The following exam proctor looked like a French man with a cigarette and wearing tiny sunglasses. As soon as we stepped foot on land, he began to drag us all around town.

“As you can see, this city is the best out there. It’s the unofficial capital of all exorcists. Though be careful, Magician’s City is known for its mages and swindlers,” the exam proctor smiled.

“Magicians?” Gem was star-struck. “Could they teach me magic?”

Everyone stared at him weirdly.

He was an exorcist who could use Ord. He had survived life and death situations. So why the hell was he so damn gullible?

“What about that?” Agon drew everyone’s attention by pointing at the giant golden pyramid in the distance.

The French man stared at Agon, and his lips twitched into a bitter smile. “That is a monument of the greatest exorcist to ever live. The Magician is the man who they named this city after.”

“That place is a local tourist hot-spot since it is also the same place where The Magician sealed Tamamo No Mae, an Ultimate Class Demon also known as the nine-tailed fox,” Bets smiled as he began to give a history lesson. “They say that this was the first Ultimate Demon he sealed. Ten days later, he went and sealed Yamata No Orochi, and the battle was said to have destroyed mountains! Though the serpent’s sealing place was never found, some say he killed the damn thing.”

“Woah! This Magician guy is badass!” Agon’s face lit with joy. He looked like a kid who had read a spiderman comic and was meeting the actor who played the super hero.

The French man titled his sunglasses up to cover his misty eyes. “Yes, he was pretty badass.”

“Where is he now?” Asked Agon.

The French man cleared his throat. “Well, he is dead. After sealing Yamata No Orochi, there was another Ultimate Class demon that was causing trouble. That was the battle where the Magician died against the demon known as Shuten Doji.”

Agon looked down when he heard that.

I kept my eye on the silver-haired team and Mino; they were two different elements that could screw everything up.

I contemplated on how worth it would be to tell Mino that his country was getting screwed just so some higher-ups could get funding for their experimentations.

Organization X members were the cliche evil guys working behind the scenes. They were also doing horrible shit, like human experimentation and trying to create human-demon hybrids.

Wait, now that I thought about it. Was my clan involved in that shit too?

Who was I kidding, of course they were. Knowing my clan, they probably had a high standing within the organization. It would be surprising if my whole family weren’t in on it.

Except maybe my mother; she was a lovely lady and a bit too soft.

Everyone in Organization X was after different things. I didn’t know what my clan might be after except to gain more power.

The only thing I knew for sure was that the nobles who invested in the organization were after the research on immortality. Demons lived long lives and were almost immortal; the rich people had invested quite a lot in deciphering the secrets to a longer life.

“The finals will be held in the colosseum close to the pyramid. Due to unforeseen circumstances, we will hold the semi-finals immediately,” said the French guy.

He likely feared another slaughter among contestants, which was a reasonable assumption.

I would aim for the silver-haired team if I had some free time. Yeah, I was part of the problem.

The exam proctor led us to a colosseum close to the golden pyramid.

The stadium was a fantastic sight. But the golden pyramid was something otherworldly.

In my previous life, I had heard that the pyramids in Egypt, back in their prime condition, were covered in marble with a golden top. This one was a more extravagant version of that.

“The semi-finals will be held here,” the French man gestured to the arena. The stands were empty, except for three other people observing from the stands.

My heart skipped a beat. There were only supposed to be two people!

The first person was the Headmaster, the Hermit Exorcist. He was smoking a pipe and blowing smoke circles. This pissed off the Sun Exorcist who was sitting next to him.

These were the guys I had expected to be here. The surprise third person was a blonde-haired woman wearing a green dress and sunglasses. She had a succubus-like presence that ensnared any man who looked at her in a fantasy.

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She smiled at me and gave me a thumbs-up. I looked away and acted like I didn’t know her. She could be sending that thumbs up to anyone here, and I didn’t want to get into a cliche fight because some other guy liked her.

That woman was my teacher, Ellen D Fork. I didn't think she would come and support me like this.

Ellen was a woman who enjoyed teasing others, and being in the mountains for so long with no one to talk to, she was bound to be a little crazy.

She technically had the samurai demon to talk with, he was my swordsmanship teacher, but he wasn’t much of a conversationalist. He would rather meditate with a sword on his lap than talk to anyone.

“Tch, she’s waving at you, isn’t she!” A girl from the spear guy’s team elbowed him, and he winced.

