Chapter 27: Now, Kill Each Other Following Takeo with Chika, we arrived at the source of the blue smoke to find an abandoned building.
It was a deserted island, sure... but that just meant there were no people now, not that there never had been. These kinds of places popped up in the game all the time.
I'd spotted a few man-made structures with the Eye of Yullat, but seeing it in person, the place was bigger than I expected.
A small factory? A warehouse? Either way, parts of it had collapsed, and it was so weathered that it was hard to tell what its original shape had been.
The teacher, who had been venting blue smoke through a hole in the roof, looked around at us.
"Most of you seem to be here. I am August, the one in charge of this exam. Let us begin."
I was just glad it wasn't the teacher who had nearly taken my head off during the Retreat Meta.
Oh! Shizuka is here too!
I waved at her happily, but Shizuka just gave me a cold stare and ignored me.
Yep, that icy aloofness is exactly what makes her charming.
Chika, who had been looking at me like I was an idiot for getting ignored, suddenly stepped forward and interrupted the teacher's explanation.
"Everyone has someone guarding their camp, right? Well, there's a thief among us. Someone stripped our camp bare."
Whoa—as expected of the 'Mad Dog' who fears nothing.
At Chika's words, the group that had split into two teams to participate in the minigame looked flustered.
"You bitch, who are you calling a thief?!"
"Calling you one? What are you talking about? I'm just making sure everyone else knows to be careful. What, are you mad because you wanted to steal more but can't now? Too bad~ everyone knows your secret."
Get 'em. Our Mad Dog is just as good at verbal evisceration as she is at biting people.
As Takeo and Chika began hurling insults, looking ready to brawl right then and there, August calmly tapped on his pad to check their information and then snapped his fingers.
Instantly, the two were pulled apart as if grabbed by something unseen. Chika came flying toward me.
Is this... a Lucky Skebe moment?
Thud—
Thinking of Akito, I spread my arms wide, but Chika adjusted her posture in mid-air and drove her knee straight into my face.
"Why are you standing there like a hazard?!"
"I mean... if you knew it was a hazard, couldn't you have moved your knee...?"
"You shouldn't have been standing there in the first place."
Dammit. How come Akito gets to bury his face in panties and touch breasts whenever he wants, but I can't? Is that some kind of protagonist perk?
And you crazy dog, if you hit someone, at least apologize.
While I was checking to see if my handsome nose was broken, August spoke up impassively.
"Whether it was theft or a misunderstanding, please refrain from matters unrelated to the exam."
"But that kind of behavior shouldn't be tolerat—"
"I never said it was prohibited. As long as you aren't in the same group, everyone gathered here is an enemy."
"Exactly. The one who got robbed is the idiot," Takeo said triumphantly, causing Chika to grit her teeth.
At the mention of everyone being enemies, the atmosphere among the other students shifted.
Man, I hate this. Life is so much easier when everyone's cooperating, but now I've got one more thing to worry about.
Completely indifferent to the heavy atmosphere, August continued his explanation.
"Today, you will all experience death."
"…"
"Don't worry, you won't actually die. There are currently 36 people here, making 18 teams. Fight each other until only the final 8 teams remain."
Geez—why are you guys so obsessed with the 'Now, kill each other' trope?
Isn't this a government-certified institution? People would think this was Yukina's organization.
"Pain settings are at fifty percent. Students who 'die' will lose consciousness briefly and wake up once the exam is over. However, remember the moment right before you die. This may be practice here, but in the real world, you only get one shot. Remember death, and use it to strive further."
He's wrapping it up in nice words, but he's basically telling us to kill the people we were just being friendly with.
Normally, I'd have the best survival rate since I'm the only one who keeps my Mana Barrier up, but...
"Uh, Professor August?"
"Do you have a question?"
"I have a lot, actually—but for this miniga—I mean, for this exam, is the Mana Barrier still disabled?"
"Yes, it is. Lately, too many mages have been making reckless attempts because they rely on their Mana Barriers. One of the educational goals is to foster an attitude of avoiding threats as much as possible."
Um... you're not targeting me, right? You're just saying that's the trend these days?
For some reason, I feel like you guys are constantly nerfing me.
Without a Mana Barrier, what do I have left?
Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist?
Whatever it is, it's not going to help me right now.
Come to think of it, the Mana Barrier was disabled during the first-day test too. Since virtual spaces are used for sparring to test character performance, it's not that it's impossible to have them—it's intentional.
"I wish you all luck. You don't need to worry about students who aren't participating. This is an isolated space; there is no one here but us."
With those final words, the cold August vanished. Chika reacted first, grabbing me by the scruff of my neck.
"Get it together! It's started!"
Just as Chika said, the minigame had begun.
In an instant, magic erupted from all directions. I tried to run outside with Chika, but a massive fireball chased us, forcing us to scatter.
Dammit, Chika is my lifeline right now!
The dust from the explosion filled the air. When it cleared, I looked around, but Chika was already surrounded by others and locked in combat.
And then, a thug appeared in front of me...
"You little shit. I've got you now."
"The—the person you were so excitedly fighting with is over there. She looks busy, so wouldn't it be a great time to backstab her?"
"I didn't like you from the start anyway."
"Because I'm handsome?"
"Die!"
Takeo began swinging a massive sword, and I turned and ran without looking back.
*
"Interesting."
Having returned to the observation area for the faculty, August watched the screen with interest.
The other teachers, except for those currently overseeing their own exams, gathered around August to watch.
"They aren't hesitating as much as I expected."
"It seems Chika Fraser sowed seeds of distrust among the students."
