207 Chapter 207: Seraph of the End

Shun Yun glanced around the office nervously, trying not to fall off the huge velvet chair that was placed in front of the principal's desk. He felt small and out of place inside the huge office with portraits of preceding principals and directors looming over him, casting their fierce and intimidating gazes over his relatively small form.

He could swear they were alive, that one of the principals actually moved inside his frame, his lips curled into a sneer. An ancestor of the Porter family, no doubt. Probably finding it distasteful that an outsider of common birth was allowed within the sacred space of his office.

"Relax."

Opposed to the disapproving glares of his predecessors, Henry Porter was smiling cheerfully as he settled down behind his desk. He pushed a cup forward.

"Coffee? Tea?"

"No thank you," Shun Yin declined politely with a shake of his head. He was too nervous to drink anything. Clearing his throat, he tried not to look around – heaven forbid that he would establish eye contact with the harsh gazes of the past principals and directors. "Um, you said you had something you wish to speak with me, sir?"

"That is correct." Henry Porter waved a hand and called forth a holographic screen. "I've seen your records and I must say, I'm very impressed. I didn't need to do a lot of convincing for the board to accept your admission. You more than proved yourself capable."

"T…thank you, sir." Shun Yin stammered, but he looked bewildered. "Convincing, sir?"

"Oh…you know how this school is. I've been trying to change things over the last three years when I'm in charge, but it's hard. The conservatives on the board…they want to keep the school as it is. They fear that my encouragement of non-combat students and support students would dilute the prestige and strength of the academy." Henry made a face. "Anyone who isn't from the Porter family or any of its affiliated or subordinate clans is automatically excluded."

Shun Yin nodded. He had heard about this, and was aware that he only succeeded in enrolling in Vermillion High because of the new principal and the implementation of his new programs. That was why he was grateful and highly respected him.

"I'm glad you made it easier for all of us to get in."

"Oh, that's the thing, you see. Even though it required quite some work, I was relatively successful in bringing 'outside' or 'common' students in. The thing is…the influx of new students not from the Porter Clan or any of its affiliates was largely limited to the support and non-combat streams. I managed to persuade the board that we couldn't just focus on combat alone – without weapons, research and innovative spells, the combat personnel weren't going to last very long on the battlefield."

Henry Porter steepled his fingers and smiled.

"But you…you're different. You're one of the rare 'outside' students who managed to get into this school's combat stream on your own merits. I was prepared to argue your case, to persuade the board to make an exception. Your fire spells in particular are on par with Mike's when he was your age. I saw a lot of potential in you, and was really glad that you chose to apply here."

"…Mike?" Shun Yin's brow furrowed at the unfamiliar name. Henry chuckled.

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"Oh, sorry. I mean my nephew, Michael Porter. I'm sure you know him. He mentioned you to me before. It's why I knew about you when I saw your application."

That was right. They were all Porters here. It was only natural that Michael was related somehow to Henry.

"That said, I was surprised when they all agreed to pass your application." Henry Porter chuckled again as he leaned back in his seat. "Either Mike pulled some strings or they were sufficiently impressed with what they saw."

Shun Yin lowered his head humbly. "I believe Michael helped me a lot."

"Make no mistake, Mike has high expectations of you. I also regard you highly." Henry was nodding in approval. "We know you won't disappoint us."

"I will do my best, sir." On one hand, Shun Yin felt crushed by the weight of their expectations, but on the other, he didn't really mind. He was aiming to be a hero, an ally of justice. Of course people would have expectations of him. If he couldn't handle this much, how would he be able to handle the weight of the world upon his shoulders? How would he be able to save anybody if he couldn't do anything as simple as meet people's expectations?

"Very good." Henry rewarded him with a grin. "Now, to the heart of the matter. I asked you to come to my office today because I wanted to discuss something with you." he leaned closer with a foreboding smile. "Have you heard of the Seraph of the End?"

