Immediately, Astarte’s sword swung past Leon’s, almost impaling him in the shoulder.

Barely, he was able to fall back, blocking a multitude of swings from her.

He stabbed forward, using the curved blade of the khopesh against her, swinging it out of the way. However, she reacted quickly, using the sword's handle to block Leon’s attack.

Leon jumped back, grimacing under the mask.

‘How am I supposed to beat someone who probably trained in sword fighting all her life?’

Astarte jumped forward, hitting him on all sides with a fast combo.

He ducked as a slash ran right over his head. It was pretty clear that Astarte was just testing him, seeing how strong he was.

‘And yet I’m fighting with my all!’

Astarte seemed to increase her level of swordsmanship, forcing Leon back into the corner. She nearly hit him on his leg, Leon just being able to lift it in time.

Leon ran under her, dodging a swing. Then he blocked a slash that sent him back into the opposite direction.

Astarte seemed to be confused. She looked at Leon, tilting her head.

“Weren’t you supposed to be strong?”

Leon remained impassive, stabbing his sword into the ground.

‘What should I do?’

Leon couldn’t just give up. What would happen if his identity was revealed because he was too weak?

‘Why did that stupid Archduke have to say that?!’

[The Demon of the Abyss is smiling at you]

Groaning inwardly at the notification, Leon clenched his teeth.

‘Does this only happen when I fight Astarte?! What about all the other times?!’

[The Demon of the Abyss has gifted you a Skill!]

[You have been given the Skill [Roulette]

[Would you like to use this Skill?]

‘Yeah. Hurry up!’

[Roulette] has activated!]

[You have rolled a ‘Straight Up!’]

[You have won!]

After that, Leon remembered nothing.

***

Lily’s POV

‘Huh.’

I was rather confused. I thought Leon was supposed to be strong?

‘Maybe it's some kind of mistake?’

I would have to report this to the Seeker Head. Perhaps Leon wasn’t Abbadon’s Blessing?

Wincing as Leon was visibly pushed back, I had to give it to the Ensnare. She was strong, almost frighteningly so.

‘I’m not even sure I could defeat her.’

Looking as Leon backed away and stabbed his sword into the ground, I leaned back into my seat.

‘Is he going to forfeit-’

My thoughts were interrupted as a threatening presence pressed down on me. It felt like an actual weight, hurting my back despite sitting down.

I could almost see the aura flooding out of Leon, spreading through the arena.

‘Was he just hiding his power?!’

I leaned in further, looking in shock as I saw the Ensnare stumble forward. Her legs were visibly shaking in front of her.

Leon slowly walked closer, his steps echoing throughout the entire place.

He slowly removed his falchion from the ground, dark energy crackling from it.

He tilted his head, saying in a cold and impassive voice that sent shivers down my spine, “How about we fight for real?”

Astarte nodded shakily, activating her Skill Tree. Flames burst around her, but even the light from it wasn’t enough to get rid of the dark aura.

She advanced, keeping her distance. And then suddenly, she propelled forward, at a speed even I couldn’t see.

But Leon simply raised his hand and swatted her away.

Just like that.

He didn’t use his sword, didn’t use a Skill, didn’t even activate his Skill Tree.

He just threw her away like a piece of trash.

Astarte slammed into the wall, coughing up blood. She again shakily got up, wiping away the blood.

She once again appeared in front of Leon, swinging her khopesh. However, just as it made contact, she was pushed away, as if she had hit hard metal.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Leon sighed, massaging his neck. “So weak. Are you an Ensnare?”

Growling, Astarte activated her Skill Tree.

[Flame’s Fourth Step: Elemental Explosion]

‘How does she have the Fourth Step unlocked?!’

Open-mouthed, I also stared at Astarte.

‘I only unlocked my Second…’

A white burst of flames appeared, heading towards Leon with a roar.

Leon shook his head, raising his hand.

And easily, he blocked the powerful stream of fire with but a wave of his hand.

And he vanished and appeared in front of Astarte, raising her by her neck.

As she struggled, Leon spoke, his voice tearing through the dark aura.

“You’re an Ensnare? Pathetic.”

Then he threw her into the wall, a cracking sound ensuing as her bones were broken during the harsh impact.

Then, he slowly left, dark tendrils of lightning following him out.

We all sat there slowly, feeling the dark aura slowly siphon out.

The memory of him sitting next to me felt like centuries away. Was that just a fake act?

I shivered, as the Archlord hurriedly extracted Astarte’s twitching body from the wall.

How was he so strong?

***

Leon was dumbfounded.

After hearing the hurried story from Elvis and seeing the footage from the duel, he stared at his new Skill in wonder.

‘Isn’t this too overpowered?!’

Leon had a bad feeling about this Skill. It didn’t feel right, being so strong by no effort of his own. There had to be some kind of payment for using this.

However, no matter how long he stayed awake waiting, no new notifications appeared, pushing Leon into a dreamless sleep.

When he again woke up, he slipped on his uniform and met up with Elvis in front of the dorm door. As he walked down the hallway, the other students looked even more scared of him, some even fainting in fear.

“Are you okay?”

Hearing Elvis’s voice, Leon turned around.

“Yeah. I just don’t like this Skill. It’s giving me bad vibes.”

Elvis shrugged. “I would love a Skill like that. I wonder why you got that though.”

