Inside the shattered heart of the forest‑city, three figures stood facing one another.
Evangeline. Aiden and Arthur.
The trees around them were broken and scorched, the ground split and blackened from countless clashes. With every elimination, the world had shrunk further until only this small battlefield remained.
They stared each other down.
Arthur broke the silence first.
"Do you two really still want to fight?" he asked, stretching his shoulders. He rested his sword casually against one of them. "To be honest, guys... I’m tired as hell."
Evangeline snorted.
"So why don’t you just eliminate yourself," she said, "and rest all you want afterwards?"
Arthur shrugged.
"Yeah, I was thinking about that," he admitted. "But as you can see, there are only three of us left. After all the hard work I did eliminating the strongest contenders, it doesn’t feel right to just walk away and let you two eat the cake."
He smiled.
"So why not take first place myself?"
Aiden stepped forward.
The wind caught his white hair, making it flare around his face like a halo.
"Then that leaves with no choice," Aiden said quietly. "I’ll just have to kick your ass."
Inside his mind, a separate thought pulsed.
’Besides, I still have to complete that quest,’ Aiden thought. ’Physique of Annihilation... there’s no way I’m letting that reward slip.’
He looked at Arthur’s relaxed posture, at the blood drying on his clothes, at the terrifying calm in his eyes.
’But can I...?’ he wondered.
Evangeline rolled her shoulders once.
"Works for ," she said. "The two of you can fight it out, and I’ll take care of whoever’s left. How does that sound?"
"I’m fine with that," Aiden replied, confidence returning. "I don’t need help to defeat him."
"Yeah, not happening," Arthur cut in.
He shook his head.
"Let’s do it like this instead," Arthur said. "We all use the most powerful move we have left. One each."
He tapped his chest with the tip of his sword.
"The one who remains standing is the winner."
A warning flickered in his mind.
[ You have less than 15% of mana reserves left. ]
’It’ll be enough for at least one move,’ Arthur thought back. ’That’s all I need.’
Evangeline considered it for a heartbeat.
"Fine," she said.
Aiden hesitated a little longer, then nodded.
"Alright," he said. "Works for ."
The three of them exchanged looks.
No more tricks.
No more half‑asures.
They all nodded once.
Then the air changed.
Evangeline raised her left arm.
A bracelet‑like artifact appeared around her wrist, tal unfolding from compressed space with a soft click. It clamped into place, dull and unassuming—only for a second.
Then it awakened.
Golden light burst from the band, racing up her arm. Plates of radiant tal ford out of thin air, layering over her body like flowing liquid that hardened into armor. In the space of a breath, Evangeline was no longer just a girl with a gun.
She was a walking fortress.
Gold‑white armor covered her from neck to toe, fitted perfectly to her fra, lines elegant rather than bulky. Glowing patterns ran along the plates, pulsing like a heartbeat. A faint, transparent veil extended half a step away from the tal, like a barely visible shell of light.
Power surged through her muscles.
She felt heavy—and yet completely unmovable.
’So this is it,’ Evangeline thought. ’The real Aegis.’
Arthur let out a low whistle.
"Wow," he said. "System, what the hell is that?"
A window materialized in front of his eyes.
_________________________________________
"ARTIFACT ANALYSIS"
Owner: Evangeline Cael Ashford
Active Skill: Aegis Armor
Rank: Mythical
Description:
A legendary armor forged from the concept of absolute defense. The armor has completely manifested around the target.
Effects:
• Physical Damage Immunity
• Knockback Immunity
• Instant Manifestation
Remaining Duration: 02:00
Mana Consumption: Extrely High
Threat Assessnt:
Physical attacks ineffective while Aegis Armor remains active.
[ Warning: Current probability of inflicting physical damage upon the target: 0.1% ]
_________________________________________
Evangeline flexed her gauntleted fingers, golden light flaring around the joints.
"Now the playing field seems a bit more even," she said. "You two also have... things to cheat your way out of death."
She smirked.
"And I knew I’d need this, so I took it from the royal treasury. Mother is probably fuming right now."
She was right.
In the VIP hall, Eliana watched her daughter wrapped in golden armor, fingers pressed against her forehead.
"That girl is in so much trouble if she doesn’t win," Eliana muttered. "She stole an SS‑rank artifact from the royal vault on exam day..."
The nobles around her looked like they weren’t sure whether to be horrified or impressed.
Back in the forest‑city, Aiden closed his eyes.
"Guess it’s my turn," he said.
He reached deep inside himself, calling up the skill he rarely touched—because he knew what it did to his body.
A burning sigil lit up on his chest, visible even beneath his clothes, lines of light racing across his skin like cracks in reality.
______________________________________
✦ Worldbreaker ✦
Rank: SS
Type: Ultimate Enhancent
Description:
A high‑grade enhancent skill that temporarily releases the user’s physical and magical limits, drastically increasing all attributes for a short period. The imnse power granted cos at the cost of severe mana consumption and strain on the body.
Effects:
• All Stats 1000%
Duration: 5 minutes
[ The user’s limiters have been forcibly removed. ]
______________________________________
Power erupted from Aiden like a detonation.