"It's a manga series," Shun Yin replied automatically. "A post-apocalyptic manga series about vampires and the Japanese imperial army. It has an anime adaptation and a light novel spin-off focusing on Ichinose Guren when he was sixteen years old." He cocked his head to the side. "Hell, this whole flashback arc is based off that sixteen-year-old Guren spin-off."

Henry grimaced. "Keep that up and your adopted son in the future will start breaking the fourth wall as well."

"I intend to teach any child of mine the art of breaking the fourth wall. We descend from the lineage of the legendary Wade Wilson."

"…right." Henry winced. "Anyway, back to the topic. The Seraph of the End is a new project that we are working on right now. There are students in both the high school and university research divisions working together to find ways to improve summoning magic."

"Summoning magic?" Shun Yin's brow furrowed. He had heard about summoning magic, but mages rarely learned or used it because of how impractical it was. Even though the payoff was tremendous, the long casting time made it untenable in actual combat unless the summoner was supported by other mages. Those Soul Beasts that only required short casting time were too weak to make much of a difference in combat, and the powerful ones that truly mattered often took too long to cast and summon.

Consequently most mages rarely bothered with summoning magic. There were a few eccentric mages who tried to get it to work, but they were far and few in between. With the current demand for very powerful individual mages who could win tournaments and climb to the top rankings, most people – both students and teachers – dismissed summoning magic as highly impractical and not worth the time.

Henry was aware of the stigma against summoning magic, or so it seemed, because he smiled when he caught sight of Shun Yin's bewildered expression.

"Here at Vermillion High and Vermillion University, we aim to make the impossible possible. At least the research divisions anyway." Henry laughed sheepishly. "Cheesy slogans aside, my research students have been researching on ways to improve summoning magic. They are considering entirely brand new forms of summoning magic that's completely different from the existing one…a new type of summoning magic that allows the caster to summon a spirit immediately. That's right. Spirits." He nodded when Shun Yin's jaw dropped. "Instead of having the summoner create his or her Soul Beast through imagination and manifesting it with his or her mana, we will have the summoner establish a contact with an already existing spirit."

"Spirit? Is that some kind of monster?" Shun Yin sounded uncertain as he probed for more details. This sounded intriguing, but he couldn't help feeling some sort of premonition. It sounded too good to be true. Furthermore, he hadn't heard of these spirits before. If they were a type of monster, then that itself presented another set of problems. "But I heard that monsters are untamable. They can't be controlled…any mage who tries ends up being corrupted and dying horribly, killed by the beasts they tried to control."

"Oh, no…spirits are different from the monsters that appear in our world through Emergence events," Henry assured him. Turning his holographic screen around, he put on an image display of several different worlds. "You are aware that these monsters come from another dimension, right? One that exists on a different spatial plane from ours."

Shun Yin nodded. Henry's grin grew wider.

"That had us thinking. What if there are other dimensions? After all, if there exists one alternate dimension where the monsters come from, there has to be other dimensions, right? Other planes of existence. And the beings that dwell within those dimensions might not be as malign as the monsters from the dimension that is currently trying to encroach upon ours."

"I see. So these spirits are from another dimension?"

"That's right!" Henry was nodding enthusiastically. "We aren't sure yet, but we believe we have located a second alternate dimension that exists on yet another separate plane from both ours and the monster's dimension. It appears, from preliminary reports, they are…angelic beings. Seraphs, like I said. Hence the title of the project." The principal's excitement grew. "If we succeed, this could mean the end of the monsters! Combining our powers with the strength of angels…we might finally obtain the power to exterminate them completely and drive them from our world!"

Hence Seraph of the End. Shun Yin finally understood the meaning behind the name.

"The problem, of course, is that we still haven't found a way to establish a path to that other dimension. There are risks and dangers, of course, but we are trying to find a way to safely trigger an Emergence event for these spirits to cross over to our dimension. We haven't even discovered a method to communicate with them, so there might be…issues…if they turn out to be hostile, we might just have doomed our own dimension instead of saving it."

"But it's a risk you're willing to take."

