Chapter 17 - Hatred's Cause

I used my appraisal on the giant demon to see what it really was.

｢Soul Reaver: A giant demon, subordinate of the Devil Lord. It steals the soul of the living and replaces the empty shell that the stolen soul was residing with a different, malicious one.

Rank: C ｣

It's just Rank C, but... I looked around and saw tens of the villager's body flailing about towards me.

｢Malicious Souls: Once a human, now a monster. They are souls that had made a pact to a Soul Reaver, taking over bodies that their masters reft off of.

Rank: E ｣

There are about fifteen of those Malicious Souls scattered around and that single Soul Reaver. Because they are scattered, my area of effect, or aoe, spells wouldn't do much.

I decided that I'll leave the Malicious Souls to Nightmare and take the Soul Reaver head on. The demon looked at me and grinned. I don't know why, but its face pissed me off.

Calm down, me. I'll end this in three strikes. I began my chant. I'm planning to cave the ground below where it's standing to slow down its movement. As expected, when I began my chant those Malicious Souls ran towards me.

Luckily I had Nightmare. He already took out three of them. I focused my mind on the spell. The Soul Reaver made its move. It opened a spacial rift beside it and took out a flaming battleaxe, moving towards me.

I finished my chant just as the Soul Reaver was slashing down towards me. It fell, but its slash left behind a flaming projectile and it headed towards me, fast.

I tried to dodge, but my arm was charred. I conjured a cool water and etched it into the spot. The pain was subsiding, but it still hurt like hell. Not that this will take me down, but I hate pain.

The demon was now trapped below the ground. Only its head was showing on th surface. I'll restrict his movements more by entangling it with roots. It took a while. The demon's resistance was futile. It gave out a deafening shriek.

But I managed to cover my ears in time. I was almost deafened once. I won't be deafened a second time.

Next, I moved as far away from the pit as possible. All the Malicous Souls were disposed by Nightmare. Even my mother and Lily, but this is all just an illusion. A test.

Nightmare stood beside me as I began to fuse two spells at once. Fire and Earth makes molten hot lava. It burnt me, so now it's that thing's turn to burn. This is a big move, so it'll consume a lot of mana. Should I give it a name? Next time, maybe.

A huge magic circle appeared above the deep pit and lava dripped down from it like honey. Another magic circle appeared above of the previous magic cirlce and it too was dripping lava.

The painful wails from the demon errupted from the pit. It tried to climb out, but all its flesh were now bones. Only its arm was safe and twitching. Soon, the same automated voice resounded in my head.

『Congratulations. You have completed the final test. You will be now transported to reality.』

And just like that, I came back to reality. The magic circle below me lost its glow and the headmaster's twin was sitting on his chair.

『Not bad, kid. I saw all of what you did in there, but only me. I was shocked when a Fanged Crawler appeared, but you easily deafeated it. The same with the Soul Reaver. You are blesses with strength, wits, and a strong familiar. I'm sure you'll take the top spot.』

Cheering can be heard outside and those voices called out a familiar name.

『Kyaaaaa~ Roland came out first! Look, he's even at the top!!』

『Roland~! Take me as your wife please!!』

『Roland is so cool! You're the best out there!』

Roland, huh. That guy who messed with Ciel and the twins. Let me check this guy out.

I bowed to the headmaster's twin, he told me his name was Ridel Rullen. I announced my leave and got out of the room.

In front of the stage, I saw Roland. Cheers from both man and woman resounded throughout the gymnasium. Roland himself was doing weird poses together with the cheers. I used my[Appraisal]Skill on him.

｢Name: Roland Witendon

Age: 14

Level: 24

Titles: Heir of a Duke, Ravager

Class: N/A

Subclass: N/A

Skill Points: 0

Skills:

Advanced Fire Magic

Elementary Earth Magic

Elementary Water Magic

Basic Lightning Magic

Unique Skills:

Frisk

Sense Danger

Blessings: N/A

Everyone finally noticed my existence and stared at me.

『Hey, who's that guy that finished the same time as Roland?』

『I don't know. Must be a commoner judging by his looks.』

『Hey, comonner! Hurry up and get out of the stage! You're dirtying Roland's surroundings.』

Hmm... I'll let them have the last laugh. I stood still, waiting for that moment and then DING! Look at that. My name is on the first place. I gave them a smug look and walked down the stage.

『Wha– Look! The first place was overtaken by someone! It must be that guy! That peasant took Lord Roland's spot!』

『Wait, no. Look! His name is Lake Thawst. That sounds awfully familiar...』

『Thawst? Do you mean Frostwind's Royalty? No way, must be a faker or something.』

『Idiot! Who can fake their identity at the academy?!』

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I arrived back at my seat. I noticed both Elizabeth and Ciel stood up and sat beside me. We talked a lot and noticed Jack was out. He passed the test clear as day by his expression.

I waited for the ranking board to update to find out where Jack was placed in. Roland's name disappeared from the board and was places at the 3rd place. It was replaces by Jack's very own name.

He noticed me looking and I gave him a smile with a thumbs up.

『Oh, if it isn't Jack.』

A heavy atmosphere descended down the stage.