Retired S-rank father becomes a teacher

Students were walking in the hallway to their classes, chatting with friends but they all scurried aside and made way for one person deep in thought and with a gloomy air. A tightness in Silas’ jaw and his brows furrowed. The students didn’t know what was wrong with their combat teacher, but they didn’t want to get close.

He had first period but instead he made his way to the counselor’s office. A quick knock and he entered. Liz looked up from behind her desk. She was talking on the phone, smiling.

Putting her phone down she stood up and walked around her desk to greet her husband.

“Hi honey,” Liz hugged him, feeling his body rigid. She pulled back and looked at his eyes.

They were glowing purple, spacial mana leaking.

Her heart squeezed.

Silas didn’t speak, just wrapped his arms around Liz tightly. The smell of her vanilla perfume filled his nostrils and he buried his face in his wife’s shoulder.

Few things made him emotional like this, and one was the thought of Berlin dying.

Liz didn’t say anything, she just held him, her hand rubbing circles in his back. After a few minutes, Silas relaxed.

He pulled back slightly, enough to see her beautiful emerald eyes.

“Berlin might not have much time left,” he whispered.

“What?” Liz blinked. “But he’s still strong isn’t he? How do you know? Did the old man say something?” she asked, her hand caressing his cheek.

“He implied it. He talked about his retirement...and he never jokes about stuff like this.” Silas explained, his voice low. It was the truth. Even after all the shit they went through together Berlin wouldn’t joke about something like retiring. He was more stubborn than a mule.

“Oh...I see. Do you want to stay home for today? We can have a relaxing day just the two of us, or the four of us. I’ll get the girls to ditch school,” Liz offered. Anything to make her husband feel better.

But he shook his head, kissing her forehead.

“Thank you, love, but no. I just wanted to see you.” He smiled faintly.

Few people knew what happened back then. Elizabeth was one and Berlin another. One loved him even after all the cruelty, the other respected his resolve and shared the burden of the blood on his hands.

She cupped his face, making sure his eyes were on hers. She saw so much love and pain in those purple eyes. Her heart ached for her husband. A part of her hated herself for not helping him carry those sins back then, but Silas was adamant on doing the dirty work.

“I’m always here for you, remember that.”

He nodded, leaning into her soft palm.

“I love you, Liz. With every fiber of my being,” he murmured, before pulling away from her touch.

She watched him leave, feeling a sense of loss. The door closed behind him. Sighing, she went back to her chair, her head in her hands.

Silas walked down the halls of the Academy again. One breath in through his nose, a deep breath out of his mouth; his mind cleared and the tension in his shoulders eased. He was the strongest man alive and nothing could kill Berlin but himself. The man was too stubborn to just die, right?

It was time for work. The first true combat class. He opened the door to the huge gymnasium that was used for his class. The twenty students of class 1-B were waiting in a formation, wearing their uniforms. Two of them looked particularly adorable, one pouting and another smiling innocently.

His heart swelled at the sight of his girls in uniform. They looked like proper students and not monsters in human skin like him. He cleared his throat, drawing everyone’s attention.

“Good morning everyone, I’m sure you are excited for today’s lesson,” he greeted them, smiling as he usually did.

The students responded with a chorus of “good morning professor Vane” and “we can’t wait”.

Silas walked towards the center of the gym, where a holographic projector was set up. He turned it on with a snap of his fingers and a 3D image appeared.

It was a monster.

The students gasped and leaned in for a closer look, even Kat and Victoria who were standing in the first row. A few students whispered to each other. Four legs, two arms, a long neck with a head that had a beak-like mouth and red eyes. The beast was covered in black scales that shined in the light. It was about two meters tall.

“This is a D-rank monster called a ‘Gore Beak’. Nasty little fuckers. Their main magic type is poison, which makes them hard to deal with, since one hit and you are paralyzed. They are fast and agile. Today we will learn how to kill one, or at least how to defend against it until help arrives...” Silas trailed off and pressed a button. The beast roared and the holographic image turned from still to animated.

Some of the students jumped back yet Vic and Kat didn’t. They were focused; they were his girls after all.

Something didn’t sit right with Silas as he watched the hologram: it moved like the real thing, it sounded like the real thing but it was fake and that was the problem.

He turned off the machine and looked at his class or more precisely at his girls. It wouldn't hurt to prepare them for the real world in the very small chance he wasn't there.

“I changed my mind, we won’t use a hologram today.”

His daughters blinked at him, as the gears started to spin in their heads. He smirked at them.

“Give me one minute. Wait here.” And with a flash of light, he teleported away.

The room was abuzz with chatter. Mina, the class president, stood up. Her blonde twin tails swayed with her motion. She raised her hand to quiet them. Her voice was loud, clear.

“Guys calm down, you know how Professor Vane is, he always does crazy stuff. Just wait and see.”

Victoria looked at Kathy, her smile never wavering as they nodded in unison. They both knew what was coming and the other students could feel the tension; it was like they were in a horror movie.

When Silas reappeared, the class went silent. He stood on the same spot, looking at them, smiling menacingly.

“Okay, who wants to volunteer first?” he announced. A portal opened behind him and the Gore Beak walked out. It snarled, its red eyes scanning the students as it drooled. It was real.