The ground beneath his feet fractured and sank half an inch. Air warped around him, ripples of pressure spreading out in every direction. His muscles tightened, veins standing out under his skin, white hair whipping wildly despite the absence of wind.
His aura roared upward like a pillar, dense and violent.
For a fleeting mont, Arthur and Evangeline both felt it—the sensation that sothing was trying to punch through the sky itself.
Aiden opened his eyes.
They glowed faintly, pupils thin and sharp.
"Worldbreaker," he exhaled. "Let’s see if you’re worth all the hard work I’ve done to obtain you."
Arthur watched the transformation with open interest.
"Looks like it’s my turn now, huh?" he said.
Another window opened before him.
[ Skill: Wrath of the Blood God ]
[ Rank: SS ]
[ Type: Active – Catastrophic Amplification ]
[ Description:
By sacrificing a massive amount of blood (own or gathered), the user may enter a state of apocalyptic rage. For a limited ti, physical power, speed, regeneration, and bloodline authority are pushed far beyond normal limits.
In this state, every attack leaves behind lingering blood corruption that weakens enemies and may cause their blood to rebel against them.
Side effects: After use, the user suffers severe backlash—extre exhaustion, temporary stat reduction, and increased instability of Hunger. Excessive use may damage the user’s sanity. ]
Arthur grinned.
"Let’s try this one," he said. "This ti."
He bit the inside of his cheek hard enough to draw blood.
Crimson flowed over his tongue, and he swallowed it, calling the skill by na in his heart.
[ Wrath of the Blood God has been activated. ]
Heat slamd into his veins like molten tal.
His heart pounded once—twice—then began to beat like a war drum, shaking his chest. Blood surged through his body with unnatural force, every vessel burning. His skin took on a faint crimson sheen, veins darkening under the surface.
His pupils thinned, turning a deep, predatory red.
The air around him reeked faintly of iron.
Blood mist seeped from his pores, coiling around him like a cloak, then sinking back into his skin. Each breath he took felt heavy, full of power—like he could crush boulders with his bare hands and still have strength to spare.
His aura, once heavy and oppressive, now beca sharp and feral.
Every movent radiated barely contained violence.
In the VIP hall, more than one elder flinched when his presence spiked on the detectors.
"What kind of... power is that?" soone whispered.
No one answered.
Back on the battlefield, Arthur rolled his neck, joints popping.
The cuts and bruises on his body wriggled unnaturally, then began to close faster, flesh knitting and sealing as the enhanced regeneration kicked in. The blood on his skin seed to obey him, sliding down his arm to coat the blade of his sword in a thin, glistening layer.
The black tal drank it in.
A faint, hungry hum vibrated through the weapon.
Evangeline, wrapped in golden armor.
Aiden, blazing with Worldbreaker’s unleashed power.
Arthur, wreathed in the wrath of a Blood God.
The three of them stood in the ruined clearing, each radiating enough pressure to crush ordinary examinees just by existing.
And they were all staring at one another, waiting for the signal neither of them intended to give.
All three of them launched forward at once.
Aiden’s aura roared like a collapsing star, every step cracking the ground. Evangeline’s golden armor shone with blinding light as she leapt back, taking distance instead of closing it. Arthur advanced with asured strides, blood‑red eyes calm in the midst of chaos.
Evangeline moved first.
Her main strength now was simple—she did not have to care about physical damage.
In the span of a breath, multiple weapons appeared in her hands and around her—sleek handguns, long‑barreled rifles, compact shotguns, all conjured from storage artifacts hidden under that armor. She dual‑wielded pistols while semi‑floating gun arrays locked onto Arthur and Aiden.
Muzzle flashes erupted like a fireworks show.
A storm of bullets and mana‑charged rounds scread across the clearing, tearing through broken trees and shattered buildings on their way to the two boys. Each round hit like a small spell, puncturing stone and blasting apart anything unprotected.
Aiden t them head‑on.
He swung his sword in wide, brutal arcs, Worldbreaker‑enhanced strength cutting bullets out of the air in streaks of silver. Blades of compressed wind followed in the wake of his slashes, detonating the projectiles before they could reach him.
Arthur simply walked.
Every bullet that entered the invisible halo around his body slowed as if hitting thick syrup. The closer they tried to get, the slower they beca, until each round lost all montum and dropped harmlessly to the ground in front of him.
Infinity.
tal clinked at his feet, forming a spreading ring of failed attempts.
Evangeline’s eye twitched behind her visor.
"Tch... you two are so damn annoying," she muttered.
Arthur disappeared from her sight.
The next instant, he was in front of her.
He did not swing his sword.
He simply drove his shoulder and body weight into her with all the terrifying power Wrath of the Blood God granted him.
The impact sounded like a thunderclap.
A massive crater ford where Evangeline’s armored body slamd into the ground, dirt and stone flying in every direction. The shockwave flattened nearby trees and sent cracks racing across the already tortured landscape.
Evangeline’s vision blurred for half a second.
But her body was uninjured.
No pain. No broken bones. No bruises.
