While the shade possessed greater strength and endurance, Roa noticed how it was lacking a portion of his cognitive abilities. —To put it simply? The shade was stupid. 

Utilizing this fact, he manipulated the shade to respond the way he wanted, grabbing its outstretched arm and pulling it towards an awkward position. 

Before it could retaliate, Roa’s blade went upwards from its left side and drew a thin line across its neck. Swift and decisive.

 A dark, misty haze spilled out like blood from the cut, and the shade slumped lifelessly onto the ground. 

The exchange elicited horrified screams from the audience. Witnessing murder was too much for those faint of heart. Take note that most of the audience members were other applicants—young, sheltered children that at worst have only seen a scrape on the knee. Although the shade wasn’t human, it did appear every bit the same as one.

A cut on the neck was quite the jump.

On the other hand, the three gray ties observing outside the arena, each of them showed reactions different from their peers:

Novis Philitte, the young noble of Luveris, bit his lower lip and clenched his fists tightly, revealing his undisguised frustration; Yuria Illyas, the potato sack picked up in an alley, clapped her hands and boisterously cheered, projecting her restless excitement; And Ariene Diadora, the woodlands’ princess, she raised her head in astonishment as she discovered some admiration amidst her lingering fear.

Respectively, the three had viewed Roa’s display with pain, hope, and approval—a variety of emotions, the meanings of which were left to themselves to ponder. 

At the same time, those at the stage, the academy board members and professors, burst into loud, fervent discussion.

“H-He… managed to defeat the shade!? Hah! The founder truly has a good eye!”

“Ridiculous! The boy didn’t even use mana! Isn’t this a magic academy? He used tricks—circus acts! Look at our Seed of Fire!—If the boy hadn’t interfered, then I’m sure she would have done much better!”

“Cough! Indeed… Anyone can wield a sword. And considering his age, to be stuck at the Red-Tier?”

It was only when the discussion leaned towards an unfavorable outcome for Roa did the aristocrat, Noreau Philitte, pitch his opinion, “—No. Mere circus acts won’t be enough to defeat such an opponent.”

He continued, ”It may be hard to see from here, but the boy did make use of aura. There are only a hundred or so swordsmen capable of using aura on Waylurne—isn’t it with good grace that the academy has gained an additional two, is it not?”

Noreau phrased it such that it sounded like he was praising the academy for a foregone decision. Fortunately, with that, and with the exception of a single disgruntled woodland fae, the board made its decision in favor of Roa.

Noreau raised his cup up to his mouth contentedly. His lips didn’t touch the rim, nor did this Luveris aristocrat ever condone drinking cold tea; he only wanted to conceal the fact that a smile was blooming on his face.

‘A kid from slums. No ties to any kingdom or faction. If polished properly, he could become a rare gem that would belong solely to Luveris Academy!’

The noble from the Kingdom of Luveris eyed the people around the stage. Including himself, more than half of the dozen people were tied to different affiliations. 

Since they catered to their self-interests—talented students like Roa Fariche with no distinguished background, were ostracized, shunned, and eventually left out of the system. The academy fell on a steep decline, of which they themselves weren’t aware of. 

To remedy this, Noreau, who cared about the academy as much as he did for the Kingdom of Luveris, placed high expectations on the boy from Bellona District. 

Meanwhile, the boy in question… After delivering the blow to the shade’s neck, Roa was left feeling unsettled. 

Immersed in his thoughts, he stuck his tongue out as he rubbed an imaginary line on his neck. He said to himself, “That felt awful. It was like looking in a mirror! —Huh?” 

Roa, who was familiar with death, had developed a certain sense for it. There was a sudden prick at the back of his neck. He quickly turned his head to the shade that he thought he’d defeated—and witnessed its eyes gleaming a ferocious red. 

Death had latched a glare on his back.

“Eruind… remembers…”

Roa widened his eyes, startled as the shade muttered words in a gravelly voice. 

“Eruind… remembers!” It repeated.

