Chapter 282: One Step Closer.

Noah looked at his opponent without a hint of anticipation or excitement. He didn’t care much about this competition or the rank reassignment exam.

Although his goal had changed slightly after meeting Viola, his view of the world remained the same. She had promised to kill him the first time they met and until she fulfilled that promise, he had no intention of dying by anyone else’s hands.

This battle wasn’t a life-and-death duel but he still had no intention of losing. Not because he cared about rankings or recognition. He simply found the whole thing worthless, though there was someone he wished to show his place.

His gaze drifted toward the audience seats, guided by the paths visible only to him. There, he found Viola seated beside that annoying red-eyed boy, wearing his usual smug expression.

Noah had wanted to put him in his place for a long time but because Viola cared for him, he restrained himself.

Not to mention, ever since the incident at the treasury, Noah had become curious about someone else for the first time in his life. Someone capable of standing against a God.

Others might not have recognized him, but with Noah’s eyes, there was no mistaking it.

It was Rael.

And he wanted to check through this exam, how much that annoying bastard actually was hiding.

Just them, the referee called for their attention and began.

"This is the rank reassignment exam but you are free to fight at your full strength. That includes dealing fatal attacks. If either of you suffers a fatal injury, the artifact will activate and teleport you to the healers on standby."

"So, you may go all out."

"The match will end only when one of you is incapacitated or teleported out of the arena."

The referee, a third-year student and a member of the student council, looked at both of them.

"Do you understand?"

Noah nodded and so did his opponent.

The referee nodded in return.

"You may begin."

With those words, he vanished from the platform as a translucent barrier rose around the arena, sealing Noah and his opponent inside.

Noah barely had time to blink before his opponent was right above his head, his body coiled like a spring as legs wrapped in pure golden energy shot directly toward Noah’s head.

Noah’s expression didn’t change in the slightest as he saw the path of the attack. His sword, already in hand, transformed into a dagger as he held it beside his head, directly in the path of the incoming strike, his expression cold.

The dragon’s eyes shifted and in mid-air, two bright golden wings erupted behind him with a powerful gust of wind, pushing him back barely an instant before his feet were pierced by the dagger using his own momentum.

"H-how did you predict the trajectory?"

Alden frowned in shock.

The golden energy wrapping his body was an illusory mana element. It distorted the senses of his opponents and made it difficult to predict his attacks.

Noah looked at him with disinterest.

"Get better."

With those words, he vanished from his position and appeared mid-air right above Alden, his dagger shifting into a greatsword as he swung it downward with all his strength.

Alden’s body became covered in golden scales as he crossed his arms to receive the blow. The impact sent him skidding backward.

But before Noah could follow up, Alden opened his mouth wide, mana gathering at the edges of his lips before a Dragon’s Breath erupted forth as a raging destruction spread everywhere, making it impossible to see the outcome.

A cloud of dust spread across the arena as silence engulfed it, everyone waiting to see what had happened. Some expected Noah to somehow have survived miraculously, while others argued that he had already been eliminated and sent to the healers after taking an attack at such close range.

But within the audience seats, sitting beside a worried Viola, a smile stretched across Rael’s face.

The match is over already, huh?

He wasn’t saying that because he believed Noah had been defeated by a mere Dragon’s Breath. He said it because he had witnessed what that bastard Noah had done the instant Alden unleashed the Dragon’s Breath.

Noah had used his abyss element to swallow the Dragon’s Breath affecting only his body and had already moved behind Alden.

And if that wasn’t enough, Rael knew that Noah had likely predicted the Dragon’s Breath before it was even unleashed using the eyes that could see paths and that the bastard had deliberately taken the attack head-on to end the match quickly through sheer surprise.

At least he’s growing faster than in the novel.

Rael thought as his smile widened.

At this point in the novel, Noah was supposed to be a reckless idiot who refused to use his brain because, well, he wanted to die. But now, because his bond with Viola had blossomed earlier, he had grown far smarter than before.

The real shit was about to begin and knowing that the protagonist wasn’t falling behind because of his interference was reassuring, especially when Noah was already displaying the mental growth he wasn’t supposed to achieve until the middle of later arcs.

Right on cue, the dust settled on the stage as everyone seated in the audience stands looked toward the arena in stunned silence.

Even Alden, who had worn a confident smile just moments ago, stood frozen in shock as that smile slowly faded. Resting against his neck was a slender pitch-black sword, held by a white-haired boy with cold red eyes.

"Goodbye."

The dragon, who had never known fear in his life, trembled slightly, but before he could say anything, the sword moved mercilessly, as if intending to sever his head.

But before it could, a barrier enveloped Alden’s body and he was teleported away. Immediately, the referee arrived on the stage and announced,

"The winner is Noah Ashen Noctharion."

Only then did the crowd snap out of their daze and erupt into cheers, especially the demons, for their prince had just defeated the Dragon Prince.

Meanwhile, Noah’s disinterested gaze shifted toward the stands, meeting the red eyes of the smug boy as a cold smile appeared on his face.

"You’re next."

His whisper was drowned out by the cheers but Rael didn’t need to hear it to understand what he meant as his own smile widened in response.

The day to punch some sense into the protagonist was drawing near.