"both Emil Ashdown and Ricard Burton will be hereby declared winners, with no changes inflicted to the rankings of the other students."

Piers' declaration set off a wave of commotion.

"What the hell? Why's that trash get to win a Bone Tempering Elixir? It's not fair he didn't even pass the second stage fairly!"

"Whether if he did it or not, it wasn't his fault. Besides, him getting number one isn't gonna affect anyone's ranking so if you still have a complaint then tell it to the judges."

"What is it now suddenly defending that trash?"

"I'm not defending him, I'm telling you the judges know what to do best. You think you, an student know better than the Academy'a teachers? If that's the case then let them have a piece of your mind."

"Y-You...!" the student was livid but didn't quite know how to retort.

"hmph. the judges can sometimes make mistakes too, that's all I'm saying..."

Some people found it unfair some found it fair, nevertheless no one was gonna question the judges' authority.

Emil was thereafter awarded along with the rest of the participants.

Him and Ricard stood next to each other on the winner's podium.

"First place winners, Emil Ashdown and Ricard Burton, each receive 500 Merit Points and one Bone Tempering Elixir.

Second place winner, Alfred Mason receives five hundred Merit Points and three silver coupons.

Third place winner, Max Browne receives 500 Merit Points and two silver coupons.

Fourth place winner, Eric Ead receives 700 Merit Points..."

Mister Pewterschmidt awarded the students one by one, the audience cheering in the background.

Ricard was waving back at his fangirls with a radiant smile plastered on his face.

With the same smile, he slightly turned his heads towards Emil and started speaking.

"Emil, my dear little doggy, I put you off your leash for a while and you go around biting your master?"

"This isn't the mansion, nor am I a servant any longer.

You can expect a lot more from me in the future, 'Young Master Ricard'."

Emil who was usually submissive and never rebuked Ricard no matter how harsh he got was spitting at his face now.

Just like he said, things weren't the way they used to be anymore.

Now he could cultivate, now he could fight back, and now, he could pay Ricard back for all the torture he put him under.

He's been waiting for this moment for long now, with years' worth of hatred and anger accumulated in his heart.

Now that his time had come, he wasn't gonna back down, not anymore.

Ricard's smile stiffened, and his hands froze. he turned slowly, to take in the sight of his servant rebuking him.

There, in Emil's eyes, he could see a familiar look, one which he's been trying to get rid of for years, to no avail.

The look of insubordination, present, stronger than ever.

The two's intense staredown was beginning to catch people's attention.

Feeling all the eyes on him, Ricard smiled again and patted Emil's back.

"We'll see to that my good friend. We'll see to that."

Only Emil could feel the hint of malice in his voice.

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In response, he shook Ricard's hand and replied in a similarly malicious voice.

"Certainly."

***

Emil couldn't wait to go back to his quarters and consume the Bone Tempering Elixir once the ceremony was over.

"Stop right there!"

A voice sounded out behind him as he was leaving the venue.

Looking back, he could see Helen, the girl whom he saved during the fourth stage, accompanied by another boy and a girl.

The other girl in particular was looking oddly similar to her, so he assumed they were twins, or sisters at the very least.

"Where are you looking at? Eyes on me! Don't you have anything to say for yourself?"

Emil looked at Helen, his brows knitted.

The boy behind Helen stepped forward and crossed his arms.

"Maybe you owe us an apology?"

He said, his tone overbearing.

Emil knew what this was about, the little incident at the fourth stage.

"I don't know what you're mad about but I was just trying to help earlier.

If I made a mistake of any sort then I'm sorry, but you can't blame me for losing. You should've gotten out of the way." Emil spoke, trying his best to be patient with them. he had a long day and just wanted to go home now.

Helen almost popped a vein hearing him. She took a deep breath and tried to speak as calmly as possible.

