I Reincarnated as the Bastard Prince? Well, At least I'm OP!-Chapter 29: The final stage

Skadra was a shy girl and quiet girl. Her skin was glacial blue like many Ice Giants, and her snow-white shoulder-length hair was like a soft frost. She wore a white garment that wrapped around her small frame.

When Thrymara introduced Skadra to me, I noticed she was painfully shy.

She says very little words and kept mostly to herself. Inorder to boost her confidence, she hide her face in a mask.

Thrymara explained to me that her daughter has such great potentials but she was worried about her social life.

Skadra must toughened up as the future heiress of the Ice giants. By exploring the world, and training under me, Thrymara believed she’ll get stronger.

That was a lot of expectations laid on my ten years old self. I tried to decline as politely as I could but Thrymara eventually had her way.

In exchange for taking her daughter in, she formed a future alliance between me and the Ice Giants.

Back to the present—

Dawken pointed at Skadra, his eyebrows raised in confusion. "Who is that?"

"My student," I replied, narrowing my eyes. "This is your last warning, Dawken. Stand down, and accept defeat."

"Never," Dawken snapped, then turned to the demon looming beside him. "Rip them to shreds."

The demon roared and charged at us.

"Do it, Skadra!" I shouted.

Without hesitation, Skadra raised her hands—palms outward—and unleashed a wave of crystalline frost.

The ice spread rapidly, crawling across the ground and freezing everything in it’s path.

Dawken and his demon didn’t stand a chance. They were both caught in the blast, their body frozen in thick layers of ice.

I gave a low whistle, genuinely impressed. "Not bad."

Skadra lowered her hands and glanced up at me, her masked face unreadable. "Did I do well, master?"

I ruffled her hair gently. "Well done, Skadra. I’ll give that... eight out of ten points."

She huffed softly in excitement. "R-Really? T-Then, I’ll work hard to live up to masters expectations."

She was starting to warm up to me. Good. I’ll keep encouraging her to help boost her confidence.

"There’s still so much to learn, Skadra," I grinned at her. "I’ll teach you more after this exams is over. For now, return to the vault."

I opened my Infinity Vault, and she stepped right in without question.

I felt bad keeping her in there, but that was only temporary. Once I’m done with this exam, I’ll let her out.

"Now then," I said approaching the layer of ice where Dawken and his summoned demon were trapped in. "Let’s get rid of this demon first."

Clenching the Dragon’s Tooth tightly, my hands moved faster than lightning, delivering a thousand cuts across the frozen demon’s body.

Each strike was precised, carving every atom of it’s being.

Then I sheath my dagger.

"ENDSLASH: Thousand Cleave Execution!" I uttered quietly.

The ice splintered with the noise of shattering glass, then it exploded the demon into glittering shards.

There wasn’t a single trace of the demon left.

Dawken was still frozen in the remnant of Skadra’s ice, his eyes wide in horror.

I chuckled. "I’m not going to kill you, Dawken. Unlike you, I value human lives. This ice was casted by an ice giant. It won’t melt for another day. Good luck."

From his frozen expression, I guessed he was pleading for his life. Too bad, I can’t hear him.

With the wave of my hand, I dispelled the Inverse Barrier, revealing Dawken, frozen in thick sheet of ice to the outsiders.

Everyone gasped in shock. I defeated Dawken.

"Impossible," Dawken’s lackeys muttered, frozen in shock. "Dawken was winning. How did he lose so easily?"

They had no idea.

My Inverse Barrier had shown them an entirely different fight that gave them the illusion I struggled desperately against Dawken, but won by sheer luck.

Still, a win is a win. I bested Dawken. That’s all that matters.

"Archer, are you alright?" Raven asked rushing to me. She grabbed my arms inspecting me from head to toes for wounds. "You’re not hurt anywhere were you?"

"Not really, I’m perfectly fine," I said, rubbing the back of my head with a sheepish grin. "He was a real piece of work but I tried my best."

Raven heaved a sigh of relief. "You did great. Just... don’t scare me like that again. You had me worried when Dawken almost decapitated you."

"I guess I’m tougher than I look," I shrugged.

The rest of our party ran over, cheering and congratulating me.

