once human now a parasite

Chapter 15

Time passed slowly as the two of them were waiting,apparently, the way they test your aptitude is by using a special kind of stone, which could pinpoint what kind of attribute you have the most affinity with and there was a second stone to see the level .

This was so because not everyone here was a mage, there were talented fighters as well, who excelled in close-combat and to let them have a chance they would all be judged by their level even if they didn’t have an affinity with any attribute or couldn’t practice magic .

For example, anyone who has a good affinity with the wind attribute, can’t practice their magic very easily, since if their family was poor they may not know if they have an affinity with an attribute or not and that’s why most talents are from nobles .

Usually, noble families have enough money to afford an aptitude stone and use it on their children to see if they have a good affinity with some attribute or not . Every being in this world has an affinity with an attribute but it can be strong or almost non-existent and that’s what differs talents from normal people .

While Arthur and Lucy were waiting, a commotion broke out in a nearby line, these types of commotions happened a few times when someone with a good affinity or high level showed up .

This time Arthur was a little curious as to who was the origin of this commotion, for there is a lot of noise and exclamations and when he turned his head to look, he immediately recognized the person, it was the skinny demon who had the highest lvl among the participants, to be honest, he was not surprised when he saw that this demon attracted so much attention, after all his level was high and without a doubt he would be considered powerful and talented to these people .

In front of him was a cubic crystal which looked a little weird, Arthur had been watching it for a while and whenever a person touched it, it had a different color to pinpoint which attribute the person who touched was compatible with .

For the skinny demon the crystal glowed with yellow light and some blackish too, he was considered a dual-mage and with a strong earth attribute at that, everybody looked at him with admiration and envy, the demon just smiled but didn’t say anything and just as he was going to leave the stage, someone appeared near him . It was one of the 9 people who had a high level .

Arthur heard from the people around him that those 9 people are the council of the academy and each one of them was extremely powerful, each year they picked talented people from the participants and nurture them while giving them elixirs and skill books .

The demon Molrihn who was LVL158 appeared near the skinny demon and seemed about to talk to him, as for this skinny demon, he wasn’t surprised by the appearance of someone from the council for he was confident in his strength and proud of his talent, he stood there for a second before he bowed to the man before him without saying anything .

Molrihn didn’t mind that behavior, in fact, he liked it, to see someone from his race with this much talent, of course, he wouldn’t let the chance to rope him under his care and help him in his training slip by, moreover this young demon seemed really talented, he was a dual-mage and a high leveled one at that .

"Young-one, I see your talent is indeed outstanding, how about your become my student when you pass the entrance exam? I will be delighted to have a student such as you . "

The skinny demon smiled when he heard what the man said, he soon replied with a calm voice "It would be an honor, Master Molrihn", he immediately started calling him ’master’ as to indicate he accepted the offer . Molrihn just nodded and went back to his seat with a happy face, after all, he gained a new student who seemed rather talented .

"Yo, old Molrihn, seems you got a nice catch didn’t ya? I bet you’re brimming with joy now, hehe but don’t worry I’ve got my eyes on someone too and I hope he won’t disappoint me"

One of the 2 beastmen of the council spoke with an excited voice, it was a female beastman who had a large build and huge 2 handed axe on her back . She gazed at a particular beastman who also had a huge axe on his back and seemed to be calmly waiting for his turn in the queue, in contrast to many other people who, even though they knew they were talented, weren’t confident enough to be able to pass the second test .

The other members of the council also praised Molrihn for choosing a good seed and then returned to observing the crowd, looking for students for themselves as well .

Not long after the skinny demon passed the first test, another commotion came up followed by a stream of cries . This time, it was the second prince, since he too was a dual-mage, of course he piqued the interest of many . He held a smug smile on his face as if showing his might and waiting for a members of the council to come invite him, and indeed someone came . It was an elf male who was quite handsome and his LVL was 155 .

Arthur frowned since he didn’t expect an elf to recruit the second prince to be his student . Christian accepted immediately when the elf male proposed to him and after hearing the prince’s answer the elf returned to his seat with a pleased expression hanging on his face .

An hour passed and many talents came up with several dozen dual-mages, almost all the members of the council chose a person . Even that female beastman chose the beastman she was looking at previously, even though he didn’t have any good affinity, he had a lvl of 52 so she invited him anyways, for the beastman race was famous for their overwhelming strength and very few of them were talented at using magic .

Finally, it was Lucy’s turn, who was in front of Arthur, so naturally she was considered before him in the queue . She walked for about 3 meters until she stopped in front a table with 2 crystals put on it . There was a person overseeing the results of the participants and deciding whether or not they pass .

She placed her little white hand on the attribute crystal and waited for the results, but she already knew what they would be . Soon enough a bright red light came up followed by a dark light but it seemed a little dimmer than the red and unexpectedly a third color appeared, it was blue but red with some blackish in it . Even Lucy was dumbfounded since she didn’t know she was compatible with such an attribute, actually that color indicated the attribute magma .

In this world there were unique people who could use normal attributes plus other ones, such as magma, ice, lightning, void, etc . These types of people were very rare and impossible to find, but almost all of them would grow up to be legendary figures, as these special attributes were many times more powerful than the normal ones . Once the inspector overseeing the results saw this he couldn’t even utter a single world, for he was shocked beyond belief .

"HEY look sh-shee got affinity with 3 attributes! There is magma!!!! How amazing . "

Many cries came up from everywhere and all the participants gazed at this gorgeous girl who, not only was alluring and pleasing to the eyes, but she was apparently a wizard as well .

This word was not mentioned before, because mages who can use 3 attributes were unique; nonetheless, some existed and they were called wizards and every single one of them was by no means weak . Actually, it was rumored that the principal of the academy was a wizard but no one could confirm this rumor .

The red-haired principal who was seated lazily and watching the crowd was stunned when she saw the colors in the crystal "3 attributes, and magma is one of them . Indeed . . . some of this year’s participants sure are wolves in sheep’s clothing" She chuckled for a second before just nodding her head in satisfaction . Surprisingly one of the 9 members of the council, the demon with the highest lvl, who seemed not interested by this test, stood up from his seat in astonishment and rushed with great speed toward Lucy, as if he was afraid she would slip from his hands at any second .

"Little girl, how about you become my student? No need to even finish the second test, you’ll be directly accepted as a student in Nemia academy" . Once he finished speaking, he looked at Lucy with expectant eyes .

If she accepted his offer, not only would he treat her well and offer her a lot of materials to enhance her magic and strength, but he would also let her pass the entrance exam directly . You must know that even the skinny demon, who was considered to have tremendous talent, didn’t have this kind of chance . So anyone in her place would accept this offer, plus it was Lord Zephir, the vice-principal and the head of the council of the academy who wanted her to be his student . He had a status second to only the principal and had a lot of resources, so whoever became his student was sure as hell to have a comfortable and easy life .

Not even the seniors in this academy would dare bully someone under the care of Zephir, as he was known to be very strict and would punish anyone who would break any kind of rule . Zephir didn’t have any students since a long time, as he didn’t find anyone with enough talent, but once he saw this girl he knew for sure she was the one, and he must by no means let her slip by, she was also a demon, so it would be easier to interact with her .

Lucy was still in disbelief when she saw the magma attribute, it would be a lie to say she was not happy, in fact, she was very joyful, but she didn’t want to express her emotion in public . Only when with Arthur would she be so carefree and easygoing .

She turned toward Arthur, who was standing a couple of meters behind her and saw him nodding at her as if complimenting her . A dozen of second after she saw her results she heard the proposition of some middle-aged man who somehow was now near her, he invited her to be his student but she didn’t care a lot about that, she liked this academy and liked studying and practicing magic but she still wanted to be close to Arthur and maybe being his student would restrict her movements or something similar to that, so she just shook her head towards the middle-aged man who seemed very excited .

Everyone knew what she meant when she shook her head, it was obvious to reject his offer, but only someone crazy in their mind would do that? After all, all sorts of benefits would come from being his student, so why reject him? Even Zephir didn’t dare believe what he saw and only after some seconds passed did he came back to his senses and stared at the girl .

Even though her refusing him lost him a bit of face, it didn’t matter, as he didn’t care for face and only wanted her to be his student and have someone to pass his skills to . He didn’t dwell on it much and spoke calmly "Alright, if you ever change your mind, just come looking for me and I’ll accept you at any time, as for the moment, I know for sure that you will succeed and even if you don’t, I’ll make sure you join the academy, consider it a welcoming gift from me" after speaking he walked back to his seat and sat down .

Zephir knew that even though she refused him now, it didn’t mean she would always do, and he too had a lot of means to rope her in, such as precious skills books, elixirs and even gold . He had them all, so she would surely be interested in something and when that time came, he would give her what she wanted in exchange for becoming his student .

Soon after, Lucy put her hand on the Appraisal stone and it showed her level and race . Unlike the previous crystal, this time there was not a lot of surprises as her lvl was average compared to other geniuses; nevertheless, even with a low level, she was still a wizard and her future accomplishments will be limitless .

