Not Exactly What You See

There was a deafening crash as Lydia summoned huge magical spikes to attack Kailan, the boy raised his left hand with his sword to shield his eyes from the sudden blinding light that came as the objects came towards him. His body fell to the ground, but he managed to reposition himself with agility.

''AAH!''

With a scream, he rolled backward just in time to dodge most attacks, but it was impossible to respond to all of them and thus he received a worryingly severe amount of damage around his frail body.

A second had passed since the spikes had hit him; Lydia smiled and two glowing floating objects like headlights were shot off but stopped midway when they were hit by arrows fired by Erick.

Kailan shivered slightly, his once well-dressed body was now covered in bright red rags, the sight of blood flowing nonstop from bruises that were scattered all over his body. He angled his gaze again at Karina, who was chanting some sort of mantra under her breath in the corner of the coliseum, but almost immediately straightened up, his hand tightening on the sword he held.

Running backward had worn out the muscles in his legs, and now they burned and threatened to cramp during combat. But he couldn't let anything in the way slow him down in this current stretch of the duel, so Kailan increased his speed even more as he pushed his body to the extreme. Erick escorted Kailan, walking around the corners of the testing ground, having taken on the responsibility of protecting Karina and Kailan on the flank.

FISSSI

Lydia, the enemy mage, treated Kailan's team as if they were just training targets in a field geared toward empowerment. She quickly formed spears of ice that glowed a reddish color and fired in the direction of Erick's arrows to stop them from reaching her team members. The girl repeated this five more times in a short period at an incredible speed that surpassed Erick's bow shots, leaving him stunned.

At the same time, she summoned some magical darts that resembled a firearm bullet from Earth, the former world that Kailan lived.

Kailan awkwardly twisted his body to avoid the attacks, looking straight ahead as his physical situation became increasingly worrisome. One of the magic darts grazed Kailan's shirt and fell to the floor; he stepped on the sharp object, digging it deeper into the surface. Another dart hit Erick's shoulder as Kailan ran past him — the young man screamed and fell slightly forward, blood gushing from the wound.

Lydia, the girl behind Jonas who was the boy in front of Kailan, had obviously improved her aim, and her team's coordination proved more efficient than before. The darts came in greater numbers, but Karina finished reciting the mantra she'd been whispering for a few minutes, and a few system notification messages filled Kailan's vision. They were good notifications and gave the boy more motivation.

[The use of an external magic has been detected]

[The effects of the magic are beneficial to the user]

[The use of the magic has been accepted]

[Some of the user's wounds were healed]

[Your vitality was partially restored due to the effect of the spell]

[HP: 64% → 79%]

Karina was panting behind Kailan, she was clearly not as powerful as Lydia, but she had done a great job. The last remaining darts hit the ground beside Kailan who redirected them with his sword, the place was filled with screams of excitement and amazement at the surreal sword skill Kailan demonstrated.

The growing fear was visible on the faces of the boy's opponents, Kailan advanced without hesitation, there was no way to defend himself from the frequent bombardment of magics invoked by Lydia.

All he could do was try, imponderably, to outrun everyone who was there and attack them with all his physical strength, taking advantage as long as the magic's temporary strengthening effect remained.

Kailan continued to move, drawing his sword diagonally upward, severing a small part of Roland's arm. He brought his sword back to his chest, putting one of his feet back and turning in a semicircle to gain momentum, slicing through the poor boy's body once more.

Roland fell to the ground helplessly, his face distorted, and screams of pain erupted from his mouth, blood gushing out in large quantities on the floor, but nothing that was truly fatal to the boy.

FSHHH

Small silver needles sliced ​​through the air at terrifying speed, raining down on Kailan as he inched further and further towards Lydia and Jonas who were desperately trying to back away. Each of the projectiles made a terrible sound as it hit Kailan's sword blade, which knocked them down as if they posed no danger to him.

Although people were impressed by the boy's achievements, pain and exhaustion took over Kailan's arms and legs, making him want to pass out next to Roland who was lying on the floor, just watching the battle unfold calmly.

Where was the sword saint? The guy who'd endured so many attacks without surrender throughout his pathetic life, with every instinct honed for battle? What part of his mind had the real Kailan fled to?

He wouldn't give up here, it wasn't part of his personality to give up, it wouldn't be him if he simply surrendered to the trials that came his way!

Kailan tried to vary the pace of his steps, speeding up and slowing down, dodging left and right, going to where Lydia, the bitch who couldn't stop throwing magics at him, was. A few ice spears hit the ground, very close to his feet; he had been protected by Karina who used wind magic to redirect the shots and Erick who relentlessly shot arrows at opponents; his fingers were red because of the friction from pulling the bowstring so much.

Jonas made a strange, agile movement, piercing a part of Kailan's waist, causing him to feel extreme pain in his lower body. The boy gave him a hard look, trying not to show the pain he was feeling all over his body. What he was doing was not only putting his own life on the line to try to pass the entrance exam, but also the lives of his teammates, who didn't seem to care but looked tired.

'I didn't want to have to use that shit right now, because my body isn't in a proper physical state… But I don't see any other viable option.'

