CHAPTER 41: BETRAYAL!

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"And the enemies we face on the battlefield will show them mercy because of their age?" Scarlet retorted, her voice dripping with scorn.

An invisible mountain of pressure slammed down on Mr. Pearson. His knees buckled. He couldn’t breathe. His vision swam. It felt as though the entire weight of the sky was crushing him. He was like a ant in front of her.

The Seventh Elder sighed. He raised a hand, and the pressure on Pearson vanished.

"That’s enough, Little Red," he said gently. He looked at her, a hint of sadness in his wise old eyes. "It is a bit cruel to the students."

Scarlet did not back down. Her gaze was as hard as diamond. "The world is cruel, Grandpa Seventh. How can they survive the wars of tomorrow if they cannot even survive the trials of today?"

The Seventh Elder had no reply. He knew she was right, in her own brutal way. What she experienced when she was younger was much worse than this.

He turned his gaze to the black, silent hologram, and he sighed once more.

The grotto was quiet. The beast tide was gone. The only sounds were the crackle of leftover lightning and water dripping from the ceiling. It smelled like ozone and burnt monster.

Levi was on one knee. He was wiped out. Unleashing the `Thunder God’s Wrath` took everything he had. He felt empty. But he won. He survived a whole beast tide by himself.

He used his cleaver to stand up. The floor was a mess of black ash and huge, smoking monster bodies. Total carnage. A victory written in blood.

He saw Lucy come out from behind a big rock. Her face was white. Her eyes were wide. She looked at him, then at the pile of dead monsters. She couldn’t believe what she just saw.

"You... you did it," she whispered. Her voice was shaky. "You actually killed them all."

Levi didn’t answer. Too tired to talk. He just nodded and leaned on the cave wall to catch his breath.

She started walking towards him. She looked worried. And thankful. "Are you alright? You’re hurt. You used up all your energy, didn’t you?"

He watched her get closer. He didn’t trust her, but they’d just fought for their lives together. He was too tired to care right now.

She stopped right in front of him. Her dark-blue eyes looked at his face. "Thank you," she said. Her voice was soft. "You saved my life. I don’t know how I can ever repay you."

He was about to tell her to shut up so he could rest. Then he saw it. Her face changed. The nice, worried look was gone. In its place was a cold, crazy smile.

"You really are a monster, Levi Borne," she whispered. Her voice was a triumphant hiss. "A monster that’s too dangerous to leave alive."

Her hand shot out. It wasn’t to help him. It was a weapon. A thin, black dagger with poison on the tip appeared in her hand. She moved fast. Faster than a Rank 3 should. Faster than the monsters.

"Shk!"

Sharp pain exploded in his chest. He looked down. It felt like it was happening in slow motion. The black dagger was buried in his chest, right through his heart.

He looked back up at her. As though he couldn’t believe it.

She laughed. A high-pitched, crazy sound. "You thought I was a helpless student? You’re a fool. A big, strong fool."

His body started to tremble as though getting weaker. The poison was spreading. She leaned in close to give her big speech.

"My real name is Seraphina. I serve the Ancient Ground of Dark Matter. My mission was to find the strong geniuses here and mark them for my friends to kill. But you were a surprise. An F-rank nobody who got strong overnight."

She twisted the dagger. More pain. "I had to get rid of you. Your talent is a threat. I led the beast tide here to kill you. But you were stronger than I thought. It doesn’t matter. You’re tired and you trusted me. That was your mistake. Now, you will die, and I’ll take that bloodline of yours as a prize."

She stared at him, waiting for him to fall over and die.

But then she heard a sound. It made her blood run cold.

From the other side of the grotto, someone was clapping. Slow. Deliberate. Mocking.

Her head snapped around. Her crazy grin froze. Her eyes went wide with disbelief.

Leaning against the far wall, looking perfectly fine, was Levi.

The "Levi" she just stabbed looked up at her. It smiled a weird, empty smile. Then its body flickered and fell apart into a pile of wet mud and leaves. It was a dummy.

"A good speech," the real Levi said. His voice was calm, but it was deadly. "You almost had me."

Levi pushed himself off the wall. He wasn’t tired anymore. He was cold and angry.

"I knew something was wrong with you from the start," he said. His eyes were glowing with red light. "A Rank 3 student outrunning a beast tide full of Rank 8s? Your acting was good. But your story was crap."

He played along to see what she would do. The dummy was a test. She failed.

She was cornered. Her plan was wrecked. The human look on her face disappeared. She let out a scream that wasn’t human. Her body started to twist and change. Green snake scales covered her skin. Her ears got long and finned. Fangs grew in her mouth. Her legs twisted and fused together into a long, powerful snake tail.

It slammed against the ground. *Thud*. Bat wings sprouted from her back.

She wasn’t a human anymore. She had actually transformed into a terrifying monster.

She looked at him with her new snake eyes. Her forked tongue flicked out in the air.

"It doesssn’t matter," she hissed. Her voice was like poison. "Dummy or not, you’re still tired from that last attack. I will still kill you, and I will enjoy picking the flesh from your bones!"