After passing the first test Lucy didn’t go upwards toward the place where all the people who passed the first place were, instead she moved a little to the left and waited for Arthur as if she was unwilling to go without him .

Arthur walked toward the table but he was not calm, in fact, he was anxious, after all he had an affinity with 5 attributes, with wind being the weakest one . His level and race would also be exposed, so he wanted to find a way out, because if people saw his level and especially his race, a race never seen or heard of before, they would probably accuse him of being an alien of some sort . When he put his hand on the attribute stone he heard a notification ’ting’ .

An aptitude stone is appraising your body and checking what attribute you are best compatible

An aptitude stone is appraising your body and checking what attribute you are best compatible with :

Dark On/OFF

Wind On/Off

Earth On/Off

Ancient Fire On/Off

Void On/Off

Confirm

In the beginning, he didn’t know what it meant by on, off but he soon judged that if he put them all on off, then the crystal would not show any light, which meant that he didn’t have any affinity with any attribute . Of course, he didn’t do that, since he wanted to enter the academy, so he turned them all off except his dark magic .

Dark magic was similar to darkness magic, but in the same time different, usually, darkness magic is for curses and is rarely used for attack, while his dark magic had a strong attack and defense power, with incredible penetration power . It was like nothing could withstand it and it would go through steel as if it was nothing . When he checked if he turned off all except magic a second time, he finally confirmed and a light began to show on the crystal .

This light was very special, it was dark but it wasn’t just light like the other people had, since it was the same shape he saw on the door when he first entered the cave leading to Zodiak’s tomb . The symbol was really creepy and would send shivers down anybody’s spine . The skull head which showed up on the crystal was really terrifying, especially with its third eye .

The inspector who was in charge of overseeing the results and deciding who passed and who failed was shocked, since it was the first time he encountered something like this . The council members and the principal were stunned as well, they had continued observing the line which Lucy was in, because they noticed that the black-robed man was with her, since they were very close to each other and seemed like companions .

When they saw the strange skull head, they didn’t know what to do, no one had ever seen an aptitude crystal show such a thing and none of the known attributes would show something like this . They tried to think of it as a darkness attribute, but even a person with a strong affinity with darkness, such as the demon lord, would not have such results when touching an aptitude crystal .

The inspector didn’t know what to do, so he just waited for Arthur to put his hand on the second crystal and see if he could decide the result depending on the level . Arthur noticed the surprise and strange gazes of everyone but he didn’t mind, he wanted to gain some fame because the holy church was on his tail and having some backing wouldn’t really hurt, especially if that backing was from a strong power like the Nemia academy .

Soon enough, he put his hand on the appraisal crystal . Actually, there were 2 kinds of appraisal objects: the appraisal crystal and the appraisal stone . The former was for showing the general information, like level and race, while the latter showed more detailed things, like which attributes the person used or even his name and age . Appraisal stones were very expensive and the academy would not just use them for an entrance exam . Arthur wasn’t particularly anxious anymore and by the time his hand touched the stone he heard a notification "ting" .

An appraisal crystal is being used on you , do you want to show your level and race ?

yes / no

After some pondering, he said ’no’ because if those information was to be known, it would be a catastrophe and everyone except Lucy would regard him as an enemy . Just when he clicked the ’no’ the crystal stone broke, it literally shattered, which caused Arthur to panic a little but surprisingly the inspector didn’t seem bothered .

In fact, appraisal crystals sometimes brake from excessive use, so seeing one brake now wasn’t very unusual . He soon retrieved one from behind him and put it in front of the participant, but Arthur was sure that the crystal broke because of him, so he didn’t know what to do . He just put his hand on it again and refused to show his information and ’poof’ the crystal shattered once more . This time there was a little shock in the inspector’s eyes; nonetheless, he picked another crystal, after all, it might be coincidence, but the 3rd 4th and 5th crystals also broke, so he stared at Arthur in disbelief and suspicion .

Even the other participants in other queue lines were dumbfounded by this turn of events . The inspector didn’t know what to do, after all, he couldn’t judge the results, for he didn’t even see his level, he so said hesitantly "emm, unfortunately, you have no . . . " before he could finish, there was another calm voice which spoke:

"He can pass the first test"

The inspector was startled by this voice, but he soon snapped out of it and nodded toward the origin of the voice, which was unexpectedly the principal, who didn’t speak since the beginning of the test .

She let him pass because she was curious about this individual, first the aptitude crystal showed a strange symbol and then the appraisal crystal broke many times It was by no means mere coincidence and she considered him worth paying attention to; moreover, if her judgment was false and he was weak, then he would just lose in the second test .

Arthur was happy since he somehow managed to pass the first test, without revealing his information . Nevertheless, he wasn’t grateful or anything to the principal, since even if she didn’t let him pass, he had other means in store in case of emergency .

He walked toward Lucy who was waiting for him, he couldn’t help but smile when he saw her . He felt warmth and happiness to have someone such as her love him, she was truly a maiden, especially with the red dress she was wearing today .

When he was close enough, he took her hand and continued to head upstairs toward the area were the accepted participants were . Although she was surprised by his sudden actions, she neither was mad or disgusted by his action, quite the opposite in fact . She also held his hand firmly and walked cheerfully beside him, you could notice a small smile hanging on her pretty face .

They found a quite spot and sat there waiting for the first test to finish . Since they had time and there was nothing to do, Arthur decided to spend the remaining time chatting with Lucy, since he liked talking with her and felt happiness when he did . Even when they sat on the stone chairs which were neatly put in a big square, Arthur didn’t let go of her hand for even a second .

"To think you got a magma attribute, good, good! You should try to practice with it!" when he mentioned the magma attribute, Lucy seemed to become excited . While looking at her other free hand she replied "En! I didn’t believe it either, last time I used an aptitude crystal I only saw 2 attributes, I wonder how I got the third one"

"hehe no use bothering to think hard about it, the good thing is that you got it, so you will become even more powerful! And when the time comes, if you want I’ll personally take you to take revenge, I promised you didn’t I?" While he said that, Arthur used his remaining hand and patted her head gently while smiling towards her . His face was close to her so she could clearly see him smiling and looking at her with soft and caring eyes . She could feel his honesty when he spoke and knew he would sooner or later take her to end the unfinished business . Lucy’s eyes seemed to contain some tears but she wasn’t sad; on the contrary, she was happy, to have someone who would care for you to such an extent was rare and she wouldn’t want to be separated from a person like that .

Arthur was shocked when he saw some tears and he thought he reminded her of her tragic past, he regretted what he said immediately and with an apologetic said "I’m sorry . . . I shouldn’t have reminded you of your past . . " he looked down, not daring to look at her face for he felt guilty in his heart but surprisingly, he felt a warm feeling on his chest, and was surprised to see her hugging him .

There were some nearby people looking at him with eyes burning with jealousy and hatred but he ignored them and stared at this girl who was hugging him . To be more exact Lucy was considered a woman, she told him her age when they were traveling, even though she didn’t like the fact he asked her about it . She was 28 this year and even though she was petite, she was a fully matured woman, she may be petite in size but her chest was well developed and her face looked more like an adult woman than a little girl .

Lucy was crying but smiling, so he quickly realized she was not sad, but instead happy and blamed himself for being this stupid, since he couldn’t even understand the emotions of his lover; nonetheless, he hugged her back and closed his eyes as if enjoying this precious moment . It was the second time they hugged and even though they were lovers, Arthur didn’t cross the line, only either patting her head or holding her hand and she didn’t seem to dislike that . It would be a fat lie to say he didn’t want to hug her whenever he wanted, or even kiss her, but that would be too much for her to bear right now, since it could even remind her of those beast like men who used her body and never in this life would he want to do that . He could even stay like this forever and only hold hands rather than harming her and causing her to be sad or angry with him .

They stayed like that for a couple of minutes before Lucy let go, but unexpectedly she leaned on him and seemed to close her eyes as if wanting to relax . Of course Arthur let her do as she pleased, he wrapped his left arm around her shoulder, to let her lean more comfortably and she didn’t refuse it or anything, instead she just looked more relaxed and carefree .

Time passed and the first test seemed to be still going to take some time, but Arthur didn’t mind as he stared at Lucy who was now asleep . He was rather happy to see her sleeping face, which was breath-taking, also he felt warmth because she, who felt disgusted with men and loathed them, managed to sleep while leaning on his shoulder and having his arm around her shoulder . He felt like he made a big accomplishment and his heart was beating like crazy, with every second that passed, he would fall in love with her even more .

After 2 more hours, the first test finally came to an end and the final participants who passed the first test was truly shocking . From the thousands of people who came, only a hundred or so were accepted, the Nemia academy seemed to be very strict in choosing talents, of course, there were those who protested but they were slapped by the inspector and sent flying hundred meter or so from their previous location . In this island their status and power had no effect, the inspector could do whatever he wants with cocky brats like them .

