These two weren’t supposed to meet. I had stopped the confrontation between Sei and the flute guy, whose name I forgot.

The zombie-looking guy with the coffin on his back was Mino. He was from one of the four great clans, the Shi Clan. Two of the four great clans were from the Sun Country (this country), where the king and royal family ruled with absolute power.

But the Shi Clan was from a neighboring country, where the only hierarchy known was one of strength. The Shi Clan was a great clan that ruled a country because it tamed all those egos with absolute power. Amongst hundreds of powerful clans, even if they banded together, they couldn’t take down the Shi Clan.

York wasn’t a pleasant country for the average person to live in, it wouldn’t be wrong to call it hell on earth, but it was a paradise for exorcists. Human experimentation and human control abilities were legal there. It was the law of the jungle disguised in a gentleman’s suit.

With a mental order, Carpy opened a small hole in the water around us so we could hear what they were saying. I also ordered him to close the hole as soon as the flute guy started playing.

"Hello there, my name is Naka," the flute guy introduced himself.

Ah, yes, now I remembered his name.

He pulled down the bandages around the lower part of his face, revealing an unblemished and normal face. "Nice to meet you. Would it trouble you if we went first?"

Mino didn't answer and instead glanced at his teammates. His team comprised another guy and a girl. They immediately backed off—leaving Mino to handle this by himself. He didn’t seem bothered by his teammates’s unwillingness to fight.

"Yes, I do mind,” Mino said in a growling voice. It was as if his vocal cord hadn’t been used in years. “No matter the competition, I will get first place. Even if that so-called once-in-a-thousand-years genius comes, I will kill him. I will massacre anyone who stands in my way."

He could probably do it. Even Sei wasn't strong enough to handle this, for now.

Mino dropped the coffin on the ground, and the lid slid off. A mummy with its body covered in talismans came out. The undead creature touched the coffin, which created a crack where he touched it.

I closed my eyes and changed vision with Carpy, to see the fight better.

Naka frowned, tightening the grip around his flute. "What the hell is that?"

Heh, who would’ve thought someone like him would show nervousness? His whole character trope was to be someone with a good special ability but arrogant.

"Are they gonna-"

I covered Gem's mouth before he could make too much noise. While I was almost sure they couldn't hear us, I didn't want to take a risk.

Even with Perfect Me, this wasn't a battle I could win.

Naka pulled the flute up to his lips and immediately blew on it. Thankfully we were underwater, with an air bubble around us. So we couldn't hear whatever sound was produced.

But Mino suddenly twitched uncontrollably, and blood burst out of his ears. He stumbled, trying to stay on his feet, but slumped face-first, meeting the floor.

Because Carpy was a low-class demon, he had amazing sight underwater.

Naka smirked and breathed deeply, and blew on the flute even harder. Mino's teammates fell to the ground, writhing in pain.

Naka's team seemed fine. They probably had earplugs. Because as far as I knew, Naka's ability didn't discriminate between friends or enemies.

Yet even with blowing the flute with all his power, the mummy surrounded by sealing talismans didn’t flinch.

Naka stopped blowing on the flute to take a couple of deep breaths. During that split second, the mummy finally moved and removed one talisman sealing it.

An Ord so powerful and overwhelming burst out that it made my legs buckle. It was the kind of heaviness humans shouldn't be able to release. After a certain point, human bodies weren’t made to handle too much raw power.

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Even Warriors, who handled the most Ord, had their bodies break down after a while.

As expected from one of the four great clans, just like how the Kuro Clan had their shadows. The Shi Clan had their Cursed Corpse technique.

Naka opened his mouth to say something, panicked. But we couldn't hear what he said. The corpse flashed forward and swiped at Naka's head.

Naka opened and closed his mouth mid-air as if he was still trying to speak. But mid-sentence, his eyes widened with fear as he realized he was dead.

His teammates tried to run away. But the corpse killed them with a swipe of its hand.

