I created my own system

The day ends with their bodies buttered with professor Adolfo's practice drill. With their bodies tossed around the snow and mind weakened due to stress, the energetic students were reduce to nothing when they arrived at the dorm. Lying near of the fireplace the entire class was silently enjoying the warmth while the dormitory staff brought them sweets and tea.

"Finally we have time to rest"

McKenzie said in satisfaction while beside him while Blair busy with his hot cocoa and marshmallows.

"Student Blair do you want more marshmallow?" Jenny asked seeing how the boy became way to quiet after attending thier class.

"Sis Jenny Blair accidentally bit his tongue during one of our drills thats why he couldn't speak properly" Arabella explain.

"Covered in twigs and bruises I didn't know drills are this difficult"

"Was the previous first years like this?" Vesta curiously asked

"Hmm... As far as I remember no" Jerome answer bringing a medicine kit to tend thier wounds.

'Putting this drills aside any of you interested in the rankings?" Out of curiosity Niko asked.

"No" the rest of the class said in unison not really interested in the rankings that bear no merit to them.

"But you know I think the one that will be challenged here is Apollo since he holds the rank 1in the first years"

Braiden nodded at Matilda's opinion.

"They can try but Apollo isn't really interested in that" Jillian argued their talk continue until they fell asleep one by one. As the night goes deeper Apollo focus his senses in meditation. According to Jeremiah their was a crack in his soul that he didn't know that severe.

"I think I did heard about my soul not being normal before but I didn't know it was this severe. That it was actually cracked and damaged"

There many reason to have such condition, one is having unstable body accompany by abundant amount of mana. There also the disorganized harmony of energy inside the body.

His meditation continue and by his side Alicia sat beside him, guarding making sure no one does something to harm him.

"Nero seems to be floating calmly, I wonder if I should just attack him" Alicia thought but looking at Apollo he decided against it.

"There is still that foreign energy, I will deal with that later" she added remembering the power Nero once demonstrated.

"I cant touch him unless I were to get a little serious and to add up the energy he use can only be counter by another foreign energy...or a sacred weapon. that is why I need to be careful on how to approach him without alarming him. That way erasing him will be easier" she keeps pon thinking but her eyes remained looking at Apollo.

Deep inside Apollo was buried deep in his meditation, he wants to understand the fragments and how it helps his broken soul from further breaking apart.

A broken body and broken soul, it seems that the seal that cause him extreme trauma from the past actually help him from further breaking the physical and spiritual realm of his body.

"While the other Apollo dive into his soul the other him is currently staying at the heart of Mahika. Standing before him was Arevano, the remaining memory of the past glory of the temple of magic.

"I see, so you want to know more" the former wizard said, is voice was a bit melancholy possibly remembering his bitter past.

"I will tell you everything I know as well the story about his prime student. The one that trigger the tragedy that brought my home into ruins"

That night the Apollos scattered in the continent, all searching, looking for the clues left behind by the previous people that also took the same name as him. Through this he wants to know which place they could have possibly acquired the fragments. If investing their life could help him guide his next move could definitely ease his burden. Though Alicia provide information about them it is still different if he starts tracing thier when they are still alive. The authorities are with him so the investigating will definitely easy, though that is only his own opinion.

After a few days of more drills and countless people asking for a fight with Apollo the winter break finally came.

"Yes!!!"

Mckenzie shouted while happily jumping up and down.

"Well finally we are free!" Braiden shouted while stretching his sore muscle from all the drills.

After receiving some homework and things to remember the students of Aster academy all head towards their own aircraft. And so the lower class was on the helipad waiting for their airshift to arrive. While everyone is happy there are two people that currently missing from the class.

"So Alya can you tell me where exactly Alicia and Apollo are going again?"

"Oh that Jillian they are heading towards Inferos but specificaly towards a certain temple"

"Temple? Wait was that the thing you were doing with them Alya?"

"Yeah they ask for help since they don't want to find, then I suddenly had a feeling of a certain place in Inferos it turns out it was a temple, well they are heading there now"

"Wait those two...they wont break the place no?"

"Don't worry about that Agnes Apollo is an amazing mage I am sur ehe can patch the place if ever they break it" Niko said trying to reassure her but his words only cause her to think that something will definitely happen there.

"Come on guys ease up we are having our break I am sure sir Gavin and the other will be waiting for us" Casper added wanting to change the topic from destruction.

"Well I hope those two get back safe and sound" Arabella mutters as she look at the vast cluster of clouds. Quietly she began to pray to the point that even the Gods heard her plea.

.

.

.

The night before their departure Apollo Alicia and Alya are looking at the map of Inferos.

APOLLO'S POV

"So can you feel something Alya?"

I have been trying to find where my feelings are telling me but no matter how hard I try I just couldn't find wha I wanted to find, so in the end I asked Alya's help.

"Here I think this is the place"

She randomly point a certain ruins and the moment I looked at the place a surge of energy—not an earthquake, but a pulse. Distant yet resonating that even Alicia felt it.

[Warning. External force detected. Source... unknown. Location: outskirts of the abandoned shrine.]

Alicia stood quickly, her hand glowing faintly with mana. "That pulse… it wasn't natural."

"I'll go," I said.

She looked at me. "You should rest."

"No I will go with you" I insisted and now we left together before the sun even rises.

We reached the temple just as the morning sun peeked over the edge of the ruined steeple. This place in ruins may be once a sacred space but now covered with overgrown vines and trees. However despite its appearance there was a silent pressure that looming. Right at the center is a sphere of energy pulsed in its center wild, raw, unstable.

And beside it… was a man.

Cloaked, hooded, and silent.

I couldn't see his face. But my soul reacted instantly.

The fragment inside me trembled. Responded.

[Warning. Resonance detected. Identifying source...]

Before the system could finish, the man turned.

"It's good to see you again," he said, his voice calm, measured—and familiar.

I took a step forward. "Who are you?"

He reached up and lowered his hood.

And my breath caught.

He had my face.

No—Elias' face.

"You've gathered more than I expected," he said. "But not enough."

"What are you?" I asked, voice tense.

"I am the reflection. The shadow. The memory that survived when Elias chose to be reborn."

[System interference detected. Anomaly... is part of the original soul.]

My knees weakened. "You're..."

"Call me what you will. A remnant. A guardian. Or the part of you that was never meant to wake up but I am here to tell you about the things that might help you."

He turned back to the sphere. "More fragments are being found. But not just by you. Dominos is hunting them too."

I clenched my fist. "Dominos you mean Nero, why?"

"Because he wants what Elias sealed: the full sovereign soul or some might call it as the great master's soul. And with each fragment he collects, he becomes more unstoppable."

He walked toward me, slowly.

"I am your warning. And your test."

Alicia raised her hand to summon a barrier, but the man waved her off. "Not yet. I am not your enemy... but I cannot help you to defeat him either. All I could do is make you remember."

"Remember what?"

He placed a finger against my forehead. And in that instant, images flashed—

A battlefield. A burning temple. A young man kneeling, weeping while holding someone in his arms.

And a single word echoing in the flames: "NO"

Then everything vanished.

I was back at the shrine.

The man was gone.

And the sphere… had left behind another fragment.

Golden. Warm. And pulsing to my heartbeat.