The Grand Arena of Zenith Academy was usually reserved for explosive combat exams and elemental duels. Today, however, it felt more like an execution plaza.
Thousands of students stood in perfectly ordered ranks on the sandy floor, the atmosphere thick with suffocating tension. The Imperial banners, woven with gold and crimson thread, hung lifelessly from the high marble walls.
Kaiser stood near the back with the Omega-Tier students, though his usual isolation was thoroughly compromised. Princess Valeria stood rigidly to his right, her white winter coat stark against the sea of midnight-blue uniforms. Seraphina stood to his left, her posture militarily flawless, her hand resting dangerously close to her mythril broadsword.
Neither of them had returned to their designated ranks. When a prefect had attempted to order Valeria back to the Elite section, she had simply stared at him until his uniform buttons frosted over, effectively ending the discussion.
"An Imperial Envoy arriving two months ahead of schedule," Seraphina murmured, her voice barely carrying over the tense whispers of the crowd. "And they bypassed the Headmaster entirely to summon us. This is an Inquisition mandate."
"Inquisition?" Kaiser asked, raising an eyebrow, though his [Otaku's Insight] was already piecing the lore together.
"The militant arm of the Holy Church," Valeria answered, her silver eyes narrowed at the massive, elevated podium in the center of the arena. "They hunt heretics, anomalies, and demonic infiltrators. They possess authority that rivals the Crown itself. They are... zealots."
If the Frost Empress thought someone was a zealot, Kaiser knew he was in serious trouble.
The heavy, enchanted oak doors at the far end of the arena swung open with a resounding boom.
A procession marched in, their boots striking the stone in perfect, terrifying unison. They were clad in immaculate white and gold heavy armor, carrying halberds that crackled with holy, searing white mana.
At the head of the procession walked a woman who commanded the absolute silence of the arena.
She was devastatingly beautiful, but in a harsh, unforgiving way. Her hair was a brilliant, blinding gold, cut short and practical. She wore form-fitting silver plate armor adorned with scripture, and a white cape billowed behind her. Most striking of all was the blindfold of white silk wrapping around her eyes, emblazoned with a golden cross.
[TARGET ACQUIRED: High Inquisitor Seris (The Blind Saint)]
[Current Affection: 0% (She is a weapon of the Church. She views all existence in binary: Holy or Heretic.)]
[Warning: Target possesses an S-Rank Holy Core. Highly lethal to Abyssal anomalies. Target can "see" the true nature of a soul despite physical blindness.]
Kaiser's stomach plummeted. She can see souls?
"System," Kaiser commanded internally, panic briefly spiking before his gamer resolve clamped it down. "Can the [Aura Cloak] hide my true form from an S-Rank Holy Core?"
[Analyzing... Negative. [Aura Cloak] suppresses outward mana emission. Target's "Soul Sight" penetrates physical and outward magical barriers to read the foundational core. The Host's pure Abyssal nature will be instantly identified upon direct scrutiny.]
Well, that's just fantastic, Kaiser thought, a bead of cold sweat rolling down his spine. I survived a Genesis-Era Arch-Witch and an A-Rank dragon, and now I'm going to get smited by a blind paladin on a Saturday morning.
High Inquisitor Seris ascended the podium, her armored boots clicking sharply. She didn't need a magical amplifier; her voice carried a resonant, holy weight that struck directly into the chest of every student.
"Students of Zenith," Seris began, her voice smooth but entirely devoid of mercy. "Three days ago, the defensive wards at the Northern Border were breached by a coordinated Demonic Vanguard. This was not a mindless assault. It was tactical. We have reason to believe a high-tier Abyssal entity has infiltrated the Empire to gather intelligence."
A wave of terrified murmurs washed over the arena.
"The Church has mandated an emergency Purity Sweep of all major magical institutions," Seris continued, raising her gauntleted hand.
Two heavily armored paladins hauled a massive, covered object onto the podium. They pulled away the velvet tarp, revealing an eight-foot-tall mirror framed in pure, glowing gold. The glass itself wasn't reflective; it swirled with a milky, blinding white light.
