The Minotaur. I've repeated that scene thousands of times in my head. We were so lucky.

Three seconds. That's how long we held it off. And that was only because of the fact that Eric's Arcana was an S Tier. If it was any lower, we wouldn't be alive.

The only thing that saved the three of us was luck. Luck that the Principal made it in time. Luck that Eric could barely tank that hit.

And luck has never been nice to me, so I don't like to count on it.

That was a B Rank monster, and if it had two more seconds, all of us would have been dead. When I threw my axe into it's eye, it only enraged it. If I stand no chance against a B Rank, then what about A and S Ranks?

I need to become strong.

It's times like these that I wish I had my own S Rank. But if I did, that would ruin everything. I would be shoved into the spotlight.

And I can't do that. It happened once, it won't happen again.

I sighed, looking around me. Legacy High. I'm here.

It's been about two weeks since the physical exam. School has now officially started. It's what you would expect. There are normal classes like math and history, but also classes like Monster Studies and Combat Class.

I walked through the hallways. It was my free period, so I was heading towards the Library.

Knowledge is Power. I stuck to this phrase when I first arrived here, and I stuck to it now. I have plenty of books to read.

"It's okay." Someone's voice floated into my ears as I turned the corner. A small sob also reached my ears.

Looking down the hallway, I saw Lily curled up against the wall with wet tears dripping down her cheeks. By her was Iris, who was trying to help her.

"What's going on here?" I asked.

"Carson..." Lily gasped out.

Cole Carson. Resident bully of Legacy High.

He's actually that same brown-haired buff boy that was pulling Lily's horns when we first met her. He's one of those that are racist towards the species not of this world, like elves and dwarves and etc.

It's unfortunate, but many humans are like this. Cole is one of them. And it's even worse since Lily is a Succubus, which are mostly viewed as "slutty". Lily isn't, but that stereotype includes her. This makes her Cole's number one target.

Honestly, I pity her. Her life is terrible, especially compared to most of the other Adventurers-In-Training. This is also what drives her to go yandere for Eric, as he is literally the only person who is kind to her.

Heaven's Hell has its dark moments. It is yandere, after all.

"What'd he do?" I ask.

"He...called me a freak...and a slut..." Lily muttered. "He pulled on my horns again...he even kicked me..." She pulled up her shirt, revealing a small bruise on her stomach.

What? My hands clenched in anger.

"Why is this allowed?" I growled.

This is blatant assault.

"Unfortunately, Carson comes from a wealthier family." Iris sighed. "This is what keeps him in the school despite his...nature. Besides, unless we have evidence for him kicking Lily we can't do anything."

Evidence...

"Nobody cares about a Succubus like me..." Lily decided.

"Hey." I said, grabbing her attention, as I crouched down to become eye level with her. "We don't think that. Eric knows you aren't like that. They can call you a monster all they want, but they're the true monsters." I stated.

"Eric will always be there for you. He's not one to abandon a friend." I finished. I wiped her tears off, before wiping my wet hand on my pants.

"Ken...thank you..." Lily smiled.

She hopped up. "I'm going to go find Eric! Thanks again Ken!" She then skipped away on her search for Eric.

"You can be nice!" Smiled Iris as I stood back up.

"I can be. But not to you." I coldly responded, before walking off.

"Rude." I heard her mutter as I left.

Stop talking to me. You have no reason to talk to a jerk like me. So go on your merry way.

As I walked through the hallways, the bell loudly rang through the school. Damn, I didn't get to go to the library.

Well, I better head to the Cafeteria then. Lunch happens to be the period right after my free period.

As I finally arrived at the Cafeteria, I noticed a ton of students making a circle around something. I walked up, squeezing my way through.

"I challenge you to a duel!" Eric declared.

I looked at the scene that everybody was staring at. Eric was declaring a duel, pointing towards Cole. Behind Eric was Lily, who was slightly shaking.

I remember this. Eric is incredibly loyal to his friends. That means that he isn't going to stand back as his friend gets bullied. Not like a certain coward.

This is the next part of the First Arc of the anime. Eric challenges Cole to a battle, and after a close battle he wins and makes Cole leave Lily alone.

"Alright. What are the rules?" Cole grunted.

In Legacy High, students can challenge each other to friendly duels. It's an one-on-one battle, where the winner gains the reward from the rules both students agreed to.

Of course, there can also be no rewards. Some friends will duel each other for fun that way. But most of the time it's for some sort of reward.

"If I win, you leave Lily alone." Eric stated.

"Fine. I don't need a reward if I win. The satisfaction of beating you down will be enough." Cole arrogantly grinned. "We'll do this at the arena, in an hour."

"Fine." Eric nodded.

Cole then walked off, and the circle dispersed.

Cole...that scumbag pisses me off. Eric's going to be in for a tough battle. Unlike Eric, Cole has had fighting experience. They both are at Tier 1 however, so while the gap is there, it's not impossible to bridge.

And what's exactly what happens in the anime.

And then an idea struck me. Something for just in case. Eric could possibly lose, I won't deny it. My presence could have somehow changed this. But I have a plan.

Something to get rid of Cole for good.

I snuck away from the Cafeteria, skipping lunch. It's unfortunate, but no mozzarella sticks for me today.

I casually walked through the school, heading to my destination; a restroom. I waited inside to continue my plan.

You see, this restroom happens to be right next to the security room, where the recordings for the cameras are stored.

You might be able to see where I'm going with this.

I looked around the Men's Restroom, making sure no one else was here. After I confirmed that, I found a vent in the ceiling. I summoned Fenrir, using him to smash the vent open. I then jumped up, gripping the edge of the vent.

