Chapter 147: Practice Match (4)

In the end, Murka was unable to withstand the barrage of blows from Aizel and Zetto and was decapitated.

The real Murka would not have been so easily finished, but alas, that was as far as Edward’s fantasy would take him.

Still, everyone in the testing grounds knew that Murka was no ordinary black horn.

Zetto’s group was stunning and the majesty of Class A’s top powers was once again burned into the cadets’ minds.

Once out of the illusion, Zetto analyzed the Murka he had just faced.

‘This time, I was able to lead him to a moderate battle of attrition, but I don’t think I can fight a battle of attrition with a Murka who has already become a Black Horn…’

Realizing that Zetto was able to use dispel, Murka blocked his sword with the cold weapons around him.

It was an amazing application, even for a fantasy Murka.

‘It was exactly what the real Murka would do.’

Zetto thought.

He hadn’t revealed his full power, and neither had Aizel.

But then again, Murka hadn’t shown his full power, either, so… The math got complicated.

In any case, all Zetto wants is for Aizel not to die.

And for Aizel’s belligerence towards Murka, which Zetto has seen in this battle.

In the game, Aizel could fight alongside the player and still die.

‘…Maybe we should tie his hands.’

With that memory stuck in his head, Zetto felt that fighting with Aizel was too much of a risk.

Not that he hadn’t gained something.

The black-horned Murka he knew and the feeling of having just faced the Murka of Edward’s fantasy.

Zetto pictured his power clashing with the Murka and came to a conclusion.

‘I’m about to reach my limit.’

But he realized that he might be able to kill it at the cost of one life.

Zetto’s thoughts are knotted.

‘Well, at least I have one more life…’

It was a worthwhile investment, if only to bring Aizel to safety.

With that, Zetto’s group’s battle came to an end, and the last group to fight together was the C-class.

It was the group that Kaen was part of.

However, even though they were from Class C, their opponents were the same black-horned demons that the cadets from Class A were fighting and everyone was puzzled by this.

As Zetto watched, he thought to himself that there was no way Kaen would reveal her power, so there would be no upset.

Indeed, up until the middle of the battle, they were being outmaneuvered by the demon.

The cadets of Class C had protested to their instructors that this was unreasonable, but their instructor, Kaliman, had simply replied, “Trust me, trust yourself.”

The balance of power seemed to be off, but the battle continued.

But even as he uttered these words, Kaliman was growing impatient.

‘When… When will you reveal your power…Kaen?’

On the screen, Kaen was sweating profusely, barely able to withstand the demon’s attack.

Her legs staggering and her eyes trembling as Kaen looked like she was at the end of her rope but it was important to note that she was holding on, if only barely while her colleagues had been incapacitated early on.

In that moment, Kaen allowed the demon to attack her in an unorthodox manner.

She was hit in the abdomen by a blow from the demon, sending her flying and crashing into the wall.

‘She’s gone…’

Kaliman rubbed the corners of his eyes and didn’t think she could get up anymore.

This could only lead to two conclusions, either Kaen was too weak, or she had no intention of revealing her power now.

Either way, he’d wasted what could have been a valuable experience for the cadets.

If nothing else, it should have been a way for him to hand Kaen over to Edward.

And so it was that Kaliman was left with a throbbing headache.

“Oh…!”

A nameless cadet’s voice came from the screen, followed by…

“”Ooooooo!!!””

…followed by an exclamation.

Puzzled, Kaliman’s eyes immediately followed the screen.

On the screen, Kaen was standing tall.

‘The mood has changed.’

There was no sign of agitation.

Her eyes were calm and still, like a still lake.

‘So that’s what happened. It was all… an illusion.’

Only Kaliman understood Kaen’s intentions and as he suspected, it was all a stunt.

Awakening after being pushed to the limit, that was the scenario in Kaen’s mind.

“Ha.”

Kaliman smirked and Reina, who was next to him, looked at him and opened her mouth.

“You said you believed in her, is this what you meant?”

“Alas, I believed.”

The corners of Kaliman’s mouth twitched as he said that.

As he had firmly believed……Kaen was not normal.

‘I was right to leave her to Edward.’

Impressed with his own wisdom, Kaliman nodded.

He didn’t want any more messes since he’d been around too many of them since he was a kid.

He knew he had Edward to thank in more ways than one.

Kaen wiped the blood from her lip.

On her hands, she had a pair of black gloves.

The gloves she had once received from Zetto.

Underneath the gloves, Kaen wore the ring Zetto had given her on her ring finger.

It was her philosophy that an awakening should be accompanied by at least a slight change in appearance.