The hundred or so participants who passed the first test were gathered in the big square which was accessible only by going several steps up from the previous square where they passed the first test . This square was much bigger than the previous one and there were many fighting arenas, so Arthur guessed it must be where the tournament was going to be held in . Lucy seemed to have woken up a dozen or minutes ago, but she still remained in the same position, lost in thought and didn’t realize the second test was about to begin .

In this square was a stage as well, all the teachers who were seated in the previous stage came in to this square with the council members and the principal . Arthur guessed that the people who previously came first on the stage were the teachers and their average level was 75-80, it was somehow lacking but he paid it no heed . The principal soon reached the center of the biggest arena and spoke

"Congratulations for passing the first test, even though it was just checking your abilities, the second test is about to begin, this board contains your names and your opponents’ names"

The academy didn’t knew all of their names, except who chose to say it or the famous figures like the second prince, so when the board appeared, all the names were kind of awkward and stupid . Lucy was named ’Ice Queen’ and Arthur was named ’black-robed man’ it seemed funny, as their sense of naming was somewhat strange, but he soon shrugged it off since it wasn’t that what seemed to concern him . He was worried about Lucy, she might fall against a powerful enemy and even if Zephir said she would pass whether she failed or not, he was afraid she would get hurt so he said:

"Lucy, please be cautious and surrender when necessary, remember that demon guy said you either way passed, so don’t force yourself, okay?"

She looked at him with warm eyes and nodded before saying "en! don’t worry, even though compared to you I’m nothing ,I at least can handle myself against those people, after all I fought so many people from the holy church so how could I lose to mere nobles and rich brats"

SECTION A

Black-robed man VS Elf Zehn

Second Prince VS Jackie Beast

Ice Queen VS Huge build

Beast-man axe VS Human Archer

Priest VS Skinny Demon

’They really got no sense for naming huh?’ Arthur still complained when he saw the names again, apparently, Lucy was obviously Ice Queen and that’s because of her cold eyes and emotionless face, all the other names were made based on the person’s appearance, except the ’elf zehn’ and the second prince .

The tournament was divided into 11 sections and the winners of each section will have passed the second test, but there were also exceptions as there may be participants who pass the tests even though they lost, but that’s only if they were good at fighting and had considerable strength .

Arthur looked at his opponent for a second before turning his head, because it was only a lvl38 elf who got a strong affinity with wind, which was to be expected from an elf . He was sure of his victory, but when he saw Lucy’s opponent he was worried . It was a huge beastman who had a pair of one-handed axes on his back, he was almost 3 meters tall, with huge hands and a muscular body, while he was looking at this huge beastman, the beastman looked at Arthur in return, but soon turned his face towards Lucy and licked his lips excitedly, as if he was going to enjoy a meal .

His lvl was 53, so Arthur judged his strength to be quite close to the holy knight Rein, if not more, after all beastmen were famous for their enormous strength and Lucy was petite and only excelled in magic . She was indeed not bad in physical attacks, but compared to this huge beastmen folk, she was nothing .

Soon the fights began and the first fight in his section was between the skinny demon and the priest . The fight was not even 5 minutes long, the priest struggled a bit but he didn’t have the power to resist the skinny demon’s attack . The demon was indeed ruthless and powerful and deserved having the highest level among the participants, except Arthur of course, his use of darkness attribute and earth magic was not bad . He first attacked with a curse to weaken the priest considering he used holy magic and darkness magic was completely its opposite, and secondly he used earth attack, earth spikes and small meteors so the priest finally lost after a small struggle .

To be honest , his use of earth magic was lower than Arthur, who almost never used his, he got it from the young earth dragon and it was a [medium earth magic], he could even bind his opponents if he caught them off guard and could raise a 5 meter wall and do other various things, but compared to his dark or ancient fire magic, his skills in earth magic were considered pathetic; nonetheless, if he showed it to those people, he was sure he would get their attention, but what if he used his [hell arrow] what would they do? How would their reaction be? Arthur was excited to try that out, but of course he didn’t, as it was foolish and childish .

The second fight soon began and it was the beastman with a huge axe on his back, it was the same guy who got chosen by the female beastman from the council members . Contrary to the other huge build beastman, this one had a normal body with some scars here and there, but he seemed somewhat friendly even with those scars . The fight was even quicker than the first one, as the human archer was not the beastman’s match, he could only kite him for some time before he got knocked down by the axe and fell unconscious .

The conditions to win the fight were to either surrender or fall unconscious, of course Arthur noticed that in some other arena there were some ruthless opponents who would not let their enemy surrender or even fall unconscious, they mercilessly injured them purposely causing them serious damage as they seemed to enjoy doing that .

The third fight was Arthur against the elf Zehn . Arthur quickly jumped onto the arena, but didn’t take any weapon, as for the elf, he took out a wooden cane and looked seriously at his opponent . Once the referee announced the start of the fight the elf started chanting to attack his enemy but he was soon struck by a dark dagger in the shoulder and wailed in pain .

Truthfully, Arthur did not care even if he killed this elf, for that had nothing to do with him, but killing is prohibited and you would be disqualified if you did that, even if you didn’t do it on purpose, so he used a dark dagger and aimed it at the elf’s shoulder, of course the dagger went through the elf’s shoulder and struck the ground behind him .

The elf’s painful cries soon reached the teachers and council member’s ears and they turned their heads in curiosity, to see why someone would scream like that . When they saw the black dagger floating next to Arthur and the wailing elf, they were stunned and tried to observe the dark dagger, especially the principal, she gazed seriously at the dark dagger but she couldn’t guess what it was, she could only feel an ominous feeling coming from it, as if it was going to devour her whole .

Arthur stared coldly at the elf expecting him to surrender, but he surprisingly didn’t . After screaming for some time, he stood up while shaking, it seemed he was not used to pain at all, when he stabilized himself he started chanting again, but before he could even finish the first word another dagger pierced him in his other shoulder and blood flowed endlessly .

This time his screams even reached the ears of the other participants, they stared with fear at Arthur and thanked their luck for not being in the same section as him . The elf finally surrendered after being pierced by 2 daggers and left the stage while stumbling with shaking legs, Arthur couldn’t help but shake his head, to not be able to resist that much pain, what if he experienced the same situation Arthur was in and had his body created from nothing? Would he die from pain or would he go crazy?

Arthur went to his previous location where Lucy was waiting for him with a small smile on her face, to have someone wait for him made him delighted and joyful but when he thought of the next battle his thoughts quickly began to be erratic and his heart started beating faster, he was truly afraid of Lucy being hurt . She noticed his anxiousness, so she ran up to him and gave him a long hug while not minding the jealous gazes, and then she headed toward the stage .

The huge beastman was already waiting for her and you could see his eyes were burning with desire as he gazed at her body, he regarded her as an object and a toy, not as a human or a demon . That look made Lucy even more disgusted and angry, she hated those kinds of men the most, since they only thought of their desires and would do anything to achieve them .

The fight soon began and the beastman rushed towards her with great speed, but he didn’t use his axes . If you looked closely, not even his hands were shaped like a fist, instead they were claws as if wanting to rip her clothes off . Of course Lucy didn’t just stand still, she backed away and a dozen fireballs were fired at him, her aim was perfect and all fireballs hit him and he was sent flying a couple of meters before falling down .

He knew she was considered a wizard, but he regarded women as sexual toys and never thought of them as fighters, so being sent flying by a skill made from a women did not cause him to be angry, quite the contrary, it made him even more excited to touch her body and rip her red dress ’hahah such a ferocious girl , I wonder how she will be in bed, I’ll enjoy her first, then someday I’ll get my hands on that principal too haha , with that body of hers I’m sure she’s perfect to satisfy me’ he rushed again at her, but his speed seemed to increase nonetheless . Lucy casted a curse which slowed his speed by 10% and his strength by 5% then bombarded him with fireballs, her use of skills was really amazing and her actions were coordinated .

’boom’ ’boom’ the beastman was sent flying again and he had small burn marks on his fur and some other corners of his body, yet he was still grinning evilly and as he couldn’t get more shameful a huge tent rose up in his lower body . Seeing this Lucy became even more contempt towards him and her attacks became even more ferocious . After 10 minutes of one-sided attacks from Lucy, the beastman grew angry; nonetheless, the tent in his lower body was still there . He took his double axes from his back and rushed at Lucy with great speed, the curse she put on him was finally over, so his speed had gone back to normal .

Lucy was quite tired, she kept hitting him with a lot of fireballs but he seemed to be extremely resistant and not damaged that much by them . Her mana pool was not like Arthur’s and her fireballs costed some mana, so after launching more than a hundred of them and using some other skills like flame tornado and flame lance, her mana was almost emptied out .

She had to buy some time for her mana to regen a little, but the beastman rushed at her, so she couldn’t do anything but create a desperate flame barrier . Even though flame was usually for offensive, it could also be used to form barriers but they were not that useful and would only negate a little of the incoming attack . The flame barrier formed by her was shattered and she was sent flying a dozen or so meters, her rose dress was tattered and it seemed to be ripped a little from the bottom, you could even see her thigh .

