Reborn as an SSS-Rank Guide in the Sentinel Academy [BL]

"Julian watch out, behind you." That was the last thing he heard before falling down onto the floor which smelled of rotten stuff.

Julian’s whole body hit the ground hard, and for a second he couldn’t even tell up from down. His ears were ringing. Somebody was still yelling his name from somewhere far off, but it sounded like it was underwater.

He’d been on that wall for six hours straight, arms shaking so bad he almost dropped his weapon twice already. The zombies just kept coming, wave after wave, and his eyes were playing tricks on him near the end, seeing shapes in the dark that weren’t even there.

Except this one was there. Claws had ripped through his side before he even had time to turn around. Blood came out fast, way faster than he liked, soaking through his shirt right into the dirt underneath him.

"Julian!" the voice screamed again. Mia probably. She always screamed the loudest out of everyone.

He couldn’t even answer her back. He used up everything he had just holding that gate shut, and it held, and that was the whole point of it anyway. That was the deal he made with himself three years back when the world went to hell. Hold the line. Buy them time. Whatever happens to him after doesn’t even matter as long as that gate holds.

Julian smiled with blood in his mouth, staring up at nothing, and thought, "not bad for a guy who used to just deliver pizza anyway," and then everything just went black.

---

He woke up somewhere. And that was the first weird thing he noticed. Just warm, quiet, no smell of rotten things anywhere, no groaning from past the wall, nothing. Julian blinked his eyes open slow, and there was actual sunlight coming through an actual window, and he thought, "huh, I guess I’m in heaven, but... does heaven really got lighting this good?" Except it wasn’t heaven at all.

It took him a few minutes just staring at some fancy ceiling before memories that weren’t even his started slamming into his head, one after the other, so fast it almost hurt. He was in a different body now. Some kid also named Julian, what a funny thing, and this kid was the weakest Guide some fancy academy had ever let inside its doors. F-Class. Bottom of everything.

"what is with these memories... it really hurts so bad," Julian said out loud, just to hear the voice. Lighter than his old one. "but this is kind of strange, this isn’t my body! I feel so weak, I feel like I’m gonna throw up."

He sat up and the memories kept pouring in. Some empire that ran on Sentinels and Guides. Sentinels fought monsters at the border and burned themselves out doing it. Guides existed just to keep them from snapping. And somewhere in that mess was an engagement, cold as ice, about to blow up in his face in like forty minutes.

Julian let out a long breath. New world, new body, whatever. He survived three years of the actual end of the world holding a rusted gate shut with nothing but tape and stubbornness. He could survive some rich kid’s school no problem.

---

Not long after, Julian stood up and decided to go for a walk, but ended up entering the hall instead. The hall was packed when he walked in and everyone turned to look at him at once, and it wasn’t the nice kind of looking either. More like "oh it’s him," the useless one, they joked.

And then right there, Logan stood in the middle like he already owned the place. Tall, cold, and the strongest Sentinel in the whole school, with the kind of face that never once had to worry about anybody laughing at him.

"Julian Valerian." Logan’s voice carried without even trying. "I’m ending the engagement. Right now, in front of everybody, so nobody’s confused later."

"Fine, go ahead, I don’t give a fuck about you anyway. You’re just a waste of time," Julian said without thinking.

’Damn it, what was I thinking? I just got reborn, transmigrated, whatever.’ Julian’s thoughts ran wild in his mind.

Logan stood there, shocked that he’d accepted the rejection just like that. And that isn’t the Julian Logan knew. "Really, just accepting the rejection like that? You should at least beg me not to leave you," Logan said, laughing and pointing at him. "No one will look at you. You’re just a pathetic F-Class Guide. I can’t even imagine why I took you in the first place."

Then Julian said, straight to his face, "You know what? Your breath really sucks like a rotten zombie." Everybody in the hall gasped as Julian continued, "I can’t even stand the sight of you. So what if I’m alone, it doesn’t matter." And he thought too, ’wow, did I just call him a zombie? Hmm, he really deserves it, because I just died in my world and somehow ended up in this place.’

Meanwhile, Logan’s face flushed with anger, and the way he wanted to crush him in front of everyone. Then his so-called Guide stepped in. "Such a weak F-Class Guide dares insult my Sentinel. Do you have a death wish?"

Julian shot that Guide a cold look. "And what if I do. He’s the one creating this drama right here, because I agreed to end the engagement, so what’s the deal about it."

’Those useless pieces of shit. You’re the one who started the drama the second I stepped foot in here. What kind of life did this person even live?’ he thought.

As the Guide was about to say something, he stepped in closer to Julian, and Julian stepped back. "Where do you think you’re going, Julian, I’m not even done with you." He stepped closer again and whispered in his ear, "See, Logan will always choose me over you."

Julian didn’t step back this time, and thought to himself, ’So this is how the original Julian lived. Then I’ll just treat them as zombies. I’ll become the strongest. Just you wait and see.’