Leila Ravenclaw approached him after the initial movement of the crowd had settled.
The clearing no longer felt chaotic, but the tension had only grown with time.
Her expression carried the familiar chill that had earned her the title of Ice Queen among the Riverdale candidates.
"Why are you doing this?" Leila asked, her voice was calm and interrogatory, and her question was something going on in everyone’s mind.
Will turned to look at her.
"Doing what?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.
She did not flinch.
"Why are you trying to protect us," Leila continued, her gaze unwavering, "when you could just stay quiet, move along, and look after yourself?"
Her words carried no accusation, only logic. She was questioning his motive.
Will studied her for a moment. Not just her face, but the tension in her shoulders, the way her fingers subtly flexed at her side, and the alertness behind her eyes. She was wary of him.
Then something changed.
A sudden shift passed through Will’s expression, so abrupt that several people nearby instinctively straightened.
A glint appeared in his eyes, sharp and unsettling, as a smile slowly spread across his face. It was the kind of smile that could not be borne without madness in one’s heart.
The temperature of the surroundings seemed to drop.
That smile alone sent chills crawling down the spines of those watching.
Will raised his hand and pointed casually toward Dino.
"You see that dragon?" He said" You see the way he looks at humans, with disgust barely hidden behind arrogance?"
At his words, Dino stiffened. His earlier bravado vanished, replaced by a tight, instinctive fear that he could not suppress. He knew, better than anyone present, what Will was capable of.
Will continued without looking back at him.
"Not just him," Will said, sweeping his gaze across the assembled candidates. "If you are human, then you have seen it too. The way other races look at you. Like you are nothing more than a convenient meat shield to be thrown at demons first. Like breeding stock meant to fill numbers, not shape outcomes."
The human candidates felt those words strike something deep inside them.
"Well," Will went on, his smile widening slightly,
"Let’s just say my hatred for the demon race is a thousand times worse than that. I am racist against demons; they are an inferior race that shouldn’t think about conquest."
His voice hardened.
"My purpose is to remind them of their place. I am the bane of their existence, meant to erase this imperfect race from existence."
He paused deliberately, letting the weight of those words settle before finishing his thought.
"So if any of you think I am doing this because I am some kind of goody two-shoes, filled with justice, responsibility, or moral obligation," Will said, his tone sharpening, "then save yourselves those two brain cells."
"an ascension ranked Half demon-dragon is coming to take your heads with his cultist minions. I merely want to kill that bastard child of dragons, so I need your cooperation. After all, I don’t have a delusional lizard brain on my head that believes that it can go against anything."
Silence followed.
Will straightened his posture and spoke again, his voice carrying authority.
"In ten seconds," he declared, "I will be departing with everyone who chooses to stand on my side."
Leila’s expression flickered. Just for a moment, uncertainty cracked through her composure. Then she stepped forward without another word.
She positioned herself beside Will.
Her action became a catalyst.
Almost immediately, the majority of the human candidates followed.
To them, Will was no longer just the strongest among them. He was the first human they had seen who neither begged for recognition nor sought approval from other races.
His hatred for demons resonated deeply, pulling at wounds that had existed long before this trial.
Soon after, titans and vampires began stepping forward as well, drawn by the presence of Gaelion and Katherine. Their leaders’ choices shaped the decisions of those who followed them.
Desmond Klembred, the dwarven prince, stepped out next, his heavy boots thudding against the ground, followed closely by Kara Babylon, the second princess of the Babylonian empire.
Once they moved, members of their respective races followed suit, accepting them as de facto leaders.
Only a handful of elves joined Will’s group.
The rest remained behind, drifting toward the dragon and phoenix candidates who had clearly begun forming their own faction, with Dino and Fiona at the center.
Seraphine stood still for several seconds, her expression unreadable. She was the highest-ranked elf present, yet many of her kin refused to acknowledge her authority.
Pride outweighed logic for them.
"Fiona," Kara called out, concern slipping into her voice, "why are you not joining us?"
Fiona Ashfall turned to face her.
"Do not worry, Kara," Fiona said calmly. "I cannot follow the lead of a human, even if you are my friend."
Will glanced over his shoulder, his voice cutting in smoothly.
"It does not matter for her," he said evenly. "She has a method of resurrection back at her homeland. Royal Phoenix privileges."
Then he looked at the rest of the phoenixes.
The Phoenix candidates stiffened.
"But I cannot say the same for the rest of you."
The color drained from several phoenix kin faces as confidence faltered. Fiona shot Will a sharp glare, but he ignored it completely.
"Let’s go," Will said, clapping his hands once.
The sound echoed unnaturally.
Moments later, the sky darkened as shadows passed overhead. One by one, flying monsters descended, answering his call.
Wyverns, drakes, even the thunder roc he had killed earlier, and other winged beasts landed around them; their eyes were obedient as their heads bowed to William.
Will mounted his green wyvern first.
"Get on," he instructed.
One by one, the participants climbed onto the beasts’ backs. With a powerful surge of wings, the beasts lifted off, disappearing into the distance, leaving behind those who were too prideful to follow William.
Will led them back to the cave he had prepared earlier.
The Array Hijacking Stamp had already completed its function and now rested inside his inventory.
It allowed him to alter the behavior of existing arrays without dismantling them.
Using knowledge from the novel and guidance from the system, Will had reconfigured the illusion array that governed the forest domain.
The illusion beasts were no longer independent.
They were under his control.
Though they were constructs of mana, their attacks were real, actualized through a powerful secondary formation known as the Actualization Array.
Will did not fully understand its mechanics; he only knew that it drew massive amounts of mana directly from the academy’s mana veins.
The hijacking stamp had allowed him to redirect command authority.
And now, the result stood before the gathered participants in the form of a huge altar under which was a huge circular platform.
Will turned around and began explaining its functions.