"I'll tell you what you did. You got in my way even though I had everything under control. I was disqualfied thanks to you. But that doesn't even matter. You owe my friend an apology for stomping him and you're it going anywhere until then."

Her tone was calm but as cold as it could get. She was trying to remain civil, though her overwhelming emotions were making it difficult.

Emil combed through his memories for a while, but couldn't recall ever attacking anybody.

This girl, she must've been out of her mind. Probably mad because she lost the competiton and thinks it's his fault.

With a shake of his head, he turned away to leave, but a wall composed of water blocked his way.

Looking back, he could see the mad girl controlling the spell, with the boy next to her reaching out for his dagger and her sister ready to chant a spell.

Emil summoned Emerald Reflection and got into stance.

If possible, he'd like to avoid a battle. If he lost any more disciplinary points he could get in trouble.

But that didn't mean he wasn't gonna defend himself when attacked.

He was determined to slash his way out even if it meant fighting three versus one.

It wasn't his first time fighting an opponent stronger than him.

"Stop it, break it off the three of you."

At this moment, a boy whom Emil vaguely recognized came running to them.

Eric Ead, the fourth place winner.

"But Eric, he-"

"He what? He doesn't owe me anything. attacking others at any point in the competition was allowed, those are the rules and he didn't go against them."

Eric cut Helen off, maintaining eye contact with her until she calmed down and put her spell away.

"I apologize for my friends' behavior, you're free to go now."

He turned back and said to Emil.

Emil didn't reply, and only put Emerald Reflection away before making his exit.

A bunch of crazy people. At least Eric was reasonable otherwise a fight would've broken out.

He went through a lot of shit today, much more than he expected.

But at least he wasn't going home empty-handed.

Emil summoned a small red vial and observed it.

The thing in his hand was worth 2000 Merit Points. He'd have to complete more than four A rank missions, or over a dozen B rank missions to get it.

Yet here it was in his hands, and that wasn't all. He gained another 500 Merit Points which he could use to buy a Potions for himself, potential life saving tickets.

"It was well worth the trouble."

Emil beamed as he walked towards his quarters.

Reaching his abode, he took a short nap to recover some energy before waking up and preparing to consume the Elixir.

Bone Tempering Elixir.

It was a miracle drug which could be consumed only once, tempering the bones and strengthening them in the process.

Both Emil's physical strength and defense should increase after the process is over.

To him, a Knight who couldn't augment, especially one with an innately weak body, it was a prized treasure.

the vial was downed in a single gulp as those thoughts flashed passed Emil's head.

Intense pain seared his bones as the Elixir's powers kicked into effect.

He felt his thin and fragile bones melt under its effects.

The process was a slow one, the bones melting too quickly could generate too much pain for the consumer to handle.

Emil found the pain tolerable despite most people describing it as the worst torture of their life.

After all, he went through a similar process every night, except much more painful and for a longer duration.

After an hour, all the bones in Emil's body had completely melted and reached max temperature.

Next was the reconstruction process.

His bones were now going to be reformed, thicker and sturdier than before.

As the process began though, Emil's eyes couldn't help but snap open.

He could feel a dark energy originating from unknown sources mending with his bones as they were being reconstructed.

The source was unknown, but the energy itself was familiar to him.

It was the same energy wrecking his body every night and torturing him for hours on ends.

However, the presence of the energy itself wasn't a problem.

It was the ever so familiar pain brought by it, deeper and stronger than ever.

"AUUUUGGGHH!"

A blood curdling scream, loud enough to leak into the outside world depsite the sound suppressing barriers exited Emil's throat.

Experiencing pain was a daily routine of his life, he's been accustomed to it since young.

For a person like him to scream in misery like that, the level of suffering had to be unimaginable.

The process didn't last long, but Emil felt like dying and coming back alive dozens of times throughout.

Finally, after enough screaming for his throat to go numb, the Elixir's powers ran dry.

What he was left with, was a set of skeleton light-gray in color, emanating a malicious aura.