The momentum of the battle shifted soon after that.
Samael was pushed back multiple times by the Draken twins. He started losing ground. And in under a minute, his situation went from bad to worse.
Alice struck high, her fiery sword crashing down with impressive force.
Samael raised his newly stolen spear to block, and the impact reverberated down his arms.
But Willem was already moving, his axe cleaving low, aimed for Samael’s legs.
The Theosbane twisted to narrowly avoid the strike, but it left him exposed.
And Alice was there to take advantage of that vulnerability.
The pommel of her sword slammed into his stomach, knocking the wind out of him.
Samael staggered back, gasping, but managed to somehow avoid her follow-up slash by getting away just in time.
“Not so smug now, are you?” Alice sneered.
Samael gritted his teeth, sweat dripping down his face.
He thought about retreating, putting distance between himself and the twins, but Willem was already closing the gap.
The prince’s fist came flying toward his jaw with brutal speed.
Samael instinctively raised his spear to block, but Willem’s punch shattered the weapon’s metal into splinters.
With nothing to protect him, the blow connected with Samael in the face, sending him reeling.
Blood trickled from his nose as he stumbled back, his vision blurring slightly. He barely regained his footing when he realized Alice had circled behind him.
Before he could react, her boot slammed into the back of his knee, forcing him to drop down on one leg.
Now kneeling on the ground, Samael barely managed to raise his hands in time to block Willem’s follow-up kick.
But the force of the strike still sent him sprawling to the ground, dirt and dust clouding the air around him.
“Where’s that fire now, Sammy?” Alice barked, her voice dripping with derision. “Where’s your sharp tongue?!”
Samael tasted blood.
He coughed a few times… and without warning, he sprang up to thrust his palm toward Alice’s throat.
But the princess was quick. She stepped back to get just out of his reach.
Almost at the same time, her brother slammed his knee into Samael’s gut like a sledgehammer. The golden-haired boy doubled over and spat blood on the ground.
And before Samael could recover, Willem brought the polearm of his axe crashing down onto his back with a sickening thud. Samael hit the ground face-first, his body sprawled in the dirt.
But Willem still wasn’t done. He planted his boot squarely on Samael’s back, pinning him down like a predator asserting dominance over its prey.
“You’re done,” Willem growled, his voice low and devoid of his usual humor. “Stay down.”
Alice came to crouch beside the fallen Theosbane. In her hand, a blazing ball of swirling fire took shape.
With a satisfactory smirk on her lips, she looked him in the eye and said, “See, Sammy? This is what happens when you don’t know your place. Didn’t I tell you when we were little? Weaklings get punished.”
Samael lifted his head slightly off the dirt, but there wasn’t a trace of fear on his bloodied face.
If anything, he still looked a bit amused.
Alice’s smirk froze. She brought her fireball close to him until he could feel the scorching heat. “I don’t like that look on your face. Let me burn it off–”
But before she could do anything, a burst of movement caught her attention from the corner of her eyes.
Two figures were blurring toward them with impossible speed.
Alice and Willem were forced to jump back as the two Cadets landed between them and Samael.
One of them was a short, petite girl with ginger hair that framed her doll-like face in soft waves.
Her eyes were gray, like the sky on a rainy day — calm yet stormy, glassy like two pools of silver that seemed to reflect the world around her instead of gazing at it.
The other was a tall boy with black curls that fell neatly down his neck. He had a handsome and athletic build.
But it was also his eyes that stood out — dark as the abyss, deep and unfathomable. It felt like you’d lose your soul if you kept staring into them for too long.
•••
I could hardly believe what I was looking at.
My body was wrecked. I was sore in places I didn’t even know existed. I was exhausted both mentally and physically.
Just when I thought I would lose — or worse, have my handsome face damaged— Alexia and Michael appeared, stepping in front of me to shield me from the Draken twins.
I used to have a low opinion of them.
I used to think they were stupid!
But now, I couldn’t help but change my mind.
They weren’t stupid.
These people were…
They were such…
“Idiots!”
I yelled.
My voice was hoarse from the extremely dry air scraping at my throat.
My chest felt like it was on fire.
Every inch of my body was crying out in agony.
But I still yelled.
“You’re all idiots!”
Michael glanced back down at me. He looked utterly confused by my sudden outburst.
Of course, this idiot had no idea what I was talking about.
I had to explain it to him like he was five.
“Instead of coming to save me, you should’ve gone for the mountain! We need to find the cave, get the Essence Stone, and crush it to win the test! Why the hell would you come here?! There are barely five minutes left! Why do you think I was fighting here alone?!”
I could’ve run from this fight any time I wanted.
But I knew the Draken twins would go for the mountain. No one here was strong enough to stop them. So I did.
I stalled them for as long as I could to give Michael and the others a shot at getting to the cave.
In the game, across every story route, Michael barely won the first team test.
He always stumbled across the Draken twins and ended up fighting them for the Essence Stone.
And while he managed to beat the twins every single time, it was always a close call. Too close for my liking.
I didn’t want to risk anything.
So, instead of fleeing, I kept the twin’s attention solely on me, hoping to buy Michael enough time so he could try to win.
But this idiot came here to save me instead, like I was some kind of a damsel in distress, and he was my shiny knight!
Who?! I mean, who even asked for his help?!
Why do these cliché protagonists always have a hero complex?!
Alexia sighed, shrugging. “I told him to leave you and focus on the objective. But Michael wouldn’t listen.”
Michael shook his head, resolute as always. “We won’t leave anyone behind. We’re a team, and we’ll win this test as one. That’s the whole point of these drills. And as much as I hate it, you’re part of my Squad. So I’m not leaving you.”
Even as he spoke to me, his gaze stayed locked on Alice and Willem, never letting them out of his sight.
“Now get up, Samael. We’ll take these two down and win the— Uh… S-Samael?! Where the fuck are you going? Oye! You bastard! Hey! Get back here! Are you seriously running away?! I’ll kill you!”
Michael’s voice shot up in disbelief.
Because by the time he turned to look at me, I was already sprinting toward the mountain.
The pain wracking my body was unbearable, but I gritted my teeth and ignored it.
Michael shouted again from behind me, his voice rising with each word. “Samael, if you run, I swear to god I’ll kill you!”
He could shout all he wanted, but I wasn’t about to let him drag me into that pointless fight. My goal was to win the test right now.
And there wasn’t much time left.
I took out a small pill from one of my jacket pockets. It was something I had asked Ivan to smuggle in for me yesterday.
Swallowing the pill, I summoned my Origin Card.
As soon as I reached the foot of the mountain, I knelt on the ground and shot Michael a quick glance over my shoulder.
His face was livid.
“Sorry, Your Highness!” I said. “But you’re no longer our Squad leader. I’ve dethroned you by a unanimous vote!”
For a moment, there was absolute silence, broken only by the distant chaos of fighting in the thin clearing.
After a few seconds, Michael’s voice finally rang out, full of irritation. “What unanimous vote?!”
“When do you guys even vote?!” Alexia huffed, crossing her arms. “And why am I never part of it?!”
By that time, the ground cracked in a perfect circle all around me.
And in the very next moment, a platform erupted from beneath my feet at a violent speed akin to a springboard.
The platform crumbled, but the sheer force of its eruption threw me into the air like an arrow aimed straight at the mountain’s peak.