I pulled myself up, before crawling through. Since the restrooms are so close to the security room, there should hopefully be a vent that goes from the restroom to the security room.

I crawled through the vent, taking the different twists and turns towards where I believed the security room was. It took a while, and I may have gotten lost once or twice, but I did finally find the vent above the security room.

The vent was right on the ceiling of the room. Peering in, I saw a staff member scanning the cameras, in case of anything suspicious. For example, a break in. This may be a super-powered school, but it still needs to have security.

I slammed my foot onto the vent door, sending in slamming down into the ground. The staff member jumped up in fright, but before he could do anything I jumped down and slammed the back of Fenrir into his head.

He slumped in the chair, knocked out cold. I moved him and the chair so I could access the cameras. I changed the footage to an hour ago, and I looked at the hallway which was where Lily was sat.

And there it is. Footage. Evidence.

But the staff didn't do anything. Wait, maybe he didn't see it. Legacy High is huge, and not every camera can be on the screen at once.

Watching the footage of Cole bullying Lily, it made my blood boil. He then kicked her in the stomach, making her slump against the wall as he walked away. I saw as the tears formed on her face as she sat there. And then I saw Iris walk by, stopping by Lily to make sure she's alright.

The footage was only a minute or two long, so it's definitely possible that he missed it. At least, I hope that's what happened.

I searched the room, finding a box full of usbs in a cabinet. I pulled out the usb, plugging it into the machine and copying the footage.

Luckily this is simple, or else there's no way I'd be able to do this. I'm no hacker.

Once the footage was copied, I took out the usb. I then took a video of the footage with my phone, as an extra precaution.

I set everything back to normal, and placed the chair with the unconscious body back to where it was originally. I then climbed back into the vent and placed back the slightly broken vent.

Hopefully he'll think it was all a dream.

I then used the vents to head back to the restroom. This way allows it to look like I went and used the restroom. They shouldn't be able to trace this incident back to me. There's no cameras in the security room for some reason.

I exited the restroom, heading over to the arena. I checked my phone, seeing it was 1:05. The match should have started by now.

The Arena was similar to the Roman Colosseum. It was a flat sand floor, and that's it. It's located in the middle of Legacy High, like where a garden would be located.

Except it was a place for students to fight.

I hurried to the Arena, dashing through the halls. Luckily I didn't encounter any teachers on the way there. Heading into the seating area of the Arena, it was very similar to the Roman Colosseum as well.

But smaller, and much closer to the sand floor.

I think they took a lot of inspiration from the Roman Colosseum. I stood in the stands, watching what happened on the sand floor.

Eric clashed Excalibur against Cole's mace. If I remember correctly, it's an A Rank Arcana. Honestly it doesn't matter much as he's only a threat for this part of the anime. He's never seen again.

They clashed their weapons, but Eric was slowly being pushed back. I clenched my fists.

You can do this Eric.

...

...

He can't do this.

He's losing, and unless he makes a comeback, he isn't going to win. Cole sent a powerful hit with his mace into Eric's stomach, flinging him backwards onto the ground.

Ouch, that must hurt. It seems he's down.

It's over. Eric's defeated. He lost.

Was this because of me?

But despite this Cole started to walk towards Eric, holding his mace above his head. He's going to seriously injure Eric!!!

Stop! It's over!

That's what I wanted to shout, but no words came out of my mouth. The mace descended down on Eric's small figure.

I closed my eyes tight. I couldn't watch it.

And then a metallic clang rang throughout the Arena. Opening my eyes, I noticed a new person had entered the Arena.

Iris stood in front of the downed Eric, holding a golden shield which blocked Cole's mace. Eric groaned, looking up confused.

Iris' S Rank Arcana, Zeus.

"What's the meaning of this?!" Cole growled.

"This battle is over." Iris smiled. "He's down. Going for another hit is unnecessary, cruel, and could be accounted as assault. You should be more careful." She nicely stated.

She even stays nice in this situation.

"It's a duel. He agreed to this." Cole argued.

My fingers clenched into my skin. Iris wasn't even supposed to appear in the anime yet, and here she is helping Eric. While his best friend uselessly watches from the stands.

"HEY AEGIS!!!!" I screamed.

She looked at me, here eyes slightly widening.

Gripping the usb in my hand, I threw it as hard as I could towards Iris. It flew through the air, before Iris caught it with the hand she wasn't using to hold the shield.

She glanced at it, before lightly smiling as she realized. "You see, this isn't everything." Iris continued. "See this usb? It holds what you did earlier today to a certain succubus. You might want to back off Lily."

"There's no way that's on there." Cole scoffed.

"Do you want to risk it?" Iris asked.

Cole stared at Iris angrily as he contemplated. If it really did have the footage, there was a good chance he could be expelled. Which it does.

Cole growled. "Fine. I'll back off Lily. But you better not get in my way." He then stormed off.

I sighed a breath of relief.

Eric stood up, clutching his stomach as Lily ran to him. "What...?" Eric asked confused.

"I can't just have a new rival taken out so early." Iris smiled. "There's only two other S Ranks in this school, Bianca and I. I don't want the third to be unable to do anything."

"Well...thanks." Eric replied.

I walked onto the sand floor of the Arena to the three still there.

"You two alright?" I asked.

"We are now." Lily smiled.

"You should probably get Eric to the infirmary." I replied, sweatdropping.

"Oh! Right!" Lily gasped, helping Eric walk away.

"Does this usb actually contain the footage?" Iris wondered.

"Believe what you want to believe." I coldly replied.

"For someone who seems to not care much, you sure-" Iris started.

"Don't finish that sentence." I interrupted, walking away from Iris.