Ray

Ray felt the change happen. The earth cracked as yellow mana emerged, bringing with it a feeling of panic. Uncle Trevor descended, followed shortly by General Rempeste. At least he'd listened to Ray, Hir might not know to spare him.

"Hmm, what do I see here? A brat that isn't supposed to be here. Are you here to steal from me?" General Rempeste said, her eyes sparkling as a wave of yellow mana travelled towards Ray. The mana dissipated midway as a fiery silhouette appeared behind Rempeste, setting the air on fire as he stood there.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, General." Hir said, his appearance different from before. The hair was now cut, and he was wearing a white suit. Though he still looked a bit too thin.

"What are you gonna do, winged stick?" General Rempeste said, sending waves of yellow mana towards Hir.

"Are you sure your friend will be alright? General Rempeste has the ability to melt even mana artifacts, your friend might be in danger." Uncle Trevor said, landing next o Ray.

"I don't think we need to worry about that." Ray said, looking at Hir as General Rempeste's attack dissipated midair. Hir's eyes glowed yellow as he clicked his fingers, igniting the camp.

The soldiers, who had barely recovered from the previous attack, panicked, scrambling to escape. But Hir wouldn't let them.

"I am Invigilator Hir, but a long time ago, I was known by a different name. "Hir said as the fire, began dancing.

"Come, feel the heat of the dancing flame, General." Hir said. The flames began twisting and twirling in the air as they killed the soldiers. The fire was deadly, and Ray was pretty sure he would never have thought it was dancing before the Trial. But now he did.

The flame seared through soldiers, dancing like it was in a disco. The rhythm was hard to miss as the fire shifted to and fro, making something of a labyrinth for the soldiers to cross. Ray saw thousands die in a few minutes, but more figured out the rhythm, and worked on avoiding it.

Hir just smiled calmly as General Rempeste continued attacking him, as if what was happening had nothing to do with him.

"Are the flames…dancing? Are you smiling, you sick bastard?" General Rempeste shouted, losing her temper.

"No, they're just moving to and fro in a simple rhythm as they massacre your soldiers." Hir answered, his voice deceptively calm as he continued. "As for me smiling, why shouldn't I smile?"

"Why shouldn't you? How dare you even ask that?" she yelled as she increased the ferocity of her attacks.

"How dare I?" Hir said, laughing as if he had something funny. "Did you have a conscience when you killed those Elves? I can read your mind, you know. I know that neither you, nor those other Humans dying down below, are innocent. In fact, every one of you has participated in several massacres. Why should I care if they die? I think it's a good thing."

"Just because we killed some tree hugging idiots, you're going to kill us?" General Rempeste said. "Just wait for the marshal to get here, he'll set you right."

A few tree hugging idiots? Well, Ray could just call Humans cookie loving idiots and justify their murder then. Ray couldn't read their minds like Hir could, but he was pretty sure that they weren't regretful at all.

"Yes, I am going to kill you. And as for your marshal… I don't think he cares about you quite as much as you care about him, sweetie." Hir said. "And no, I don't think he is going to leave his wife."

Wait what? General Rempeste was sleeping with the marshal? At least that explained why she thought the marshal would come to her rescue…

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“So she was sleeping with him.”

"I will kill you for those words, you menace!" Rempeste said as she flung herself at Hir, launching a massive amount of yellow mana in the process.

"Oh, please, do stop your attacks. I have been playing around with fire for a lot longer than you have, not to mention, your little ability is too restricted to even phase me." Hir said as General Rempeste froze midair, unable to move.

"What do you want? The things in that tent? Just take them!" General Rempeste forced out with gritted teeth, still frozen in air.

"Oh no, dear. I just want you to die. Don't worry, it won't be too painful." Hir said, approaching General Rempeste until he was just a few fingers away from the general.

"Can you see what they are doing?" Nora asked, looking up.

"I hope they're not kissing." Torrin said, looking very interested. Wait, they couldn't see? But it was so clear- it must be a Fae thing.

"Hir isn't kissing General Rempeste." Ray stated, trying to see what was going on. The scene was far more pleasant than watching people dying on the surface. At least the fire was blocking the view now. Ray was pretty sure he was the only one that could get an idea of what was happening. The only thing he got was that the mana was increasing.

"How do you know that they aren't kissing?" Uncle Trevor asked, "Do you know him personally?"

"No, I can just see them." Ray said as General Rempeste finally lost her patience and attacked Hir.

"Just get away from me, you sick bastard!" Rempeste shouted as spit flew from her mouth along with a huge amount of mana.

"A pit attack. General Rempeste just spit-attacked Hir." Uncle Trevor said, frozen in shock.

"No, she actually attacked from her mouth, the spit was just collateral." Ray said as Hir began laughing.

"I was just checking if you liked it when I did this. Didn't you use it against an Elf just a few days ago?" Hir said. “Just stared at him like that after holding him down because you found it funny?” Was he actually re-enacting the attacks that General Rempeste had carried out?

"Just the ones I find interesting," Hir spoke into his mind. So he hadn't stopped reading Ray's mind.

"No, why would I?"" Hir said. Ray wasn't sure how he felt about that.

"Just kill me!" General Rempeste said, her eyes red with anger.

"Ok." Hir said as the General burnt to ashes. Just like that one of the Empire's more powerful Generals was dead.

"Hmm, what should I do about you." Hir said, looking at the burning camp. Ray was glad he could only see the flames shifting to and fro, he wasn't sure even the new Fae hi could take seeing thousands of dead bodies. Though he had killed hundreds already. Thousands seemed just around the corner.

"Well, I suppose you can just die." Hir said as the fire burned brighter, bluer as it sped up. For the first time in a while, Ray heard screams as the Humans died in the attack. A few seconds later, the only thing left was a field of ashes.

"Hmm, I would call this massacre a pity, but I think the world would be a better place without them." Hir said, descending towards them, his wings flapping as they blew the ash away.

Uncle Trevor moved in front of them, clearly wary of the Fae standing before him.

Hir ignored him. "I do hope you'll come soon, Ray, I look forward to meeting you. And remember, you have at most six weeks. Though I expect the System will give your mana now that this thing is over. A clever little thing that System. I like it."

Ray didn't have time to respond before his vision was filled with notifications.

Wolf beasts killed (Tier 11) x 13= 1300 × 13= 169,000

Eagle beasts killed (Tier 11) x 7= 1700 × 7= 119,000

Dragon-phoenix defeated (Tier 11)= 193,000

Ant army killed= 17,000 mana (mana negated due to low enemy Tier)

poison negated= 73,000 mana

Element room won= 91,000 mana

Glitter element changed to element Fae winds- Error! Element unlock halted, requirement- [High Fae] unmet- element reserved to Glitter wind.

Species changed [ High Fae (child)] → [High Fae (transformation)]

Skill hold forcefully broken-Error! Mana rush detected…processing…mana source detected…processing….source parental…mana approved.

+ 1 million mana.

Mana calculation in progress… 199,465+ 169,000+ 119,000+ 393,000+ 17,000+73,000+ 191,000 + 1,000,000= 1,861,465

Tier 15 detected. Skill levels nullified. mana gained +177,000

Mana gained= 2,038,465

Tier ups in progress, please wait.

Ray felt mana rush in, making him heady with changes. But one thought occupied his mind: What the heck was a skill hold, and why was breaking it giving him so much mana?

But the System wasn't done, it had one last thing to tell Ray, in a red notification this time.

The host has broken skill hold and several safety measures, the considerable changes to host's constitution may result in side effects.