CHAPTER 46: EX 46. UNSPOKEN DECLARATION

The first day of the selection had been nothing short of chaotic—a whirlwind of blood, fear, and desperation. Every cadet had to fight for survival, constantly wary of three deadly threats:

Demonic beasts lurking in the wilderness

Other cadets, each one a potential predator

And worst of all... Leon Kael

For many, the day had been a nightmare.

For Leon?

It was a hunt—and he was the apex predator.

Now, as the sun dipped low and the sky turned a deep violet, the chaos began to still. Only the strongest—or the luckiest—remained.

In a wide clearing soaked in dusklight, Leon stood tall.

All around him were the mangled corpses of demonic beasts—twenty-nine in total, all of them D-rank, all of them dead.

He tilted his head slightly as he remembered a few cadets he’d seen earlier.

They’d spotted him from afar and after seeing the dead beasts around him they instantly turned around and ran away.

"Heh."

"Watching them scurry away like rats never gets old."

Maybe the selection was starting to bring out something darker in him.

A sadistic edge.

But Leon didn’t mind.

He seemed to like it.

He rolled his shoulders with a satisfied sigh, gripping the hilt of his sword as he murmured,

"Guess it’s time for me to distribute my points."

The points he referred to were not selection points—but something far more dangerous.

Attack Points.

Points gained by the one and only EX-Rank talent: [Attack].

He hadn’t even needed them to boost his stats during the selection so far.

He was more than strong enough without them.

But now... it was time for growth.

As the system accepted his allocation, his updated stats appeared before him:

---

[Attack Distribution Complete]

Strength: 726 766 (+40)

Speed: 674684 (+10)

Vitality: 656666 (+10)

Stamina: 651661 (+10)

Senses: 650675 (+25)

Aura: 691696 (+5)

---

Leon scanned the numbers, smirking.

"My sense stat’s about to overtake everything but strength..."

"From my weakest to my second-highest. Not bad."

He had been focusing on it ever since his first real battle with a demon.

And now the results were showing.

Suddenly, a disturbance rippled through the nearby bushes.

Rustle.

Leon didn’t even look. He’d already sensed it—well before it moved.

A blur shot out of the treeline and stopped beside him.

It was another Leon—his clone.

Created by his general skill [Mirror Split], it had spent the entire day causing just as much havoc as the original.

Now it had returned.

Leon met its eyes for a moment, nodded once, then dismissed it with a thought.

"You did well."

With both him and the clone wreaking havoc across the zone, his selection points were absurdly high—and this was only day one.

Then—exactly at midnight—a familiar mechanical chime echoed in his mind.

DING!

---

[System Notification]

[Congratulations, Cadet!]

[You have survived the first day of the Selection.

The will of the Federation is strong in you.]

Leon rolled his eyes at the over patriotic message.

But the message didn’t stop.

[As Day One concludes, a Ranking List of the Top 12 Cadets has been generated.]

A glowing panel opened before his eyes, lines of white text appearing against a dark blue screen.

[Top 12 Cadets – Selection Ranking: Day One]

****

As the list finished loading before Leon’s eyes, his confident smirk slowly faded.

"What the hell are these results...?"

He wasn’t the only one staring in disbelief.

Across the entire Selection Zone, every cadet who had survived the first day stopped what they were doing—eyes wide, mouths slightly open—as the ranking list burned itself into their minds like a branding iron.

---

[Top 12 Cadets – Selection Ranking: Day One]

[12.] Ethan Miller — 777 points

[11.] Olivia Davis — 788 points

[10.] Arthur van der Berg — 800 Points

[09.] Jasper de Bries — 860 Points

[08.] Eleanor Clarke — 880 Points

[07.] Sophie van Dijk — 940 Points

[06.] Felix Wright — 1,060 Points

[05.] Clara Wright — 1,310 Points

[04.] Eden Feran — 1,520 Points

{TOP 3 CADETS}

[03] Elizabeth Queen — 1,780 Points

[02] Adrian Peer — 5,420 Points

[01] Leon Kael — 218,520 Points

Even Leon had to re-read it.

"...Two hundred and eighteen thousand—?!"

A second passed.

Then another.

"Did I... take it too far?"

His brows furrowed in genuine shock. He had been holding back, hadn’t he? At least a little?

But he’d gotten so lost in the thrill of the hunt, so addicted to the rush of power, that he hadn’t realized just how far he had pulled ahead.

"All of them combined... don’t even reach a tenth of my score."

He ran a hand through his snow-white hair, sighing deeply.

"Maybe I should take it easy tomorrow..."

A pause.

"Maybe."

But knowing himself...

He probably wouldn’t.

Elsewhere in the shadows of a misty forest, Elizabeth stood still, several undead forming a silent, loyal circle around her. The cold flicker of system light reflected in her eyes as she read the list.

She blinked once. Then again.

A soft laugh escaped her lips.

"He’s becoming more of a monster each day..."

Despite her words, her smile was fond. She didn’t feel threatened after all Leon was her man. She only felt... impressed.

On the back of a slain Rank D beast, Adrian Peer sat with his arms on his knee, his breathing calm and composed.

The list hovered in front of him, and his sharp eyes narrowed as he focused on a single name.

Leon Kael.

Then he remembered the words Leon had casually thrown at him back in the mall:

"You won’t be able to catch up."

He thought he understood he it back then but now looking at the gap felt unreal.

"I really underestimated you..."

He let out a breath—half a sigh, half a chuckle—then pushed himself to his feet.

There was no bitterness or jealousy in him.

Only resolve.

"Fine then. Let’s see how far I can climb..."

And with that, he dashed back into the forest.

In a clearing scorched by battle, surrounded by burnt vegetation and smoldering corpses, a red-haired boy stared at the list, jaw clenched.

Eden Feran.

He grit his teeth, the vein in his temple twitching.

"...Fucking bastard."

The words left his mouth like venom.

He had thought he was in the running.

He’d fought hard, defeated strong cadets, burned through monsters.

But this?

This was absurd.

Everywhere across the Selection Zone, the reactions were the same.

Cadets who had seen Leon in action and survived were now reassured that their terror had been justified.

Those who hadn’t... now felt it, sinking into their bones like cold lead.

And all of them—without exception—shared one clear, undeniable thought:

First place was no longer attainable.

Not in three days, not in thirty.

This wasn’t a ranking any longer, it was an unspoken declaration.

Leon, now calmer, exhaled softly and stared at the list again. His eyes passed slowly over the other names.