Aegis Armor had absorbed everything.
She kicked off the crater floor and flipped backward, golden boots digging into the ground as she created distance again.
"Still zero damage," she muttered. "Good."
Aiden used the opening.
He appeared at Arthur’s side, sword already descending. His strikes ca fast and relentless, one after another, each blow strong enough to crush stone. Worldbreaker turned every swing into a lethal teor.
Arthur t them with empty hands and minimal blade movent.
Infinity slowed the sword in that critical half‑ter zone, giving his enhanced mind just enough ti to slip his weapon or forearm into the right position. Sparks flew as steel t the invisible distortion, then skidded harmlessly away from Arthur’s body.
Aiden clicked his tongue.
’He’s blocking everything...’ Aiden thought. ’At this rate, my ti will run out before I land a clean hit. I’ll have to finish this fast.’
Arthur felt the strain, too.
His head throbbed with the constant calculations Infinity demanded. Mana leaked out of him like water through a cracked dam, his bloodline and Wrath fighting for dominance inside his veins.
He exhaled slowly and lowered his sword.
His stance shifted.
From a swordsman’s guard—to a martial one.
He slid his right foot forward, left foot angled, body slightly turned. His hands ca up open, fingers relaxed, posture coiled like a dragon resting on a cliff edge, ready to strike.
From a distance, Evangeline kept firing.
Her bullets turned buildings into rubble, shattered boulders, and pulverized entire clusters of trees. But every shot either bounced off Arthur’s invisible barrier or died against Aiden’s spinning sword.
The pressure in her chest grew.
"We’re wasting ti," she hissed.
On the ground, Aiden narrowed his eyes.
"Don’t look down on ," he said.
He shifted his grip.
His sword technique changed.
He stepped in and unleashed a blinding flurry—thrusts, slashes, and diagonal cuts flowing into one another in a seamless storm. Each strike followed an unpredictable trajectory, layered over the last, leaving afterimages like a cage of silver light closing around Arthur.
Worldbreaker amplified everything.
So strikes were feints, ant only to force Infinity to split its attention. Others were angled to hit in the sa microsecond from different directions, pushing the limits of Arthur’s reaction and calculation speed.
His mana reserves were low.
Infinity flickered.
Several of Aiden’s strikes slowed—but not all.
A few slid through the gaps in Arthur’s timing, grazing his arm, shoulder, and side. Thin lines of blood burst across his skin, staining his clothes crimson.
’Got you,’ Aiden thought, eyes sharp.
Arthur grinned.
"Not bad," he said.
Then he inhaled.
Qi and mana swirled together, gathering around his body in spiraling streams. The air above them darkened as if sothing enormous pressed against the sky from the other side.
"Celestial Dragon Flow," Arthur whispered. "Fifth form—Starfell Descent."
The world answered.
From high above, a titanic blade of condensed qi and blood‑red light ford in the sky, spanning the width of the battlefield. It looked less like a sword and more like a falling star shaped into a weapon—a celestial dragon’s claw dragging fire across the heavens.
Everyone in the forest‑city looked up.
Even the spectators in the VIP hall could feel the shift through the projection screens.
"That’s... not an examinee‑level technique, what kind of monster yuna has trained." soone whispered.
The colossal strike descended.
It wasn’t a clean slash.
It was devastation.
The mont it crashed down, sound vanished. For one frozen heartbeat, there was nothing but blinding light and pressure. Then the shockwave hit, a tidal wave of force that leveled what remained of the forest‑city.
Trees vanished.
Buildings disintegrated.
The ground itself split open, forming deep scars that radiated out from the impact zone.
When the light finally faded and the dust began to settle, half the exam field was simply gone—reduced to a shattered plain of smoking debris.
Aiden’s figure flickered near the edge of the crater.
He stared at the ruin with wide eyes.
Even with Worldbreaker roaring through his veins, even with all his stats amplified, he had barely survived by throwing everything into defense at the last second.
Then his body began to turn translucent.
"No way..." Aiden whispered. "I still... lost?"
His form flickered again.
And vanished into motes of light.
Evangeline’s eyes widened inside her helm.
"What a monster," she breathed.
The tir on her armor reached its limit.
Aegis Armor shattered into golden fragnts that dissolved into the air, leaving her once again in her exam outfit, hair disheveled, face pale with exhaustion.
All her mana was gone.
When the last piece of armor vanished, Arthur was already standing in front of her.
His expression was cold and blank.
"You really are," Evangeline said quietly, "the most terrifying guy I’ve ever t."
Arthur did not answer.
He raised two fingers and pressed them lightly against a precise point on her neck.
Her consciousness cut out imdiately.
Her body dissolved into motes of light and disappeared from the exam.
Wrath of the Blood God unraveled.
Infinity dropped.
Arthur’s last reserves of mana burned out.
His legs buckled, and he dropped to his knees, chest heaving as if he had sprinted for hours. Every muscle scread. His vision swam with black spots, and a dull, pounding ache filled his skull.
He let himself fall backward onto the cracked earth, staring up at the warped sky of the collapsing simulation.
A wide, exhausted smile spread across his face.
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