She quickly stood up while some blood came up from her pretty lips, even though she had good physical strength, she couldn’t withstand a powerful attack from a beastman who excelled in strength and was 9 levels higher than her . You must know that even the difference of one level was considered a lot, so 9 levels was like heaven and earth, it was already excellent that she could hold up until now, but she didn’t want to admit defeat, since he was a man like those who raped her, was he going to win again? Doesn’t that mean even if she got the chance to face those who used her, she wouldn’t win and would end up in the same situation? Soon all those memories and tragic days passed in that room came to her, she remembered when those guys came in everyday to use her body as they pleased and would laugh at her and her stupidity .

The beastman noticed she was lost in thought and grinned while licking his lips again and his tent never stopped from getting bigger, he rushed toward the girl with extreme speed and slashed with his axes toward her chest area . Lucy, sensing danger, quickly snapped out of her daze and tried to dodge, but it was too late as the axe had already torn off half of the top of her dress . Some of her chest was now exposed and she wasn’t wearing anything under the dress except panties, since the dress was long enough to cover her, but now that she was almost naked .

A deep fear came to her and she covered her exposed chest with her hand, she was trembling and her eyes had fear in them, but it was not fear of the beastman in front of her, but she was reminded of those days and the suffering, and seemed to experience those memories again . It was as if she was back in the past, defenseless and bound while those men played with her . The beastman laughed and put his axes behind his back while stretching his left hand and grabbed Lucy’s free hand which was not covering her exposed chest, but just as he touched her hand, he felt cold and ’poof’ his stretched hand fell onto the ground and blood flowed endlessly from his shoulder, ’poof’ the tent in his lower body was also chopped off and his ’thing’ fell onto the floor .

Arthur was watching the fight with great anxiety, he was very worried for Lucy, and seeing her struggle against this lunatic made him even more helpless, he saw the beastman sent flying several times but got up like nothing happened, so it got him even more anxious as he thought of stopping the fight, but when he glanced at the principal at the others, he saw them all focusing on the fight between Lucy and the beastman, especially the principal and Zephir, who seemed to be assessing Lucy’s skill .

As time passed, Arthur saw the tent on the beastman’s lower body and his killing intent rose up, the air around him turned cold and his hands twitching . He really wanted to kill this bastard right now, but he didn’t want to be disqualified or let Lucy be disqualified . After all, he was considered her companion and him helping her out would be considered her fault, even though she was already accepted to the academy, his actions may not please the principal and she might not accept her .

The fight continued and he noticed she was starting to slow down at attacking and seemed exhausted, so he judged her mana pool to be almost empty . His face was distorted and he was barely holding himself back from interfering, and when he saw the beastman tear her dress, he decided he was going to kill him and ignored the consequences, but before he did that he noticed the eyes of Lucy, they were unwilling to lose and full of determination . It seemed she was fighting her past memories and wanted to get past them, so him interfering was like not letting her have a chance to overcome her tragic past, so he just stood there with an aching heart while looking at her with a worried look .

Arthur’s mind went blank when he saw the beast man tear the top area of her dress and expose her chest . Even though she quickly covered it, the beastman grinned and held her hand forcefully, so Arthur couldn’t control his emotions anymore, he didn’t care about either the principal or anything else, he loved her, he wanted to protect her, so her being this humiliated was unforgivable and he would not tolerate it .

He teleported in front of her and immediately created a dark sword and chopped the beastman’s hand and ’thing’ off, without hesitation he then kicked him in the stomach with full strength and you could even hear the beastman’s bones shattering completely .

He was sent flying across the stage until he hit a wall which was where the spectators were watching . The wall was also destroyed by the force of the impact and there laid the beastman who was coughing blood non-stop and his screams of pain resounded through all of the big square .

Everyone looked at what happened with disbelief, even the principal didn’t expect someone to interfere, she didn’t like what the beastman did, but she had no right to interfere, as this war a 1 on 1 fight and she personally set a rule that anyone who interfered would be disqualified, no matter who it was .

Arthur quickly retrieved a white cloth from his storage and wrapped it around Lucy, who was still shaking . His heart really ached and he couldn’t control his emotions anymore, he hugged her tightly and said

"Don’t worry Lucy, I’m with you, did you already forget that I said I was going to be with you forever?’

Lucy, sensing someone hugging her, came back to her senses and looked at Arthur who was smiling back at her .

Tears flowed uncontrollably from her eyes and she buried her face in his chest

"Arthur, I couldn’t do it, I couldn’t do it . . . . "

She kept repeating the same words, Arthur knew that by those words she meant that she couldn’t forget about her past and overcome her fears, he didn’t really know what to say to her, so he just did something that even he didn’t expect to do . He kissed her on the forehead and kept hugging her while saying

"It’s okay, if you couldn’t do it, I’m here so I’ll do it for you"

She seemed shocked by his kiss but she stopped saying those words and just sobbed silently in his embrace . Time passed, but no one interfered, the beastman was still screaming from the pain and the spectators were confused as to what was happening right now .

"Lucy, do you want to kill this man or should I kill him for you?"

Arthur asked her gently while still embracing her, she stopped crying and just stayed there silently, when she heard his question, she didn’t say anything for a while before replying with a shaky but somewhat relieved voice

"It doesn’t matter . I’m you and you are me, I’m happy as long as you are by my side . "

She paused a second then resumed with a low voice

" . . . . but next time I’ll be the one to save you, hmpf!"

just when she finished speaking, with her soft and charming lips she gave him a small kiss on the cheek, it seemed insignificant to others, but to him, it was like he was in heaven .

He was dazed for sometime while he thought of that kiss, that pitch black loving gaze of hers was so charming as to cause the fall of cities and the lovely smell of the fragrance that came from her made him feel like he was dreaming, but he didn’t dare think anything strange and after hugging her again he finally let go of her . After adjusting her clothes, he held her hand and looked at screaming beastman not far away .

He advanced slowly with Lucy beside him, he didn’t let go of her hand as he approached the beastman .

The principal was seriously astonished, she didn’t even see him run into the arena, so how could he have appeared out of nowhere? Is his speed that fast? No way, even if it was someone with the extreme speed they wouldn’t be like that, that was an instant movement! Teleportation!

"Who is he? To be able to use teleportation, and this fast too, he is not someone normal"

She looked at him chop that beastman’s arm and ’thing’ off without hesitation and with but a kick he sent him flying out of the arena, that was not a strength a simple participant would have .

She then observed him as he covered the girl who was still shaking and then hugged her and seemed to tell her something, she guessed they must be lovers or family, for he seemed to really care for her a lot, after some time had passed he let go of the girl and headed slowly toward the crying beastman, while accompanied by the demon girl .

Truthfully the principal was quite angry because someone dared to interfere and not only that, he injured the enemy that much in front of her face, at least other people would pretend this was an accident, but this man didn’t care and ruthlessly chopped his opponent’s hand off, he also seemed to want something else from him as he walked towards him .

"Stop right there! Not only did you break the rules by interfering in the fight, you also seriously injured a participant"

The female Beastman from the council shouted at Arthur, even though what that beastman did was shameless, he was still someone from her race . So seeing him suffer like that didn’t seem right to her, especially when he already got what he deserved and had his arm and ’thing’ cut off .

Arthur completely ignored her and continued walking towards the beastman, no matter who it was, even if god himself tried to stop him, he wouldn’t stop . This man dared do those things to Lucy, the most precious thing he had, so how could he forgive him, death was a way out for this beastman, but he didn’t care and was determined to kill him .

Soon he was finally in front of the beastman who turned to look at Arthur with extreme fear and rage . He believed he was only sneak attacked and in a normal fight he would have won, but now he couldn’t fight, so he just stared hatefully at this black-robed man .

Arthur used his free hand and grip the beastman around the neck and with great strength lifted him high up in the air while increasing the force he was exerting on the neck . The beastman first tried to struggle with his remaining hand but after a couple of seconds he began to suffocate and breathe heavily, his face turned red and he began to wriggle as he was unable to breathe .

The female beastman was angered as she rushed towards Arthur with great speed, she was a member of the council and she shouldn’t use her power to bully the weak, but she also couldn’t stand someone from her race being brutally killed like this Her speed was incredible, but to Arthur not that much, as she was closing in he put a little more strength and ’poof’ the head of the beastman was separated from his body and both his head and headless corpse fell to the ground .

The female beastman was full of rage as she made a fist and struck toward Arthur’s head intending to kill him instantly . But he didn’t move, for he had confidence in his defense, after all, he got the dragon’s defense and his new body gained a lot too, so he didn’t even bother creating a dark barrier .

The punch landed on his head which was covered with the black-robe and the female felt as if she had hit a mountain, cracks could be heard as some of the bones in her hand broke, she retracted her fist and backed away while having a mix of astonishment and rage in her eyes, she stared at Arthur while saying "Who are y . . . !"

Before she could finish, there was a loud shout and a strong wave of energy came out of nowhere pressuring everyone on the stage except the council members and Arthur . He could feel that it was a kind of a skill, if one was skilled in mana manipulation, they could use it to pressure enemies and that was what happened now .

"ENOUGH" The principal stood up and stared angrily at Arthur . . .

