Tallon

I stared at the screen, shocked, confused. What the hell was happening? Why was I seeing a holographic screen in front of me? I looked around, wanting to know if someone else also saw this screen with me. But no, it was me alone; no one paid attention to me at all.

I looked at the screen again; the message remained there: Save the heroines. I stretched out my hand and tried to touch the screen, but it went through.

I looked around again, trying to be sure no one had noticed me flailing at thin air like some lunatic. But the crowd was busy listening to the speech, eyes fixed on the man in the arena. No one paid me the slightest attention.

I let out a breath of relief and turned back to the glowing words before me.

[Core Mission: Save the Heroines]

As I focused on it, the screen shifted on its own. With nothing more than a thought, the letters expanded into a larger display. Lines of text unfolded, sharp and clear.

[Objective: Seven Heroines]

[Each heroine is destined to attract calamity and meet inevitable death]

[Player’s task: Prevent each from falling to their fated end]

My throat went dry. Seven heroines. Seven lives I had once tried, and failed, to save through the game. Now the system was telling me the same thing I had sworn to myself for years: save them.

Confusion knotted in my chest. Was this just another cruel joke? Another way to trap me in failure? But even as doubt clawed at me, I couldn’t deny the strange fire burning inside.

If there was truly a way to save them this time, if this wasn’t just a scripted tragedy… then who else could do it but me?

I clenched my fist lightly. “Fine,” I muttered under my breath. “If someone has to save them, it’ll be me. It’ll always be me.”

The glowing screen pulsed once, as if acknowledging my resolve, then faded from sight.

I straightened just in time to hear the voice of the man in the arena rise again.

“Now, we move to the top students of this year’s entrance examination,” Legion announced, his voice magnified by magic and echoing across the colosseum. The crowd hushed, all eyes turning toward him.

The doors at the side of the arena opened, and the first figure walked into the light.

Blonde hair that could’ve been in a shampoo commercial, piercing blue eyes, tall, broad shoulders, the whole package. The crowd practically sighed as one. Ah, of course. The golden boy. Perfect face, perfect height, perfect posture. If this was a manga, he’d already have the protagonist aura glowing around him.

He was one of the stunning male protagonists of the game, but I never really cared about them.

“Lance Everhart,” Legion announced, and the colosseum buzzed. He was the definition of talent, looks, and a very cocky attitude, the guy you either want to be or want to punch.

Then came the second in, another stuck-up ass. A slimmer frame, but his walk had razor edges. Black hair, dark eyes that cut like knives, every step precise. And that expression, not smug, not cocky, just… absolute disdain.

Great. Mr. Too-Cool-To-Breathe. If looks could kill, half this arena would be on the floor already.

“Damian Kain,” Legion declared, and the crowd gasped like they’d just seen royalty. Right, the Kain family, the “once-in-a-century prodigies.” Born, trained, and raised to remind everyone else that they were peasants, tsk.

The third was impossible to miss. Taller than most grown men, built like a fortress, reddish hair cropped short. His muscles had muscles. The arena floor actually seemed to rumble when he walked.

“Robert Steelhart,” Legion said, and the cheers exploded. Of course, the Steelharts, a family of warriors. He looked like he could crush a boulder with his bare hands, or at least my skull if I made a bad joke about his haircut.

Then came a girl. White hair so silky it almost glowed, drifting in the breeze. Her face calm, serene, like she was meditating while thousands of people stared at her. She didn’t look at anyone, didn’t even blink, but somehow the air felt heavier just because she was standing there.

“Lily Ardent,” Legion introduced. Whispers spread like wildfire. Calm face, terrifying aura… yeah, that tracks. Definitely not the kind of person you want as an enemy. She was one of the protagonists I gave my life to try and keep alive.

And then… her.

Crimson hair that spilled down her shoulders, eyes dark and unyielding. Every step was measured, her presence icy enough to freeze the air around her. Calm, calculated, unreadable, the arena went dead silent when she appeared, and then erupted with voices.

“Angela Vanceloth,” Legion announced, and I felt my stomach twist.

Angela. The heroine who had haunted me through every playthrough. The one whose death hurt more than anything else, the one who suffered the most of all the heroines.

…damn.

I'm actually seeing her in real life. If this really is real life, then I've never been happier to be alive.

The five stood together, a line of prodigies shining under the sunlight. The arena buzzed with whispers:

“That’s Lance Everhart, he’s already broken records.”

“Damian Kain, they say he learned advanced sword forms before ten.”

“Robert Steelhart could wrestle a troll!”

“Angela Vanceloth… she’s as cold as they say.”

“And Lily Ardent… doesn’t she feel dangerous?”

