WVKWnovel Chapter 140 - 139 : Start of the Battle royal
Chapter 140 - 139 : Start of the Battle royal
Every student on the training ground was buzzing with anticipation and excitement. The noise was low but constant—whispers, nervous laughs, the clink of weapons and armor as candidates shifted their weight from foot to foot.
Athena stood at the front like a calm eye in the center of a storm.
"The rules of that magical space are simple," Athena said. "The area I am sending you to will be a mix of a large forest and a large city."
Murmurs rippled through the crowd.
"The examination will be a battle royale between all students present here," she continued. "It will be held in a special magical space, and the top forty students with the highest scores will be allotted to the special class. The rest will be allotted according to their ranks."
She let the words sink in.
A moment later, a student hesitantly raised his hand.
"Do we... have to kill the other students to eliminate them?" he asked.
Athena and several professors chuckled softly at the bluntness of the question, but she still gave a clear answer.
"Of course, you have to kill them," Athena said.
The training ground erupted in shocked murmurs. Some students went pale, others stiffened.
Seeing their reactions, the vice dean shook her head and stepped forward to clarify.
"Of course, nothing will actually happen to you even if you get yourself killed in that magical space," she said. "You will simply be thrown out of the magical space back to reality."
She paused, then added, "There will be some backlash if you die brutally, though. But you will be alright after getting some rest."
A nervous laugh spread through a portion of the crowd, but no one seemed fully reassured.
Athena took over again.
"So, in simple words," she said, "the magical space will get smaller as time goes by. For every student you kill, you will get one point. The more you kill, the more points you get."
She smiled faintly behind her veil.
"And to make it more interesting, I have added a new rule. You can also transfer your points to anyone you want... if you can spare them, that is."
Everyone’s mind spun at once.
’Why would anyone do that in a kill‑or‑die situation?’
Arthur’s eyes narrowed slightly.
’This woman is a cunning fox,’ he thought. ’By adding that, she’s causing even more chaos. Now people can form groups to fight against the strong candidates, with less chance of betrayal since they can move points around.’
Athena continued, her tone turning sharper.
"You will not get any points by just surviving. So hiding is not an option."
She raised a hand, and a faint projection of a map appeared in the air.
"The magical space will be like a huge forest with a large city inside it," she said. "As time passes, it will begin shrinking, pushing everyone remaining toward the center."
She closed her hand and the map faded.
"Your scores will be shown to you automatically the moment you say ’Rankings’.
A window will materialize in front of you, displaying your kills and ranking. The examination will end when only one candidate is left."
She looked over the gathered students.
"Do your best," Athena said. "Many people have come to the academy today specifically to see your performance."
Arina smiled unconsciously.
’Have Father and Mother also come to see me?’ she wondered, her heart beating a little faster.
Damian’s eyes hardened.
’Is Father watching?’ he thought.
Other candidates also smiled or straightened their backs. Knowing that important people were watching gave them another reason to give their all.
In the next second, the ground beneath their feet began to glow with intricate magic circles, lines of light spreading outward in complex patterns.
"Prepare yourselves," a staff member shouted.
Students tightened their grips on weapons, steadied their breathing, or activated defensive artifacts.
The light grew brighter—
And in the next instant, all of them vanished.
Silence fell over the now‑empty training ground. Only Athena remained standing there, her veil fluttering slightly in the fading glow of the magic.
She looked around once, then smirked.
A heartbeat later, she also vanished, her body dissolving into light as she was transported somewhere else entirely.
She reappeared in a vast hall.
Rows upon rows of luxurious chairs were arranged in tiers, stretching out across the room like an arena for kings. On those seats sat some of the world’s most influential and powerful people—emperors, dukes, clan heads, guild masters, and legendary adventurers—each radiating their own overwhelming presence.
They had all come here to watch. To see the performance of their children, their relatives, their disciples, or whatever other relationship tied them to a candidate in the exam.
Adrian Evan Imperius and Sylvia Evan Imperius were also present among them, seated in a prominent position. Sylvia’s gaze searched for Arina’s name on the projection screens floating in the air.
But Adrian’s eyes were not on Arina at all.
His attention was fixed somewhere else entirely, narrowed on a single name and figure within the vast crowd of candidates now being displayed inside the magical space.
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Inside the magical space was a huge forest—endless trees stretching in every direction, their canopies forming a thick green roof.
But threading through that forest, as if someone had dropped a modern city right into the middle of it, were wide streets, tall buildings, and clusters of stone and metal towers.
It was a strange sight for anyone to see; nature and civilization colliding in a way that should have felt wrong, but somehow didn’t.
On the rooftop of one of the larger buildings, a black‑haired boy’s body materialized in a flash of light.
Arthur.
He steadied himself, then walked to the edge of the rooftop and looked around.
From this height, he could see almost everything. A sea of treetops swayed in the wind, broken up by blocks of city structures—rooftops like his, plazas, narrow alleyways, and wide roads that cut through the forest like rivers of stone.
Birds circled above, occasionally passing through shimmering distortions in the air where the edge of the magical space twisted the light.
"Damn," Arthur said quietly. "It’s a sight to behold."
He took his time studying the area.
Trees grew right up against the sides of buildings, roots wrapping around concrete, branches brushing against windows. Some rooftops were half‑covered in moss, others reflected the sky like mirrors. In the far distance, he could see a tall clock tower rising from the center of the city, its hands frozen at midnight—a silent landmark.