Since Naka was dead, I had Carpy open a small hole in the water.

Mino got up and winced; he put a finger in his ear and took a deep breath, puffing up his cheeks. Out of the other ear came a spurt of blood. He winced in pain. "Fuck! What an annoying ability!"

He walked toward Naka's head and stomped on it. He did it once, twice, three times, until the head was nothing more than a puddle of gray brains and skull fragments.

Then he looked at the mummy, the creature put its seal back, and the overwhelming Ord settled down.

"Next time, don't just decapitate someone with an ability like this. He would have been useful as a corpse puppet." Mino sighed as the mummy lay down in the coffin.

After that, Mino put the coffin over his shoulder and walked toward the tower. He pulled up a hatch, revealing an underground pathway. "This should be the place."

He glanced at his teammates, still clutching at their bleeding eardrums. "Useless bastards. I would have killed you both if it weren't for the rules."

Though neither of his teammates seemed to hear anything, he walked close to his team and pointed at the hatch opening he had discovered.

"W -What the fuck was that?" Gem muttered, his hands shaking.

As a Blaster, he sensed the mummy's aura better than I did. So he should know how dangerous that thing was.

"That's why we don't go first," though the situation was like this, and someone had died. I couldn't help but feel a sense of relief.

Mino, that monster, had suffered injuries to his ears.

Though it was a shame a talented Exorcist like Naka died, his ability was good at group battles. It would have been very useful in the upcoming war. He would have grown to become someone important if it wasn’t for my interference.

Fuck! I didn’t like this! But there was nothing I could have done. Even if I had tried to save him, I would have only died with them.

"Kon, don't you think this exam seems too dangerous? Should we just forfeit?" Bets suddenly asked. He glanced at the broken tower. “We can still take it next year.”

I was surprised to hear him say that. He didn't seem afraid. But one can never know what really went on inside someone else's heart.

He had a valid point; there was the slaughter in the capital, and now this! The exam was a dozen, if not a hundred times more dangerous than normal. "No, we're taking this exam and becoming Expert Exorcists."

Bets nodded and said nothing more.

He was probably displeased with my decision and might even be mad. But this was the safest choice. Because if I don't become an Expert Exorcist, I would just be another cannon fodder in the war. At least as an Expert Exorcist, I would manage my own small team.

We waited a bit more, and another team came in. They looked like siblings, with silver hair and gray eyes.

Wild-colored hair wasn’t that strange in this world. But what unsettled me the most was how I didn't remember these three.

Were they some background characters? But everyone who came early shouldn't be weak. At least they should have had a team member smart enough to bring them to the finals.

Also, silver hair. I knew only two important kinds of people had that hair. It was either someone from the Raion Clan (Anika’s Clan), or they were from that secret organization.

I had eliminated an entire story arc and expected some changes. Though these guys showing themselves too early spelled trouble for everyone involved!

The next team to come by was a young man with a spear leaning on his shoulder. He had a foolish smile on his face, while his other teammates were two girls who were arguing with each other.

Finally, the fourth team came, and it was Agon with Sei and Anika.

Agon had some blood on his shirt, which had a cut on it. But behind the shirt was unblemished skin.

It seemed like he had been injured and healed up on the way here. Sometimes I was almost jealous of him for having an Ultimate Class demon sealed inside.

Wait, not just ‘almost jealous’ I was 100% jealous!

After that, it was our turn, and we got out of the water. "Okay, once we enter. Breathe heavy and look like we're tired."

We opened the hatch and walked down; there was so little light we could barely see anything. The whole passageway was lit up by a handful of flickering candles.

The further down we went, the more we heard people talking. Until we arrived at a big underground man-made opening. There was only cold stone, pillars, and a wide tunnel.

At first, I was relaxed since fighting wasn't allowed down here.

But my heart stopped when I saw the silver-haired team approaching Agon.

Fuck! They were already making their move!

"Hello there, big brother," said the youngest of the silver-haired group.