"Hmm... Seo Yeon-woo's combat performance is quite disastrous."
The teachers looked disappointed as they watched Yeon-woo frantically running away from the pursuing Takeo.
Despite the controversy, he had garnered significant interest during the initial test, and even the principal, Erin, was keeping an eye on him.
But what was this?
He showed no will to fight, fleeing in terror from Takeo.
He even stumbled into the middle of students who were fighting well, ruining their flow, rolling on the ground, or scurrying away on all fours. It was an eyesore.
"I recall his practical scores weren't bad."
"There were no evaluations suggesting he feared combat, either."
"But he's surprisingly good at dodging. Does he have a lot of experience sparring with people stronger than him?"
"Rather than sparring, maybe he just has a lot of experience running away?"
The teachers glanced at Derek, who was silently watching the screen.
Derek, who had somehow become Seo Yeon-woo's spokesperson and expert among the faculty, remained unfazed by Yeon-woo's unsightly display.
He was usually stoic, but the fact that he said nothing even after seeing such a performance suggested there was something more to it.
"Oh, he got caught in it."
"There might have been something there, but he was unlucky this time."
Yeon-woo, who had been dodging well, was caught in the blast of a spell aimed at another student and collapsed.
The power of the spell was enough to cause instant death; four students, including Yeon-woo, were swept up in it and now lay motionless on the ground.
Shizuka, who had cast the spell, immediately set her sights on Takeo nearby and lunged at him.
"The lady of the Amagi family. That clan is still terrifying with both magic and the blade."
"She's a first-year... right? She's too strong. It would have been a good match if Akito were here."
As the teachers' attention turned to the battle between Shizuka and Takeo, Derek continued to stare at the screen showing Yeon-woo's corpse.
"I know he's shown good potential so far, but that's how combat is. A moment of carelessness, a mistake, and you lose your life unexpectedly. It was bad luck to get caught in a spell that wasn't even aimed at him, but he'll grow from this experience."
When a nearby teacher offered these words of comfort, Derek glanced at him once before turning back to the screen.
"Luck... I wonder if it really was luck."
"Are you saying that was Seo Yeon-woo's skill?"
"It must be."
The teacher, surprised that Derek would speak so lowly of Yeon-woo, looked startled for a moment but soon lost interest and turned to Shizuka's screen.
Shizuka was like a natural disaster in this exam.
Takeo, who had held out reasonably well, was decapitated in a single stroke and collapsed. Shizuka's cold eyes sought out her next prey.
What was particularly remarkable was her ability to evade every attack as if she had no need for a Mana Barrier.
Her movements were fluid and without a hint of waste, as if she knew exactly what her opponents would do. The teachers broke out in exclamations of awe.
Chika, who had fought well even while being double-teamed and had taken down three people, also fell to Shizuka's blade.
"Dammit..."
Shizuka looked indifferently at Chika, who was gritting her teeth in frustration at the sword piercing her abdomen. Shizuka pulled the blade out and turned away.
Ignoring the falling Chika, Shizuka immediately moved to find other students, most of whom died by her hand.
Cutting through a spell flying straight at her, Shizuka closed the distance and swung her sword.
The student, sensing death from the sharp blade falling toward their head, closed their eyes, but after a long moment, no pain came. They slowly opened their eyes.
The blade, sharp enough to cut through anything, had stopped just above their head. Shizuka didn't take their life; instead, she reverted her sword back into its stick form.
The student, confused, only then realized that there were only eight people left.
I'm alive...
The surviving student let out a sigh of relief, then flinched.
The fact that she had stopped her sword the exact moment the count hit eight meant she had been aware of every other student even while fighting.
Even while two students quite a distance away were still fighting, unaware the exam had ended, she had known everything even in the split second of a sword swing.
Someone announced that the exam was over, and the students stopped fighting and gathered in one place.
There wasn't a single student who hadn't seen Shizuka's god-like swordsmanship, so they all looked at her warily, speaking awkwardly.
"Is it... over now?"
"That was a fierce battle. Only one person from each team survived."
"Huh? I'm on the same team as her."
At a female student's words, Shizuka and the other students turned their heads.
There were eight people left. Since they said eight teams would remain, one team was missing.
"Since eight teams remain, the first round is concluded," August said, appearing out of nowhere and calmly tapping his screen.
"Um! Professor! I'm on the same team as her, so that means only seven teams are left... right?"
"No. Eight teams remain. The first round is over. You can get up now."
The students followed August's gaze.
There was a pile of four corpses. After a moment, Yeon-woo stood up, pushing the bodies aside.
"Ah, is it over? I thought I was going to die."
The students frowned as they watched Yeon-woo approach as if nothing had happened.
"You faked being dead?"
"Wow... you did that during the entrance ceremony test too. You're really dirty."
"Don't you have any pride?"
The students all threw in their two cents, but only two people truly understood how impressive what he had just done was.
The Turtle Breathing Technique... and his proficiency is high. No wonder Derek is interested in him.
It was cheap, but Yeon-woo's death act had been perfect.
You can't fool the eyes of mages who use all sorts of magic to sense their surroundings just by playing dead. Even August wouldn't have noticed if he hadn't been checking the students' biometric data.
And Shizuka, who had passed right by him, felt a slight tremor in her eyes from the shock.
She had been certain he was dead.
She believed nothing could deceive her eyes, yet this frivolous man had fooled her effortlessly.
When their eyes met, Yeon-woo gave her a bright grin, and Shizuka's elegant eyebrows furrowed.
However, even her expression of pure disgust was a reward to Yeon-woo.
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