I stood there, battle-ready, my claymore feeling like a limb of my body.
A part of me screamed to flee. Eighty against three. Against a pragmatic monk fighter with six arms and golden light. The odds were suicide.
But another part screamed louder.
The thrill. The adrenaline. The berserker wanted to fight. It wanted this. It craved it.
"BLASPHEMY!!"
That one word broke something inside me. My body responded before my mind could catch up. I sprinted forward, ready to fight eighty people, my eyes locked solely on him.
He sprinted too. All six arms spread wide, golden Lumin radiating so hot I could feel it from across the deck.
Then—
A pillar of black flame erupted between us.
We both stopped.
"FIGHTING WILL NOT BE PERMITTED DURING THE REST PERIOD."
The flames dispersed. Five figures stood where the pillar had been. Up close, they were taller than anyone I'd ever seen. I was tall, but these beings were on another level entirely.
Two looked at me. One of them bent slightly, tilting its masked face to study me better. Two others focused on Rowan. The fifth stood between them, commanding attention from all of us. Their voices spoke in unison, ancient and cold, like stones grinding together beneath a mountain.
"THERE WILL BE NO FIGHTING. NO INFIGHTING AMONGST ROOKIES. IT IS THE RESTING PERIOD. VIOLENCE OF ANY KIND WILL NOT BE PERMITTED. TRANSGRESSORS WILL FACE SEVERE PUNISHMENT."
The words hung in the air, heavy as chains.
Aurelia's shoulders slumped. Dominio's posture shifted—his jaw still tight, his body still tense, but his guard lowered. Rowan's golden hands faded. The Eighty lowered their weapons. Rangers unstrung their bows. Fighters sheathed their swords. Mages let their staves fall to their sides.
I put my claymore back in its holster. "Are you happy?" I asked, looking up at the bent moderator.
"NOT YET."
A strange warmth spread across my back.
I turned.
My claymore was dissolving. Black flames consumed it slowly, deliberately, like a ritual. The blade crumbled into ash. The hilt followed. Within seconds, it was gone.
My shoulders dropped. My eyes widened. My jaw tightened.
The thing that had been with me since I woke up in this world. The thing that kept me alive. The thing that felt like a part of my body.
Gone.
I walked toward the masked figures. "What happened to my claymore?" My voice came out harder than I intended. "Where is it?"
"CONFISCATED."
One of them stepped forward.
"YOU MURDERED A NON-HOSTILE FORCE. YOU HAVE ONE STRIKE REMAINING. ONE MORE TRANSGRESSION, AND YOU WILL BE EXPELLED FROM THE EXAM."
The priest. The decapitation. The bodyguard.
They saw everything.
Shit.
Then the realization hit me harder than any punch.
If my weapon was confiscated for killing the priest...
I turned to Dominio and Aurelia.
Aurelia's wand was dissolving in her hand. She tried to hold on, but the flames consumed it anyway. Her face went pale. Her eyes went wide. Her mouth opened slightly, frozen in shock.
Dominio's dagger disappeared from his grip despite his fingers clamped around the hilt. He stood there, face calm, eyes never leaving the figures. One of the masked beings stared back at him. He didn't flinch.
"So you did kill him." Rowan's voice was soft, almost to himself.
One of his golden arms pointed at me.
"You really are a maniac, aren't you? Like a dog that needs to be put down." He stepped closer. "You truly are a berserker. A monster who can't even control himself."
He wasn't lying.
I could have let them go. The priest could have blessed someone. Could have reassured a rookie. Could have boosted morale.
I killed him anyway.
I looked at the Eighty. Their expressions were fixed on me. Some resented me. Some looked relieved. One—just one—looked at me with pity.
"LET THIS BE AN EXAMPLE. THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU DISOBEY THE RULES OF THE EXAM."
"You didn't even give us rules." My voice cut through the silence. "The fuck do you mean 'rules'?"
"YOU AND YOUR FRIENDS MURDERED A NON-COMBATANT."
Flames crawled out from their bodies, spreading across their robes, their masks, their hands. Then—
A massive burst of black fire erupted outward.
The flames were cold. Colder than ice.
Then they were gone.
Rowan turned and walked away. He looked back once.
"Mark my words, Zain. I will kill you for murdering the priest."
He left with the Eighty.
"So I guess we're outcasts now." Dominio placed a hand on his hip.
"At this point, I'm used to it." Aurelia crossed her arms.
She looked at me. "Have you considered joining us now, Zain?"
"Do I have a choice?"
Her face softened. "Then you made a good decision."
I breathed a sigh of relief. At least I had some closure. At this point, I needed the alliance.
We walked back indoors. I glanced at Dominio's arm—his vest was soaked through, covering his shoulder wound.
"You need to check on that." I gestured to his shoulder.
"Oh, this?" He glanced down. "I'll do that later."
Aurelia's face shifted back to calm and calculating. "Also, Zain—try asking Rela to join us. Without weapons, I need to use hand spells, which are much harder. And Dominio is a skilled martial artist, but his class doesn't support that fighting style. It won't be effective."
I frowned. "What do you mean? He used martial arts against me yesterday. He fought like a champion."
She looked at me steadily. "Did his attacks cause lingering effects? Was your jaw still painful hours later?"
I thought about it.
The pain had faded quickly. Compared to Lyra, whose punches left me aching for hours, Dominio's hits barely registered after a few minutes.
"That says a lot." Aurelia nodded. "Dominio was born a rogue. His class isn't built for unarmed combat. His physical attacks don't carry weight because his Lumin isn't meant to enhance them. Rogues rely on precision, speed, and blades—not brute force. Without his daggers, he's fighting against his own nature."
Dominio placed a hand on my shoulder. "And Aurelia's hand spells? Imagine having to dance while speaking gibberish. Every movement has to be perfect. Every word has to be exact. One mistake, and the spell fails—or backfires. Hard as hell, trust me."
I looked at both of them.
No claymore for me.
No wand for Aurelia.
No daggers for Dominio.
We were helpless.
We needed someone who didn't rely on weapons. Someone who could fight with nothing but her body. Someone who was a mountain even when unarmed.
We needed Rela.