Kathy was the first to raise her hand. Victoria was the second and Mina was the third followed by Lucas. The others didn’t want to go near the beast, which was expected.

Silas shook his head. Why didn’t Lucas raise his hand first; it would be the perfect time for a fortunate accident to happen.

He gestured towards Kathy and her face lit up in a grin. She walked towards her dad who was holding the beast in place with his space magic, it was struggling but it was stuck.

Victoria’s smile was twitching. Kat was stealing her spotlight and she was not happy.

The students were watching the whole thing with a mix of fear and excitement in their eyes. They had never seen a teacher bring an actual dungeon monster to the class.

“Okay kiddo, what is the weak spot?” he asked Kathy as he pointed at the beast who was now snarling at her.

“Under the neck, at the core.” Kathy answered like it was obvious.

“And what is the most effective way to attack it, considering it’s poison attribute?” He continued, testing her knowledge.

Her eyes sparkled, she enjoyed showing off.

“Use mana to counteract the poison mana or a spell with the opposite element, which is wind for poison.” She explained while forming a small ball of space in her hands, making blue and purple light swirl around it.

Silas nodded, satisfied with her reply. Then he stepped back from here.

“On the count of three, I’m going to let him go.”

She nodded, her posture shifting from casual to battle-ready.

“One, two...three.”

With a snap of his fingers the monster roared and lunged at Kat, its beak opening, dripping with toxic liquid. The class collectively held their breath.

Kat dodged its first attack, moving to the side with a quick step, then threw a ball of space mana at its chest. Space countered mana in general. So the beast should have recoiled in pain. Instead, its scales glowed green, forming a poison shield that blocked her spell.

She gasped, “What?”

Victoria frowned. This wasn’t what dad taught. She looked up at him and saw a serious look on his face. He didn’t look surprised at this development, which meant he knew this was going to happen. Was this a test then?

Silas didn’t say anything. He simply observed. The Gore Beak charged at Kathy again.

She reacted fast, using another spell to try to pierce through the scales but again the poison shield absorbed most of the impact. She gritted her teeth. This was not fair. It was like it nullified her space magic, the strongest magic. She jumped back, trying to create a distance between herself and the beast.

It didn’t matter, the beast was faster than her even on the gymnasium floor. Its claws slashed at her arm, barely missing but the poison droplets splashed on her skin. A burning sensation spread through her veins.

Her legs locked, her arms froze as the paralysis set in. She fell to the ground, unable to move anything but her eyes turned to her dad. Why didn’t he intervene?

The beast loomed over her, its beak opening wide. She was a goner. A part of her felt scared; a stronger part felt disappointed. Her first real fight, and she lost.

She closed her eyes, waiting for her dad to step in and explain her failure like a lesson. The beak never touched her. Opening her eyes she saw the beast back in the space cage and her dad standing next to her. She tried to speak but her lips wouldn’t move.

Silas knelt beside her and whispered in her ear so only she could hear him.

“Your mistake was to think you were stronger than it because you have space magic.” He then touched her forehead with two of his fingers.

A soothing energy flowed through her and she shuddered in relief as the poison was removed from her system and her limbs could move again.

She glared at him as she stood up on shaky legs but didn’t speak.

“Can anyone tell me why Kathy failed?” Silas stood, his hands behind his back.

Lucas raised his hand.

Not this idiot, he thought.

But there were no other hands and it would be pointless to ignore him.

Silas pointed at him, indicating to go ahead.

“We have E-rank mana, it is not strong enough compared to this monster’s D-rank mana. So it makes sense for her to lose in mana vs mana,” Lucas explained with a smug look.

Some of the students nodded along.

Kat clicked her tongue.

“Correct. Mana ranks are important, the bigger the gap the more you will have to compensate with strategy,” Silas added. “And sometimes you have to run away. If you can’t run, you die. Simple as that. Not even space magic breaks that law.”

He looked at Kathy, who pouted again.

“Understand, my dear daughter?”

She huffed. He was being extra embarrassing today.

“Yeah I get it dad. You can call Vic now to embarrass her instead.”

Chuckling Silas turned on the class and smiled at Victoria who was fidgeting with her fingers.

“Your turn my little princess.”

Victoria turned red at being called that and glared at her sister who stuck her tongue out at her. She ultimately got paralyzed to as did every other student that tried. Almost everyone, Mina managed to use water magic in a creative way to make the poison ineffective. Yet she still lost because the beak almost bit her head off.

The students were sweaty and they went to their locker room to change. Silas was watching her girls through a spatial hole in the wall: Victoria’s bra strap falling from her shoulder, Kat’s butt covered in tight white panties. He smiled.

They were cute even when they were upset with him but they needed to learn that spatial magic wasn’t a free pass.

He closed the rift and leaned against the gymnasium wall. His attention drifted to another spatial rift that he kept open for a specific person. Henry Smith was not in the academy. No he was going to a dungeon in the middle of the day, with a box of glasses in his hands.

Silas sighed as he watched him, the man was driving to a dungeon outside the city. What the hell was Henry playing at? Why was he going to a dungeon with those magic items?

Unfortunately he was forced to go after him and leave the girls for a bit.

With one last look at the locker where his treasures were dressing, he disappeared.