They understood immediately. The Ventias family was the natural counter of both.
"And one more thing. Sai Lucius. Viona Ge Lef. Lukas Gremory. Were your families not among those who once tried to destroy Ventias during the Great War? Unfortunately for them, the ancestors of Ventias slaughtered every last one and left only a single survivor from each bloodline."
"Ugh..."
The words struck deep. Ard had spoken a historical fact as though it were nothing more than a footnote, and in doing so, carved it directly into their faces.
"Alright. If no one else has anything to say, let us begin the lesson—"
"Duke Ventias and the Duchess are genuine idiots for raising humanity's greatest enemy. They are dumber than goblins and filthier than the slums in the North. You are lucky they found you, Senior Ard. If they had not, you would have already been eaten alive by wandering orcs."
The voice came from the very back of the room. A girl sat with one hand propped against her cheek, her eyes fixed on the window rather than on anything inside the classroom.
Ard went still.
Then his eyes slowly turned toward her.
"You are right. I truly am fortunate that they found me and raised me as their own. I understand that better than anyone. That is exactly why I love them the way I would love my own family, even though we do not share the same blood."
The blood-red aura erupted from his body without warning.
It burst outward like a blaze with Ard at its center. The students' eyes went wide. The air turned heavy, as though oxygen itself had decided to stop cooperating. The pressure moved like a thousand needles pressing into skin all at once, slow and without mercy.
"You truly dared to say something like that, my former junior, Claire Winterfail?!"
Ard's pupils narrowed into vertical slits. His expression did not change. His hair rose and floated in the force of his own aura.
Behind him, a massive eye appeared, bearing the same terrible pupil as his own.
Several students fainted on the spot. Others coughed blood from the overwhelming force pressing down on their bodies.
And that was how everything had come to be this way.
We return to the present.
"Have you forgotten what happened several years ago? Have worms eaten through your brain? Or have your cells simply rotted away?"
'Ugh!!!... Can someone really carry pressure like this besides the Headmaster herself? Who is he, really? Was Senior Ard always this strong? Back then he was nowhere near this monstrous. With power like this, handling several professors at once would not even be a challenge for him. Even back then, he already crippled one.'
Those thoughts belonged to the quietest and strongest girl in the class. Known for her freezing aura and albino appearance, she had earned the nickname Frost Lady.
Her name was Claire Winterfail.
"We are all going to die!"
Just as despair settled over the room, a calm voice cut through from the entrance.
"Professor Ard."
Ard turned toward it.
Standing at the door was a beautiful woman with silver-gray hair. Her clothes were fitted and slightly open at the collar, the lines of her figure unmistakable even at a glance.
She was the Headmaster of Aetherion Academy, Elisha.
The moment Ard saw her, the blood-red aura vanished completely. The students who had been drowning in it gasped and dragged air back into their lungs.
Elisha smiled gently toward Ard, who remained standing in place without expression. She walked closer with quiet grace, glancing briefly at the students still trying to recover.
"Professor Ard. Your class is rather intense."
The words sounded like praise for rigorous teaching methods. They were not. Her meaning was clear enough.
'Do not be too hard on them'
Ard understood perfectly. He gave no direct answer. He clicked his tongue once, then turned back to the class.
"I know all of you are proud. Proud of your strength, your talent, your families, and the support behind you. But remember this. There is always someone above you. No matter how talented or powerful you believe yourselves to be, in my eyes, every single one of you is nothing more than a pest I could wipe out without effort."
"Wow. That is quite cruel, Professor Ard."
"Headmaster—"
"Call me Sister."
"That is embarrassing."
"It is fine. We are practically relatives anyway."
"You should maintain some dignity."
"But I want you to call me Sister."
"Come on, Headmaster. I was already exhausted just from coming back to this academy. All I wanted was to relax at my estate and waste my days in peace. And you dragged me back here and made me the professor of a class full of weak idiots."
"Oh? Then why do you call them weak? They are among the best students in Class A."
"And? Together, they could not even endure five percent of my pressure."
The students who were still catching their breath froze.
Five percent?
Elisha only laughed softly, covering her mouth with one hand.
"They are students and you are a professor. That much is only natural, is it not?"
"True. But even within Class A, they are the lowest. What exactly is there to be proud of? The fact that they belong to Class A? I can tolerate the others, but not Claire. She was once my junior, yet she has stayed in the same Class A rank for five years running. Even if she is the strongest among them, does she feel no shame carrying the Winterfail name?"
Claire's fists clenched. Anger and something quieter behind it mixed together in her chest. She lowered her head because she knew he was right, and hated that she knew it.
"You truly are cruel, Professor Ard," Elisha said softly.
"Cruel? This class cannot advance to the next level because the students are complacent and rely entirely on talent and family backing. And what does that get them? They cannot even use those talents properly. Truly pitiful."
Claire stood abruptly, glaring at Ard with visible anger. It was the kind of expression rarely seen on her face.
"What would you know?! We work hard to become stronger! We train every single day! We bleed for it with our own effort! You cannot say things like that so easily!"
"Weak people remain weak. Do you honestly think training like that is enough to make you strong? Even combined with talent, your arrogance still outweighs your actual ability by a wide margin."
"What?"
"You are frogs in a well. You gain a little strength and immediately start believing you are superior. So then tell me. Why can none of you advance?"
"I-it is because..."
Claire's voice dropped. It trembled slightly.
"Knowing your place matters. Here is my advice to all of you. Throw away your family names. At this rate, those names will only become stains on the households that gave them to you."
Silence settled over the room.
Everyone understood. Because somewhere deep down, they had all already thought the same thing. They had simply refused to accept it.
A moment passed. Then Claire's voice came, quieter than before, and cracked at the edges.
"I hate you."
She ran from the classroom. The others stayed frozen in their seats.
"They envy the strength of others so deeply that they cannot see their own. Born into powerful families, spoiled their entire lives, they arrived here with nothing but pride and a name. Pitiful children."
The class ended shortly after.
Ard and Elisha left the classroom together.
* * *