Arthur scanned the rooftops and streets below again.
"Looks like none of my friends are nearby," he muttered. "It’s going to be a hassle to find them and group up."
He thought for a second, then shrugged.
"Moving independently seems like a better option right now," he said. "Besides, I’m good at working alone."
Just as Arthur finished that thought, he felt it—fluctuations in the mana around him.
Five more candidates materialized on the same rooftop, their bodies forming out of light one after another.
Arthur smiled.
"Looks like it’s started," he said.
The five students blinked, taking in their surroundings. Then their eyes landed on Arthur.
A chill ran down all their spines at once.
"Damn... just had to meet him the second I entered," one of them muttered under his breath.
The other four didn’t say it out loud, but the look in their eyes said the same thing.
After a brief, tense silence, one of the boys stepped forward, forcing a grin onto his face.
"Look, dude," he said, raising both hands in what he hoped looked like a peaceful gesture. "You look short on allies. I can be one if you want. I’ll do everything you ask. You’ll just have to share a bit of points with me. What do you say?"
A small ball of flame materialized in his hand, burning steadily.
"I have a C‑rank talent," he added quickly. "I’ll be very useful to you."
The other four immediately jumped in.
"Same here, I’m good with tracking skills."
"I can set traps. We can control this entire building if we work together."
"Sharing points is better than fighting, right?"
"We just want to be on your side."
Arthur looked at them, then spread his arms wide in a welcoming motion.
"Friends, I really appreciate the offer," he said.
His eyes, however, turned cold.
"But my master’s watching," he continued. "And she hates relying on others for survival. So you guys will have to die."
The words had barely left his mouth when all five of them moved at once.
They lunged toward him like hungry wolves, weapons and skills activating in the same instant. Without planning it, they all understood they needed to work together to defeat him. No words were needed.
Arthur’s body blurred.
To the students watching from the observation hall, it looked as though his figure simply vanished and reappeared in multiple places at once.
The first attacker swung his sword down at where Arthur had been standing.
Arthur wasn’t there.
Instead, he appeared right beside the boy’s extended arm. His hand shot forward, fingers striking a precise point between the ribs.
The boy’s eyes widened. His body went limp, and he crumbled to the ground, dissolving into motes of light before he even hit the rooftop.
At the same time, another candidate tried to hurl his fireball from the side. Arthur turned with almost lazy smoothness, stepping just inside the arc of the man’s arm. His elbow snapped up, smashing into the boy’s throat.
The fireball flickered out. The second candidate collapsed, his body also breaking apart into glowing fragments and vanishing.
The remaining three tried to adjust.
One came from behind, dagger drawn, aiming for Arthur’s spine.
Arthur bent forward slightly, as if bowing.
The dagger sliced through empty air. Arthur’s heel lashed backward, connecting with the attacker’s knee. The joint bent in the wrong direction with a sickening crack, and Arthur’s hand struck the back of his neck a split second later. The third candidate dropped, vanishing like the others.
The fourth boy panicked and activated a defensive barrier around himself, a translucent blue shell of mana. He tried to back away, shouting,
"Stay back, I have—"
Arthur’s palm touched the barrier lightly.
Then he pushed.
Cracks spider‑webbed across the mana shield like glass under pressure. With a sharp shatter, it broke, and Arthur’s fingers tapped the boy’s chest over his heart.
The fourth candidate froze, then his body burst into light.
The last one, the C‑rank flame user, gritted his teeth and hurled a barrage of fireballs, filling the rooftop with explosions.
For a moment, the entire roof was a storm of flame and smoke.
When the fire dissipated, Arthur stood at the center, completely unharmed, his clothes barely singed.
He stepped forward once. The flame user flinched.
Arthur disappeared.
He reappeared in front of the boy, so close their noses almost touched. His hand shot upward in a straight, clean strike to the chin, snapping the boy’s head back. Before gravity could even drag him down, Arthur followed with a second strike to the solar plexus.
The fifth candidate’s body broke apart into shining motes of light, fading into the air.
Silence settled over the rooftop. Five kills, five movements—each one precise, efficient, and fatal.
In the grand observation hall, many of the spectators watching Arthur’s screen were stunned.
’He took out five at once... with that level of precision,’ more than one person thought.
Adrian Evan Imperius watched the scene with cold indifference, his expression barely changing as the replay of Arthur’s movements looped on the floating display in front of him.
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Meanwhile—somehwere else...
In front of the Imperius manor in the real world, a golden‑haired man stood waiting. Lucas Evan Imperius adjusted the cuff of his sleeve and glanced down the road.
A black Lamborghini rolled up to the entrance and came to a smooth stop.
The door opened, and a woman with pink hair and cool grey eyes stepped out. Her hair was tied in a loose high ponytail, strands framing her face. She wore casual clothes—a fitted black turtleneck, a light beige jacket over it, and slim dark jeans tucked into ankle boots. Simple, but on her, the outfit looked effortlessly ravishing.
It was Yuna Akatsuki.
She looked toward Lucas with a bored expression, as if she had been dragged out of bed for something trivial.
"Miss Yuna, thank you for answering my grandfather’s call," Lucas said politely. "He is waiting for you inside."
Without saying a word, Yuna gave a small nod and walked past him. Lucas immediately took the lead, moving ahead of her as she followed him into the Imperius family manor.