Chapter 15

Time passed slowly as the two of them were waiting,apparently, the way they test your aptitude is by using a special kind of stone, which could pinpoint what kind of attribute you have the most affinity with and there was a second stone to see the level .

This was so because not everyone here was a mage, there were talented fighters as well, who excelled in close-combat and to let them have a chance they would all be judged by their level even if they didn’t have an affinity with any attribute or couldn’t practice magic .

For example, anyone who has a good affinity with the wind attribute, can’t practice their magic very easily, since if their family was poor they may not know if they have an affinity with an attribute or not and that’s why most talents are from nobles .

Usually, noble families have enough money to afford an aptitude stone and use it on their children to see if they have a good affinity with some attribute or not . Every being in this world has an affinity with an attribute but it can be strong or almost non-existent and that’s what differs talents from normal people .

While Arthur and Lucy were waiting, a commotion broke out in a nearby line, these types of commotions happened a few times when someone with a good affinity or high level showed up .

This time Arthur was a little curious as to who was the origin of this commotion, for there is a lot of noise and exclamations and when he turned his head to look, he immediately recognized the person, it was the skinny demon who had the highest lvl among the participants, to be honest, he was not surprised when he saw that this demon attracted so much attention, after all his level was high and without a doubt he would be considered powerful and talented to these people .

In front of him was a cubic crystal which looked a little weird, Arthur had been watching it for a while and whenever a person touched it, it had a different color to pinpoint which attribute the person who touched was compatible with .

For the skinny demon the crystal glowed with yellow light and some blackish too, he was considered a dual-mage and with a strong earth attribute at that, everybody looked at him with admiration and envy, the demon just smiled but didn’t say anything and just as he was going to leave the stage, someone appeared near him . It was one of the 9 people who had a high level .

Arthur heard from the people around him that those 9 people are the council of the academy and each one of them was extremely powerful, each year they picked talented people from the participants and nurture them while giving them elixirs and skill books .

The demon Molrihn who was LVL158 appeared near the skinny demon and seemed about to talk to him, as for this skinny demon, he wasn’t surprised by the appearance of someone from the council for he was confident in his strength and proud of his talent, he stood there for a second before he bowed to the man before him without saying anything .

Molrihn didn’t mind that behavior, in fact, he liked it, to see someone from his race with this much talent, of course, he wouldn’t let the chance to rope him under his care and help him in his training slip by, moreover this young demon seemed really talented, he was a dual-mage and a high leveled one at that .

"Young-one, I see your talent is indeed outstanding, how about your become my student when you pass the entrance exam? I will be delighted to have a student such as you . "

The skinny demon smiled when he heard what the man said, he soon replied with a calm voice "It would be an honor, Master Molrihn", he immediately started calling him ’master’ as to indicate he accepted the offer . Molrihn just nodded and went back to his seat with a happy face, after all, he gained a new student who seemed rather talented .

"Yo, old Molrihn, seems you got a nice catch didn’t ya? I bet you’re brimming with joy now, hehe but don’t worry I’ve got my eyes on someone too and I hope he won’t disappoint me"

One of the 2 beastmen of the council spoke with an excited voice, it was a female beastman who had a large build and huge 2 handed axe on her back . She gazed at a particular beastman who also had a huge axe on his back and seemed to be calmly waiting for his turn in the queue, in contrast to many other people who, even though they knew they were talented, weren’t confident enough to be able to pass the second test .

The other members of the council also praised Molrihn for choosing a good seed and then returned to observing the crowd, looking for students for themselves as well .

Not long after the skinny demon passed the first test, another commotion came up followed by a stream of cries . This time, it was the second prince, since he too was a dual-mage, of course he piqued the interest of many . He held a smug smile on his face as if showing his might and waiting for a members of the council to come invite him, and indeed someone came . It was an elf male who was quite handsome and his LVL was 155 .

Arthur frowned since he didn’t expect an elf to recruit the second prince to be his student . Christian accepted immediately when the elf male proposed to him and after hearing the prince’s answer the elf returned to his seat with a pleased expression hanging on his face .

An hour passed and many talents came up with several dozen dual-mages, almost all the members of the council chose a person . Even that female beastman chose the beastman she was looking at previously, even though he didn’t have any good affinity, he had a lvl of 52 so she invited him anyways, for the beastman race was famous for their overwhelming strength and very few of them were talented at using magic .

Finally, it was Lucy’s turn, who was in front of Arthur, so naturally she was considered before him in the queue . She walked for about 3 meters until she stopped in front a table with 2 crystals put on it . There was a person overseeing the results of the participants and deciding whether or not they pass .

She placed her little white hand on the attribute crystal and waited for the results, but she already knew what they would be . Soon enough a bright red light came up followed by a dark light but it seemed a little dimmer than the red and unexpectedly a third color appeared, it was blue but red with some blackish in it . Even Lucy was dumbfounded since she didn’t know she was compatible with such an attribute, actually that color indicated the attribute magma .

In this world there were unique people who could use normal attributes plus other ones, such as magma, ice, lightning, void, etc . These types of people were very rare and impossible to find, but almost all of them would grow up to be legendary figures, as these special attributes were many times more powerful than the normal ones . Once the inspector overseeing the results saw this he couldn’t even utter a single world, for he was shocked beyond belief .

"HEY look sh-shee got affinity with 3 attributes! There is magma!!!! How amazing . "

Many cries came up from everywhere and all the participants gazed at this gorgeous girl who, not only was alluring and pleasing to the eyes, but she was apparently a wizard as well .

This word was not mentioned before, because mages who can use 3 attributes were unique; nonetheless, some existed and they were called wizards and every single one of them was by no means weak . Actually, it was rumored that the principal of the academy was a wizard but no one could confirm this rumor .

The red-haired principal who was seated lazily and watching the crowd was stunned when she saw the colors in the crystal "3 attributes, and magma is one of them . Indeed . . . some of this year’s participants sure are wolves in sheep’s clothing" She chuckled for a second before just nodding her head in satisfaction . Surprisingly one of the 9 members of the council, the demon with the highest lvl, who seemed not interested by this test, stood up from his seat in astonishment and rushed with great speed toward Lucy, as if he was afraid she would slip from his hands at any second .

"Little girl, how about you become my student? No need to even finish the second test, you’ll be directly accepted as a student in Nemia academy" . Once he finished speaking, he looked at Lucy with expectant eyes .

If she accepted his offer, not only would he treat her well and offer her a lot of materials to enhance her magic and strength, but he would also let her pass the entrance exam directly . You must know that even the skinny demon, who was considered to have tremendous talent, didn’t have this kind of chance . So anyone in her place would accept this offer, plus it was Lord Zephir, the vice-principal and the head of the council of the academy who wanted her to be his student . He had a status second to only the principal and had a lot of resources, so whoever became his student was sure as hell to have a comfortable and easy life .

Not even the seniors in this academy would dare bully someone under the care of Zephir, as he was known to be very strict and would punish anyone who would break any kind of rule . Zephir didn’t have any students since a long time, as he didn’t find anyone with enough talent, but once he saw this girl he knew for sure she was the one, and he must by no means let her slip by, she was also a demon, so it would be easier to interact with her .

Lucy was still in disbelief when she saw the magma attribute, it would be a lie to say she was not happy, in fact, she was very joyful, but she didn’t want to express her emotion in public . Only when with Arthur would she be so carefree and easygoing .

She turned toward Arthur, who was standing a couple of meters behind her and saw him nodding at her as if complimenting her . A dozen of second after she saw her results she heard the proposition of some middle-aged man who somehow was now near her, he invited her to be his student but she didn’t care a lot about that, she liked this academy and liked studying and practicing magic but she still wanted to be close to Arthur and maybe being his student would restrict her movements or something similar to that, so she just shook her head towards the middle-aged man who seemed very excited .

Everyone knew what she meant when she shook her head, it was obvious to reject his offer, but only someone crazy in their mind would do that? After all, all sorts of benefits would come from being his student, so why reject him? Even Zephir didn’t dare believe what he saw and only after some seconds passed did he came back to his senses and stared at the girl .

Even though her refusing him lost him a bit of face, it didn’t matter, as he didn’t care for face and only wanted her to be his student and have someone to pass his skills to . He didn’t dwell on it much and spoke calmly "Alright, if you ever change your mind, just come looking for me and I’ll accept you at any time, as for the moment, I know for sure that you will succeed and even if you don’t, I’ll make sure you join the academy, consider it a welcoming gift from me" after speaking he walked back to his seat and sat down .

Zephir knew that even though she refused him now, it didn’t mean she would always do, and he too had a lot of means to rope her in, such as precious skills books, elixirs and even gold . He had them all, so she would surely be interested in something and when that time came, he would give her what she wanted in exchange for becoming his student .

Soon after, Lucy put her hand on the Appraisal stone and it showed her level and race . Unlike the previous crystal, this time there was not a lot of surprises as her lvl was average compared to other geniuses; nevertheless, even with a low level, she was still a wizard and her future accomplishments will be limitless .

