"Guess no one is worried anymore. Though, the lady earlier said something about us dying in a first trial," the observant one, Mira, couldn't help but ruin the moment. "What does she mean by trial?"
Before Max had any chance to explain what the trials were, the nurse from earlier interrupted them.
Passing on the information that the academy's council wanted to see him immediately.
Max knew it had to do with his students. After all, Katrina was purely evil, so taking the matter to the council wouldn't be surprising.
"Before I arrive, I'll send someone to pick you up, get clothes from the mall, and he'll take you straight to the academy," was all Max said before leaving the students.
Outside the hospital, a black car was already waiting to pick him up. When Gus saw the brand of the car, he was shocked.
"I thought Professor Max barely fit into our world—the twist is so incredible," he said with an awed expression.
---
On a round metallic table that had a map covering its full surface, six heads could be counted; all except one were human, which was the lady among them.
An elf, a skeleton king, a red demon humanoid with a tail, the banished orc king, and a mage whose face was nothing but spiraling darkness. The round table of the ten highest holy councils.
"I wonder how heaven made such a mistake," the elf said.
"Hmm, it is really troubling having him around again," the mage paused. "Isn't he a psychopath, though?" he asked.
Due to Max's post-traumatic stress disorder, a mental health condition related to the trauma caused by the death of his friends.
He had turned into a suicidal psychopath, barely able to tell good from bad, and all he cared about was total revenge.
Having someone like that again is indeed troubling.
"Hmm... he's coming," the elf king growled.
Speaking of the devil—so soon, Max's suffocating presence swept across the room.
When he walked in, he saw Katrina standing beside the door. As expected, this was her doing.
He also noticed the council wasn't a bit happy to see him—not a single one of them.
"If I'm not welcomed here, you shouldn't have bothered inviting me," Max said, faking a smile.
"You've grown taller—a fine man now," the skeleton king said, surprised, just like the rest of them.
"Why did you bring my students to your cursed world?" he asked, immediately setting an unfriendly atmosphere.
Silence reigned for a moment among them, until the only human among the council spoke—the goddess of karma.
"We aren't responsible for summoning heroes; heaven does as it pleases."
Max didn't even glance at her; each and every one of them here disgusted him.
Standing here right now, he was holding himself back from killing them all. The hatred he had for them was vast.
"You're here because Katrina said something about you refusing to let go of the current heroes?" the orc king asked.
When the matter had to do with his students, he looked the demon orc straight in the eye. "Is there a problem with that?" Max asked, a facade that revealed only a drop of emotion.
"You realize the instructor is responsible for the lives of the students? If anything should happen to them in the trials, the instructor could be killed. Are you sure you want to be their instructor?" the elf king asked.
"And if Katrina becomes the instructor, if anything should happen to even one of my students, the instructor's life wouldn't be the only thing at stake. I'd make sure I flatten your entire ecosystem."
A threat for a threat. However, it seemed Max's words hit harder, because the council members wordlessly stared at each other.
The skeleton king sighed. He glanced at his daughter, Katrina. Sadly, he couldn't help her now.
"Fine," he said. "You can be their instructor as you like, but do—"
Max heard what he needed and didn't bother letting the skeleton king finish his statement before he turned to leave.
---
As instructed by Max, the students were taken to their new classroom; there wasn't much difference from the one in their world.
Flash sat at the desk beside the window, observing the red sky.
When he tried to find the sun, he couldn't—because there wasn't one.
Meanwhile, the rest of the class gathered around Mira; she seemed to have managed to smuggle a newspaper from outside.
Fortunately for them, it explained several things about what a trial was.
This world was infested with demons who obeyed one rule: all humans must die.
Heaven is the overseer of the trials. It has been discovered that mainly those aged 15–20 were frequently summoned to undergo them.
These trials were actually missions given to them by heaven. The reason it summoned others to this world was because summoners had frequently proven to evolve with every trial; they grew stronger.
When a trial begins, they would receive a system notification that would also transport them to the location of the trial.
A given time to complete a given mission.
The final trial was to destroy the final boss, the black dragon king.
He came off as an easy target, but Max had barely stood a chance against the boss.
Soon after, they didn't see the professor walk into the class—they all felt it.
And judging by how they looked at each other... "You also felt it?" Gus asked Flash, who was beside the window.
Then suddenly, as if they had predicted the professor's arrival, Max walked into the classroom.
"That was called aura," he said as he entered. "In time, I'll teach you how to give off an aura capable of suffocating a foe," Max added.
"Tsk, that was just a random feeling," Flash said, deeply doubting what he heard. "We get that feeling a lot when a teacher is coming back in our world."
Max sighed; Flash had to keep making things difficult for him. After telling them to sit down, he stood in front of the classroom.
"Fine, why doesn't someone try to give me a handshake?" Max said.
At first, they all kept to themselves. However, even though Gus did believe the professor, he stood up, wanting to experience how it felt.
Gus walked up to the professor, but the moment he was a step away, he paused.
His breath stiffened as if he were pushing a huge block without his lungs. He tried taking a step forward, but his body didn't obey.
Gus began shaking. Though oxygen flowed through the class, the way he perspired made it feel as if he was in hell.
When he couldn't take it anymore, he fell on one knee, gritting his teeth. He could only say one word, barely audible.
"Hel-help."