The reverse is about to happen as Kaen rushes toward the demon.

This was the moment when an unusual piece of Innocence Academy history was born: a cadet from Class C would be promoted to Class A before the main examination had even taken place.

***

In the barren lands far from the Innocence Academy, two demons rode horses with horns bared on their foreheads.

There was no reason for them to hide their horns.

This was their land, untouched by humans.

Grabbing the reins, the red-horned demon halted his horse and pointed to a building in the distance.

“I found it.”

The long-haired, pale-skinned man next to him spoke up.

“That’s where the unholy gather, where they serve the sinner…”

The man who spoke those words in a cold voice had a black horn sprouting from his forehead that emitted an ominous aura.

It was the current Legion Leader’s right-hand man, Murka.

Rumors of the arrival of a fellow devourer, known as the Second Coming of the Nameless One, in the land of men had long since spread through the land of demons.

Indeed, the rumors turned out to be true as an entire branch of the intelligence community was wiped out by the creature.

Because of this, most of the demons in the land of men are now on high alert.

But that was it…

It was another thing entirely to have heretics running amok in the Demon Lands, serving a criminal who dared to defy the Demon King.

The Nameless One was a demon who, in the distant past, had sought to take the throne of the Demon King.

Hundreds of years had passed, and yet there were still those drunk on his power and will.

The staff had identified their location, and Murka was about to dispatch them at the command of the Legion Leader.

“The soldiers have them trapped in that building.”

“Is that the end of the area?”

“Yes.”

The soldier who had followed the dispatch replied briefly, ending the explanation.

Murka gestures toward the building.

The soldier watching him is puzzled by the move, but the tone of Murka’s voice that follows makes it clear what he’s about to do.

“By order of the Legion Leader, you are hereby executed.”

There was no one to hear him, of course, as they were some distance from the building.

“What…?”

The soldier questioned, Murka glanced at him and smiled slightly.

“They’re going to die anyway, so what’s the point of being disposed of?”

“Lord Murka, but there are still soldiers in the building…!”

The soldier said in an urgent voice.

“Spiral.”

Murka twisted and clenched his hands at the large building that loomed in the distance.

A chunk of earth twists and in a clockwise axis, the twisted building compresses into a small sphere in the air.

Inside, many demons were crushed.

“This area is over, let’s move on to the next one.”

he could see from the distance that the sphere was oozing black demon blood.

Murka didn’t care about the lives of the soldiers; all he could think about was the urgency of taking care of this nuisance.

‘That Aizel Ludwig was alive…’

Only now did Murka realize the full extent of what had happened in the land of men.

Krektar was dead, and Zagoras was unreachable.

Alone with his thoughts, Albed had no choice but to tell their leader, Murka.

The news of his men’s deaths was not lost on him. In the first place, everyone around him was Murka’s pawn.

But for Murka, who had only just come to power, Aizel’s survival was not good news.

‘They say they’re my men, but they’re not. It’s going to be a lot of work, but I’ll have to do it myself…’

Murka had to make time to visit the land of men as soon as possible.

To do that, he’d better get this nuisance out of the way quickly.

“What the hell. Come on, don’t follow me.”

Murka, who had been leading the way on horseback, turned his head and called out to the frozen soldier.

“Ah… Yes!”

The soldier swallows hard and thinks to himself.

The current Murka is a monster, an insatiable monster who wants more power.

He had learned a little about the Nameless One while assisting the General Staff this time.

Until then, there had been few ways to find out more about the Nameless One, who had been condemned to oblivion.

Strangely, it was said that the Nameless One would never let his followers die alone, not even his ‘companions’.

A demon that preyed on its own kind took care of its companions.

It was a contradiction in terms, but perhaps it was just his mood, looking at the merciless Murka before him now, that made the Nameless One’s words seem more fitting.

***

In the afternoon after the joint battle Zetto hurriedly left the testing grounds.

Now that the battle was over, he was faced with the aftermath of the words that had already left his mouth, words that he would never be able to take back again.

Sierra hadn’t been seen since she’d gone into the Spectral Sword.

‘It was… yeah, a confession.’

After realizing the absurdity of his ‘love confession’ in the middle of a battle, Zetto was on his way to meet Geppeti at the dormitory.

He’s confused about himself, too… He needed Geppeti to give him a concise and definitive answer.

“What you said earlier… I want to hear the end of it…”

…an arm grabbed him.

It was Aizel.

“……”

Aizel stared at Zetto with her mouth agape and her golden eyes were filled with anticipation.

There was no way she could have missed him.

Zetto was instantly bound by the chain she extended.