After passing the first test Lucy didn’t go upwards toward the place where all the people who passed the first place were, instead she moved a little to the left and waited for Arthur as if she was unwilling to go without him .

Arthur walked toward the table but he was not calm, in fact, he was anxious, after all he had an affinity with 5 attributes, with wind being the weakest one . His level and race would also be exposed, so he wanted to find a way out, because if people saw his level and especially his race, a race never seen or heard of before, they would probably accuse him of being an alien of some sort . When he put his hand on the attribute stone he heard a notification ’ting’ .

An aptitude stone is appraising your body and checking what attribute you are best compatible

An aptitude stone is appraising your body and checking what attribute you are best compatible with :

Dark On/OFF

Wind On/Off

Earth On/Off

Ancient Fire On/Off

Void On/Off

Confirm

In the beginning, he didn’t know what it meant by on, off but he soon judged that if he put them all on off, then the crystal would not show any light, which meant that he didn’t have any affinity with any attribute . Of course, he didn’t do that, since he wanted to enter the academy, so he turned them all off except his dark magic .

Dark magic was similar to darkness magic, but in the same time different, usually, darkness magic is for curses and is rarely used for attack, while his dark magic had a strong attack and defense power, with incredible penetration power . It was like nothing could withstand it and it would go through steel as if it was nothing . When he checked if he turned off all except magic a second time, he finally confirmed and a light began to show on the crystal .

This light was very special, it was dark but it wasn’t just light like the other people had, since it was the same shape he saw on the door when he first entered the cave leading to Zodiak’s tomb . The symbol was really creepy and would send shivers down anybody’s spine . The skull head which showed up on the crystal was really terrifying, especially with its third eye .

The inspector who was in charge of overseeing the results and deciding who passed and who failed was shocked, since it was the first time he encountered something like this . The council members and the principal were stunned as well, they had continued observing the line which Lucy was in, because they noticed that the black-robed man was with her, since they were very close to each other and seemed like companions .

When they saw the strange skull head, they didn’t know what to do, no one had ever seen an aptitude crystal show such a thing and none of the known attributes would show something like this . They tried to think of it as a darkness attribute, but even a person with a strong affinity with darkness, such as the demon lord, would not have such results when touching an aptitude crystal .

The inspector didn’t know what to do, so he just waited for Arthur to put his hand on the second crystal and see if he could decide the result depending on the level . Arthur noticed the surprise and strange gazes of everyone but he didn’t mind, he wanted to gain some fame because the holy church was on his tail and having some backing wouldn’t really hurt, especially if that backing was from a strong power like the Nemia academy .

Soon enough, he put his hand on the appraisal crystal . Actually, there were 2 kinds of appraisal objects: the appraisal crystal and the appraisal stone . The former was for showing the general information, like level and race, while the latter showed more detailed things, like which attributes the person used or even his name and age . Appraisal stones were very expensive and the academy would not just use them for an entrance exam . Arthur wasn’t particularly anxious anymore and by the time his hand touched the stone he heard a notification "ting" .

An appraisal crystal is being used on you , do you want to show your level and race ?

yes / no

After some pondering, he said ’no’ because if those information was to be known, it would be a catastrophe and everyone except Lucy would regard him as an enemy . Just when he clicked the ’no’ the crystal stone broke, it literally shattered, which caused Arthur to panic a little but surprisingly the inspector didn’t seem bothered .

In fact, appraisal crystals sometimes brake from excessive use, so seeing one brake now wasn’t very unusual . He soon retrieved one from behind him and put it in front of the participant, but Arthur was sure that the crystal broke because of him, so he didn’t know what to do . He just put his hand on it again and refused to show his information and ’poof’ the crystal shattered once more . This time there was a little shock in the inspector’s eyes; nonetheless, he picked another crystal, after all, it might be coincidence, but the 3rd 4th and 5th crystals also broke, so he stared at Arthur in disbelief and suspicion .

Even the other participants in other queue lines were dumbfounded by this turn of events . The inspector didn’t know what to do, after all, he couldn’t judge the results, for he didn’t even see his level, he so said hesitantly "emm, unfortunately, you have no . . . " before he could finish, there was another calm voice which spoke:

"He can pass the first test"

The inspector was startled by this voice, but he soon snapped out of it and nodded toward the origin of the voice, which was unexpectedly the principal, who didn’t speak since the beginning of the test .

She let him pass because she was curious about this individual, first the aptitude crystal showed a strange symbol and then the appraisal crystal broke many times It was by no means mere coincidence and she considered him worth paying attention to; moreover, if her judgment was false and he was weak, then he would just lose in the second test .

Arthur was happy since he somehow managed to pass the first test, without revealing his information . Nevertheless, he wasn’t grateful or anything to the principal, since even if she didn’t let him pass, he had other means in store in case of emergency .

He walked toward Lucy who was waiting for him, he couldn’t help but smile when he saw her . He felt warmth and happiness to have someone such as her love him, she was truly a maiden, especially with the red dress she was wearing today .

When he was close enough, he took her hand and continued to head upstairs toward the area were the accepted participants were . Although she was surprised by his sudden actions, she neither was mad or disgusted by his action, quite the opposite in fact . She also held his hand firmly and walked cheerfully beside him, you could notice a small smile hanging on her pretty face .

They found a quite spot and sat there waiting for the first test to finish . Since they had time and there was nothing to do, Arthur decided to spend the remaining time chatting with Lucy, since he liked talking with her and felt happiness when he did . Even when they sat on the stone chairs which were neatly put in a big square, Arthur didn’t let go of her hand for even a second .

"To think you got a magma attribute, good, good! You should try to practice with it!" when he mentioned the magma attribute, Lucy seemed to become excited . While looking at her other free hand she replied "En! I didn’t believe it either, last time I used an aptitude crystal I only saw 2 attributes, I wonder how I got the third one"

"hehe no use bothering to think hard about it, the good thing is that you got it, so you will become even more powerful! And when the time comes, if you want I’ll personally take you to take revenge, I promised you didn’t I?" While he said that, Arthur used his remaining hand and patted her head gently while smiling towards her . His face was close to her so she could clearly see him smiling and looking at her with soft and caring eyes . She could feel his honesty when he spoke and knew he would sooner or later take her to end the unfinished business . Lucy’s eyes seemed to contain some tears but she wasn’t sad; on the contrary, she was happy, to have someone who would care for you to such an extent was rare and she wouldn’t want to be separated from a person like that .

Arthur was shocked when he saw some tears and he thought he reminded her of her tragic past, he regretted what he said immediately and with an apologetic said "I’m sorry . . . I shouldn’t have reminded you of your past . . " he looked down, not daring to look at her face for he felt guilty in his heart but surprisingly, he felt a warm feeling on his chest, and was surprised to see her hugging him .

There were some nearby people looking at him with eyes burning with jealousy and hatred but he ignored them and stared at this girl who was hugging him . To be more exact Lucy was considered a woman, she told him her age when they were traveling, even though she didn’t like the fact he asked her about it . She was 28 this year and even though she was petite, she was a fully matured woman, she may be petite in size but her chest was well developed and her face looked more like an adult woman than a little girl .

Lucy was crying but smiling, so he quickly realized she was not sad, but instead happy and blamed himself for being this stupid, since he couldn’t even understand the emotions of his lover; nonetheless, he hugged her back and closed his eyes as if enjoying this precious moment . It was the second time they hugged and even though they were lovers, Arthur didn’t cross the line, only either patting her head or holding her hand and she didn’t seem to dislike that . It would be a fat lie to say he didn’t want to hug her whenever he wanted, or even kiss her, but that would be too much for her to bear right now, since it could even remind her of those beast like men who used her body and never in this life would he want to do that . He could even stay like this forever and only hold hands rather than harming her and causing her to be sad or angry with him .

They stayed like that for a couple of minutes before Lucy let go, but unexpectedly she leaned on him and seemed to close her eyes as if wanting to relax . Of course Arthur let her do as she pleased, he wrapped his left arm around her shoulder, to let her lean more comfortably and she didn’t refuse it or anything, instead she just looked more relaxed and carefree .

Time passed and the first test seemed to be still going to take some time, but Arthur didn’t mind as he stared at Lucy who was now asleep . He was rather happy to see her sleeping face, which was breath-taking, also he felt warmth because she, who felt disgusted with men and loathed them, managed to sleep while leaning on his shoulder and having his arm around her shoulder . He felt like he made a big accomplishment and his heart was beating like crazy, with every second that passed, he would fall in love with her even more .

After 2 more hours, the first test finally came to an end and the final participants who passed the first test was truly shocking . From the thousands of people who came, only a hundred or so were accepted, the Nemia academy seemed to be very strict in choosing talents, of course, there were those who protested but they were slapped by the inspector and sent flying hundred meter or so from their previous location . In this island their status and power had no effect, the inspector could do whatever he wants with cocky brats like them .

The hundred or so participants who passed the first test were gathered in the big square which was accessible only by going several steps up from the previous square where they passed the first test . This square was much bigger than the previous one and there were many fighting arenas, so Arthur guessed it must be where the tournament was going to be held in . Lucy seemed to have woken up a dozen or minutes ago, but she still remained in the same position, lost in thought and didn’t realize the second test was about to begin .