At that moment, the ring of a familiar voice echoed inside of his head—this time, nervous and shaky. It was the voice of the self-proclaimed dragon, Solitaria. 

 ‘A-Ah! W-We were caught!’ she stammered.

‘Solitaria, you finally show up!’ Roa shifted his head side to side, looking for a trace of her. “Where are you? What’s going on!?”

‘Wuu… We were caught! We were caught!’ Solitaria repeated with a frantic voice, adding to Roa’s confusion. 

‘Caught—What do you mean!?’ he asked, but failed to receive a proper response.

A sudden chill shot up his spine. Irrespective of his will, his left arm had begun to act. It was an eerie experience, where he could feel his nerves and muscles as he should, but had no control over its actions.

‘Wait—stop it! How are you doing this!?’

Roa’s arm dragged him to the edge of the arena, and tried to reach outside of the mana curtain, however… his palm slammed heavily onto the curtain, instead evoking a massive ripple that coursed throughout the entire defensive array.

Roa felt another prick at the back of his neck; death’s glare had suddenly become sharper. He immediately waved his blade behind him, intercepting an attack that would have otherwise wounded his back.

‘This jabbering lizard—what did you do!?’

‘No! No! Savior, help me! I don’t want to go back there!’

‘I can’t get a sense of what you’re saying! Calm down and give me back my arm!’

Panic-stricken, the movements of Roa’s left arm interfered with his stance and blood was drawn from his side; the shade had snuck in a quick thrust, fortunately, Roa managed to shift the blade slightly away from his vitals.

When red spilled onto the platform, the academy officials immediately engaged the arena’s defensive array. Students getting injured was a pretty common occurrence so their movements were already practiced. One official ran towards the side of the arena to urge Roa to go outside, only to notice him seemingly at odds with his left hand.

“Release my arm, lizard! If not, I won’t hesitate to cut it off!” 

It was detrimental if this kept happening. Also, Roa wasn’t sure if it was only his left arm Solitaria could take control of. It would be a nightmare if she suddenly took hold of his entire body.

Thankfully, Solitaria lifted that horrifying thought, “You must not, savior! This feeble arm is my humble abode! Also, losing an arm will be incredibly painful, don’t you know?”

 ‘...What? What the hell are you on about!?’ Solitaria’s excuse explained nothing except for the fact that he was dealing with a lunatic. 

What? The Mad Calamity resided in his left arm? ‘That sounded like a child’s delusion! In which world would an excuse like that fly!? He thought.

Although, apparently, this world was one where such an excuse did, as Roa had no time to think of a refute for it. The shade suddenly emitted a massive amount of corrupted mana, and the wound on its neck recovered.

Roa, on the other hand, could no longer fight as his physical limits were already heavily dragging on his feet.

‘Haa… Is there no hope of winning this?’ he lamented. 

“What are you doing? Get out quickly.” Surprisingly, someone had arrived to aid him. Ariene stepped into the arena and forced the shade back with a loud slam, taking the chance to repay the favor. 

—It certainly wasn’t because he called her a friend.

Following that thought, she pushed the back of Roa’s head towards the mana curtain.

“What are you doing!?” Ariene expected Roa to leave the arena cleanly, but instead his face collided with the back of his left hand that wouldn’t go past the wall.

With his cheek pressed against his hand, Roa grumbled, “Alright, little lizard, calm down! If you’re really living in my arm—we can’t pass the mana curtain if you’re using mana. Release your control!”

“Hmph!” Solitaria scoffed at his form of address but complied nonetheless. As soon as she lifted her control, Roa’s left arm finally slipped past the mana curtain, and Ariene quickly followed behind him. 

A disgruntled attack hit the wall that they passed as the shade grew enraged. It smashed against the mana curtain to try and get to Roa, angrily causing numerous ripples to form, but to no avail.

“Why is this ugly fella so fixated on me?” Roa shifted himself side to side, noticing how the shade’s gaze was locked upon his person. Puzzled, he pursed his lips, ‘The shades I know of would loose their aggression towards everybody nearby. This one seems to have eyes only for me…’

The shade dropped its blade and forced its fists against the mana curtain. “Eruind remembers!” it yelled.

