Simon’s mind raced, trying to piece together his situation. First, there was a strange explosion, and the Nether Whale had cried out in agony. The ship inside it had shaken violently. Then he’d lost consciousness, only to wake up on a foggy beach. He needed more information.
Simon took off his soaked uniform jacket and shoes and waded through the shallows. As he stepped onto the white sand, the soft texture under his feet was a small comfort. A little farther inland, trees and grass began to appear. Coming from a rugged mountain range, his eyes were imdiately drawn to the plant life. His gaze swept past the trees to the flowers and grass.
’This is...’
The vegetation of Roc Island. More specifically, the kind of environnt typically found in the western part of the island. He knew it well from having trekked all over during Professor Hongfeng’s classes.
’So, I sohow made it to Roc Island?’ He turned to look at the vast ocean stretching to the horizon, the sound of crashing waves a constant rhythm. It seed certain he was on the island.
He replayed the events in his head. While traveling on the Nether Whale, they were attacked. The whale crashed, and he lost consciousness. Sohow, he had drifted on the waves and washed ashore on the edge of Roc Island. It was the most logical sequence of events he could surmise.
’...Of course, there are too many strange things to just accept that.’
He placed his shoes on a nearby rock, then twisted his uniform like a rope to wring out the water. After shaking it out, he put the damp jacket back on. It would have to do. It was then that he noticed the protective magic that should have been on his Kizen uniform was gone. He drained the water from his shoes, stuffed so absorbent leaves inside, and put them back on. There was no ti to leisurely dry his clothes.
’I have to find my team.’
Just as he steeled his resolve and took a step, a sound like scraping tal grated on his ears.
He froze, his head snapping toward the sound. It ca from a dense thicket. Sothing was approaching through the forest’s gloom.
’A monster? Or a wild animal?’
Simon tensed, preparing for a fight. The mont the creature erged from the darkness, a gasp escaped his lips.
’No way.’
It was a monster, stark white, with gaping holes where its eyes, nose, and mouth should have been. He knew exactly what it was. The realization hit him like a hamr. How could he forget what had happened just two months ago?
’A monster from Prima Materia...!’
The horrific nightmare of the Saintess incident, a mory he had tried to bury, was being forcibly dragged back to the surface. As he watched it stand there on all fours, Simon desperately wished this were all a dream.
The white monster charged. The chaos in his mind instantly subsided, replaced by cold, combat logic.
’I’ll end this in one blow with Overlord.’
Simon stood his ground, summoning two of the Overlord’s blades. He raised one like a wall to block the monster’s attack, timing the second to erupt from the ground the instant the creature was stunned by the impact.
The second blade pierced the monster’s belly, lifting it into the air. Simon drew a skeleton’s shortsword from his Subspace, leaped onto the first blade, and vaulted into the air, cleanly severing the creature’s neck. As the white head separated from its torso, the monster’s body disintegrated into ash and vanished.
Landing softly on the sand, Simon tossed the shortsword into the air, where a Subspace portal opened and swallowed it whole.
"This confirms it."
The brief engagent had yielded crucial information. First, the creature was definitely a monster created by the ’Prima Materia’. Second, the ’Prima Materia’ was an artifact that endlessly created bizarre monsters based on the user’s power. And the power source was identical to the one Flema had used. This was, without a doubt...
’Divinity. Soone is using divinity to create these monsters again.’
The more information he gathered, the more tangled the mystery beca. How on earth did a Priest get onto Roc Island?
The sound of sothing dropping to the ground made Simon’s head turn. A scene that proved his hypothesis unfolded before him. The air wavered, and as if space itself were birthing it, a white lump fell to the ground. A single white monster was created from nothing. This one rose to stand on two feet like a human. The mont it was ford, it bared its teeth at Simon and assud an attack stance.
"Ah, seriously," Simon let out a hollow laugh and settled into a fighting stance. "If my guess is right, you people are truly vicious."
The monster kicked off the sand and charged.
---
Beneath the dim lighting, a thousand mana screens flickered to life, each displaying a different Kizen first-year student stranded across Roc Island.
—If my guess is correct, you people are truly vicious.
Hearing the voice of the first student to engage the enemy, the man sitting in the command chair smiled with amusent. "Yes, we are."
He swirled the wine in his glass. Dressed in a black uniform adorned with countless dals and epaulets, he held an ornate staff in his other hand. "You all knew this when you enrolled, didn’t you?"
