CHAPTER 48: EX 48. THE TRIO

The third and final day of the Selection had begun like a storm hiding behind calm clouds. The tension was thick—cadets moved with caution, nerves on edge, eyes sharp. Everyone knew that by the end of this day, only the best would remain.

But just ten hours into the day, the forest changed.

A deep, unnatural rumble echoed across the zone. Birds took flight in panic. Beasts howled and retreated. The ground shuddered.

Then—

BOOM!

A towering pillar of dark energy erupted from the center of the Selection zone, so massive it pierced the sky, blotting out the sun in its radius. Its darkness pulsed and crackled like lightning trapped in a void. The entire zone fell silent as every single cadet turned toward the phenomenon.

Even those hidden away in caves, under barriers, or far in the outer zones saw it—there was no avoiding it.

Whispers rose.

As most cadets wondered if this was part of the selection.

But those with heightened senses, those who were attuned to death and darkness, knew better.

Something was coming.

Something wrong.

Suddenly, the pillar imploded, vanishing into a violent swirl of wind and silence.

But what replaced it... was far more horrifying.

Floating above the ground—as if gravity was beneath it—was a monstrous figure. A demon.

It had two jagged, blackened horns curling upward like a crown of death. Its skin was armored in dark crimson scales that shimmered faintly with arcane sigils. A long, pointed tail lashed behind it like a whip, and its glowing yellow eyes radiated malice. Every beat of its wings distorted the air, and its very presence choked the life from the trees beneath it.

It radiated power.

Raw.

Malignant.

Chaotic.

From a clearing far off, Leon stared up at the beast.

His eyes narrowed, his body still and unmoving, but not from fear. From focus.

He whispered under his breath, "...It’s S-Rank."

As if it heard him, the demon’s head slowly turned—locking eyes with Leon from hundreds of meters away. Then, it smiled.

A wide, toothy grin, filled with fangs as sharp as daggers. Its lips parted slightly, and a guttural growl echoed across the forest like the whisper of death.

Leon’s brow twitched.

"Shit,"

But that was only half the nightmare.

On the opposite side of the zone, Adrian Peer stood in a bloodied clearing. His chest was rising and falling, but not from exertion—from sheer disbelief.

Around him... were corpses.

Cadet corpses.

And that alone defied the system. When a cadet was close to death, the Selection should have teleported them out instantly.

But these bodies remained.

A dark, swirling black symbol sat on each of their foreheads—twisting and pulsing like a brand etched into their flesh.

The markings looked demonic, resembling a curse, or perhaps something worse.

Adrian’s fists clenched.

****

Before the demon ever appeared... Adrian had been focused.

The third day of the Selection had begun, and while others were exhausted or hiding, Adrian Peer was on the hunt—still grinding, still pushing, trying to gather more points and maintain his top three position.

Right now, he was locked onto a D-rank demonic beast, a four-legged predator with black fur and glowing blue fangs that moved like a blur through the trees.

Adrian chased it through the forest, his boots pounding the ground, sweat trailing down his brow.

But no matter how hard he pushed, the beast was faster.

Again.

This wasn’t new to him.

Adrian gritted his teeth, frustration building. "I need a solution for this," he muttered, voice low and tense.

He hated to admit it, but speed had always been his greatest weakness. Unlike Leon, who seemed to close distance like a shadow blinking between spaces, Adrian had no mobility-based skill or enhancement items. He had strength, instincts, raw combat grit—but no acceleration.

And just like many times before, the beast was starting to slip from his reach.

But before it could escape—

FWOOOOSH!

An ice spear tore through the air from behind him.

Adrian’s senses flared instantly. He twisted his body, narrowly avoiding the chilling projectile that sliced past his shoulder and continued its path—impaling the fleeing beast clean through.

The creature collapsed in a heap of frozen flesh.

But Adrian didn’t care about the beast anymore.

He turned sharply, heart pounding—not from exertion, but from the realization of what had just happened.

Standing behind him were twelve cadets, spread out in a loose formation.

But Adrian’s attention honed in on three faces at the front.

William. James. Thomas.

Adrian’s expression darkened.

Those three... they used to be his closest companions.

They had laughed together, trained together, and stood together for most of the one-year training program.

But they had also mocked others, looked down on Grounders, and treated him as a sidekick, not an equal.

Still, Adrian—desperate for belonging—had turned a blind eye to it.

Until Leon.

Until that moment in the trial world when Leon, facing him, asked that one soul-crushing question:

"What’s your name again?"

It shattered something inside him.

That was when Adrian realized—true strength had never even noticed him. Not because he was weak, but because he was forgettable.

So he walked away from those three.

Cut them off.

Now, here they were again, smiling as if they hadn’t tried to feed him to a lion for a joke.

Thomas took a few steps forward, hands raised in mock welcome.

"Hey, Adrian. Long time."

Adrian didn’t reply. His fists were already curling.

Thomas kept going, pretending to pout.

"Still mad at us for making you confront Leon, huh?"

Adrian’s eyes narrowed—his silence heavier than words.

That’s when Thomas chuckled, voice full of venomous amusement.

"C’mon, how was I supposed to know he wouldn’t even know your name?"

He burst into laughter—and so did James, and then the others.

All twelve, laughing like hyenas around a wounded wolf.

Adrian stood alone.

But his fists were clenched, his heartbeat calm, and his glare cold as steel.

"They’re still the same..." he thought. "Still the same assholes."

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A/N: If we get up to 12 reviews before Tuesday I will do another mass release.

Thanks for reading

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