The excitement swelled, the stands alive with chatter. But me? I just sat there, trying to keep my face straight, while my brain screamed the same words over and over.

That’s them. That’s the heroines. The people I have to save. Yes, yes, I'm a bit too eager to save them, but listen, I spent two years trying to do it; of course I'm obsessed with saving them this time.

[....... ]

The entrance ceremony had barely anything to do with the likes of me that sat in the stands, and more to do with those that stood in the arena.

It was a showcase space to introduce the best, and make sure that everyone that wanted to invest in them would take their pick. Honestly, it was an auction.

These are the best students, support them and you might get your money's worth when they graduate. What is the worth they bring? Simple, they'll shoot up the ranks the moment they are done, and you who supported them would become one of their connections.

So many good things could come from that, that's the way they think, it works sometimes. But more often than not, it doesn’t work.

At the end of the day, all the rich men, nobles and more are simply gamblers doing whatever they can to ensure they don't fall.

I looked at the stage as the fuges departed, they didn't say anything, like they had just come for a pageant and were done now. I wasn't sure if it was the academy that refused them the chance to speak, or if it was their proud asses that made them not speak. I'm leaning toward the second.

After that, Legion announced the end of the entrance ceremony. It seemed I had woken up here at a really late point, after everything was done, but that was for the best. I couldn't imagine sitting here for longer, I could still smell the dude behind me, yuck.

Slowly the crowd started dispersing, the noise increased. I sat there watching as the people slowly left. This was real, that was the conclusion I had come to. I am really in the game, I have a mission to save the heroines.

It was all too overwhelming and yet it made my heart beat in excitement. I got up from the chair and walked toward the exit behind the small crowd of people left.

When I made it out, my eyes rested on the magnificent academy. It was the size of a small town, filled with numerous buildings, towers and more, the engine house for the great minds of Vermillion.

But I recall, from this great size came many issues. It had enough space for plotting, evil activities and more. I'm sure I'll see a lot of them as the days go by.

I took a deep breath and started walking, silently following the students that were ahead. They would all be headed to the dorms now, and that meant I could find my dorm.

As I walked, I took the time to actually take in the beauty of the academy, the well-paved paths with trimmed bushes beside them. The fancy-looking buildings made of marble and stone, each one evoked a different emotion in me.

I walked for a bit until I got to the place where the dorm buildings sat, Alpha, Beta and Omega. These three buildings were the most obvious show of discrimination that this academy did.

"Tsk." I clicked my tongue as I looked at it. The best would get to go to Alpha Hall, the prestigious hall, that was basically where all the stuck-up and pretentious students who claimed they studied their way there when in reality mummy and daddy paid them into that class.

Now don't get me wrong, there are prodigies there, more prodigies than you'll ever see in the other dorms, but they are also stuck-up. In that dorm, five of the seven heroines are registered. As for the remaining two, they aren't in the academy as of now.

I turned my head to the Beta Hall, and headed that way. I became curious, who could I really be to make it into the second most prestigious hall? It wasn't the first, but I needed some good level of intellect to do that.

Now the old me, sure, I was a genius, but I am not sure about what the new me even has to offer. I walked into the building and quietly searched for room twelve, and after a few minutes of searching, I found it.

I slotted the key into the door, and with a twist I was in. I walked inside and I was stunned by what I saw. I should have seen it coming. From what I recall in the story, first years have to bunk together. I never and still don't understand the reason for such a stupid set up.

I want my freaking privacy, I don't want to have to sleep with some random for a full year.

There was a bunk bed standing at the corner, I stared at it, my heart filled with disdain for it. I took a breath and walked toward it, there was a bag on the lower bunk, made of leather and quite big.

It could be the bag of my roommate, or it could be mine, so I unlocked it and took a look inside. The first thing I saw on top of it was a letter and some folders. I picked the letter and opened it. It was an acceptance letter to me, Leo, and a scholarship plan.

"So that's how I got in, a scholarship, just like on earth." I muttered. I realized that my surname was blurred, I tried to focus, but it refused to show.

[Choose a surname]

I looked at the message on the screen and was utterly confused. I had to choose a surname? What the actual hell was going on?

Something within me kept telling me that there was a surname there, I had a family name, but no matter what, I couldn't make it out, and now the system asked that I choose a second surname?

Something was definitely fishy, about me, about this whole set up and about the character which I had taken.

But regardless, I had to move along, so I had to choose a surname. In my past life, Tallon had been my surname, it reminded me of the fact that I once had a family, no matter how it looked currently.

It held a special place in my heart, it gave me hope for one day having my own family, so it was the perfect surname, the one meant for me.

"My surname will be Tallon, Leo Tallon." I muttered.

[Tallon registered]

Right before my eyes, the blurry name vanished and it was replaced by Tallon.