In this square was a stage as well, all the teachers who were seated in the previous stage came in to this square with the council members and the principal . Arthur guessed that the people who previously came first on the stage were the teachers and their average level was 75-80, it was somehow lacking but he paid it no heed . The principal soon reached the center of the biggest arena and spoke

"Congratulations for passing the first test, even though it was just checking your abilities, the second test is about to begin, this board contains your names and your opponents’ names"

The academy didn’t knew all of their names, except who chose to say it or the famous figures like the second prince, so when the board appeared, all the names were kind of awkward and stupid . Lucy was named ’Ice Queen’ and Arthur was named ’black-robed man’ it seemed funny, as their sense of naming was somewhat strange, but he soon shrugged it off since it wasn’t that what seemed to concern him . He was worried about Lucy, she might fall against a powerful enemy and even if Zephir said she would pass whether she failed or not, he was afraid she would get hurt so he said:

"Lucy, please be cautious and surrender when necessary, remember that demon guy said you either way passed, so don’t force yourself, okay?"

She looked at him with warm eyes and nodded before saying "en! don’t worry, even though compared to you I’m nothing ,I at least can handle myself against those people, after all I fought so many people from the holy church so how could I lose to mere nobles and rich brats"

SECTION A

Black-robed man VS Elf Zehn

Second Prince VS Jackie Beast

Ice Queen VS Huge build

Beast-man axe VS Human Archer

Priest VS Skinny Demon

’They really got no sense for naming huh?’ Arthur still complained when he saw the names again, apparently, Lucy was obviously Ice Queen and that’s because of her cold eyes and emotionless face, all the other names were made based on the person’s appearance, except the ’elf zehn’ and the second prince .

The tournament was divided into 11 sections and the winners of each section will have passed the second test, but there were also exceptions as there may be participants who pass the tests even though they lost, but that’s only if they were good at fighting and had considerable strength .

Arthur looked at his opponent for a second before turning his head, because it was only a lvl38 elf who got a strong affinity with wind, which was to be expected from an elf . He was sure of his victory, but when he saw Lucy’s opponent he was worried . It was a huge beastman who had a pair of one-handed axes on his back, he was almost 3 meters tall, with huge hands and a muscular body, while he was looking at this huge beastman, the beastman looked at Arthur in return, but soon turned his face towards Lucy and licked his lips excitedly, as if he was going to enjoy a meal .

His lvl was 53, so Arthur judged his strength to be quite close to the holy knight Rein, if not more, after all beastmen were famous for their enormous strength and Lucy was petite and only excelled in magic . She was indeed not bad in physical attacks, but compared to this huge beastmen folk, she was nothing .

Soon the fights began and the first fight in his section was between the skinny demon and the priest . The fight was not even 5 minutes long, the priest struggled a bit but he didn’t have the power to resist the skinny demon’s attack . The demon was indeed ruthless and powerful and deserved having the highest level among the participants, except Arthur of course, his use of darkness attribute and earth magic was not bad . He first attacked with a curse to weaken the priest considering he used holy magic and darkness magic was completely its opposite, and secondly he used earth attack, earth spikes and small meteors so the priest finally lost after a small struggle .

To be honest , his use of earth magic was lower than Arthur, who almost never used his, he got it from the young earth dragon and it was a [medium earth magic], he could even bind his opponents if he caught them off guard and could raise a 5 meter wall and do other various things, but compared to his dark or ancient fire magic, his skills in earth magic were considered pathetic; nonetheless, if he showed it to those people, he was sure he would get their attention, but what if he used his [hell arrow] what would they do? How would their reaction be? Arthur was excited to try that out, but of course he didn’t, as it was foolish and childish .

The second fight soon began and it was the beastman with a huge axe on his back, it was the same guy who got chosen by the female beastman from the council members . Contrary to the other huge build beastman, this one had a normal body with some scars here and there, but he seemed somewhat friendly even with those scars . The fight was even quicker than the first one, as the human archer was not the beastman’s match, he could only kite him for some time before he got knocked down by the axe and fell unconscious .

The conditions to win the fight were to either surrender or fall unconscious, of course Arthur noticed that in some other arena there were some ruthless opponents who would not let their enemy surrender or even fall unconscious, they mercilessly injured them purposely causing them serious damage as they seemed to enjoy doing that .

The third fight was Arthur against the elf Zehn . Arthur quickly jumped onto the arena, but didn’t take any weapon, as for the elf, he took out a wooden cane and looked seriously at his opponent . Once the referee announced the start of the fight the elf started chanting to attack his enemy but he was soon struck by a dark dagger in the shoulder and wailed in pain .

Truthfully, Arthur did not care even if he killed this elf, for that had nothing to do with him, but killing is prohibited and you would be disqualified if you did that, even if you didn’t do it on purpose, so he used a dark dagger and aimed it at the elf’s shoulder, of course the dagger went through the elf’s shoulder and struck the ground behind him .

The elf’s painful cries soon reached the teachers and council member’s ears and they turned their heads in curiosity, to see why someone would scream like that . When they saw the black dagger floating next to Arthur and the wailing elf, they were stunned and tried to observe the dark dagger, especially the principal, she gazed seriously at the dark dagger but she couldn’t guess what it was, she could only feel an ominous feeling coming from it, as if it was going to devour her whole .

Arthur stared coldly at the elf expecting him to surrender, but he surprisingly didn’t . After screaming for some time, he stood up while shaking, it seemed he was not used to pain at all, when he stabilized himself he started chanting again, but before he could even finish the first word another dagger pierced him in his other shoulder and blood flowed endlessly .

This time his screams even reached the ears of the other participants, they stared with fear at Arthur and thanked their luck for not being in the same section as him . The elf finally surrendered after being pierced by 2 daggers and left the stage while stumbling with shaking legs, Arthur couldn’t help but shake his head, to not be able to resist that much pain, what if he experienced the same situation Arthur was in and had his body created from nothing? Would he die from pain or would he go crazy?

Arthur went to his previous location where Lucy was waiting for him with a small smile on her face, to have someone wait for him made him delighted and joyful but when he thought of the next battle his thoughts quickly began to be erratic and his heart started beating faster, he was truly afraid of Lucy being hurt . She noticed his anxiousness, so she ran up to him and gave him a long hug while not minding the jealous gazes, and then she headed toward the stage .

The huge beastman was already waiting for her and you could see his eyes were burning with desire as he gazed at her body, he regarded her as an object and a toy, not as a human or a demon . That look made Lucy even more disgusted and angry, she hated those kinds of men the most, since they only thought of their desires and would do anything to achieve them .

The fight soon began and the beastman rushed towards her with great speed, but he didn’t use his axes . If you looked closely, not even his hands were shaped like a fist, instead they were claws as if wanting to rip her clothes off . Of course Lucy didn’t just stand still, she backed away and a dozen fireballs were fired at him, her aim was perfect and all fireballs hit him and he was sent flying a couple of meters before falling down .

He knew she was considered a wizard, but he regarded women as sexual toys and never thought of them as fighters, so being sent flying by a skill made from a women did not cause him to be angry, quite the contrary, it made him even more excited to touch her body and rip her red dress ’hahah such a ferocious girl , I wonder how she will be in bed, I’ll enjoy her first, then someday I’ll get my hands on that principal too haha , with that body of hers I’m sure she’s perfect to satisfy me’ he rushed again at her, but his speed seemed to increase nonetheless . Lucy casted a curse which slowed his speed by 10% and his strength by 5% then bombarded him with fireballs, her use of skills was really amazing and her actions were coordinated .

’boom’ ’boom’ the beastman was sent flying again and he had small burn marks on his fur and some other corners of his body, yet he was still grinning evilly and as he couldn’t get more shameful a huge tent rose up in his lower body . Seeing this Lucy became even more contempt towards him and her attacks became even more ferocious . After 10 minutes of one-sided attacks from Lucy, the beastman grew angry; nonetheless, the tent in his lower body was still there . He took his double axes from his back and rushed at Lucy with great speed, the curse she put on him was finally over, so his speed had gone back to normal .

Lucy was quite tired, she kept hitting him with a lot of fireballs but he seemed to be extremely resistant and not damaged that much by them . Her mana pool was not like Arthur’s and her fireballs costed some mana, so after launching more than a hundred of them and using some other skills like flame tornado and flame lance, her mana was almost emptied out .

She had to buy some time for her mana to regen a little, but the beastman rushed at her, so she couldn’t do anything but create a desperate flame barrier . Even though flame was usually for offensive, it could also be used to form barriers but they were not that useful and would only negate a little of the incoming attack . The flame barrier formed by her was shattered and she was sent flying a dozen or so meters, her rose dress was tattered and it seemed to be ripped a little from the bottom, you could even see her thigh .

