Chapter 65 - 64: 1 Month

Chapter 65: Chapter 64: 1 Month

??"Aaargh!"

Veera let a agonising howl,while parasitic tendrils of abyssal death-marrow burrowed straight through his pores and into his blood vessels.

His skin had turned an unhealthy, corpse-like pallor, and dark purple veins bulged across his neck and chest like writhing centipedes.

?Floating in the air above the pool, the black-and-red Abyssal Grimoire flipped its pages wildly, releasing a sinister crimson light as the ancient devil’s voice echoed through the cavern.

?<Endure it, kid! This Abyssal Death-Marrow has been fermenting beneath the capital for four hundred years! Normal mages would rot into pus from touching a single drop, but with my Supreme Grimoire converting the death energy into Abyssal Mana, a single night in this pool is worth half a year of orthodox meditation!>

?"I... I can take it! Give me more, Master! Teach me the next forbidden spell! I don’t care how much it hurts, as long as I can tear Aegon Noiré and this Kingdom apart!" Veera snarled, blood dripping from his bitten lips as his bloodshot eyes burned with psychotic hatred.

?"Good! That is the hatred a ruler of the Abyss needs!" the devil laughed darkly. "Tonight, you have officially broken through the First Circle and stepped into the Second Circle! Before dawn breaks, I will engrave three forbidden arts of the ancient era directly into your marrow: the Corpse-Fire Shroud, the Abyssal Bone Spear, and the Blood-Devouring Slash! Let that Regressor think he has cut off your path inside the school. In a few days, we will turn his stolen glory into his funeral pyre!"

?BOOM!

?A pillar of sinister black-and-red flame erupted from the bone pool, extinguishing the torches along the catacomb walls and plunging the underground cavern into freezing darkness.

?30 days passed in the blink of an eye.

?On the final morning of the first month, the entire Imperial Academy buzzed with anticipation.

?Today was the day of the Monthly Battles Crucible.

?Unlike the casual sparring sessions of the first afternoon, the Monthly Crucible was a formal, Academy-wide event held in the Grand Colosseum of the West Wing.

Not only were all thirty members of the First-Year S-Class required to participate, but the top ten students of the A-Class had also arrived to challenge for a spot in the elite division, while more than two thousand freshmen and upperclassmen packed the surrounding spectator stands to watch.

?High up in the VIP box overlooking the arena sat Chief Instructor Wane, Elder Vaelen, and dozens of department heads.

?Down on the main floor, the thirty S-Class freshmen stood in their black-and-gold uniforms around four massive obsidian dueling stages.

?When Julian Von Draken walked into the arena surrounded by his noble followers, the crowd immediately let out a low gasp.

Over the past month, the Von Draken Duchy had clearly poured a mountain of family resources into him.

He had reached the absolute peak of the First Circle, just half a step away from the Second Circle!

?Beside him, Prince Larsen Beliath stood with a confident smile, a newly forged B-Grade wind-attributed rapier hanging from his belt.

?Yet the moment the rear iron gates of the colosseum creaked open, the chatter in the lower stands died down abruptly.

?Walking out of the shadows alone was Veera.

?After a month of soaking in the underground catacombs, Veera looked completely different from the ragged boy who had entered the Academy thirty days ago.

His frame had grown leaner and sharper, his skin was as pale as marble, and a suffocating, ice-cold stench of blood and ash lingered wherever he stepped.

?Every student who stood within five meters of him felt an instinctive chill crawl up their spine, hurrying out of his way as Veera walked straight to the edge of the central stage, his dark, sunken eyes scanning the hall like a starving wolf.

?A heartbeat later, footsteps echoed from the main sunlit archway.

?Walking side by side into the colosseum were Aegon and Aria.

?After a month of sharing the Prime Villa, Aria’s silver-blonde hair gleamed with faint starlight, her aura clean and sharp at the peak of the First Circle.

?Beside her, Aegon looked as calm and unbothered as ever in his black S-Class coat and red scarf.

Because the God’s Ring and ATUM concealed his internal mana fluctuations completely, not a single person in the colosseum could tell how deep the abyss beneath his ten-year-old frame had become over the past thirty nights.

?The instant Veera spotted Aegon stepping into the sunlight, a cruel, bloodthirsty grin split his pale face from ear to ear.

?Up on the central referee platform, Instructor Bella stepped forward in her stunning black-and-gold uniform and tapped her silver wand against the amplification array.

?"Welcome to the first Monthly Battles Crucible of the year!"

"Today, all ranks, villa privileges, and credit stipends are up for grabs! Let the challenges begin!"

The moment Instructor Bella’s voice echoed across the Grand Colosseum, the four massive obsidian dueling stages lit up with golden defensive barriers.

?On the three outer stages, challenges broke out immediately.

The top ten students from the A-Class wasted no time calling out the lowest-ranked members of the S-Class, desperate to win a black-and-gold coat of their own, while the middle-ranked nobles clashed fiercely to climb into the top ten and claim the monthly hundred-credit stipend.

?However, the eyes of the 2,000 spectators in the stands, as well as the department heads sitting in the VIP box, were glued entirely to the massive Central Stage.

?According to the rules of the Monthly Battle Crucible, the Central Stage was reserved exclusively for challenges involving the top five seats of the freshman class.

?Right now, those five seats belonged to First Place Aegon Noiré, Second Place Aria Everlight, Third Place Veera, Fourth Place Prince Larsen Beliath, and Fifth Place Julian Von Draken.

Whoosh!

?Before anyone else could make a move, a figure wrapped in scorching crimson flames leaped ten meters through the air and landed heavily at the center of the main obsidian stage, cracking the stone tiles beneath his boots.

?It was Julian Von Draken.