The conclusion of the battle between Vera and the White Rank Sonic wolf seemed to be reached.

The gap between Vera's head and the approaching claw compared to the space between her blade and the beast seemed to be marginally closer.

Speed had prevailed over Reach.

Or so it seemed...

Just as her life was about to be brutally ended by the sharp claws, Vera's blade ignited in a crimson flame.

"Blaze Magic: Armament Combustion!"

The mighty blade vibrated violently before the flame extended and pierced through the wolf's throat shattering the bones in the beast's throat and turning the beast's blood into a thick red vapor.

SPLURT

CRACKLE

Letting out a sharp exhale Vera dropped her spatha to the ground. When the blade's tip met the soft soil, it shattered into dozens of scorched metal fragments.

Too relieved to worry about the points she'd just lost, Vera clutched her bloody stomach and looked towards Maxwell's direction.

In contrast to Vera, Maxwell had emerged victorious having sustained no injuries.

The Rising Star's fight had concluded long before hers and he was now comfortably crouched atop his gigantic hammer, his gaze fixed on Adonis with a concerned expression.

'He's already done? Well, that's to be expected of a Rising Star...' Vera stood in awe, her mind struggling to comprehend the gap in strength between her and the Rising Stars.

'But what is he looking at, is there something wrong with Vindicta?' Shifting her attention away from Maxwell and onto the Seventh Rising Star, Vera's eyes widened.

With his gladius drawn for the first time since acquiring it, Adonis gazed down at the beasts, his eyes filled with intense complicated emotions.

The part that Vera found strange wasn't the fact that Adonis had defeated the beasts but rather, his blade remained unstained by blood, yet the beasts were incapacitated and scared, indicating the battle was completely one-sided.

'What happened? And why hasn't he finished them off yet?'

"Donny..." Maxwell's brows furrowed, and his gaze intensified as he studied his friend's actions closely.

***

Last week Friday

Seated comfortably on a black leather couch along the room's wall, which bore an uncanny resemblance to his own, Adonis held a slender leather-bound book.

"Adonis." Perched on a wooden chair adjacent to a long black desk, upon which an identical book rested, Maxwell turned his gaze toward Adonis. His eyes filled with childish curiosity.

"We said we'd study Max." Refusing to lift his eyes from the book in his grasp, Adonis continued to absorb the contents of the scripture.

"I know, but resting is important too!" He nodded with satisfaction.

"We just started..."

"Okay, just one question."

-sigh- "Sure, what is it." Akin to an irritated parent of a restless toddler, Adonis tore his attention away from the book in his grasp and shifted it toward his energetic friend.

"Is it true you defeated over forty goblins at the same time without killing any?" Maxwell's eyes sparkled with excitement, Maxwell voiced the question that echoed in his mind every time he interacted with Adonis.

"Hm? Yeah it is... How do people even know that anyway?" Answering casually, Adonis countered with a question he'd also had for quite a while.

"Well, people don't know... It's more like a rumour." Maxwell shrugged.

"I mean, it had to be started by someone, who was it?" Determined to know who had acquired such information, Adonis rephrased his question.

"Sicily, she seems to know quite a lot about the inner workings of the academy..." Maxwell shrugged.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

"Sicily, huh?" Instantly recognizing the name, Adonis pictured the face of the gloomy girl who happened to be in the same class as him.

'She could be useful.'

{Or a problem.}

"Why?"

"I thought you said you had one question?" Adonis' brows arched, as he fixed a stern gaze on his friend. He was well aware that if it were up to Maxwell, their study session would turn into a fruitless all-night conversation, devoid of any actual studying.

Although Adonis possessed the ability to swiftly absorb information by merely skimming through the book, he made it a practice to emulate the role of a diligent scholar to not raise any suspicions.

Moreover, unlike himself, Maxwell genuinely needed to study to keep up. Despite his status and prestige as a Rising Star, Maxwell's academic rankings painted a whole different picture. In subjects such as Science, Mathematics, Magic Theory, and History, he languished near the bottom.

His academic struggles were not due to a lack of intelligence but instead because of the deficiency in the foundational knowledge required to grasp and build upon these concepts. This deficiency instead stemmed from his commoner background and the absence of resources in his childhood.