"This is the Aegis of Truth," Seris declared. "A Genesis-Era relic. It does not lie, and it cannot be fooled. Every student will step forward and place their hand upon the glass. If your core is pure, the light will remain white. If you harbor demonic taint, or an Abyssal anomaly..."
She drew a massive, gleaming silver longsword from her hip. It burst into white flames.
"...The glass will turn black, and you will be purged instantly."
Kaiser swallowed hard. The glass will turn black. His core wasn't just tainted; it was the pure, unadulterated essence of the Abyss. If he touched that mirror, it wouldn't just turn black; it would probably shatter and scream.
"Line up," Seris commanded, plunging her flaming sword into the wooden podium.
The process was brutally efficient. Students marched up in lines of ten. They touched the glass. The light flared a brilliant white, and they were hurried away by the paladins.
"Kaiser," Seraphina whispered, noticing the slight tension in his shoulders. She stepped slightly closer, her arm brushing his. "Are you alright? You look pale."
"Just not a fan of religious fanaticism," Kaiser offered a strained, charming smile.
"Do not worry," Valeria murmured from his other side, her silver eyes fixed on the Inquisitor. "If they attempt to falsely accuse you based on your low rank, they will have to answer to the Imperial Crown. I will not permit them to touch you."
Their protective instincts were flattering, but completely useless here. If the mirror turned black, Valeria and Seraphina would see exactly what he was. His entire carefully constructed life would collapse, followed rapidly by his execution.
He needed a cheat code. Fast.
"System," Kaiser's mind raced, utilizing the full processing power of his [Otaku's Insight] combined with his new D-Rank capabilities. "The mirror measures the energy output when contact is made. What if there is no output? What if the input is reversed?"
[Analyzing Host's query... The Aegis of Truth projects Holy Mana into the subject to trigger a reactionary resonance. If the Host utilizes [Abyssal Devour] on a microscopic, cellular level at the point of contact, the Holy Mana will be consumed before it reaches the core.]
[Warning: Consuming pure S-Rank Holy Mana with a D-Rank Abyssal Core is highly volatile. It will cause extreme internal pain and potential localized tissue damage. Success rate: 42%.]
"Forty-two percent is better than zero," Kaiser muttered under his breath.
The lines moved quickly. Soon, the Omega-Tier students were called up.
"Warborn, Kaiser," a paladin barked from a glowing scroll.
Kaiser took a deep breath, stepping out of the line. Seraphina gave his hand a quick, reassuring squeeze before he walked away, while Valeria's eyes tracked him with hawkish intensity.
He climbed the stairs to the podium.
Up close, the Aegis of Truth radiated a heat that was entirely opposite to Morgana's dark warmth. It felt sterile, burning, and violently hostile to his existence.
High Inquisitor Seris stood beside the mirror. As Kaiser approached, her head snapped toward him. Though she was blindfolded, Kaiser felt the terrifying, physical weight of her "Soul Sight" scanning him.
Seris frowned. A delicate, beautiful crease formed on her forehead.
"You..." Seris whispered, stepping closer to him, her voice meant only for his ears. "You have no aura. Not just a weak one. You feel... hollow. Like a blank space in the tapestry."
Kaiser kept his face perfectly composed, flashing her a polite smile. "I've been told I'm a bit of a late bloomer, Inquisitor."
Seris's grip tightened on the hilt of her flaming sword. Her holy instincts were screaming at her that something was fundamentally wrong with the boy standing in front of her, but her sight couldn't pierce the absolute, unnatural void he projected.
"Touch the glass, boy," she commanded coldly.
Kaiser stepped up to the mirror. He raised his right hand.
Focus, he ordered himself. He didn't summon the black vortex. Instead, he channeled the [Abyssal Devour] entirely underneath the skin of his palm, creating a localized, cellular black hole.
He placed his hand flat against the milky white glass.
Instantly, a surge of searing, blinding Holy Mana flooded into his hand, attempting to rush up his arm and scan his core.
It was absolute agony. It felt like grabbing a red-hot iron rod covered in barbed wire. Kaiser's jaw locked so tightly his teeth ground together. He forced his facial muscles to remain entirely relaxed, offering a bored, casual expression to the watching crowd.
