"Welcome to The land of the damned!"

The sound of his voice silenced the crowd around me..

I looked around..

Death and desolation..

That’s all it was.. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

The entire air was filled with so much corrupted mana, I was sure if I was someone that used mana, I’d have been having some difficulties..

Why I was sure? Some students around me, my fellow elite class cohorts, were struggling violently, some had already started bleeding from their orifices, the poisonous energy eating them out from the insides..

The only ones not affected were the demons amongst us, of course they weren’t, they were the source of the nasty thing, hell they seemed to have even received a boost from the environment.

The celestial among us too was unaffected, the energy seemed genuinely terrified of coming anywhere near him..

There was also the three candidates from the church of Ataraxia, they were dressed like the typical definition of paladins, white armor, helmets, white capes and all, the avatar of a blindfolded goddess emblazoned boldly on the back of their capes.

The same golden energy that surrounded the celestial, pushing back the nefarious energy, surrounded them as well, their demeanor unshaken..

But the most impressive were probably the two youths at the head of the class, one had his mouth covered, the other had his eyes sealed.

They just stood there, not doing anything, yet the corruption around them was dying.

Not being pushed, not being suppressed, it was literally dying...

And of course.. "hey, hey, hey... so this is what corrupted mana feels like when it’s so saturated.. nasty little thing." Malachi, because of course budget Wu Kong wouldn’t be affected in the slightest...

I didn’t even know what he was doing to suppress the effect of the corrupted mana and I didn’t want to know either..

I looked around, it was just us, the elite cohort, who were here, it would seem even the classes were separated for this particular excursion, understandable since I didn’t see any of the others surviving very much out here, but still..

"Too bad..." indeed, that was too bad.

I was hoping I would get a chance to finally get rid of both Apollo and Caelum, that is if they’d already recovered from the nasty little thing I’d left in their bodies when I sent them flying a few days ago...

"Alright young ones, your first test has already started." Instructor Voren’s voice pulled me out of my thoughts.

He barely acknowledged the struggling students, leaving them to their own issues, I’ve learned not to expect sympathy from anyone here, even this kind looking old man didn’t seem exempt from that rule..

"As you have all already noticed, this place is saturated with corrupted mana, it is one of the few places on terra that had suffered irreversible damage since the time of the first invasion." At that, most of the struggling students threw angry glares at the demonic students in our midst.

The demons merely grinned savagely, not a hint of remorse whatsoever.

"Filthy creatures." I muttered quietly, trying to control the anger that was bubbling within me..

"And what that means is that the creatures here have mutated to adapt to the poisonous environment, becoming exceedingly more dangerous." Ignoring the building tension among students, instructor Voren continued without missing a beat..

"The portal you see before you, will lead you directly into the inner region of this zone, where you’ll face off against abominations the likes of which you have yet to encounter.."

"The aim of the test is simple... SURVIVE.. you have twenty-four hours to spend within the inner region and you’re expected to stay alive that long, of course, if you can fight, then all the better, since the abominations within the inner region are a resource many alchemy practitioners within the academy would pay handsomely for." The students straightened, well, the ones that weren’t dying slowly from corruption, the test hadn’t begun but I could already see a few students that were at their limit, yet Voren wasn’t making any moves to save them..

"Now, know that tests, especially compulsory ones like these go a long way to determining if the instructors will approve of your ascension exams whenever you do request them, because if we deem you unworthy of the inner court, then your request will inevitably be denied."

"So while the goal is survival, I don’t expect you to be cowards that just hide away either, you’re the elite class, act like it." His words seemed to spark the competitive nature of some students..

"Now, while I would like to be optimistic and say things like, I expect to see you all back safe and sound, I am neither a liar nor an optimist, many of you are going to die, that is a fact, either from the abominations or from your fellow students, but I’ll already be impressed if 50% of the elite class remains after this." The moood switched instantaneously.

This was no longer a joke.

