Left with five fewer credits before she had even done anything, Yulia stood there in a daze.

When they neared the classroom, the professor stopped.

"I wish you success, Miss Lillia Bird."

I'd be much more successful without you around.

Yulia replied with a blank expression:

"Thank you, Professor Snape."

Professor Priestley: "?"

"Sorry, I misremembered. It's just that you look quite a bit like a professor I once knew... Well, goodbye, Professor P."

Professor Priestley, who had his name mangled yet again: "???"

Taking the opportunity to get a jab in, Yulia scurried into the classroom. As she entered, the eyes of the entire class landed on her at once.

"It's really her..."

"The girl from yesterday..."

"Wow, she's just as pretty as they said..."

"So, was the stuff about her and Knight Loren Eir true?"

Students whispered among themselves. Yulia, though under the spotlight, didn't panic. She merely glanced at the empty podium. The professor for this class hadn't arrived yet, and her textbooks were waiting there.

She grabbed them and, with practiced ease, found an empty seat.

"...Hi, I'm Yuna Tallian."

The girl with the braided hair and glasses hadn't expected Yulia to sit next to her and greeted her shyly.

"I'm Lillia Bird," Yulia smiled warmly. "I just enrolled today. Is the professor for this class late?"

Yuna: "I think so. Actually, word is we're getting a new Professor of Thaumaturgy, but nobody knows who it is yet."

A boy on the other side of the aisle tapped on Yulia's desk and flashed a smile.

"I'm Jill Kent. I saw you in the garden yesterday. Where are you from?"

Yulia quickly recalled the fake background the principal had given her and recited a place name.

Jill nodded in understanding.

"Ah, there. I've heard the public security there isn't great. But don't worry, now that you're at Gaia Academy, you can rest easy! Our academy is the safest place on the entire continent!"

No sooner had he finished than a heavy, unmistakable footfall echoed from the hallway.

"The new professor is here!"

The students pulled their eyes off Yulia and fixed them on the doorway.

The next second, a tall, slender figure pushed the door open. He came empty-handed—not even a single book.

As he turned, more than half the girls in the classroom erupted into a soft, collective commotion.

Only Yulia stood there as if she'd been struck by a bolt of lightning.

Her eyes went wide, refusing to believe what she was seeing. Her gaze was locked onto that black-robed, black-haired figure, as if she were trying to burn a hole right through him.

The black-haired young man scanned the room, his grayish-blue eyes settling on Yulia.

A faint, subtle smile touched his cold, handsome face, as if he'd just stumbled upon something quite interesting.

The young man's low, languid voice filled the classroom:

"Starting today, I will be teaching your Thaumaturgy course."

"You may call me Professor Caerus."

He flicked his index finger, spelling his name out in the air. The golden letters drifted clearly before him for a moment before he wiped them away with a casual wave.

With just this opening, everyone could feel his masterful, god-tier proficiency in thaumaturgy.

Amid the murmur of the crowd, the boy Jill gave a low whistle.

"To dare use the same name as the Dark God himself... what an incredible professor."

A stunned Yulia parted her lips, as if wanting to say something, but ultimately closed them tight.

She turned to Jill.

"...What was it you were just telling me?"

"Just now?" Jill recalled. "Oh, I said Gaia Academy is the safest place on the continent, and you can live and study here with peace of mind."

Yulia watched the handsome, indifferent young man on the podium and muttered blankly:

"Hogwarts said the same thing."

"Hogwarts? What school is that?"

"...A school in some backwater place. You wouldn't know it."

"Then it surely isn't as impressive as our academy! Even the Dark Pope wouldn't dare move against us easily!"

...Wake up.

The big bad boss of the Dark Temple is standing on the podium, teaching your class right now.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After the initial shock wore off, Yulia realized this was certainly no whim of Caerus'.

He must have arranged this with Elias days ago.

Yulia looked back on her own excitement over the last few days, thinking she was finally free from waiting on this "grandmaster."

...She thought she was on the third floor, but it turned out he was playing in the stratosphere!

Despicable god!

The brown-haired boy, Jill, seemed quite the chatterbox. He tilted his head and asked Yulia across the aisle:

"Lillia, do you know this new professor? I think I saw you two appearing together by the corridor yesterday..."

"I don't."

Still fuming, Yulia cut ties with Caerus defiantly.

"I'm a new student, and he's a newly hired professor. We just happened to be going to the Principal's office together."

Jill looked only half-convinced.

On the podium, Caerus swept his gaze over the many sixteen or seventeen-year-olds below.

Aside from his recent meeting with Elias, the last time he'd walked outside of Catharsis to look around was over a hundred years ago.

That was the era of the War of the Gods, when the Dark God and the Light God, as the two most powerful main deities, ignited the war of the gods. Other weak deities, hand-crafted by Caerus himself, had been forced to take sides and form camps.

The war between gods shook the earth, toppling mountains and overturning rivers. To mortals, they were nothing more than ants to be crushed under the weight of divine power.

Back then, there was no place of peace in the human world, nor would this group of young teenagers have had any chance to study thaumaturgy.

But as Caerus caught a few of their thoughts, he heard:

[This professor is so young and handsome. I wonder if he's engaged to any noble ladies?]

[Ah, this professor doesn't look easy to mess with. Light God preserve us, why couldn't you have shown mercy and given us a kinder professor for such an obscure subject?]

[Wow, even if his black hair doesn't have the high-blooded nobility of gold, it makes the professor's face look even better! Wuwuwu!]

Caerus shielded himself from their boring inner voices one by one and looked at Yulia, who had already begun to stare off into space, chin in her hand.

He didn't even need to read her mind; her thoughts were written all over her face:

[I'm tired. Just destroy everything. What should I eat for lunch?]

Caerus: "..."

"Professor Caerus!" A girl in the front row boldly tested the waters. "Do you need our textbook? If you do, you can borrow mine. I am—"

The girl had no idea who was standing in front of her.

The creator of all things, the source of all power, and naturally... the creator of all thaumaturgical arts.

"I do not."

Caerus's gaze fell on the high-backed chair in the corner of the room. Without a single incantation, the chair obediently drifted to his back.

The black-robed youth sat down slowly, like a god waiting to be worshipped.