"Indeed." Henry nodded. "And if you don't mind, I would like you to partake in this as well. The project is still in its infancy, and we'll probably require more funding and resources, but if it succeeds, then it will revolutionize magic…it will bring about great changes in the world. No longer would we be on the defensive. With an army of spirit summoners, we'll be able to wipe out all monsters from our dimension and save the world!"

That last sentence in particular appealed to Shun Yin. Save the world. Wasn't that what he had always been dreaming of? To be a hero who could save the world?

"I will help as best as I can," he promised without hesitation. Henry brightened up and stood up, bending across his desk to clasp Shun Yin's hand.

"Thank you very much, young man. I really appreciate it." he dropped back onto his seat, looking both relieved and delighted. "I'll introduce you to the research students tomorrow or so…when they resume their project." He offered a sheepish smile. "As you know, today is the entrance ceremony for new students, so they most likely wouldn't be in school now."

"I understand. I look forward to meeting them." Shun Yin couldn't even begin to imagine what sort of people they would be. "I assume they're not from the Porter family?"

"They are not," Henry affirmed. "They are like you…students from so-called common families." He made a face. "I hate that term. Common. As if there's something wrong with being a commoner. Or as if you're entitled to respect and adoration just because you're born in a family of high status. It's ridiculous, if you ask me. People should be judged on results, not which family they are born to."

He then paused and lowered his head.

"On that note, I should apologize to you about the behavior of my son."

"Huh? Your son?"

Shun Yin was caught off guard by the sudden apology. Henry looked a little embarrassed as he nodded.

"Yeah. He gave you quite the uh…shocking welcome. Don't mind him. It's my fault for not educating him firmly enough. He gets spoiled by his mother quite a bit…she thinks that the Porter bloodline is superior to any other lineage outside the ten great families, and Glen was brought up believing that. I'm doing my best to change his mentality and attitude toward other people, but as a parent I have failed terribly."

"Not at all, sir. He seems…strong."

Shun Yin remembered the handsome blond guy who attacked him from the entrance to the main hall, using a lightning spell. Then another question occurred to him.

"…eh? But your son…he uses lightning magic instead of fire magic? Even though he's from the Porter clan?"

"Ah…Glen is a bit…proud." Henry scratched his head. "Simply put…it's because of family politics. Already in the Porter clan, we have Mike and Angie being geniuses in fire magic. With those two around, the Porter family is sure to rise to prominence. No one can beat them in fire magic. As such…Glen decided to give up on competing against them and instead he carved out his own niche in lightning magic. He wishes to stand out among the Porter family in his own way, rather than always being one step behind the others."

"…I see." Shun Yin could only nod, astonished by what he was hearing. So even that arrogant blond handsome guy had his own troubles. That was unexpected.

"Honestly, though, his magic is topnotch. He shouldn't belittle himself too much. I believe that he can reach the same level as Mike and Angie if he believes in himself. That said, I am proud as a father of what he has achieved with lightning magic. He has surpassed my expectations and perhaps even made the right choice in refusing to follow the footsteps of other Porter mages and choosing lightning as his element." Henry chuckled as he gazed into the distance. "Instead of dictating what our kids or successors should learn, we should leave it entirely up to them. They will innovate new creative ways of developing and casting magic. And that's exactly what I want to see."

He lowered his voice to a mischievous whisper.

"His mother isn't very happy about it, though. But personally I think he should just learn whatever magic he wants. It's not as if we're in a manga called Fire Force or something."

"…right."

"Anyway, I shouldn't take up too much of your time." Henry rose to slap Shun Yin's shoulder. "I'll see you tomorrow…and once again, thank you for agreeing to participate in the project. You are a very promising student, and I'm sure you'll contribute greatly to our dreams of bringing the spirits to our world safely to help us in our war against monsters."

"I'll do my best." Shun Yin bowed his head as he also stood up. This whole thing still sounded a bit too good to be true, but he decided to give it a shot.

After all, what was the worst that could happen?