And as you saw on the introduction, this will be settled on an AU. I will not spoil anything about it since I want to allow you to discover it :3

For now, this fanfiction will be rated T so more people can see it. But the rating will go up in future chapters due to "violence, adult themes and questionable affairs". I should also mention that there will be NSFW and yuri relationships.

Like in my last fanfiction, I want to thank Justforfum for his great help in proofreading and fixing the text. "You're a big help 3"

I also wish to thank Fi-San for allowing me to use his marvelous drawings as front Page. I encourage all of you to check out his pixiv or patron to see more of his works. Be aware of NSFW however.

Without farther ado I present you "Empress Academy"

Another day with a deep blue sky. Silence and quietness accompanied the clouds on their way to the higher mountains. A silence that was fast interrupted by the sound of two engines burning fuel. A sky ship soared overhead with two big engines attached to its lower stern. The ship had three rows of small rounded windows along it's sides and a glass cupule on top. There were four helix propellers around the cupule, pointing up to keep the ship stable. It was painted black and bore the blue and white Hamel flag.

Somewhere between the center of the windows second row, there was a young blonde boy, looking excited through said window. He was getting so impatient he left his seat and headed to the glass cupule.

The top of the sky ship was built to accommodate several passengers: there was a table with refreshments and also a set of binoculars hanging around. The only thing that could be seen from there however, was the Altera floating island.

It was the ship's destination. The island floated in the air as if it were on the ocean. A huge city rested upon its plateau. All of its buildings were mostly grey in color from the distance, the only ones that stood out were the "Nasod Palace" and the "Sky ship dock". The Nasod Palace was an immense building composed of three black towers. Two thin towers erected around a central spire which stood at twice the other's height. They were taller than Lanox's volcano, and topped with antenna arrays that flashed aerial warning lights for all incoming sky ships. It was quite the sight.

The Sky ship dock on the other hand was a huge hangar. A set of piers extended from the bottom of it. The docks were organized in a fashion that allowed the larger ships to dock at the bottom and progressively smaller ones towards the top. Each floor had two piers, forming a "U" shape were all ships moored.

"Incredible, so this is the Altera city…" The young boy said breathlessly.

"It's even better once you're in inside, Chung." A man in a black suit said.

Chung looked at him in disbelief. Even better? It looked impossible. The man went back into the ship inner chambers after taking a stretch. Chung stopped his sightseeing to look at his own reflection on the glass cupule. He was wearing a uniform. A black blazer with a red stripe on the neck and the flaps, showing the academy crest on the hearth pocket: A rose twisting around a sword with the name "Empress Academy" under it. Matched with a pair of navy trousers. The academy didn't imposed any rule over shoes, so Chung wore black leather shoes. He thought the uniform was a little gloomy, even with the red stripe adorning it, but he also heard it wasn't actually mandatory to wear it, so he didn't mind.

"Attention. All passengers must return to their seats for landing," a voice announced through megaphone.

Chung quickly left the deck and made his way back to his seat. Like everyone else, he buckled his security belt and watched the landing maneuver from the window. The ship was already near the border of Altera Island. The two big engines on the stern shut down, letting the sky ship glide for a while, descending, and adjusting its elevation. The main engines rotated then, pointing now to the opposite direction. The engines started, making small but strong combustions that slow decelerated the ship as it approached the dock. Chung saw the huge walls of the hangar cover both sides of the pier. They were landing on one of the highest floors of the whole building. Finally a last combustion stopped the ship.

"We have successfully landed on Altera Island, Anchor district. Passengers may now disembark. We remind all passengers currently heading to Besma to please remain on the sky ship."

The megaphone announcement was cut by the noise the passengers made while getting off. Chung managed to take his luggage, a medium bag and a large cylinder one; and headed out. The black suited man followed him.

"Alright young prince: we are here. From now on you're on your own. I'll take the next sky ship back to Hamel. I wish you the best of luck and bid you farewell."

