Chapter 85: The Lostbelt King Who Likes Wearing Triangle Briefs
In that brief moment when he raised his hand, the god Arjuna had practically activated all of his skills.
Mahāpralaya EX, Mad Enhancement EX, Clairvoyance (Transcendence) EX, Anti-Evil (Unique) EX...
Not only were they all of the highest rank — EX — but the entire skill set was a specialized combination crafted to suppress cheating.
With all those effects stacked together, in other words…
To successfully cheat even once, you'd need to pass at least three consecutive very-hard checks with great success!
If even one of those checks fails, the chance of failure is nearly absolute — you could even be caught red-handed by Arjuna Alter and have your exam rights revoked on the spot.
"..."
Just thinking about it made Eikou break out in a cold sweat.
Even Gawain — Eikou didn't believe that guy would dare risk assisting in cheating under such hopeless circumstances.
The success rate was practically zero.
Before Gawain could even make a move, it was probably best for him to just behave and take the test properly.
He gripped the pen tightly in his hand and began his grueling battle with the exam paper before him.
[You focus all your attention on the exam.]
[All these questions are things you've learned in class; thanks to your revision, you can still write them fairly fluently.]
[Arjuna Alter has his eyes closed, appearing to be calmly meditating, but you have absolutely no doubt that he's monitoring every single movement in the exam room.]
[Zenobia and Murasaki Shikibu patrol around the room — their threat level is much lower than Arjuna's, but they still occasionally glance in your direction.]
[...]
[Fully concentrated, you've completed your test paper at the fastest possible speed.]
[After finishing, you check through it again, estimating your accuracy at about seventy to eighty percent.]
[With that level of accuracy, you might reach the upper-middle rank in the entire grade, but getting into the top 10? That's pure fantasy.]
[If no one helps you, then basically, you're as good as doomed…]
[Time continues to pass; only twenty minutes remain until the end of the exam.]
"..."
This test paper is nearly done.
Gawain hasn't made any moves yet, so Eikou can only keep rechecking his answers over and over again to make sure he hasn't written anything wrong.
The closer it gets to the time to hand in the paper, the more uneasy he feels inside.
"Sir Eikou…"
At that moment, he hears a barely audible whisper coming from Gawain's direction.
Carefully turning his head, he looks over.
Right when Arjuna Alter is meditating with his eyes closed, and the two female proctors — those married Servants — are glancing at each other,
a small crumpled piece of paper is discreetly tossed backward, landing right beside Eikou's desk.
…That's the cheat sheet Gawain sent over!
Truly impressive — worthy of the Knight of the Sun — even in this hellish setting, he still remembers to fulfill his mission!
What's even more incredible — not a single supervisor noticed.
It's understandable that Zenobia and Murasaki Shikibu didn't notice, but…
even that Lostbelt King didn't notice either.
No — rather, it should be said that Arjuna Alter hasn't yet judged this as an act of cheating.
Having lost his humanity, he perceives it simply as "a piece of paper with answers that Gawain accidentally dropped," and since no one has actually used the cheat sheet yet, it cannot be defined as cheating.
It seems that Arjuna's criteria for judgment are unexpectedly lenient… to the point of being a little foolish.
"But I have absolutely no doubt…"
Eikou murmured hesitantly, staring at the crumpled paper on the floor:
"The moment I reach out to pick it up, that very instant will trigger the judgment effect of Arjuna's Noble Phantasm — I'll be deemed 'Evil' and caught on the spot…"
A drop of cold sweat ran down his tense face.
To pick it up, or not to pick it up?
Either choice would lead to serious consequences!
"Ahhh, I really don't have the confidence to survive three rounds of very-hard checks — even if I throw every single die I have, it'd still be useless…!"
Eikou muttered with a heavy expression.
However, thinking again—
Gawain clearly risked everything to help him, even going so far as to throw the cheat sheet right to his feet, and yet he's still hesitating?
He didn't want to drag Gawain into trouble…
But if he worried too much about that now, it would just be too timid and ungrateful.
"Alright then, brothers share blessings and face hardship together…"
He muttered under his breath,
"If you've already gone all-in, then I'll go all-in too!"
Damn it, I'm betting it all against the Lostbelt King!
[You activate "God Slayer A"; you gain a certain advantage in judgments against Servants possessing divinity.]
[You move closer to the window, letting the sunlight shine on you, and gain the buff "Numeral of the Saint E." You become a triple-strength version of yourself.]
[Under these buff conditions, the judgment difficulty against Arjuna drops from very-hard to hard.]
"In other words, I don't need to roll a great success — as long as I can roll three consecutive results from C to D, I'll pass."
The margin for error had widened a little; maybe it was worth taking the gamble.
Eikou carefully swallowed a gulp of saliva.
"Let's do this!"
Taking advantage of the moment when Murasaki Shikibu and Zenobia turned their gazes away,
At that very instant, he moved his hand toward the cheat sheet on the floor with the fastest speed of his life.
[You want to quietly steal the cheat sheet on the floor while the proctors aren't paying attention.]
[Before Arjuna Alter activates his Noble Phantasm, perform a double check for "Agility" and "God Slayer." This will determine whether you draw Arjuna's attention or not.]
Two dice simultaneously fell to the ground.
[God Slayer, great success!]
[Agility, great failure!]
Good, this time it's another extreme stretch between a great success and a great failure!
So what does this situation even count as—
Agility, which was needed to steal the cheat sheet, is a great failure, but God Slayer, which restrains Arjuna Alter, is a great success. So what will happen? Don't tell me he'll just feel itchy and decide to punch Arjuna Alter for fun?
[...]
[Perhaps because you're too nervous, your hands and feet become clumsy, and you accidentally slip your hand...]
[You failed to steal the cheat sheet.]
[But you didn't come back empty-handed. Since you came all this way, you decided you had to take something with you.]
[God Slayer, great success!]
[You stole Arjuna Alter's clothes!]
"??"
What the hell is this?!
Eikou's eyes widened in shock.
He suddenly raised his head, looked down at the bundle of clothes in his hand, then looked toward Arjuna Alter.
"Arjuna-sensei, you…"
And there stood the Lostbelt King of India—the god of creation and destruction, the perfect god who had cast aside all humanity—
On his body, there was now only a single pair of underwear left!
Arjuna Alter: "..."
"Th-this… I didn't mean to!"
Eikou frantically explained.
[It seems to be fine.]
[Since this act doesn't count as cheating, your action did not trigger Arjuna Alter's NP.]
'Hey, stripping the proctor in the middle of an exam is a hundred times worse than cheating, do you even realize that?!' Eikou screamed internally, his face burning red.
Arjuna Alter: "..."
Damn it, his attention was now completely drawn to him. This made cheating even harder.
He must definitely hold a grudge now!
Cold sweat broke out all over Eikou's body.
Shit, how did things end up like this?! At this rate, Arjuna's going to stab me to death later for sure!
Especially when he saw the only thing covering Arjuna Alter's body now—a white triangle brief—Eikou's face flushed red in humiliation. He just wanted to transfer schools immediately.
"...Why does it have to be today of all days that this Lostbelt King wears such a thick triangle brief?! It's too damn eye-catching! Shame upon shame, I'm embarrassed for him too! This could totally compete with the yellow triangle brief of his half-brother!"
Arjuna Alter replied: "All generations of Lostbelt Kings are believers of the triangle faction."
What the hell is this?!