Plot

"There's something weird going on," Orion started blandly. Lady Nadine looked at the

Maeve rolled her eyes. "Obviously there's somethin' weird going on! People aren't calling the war 'The End' for no reason. Ooo, how spooky. We're all gonna die or somethin'. That's pretty weird."

"No," Tiga said. "This isn't about the war. Haven't you noticed, Mae? Every student in Class 1 is a male."

Lady Nadine's eyes widened. "Why are you associating with the younger Classes? Keep to your own Class."

Tiga snorted. "Old lady, do you really think we wouldn't notice?"

"You don't know what you're talking about. The younger children were moved to a separate dormitory because of noise complaints," she said shortly, and turned to walk away, before stepping into Ana. She was blocking the door with a sweet expression on her face.

Orion lazily jabbed at the sensor around his wrist. "I think it has something to do with these."

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What if from the time you were born you were put into a school? You were raised in the school system, virtually erasing the role of parents. You spend all year at the boarding school, and you can visit your parents one or two days a semester and a few days around Christmas or holidays. But if your family can't afford to pay for your ticket back and forth, you don't get to visit them.

The Central Government formed the idea of schooling and training since birth to turn the Students into military tools, intel, campaign designers, whatever, depending on what they excel in. At 18, the students graduate the school and are sent into predetermined divisions based on their talents (Science Division, Maths Division, History Division, Art Division, Music Division, etc). There's a rumor that if they are not good enough, they are sent to the Waste. In a class of 40, only 1 or 2 people a year are sent to the Waste. (When they graduate at the end of book 2, Orion is sent to the Waste)

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Sophie is a young teenage girl, with hopes of becoming Chancellor of her dystopian country someday. She works part-time at a mechanic's shop and goes to a small academy. Her studies are cut short when she is attacked by a  Grave after staying late at school one day and is saved by two of her peers. They recruit her into the anti-government resistance group,  Squad 3. Theoden Colliver and Orion Howell tell her that her DNA, her "code," is the key to both stopping the Central Government once and for all and becoming its greatest asset . Sophie later learns that her "code" is not what it seems. Devil’s Coal is the drug of the devil... but also the only way society can be saved.

After the attack, Sophie can exit her body in a phantom form. It turns out that even though she didn't die, her seemingly indestructable Sensor was majorly damaged. For some reason, her phantom form has extreme strength. It is noted that everyone's phantom form has different abilities due to their genetic codes and damage to their Sensors. Phantoms are derogatorily known as "glitches." Squad 3 is a group of phantoms and genii who know the secret of the Generator and plan to take down the Central Government to save the fate of humanity. However, that is nowhere near as easy as it may seem, when the Chancellor himself is a military weapon as well as his entire army.

Phantoms look exactly like their physical counterpart, except they flicker a bit occasionally and are very slightly transparent. The downside to phantom mode is that their physical body is idle -- it needs to be protected and any harm done to it harms their phantom body as well. In reality, phantom mode is their physical bodies interacting with the outside world while still feeling everything in Ragnarok because of the Sensor.

Phantoms also have small ways of distinguishing them from humans. For example, when Sophie's phantom has a purple tail-like "cord" that bears a strong resemblance to a devil's tail or cat tail that emerges from her lower back.

Sensors are pretty much indestructable -- they were built that way because if one's Sensor did completely break, they lose all feeling and thoughts and turn into a Grave. "For some reason", whenever a baby is not immediately given

Members of Squad 3
Orion Howell - Military genii; Howl branch. "He's a military-genii. By the time you guys pull a gun on him, he'll probably be…like, on the ceiling, or something.""

Theoden Colliver - Creature genii. Sai turned, eyebrows raised, "This photo? Shouldn't you be asking for a nail file or something? Judging by the vomit on your cell bars, I'd have guessed you were trying to break out of here." Theo hoped he didn't look as aghast as he felt. "I don't like you very much, smiley-boy. Give me my picture back, I need it." Sai looked at him weirdly, "I thought animal-genii's were supposed to have difficulty with human relations?" He seemed to be talking to himself, despite keeping eye contact with Theo. Kiba's growl was so low, Theo was sure anybody without enhanced ears wouldn't have been able to hear it. Sai didn't. "Right, whatever, I'm irregular data. Give it back." 

Micah Kai - Phantom. Became a phantom after trying to destroy his Sensor in a fit of rage,

Sol -

Ana Rider - Phantom..

Maeve Darnell - Military genii; Visus branch. Cousin to Cyrus. Shy, timid; very much so that it becomes a fault. Very selfless, and becomes more brave as the story goes on.

Ziggy Gray - Human.

Cyrus Hayes - Military genii; Visus branch. Cousin to Maeve.