He was Hiro, a member of the Yari Clan, one of the four great clans. Their primary focus was on spear techniques.

“W -What?! Of course not,” said Hiro.

He was like the clueless harem protagonist. Meaning he got beat up by girls and was a coward. Even though he had a powerful special ability, he was the least threatening prospect amongst the others here.

He was talentless and about to be disowned by his clan. Which was a shame, as his special ability was something amazing.

“Well kids, I’m gonna teach you how to gamble!” Said the French man as he pulled out a box and shook it around a bit.

One of Hiro’s female teammates leaned toward the other female on her team and whispered. “Is he supposed to say things like that to us? We’re only fifteen.”

Jeez, talk about mood killers.

“Hi,” someone put a hand on my shoulder, and with everything going on I immediately unsheathed my sword and turned around.

Clang!...The sound of a metal meeting rang out.

I turned around, and Ellen D Fork greeted me with a smile. My sword was stopped by the zombie samurai next to her.

Ellen’s eyes were filled with mischief. “Ah, Kon. I have missed you.”

She blushed, which wasn’t hard to do on command for a Master at her level. Body manipulation was our forte.

All the people around looked at us with wide eyes. Even the exam proctor and the two other Special Exorcists stared at us weirdly.

If I knew Ellen as well as I thought, then she was probably trying to use this and embarrass me in front of my friends. With her charm on full force, I was blushing a bit too.

But despite her intelligence, Ellen was socially incompetent and sometimes did some dumb shit. “Yes, I did too. I will meet you after the exams.”

She stared at me weirdly. Then her eyes widened in realization.

What did she expect?

I wasn’t some anime protagonist who would bleed out of my nose at the thought of women touching me. That was some loser bullshit.

Also, I doubt she knew, but I didn’t care about my reputation. On the other hand, she was a Special Rank Exorcist having a relationship with an underage boy.

She probably had realized that by now, which was why she was frozen in shock.

“A -Anyways, here, draw your number,” the blushing exam proctor shoved the box on my face.

I took out a small piece of paper with the number 6. But the French man was still dreamily staring at Ellen. She frowned and waved him off. “What’re you looking at?! You bastard!”

She turned around and stormed off, and the zombie samurai followed behind her.

The exam proctor's legs shook, and he seemed ready to cry. “L -Let’s continue.”

I felt sorry for the guy, Ellen was probably mad at me, but she took it out on him.

After everyone picked their lots, the proctor called out two names. “The first battle will be Hiro against Gem! Except for the fighters, everyone else get out of the colosseum.”

Yep, the fights here differed from my memory. Almost everyone had different opponents.

Whether this was something good or bad had yet to be seen.

I put a hand on Gem’s shoulder and whispered. “Don’t underestimate him.”

***

Gem was confident and even gave his teammates a thumbs-up as they walked away, while the spear guy looked like a fool and a wimp. He was slouching and looked nervous at the thought of fighting.

‘To create The Dark Wolf Awakens, I added the condition to my ability that I can’t manifest a full shadow wolf during the day. So I have to finish this fight fast before that fact becomes clear to everyone.’ Thought Gem.

He crouched down and balanced his lightweight scythe in one hand.

“Begin!”

As soon as the exam proctor said that, Gem charged. He swung his scythe around and cut the air in front of him.

He had discussed this strategy with Bets if they had to deal with invisible attacks.

There were no such attacks. But Gem was still wary because when someone like Kon told you to be cautious of someone, you had to be damn careful.

But even as Gem approached his opponent, the Ord inside Hiro moved. But it traveled slowly before finally forming a coating around his body.

He was a warrior? Could that be called a Warrior? Even Agon, with his shitty affinity, had a better Ord defense.

Gem remembered Kon’s warning, and he didn’t hesitate to swing his scythe down, and the opponent stopped it with his spear.

Clang!... Gem felt his opponent’s strength during the clash. Hiro grunted and pushed him back.

‘Even with such a weak strengthening effect from his Ord, he is strong!’ Thought Gem, and then he attacked a second time. They clashed again, but this time a shadow fang shot up from Hiro’s shadow and slashed him against his chest.

“Agghh!” Hiro groaned and fell to the ground.

Gem stared at his opponent. Even though Gem’s special ability was weaker and even slower during the day, it still hit his opponent. ‘How the hell does someone have such shitty instincts? Is this guy really a warrior?’