Chung bowed to say goodbye as the man left to head to another pier. He turned around, alone now, and made his way along the multitude of people who had disembarked the same ship as him. He was surprised by the roar of another sky ship. It was clearly the same model as the one he boarded, but this was even larger. Three more rows of windows and five meters longer. Painted red, the ship docked right next to Hamel's. The flag from Belder marked its origin. Passengers got off, making the dock even more crowded. Chung tried his best not to lose his luggage at the same time he headed to the nearest elevator.

It was quite complicated, but the machine was able to bring him to the first floor of the hangar. He then rushed to the railing and looked down. There was something he really wanted to see. A huge ship, as big as the whole dock containing it. It was moored on the lowest level. It was completely grey, and unlike any other sky ship, this one boasted huge guns on top.

"Its length is 250 meters, the main guns are 57cm high caliber guns, thousands of secondary armaments lay beneath its 300mm thick steel armor. It's the result of the cooperation between Hamel naval enginery and Altera industry: the super dreadnought class battleship Elrios's Wrath!" Chung said out loud in excitement.

The warships was the Nasod Navy's flagship. It was usually on the press. It achieved the impressive amount of 27 victories against the demon navy.

"Ha ha ha! I see you like that kind of stuff, young boy" A voice shouted right next to Chung.

He looked at the person talking to him. He was wearing a similar outfit than his, but with some differences. The stripe on the neck and flap was white, and there were another stripe on the blazer's cuffs. The blazer also had a golden chain that rounded the right shoulder and locked onto a lion head shaped adornment. Chung quickly recognized it as the academy's teachers outfit. And more importantly, he recognized that teacher.

"Principal Penensio!" Chung said bowing to him.

"Save the formalities for the entrance ceremony, mister" Penensio said, pointing behind him.

Chung looked over the principal to see a group of uniformed students lining up. A bus was waiting to be filled, presumably heading to Empress Academy. Chung thanked the principal and got in line. He looked at all other students. There were a bunch of boys and girls with extremely pale skin and colored gems on their foreheads or chests. Some of them carried little drones or floating machines with them. Chung also saw a group of girls from Hamel, he recognized them from his last school.

"Are you a transfer student as well?"

A tall girl wearing the student uniform asked Chung the moment she placed herself in line next to him. The girl's uniform was similar except for the navy trousers were a black skirt that also had the red stripe on the bottom end.

"Ah, yes. My name is Chung, nice to meet you" Chung said, bowing.

"I am Ara Haan, it is a pleasure." Ara answered with her own bow.

A person from the bus started roll call. Chung heard his and headed inside. Ara was unfortunately called over to the other bus. He sat on the designated seat and waited. The road extended to the hangar walls, Chung was impatient to see the city behind them. When all the students were finally settled, the bus began moving.

They passed the hangar walls. Chung stuck his face to the glass. Altera city was impressive. Tall buildings of over 10 stories high extended on both sides of the road. Neon lights advertised stores, the most crowded streets had screens floating over the road to display information about the news, the weather or just to spam ads. A lot of cars circulated on the streets. Chung recognized some of them, but almost all of them were brands only available to buy in Altera.

The buildings became less dense as they neared the campus. Finally the bus stopped. A long, brown brick wall separated the campus from the rest of the city. The bus only took some minutes to clear the security gate and the barrier was lifted, allowing the vehicles to enter the campus. A huge campus extended in all directions. From gardens to sports fields. Everything the academy needed was available. Chung squinted his eyes to try and see the students dorms. A long line of identical buildings of 4 floors each. With a hallway exposed on the façade and doors lining them. The boy's dorms where blue, while the girls got the elegant looking black ones. Between the dorms there were even some clothing stores, shops, and lots of other kinds of business. It was like their own city in the campus.

However the main building of the campus was no other that the left black tower of the Nasod Palace. If seeing it from the sky ship was impressive, standing at its base was breathtaking. It was impossible to see its top from the bottom no matter how much you tilted your head.