Kailan stopped, his heart racing, nearly hurting him when it hit his ribs. He closed his eyes ignoring his surroundings and visualized a strange energy in his mind, the people around him felt a wave of panic take over their bodies as they realized they didn't know what the hell was going on.

Kailan was connecting with the sword, it was no longer just a weapon for the boy, but a part of his body that could be used with simple commands. It was more philosophical than functional, but that was one of the things that made him earn the title of sword saint in his previous life, demonstrating an enormous amount of power when doing his 'ritual'.

A murderous aura spread through the space around Kailan, his sword began to glow in vibrant colors, looking like a rainbow and causing the mana around his hands to tremble. It was a spectacular sight, and all present were impressed by such an event.

Kailan opened his eyes, positioning himself with precision while appearing to be a completely different person than he was just seconds ago.

Step. step step

Jonas backed away, fear etched on every aspect of his face. He no longer cared about making the front lines of his team and only one thing was going through his mind right now: he needed to get away, no matter the means.

His legs trembled nonstop and couldn't take the weight of his body, so he stumbled, falling to the ground while everyone around him gaped. His eyes were fixed on the sight of the black-haired boy standing in front of him, who exuded an aura and murderous intent that displayed such superiority and power that it left him and even Kailan's team terrified.

He looked straight into Kailan's dark eyes, the only part of his bloodied face that looked alive. The boy had never met a vampire, but that sight reminded him of the pictures he'd seen in the books of the Kingdom's public library, with the pale white skin, the blood of their victims smeared across their body as a ritualistic sign, and the incredible amount of power; Kailan looked a lot like one, covered in bloodstains, and showing power unnatural for his age.

'Did this guy kill anyone? Is he an assassin, secret agent, or something similar?' Jonas wondered inwardly, his heart beating faster as the seconds passed.

For a second, even the spectators in the stands gasped, their eyes glued to the dark-haired boy who exuded surreal pressure. Kailan looked like someone who had trained for countless years but his appearance was that of a ragged 16-year-old boy.

No one could move, their bodies didn't respond to their commands, their eyes fixed on the black-haired silhouette, it was almost as if time had stopped for everyone and only Kailan could move in that space, separated from the fabric of space-time completely.

The black-haired boy raised his sword at a slanted angle, pointing in the direction of Lydia and Jonas, the remaining members of the opposing team. He positioned one leg on the floor to support his body and leaned forward with the weapon he held, following its movement as he felt a twinge of pain in his shoulder and the rest of the muscles in his poorly trained body.

''D-dodge it!'', Roland yelled trying to warn his companions, ''Roll to the side violently, just don't take it at all...!''

His words were muffled as Kailan shot forward with a crash, and mana surged through the air as he passed. Kailan grabbed the tip of the sword's hilt as he lunged, fixing his gaze in the direction he aimed.

'Sixth form of 𝐿𝑦𝑟𝑖𝑐 𝑆𝑡𝑦𝑙𝑒: 𝐼𝑛𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑜', Kailan said internally, stepping forward with a loud sound.

When executing that technique he had just thought of, a backspin was performed at surprising speed, accompanied by a clean swipe towards Lydia and Jonas, still motionless. His body weight was fully placed on the supporting leg, and the knee of the attacking leg bent forward, propelling a second attack. The glow on his sword split into two parts, slicing through parts of the coliseum which plummeted to the ground with a crash, startling many people.

BAAAAM!

''Who the hell is this kid?'', the high-ranking military in the stands asked themselves, still shivering with sweat pouring down their foreheads.

Lydia fell to the ground, startled but barely injured as the attack passed her side. As for Jonas, the boy looked like he had been beaten for hours and was leaning against the coliseum wall, completely bloodied, his eyes still open and half-watering.

All eyes turned once more to Kailan, who was looking at the worried air. His vision, once covered in blood running down his forehead, now became less clear and he felt his body go rigid as he read the various system notification messages that kept popping up before his eyes.

[User life has reached a critical point]

[User movements will be restricted]

[Your hands and arms are severely injured, your agility and dexterity will decrease drastically]

[Your legs and waist have severe bruises, agility will be drastically reduced]

[All skills and techniques used by the user will have their effects reduced]

[The 'Lyric Sword Technique' has been acquired]

[The 'Lyric Sword Technique' cannot be used at full strength]

[Some parts of 'Lyric Sword Technique' have been blocked]

''Shit, I knew this would happen...''

There was a strange sound, and suddenly Kailan fell to the ground as a metallic voice announced the end of the team fight.

''End of team combat! Team 1 is the winner! But the judges judged all six candidates fit to be part of the academy's student body, congratulations to all of you!''

Several people dressed in red military uniforms entered through huge entrances at the corner of the coliseum, sparkles poured from their hands and the wounds of the candidates, including Kailan, were slowly being healed.

Even so, the boy's consciousness ceased at the same instant that several system messages played in his head, preventing him from hearing them completely.

[Main quest successfully completed]

[Congratulations on completing the main quest!]

[15 exp was awarded as a rew…]