Leon had managed to convince Elvis that he had been given the Skill by Clement, causing Leon to reply as, “I just think that it was because if I had lost that duel, they would have figured out I’m not the Blessing of Abbadon.”

Elvis nodded. Although Elvis was quite gullible, Leon was worried about how much longer he could keep this a secret from his close friend. Elvis didn’t even know why Leon was in this academy to start with.

Walking through his classes, Leon again arrived at the cafeteria for lunch. However, Astarte wasn’t there, as she was doing required counseling for mental trauma. Luckily, she wasn’t physically hurt, because of the special enchantment of the arena.

As Leon sat down, he made sure to sit away from Lily. He wasn’t sure how she would react to him, and he didn’t need to connect with anyone anyway.

‘Just find the students with the Cores and then get the hell out of this place.’

As he drank the broth that was lunch, he surveyed the eating Deluders. Every once in a while, someone would look up, see Leon staring intently at them, and quickly duck their heads down again.

‘My life has changed. I’m scaring demons that would have been able to kill me in a matter of seconds in the past. Well, of course, they could still kill me.’

Finishing his meal, Leon rose to get up, but he stopped as he saw Luke (the handsome demon from the Lust Clan) heading towards him.

Luke quickly walked past him, but discreetly dropped a slip of paper onto Leon’s lap.

As Luke hurriedly left, Leon opened the slip under the table.

Meet me in the library after curfew. I promise that it will be worth your time.

Reading the note, Leon inwardly winced. So either Leon would be getting something from this, or some people had teamed up to take him down.

‘I have to, I guess. Maybe I’ll find out who the demons with the Cores are.’

Crushing the paper and then drowning it in his leftover soup, Leon walked out of the cafeteria.

‘This should be interesting.’

***

Sneaking out of his room, Leon slipped his falchion around his waist, feeling comfort in the weight.

As he avoided the night guards, he arrived at the library, which he had scouted out the location beforehand.

He opened the door, and spotted Luke sitting on a couch, reading a book by the pale lamplight.

Leon quickly approached, tilting his head.

“Why did you call me here?”

Luke looked up, smiling. His handsome face looked even more vibrant in the light, shadows shifting across his features.

He stood up, slender legs raising him to his full height.

“Velereth. They call this academy the best, but not because of the studies. Do you know the true reason?”

Leon crossed his arms, shaking his head slightly.

Luke continued, his pure voice ringing out, “It’s because of the alliances and long-lasting things found during your years here. Nations and Kings have been formed in this Academy, as did all the Archdukes.”

“But none of those were found by luck alone. Demons were working in the background, orchestrating everything that happens in this Academy.”

“And I assume that you’re inviting me to join?”

Luke laughed. “Oh, King’s no. I hate them. But of course,” Luke rolled up his uniform sleeve, exposing a tattoo that looked like a flame encrusted moth, its wings beating with fire. “They do say that you should keep your enemies close.”

Leon dismissed it with a wave. “But where do I fit in all of this?”

Luke laughed. “Impatient, aren’t we? I just would like you to join this thing with me.”

“Why me?”

“Because you’re probably the least likely for them to suspect, and I need to make one another person join to raise myself in ranks within that organization.”

Leon laughed as well, making it as cold as possible. “But why do I need to do it? What’ll I earn from it?”

Well of course, either way, Leon was going to join. An organization that orchestrated all the student’s movements? It would be much easier to find the Ensnares. But Leon was feeling a little bit greedy.

“I’ll be providing you with multiple Resurgences, along with Mana potions,” said Luke, his arrogant smile flashing on his face.

Leon tilted his head in confusion. “You do know I don’t need those, right? I already ate so much that those don’t work on me anymore.”

For the first time, Luke’s smile faltered, but that was enough of a present for Leon.

“I’ll join.”

***

As Leon was silently creeping back into his dorm, he heard footsteps behind him.

Silently ducking behind a wall, Leon looked on as Lily walked out, her feet skipping on the floor. It seemed like Lily wasn’t even making an effort to be quiet, her feet clacking on the stone floor with sounds that echoed through the whole school.

Goraning, Leon stepped out of the shadows, calling out to her, “Why are you being so loud?”

Stifling a shriek, Lily looked towards him. Judging from her open mouth, she was surprised.

“Um… why are you out so late?”

“Should you be asking me that?”

She shook her head, saying, “I just miss the stars. It feels weird to be stuck underground in this place.”

Leon shrugged, saying, “I mean, I don’t care that much abou-”

He stopped as he noticed something on Lily’s exposed shoulder. It seemed like she had just gotten out of the shower, her uniform drooping a bit.

Walking closer towards her, he grabbed her arm, exposing the tattoo.

“You have tattoos?”

Lily shook her head. “It’s nothing, Just a thing that Seekers do.”

Leon held up his arm, showing off the tattoo that Luke had implemented into his skin.

“I don’t think I’m a Seeker?”

“Oh! I didn’t know that…”

She trailed off, seeming to remember something.

“Are you going to the meeting too?”

Leon nodded, deciding to go with the flow. “Yeah, I am.”

She brightened. “I’ll go with you! This place is just so dreary.”

Letting Lily skip ahead, Leon trailed behind, his hand resting on the hilt of his falchion.

‘Guess I’m not going to sleep tonight.'