Chapter 119 Crow

Chapter 119: Chapter 119 Crow

2 minutes left before the platform shifted.

Ze-Vront continuously swung all six of its arms in an endless chain of attacks. The grinding saws tore through the air one after another, leaving almost no openings.

Kai could do nothing but evade and step backward. This had been going on for the past minute. Every time he attempted to move forward, another saw arm would immediately cut off his path.

Kai was unable to take the initiative and launch an attack. The machine monster’s six arms covered nearly every blind spot, making it extremely difficult to approach its core.

One mistake would be enough to get him caught in the relentless storm of attacks.

Meanwhile, Brogan had also transformed into his Partial Form. His right arm had turned into a massive circular saw, resembling those of his monster.

Occasionally, he would join the assault and attack Kai himself. However, most of the time, he remained behind Ze-Vront and simply issued commands.

Brogan knew better than anyone how dangerous it was to get too close to Kai. Three years ago, he had learned that lesson the hard way.

So instead of recklessly charging in, he chose to let Ze-Vront pressure Kai while he waited for the perfect opportunity to strike.

A confident grin remained on Brogan’s face. From his perspective, the battle was already under his control.

Kai, however, remained calm. His eyes continued tracking every movement of Ze-Vront’s six arms as he patiently waited for an opening to appear.

"Hey, Kai! Where is your monster from three years ago, huh!? Don’t tell me you want to defeat my monster without using that monster? If you don’t want to lose, then you’d better get serious! Hahaha!" Brogan laughed loudly as Ze-Vront continued its assault.

Kai, however, simply continued evading the machine monster’s attacks. What Brogan was referring to was Umbragore, Kai’s very first monster.

It was not that Kai did not want to use it. Rather, he had a different goal. He intended to win this entire battle exercise and place himself at the very top of the class.

If he wanted to achieve that, he needed to keep his strongest trump card hidden until the very end. Using Umbragore now would only reveal too much information to his future opponents.

Kai ducked beneath another spinning saw before stepping to the side to avoid a second one.

Among all the students, there was only one person he was truly wary of. One person he considered more dangerous than everyone else combined.

His eyes briefly shifted toward another platform in the distance. At that very moment, a fierce battle was unfolding there. Vines, roots, and countless plants were wreaking havoc across the platform.

Standing at the center of it all was Oliver. Kai watched him for a brief second before returning his attention to Ze-Vront.

If there was anyone in this academy who could potentially threaten him, it was that boy. And Kai had no intention of revealing Umbragore before facing him.

His eyes glanced at the timer. Only 30 seconds remained. If this were a normal battle, he would have taken his time to analyze Ze-Vront and search for its weaknesses.

But not today. It was time to end this. Kai looked at the crow circling above him.

The next moment, he kicked away an incoming saw arm attack and used the force to propel himself backward, creating distance between himself and Ze-Vront as he landed on the other side of the platform.

"Corvus."

Kai called out softly. The crow immediately descended from the sky and perched on his arm. Kai then sheathed the Forgotten Blade.

After that, both he and Corvus slowly closed their eyes. The battlefield suddenly grew strangely quiet around them.

<Corvus>

Brogan narrowed his eyes. His instinct was warning him that something dangerous was about to happen. But he had no intention of letting him complete it.

"Ze-Vront! Attack him!"

At Brogan’s command, the giant machine monster surged forward. Its dozen legs pounded against the platform as all six grinding saw arms spun at maximum speed, intending to crush him before he could finish whatever he was preparing.

However, Kai had already completed what he intended to do. One of Corvus’ closed eyes began to bleed. A thin stream of red fluid ran down the crow’s feathers.

At the same moment, Kai opened his eyes. Both his irises had turned blood-red.

"Feeble Whisper."

A gentle gust of wind drifted toward Brogan. Instinctively, Brogan raised his arm to block.

Even Ze-Vront halted its charge for a moment. Then...nothing happened.

The wind simply passed by him. Brogan blinked.

"Hahaha! Is that all? I got scared for nothing-"

Suddenly, his eyes widened. His voice. He could not hear his own voice.

Brogan immediately touched his ears, thinking something was blocking them. But then he froze. He could not feel his hands.

A wave of panic surged through him. He tried moving his fingers but he could not feel them.

His breathing became erratic before he realized something even worse, he could no longer feel the ground beneath his feet as his sense of touch was disappearing. His legs gave out, and he collapsed onto the platform.

"No... no..."

At least, he thought he was speaking. Then his sense of smell vanished before followed by his sense of taste.

One by one, his senses were being stripped away. Until only one remained that was his vision.

But a moment later, even that disappeared, and everything became black. For the first time in his life, Brogan experienced true terror, a horror unlike anything he had ever imagined.

Meanwhile, Kai slowly walked toward him.

Brogan lay on the floor, his body twitching and convulsing in panic as his eyes had already turned completely black.

Without Brogan’s control, the mana sustaining Ze-Vront became unstable and the giant machine monster dissolved into particles of light before disappearing entirely.

Kai stopped in front of Brogan. There was no anger in his expression. Only indifference.

Then he lifted his foot. Brogan’s body rolled off the edge of the platform and the moment he fell, his body transformed into light.

Kai inhaled deeply as he looked at Corvus, who had landed on his shoulder. The crow appeared exhausted. Of its three crimson eyes, only one remained open.

The others had already closed, with faint traces of blood still visible beneath them. Kai gently patted Corvus’ head. Using Feeble Whisper always came with a price.

Back in the auditorium, a pillar of light flashed as Brogan was teleported back to his seat. The moment he reappeared, he collapsed onto the floor. Saliva dripped from the corner of his mouth as his entire body trembled uncontrollably.

Even though he had already left the battlefield, the fear lingering in his mind had not disappeared yet. His eyes were bloodshot and countless veins visible across them as he stared blankly ahead. The memory of losing every one of his senses at once had left a deep scar on his mind.

"W-What happened to him?"

Several nearby students immediately rushed over to help. One of them tried lifting Brogan up while another called for the academy staff.

Ting! Ting! Ting!

The timer sounded once again. Immediately, platforms across the arena began collapsing one after another. Now, less than a quarter of the students remained in this competition.

Klade had just jumped onto another platform when something caught his attention. On his current platform, there were more than one student standing on it.

According to the rules of this phase, any platform with multiple students on it should have collapsed when the timer reached zero.

Yet it had not collapsed.