entire plaza fell silent and even the wind itself seemed to stop.

Nobody., absolutely nobody of the same generation had ever spoken to Karl Fenrir like that.

Especially not a human.

Karl's face twisted with rage.

"Say that again."

Liam let out an exhausted sigh.

"Oh, would you just shut the fuck up already?" He said.

A collective gasp swept across the crowd.

One student even stumbled backward in shock.

Karl's body trembled with pure, uncontrollable anger.

"YOU—!" He shouted.

BOOM!

His academy blazer exploded apart as thick gray fur spread across his arms.

Razor-sharp claws burst from his fingertips, and his pupils narrowed into those of a beast and without another word, he vanished.

"So fast!"

Several freshmen couldn't even follow his movement.

Karl reappeared directly in front of Liam, his claws tearing through the air.

But Liam had expected it.

He twisted sideways at the very last moment, causing the claws to narrowly miss his throat.

But Karl was already moving again.

His second strike came even faster and seemed too fast to dodge.

Liam's thumb pressed against his watch.

Click.

A burst of shimmering silver dust exploded between them.

At the same instant, Karl's claws tore through the cloud of silver.

"AAARGH!" He cried out in pain.

Smoke rose from his skin and the silver powder burned like fire the instant it touched his claws and face.

Karl stumbled backward with a pained roar, clutching his arm as patches of his skin turned bright red.

The entire plaza froze.

"He..."

"He forced Karl back..."

"That human actually survived?"

Even Lily's expression shifted ever so slightly.

For the first time that day, she looked at Liam with genuine interest.

Karl slowly lowered his hand and looked towards Liam.

"You filthy human..." His golden eyes blazed with murderous intent.

Muscles bulged across his body and his bones cracked loudly as his transformation continued.

His academy uniform ripped apart beneath the strain.

"I'LL KILL YOU!" He said as he lunged at Liam.

But just as he was about to lunge at Liam,

an overwhelming pressure descended from the sky.

It was as though an invisible mountain had crashed onto the plaza.

Karl's knees buckled and Liam's shoulders sank from the pressure, both of them were forced to a complete stop.

Every student present felt the terrifying weight pressing them toward the ground.

Principal Alaric slowly descended from the sky, his expression colder than ever before.

"You dare fight..." He said as his piercing gaze swept over Karl before briefly settling on Liam.

"...in my presence?"