"This is amazing! Now we can advance to the third stage," Anais punched the air in excitement.

"Not happening," one of Dawken’s lackeys barked, cutting our celebration short.

I turned sharply to see them conjuring an attack spell.

"Don’t think just because you defeated Dawken by some fluke, we’ll stand aside and let you ditch us," another snapped.

Just then, we heard a high pitched, sharp sound piercing through the air.

SCREEEE!

"Duck!" Odessa yelled.

We hit the ground just in time as a massive Snow Eagle swooped over our heads.

Before Dawken lackeys could move a muscle, they were both snatched into the eagles talons and soared away towards it’s nest.

We watched in horror.

If Odessa hadn’t given the warning, we would’ve been the ones in the eagles nest.

"Should we... help them?" Pandra asked.

"There’s nothing we can do for them," Anais muttered. "It’s best we leave."

"Well, good news is, we have all the necessary items to advance to the final stage," Raven said, spilling a pack with direwolves fangs, Snow eagle’s feathers and Ice Giants hairs.

I smiled. "We’re all set to go."

* * * *

At exactly sunset, the portal to the final stage appeared before us.

We were the only surviving candidates left. Seven out of seventy candidates. It was a massacre.

Made me wonder if the final stage would be anything like this one.

This portal was a lot different from the others. It was white and swirl almost lazily.

Each of us shared our respective items, holding them tightly in our hands.

At first, we were all nervous. It was a miracle we survived the second stage because we worked together.

In the final stage, there’s no telling what might happen. We could be separated again, or worse, find ourselves in deadly trails alone.

Regardless of what happens, we all made a promise to find each other on the other side of the portal.

Raven took the first bold step forward. She paused, glancing back at us, and smiled softly. "See you all on the other side."

Then she entered the portal.

The portal didn’t reject her. Her items were complete.

This encouraged us and one by one we walked into the portal. I was the last person left.

Taking a deep breath, I whispered, "Here goes nothing," and stepped through.

* * * *

I emerged in a long familiar hall, right opening into Waurweth academy’s courtyard.

The same courtyard where it all began.

Standing right before me were my party, Raven and the rest, all staring around in shock and confusion.

"We are back?" I muttered. "How?"

Raven approached me, "Archer... what’s going on?"

Before I could answer her question, Chancellor Elysia materialized on the raised platform.

When she saw us, she froze mid-step and caught her breath sharply. A flicker of surprise appeared across her face.

It was like she wasn’t expecting this.

"Are... are you the only ones left?" Elysia asked.

"Yes," Anais answered solemnly. "The others... couldn’t make it."

Elysia composed herself, folding her hands behind her back. "I see. Well, this is unexpected. To think a group of children would make it this far. Congratulations. You’ve passed the second stage of the selection exam. Welcome to the finals." freёnovelkiss-com

This lightened our mood as we felt happy and proud of ourselves.

"Before we begin the final exam, could someone brief me how the seven of you managed to survive both stages?"

"It wasn’t easy," Anais said. He seemed eager to share his experience. "We faced an army of undead. I thought we were going to be overwhelmed by their numbers and die, but Raven stepped forward and defeated the summoner—an elder lich. Because of her, we were able to advance to the second stage."

Elysia glanced sharply at Raven. "You defeated the elder lich?"

Raven looked away, she was either too shy to admit it, or ashamed of taking the credit for something she didn’t do.

"Impressive," Elysia said, her eyes watching Raven with interest. "I assumed during the second stage of the exam, you all teamed up under her leadership?"

Everyone nodded.

One by one, our party stepped forward, showering praises on Raven, highlighting her insane leadership and how she made it possible for us to pass each stage.

Elysia listened attentively as if each information was important. She didn’t interrupt. She was gathering information.

By the time my party were done talking, Elysia had heard enough.

"Truly extraordinary," she exclaimed. "Never before have we had such a promising candidate. You have all proven yourselves at the second stage of the exam. Now it’s time for your final stage."

Odessa raised her hand. "What’s the final stage exam, Chancellor Elysia? Are we going to face more dangerous monsters?"

Elysia smirked. "Not really. Your final exam will be a written test."

The source of this c𝓸ntent is fr𝒆e(w)𝒆bnovel