anwhile, in the Palace of Qualification, Augustus sat in the control room, his eyes glued to the screens. His face twisted in confusion.
The entire building was under surveillance, with screens showing every inch of the palace. Yet Kael, the one they needed to eliminate, wasn’t showing up properly.
Before him, nurous screens were showing the tactical images of the floor which Kael needed to pass through to clear the test but he wasn’t in there.
"What the fuck is going on?"
Beating the death knight and Skeleton Ghost was already unbelievable.
If he hadn’t chosen a master before, he might have already jumped into Kael’s fray and taken him as master.
It was impossible and beyond common sense for an unawakened to destroy undead whom even E and D-class knights might find difficult to kill.
But he just witnessed the boy achieve this.
And worse, once he stepped out of the third floor he disappeared as if didn’t exist.
No, the signal was there but he wasn’t visible.
It was totally wrong.
Fourth floor. Fifth floor. Sixth floor.
The marker that tracked Kael was shooting up at an impossible speed even when no floor showed the sign of his presence.
"This has to be a mistake..." Augustus muttered, his throat dry.
Kael Veydrin.
The discarded failure. The one who was supposed to die imdiately.
Instead, he had slaughtered everything in his way.
Augustus clenched his jaw. Everyone, including him, had believed Kael would drop dead in the first test. At best, he’d barely crawl through the second. That was why they had prepared their traps so carefully.
But Kael had ruined everything.
Augustus replayed the last battle in his head, his hands trembling. Kael had burned through the parasite swarms with so dark energy that shouldn’t even exist. Then he had destroyed the Death Knights, enemies that could normally crush even skilled knights.
That was not Kael Veydrin.
No, this was sothing else. Sothing terrifying.
Augustus ran a hand through his hair, panic settling deep in his gut. If they failed, the consequences would be disastrous.
"If he survives, if he awakens..." Augustus whispered. He swallowed hard.
"Madam Adele’s position will be in danger."
More than that, if Kael passed the test, Sir Grant would slaughter everyone involved in this sche.
No.
"That couldn’t happen."
Augustus turned sharply to the wizard controlling the trials and asked. "How far has Kael’s signal traveled? Has anyone seen him?"
"Is he cheating?"
In response to his question, no response.
Augustus frowned. "Ardo"
"..."
"Hey, Ardo...Answer !"
"Answer , Ardo. Where is—"
A chilling voice cut through the room from behind.
"You an him?"
Augustus froze.
That voice... that voice shouldn’t be here.
He turned slowly, his breath caught in his throat.
Thud.
Roll.
A severed head hit the floor, eyes still frozen in shock. Next to it, standing in the doorway, was Kael who grinned.
A mad, unhinged, lunatic grin.
His eyes were wild, burning with insanity. Blood dripped from his fingers, and he casually wiped it against his coat.
Augustus felt his heart stop.
The man’s eyes observed him until it paused on the chest.
Kael tilted his head, his grin stretching wider. "Yo, Auggie. You look like you’ve seen a ghost."
He stepped forward, kicking the severed head aside like trash.
"You did set all this up to kill , right? Huh. You should’ve tried harder."
Kael cracked his knuckles, his tone light and almost mocking.
"Now, be a good little bitch and scream for ’cause don’t think I will show you so weak ass rcy."
...
The air inside the control room turned thick, suffocating with tension. Augustus didn’t even blink. His breathing hitched, his heartbeat hamring against his ribs. This wasn’t happening.
It couldn’t be.
Kael wasn’t supposed to be here.
And yet, there he was. Standing right there.
A nightmare made real.
The dim light of the control room flickered, casting erratic shadows across Kael’s face. His grin stretched wide—too wide—like he was having the ti of his life. His dark coat, slick with blood, hung off his fra, and his purple eyes glead with sothing dangerous.
He was casual, relaxed like he was strolling into a friend’s house but in response, Augustus felt as if he had fucked for real.
Kael tilted his head, looking at Augustus, then at the wizard’s headless corpse still gushing blood onto the floor. He let out a slow whistle.
"Man, I gotta say—this dude scread real nice. Ten outta ten performances." He glanced at Augustus. "Think I can apply for the drama club after this?"
Augustus felt bile rise in his throat. He gripped the edge of the table, his knuckles white.
This... this isn’t him. This isn’t Kael.
He cried, feeling as if he had been cheating.
If only he knew that this guy was such a nace, he wouldn’t have accepted this.
Kael was weak. Kael was nothing. Kael was a failure.
Then what the hell was this?
Kael exhaled dramatically and gave a lazy stretch, his bones cracking. "Y’know, Auggie, I was really hoping to take this trial nice and slow. Maybe enjoy the atmosphere, sip so tea, do the whole ’mysterious chosen one’ bit." His eyes sharpened. "But you guys just had to make it personal, huh?"
The mont he heard from Ramos about the blessing things, he knew this was false.
No Goddess or Gods has a personal fetish to take such tasks except for the evil gods.
Pass the test and get rewarded.
It was made up bullshit and he told with a glance but what pissed him off for real was these sons of bitches going all out.
Since they wanted to kill him, he can do the sa right?
No problem, right?
Kael lips curled upward with an evil grin unbeknownst to him.
Augustus flinched.
’That look.’
It was the kind of look a predator gave its prey.
Kael took a step forward. Augustus took one back.
"Wh-what... Do you want to do?" Augustus barely managed to get the words out.
Kael blinked, then grinned.
"Oh, that’s a good question! Lem think." He tapped his chin, pretending to be deep in thought. Then he snapped his fingers. "Ah, right! I ca here to give you a fucking heart attack."
Then he moved.
Augustus didn’t even see it.
One second, Kael was across the room. The next, he was right in front of him.
Augustus’s throat tightened.
Too fast.
"Impossible."
Kael leaned in, his voice dropping to a whisper.
"Boo."
Augustus let out a strangled gasp, stumbling backward so hard that he crashed into the console.
His hands fumbled to grab sothing—anything—to protect himself.
Kael just laughed. "Damn, Auggie. You look like you’ve seen a ghost. Oh, wait! You kinda did. ."
He took another step, the sound of his boots hitting the floor too loud. The way he moved was calm, playful, but completely in control—made Augustus’s skin crawl.
"You... you should be dead!" Augustus wheezed.
Kael’s grin widened. "I should be a lot of things, buddy. Should be dead. Should be weak. Should be crying in a corner." His expression twisted into sothing cold, mocking. "But guess what? I’m not. And that’s your problem."
Augustus’s mind spun, desperate to understand how this was happening.
How Kael had changed into this.
But there was no ti.
As Kael ca closer, August raised his hand to cast a spell but.
SWISH!
A sword flashed even before he could react and in the next second he saw his front finger flying.
"KYAKKKKKK!"
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