Beneath his skin, the microscopic Abyssal void went to work. It clamped down on the invading Holy Mana, violently crushing it, suffocating the white light in absolute darkness before it could travel past his wrist.
The mirror pulsed. It tried to push more light into him.
Kaiser's core strained, consuming the holy energy and converting it into dense, bruised-purple mass. The veins in his right arm began to bulge slightly, fighting the explosive pressure.
For five agonizing seconds, the Aegis of Truth remained perfectly, flawlessly white. It couldn't find a demonic taint because the holy light acting as the probe was being eaten alive.
To the outside observer, the mirror simply registered him as a pure, harmless human.
High Inquisitor Seris leaned in, her blindfolded face inches from his hand on the glass. She was utterly baffled. The mirror confirmed his purity, but her instincts were screaming.
"Clear," the paladin operating the mirror announced boredly.
Kaiser pulled his hand back, slipping it casually into his trouser pocket to hide the violent trembling and the fact that his palm was currently covered in first-degree holy burns.
"Thank you, Inquisitor," Kaiser nodded respectfully, turning to walk away.
"Wait."
Seris's voice cracked like a whip. She reached out, her gauntleted hand clamping down onto Kaiser's left shoulder with bone-bruising force.
The entire arena fell silent again. Valeria and Seraphina both took a synchronized, threatening step forward from the crowd.
"I do not know how you are deceiving my sight, Kaiser Warborn," Seris whispered, her voice a lethal, holy hiss. "The mirror may declare you pure, but you smell like the deepest, most terrifying shadow I have ever encountered. I will be watching you."
Kaiser didn't flinch. He slowly turned his head, looking at the beautiful, zealous Inquisitor. He leaned in slightly, his sapphire eyes dropping their aristocratic warmth for a fraction of a second, reflecting the cold, calculating intelligence of an otaku who loved breaking game mechanics.
"Watch all you like, Inquisitor," Kaiser murmured, his voice dropping to a smooth, incredibly dark register that sent a bizarre, contradictory shiver down her holy spine. "But be careful staring too long into the dark. It tends to stare back."
[Target: High Inquisitor Seris. Emotion detected: Righteous Fury, Profound Confusion, Latent Subconscious Intrigue.]
[Affection updated: 0% -> 2%. (She has marked you as a target of extreme interest.)]
Seris abruptly released his shoulder, stepping back as if burned.
Kaiser offered a final, polite bow and descended the stairs, rejoining the girls.
"What did she say to you?" Seraphina demanded immediately, her golden eyes scanning him for injuries.
"Just offering some extra-curricular prayer sessions," Kaiser lied flawlessly, though he kept his right hand firmly in his pocket.
"She is a fanatic," Valeria sneered, her silver eyes tracking the Inquisitor with open hostility. "If she harasses you again, Kaiser, I will have her diplomatic immunity revoked."
"Let's hope it doesn't come to that," Kaiser smiled, internally wincing as his hand throbbed.
Up on the podium, Seris addressed the crowd one final time.
"The Purity Sweep is complete. However, the demonic threat remains," the High Inquisitor announced, her voice echoing. "To ensure the future generation is prepared for war, the Church and the Crown have agreed to accelerate your training."
She drew her flaming sword, pointing it at the sky.
"In one month, Zenith Academy will host the Inter-Realm Exchange Tournament! You will fight against the prodigies of the Elven Courts, the Demonic Emissaries, and the Holy Sanctum! Prepare yourselves, students. Only the strongest will survive the coming war."
The arena erupted into absolute chaos and cheering. A tournament arc.
Kaiser closed his eyes, letting out a long, exhausted sigh. A tournament arc meant constant fighting, public scrutiny, and a massive influx of new, incredibly dangerous targets.
He looked at Seraphina, who was practically vibrating with competitive excitement, and then at Valeria, who was looking at him with deep, obsessive satisfaction. And somewhere up in the central spire, he knew the Arch-Witch was watching him through his tether, highly amused.
"System," Kaiser muttered under his breath, his charred palm aching. "I'm going to need a bigger stamina bar."