We bolted down the rest of the grand hallway, the girls and I moving quickly to leave the chaotic canteen sector entirely behind us. Our priority now was to get back to the residential dorms as fast as possible to change.
The final match against the fourth-year, Yellow Volcano, was still scheduled for this afternoon. If I walked out into that magical arena looking like a walking crime scene, I'd be the absolute laughing stock of the entire academy.
"The legendary freshman prodigy, defeated by a laundry mishap...yeah, I wasn't going to let that be my legacy."
As for Aisha, Amelia, and Cindy, they were still thoroughly displeased. They kept pulling at the damp, crimson-stained fabric of their marvelous ivory uniforms, throwing me continuous pouty, annoyed glares as we hurried across the courtyard.
"You owe us a major favor after this, Zenni, this is going to take forever to wash out!" Amelia huffed, holding her ruined sleeves away from her skin.
"I just hope the stain doesn't stick permanently," Aisha mumbled, her usual cheerful attitude completely deflated by the sticky texture of my blood.
I just chuckled nervously, gripping the handle of my black umbrella tightly to maintain my carefree persona.
"Hey, I saved us from a giant slime arrow, remember? Think of it as a tactical fashion statement."
Just as we reached the crossroads leading to the separate male and female dorm buildings, a group of freshman boys rounded the corner. Leading the pack was "Garret", the metal manipulator who had been crushed by Zero-G last month.
The moment Garret and the other boys locked eyes with us, they froze dead in their tracks, their jaws dropping in absolute, horrified shock. To them, it looked like we had just escaped a literal massacre. The three most popular freshman girls were completely drenched in dark, wet crimson from head to toe.
"What the hell happened?! Zenni! Did Yellow Volcano attack you guys early?! Who did this to them?!" Garret gasped, his eyes darting frantically from the blood-stained girls to the smeared handprints on my own uniform.
Before I could even open my mouth to fabricate a believable, low-stakes story, the girls took the lead. Still completely annoyed by their ruined outfits, they stepped forward and practically competed to explain the chaos for me, with Amelia and Aisha tightly hugging my arms as they spoke to emphasize just how dramatic the ordeal had been.
"Well, that awful Sperm guy threatened us right in front of Zenni! So the brave second-year who joined our table, Zero-G, brutally beat him right then and there!" Amelia explained with a fierce huff, squeezing my arm closer.
Aisha chimed in next, shifting her weight and playfully holding the handle of my black umbrella for me to block the blinding midday sun.
"Then a total fight broke out in the canteen! We tried to escape, and our beloved knight over here casted a blood bubble around us, protecting us from these gross slime arrows. But it didn't exactly go as planned... the bubble popped right at the end and left our uniforms completely stained in his blood!"
Cindy added the finishing touch, nodding solemnly to the group of stunned freshman boys.
"And then the Principal arrived just in time, and Zenni begged her to stop them before anyone else got hurt."
Garret and the other freshman boys stood there, completely wide-eyed, processing the sheer absurdity of the story. They looked at the girls' blood-drenched uniforms, then at me...the beloved knight who was currently being hand-held and coddled by the three prettiest girls in our year, despite having just accidentally exploded a blood shield all over them.
"Wait… So you guys survived an upperclassman war, Zero-G fought for you, Zenni saved you with a giant blood balloon, and now you're just mad about the laundry?" Garret blinked, scratching his head, his face a mix of profound jealousy and total confusion.
"Of course we're mad! Look at this stain!" Aisha pouted, gesturing to her skirt.
I just let out a lazy, thoroughly amused chuckle, gently taking my umbrella back from Aisha's hands.
"Alright, alright, you heard them, boys. We're on a tight schedule. The final match is this afternoon, and none of us can go back into that coliseum looking like a horror movie set."
I gave Garret a friendly tap on the shoulder as I started walking past them toward the boys' dormitory line.
"Go get some seats in the arena early, guys. I need to wash up, change into a fresh uniform, and get ready to put out a certain Yellow Volcano."
The girls gave one last round of annoyed pouts before turning on their heels, rushing toward the female dormitories to tackle their laundry disaster. I turned away, snapping my black umbrella shut as I slipped inside the boys' residential building.
I navigated the quiet hallways and headed straight to my assigned room, C-1. The moment I stepped inside, I locked the door behind me and immediately marched over to the windows, pulling the heavy curtains completely shut. The room plunged into a dim, secure shadow...the perfect environment for a hunter.
Hoping to find a spare academy outfit, I scrambled through the wooden dresser drawers, pulling them open one by one. Nothing. Not a single clean uniform was in sight.
"Great. A prestigious academy, and they only issue one set of clothes," I muttered, shaking my head.
But I didn't panic. Now that I was completely alone behind locked doors, I didn't need to pretend to be a mediocre, struggling freshman anymore. I could utilize my true, high-level capabilities without a single soul watching.
I closed my eyes and focused my mana, tapping into the deep reservoir of my blood manipulation. I didn't just cast a basic spell, I commanded the fluid with absolute, molecular precision. Extending my hands over my own body, I willed the dark, dried crimson stains on my uniform to lift.
Instantly, every single droplet of blood embedded in the ivory and gold fabric began to liquefy, floating off the threads like a reverse rainstorm. The crimson fluid condensed into a perfectly controlled sphere hovering between my palms. With a casual flick of my wrist, I dispelled the floating blood, sending it safely down the drain of the room's small washbasin.
I walked over to the full-length mirror mounted on the wall to inspect the results.
When I looked into the glass, I saw absolutely nothing. The space where my body should have been was completely empty. My lack of a physical reflection...the permanent, ghostly byproduct of the fifth evolution nature...was still fully present, even while occupying Zenni's physical vessel. To the rest of the world, Zenni was a living, breathing boy. But to a mirror? I was a ghost.
Still, by looking down at my own chest and running my hands over the fabric, I could easily tell that the high-level spell had worked flawlessly. The uniform was completely spotless, smelling faintly of clean linen, looking as crisp and brand new as the day it was tailored.
I took a slow, deep breath, letting the heavy, suffocating aura of the Phantom settle back down beneath my skin, masking it once more behind Zenni's lazy, carefree baseline.
"Perfect, the clothes are clean, the Council is hunting a scapegoat, and the stadium is waiting. Time to go put on a show for the Archivist."