Pip and Kael tried their best to avoid the intense glares of the massive, muscular thugs locked onto them. The suffocating pressure in the air made Kael swallow hard, a lump of anxiety forming in his throat. Noticing his friend's distress, Pip gently rubbed Kael's back, trying to calm him down.
Suddenly, a towering man with a physique as hulking as the god Zeus stepped forward, blocking their path. His eyes bulged with malicious intent as his coarse, vein-popping hand slowly reached out. Without a single word of warning, he brutally grabbed the collar of the coat—the jacket Lilit had gifted Kael—and lifted the boy clean off the ground. He looked like a wild bear thoroughly enjoying toying with its prey before devouring it whole.
However, the moment his feet left the ground, Kael's gaze suddenly turned pitch-black, and his fists clenched tightly. The usual timidity and fear vanished from his face without a trace. Locking his hands firmly around the giant's wrist, Kael uttered a single, ice-cold command: "Put me down."
The behemoth instantly froze. The predatory sneer on his face stiffened, and a strange hesitation flickered in his eyes as cold sweat began to pour down his face in sheets. Confronted by Kael's eerily calm demeanor, the giant tremblingly released his grip, dropping the boy back to the ground. He took a few steps back, intending to turn and slink away, inwardly bewildered: "What the hell was that... Why am I so terrified of a mere kid?"
But the moment that thought crossed his mind, his wounded pride snapped his feet to a halt. His fists clenched so hard his knuckles popped. Turning back around with a vengeance, he roared maniacally, shaking the entire area: "AGHHH! I'M GOING TO RIPP YOU APART!! YOU DAMN UPO BASTARD!!!"
He lunged forward like a crazed beast, channeling all his killing intent into his target. In stark contrast to that pure fury, Kael's face remained as still as a placid lake. Only his pupils constricted into sharp slits, and a grotesque smile that stretched all the way to his ears surfaced, brimming with pure madness.
WHOOSH!
Kael shot forward at a terrifying speed, turning into an arrow that ripped through the howling wind. The giant unleashed a thousand-pound punch, the sheer pressure of his fist shattering everything in its trajectory. But Kael needed only a subtle tilt of his body to evade it.
BOOM!
A crisp, explosive sound echoed. The direct counter-punch slammed right into the center of the giant's face, throwing his massive body several meters away before he crashed heavily onto the ground. Without missing a beat, Kael instantly activated his unique ability, his body vanishing in a blink as he slipped right inside the giant's terrified, dilating pupil.
He ruthlessly crushed one of the eyes from the inside. Crimson blood splattered everywhere. The giant groaned in agonizing pain, clutching his face. Kael calmly emerged from the eye, looking down at his defeated assailant from above. The giant's initial arrogance had vanished into thin air, leaving only a massive lump of flesh curling up, groveling and screaming in utter despair.
Kael walked over unhurriedly. SPLAT! With another sickening sound, the other pupil was ripped clean out of the socket. The man frantically covered his bleeding, hollow eye sockets with both hands, wailing: "MY EYES! MY EYESSAAAAAA!!!!"
Kael didn't reply. He looked down with utter contempt, as if observing a miserable ant squirming in its final breaths.
Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.
STAB! STAB! STAB!
The sounds of consecutive, relentless stabs rang out as fresh blood painted the stone floor. Witnessing this brutal spectacle, the surrounding examinees turned pale as ghosts; some fainted on the spot, while others retched in pure disgust. The most terrifying part was that Kael hadn't used any weapon at all—he had snuffed out his opponent's life with his bare hands.
Lifting his blood-soaked hand, which had drenched a large portion of his cloak, Kael stared blankly into the void ahead. He let out a weary sigh: "Killing again..."
Seeing this, Pip's hair stood on end, his guard raised to the maximum. He swallowed hard, his hands gripping the weathered stone wall behind him, ready to bolt if Kael lost control. Pip called out with a shaky voice: "Kael... are you still sane?" "I'm perfectly sane, Pip. Don't worry," Kael replied placidly.
He turned and walked toward Pip. His gruesome, blood-stained hands coupled with his vacant, nonchalant gaze only amplified the dark aura around him, sending shivers down everyone's spines. Yet, the moment he stood right in front of Pip, Kael's face flipped instantly, beaming with a radiant, bright smile: "WHAT'S WRONG? HAHA, ARE YOU SCARED OF ME? HAHAHAHA!!!" "Geez... you freak. You always make me worry over nothing," Pip clicked his tongue, the heavy boulder in his heart finally lifting.
At this point, every eye in the exam arena was fixed on Kael and the mutilated corpse at his feet. The initial disdain had been completely replaced by absolute terror and hyper-vigilance. No one knew if they would become the next target to be slaughtered by this monster with an innocent face.
"Haha... HAHAHAHA! INTERESTING! Very interesting, this prey will be mine!!" a mysterious, alluring voice suddenly echoed from a dark corner. "Oh, drop it. Stop throwing a fit, will you?" another voice chimed in, overflowing with impatience.
CLACK... CLACK... CLACK...
The rhythmic, echoing thuds of leather shoes striking the stone floor forced the crowd to instantly swallow their murmurs about Kael and turn toward the source of the sound. A man was slowly ascending the high platform. Every step he took, though slow, radiated the innate majesty of a supreme authority. The dim light reflected coldly off his thick glasses. Standing firmly atop the platform, he cleared his throat solemnly: "Ahem!"
The entire square seemed to freeze instantly; not a single person dared to breathe loudly. The man spoke again, his voice booming like thunder: "ATTENTION, EVERYONE!!!!!!"
The words carried a thousand pounds of weight, making the chests of a few weaker examinees feel suffocated, their hearts racing from the overwhelming pressure. He was an elderly man, his face deeply lined with the wrinkles of time. His thick, reflective glasses only added to his stern, unfathomable demeanor. Interlocking his hands, he gently rested his elbows on the old wooden table in front of him, speaking in a steady, monotonous tone: "Welcome, examinees, who have traveled a long and perilous road to stand here today and participate in our entrance exam. I am the Headmaster of Aethelgard Academy, and I will personally announce the regulations and rules for this year's examination!"
With that, he slammed his palm heavily onto the wooden table.
CRASH!
Right after the slam, the stone floor beneath the examinees' feet instantly cracked violently. Massive ancient trees aggressively erupted from the ground, obliterating the entire stone architecture. The trunks kept sprouting, their roots violently digging into the earth, their height surging at a terrifying speed clearly visible to the naked eye.
HALT!
The legion of monstrous plants abruptly stopped growing. Every examinee present stared with wide eyes and agape mouths in sheer horror. Towering before them were colossal, sky-piercing ancient trees that pierced through the clouds, stopping only when they closely bordered the boundary leading straight to the human realm.
The Headmaster scanned the crowd below and announced: "First Trial: You must climb to the peak of these ancient trees, passing through the clouds. Only the first 300 examinees to touch the summit will secure a ticket to the next round. The rule for this round is very simple: There are no rules whatsoever! You may eliminate or slaughter anyone who stands in your way at your own discretion. That is all."
Pip and Kael stared in stunned silence at the colossal trunk, which looked no different from the Ruyi Jingu Bang of the Monkey King. Pip turned to Kael, stammering in shock: "This rule, I think—" "THE 6704TH ENTRANCE EXAMINATION OF AETHELGRAD ACADEMY OFFICIALLY BEGINS!!!" the Headmaster's voice boomed, brutally cutting off Pip's unfinished sentence.