Daemon's second match of the combat test proved anticlimactic. His opponent, having witnessed the spectacular and terrifying combustion that annihilated Sheila, immediately recognized that whatever Daemon lacked in pedigree, he compensated for with lethal, unpredictable science. The student stepped into the arena, took one look at Daemon, and declared defeat without engaging, preserving his energy and his life.
The tension escalated to an unbearable pitch for Daemon's final required match. His opponent was the upperclassman from Year Two: Adolf von Steiner, a noble whose family head held the Duke rank. Adolf was a celebrated figure in the Academy, a dual elementalist of Fire and Wind, and was notoriously known as the Sword of Dawn due to his swordsmanship—a skill that put even veteran soldiers to shame. When Adolf stepped into the arena, he was the embodiment of noble martial perfection. His long, golden hair fluttered in the controlled breeze of the arena, and his presence commanded respect. His weapon of choice was a massive greatsword that possessed a distinctive blue-ish grey sheen, suggesting it was forged from mythril or a mythril alloy—materials far beyond the reach of any first-year.
The referee's bell rang. Both Adolf and Daemon rushed forward simultaneously, a textbook clash of wills. Adolf's speed, combined with the weight and quality of his blade, was overwhelming. Their weapons met only once. CRACK. Daemon's custom-forged Ninjatō—the exquisite Damascus steel blade—shattered instantly against the mythical alloy. The force of the strike, amplified by Adolf's Wind-Fire aura, was so immense that it tore through Daemon's quenched steel cuirass like flimsy cloth. Daemon felt a searing pain across his chest, seeing a deep, bleeding gash open up instantly. His Healing affinity immediately surged, closing the massive wound in a rapid flash, but the pain lingered as a stark reminder of his material inferiority. Adolf pulled back his blade and looked at Daemon—or rather, looked down at him—with a look of absolute, visceral disgust. Daemon recognized that look instantly; he had seen it years ago in the terrified eyes of the nurses in his previous life, those who had predicted his fate would be that of a serial killer. He had proven them wrong by becoming great, but this moment—this raw, casual expression of contempt—ignited a dark, powerful fantasy in his mind.
Daemon's suppressed self-control snapped. He threw his head back and let out a loud, booming laugh that echoed bizarrely in the massive arena. The students stared, thinking the commoner had finally gone mad with fear. He turned to Adolf, his voice ringing with psychotic certainty, loud enough for every student and instructor to hear him. "I am strong, stronger than most people—except you, Adolf. That is why I will kill you over and over again, a hundred, a thousand times if needed be. And that is why I will heal you over and over again." Daemon's eyes narrowed, a terrifying glint of obsession in their depths. "You thought you had me, didn't you? You who has never known defeat or failure, you who is perfect. How very careless of you, but know this, only God will be able to save you from me today."
Adolf, accustomed only to fear and respect, was momentarily thrown by the commoner's deranged confidence. He raised his mythril sword, his disgust hardening into cold fury. "You will regret using a Duke's name in such insolence, trash. I will not kill you, but I will break you thoroughly, starting now."
The stadium erupted into total chaos. The nobles were enraged by Daemon's audacity. "He's gone mad! He just threatened a Duke's son! He must be disqualified and arrested!" The upperclassmen, who revered Adolf, were shouting insults. Julian, watching the Ninjatō shatter, felt a chill of dread, realizing the true physical gulf between their worlds. The professors were pale. Master Harkan whispered, "He's lost his mind. That's a direct threat of violence and kidnapping, Dean! He has to be stopped!" Master Veridian, however, simply leaned forward. "Look at the healing rate! It's instantaneous. I've never seen a Healing affinity work so fast. What is that boy planning?" Dean Thiel, his composure finally shattered, muttered, "This is not a student; this is a public spectacle. He's weaponizing his Healing affinity. He's going to use his invulnerability to torment him."
The battle resumed, but it was no longer a conventional duel; it was a demonstration of terrifying, calculated sadism. Daemon discarded the remnants of his sword and drew the dagger from his thigh. He rushed Adolf, ignoring the greatsword entirely, using his augmented speed to weave through the heavy, powerful swings. Initially, Adolf had the clear upper hand, dominating the arena with sweeping arcs of fire and wind-infused strikes. He landed several brutal blows, but the result was always the same: Daemon's Healing affinity surged, closing deep cuts and resetting broken bones instantly. Daemon used his Water magic to create quick bursts of mist and ice shards, distracting Adolf just long enough to get close. He didn't aim for limbs or defenses; he aimed for immediate kill zones.
Strike 1: Daemon slipped past a wide Fire-Wind arc and drove his dagger directly into Adolf's abdomen, puncturing his spleen. The Duke's son gasped, blood appearing on his lips, his life force immediately draining. Daemon instantly retracted the dagger, touched the wound, and channeled his Healing affinity. The wound closed, the blood vanished, and Adolf staggered back, healthy but stunned by the certainty of death. Strike 2: Utilizing the psychological shock, Daemon switched to Fire magic. He launched a brief, high-temperature jet directly at Adolf's face, causing the noble to flinch, disrupting his Wind defense. Daemon plunged the dagger deep into Adolf's liver. As Adolf choked on the searing pain, Daemon pulled the blade out and healed him completely.
The battle descended into a horrific cycle. Adolf would deliver a punishing blow, only for Daemon to heal instantly and counter with a fatal strike, only to heal Adolf immediately before the noble could lose consciousness. Daemon was using the full extent of his Tria affinity, forcing his Fire and Water magic to set up kills, and using the Healing affinity to erase the consequences. By the twelfth cycle, Daemon had delivered twelve distinct, lethal blows—punctured lungs, slashed aortas, ruptured hearts—and healed them all. Adolf was no longer fighting with skill; he was fighting on pure, panicked instinct, his handsome face contorted with terror. He had experienced death a dozen times in a minute. Adolf von Steiner dropped his mythril greatsword, fell to his knees, and began to openly beg Daemon to stop, tears streaming down his face. Daemon only laughed again, a sound devoid of mirth, and prepared the dagger for the thirteenth strike.
The sight of the perfect Duke's son begging for his life while being mercilessly resurrected for continued torture was too much. By the sixteenth cycle, when Daemon had just healed a strike to Adolf's spine and was preparing a seventeenth, the instructors could no longer wait for the referee. Dean Thiel gave the immediate order, and several powerful upperclassmen and instructors surged into the arena to practically tear Daemon off Adolf.
The testing grounds were a ruin. The dirt and stone of the arena were scarred by Adolf's erratic elemental blasts and stained by blood—blood that vanished the moment Daemon healed it. The ground where Adolf begged was visibly cracked from his panic-induced magical surges. The students were silent, not in awe, but in absolute, sickened horror. They had seen something fundamentally broken in Daemon, a lethal, intelligent cruelty that defied all known magical combat ethics. The commoner had not just won; he had committed a psychological and physical atrocity, proving that he was not just a genius, but a monster weaponizing immortality. Dean Thiel stood over the ruined testing ground, his face pale with realization. He knew Daemon would secure first place, but the implications were catastrophic. "He has mastered psychological warfare," Thiel said, his voice barely audible to the other instructors. "He did not kill him. He just made him fear death more than any living mage ever could. Daemon is not an anomaly; he is a threat to the established order of the entire kingdom."