The class of Failures (Part 2: My name is Baal)

“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!”

“Hey! I believe that’s impolite!” Upon hearing Baal’s words, Chikao replied immediately.

For some reason, he, of all the students in the room, was the only one who felt he was insulted.

“Hmph! Whatever!” the demon lord sighed out of boredom, “I was expecting you all to protest when I say you are failures…”

“That doesn’t change the fact that you shouldn’t say things like that to strangers!” Chikao, the self-proclaimed clever boy, continued protesting, ignoring whatever Baal had to say.

That irrational behaviour irritated Alice…

However, the man who was subject to the criticism was smiling. “Aaah! How cute!” he simply replied with a delighted face.

“Hey! You don’t have to act like that…” As he felt a gentle tap on his shoulder, Chikao looked behind him promptly.

“Himura-san?!” he said with a surprised look on his face, “what are you doing here?”

“I got expelled too! Hehe!” Kozue replied with a cheerful smile.

“Ahem! If you’re so offended, then I guess we don’t have any other choice.” Baal interrupted them.

He grabbed a notebook from the table while standing.

With a snap of his fingers, he appeared before them leaning his back on the board, crossing his legs.

“Enough talking for now. Welcome to the Demon Lord’s Classroom! Shall we start the first lesson?”

Silence reigned over the classroom as everyone looked at the elegant man with a large smile on his face showing.

Confidently, he shifted her gaze quickly to the corners of the room only to realize, after a few seconds, that one of the students was not there.

“Do you know where the eighth is?” Baal asked.

“Come to think of it, I remember that we've been a group of seven people ever since we woke up!” Masami’s lie was obvious to everyone. Everyone except for Baal, who didn’t know that the 8 students were awake the whole time.

While the students knew that Masami was lying, they didn’t know the eighth’s whereabouts.

“You seem to be interested in the eighth student!” Akira commented.

“Not really. I just don’t want to start the class when someone is absent, especially on the first day.”

Baal took a deep breath as he walked to his seat.

“Yup! He did escape! I don’t know how but he managed to leave the classroom without anyone noticing him! Maybe he read the piece of paper…”

The students looked at him with puzzled expressions on their faces.

They had forgotten about the paper.

Masami looked at the paper in her hand to notice the message that read “Kill the teacher!”

As confused expressions started appearing on the students' faces, Baal opened the notebook.

“Let’s see… While waiting for Alice to arrive, shall I explain the note that you found?”

“Well, it’s pretty obvious…” Chikao replied with confidence, “This is a prank? Isn’t it?”

Baal lifted his head quickly and looked at the confident young man in surprise.

“Why do you think I would prank you on the first day?!”

Confusion turned promptly into fear. The eyes were fixated on the new teacher; the seven students couldn’t find a proper way to answer.

“You guys are this school’s weakest and worst students for this year!” Baal continued talking, “Yet at the same time you’re a treasure that, sadly, no one was able to discover until now…”

“Until now?” Kozue asked.

“Yes!”

Baal stood on the table while looking down at the students. Letting his aura rampage, some black clouds formed in the sky covering the academy’s building.

Earth started shaking forcing everyone in the school to take shelter thinking it was an earthquake.

“You only have two options!” Baal’s tone suddenly became heavier and scarier.

“Either you join my class and gain the rare chance and honour of slaying the current demon lord aka me, or I destroy the whole world!”

Unable to refuse his demand and before that threatening aura he was emitting, the students nodded silently.

As the threatening aura vanished, Baal sighed in relief then smiled cheerfully “That’s much better!”

“So… What are we going to do exactly?” Kamiya raised her hand timidly.

“Good question! You certainly don’t know each other. This may be a good opportunity.”

Baal looked at the timid girl and then smiled.

“How about you start introducing yourself?”

Kamiya took a few cautious steps forward and then, swiftly, turned around to face her classmates.

With a cheerful smile on her face, she said.

“I am Kamijou Kamiya. I was a student in 2-A.”

“Kamijou Kamiya…” Baal repeated the name trying to figure out its meaning. He then, stood next to Kamiya with a smile on his face.

“When I was a student, I remember skipping most of the language classes… As a result, I am terrible with kanji!”

“Meaning?” Alice replied while stepping into the class.

“Alice! You finally arrived! I guess you figured out this name’s meaning, right?”

A slim smile appeared on Alice’s face as she walked toward Baal to whisper in his ear.

“Kamijou means [God’s castle] and Kamiya means [Devine Valley]”

“Whoa!! How holy… No, I mean divine name!”

Upon hearing that, the students couldn’t hold themselves and started laughing at the so-called new teacher.

“Ahem!” he coughed, then continued, “You don’t mind telling us why you were expelled?”

“I was expelled from the academy due to my inability to control any natural element.”

He stared at the embarrassed girl for a few seconds then smiled while muttering: “Old fools!”

“Next on the list, we have… Atsuko Kamiya… Another Kamiya?!”

“It’s read Kamitani! Atsuko Kamitani, that's my name!”

Alice looked at the boy who shared the same looks as Kamiya as if they were twins. As she noticed the annoyed look on his face, she figured that it was because of that wrong pronunciation. She, then, took a glance at the notebook.

“Maou-sama! This one is interesting!” she said.

For the boy to catch Alice’s attention that quickly, there was a reason. Baal was aware of that.

“Hmm… Ira!” Baal muttered as looked at the door.

“So, this boy is wrath?!” Alice glared at the boy who innocently bowed his head thinking that he acted rude.

“My name is Atsuko Kamitani! I was in 2-A too…”

“I will go search for the 8th student!” Baal suddenly jumped from his seat leaving the notebook in Alice’s hands, “lessons will start tomorrow! You’d better arrive on time!”

Hence the demon lord left the classroom leaving Alice to take care of the rest.

The smile that was covering his face disappeared all of a sudden. He walked to the next corridor quickly. Just when he arrived there he stood still.

He took a glance behind him to check if there is any student or teacher behind him…

“I know you’re here!” Baal announced, “I was obliged to let my aura go rampage earlier to hide your arrival!”

“Oh, thanks! I was wondering why the holly knights didn’t show up!” an old man’s voice came from a dark corner.

Immediately after hearing that voice, Baal sent a fireball toward the source of the sound.

“Is that what they call a warm reunion?” an old man appeared from nowhere behind Baal forcing him to jump forward to keep a distance.

“Baphomet!” the demon lord glared at the old man with hatred in his eyes.

“Long time no see, demon lord!”

"My name is Baal!"