Chung remembered the pamphlet he read on his way here. Apparently the tower was called "The sage hall". Almost 90% of it was a library where knowledge accumulated by the Nasods over the centuries was preserved. Not only about them, but about all the living things in Elrios.

"All the freshmen, please come this way," a teacher was shouting as the students got off the buses.

They were lead inside the tower. The black walls housed a comfortable atrium. Red carpets adorned the ground made of wood. There were paintings of important historical figures on the walls. Some signs marked the way to the ceremony room, were all the new students would hear a speech from the principal and other school staff. Chung couldn't help but imagine it would be boring. However, after seeing all that he saw today, everything could be considered that way. He was eager to get to his new room and leave his luggage, but he would have to bear with it a little longer.

The ceremony room was another huge place. Rows of seats stretched in front of a large scenery. Each row higher than the front one, making the entire room spread upwards until the ceiling. Chung recognized Principal Penensio in the scenery. He sat and waited for the speech.

"Dear students, I wish to give you a warm welcome to Empress Academy. Most of you came from all around the globe seeking the knowledge stored in this tower. And let me say that both me and all your teachers welcome you."

The speech went on with Penensio and other teachers boasting about the school installments. Chung was really bored when he saw Ara waving at him. He returned the gesture and eyed the other students. He already saw the Nasods between them, but also noticed some elves, Pongo, and even other humanoid race he'd never seen before. There was a lizardman and a Phoru too.

Penensio left the stage, and his place was taken by a girl. The illumination on the room became darker as a spotlight focused only her. She was a pale, young, silver-haired girl. Chung noticed she was a Nasod when he saw the blue gem on her forehead.

"Freshmen, I bid you welcome to this great Academy. As some of you may know, I am Eve: president of the student council. During the next academic year, all of you will be under my care. You may have lots of questions by now, but don't fret. We, the student council, are always ahead. My staff has all the data necessary for start your year in the Nasod Network. You can access it with your student ID and your password."

The spotlight faded and the lighting returned to its normal state. A rumble was heard on the room as every student was searching their bags. Chung did too, until he pulled a sphere from inside. The sphere illuminated as if Chung's hands had it activated. It displayed some small squares with words on it. Chung slid his finger along the sphere, rotating the messages on the device until finally stopping. A holographic screen was projected over the device with the words: "Nasod Network" and "Student ID and Password". He entered the requested data and new messages appeared.

"Room 323, Starfall dorm… I see" He mumbled to himself.

"Oh my, is that the Elshard Galactic Five?! I heard it was only available on preorder through the NN."

Chung lifted his head looking above the holo screen to see a redheaded boy, excitedly looking at his device.

"Well, yeah. But I know a guy who could get me one before they were officially sold," Chung said.

"That's neat, man. Preorders are already closed, I hope I can get one on release day at least… Name is Elsword, by the way," The boy said, offering Chung a handshake.

"I am Chung, nice to meet you," Chung said. He was unsure if he should bow or handshake, so he did both at the same time, looking kind of weird.

"Ha ha, don't be so stiff man. Oh, I see you're in the 323, it's amazing, that's my room too!" Elsword said.

Chung didn't say anything about how loud Elsword was, he was actually thankful for his roommate not being a shady guy. A teacher ordered all the students to head to their designated rooms from the Stage. Chung did so, now followed by Elsword. On the way there they talked about how incredible the academy was.

"So, what's your reason to be here? I mean, I've heard your name before, pal." Elsword asked once a silence fall between them.

"Oh, I guess it was silly to expect nobody to know about me huh?" Chung replied.

He was quite amazed. Since he was prince of Hamel, almost everyone who knew about him would freak out and start acting all weird. Something that Chung never appreciated. However this Elsword guy not only was acting cool, he even dared to call him by such informal names.

"My family is testing me. My parents always hired private teachers at my house, but last year my father decided I should get out on my own for a while so I can learn how the world works outside the castle," Chung said.

