The instructor who walked out was a man with short silvery hair and the same silvery eyes.
Particles of silver rotated in his eyes, like a black hole, and his gaze held an incredibly piercing power. Ryuk felt all the hairs on his skin stand as the man’s simple stare bore into him.
Somehow, he could sense the man’s gaze lingering around him with furrowed eyebrows, perhaps intrigued by Ryuk not being a Fallen but Human.
"The previous preliminary test had a total of 20 of you eliminated. That leaves just 40 of you present in this room," Sir Thorneil began, immediately getting to the point of the matter at hand.
"This semi-final test will also eliminate another 20 people, leaving only 20 of you to move on to the finals."
"In the final stage, a total of 10 will be eliminated, and the remaining 10 standing will be the ones to ascend this time."
"In the previous test, the rules had been more lax, allowing some of you to apply your smarts to win easily.
"For those of you who succeeded with your wits in the last test, let me say this: you’ll be disappointed. This semi-final test will be based on nothing but your pure combat abilities."
"The mode of competition is simple—a tiered one-on-one battle. A pure elimination style based solely on your individual battle prowess!" the man declared with a clenched fist as the air around him crackled fiercely.
"You all—40 in the room—will be paired together at random and transported into a realm where only one of you will return conscious!
"Getting knocked out will automatically trigger the realm to transport you out, making you the automatic loser."
"The second way to lose is to be exposed to an attack capable of taking your life. At the moment your life is in danger, the realm will intervene and transport you out within 0.1 seconds. Of course, this also makes you the automatic loser.""
"This means two things: both fighters can go absolutely all out, aiming for each other’s lives. There’s no such thing as giving up!"
"Only the most brutal dominator will win this phase of the match. There will be zero mercy observed."
"And to top it all off, you only have an hour for every battle."
"If both of you fail to knock the other unconscious after an hour of fighting, then both of you will lose. There will be no win-win situation or draw. It’ll be all or nothing.
That is a win or a loss!""
"I believe I can’t make myself any clearer," the man said, his gaze scanning through the room.
The thickness and pressure of his words were suffocating for most of the geniuses.
If everyone is paired at random, that means there’s an element of luck involved in this match.
What if a ranked 40 is paired with a ranked number 1? Wouldn’t it be obvious who the loser would be?
"Fallen Rohan here will pair you all based on her random card abilities!" the man announced before retreating backward.
A Fallen lady stepped onto the stage, raising her hands as a total of 40 cards appeared in them.
Immediately, the cards twisted around randomly with incredible speed before slowing down.
A card appeared in front of each genius.
Slowly, they all stretched out their hands to pick the cards.
Ryuk sighed as he saw the number on his card:
"18."
Almost like a mysterious force, a purple light shone into the sky. But it wasn’t only from Ryuk.
The same light shone from a boy sitting at the front.
As if attracted by this mysterious force, both of them instantly turned their gazes toward each other, their eyes falling on the numbers on their cards.
Ryuk immediately saw the number "18" on the boy’s card, and the same could be said for the Fallen genius, who glanced at Ryuk before exhaling in relief.
"Thankfully, I got paired with the human. This should be a smooth entrance to the final round," the boy said with a smile of relief.
"I believe you’re all aware of who your opponents are now, aren’t you?" the woman asked.
Some of the geniuses exhaled in relief after being matched with much weaker opponents, while others almost broke down in tears—especially those unfortunately paired with the top ten.
"Since you all have your opponents, then," the Fallen lady said.
At her insistence, Ryuk watched as his card exploded, forming a door right in front of him.
The same thing occurred for everyone in the hall as doors began appearing all around.
"The door in front of you will transport you to the domain where you will find your paired opponent standing."
"Leave them unconscious within the hour time frame, and you automatically win."
"Everything is allowed—weapons, abilities, tricks, unfair fights. Everything is allowed."
"Feel free to go all out," the Fallen lady summarized the rules once more.
Without wasting any time, Ryuk rose up and stepped through the door with a calm composure, being the first to disappear from the room.
Quickly, all the geniuses began entering their respective doors, and immediately, silence covered the room. The instructors wore varying evil smiles on their faces.
"Now, let the semi-final stage truly begin!"
---
When Ryuk opened his eyes, he found himself standing in a deserted land, with desert sand sprawling all over the area.
Harsh gales meandered through the sandy plains.
The entire world before him was laid bare, with no place to hide. Everything could be observed from anywhere.
Looking up at the sky, it was a smooth blue colour with a blazing sun shining directly overhead.
Slowly, Ryuk turned his gaze behind him and found his opponent who looked him up and down before laughing out loud.
"Lucky me to get paired with the trash human!"
"Unfortunately for you, you can’t give up."
"But if you stay in one spot, I’ll make sure to knock you unconscious as gently as possible. Hehe…"