Disarray

The Instructor flushed in anger and scolded Alastor, "Student Alastor! Do you not have any respect for me?!"

'It is so funny that you are saying this, sir.'

It was the peak of hypocrisy. The Instructor was the one who started this whole ordeal, choosing a ridiculous battle with only death being forbidden. 

So, even if Alastor crippled Havin, which he technically did, the Instructor did not have any rights to be angry with him. 

"Instructor, did I perhaps stutter?"

Alastor tilted his head slightly and absorbed the Chaos Mana scythe into his body before continuing, seeing the Instructor about to explode into a rage fit. 

"As I said, the only rule was to not kill my opponent. That was according to you, so if anyone had any complaints, it is only right that they solve it with you. Not me. Am I wrong?"

Alastor did not like to play the meek sheep. The Instructor could clearly see him unwilling to step back. That made him bite the bullet before dismissing everyone. 

"Fine. Everyone, the Ascension Battle between student Alastor and student Havin had been concluded! The winner is student Alastor, now to officially ascend, I personally am going to make sure to pick a fitting opponent."

The Instructor waved and two medics came running in, carrying Havin and running out as fast as they could. 

The students also carefully retreated, afraid of saying anything to the angry Instructor or to stare too long at the dangerous Alastor. 

However, if they actually looked closely, they'd realize Alastor's pathetic state. The Magic Circles inside his body were clashing against each other, causing him to cough blood to his hand. 

Evan quickly came to aid him out of the Training Hall and out of everyone's prying gaze. He handed him a handkerchief with a frown. 

"You have never shown your true chant before, Alastor, are you sure of what you are doing now?"

Letting out a soft chuckle past his lips, Alastor nodded, ignoring the dizziness as he did so. 

"Indeed. Why would I not? There is no normal human who can control chaos! They can come at me with any accusations they would like to have."

'In fact, it would be better that way.'

Alastor did not need to be too low-key now, he needed to show off his power and to dive through the ranks as fast as possible. 

The second mission would come along the way with that. He would not take obvious useless weight with him, only the ones that could be used would be allowed. 

By the end of the day, the Esme Game was still a weird concept for him. Did it perhaps contain some team battle? Given how the game system had told him to gather one. 

But receiving that much information from the system was always dubious at best… 

"I can only trust myself and my own eyes."

Evan fell silent at that as they both approached the dorm amidst being surrounded by the piercing gazes of the students. There were a few specifically glaring at them, as if they wanted to kill them both. 

The news of the Ascension Battle had spread across the campus and easily enough, everyone was paying attention to Alastor and waiting for his downfall. 

The classes had been quiet due to people losing hope in Ascension, but if someone managed it… 

Chaos would be the main theme of the Academy by then. 

"We would be in trouble from now on, oh shit, I just realized I also need to join one battle."

Evan ruffled his hair in annoyance once they were alone. He had been holding back to stay in the average class alongside Alastor, thinking he would be able to protect him in case something bad happened. 

That was never needed, thankfully.

More importantly, Evan realized something by invading Alastor's brain earlier. 

"Alastor, your body is torn apart."

He calmly stated, looking at Alastor who was bleeding from his mouth and his nose. 

"You shouldn't have used your real chant."

The Circles in Alastor's body were in disarray, worrying Evan who had just informed him about a way to fix them. 

"Are you doing this because you are trusting me? I've never tried that gemstone, what if it turned out to be useless?"

Alastor was usually more cautious, this level of recklessness did not settle well with Evan who could not think of any other reasons. 

Now, they would need to fight and struggle their way up through the classes and the ranks. However, Evan paused at that.

It was at that moment that he realized– he and Alastor chatted about a lot, but they never discussed the Ascension. They knew each other very well. Despite that, Evan did not find any reason for Alastor wanting to ascend. 

Alastor only waved him away carelessly without any answers. Why should he give any answers for that question? 

Evan was yet to be trusted and Alastor's mind was too foggy to come up with a believable excuse. 

'That item is strong, chaos mana is not good at dealing with this kind of magic without damaging my body. I would need to meditate a lot tonight.'

As for now, they were only in the middle of the day. Alastor could not afford losing some time over his body being a mess. He stood up, wiped the dripping blood and told Evan, 

"I need to go and meet someone. For now, I'd suggest arranging your own Ascension Battle before it becomes too late to follow me."

Seeing that smirk with the bloody handkerchief almost made Evan facepalm. Whatever, if his friend was that confident, there was nothing wrong with following him. 

After all, it was Alastor who always saved their asses from danger. 

As for where Alastor was heading, he had planned to bid a cute young lady that sniffed him good. It was the right time to make her pay for that. 

Vian surely is not going to mind helping him when he asks for it.