The suddenly horrifying stage seemed to extinguish all the atmosphere brought by the original performance.
However, this silence was only from Lanqi and Huberrian's perspective.
Soon, many students in the audience erupted into even more joyous cheers, as if such dramatically intense killing could truly captivate them.
The familiar demons sprang into action, skillfully cleaning the stage. In just a few seconds, the stage was restored to its initial cleanliness and order.
The host teacher on stage, as if nothing had happened, maintained an elegant smile and began to methodically invite the next student to perform!
The extreme blend of bloodshed and absurdity seemed to be exactly the kind of performance demons loved to see.
Even Huberrian, with her half-demon bloodline, felt that the demon realm of this era was too absurd for her to accept.
"So this is what demon music is like..." Lanqi murmured.
He was now focused on the four judges, feeling very much like a student paying close attention in class.
The leftmost judge sitting in the chair was a suit of pitch-black armor, wrapped in a layer of soul fire as thin as cicada wings, like an animated ghost fire.
Next to him was a music instructor who was a magic spirit, with a semi-ethereal face and eyes forever closed, as if immersed in eternal sleep.
The third was covered in toxic magical runes, like a mysterious and dangerous forbidden experimental product.
The last one seemed to be sculpted from a vast snowy mountain, his skin like accumulated snow, fluffy fur covering his body, emitting a frosty mist.
Lanqi remembered the handbook mentioning that these four music instructors were called Ghost Armor, Sleeping Spirit, Toxic Mutant, and Snow Demon respectively.
They weren't particularly skilled in combat and weren't of high rank, but they were currently famous in the demon realm music scene. Thus, they were specially invited as music instructors for the demon academy to participate in this graduation assessment.
If, as the exam guide said, [Each invited music instructor will judge the performances strictly and fairly based on their own areas of expertise], then it should be that only when certain specific conditions are met would the corresponding instructor give their approval.
...
For the next fifty minutes, Lanqi and Huberrian sat in the audience, watching over a dozen performances, and finally clearly confirmed what these four conditions were.
Ghost Armor only looked at the on-site atmosphere, whether the emotions and cheers of the demon students were strong enough was his only criterion.
If the music was loud and intoxicating enough to make the Sleeping Spirit fall asleep, it was considered as his approval.
Toxic Mutant expected ghost-wailing and god-howling sounds that could produce mental attacks.
Snow Demon required extremely exaggerated visual effects for the stage performance.
These were the absurd results that Lanqi and Huberrian finally deduced after repeated confirmation.
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Demon realm music was indeed quite different from human understanding of music.
Actually, looking at these four requirements separately, each one was manageable.
But if a musical performance simultaneously possessed any two of the above—
The final result would be a hellish scene unbearable to humans.
So far, Lanqi and the others had even witnessed a performance that gained the approval of 3 instructors!
And that performance.
Its explosive nature had radiated to the audience watching the live broadcast in the real world.
...
"Aiya! Aiya! What kind of music is this?!"
At Icerite Academy, students watching in front of the outdoor giant screen couldn't help but cover their ears.
Many students' faces were scrunched up, tears welling in their eyes, their facial muscles strongly contracting, unable to prevent their faces from turning pale.
It felt as if their heads had been hit by a heavy hammer, with an electric shock-like numbness extending from their foreheads to the back of their heads.
The sound seemed as if it could open a huge hole in the air.
Ever since Lanqi and Huberrian entered this music classroom, the students at Jera Memorial Square had been pummeled for dozens of minutes in front of this outdoor giant screen!
"Those failing students were still bearable."
"But any 'qualified performance' that could get two music instructors' approval was a damaging mental magic attack!"
"That guy who just got three demon instructors' approval nearly sent me away through the screen!!"
Just having that demonic sound sweep over the eardrums like a tidal wave was like being forcibly fed a mouthful of thousand-times concentrated pickle water soaked ghost peppers while having your nose pinched.
"Please, no more performances with 3 instructors' approval, I can't handle such avant-garde art."
"Is it possible to have a situation where all 4 instructors approve simultaneously...?" a student asked worriedly.
He remembered that the guidebook Lanqi and Huberrian had read earlier didn't mention what reward there would be for a performance approved by all 4 music instructors.
"It's impossible. These four instructors' conditions actually conflict with each other in pairs to some extent. At most, three can be achieved, but it's absolutely impossible to satisfy all four of them simultaneously."
"If there really was a fully-approved level performance, forget about the demons in the classroom, several of us here would probably be knocked out."
At this point in the discussion, the students of Icerite Academy also understood why this music classroom was difficulty level 2.
Challengers must use very harsh music magic, mental magic, illusions, and other spells that can be combined with music on stage to possibly meet the requirements of at least two of the four instructors and get the reward of 2 credit coins!
And if one had a godly-level spell library and music performance skills, simultaneously satisfying 3 music instructors' approval would not only earn 3 credit coins but also an additional magical instrument that could amplify the effects of demon race music magic.
The most hellish aspect of this classroom was—
The earlier you perform, the less reference information and preparation time you get.
But the later you perform, the more your mental state would be tortured by the spiritual attacks brought by these demonic sounds!
In this grand theater, the more malicious demon students, upon discovering audience members who couldn't withstand their music, would increase their efforts and perform even more intensely! Severely tormenting the weak.
This was a triple test of judgment, spell library, and endurance.
On the outdoor giant screen's broadcast, Huberrian was covering her ears and burying her head, her feet stomping incessantly, seemingly unable to take it anymore.
Compared to the real-world students watching the live broadcast, she was experiencing the demonic sounds immersively at the live concert!
Bachel had already fainted, foaming at the mouth.
But...
That heavyweight player beside them—
Lanqi's eyes were currently full of thrilling brilliance, and he would occasionally applaud and cheer for the performing demon classmates. He seemed to have completely integrated into this class!