Chapter 48
Behind that condition lay a test far harsher than mere hunting; it was a subtle method to remove Ilux without anyone having to soil their hands.
When the news was delivered, there were no cheers, no mercy—only silence that implied a hidden hope that the boy would never return from the hunt.
At first, Ilux wanted to bring Erietta with him.
Not because he wanted to involve her in danger, but because Erietta's presence had been the only balance for his mind, which was beginning to crumble.
But Theo Vkytor refused outright.
On a dark night, in the silent training room, Theo warned him coldly—not with anger, but with a certainty that pressed against the air around them.
He said that Erietta must continue learning to understand the Realm of Darkness, and if Ilux dared to bring her, he himself would mercilessly cut Ilux's arm and manhood.
The threat was not hyperbole, but a warning that implied certainty.
In the end, Ilux abandoned his plan and chose Aldraya as his partner for the hunt.
The girl, without many questions, accepted the invitation as it was—and between them, a silence formed that needed no words.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the academy world, wrapped in noble regulations, Erietta became the only student not participating in the event.
This was not due to personal exemption, but a formal decision from the powerful Bathee family.
They allowed Erietta to be exempt from the hunt, with one condition no less harsh.
'She must fully master the understanding of the Realm of Darkness in less than fifty days.'
Thus, when all the students departed toward the hunting grounds with ignited excitement or fear, Erietta remained with Theo—immersing herself in the quiet and alien world of darkness, while elsewhere, Ilux stepped toward the hunt that would determine whether the world still allowed him to live.
'Arc one, episode seven marks the beginning of Ilux Rediona's rise as a true hunter.
At the start of the episode, Ilux's steps with Aldraya echoed in a forest that almost swallowed all light.
It was not just a test; the hunting arena was a wild world.
Within it, survivors coexisted with monsters born from the fusion of human and demon limits.
Ilux and Aldraya continued walking, facing ferocious beasts and "Human Change"—Star Academy students who had evolved into predatory creatures.
There were only two choices.
"Hunt, or be hunted."
Huaaaaaaff!
'By the middle of the episode, a trap awaited them like a gaping jaw.
Dozens of Star Academy students, who might have once been in their class, now attacked with burning rage.
They were disgusted by Ilux's heroic stance and hated Aldraya's cold honesty that had exposed the students' wrongdoings.
Magical arrows rained down, mines were triggered, and each step only pushed Ilux and Aldraya further into a deadly circle.'
Fuaah - fuaaah!
'Yet by the end of episode seven, they demonstrated something set by the scenario.
Ilux followed all of Aldraya's instructions without hesitation, each movement reflecting her, synchronizing their breaths in the rhythm of swords and perfect intuition.
They fought as one soul in two bodies moving in symphony.
Finally, they emerged victorious, ranking first in the hunting mission.'
Haaah!
'And behind the victory, something subtler arose between them.
An unspoken closeness, a feeling unwilling to be admitted.
Aldraya remained calm and emotionless, yet I knew there was something in her gaze that could no longer be called mere professionalism.'
Episode seven began with false silence—a silence that deceived as if the world had paused, while in truth, a knife hovered behind their backs.
In the misty valley where the hunting event took place, Ilux Rediona and Aldraya stood side by side, their backs shielding each other from shadows lurking among black trees.
The ground around them was stained with remnants of fallen participants' energy, and the air carried a metallic scent mixed with spiritual dust swirling like unwilling spirits.
Here, when all academy moral rules were lifted and each student was permitted to kill, humanity was truly laid bare—and Ilux, the primary target from the start, had to follow Aldraya's every instruction just to breathe.
Aldraya was more than a teacher.
In that situation, she became a small commander, cold and precise in every decision.
Her calm voice gave direction when panic threatened to paralyze.
She ordered Ilux to wait at a certain moment, restraining his instinctive urge to blindly fight back.
Though his soul rebelled, Ilux chose to follow each step instructed.
From the east of the valley, enemy shadows moved swiftly—eight, then ten, then twelve people approached with spiritual weapons drawn.
Yet before they could close in, Aldraya gave a small signal, and Ilux immediately stepped according to the rhythm they had unconsciously trained.
One diversion strike, two breaking steps, and then silence shattered by the sound of splitting flesh.
In an instant, those surrounding them turned into dust, vanishing before they could scream.
As day turned to night and the fog thickened, Ilux began to sense something else beneath it all—a kind of subconscious call, a faint urging guiding him to a specific point on the hunting map.
He did not know where it came from, but the intuition was too clear to ignore.
He led the way, guiding Aldraya across frozen rivers and forests with roots hanging like veins of the earth.
There, they discovered the energy source at the core of the hunting area, a knot of power radiating a faint purple light from underground.
Using that point, Ilux and Aldraya accelerated their point acquisition, surpassing all other participants.
While other hunters annihilated each other in the distance, the two stood atop their victory, though their bodies were battered and their cloaks stained with blood not entirely belonging to enemies.
At the end of the arc, the names Ilux Rediona and Aldraya were mentioned together as winners.
Yet the victory brought the strangest silence—as if the world realized something had shifted between them.
Their relationship was no longer simply between student and teacher.
A closeness had grown in the quiet spaces, between wounds and lingering breaths.
Ilux, twenty years old, with a soul eroded by guilt and destruction, now looked at Aldraya not just as a mentor, but as someone who understood his ruin without asking a single question.
And Aldraya, a sixteen-year-old girl carrying responsibilities older than herself, slowly realized that in Ilux's silence lay something that made her want to endure in this cruel world.
From that day on, their names were always mentioned together—not because of victory, but because fate had entwined two souls born from the same abyss.
'Every day now feels like a test of patience wrapped in silence.
I do not know why the girl comes, standing under my shadow, only to ask questions that even the gods have ceased pondering.'
Wuuuuuuh!
"What is the basic reason humans relocate?
Why does the human body require energy intake?
Why do humans have so many limitations?
Where does the desire to possess everything come from?"
Huuuuh - haaaah!
To be continued…