"This is part of the question." Puffing his cheeks childishly, Maxwell used his brown eyes to beg Adonis to entertain his queries.

"Okay, fifteen minutes." Giving in to his friend's act, Adonis complied closed his book, and placed it on Maxwell's couch's armrest.

"Hehe, okay. Why'd you ask for all the goblins to be summoned at once?" Maxwell slyly rose from his chair and threw himself onto his bed.

'Why's he getting comfortable? I said fifteen minutes?!'

{Just accept it, you two are getting no work done today.}

-sigh- 'I knew we should've studied in the library instead, how'd I let him convince me to study in his room instead?'

{Dumbass.}

"Well, it was taking too long to defeat them all." Adonis shrugged.

'Too long?! Even if they were merely unranked goblins are physically comparable to healthy mundane grown men.'

"Why didn't you kill any?" His curiosity continued to grow, and Maxwell continued with his barrage of questions.

'Did he not kill any because of some sort of special training, but if it was that was the case then he would've also fought the Goblin Warrior instead of forfeiting.'

"..." While he had expected Maxwell to eventually ask this question, he still dreaded coming up with a plausible answer that put him in a position of weakness.

However, given he'd grown to trust Maxwell and believed that showing vulnerability would strengthen their bond and could be beneficial, he opted to be completely honest.

"Hm? What's wrong?"

{Don't be dumb Oizys, never tell a potential enemy your weakness.}

'I'm fairly certain Maxwell won't become an enemy.'

{Don't base your conclusions on emotions.}

'It's not based on emotion it's the complete opposite. The background check on Maxwell was squeaky clean, he has no reason to associate with 'Them' nor does he have any sort of affiliations.'

{Well, it's your life... Do what you want.}

"I can't kill." After a few seconds of debating with the deity within him, Adonis eventually responded to his friend's question.

"You can't kill?"

***

Present day.

Gripping the gladius tightly in his right hand until his knuckles turned a deep shade of blue, Adonis fixed his intense gaze upon the beasts before him. His luminous eyes swirled wildly with a myriad of intricate emotions that transcended mere spoken words.

It was as though every single cell in the teenager's body had been set ablaze, from the soles of his feet to the tipis of his unkempt hair which lacked sensation all burned uncontrollably and yearned for one thing. The tumultuous emotions that had enveloped his heart were the wellspring of this complex whirlwind of feelings that continued to haunt him.

His nose tingled as it struggled to process every scent that invaded his nostrils. Blood, sweat, water, soil, departed souls, shattered spirits, and the very Essence of every being in the forest overwhelmed him, continuing to assault his senses relentlessly.

His usually saliva-producing mouth had ceased performing its usual activities and now felt parched; every single tastebud on his tongue seemed to burn, yearning for a flavour they had grown accustomed to...

Above, the birds chirped, blissfully oblivious to the dramatic scene that continued to unfold beneath them. This sound of cheerful creatures continued to remind him of the joys of life, a topic that he feared discussing especially considering what he was preparing to do.

"KILL IT!"

"No, don't... What have the beasts done to you? You're the one who wandered into its home and caused a ruckus, it's only natural it attacked you."

"Put it out of its misery, you've already defeated it."

"How're you going to destroy 'Them', if you can't kill a mere beast!"

"Yeah, so just give up!"

"KILL IT!"

"If you can't fulfil your purpose, what's the point of living?"

"Kill yourself."

"You carry the blood of (CENSORED), (CENSORED), and (CENSORED) yet you dare to be so weak?!"

"Do you think you can have your revenge the way you are!?"

"Kill yourself."

"Who says he wants revenge? He wants justice for us!"

"Justice?! Oh please, since when has he been so noble?"

"Him and noble shouldn't even be in the same sentence, he made a deal with the Devil himself."

"Kill yourself."

"How dare you stain our family name by allying with such filth!"

{Who the fuck are you calling filt-}

BAM

Interrupting the chaotic conversation within him, Adonis' flawless porcelain face was showered with hundreds of droplets of a metallic scarlet liquid.