It was true, he was sent there to become an adult. He would have to live on his own. No daddy credit card, no bodyguards, no calling for the head maid every time the food didn't taste good. Chung was actually up to the task, feeling all excited about not being controlled all the time by his parents.

"Well, I'm here because of pops too. I will become a great Red Knight, but he insists I must go through this whole academy thing," Elsword added, resting his hands on his nape. "He said something about being able to master the pen and the sword. To put it simply, he doesn't want me being an idiot."

"Shouldn't you take it more seriously? I heard this academy standards are crazy high. How did you get in here?" Chung asked.

"Merits. You know? Everyone here is either a genius or they have achieved some kind of feat that allowed them to enter. Also, don't expect anybody bowing because you're the prince. Remember the Nasod girl who gave the speech earlier? She's Empress Eve. So it's kind of normal to have famous people around here," Elsword said.

After a while walking they finally reached the Starfall dorm. They walked their way to their room. It was on the 3rd floor, not too afar from the shared kitchen. They entered and left their luggage. The room wasn't small. There was enough place for two beds, a pair of desks, a big drawer with its inside divided in two chambers and a small bathroom. They found a sheet of paper hanged on the window.

"Please, discuss with your roommate and select up to three additional commodities from the list." Elsword said as he read the note.

The list went from a TV to a piano or other kind of things. It would take time to decide it though. There was another note on each desk, this time Chung read it.

"Attention students, select your desired electives and fill the next form to enroll. Hand it to the student council before classes start."

"Oh right, we get to choose a bunch of optional stuff to study," Elsword said jumping into his desk.

Chung went through the list. There were some oddly specific subjects, like oleo painting or ballet dancing. His sight stopped at the "Military training" one. He was always interested in guns and weapons, so that was kind of a safe choice. The form said he could choose up to three additional subjects. He continued the list and stopped in the "marksmanship" one. He remembered his father making fun of his poor aiming with the cannon so he also chose it. For his last subject he just went with one of the foreign languages.

"Well, I'm going to turn in mine, do you want me to take yours, too?" Chung asked as he was leaving the room.

Elsword just tossed his form at him with a thumb up. Chung left the room. The forms included a direction for turning them in. He was distracted reading Elsword's form and didn't notice there was someone in front of him until he crashed into him.

"Hey kid, watch where the hell you're going," The guy said in a rather aggressive tone.

In front of Chung there was an older student. He was wearing the school uniform but it looked a bit worn out. He had also a armlet with the words "willpower" and "strength" written on it. But what was more noticeable of said guy, was his left arm, made out of metal. Chung didn't see a core on the guy, so he must be a human.

"Raven, don't start bullying the newbies already" A girl shouted, coming in.

It was a red-haired girl, Chung thought he recognized her. She was also wearing the school uniform with the same armlet. However she also wore a black long coat with the bottom burnt. And she was also carrying a wooden sword.

"This brat just ran into me, Elesis. I guess this year rookies aren't disciplined yet." Raven said.

Chung just waited there, not very sure if he should leave or stay.

"Leave him alone or you will be the one getting a disciplined."

A new girl joined the scene. She was shorter than Chung and was not wearing the school uniform. She wore a black mini skirt with fishnet tights, a black pair of enormous boots and a purple t-shirt with the picture of a fat bat. She covered the t-shirt with a black vest. Chung noticed another armlet on her left arm, this one was red and bore the words "Student Council" on it.

"Humph… the queen's war hound is here huh? Alright, we'll leave this guy for now," Elesis said, gesturing to Raven to move away.

"Don't worry freshman, those delinquents won't harm you if you don't actually offend them."

"Thank you… hum…"

"Aisha, I am the student council vice-president. "

Chung repeated his thanks with a bow; Aisha just smiled and took the forms.

"I'll take care of this; you can go back to your room. Tomorrow is your first day, I suggest you have some rest."

Chung thanked her again before leaving. The encounter with those delinquents was quite unexpected. He remembered Elsword words about everyone here being important. Were those two also important people? Anyway, he just headed back, found Elsword already sleeping and decided to do that, too.