His na was Evangellos Alphonia, an executive at Kizen Headquarters and a necromancer known by the moniker ‘The Needle’.
"Lord Evangellos." Two staff mbers approached his chair and bowed. "All 948 Kizen first-years have begun the test."
"Good, good." Evangellos waved a hand dismissively, and the staff returned to their stations.
Magical devices called ‘Observers’ flew through the sky, following the students and transmitting video to the mana screens. The Observers were, of course, invisible to the students.
"While there are sharp ones like that boy..." Evangellos’s gaze shifted from Simon’s screen to another. "There are also plenty of babies who’ve fallen into a panic."
—Ugh! Aaghh!
—Why is that on Roc Island?!
—Wasn’t it all over?!
—No! No! No! No!
Evangellos laughed out loud. Students collapsing. Students screaming. Students sobbing. Students denying reality. The end of their first sester had been a horrific experience they didn’t even want to recall—the unprecedented event where a Saintess had personally entered Kizen, trapped the first-years with a barrier, and attempted to massacre them all. They were the only generation to have endured such a thing. Though no one had died, many were injured, and many still suffered from traumatic pain and nightmares.
But Kizen, rather than comforting their wounds, chose to viciously rip them open, demanding that they confront their past and conquer it.
"Co on, co on!" Evangellos waved his staff, his voice rising. "How long are you going to wear that great uniform and just cry? Get a grip! If you don’t want to die, pull yourselves together and fight!" He scoffed. "No one even died back then, did they? Don’t talk about trauma over sothing so trivial! It really must be an era of peace. You’ll experience far more horrific things in the field. The babies who can’t even endure this much..." Evangellos’s eyes glinted. "Are not worthy of calling themselves Kizen."
The staff mbers, sneaking glances at him while they worked, felt a chill run down their spines.
Evangellos turned his head. "Everyone, stay sharp and carefully monitor the students’ psychological states and actions. We’re imdiately disqualifying anyone whose ability to handle the situation is significantly lacking."
"Yes, sir!"
---
"Haaah!" Simon let out a ragged breath and lowered his leg. The monster, struck squarely in the head by a Jet-black-infused roundhouse kick, went limp before scattering into the air. He had just defeated his tenth one.
’If I keep fighting them one by one, this will never end.’ He needed a clear course of action.
Two scenarios ford in his mind. Either Efnel had truly attacked Kizen and stolen the ’Prima Materia’ to create an endless supply of monsters, or Kizen was staging all of this as a test. He was leaning toward the latter. The timing and circumstances were just too artificial. The idea of the great Kizen losing the ’Prima Materia’ to Priests again seed too incompetent, and the fact that Efnel’s offensive occurred on the exact day of the opening ceremony was too convenient. He also had faith that the moderate Saintess Israphel would have prevented a war, unless the Pope had completely changed his stance.
’But don’t you need a Priest to create these white monsters? How did Kizen make them?’ The thought flickered through his mind, but he shook his head, setting the question aside. Chasing every question would lead nowhere. What was certain was that, either way, he had to get to the Kizen campus. If this were a test, it would end the mont he arrived. If it was a real attack, he had to get to the command center even more urgently to stop the ’Prima Materia’ from being used.
’Alright, let’s go.’
Having made his decision, Simon took a step forward. Honestly, it was less a strategic judgnt and more that he was consud by worry for his friends, as their whereabouts were unknown. For now, all he could do was trust in their skills as fellow Kizen students.
He hadn’t walked far before he spotted more monsters. A group of seven, a mix of small, dium, and large types, was charging toward him.
’I don’t have ti to deal with them one by one.’
Simon ignited the Jet-black in his legs and plunged straight into the horde. He dodged a small one’s attack and vaulted onto a dium one’s back. The larger monsters swung their fists, but Simon leaped again, running up a giant’s arm and onto its body in an instant. As they stumbled over each other, their low intelligence working against them, Simon leaped from the large monster’s shoulder.
’Bone Armor!’
A Subspace opened, and two skeletons attached themselves to his body.
’Forward!’
With an Absolute Command, he activated the skeletons’ traction, creating a glider-like effect. Simon’s body slid swiftly through the air as the monsters behind him beca a tangled ss.
’Test or not, I’ll end this madness as quickly as possible!’ He would speed past the small fry and head for Kizen by the shortest route.
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