If the instructor was telling us that we were likely going to lose over 50% of our numbers then you knew this was about to become some screwed up bullshit..

But that wasn’t my major concern at this moment..

We were about to enter into a place where all bets were off, no safety nets, deaths were real and closer than we thought, yet my entire focus at this point, was the celestial..

My eyes trained on him the way a predator would look at fresh prey..

I wasn’t looking at the demons this time, oh, their moment would definitely come, since I was going to make sure none of them made it out of that place alive, but they were the side dish this time around, the main meal, was the celestial that was standing aloof from everyone, surrounded by the three youths from the church..

"Hehehehe... seems I’ll be getting those wings earlier than I’d thought." Yes, that was all I was thinking about, those cool looking wings, I had wanted a pair the moment I saw them and now that the opportunity had presented itself, I would be damned if I didn’t take it.

Was that wrong? Considering the celestial hadn’t really antagonized me yet? Probably..

Did I care? Fuck no.

It’s been said already more times than necessary, good or bad, all that matters is who has the largest fists, so, if the celestial’s fists were smaller, then he can only accept his fate.

A predatory grin appeared on my face as the thought settled..

The young blond seemed to have sensed my intent as his face turned towards me, his eyes opening as a frown marred his brows.

The three youths around him followed his lead as a two way stare down unfolded between me and the group, my grin widening with each passing moment..

THUD!!

THUD!!

THUD!!

The sound of multiple bodies hitting the floor successfully broke our stare off as I turned towards the sound.

Three students had failed to hold out, their bodies collapsing with blood bursting out their eyes, ears, nose and mouths..

"Hmm, seems we already have our first casualties, I’m impressed it’s only three this time, seems you bunch really are more talented than the last group, they lost ten of their numbers before they had even stepped foot within the inner region." The old instructor smiled harmlessly, his words and expression not in any way being in sync..

He waved his hands and the students were mercifully covered by the red earth.

At least they weren’t left out to be food for whatever lurked outside here..

"Alright then younglins, there’s not much time to waste, so move along now, let’s get this test completed, this old man needs his rest after all, hahaha.." the crowd started moving along at the sound of the old Instructor’s voice.

By the time we arrived at the entrance of the ominous portal, we’d already lost two more students, at this rate, if the inner region had more of this nasty energy saturation, weren’t many students just signing up for death? Was this even a test anymore or just another form of culling from this twisted academy..

Nevertheless, as the crowd slowly vanished into the crimson portal, I spread my perception outward, covering the celestial and the demons, registering their energy signatures, I wasn’t planning on letting any of them get away from me...

"Hey, hey, hey, my friend, how about a little competition?" Before we entered, Malachi’s voice stopped me..

"What competition?" I asked, curious.

"How about we see who can kill the most number of abominations inside there?" He laughed..

"I’ll win, I thought we’d already established that fact?" I replied, humbly of course..

"Hey, hey, hey, this and that are different, we’re testing our hunting efficiency here and I’ll let you know, I’ve never once lost in a hunt." The monkey grinned savagely, I liked that look...

"Alright then, you’re on, what are the stakes?"

"Loser gets to serve the winner for a week."

"Deal."

"Hahahahahaha... now you’re talking my friend, let’s do this!!" The monkey laughed as he jumped into the portal in excitement..

I laughed as well, stepping into the portal..

I may be going in there with a clear target in mind, but I’ll be damned if I let that monkey win.

"I’ve never had a servant before, might as well make the monkey the first, hahahahahaha.." the moment I stepped foot into the portal, the environment changed drastically..

The first thing to hit me before I could get a look at the place, was the nefarious energy that was so thick it was visible..

Corrupted mana, and a very dense amount of it at that...

[CHAOS ENERGY CONVERSION technique activating..]

"Ahh shit.. not again..."

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A/N: bro really wants those wings huh? To place even them above demons..

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Thanks for reading..

New week, new energy, let’s push..