She quickly stood up while some blood came up from her pretty lips, even though she had good physical strength, she couldn’t withstand a powerful attack from a beastman who excelled in strength and was 9 levels higher than her . You must know that even the difference of one level was considered a lot, so 9 levels was like heaven and earth, it was already excellent that she could hold up until now, but she didn’t want to admit defeat, since he was a man like those who raped her, was he going to win again? Doesn’t that mean even if she got the chance to face those who used her, she wouldn’t win and would end up in the same situation? Soon all those memories and tragic days passed in that room came to her, she remembered when those guys came in everyday to use her body as they pleased and would laugh at her and her stupidity .

The beastman noticed she was lost in thought and grinned while licking his lips again and his tent never stopped from getting bigger, he rushed toward the girl with extreme speed and slashed with his axes toward her chest area . Lucy, sensing danger, quickly snapped out of her daze and tried to dodge, but it was too late as the axe had already torn off half of the top of her dress . Some of her chest was now exposed and she wasn’t wearing anything under the dress except panties, since the dress was long enough to cover her, but now that she was almost naked .

A deep fear came to her and she covered her exposed chest with her hand, she was trembling and her eyes had fear in them, but it was not fear of the beastman in front of her, but she was reminded of those days and the suffering, and seemed to experience those memories again . It was as if she was back in the past, defenseless and bound while those men played with her . The beastman laughed and put his axes behind his back while stretching his left hand and grabbed Lucy’s free hand which was not covering her exposed chest, but just as he touched her hand, he felt cold and ’poof’ his stretched hand fell onto the ground and blood flowed endlessly from his shoulder, ’poof’ the tent in his lower body was also chopped off and his ’thing’ fell onto the floor .

Arthur was watching the fight with great anxiety, he was very worried for Lucy, and seeing her struggle against this lunatic made him even more helpless, he saw the beastman sent flying several times but got up like nothing happened, so it got him even more anxious as he thought of stopping the fight, but when he glanced at the principal at the others, he saw them all focusing on the fight between Lucy and the beastman, especially the principal and Zephir, who seemed to be assessing Lucy’s skill .

As time passed, Arthur saw the tent on the beastman’s lower body and his killing intent rose up, the air around him turned cold and his hands twitching . He really wanted to kill this bastard right now, but he didn’t want to be disqualified or let Lucy be disqualified . After all, he was considered her companion and him helping her out would be considered her fault, even though she was already accepted to the academy, his actions may not please the principal and she might not accept her .

The fight continued and he noticed she was starting to slow down at attacking and seemed exhausted, so he judged her mana pool to be almost empty . His face was distorted and he was barely holding himself back from interfering, and when he saw the beastman tear her dress, he decided he was going to kill him and ignored the consequences, but before he did that he noticed the eyes of Lucy, they were unwilling to lose and full of determination . It seemed she was fighting her past memories and wanted to get past them, so him interfering was like not letting her have a chance to overcome her tragic past, so he just stood there with an aching heart while looking at her with a worried look .

Arthur’s mind went blank when he saw the beast man tear the top area of her dress and expose her chest . Even though she quickly covered it, the beastman grinned and held her hand forcefully, so Arthur couldn’t control his emotions anymore, he didn’t care about either the principal or anything else, he loved her, he wanted to protect her, so her being this humiliated was unforgivable and he would not tolerate it .

He teleported in front of her and immediately created a dark sword and chopped the beastman’s hand and ’thing’ off, without hesitation he then kicked him in the stomach with full strength and you could even hear the beastman’s bones shattering completely .

He was sent flying across the stage until he hit a wall which was where the spectators were watching . The wall was also destroyed by the force of the impact and there laid the beastman who was coughing blood non-stop and his screams of pain resounded through all of the big square .

Everyone looked at what happened with disbelief, even the principal didn’t expect someone to interfere, she didn’t like what the beastman did, but she had no right to interfere, as this war a 1 on 1 fight and she personally set a rule that anyone who interfered would be disqualified, no matter who it was .

Arthur quickly retrieved a white cloth from his storage and wrapped it around Lucy, who was still shaking . His heart really ached and he couldn’t control his emotions anymore, he hugged her tightly and said

"Don’t worry Lucy, I’m with you, did you already forget that I said I was going to be with you forever?’

Lucy, sensing someone hugging her, came back to her senses and looked at Arthur who was smiling back at her .

Tears flowed uncontrollably from her eyes and she buried her face in his chest

"Arthur, I couldn’t do it, I couldn’t do it . . . . "

She kept repeating the same words, Arthur knew that by those words she meant that she couldn’t forget about her past and overcome her fears, he didn’t really know what to say to her, so he just did something that even he didn’t expect to do . He kissed her on the forehead and kept hugging her while saying

"It’s okay, if you couldn’t do it, I’m here so I’ll do it for you"

She seemed shocked by his kiss but she stopped saying those words and just sobbed silently in his embrace . Time passed, but no one interfered, the beastman was still screaming from the pain and the spectators were confused as to what was happening right now .

"Lucy, do you want to kill this man or should I kill him for you?"

Arthur asked her gently while still embracing her, she stopped crying and just stayed there silently, when she heard his question, she didn’t say anything for a while before replying with a shaky but somewhat relieved voice

"It doesn’t matter . I’m you and you are me, I’m happy as long as you are by my side . "

She paused a second then resumed with a low voice

" . . . . but next time I’ll be the one to save you, hmpf!"

just when she finished speaking, with her soft and charming lips she gave him a small kiss on the cheek, it seemed insignificant to others, but to him, it was like he was in heaven .

He was dazed for sometime while he thought of that kiss, that pitch black loving gaze of hers was so charming as to cause the fall of cities and the lovely smell of the fragrance that came from her made him feel like he was dreaming, but he didn’t dare think anything strange and after hugging her again he finally let go of her . After adjusting her clothes, he held her hand and looked at screaming beastman not far away .

He advanced slowly with Lucy beside him, he didn’t let go of her hand as he approached the beastman .

The principal was seriously astonished, she didn’t even see him run into the arena, so how could he have appeared out of nowhere? Is his speed that fast? No way, even if it was someone with the extreme speed they wouldn’t be like that, that was an instant movement! Teleportation!

"Who is he? To be able to use teleportation, and this fast too, he is not someone normal"

She looked at him chop that beastman’s arm and ’thing’ off without hesitation and with but a kick he sent him flying out of the arena, that was not a strength a simple participant would have .

She then observed him as he covered the girl who was still shaking and then hugged her and seemed to tell her something, she guessed they must be lovers or family, for he seemed to really care for her a lot, after some time had passed he let go of the girl and headed slowly toward the crying beastman, while accompanied by the demon girl .

Truthfully the principal was quite angry because someone dared to interfere and not only that, he injured the enemy that much in front of her face, at least other people would pretend this was an accident, but this man didn’t care and ruthlessly chopped his opponent’s hand off, he also seemed to want something else from him as he walked towards him .

"Stop right there! Not only did you break the rules by interfering in the fight, you also seriously injured a participant"

The female Beastman from the council shouted at Arthur, even though what that beastman did was shameless, he was still someone from her race . So seeing him suffer like that didn’t seem right to her, especially when he already got what he deserved and had his arm and ’thing’ cut off .

Arthur completely ignored her and continued walking towards the beastman, no matter who it was, even if god himself tried to stop him, he wouldn’t stop . This man dared do those things to Lucy, the most precious thing he had, so how could he forgive him, death was a way out for this beastman, but he didn’t care and was determined to kill him .

Soon he was finally in front of the beastman who turned to look at Arthur with extreme fear and rage . He believed he was only sneak attacked and in a normal fight he would have won, but now he couldn’t fight, so he just stared hatefully at this black-robed man .

Arthur used his free hand and grip the beastman around the neck and with great strength lifted him high up in the air while increasing the force he was exerting on the neck . The beastman first tried to struggle with his remaining hand but after a couple of seconds he began to suffocate and breathe heavily, his face turned red and he began to wriggle as he was unable to breathe .

The female beastman was angered as she rushed towards Arthur with great speed, she was a member of the council and she shouldn’t use her power to bully the weak, but she also couldn’t stand someone from her race being brutally killed like this Her speed was incredible, but to Arthur not that much, as she was closing in he put a little more strength and ’poof’ the head of the beastman was separated from his body and both his head and headless corpse fell to the ground .

The female beastman was full of rage as she made a fist and struck toward Arthur’s head intending to kill him instantly . But he didn’t move, for he had confidence in his defense, after all, he got the dragon’s defense and his new body gained a lot too, so he didn’t even bother creating a dark barrier .

The punch landed on his head which was covered with the black-robe and the female felt as if she had hit a mountain, cracks could be heard as some of the bones in her hand broke, she retracted her fist and backed away while having a mix of astonishment and rage in her eyes, she stared at Arthur while saying "Who are y . . . !"

Before she could finish, there was a loud shout and a strong wave of energy came out of nowhere pressuring everyone on the stage except the council members and Arthur . He could feel that it was a kind of a skill, if one was skilled in mana manipulation, they could use it to pressure enemies and that was what happened now .

"ENOUGH" The principal stood up and stared angrily at Arthur . . .