Ariene stared in shock, not expecting the shade to speak. Roa squinted, “It’s been saying that.”

He frowned. It was too early to be hearing the name, ‘Eruind.’ At this point in time, the trials of the Spirit Domain were yet to begin, and Eruind’s roots had yet to spread across the continent.

 ‘Solitaria, what’s it going on about?’ Roa asked, nagged by a foreboding suspicion. 

When Solitaria kept her silence, he continued, ‘I guess you don’t want to talk anymore, huh? That’s fine with me.’

Was she so starved from conversation? It was an effective threat, seeing how Solitaria reacted. As if the words were yelled right in his ears, Roa winced as the lady’s outrage thundered in his head. 

‘That’s not fair!  You promised! You promised, savior! That’s why I—I… What did I do again?’ Solitaria paused, giving him slight reprieve, until she eventually resumed voicing her discontent. ‘Anyways, you can’t—you mustn't break a promise!’

‘Alright, alright! I won’t. Stop yelling!’ Roa replied. He had to concede. There was no way to win in an argument where he couldn’t even see the other person. Her answer would have to wait for another time.

He stepped away from the arena, pressing onto the wound inflicted on his side, deep red dripping between his fingers.

“Commoner! Done playing the hero? Look at where that zealous attitude has gotten you!” scolded the boy wearing a lavish coat. However, it was puzzling, as Novis Philitte eyed Roa’s wound and tossed him a clean cloth. “Carry yourself to the infirmary, you look unsightly.”

‘Says the guy with his hair in curls after getting hit by a volt spell,’ Roa quipped in his head. He replied, “Thanks for the concern, but I’m alright, really. It’s not something that requires immediate treatment.”

“Concern? Who?” Novis furrowed his brow and placed one foot in front of him. ”It’s an order from a noble! A weak commoner like you would fall down and die from such a small wound!”

‘Huh? What’s up with this snowflake?’ Roa raised an eyebrow. “It’s just a scratch, it’ll heal on its own.”

Novis glared at him, irritated, but spotting Ariene walking behind Roa, he no longer insisted and turned away.

“Hey, what should we do about that?” Ariene asked, pointing at Roa’s shade wreaking havoc inside the arena.

“Thanks, Ariene,” Roa said, before glancing back at the arena. Seeing the frightening visage of himself grumbling like a mentally unsound beggar—Roa covered his face, ashamed.

“Why aren’t they making it disappear? —Is this a show!? Is it?”

Yuria soon hopped into their circle with a bright smile, “Hey! That was an amazing fight! That thing should be gone in a while, yes?” And continued while her lilac eyes gleamed with bright curiosity, “Roa, why does your look-alike look so not alike and different from the others that did look alike?” 

The image of Roa’s shade was obviously more ‘textured’ than the two that first appeared. It appeared less of an identical image and more of a prediction of his bleak future. This was also the first time that Roa had come across this particular situation, so he only answered to brush off the question. 

“I’ve no idea. Maybe some of the professors would know,” he replied. However, if someone like him, who was knowledgeable of the future, had no idea, then what more of shut-ins who had yet to experience the Spirit Domain?

Maybe Roa could attest the appearance of the shade to his special circumstance, which only himself and maybe Solitaria, were aware of?

‘Eruind remembers…’ Roa thought of what the shade kept mentioning, and turned his gaze towards the arena once more. ‘The small scars visible on its face; its entire drab get-up; the cloak around its missing left arm—could it be…?’’

The moment Roa reached a conclusion, the ground suddenly shook and a loud rumble came from underneath the arena’s platform. In the middle of the arena, something had tunneled up from below and burst out behind Roa’s shade.

It was a large plant of sorts—just a single large trunk with no branches or leaves, and at its tip hung a damaged draumadite box.

“Huh? Is that a tree?” Yuria blurted.

“No, it’s not a tree…” Roa answered knowingly. It wasn’t a tree. He had immediately recognized it as a single large root.

—End of Chapter 9