The class of Failures (Part 1: F stands for Failure)

“So, jokes aside,” Alice continued talking as she leaned at Baal’s chair, “why 8 students?”

“Octagram!” Baal replied.

“What does that supposed to mean?”

Stretching his hand forward, an eight-pointed 2D star figure appeared from thin air above Baal’s palm.

“Also known as the Kagome Crest, while the Hexagram represents the union between opposites, similar to Yin and yang, the Octagram represents the 8 forms of wealth or the 8 ancient deities.”

A confused Alice tried to think deeply before she finally broke the silence and asked the second question.

“And your Octagram here represents what?”

“The seven deadly sins and the hero!” Baal answered with a threatening smile on his.

Threatening wouldn’t be the right description of his ulterior intentions. The man, aged around his thirties, knew for sure that he has only a slim chance of 1 in 100 that he will survive the next 6 months, yet he couldn’t care less at that moment.

With the only thought of enjoying what can be his last moments in life, he deactivated ‘Extra thought acceleration’ and decided to play the game of life fair and square using only the knowledge that he gained already.

“Eh?”

“You’re familiar with those terms, right?” Baal asked in response to the surprised expression that was printed on his subordinate’s face.

“Looks like I am the real idiot,” Alice smiled as she rubbed the back of her head declaring her unexpected defeat, “I know that the seven deadly sins are always bound to be the demon lord’s servant that will help him conquer the world…”

She took a deep breath and then continued.

“If you’re going to pick your servants, why are you making them team up with the hero to kill you?”

Baal who had predicted this scene to happen, choose to remain silent as he watched a shy girl on the screen taking a few cautious steps toward the teacher’s desk.

“Who would’ve believed that this petite girl is the sin of envy, Invidia?!” Baal sighed then added, “Wait, those cautious steps… She is… Gula?”

5 minutes ago, before that conversation even happened, when the lights were off, in a classroom two floors above the demon lord's chamber, a short conversation happened between 8 people.

Ironically, according to the Egyptian myth of the eight ancient deities, they were indeed 4 boys and 4 girls.

Their voices were too quiet to be heard by Baal. But even so, they didn’t seem to agree on anything. Between the feeling of being lost and the doubt about being kidnapped, their conversation didn’t seem to have an end…

“The light is on! Quick! Pretend you’re asleep, everyone!” A boy in the fuss gave a quick order to the rest of the group forcing them to stop making noise.

“But I’ve just woken up!” a girl from the other side of the room replied with an annoyed tone marking the end of a long unnecessary discussion.

The 8 students, not knowing what was happening, decided that their only chance to understand the current situation was to act cautiously.

Thus, they agreed not to make any single move.

Sitting on their chairs, they were all closing their eyes leaning their heads down on the desks before them silently.

The desks, the chairs, and even the walls were all coloured white colour. Everything except for two things in that room was white: The pitch-black chalkboard and a piece of blue paper put on the teacher’s desk.

Silence reigned over the room for three minutes. During that time, the students of class 2-F tried their best to perform the best act in their lives.

For them, it was a huge effort to close their eyes, defying the curiosity that was eating at their souls telling them to look around and discover the area.

Before closing her eyes, Himura Kozue, one of the 8 students trapped in that class, got a quick glimpse of the classroom. It was for a short fraction of a second.

Even the demon lord Baal, who was supervising the situation from another room, didn't notice that.

Even after closing her eyes, she was able to feel the light surrounding her.

She wasn’t as clever as Nishimiya Chikao who asked everyone to pretend to be asleep; however, she knew that the best thing to do in that situation was to follow his words.

Speaking about curiosity, Kozue wasn’t the only one suffering to suppress that feeling. Another girl, sitting in a chair on the other side of the classroom, had a similar feeling: Kamijou Kamiya.

In her case, Kozue’s words being the last thing she was able to hear before starting the minor act was annoying her. She can remember that she woke up at the same moment as Kozue.

She wanted so badly to say that out loud, but she was refraining.

Kamiya had a strong affinity for light. At that time she wasn’t aware of her real magical attribute, but she knew that she could sense light touching her smooth skin gently.

Kamiya was accustomed to that feeling. But, just like anyone there in the room, she wanted to open her eyes, move around, and talk with the others to understand the situation.

When Alice stepped into Baal’s room, a boy that didn’t care much about the whole idea of pretending to be asleep and just decided to follow everyone, Atsuko Kamitani, moved his head quickly.

Since he was facing the wall the whole time, he decided to turn his face to the other side, to face Kamiya…

His action wasn’t noticed by the demon lord at that time, but his classmates found that as an excuse to start moving.

‘Since nothing happened after Kamitani moved, it is safe to assume that we can move freely.’ This was the thought of everyone in the class except for two: Kamitani who just moved and didn’t realize the consequence of his actions and Kamiya who was wondering about her classmate's sudden action.

Eventually, the only one left in the dark was the brown-haired boy, Kamitani.

Even though they understood that there wouldn't be any threat if they moved, everyone didn’t dare to take the first move, especially Chikao…

Being overly cautious was a habit of his. That was, mainly, the reason why he came up with that idea in the first place. The reason, also, why he was expelled from the Royal Magic School just like the seven other students…

Finally, someone broke the silence in the room.

“What is this place?” Yamaguchi Reina repeated the same question she asked earlier with a worried tone. A question that, yet again, got no answer.

“You can open your eyes if you want!” Ichiro Akira, one of the boys who kept silent the whole time, decided to follow her lead, and speak. He wasn’t trying to pick up a fight with her at that time, but he just didn’t have anything to say and wanted so badly to speak.

He wanted to repeat the question he asked earlier since he couldn’t remember anything after leaving the headmaster’s office that morning, but then he decided to observe the situation silently once again…

Hearing this short conversation, a girl who wasn’t acting about being asleep slowly opened her eyes. She gazed around her searching for the source of voices. She saw that everyone was asleep. “… Eh? Was it a dream?” She wondered.

As they gathered around her, she unfolded the paper to read it.

The first thing that caught everyone’s attention was the sealing mark of the royal family.

“Wait!!! Did you tell King Zola about your plan?” Alice’s voice suddenly echoed in the classroom.

The students, surprised, took a few steps back.

Slowly, the chalkboard started sending live footage from Baal’s room.

The man who was going to have another hard time dealing with his favourite subordinate, thankfully, noticed the reaction of the students on time.

“So, you can see me now!” Baal laughed as he stared at the students looking at the board in disbelief.

They didn’t know that the young man they were watching on the board was the symbol of terror and the most feared living being in the world.

They only had a feeling that something was odd…

Masami looked at the screen with a confused expression then asked gently: “Who are you?”

“I am your new teacher!” Baal smiled gently as he stood up.

“But… I thought we got expelled?!” Akira shook his head, doubting Baal’s words.

“From today onward, you’re all going to be my students. Welcome to class 2-F!”

Baal took a few steps forward and a devilish smile appeared on his face.

“Or shall I say the class of failures!”