---
The Dominion didn't believe in mercy. Especially not for those in Class Zero.
Nicknamed by the students as Heretic Class, it was where the rejects, troublemakers, and hopeless cases were shoved. A catch-all abyss for the weakest, the broken, and the too-different. It was the lowest of the low—F-ranks who barely passed the entrance trial or who, like Ash and Kirito, were placed there for reasons no one dared to question.
The room itself was a joke. A broken lecture hall with cracked marble floors and spell-burned walls. Only seven students sat inside. The air smelled like old blood and worse memories.
Ash slouched at the back, legs kicked out, a grin playing at his lips.
"So this is where they toss the unwanted," he said, stretching. "Feels cozy."
Kirito leaned against the back wall beside him, arms folded, expression unreadable. "You say that like you didn't enjoy it."
"Oh, I love it. This is the only place we don't have to pretend."
The door creaked.
Everyone turned.
A woman stepped in. Mid-thirties, tall, with storm-grey eyes and hair braided like a soldier who never retired. Professor Viera Noctis.
No introduction. No speech. Just a piercing look at each of them.
"Congratulations. You're officially the Dominion's garbage."
She paused.
"But some trash burns hotter than gold. Prove you're one of them—or rot like the rest."
Her eyes locked with Ash's for a heartbeat too long. Then she dropped a pile of scrolls on the desk.
"Open these. Inside are your first assignments. Survival combat. Wilderness navigation. Spell nullification theory."
Ash raised an eyebrow. "Spell null? But F-ranks don't learn that until next year."
She didn't blink. "Then die trying."
---
The room cleared by dusk. Everyone else left, grumbling or silently furious.
But Ash stayed. Kirito too.
Seraphina walked in late, wearing her usual calm like armor. Her student council badge glinted faintly in the dying light.
Ash looked up, amused. "Come to investigate the rejects?"
She walked over, dropped a small lunch box in front of him, and sat.
"You skipped meals again."
He blinked. Then actually smiled.
Kirito eyed them. "This is disgustingly wholesome. Should I leave?"
Ash waved him off. "Eat something or brood somewhere else."
Seraphina, without looking up: "He broods even while eating."
Ash choked on his drink.
Kirito rolled his eyes. "I'm surrounded by clowns."
---
Later that night, the assignment began.
Class Zero was dropped in the middle of the Blackwild Forest—a magically volatile deathtrap swarming with mana-twisted beasts.
They weren't given weapons. Only scrolls. Only their wit. No backup. No teachers.
Just a message:
Survive until sunrise. Or don't.
Ash cracked his neck, stepping through the gloom with ease. Kirito followed silently, blade tucked away. Neither of them looked remotely concerned.
Behind them, the others struggled.
One tripped on a vine. Another cried when a mana-leech latched to her arm.
Ash didn't mock them.
He simply turned back, eyes glowing faintly in the dark.
"Get up. The forest doesn't pity you. It devours pity."
Kirito sighed. "We babysitting now?"
Ash smiled faintly. "If they die, it won't mean anything. If they survive, maybe this place gets interesting."
And then, as the moon reached its peak—a roar split the silence.
A forest guardian beast. Rank A. Easily enough to kill the entire class.
The others screamed.
Ash stepped forward, unarmed.
He didn't draw power.
He didn't summon anything.
He just moved.
His foot hit the ground in rhythm.
His stance lowered.
The beast lunged— the ground shattered beneath its own weight as it missed.
Ash's eyes locked with its.
And he smiled.
A quiet, devastating smile.
"Wrong prey."
Kirito: "Are you really doing this without weapons?"
Ash: "If I used weapons, I might kill it. And then they'd know."
---
By sunrise, the beast was unconscious. The rest of Class Zero was alive. Ash and Kirito? Not even scratched.
But when they returned, Professor Viera just looked at them like she already knew.
"Next time, don't try so hard to look normal. You failed at it."
Ash chuckled. "Sorry, old habit."
She tossed them another scroll.
"Mid-term evaluations. Team duel. Public. If you want to keep hiding... don't show up."
Kirito glanced at Ash.
"We're showing up, aren't we."
Ash smirked.
"Oh yeah. Time to see what the high-ranks call a nightmare."