CHAPTER 82: CH 82 BATTLE ROYALE

[Draconic Pride has awakened.]

[Buddha Incarnate has gone dormant.]

Klaus looked at the notification, his face twitched uncontrolably.

It had started. The internal battle he had fought with this trait was back.

An impartial, overwhelming craving to eliminate or humble every mortal who did not instinctively bow to him, who did not recognize his inherent superiority, surged within him.

Only Klaus truly knew how difficult it was to keep himself in check, to prevent himself from lashing out or physically acting on these impulses.

His tight, clenched fist had started bleeding, his nails dug into his own palms as he fought the urge to simply assert his will by force.

Somehow, the effects of the trait felt several times stronger this time,

"system stop this right now i am saying"

[ding!! the host should just fight the feeling with his will power, only your will power will keep this trait in check]

"fck, why do you start delivering motivational dialogues in serious situations"

[it is a way of telling host that things are out of system’s control]

"fck, you are making it worse"

Klaus tried not to look around, focusing his gaze straight ahead, and just stood still, closing his eyes for a moment to concentrate on reigning in the emotional instability.

"WALCOOMEEEE!!!!"

A booming voice, amplified by the arena’s sophisticated sound system, echoed through the hall. The host of the event had arrived.

He was a man in shiny, flamboyant clothes, his attire gleamed under the bright lights of the stage. He moved with an exaggerated swagger,

his smile wide and theatrical. He was clearly a famous individual, a celebrity in his own right, as murmurs rippled through the audience.

"Look, isn’t that popstar Leonard, is he hosting this event?" a young girl whispered excitedly.

"WELCOOME, ladies and gentlemen, how are you all?" the man in shiny clothes, Leonard, asked, extending his microphone towards the crowd with a dramatic flourish.

His action instantly earned him a unified, roaring hooting from the thousands of eager spectators.

"Is everyone exciteeeed???" Leonard bellowed

"HOOOOOOO!!!" the crowd roared back, their unified cheer seemed to shake the ground subtly.

This type of commentary, filled with exaggerated enthusiasm, went on for a few minutes, as the public cheered wildly for the host, caught up in the Leonard’s charisma.

Meanwhile, Klaus felt his ears buzzing from the sheer volume of the shouting, a dull ache beginning behind his eyes.

"Kill," "Kill," "Kill..." An insistent, internal whisper began to echo in Klaus’s mind, growing louder with every cheer, every loud sound.

his instincts were being amplified by the crowd.

"Nooo..." Klaus gritted his teeth, his jaw clenching. He resisted the effect of his trait, focusing his will, battling against the overwhelming impulse to simply silence the deafening noise by any means necessary.

"Why is it even more amplified than before?" Klaus wondered, puzzled by the sudden, overwhelming strength of his trait. The public commotion seemed to be fueling its effects.

[Host should have faith in himself. That’s the only way to resist this trait.] the System said again.

"Ughh, System, had you not let yourself be controlled by someone else, I would have understood, but why, why, why the heck does someone have access to whatever goes in your backend?" Klaus spat internally, his frustration boiling over.

He wiped a trickle of sweat from his forehead.

[Host should not worry, ????? entity is not an enemy.] the System replied, attempting to reassure him.

"Tch, his intent does not match his words," Klaus said, wiping the sweat from his forehead.

A short distance away, in the area where girls were lined up, Julie looked at Klaus.

She noticed his strained expression, the subtle tension in his posture, and the faint sheen of sweat on his forehead. "Huh? Is he sick or something? Why is he sweating?" she thought, a flicker of concern crossing her angelic face.

"Hmmm..." A small, cat-like spirit, shimmering faintly, floated beside her, its gaze fixed on Klaus.

This was Chronos

, the strongest Elder Spirit of the Spirit Realm, the Time Spirit. She had awakened recently from her slumber.

Her powers were so secret that even the Spirit Queen (Raphael) did not fully know what she could do.

But there were rumors in the Spirit Realm that Chronos could watch through time and look at the past and future at the same time.

Although no one knew the actual truth, everyone knew one thing: Chronos was the strongest. This was an inherent understanding among the Elder Spirits, a fundamental truth of their existence.

"Woah! Chronos-chan, you are awake!" Julie’s eyes lit up with excitement, her concern for Klaus momentarily forgotten.

It was rare for Chronos to manifest so fully, to appear so tangibly.

The small, cat-like spirit simply pointed a delicate paw towards Klaus’s figure, its gaze unwavering.

Then, she turned around and looked at Julie, her expression unreadable conveying a complex message beyond words, before she returned somewhere inside Julie’s soulspace.

"Weird," Julie muttered internally, puzzled by Chronos’s brief appearance and silent message. "I’m sure she sensed something while looking towards Klaus. Why wouldn’t she tell me?"

Meanwhile, on the main stage, the host, Leonard, began narrating the rules of the event after a few final rounds of hooting and cheering.

The excited buzz of the crowd slowly subsided as anticipation for the competition took over.

"Alright, everyone! The new, aspiring hunters will now go through the ranking battle of the esteemed Guardian Academy, the most premiere institution of humanity, with a legacy of over 70 years!" Leonard’s voice boomed, full of pride.

"The ranking battle this year is a bit special. Do you all know why? Of course, it’s because I am the host!" the man said while flaunting a wide, theatrical smile, puffing out his chest.

"Hehe, just joking!" he added, letting out a short, jovial laugh, before his tone shifted to one of seriousness.

"This year is truly special because this time the battles will take place entirely inside the VR! The Guardian Academy’s most premier technology, a virtual world which mirrors the real world itself, down to the smallest detail." The crowd erupted in cheers, VR access was still a luxury, and seeing an entire competition held within it was a spectacle.

Then the man proceeded with the instructions. "The format of this battle will be an open battle royale, where participants will be released into different, randomized parts of a vast expanse of the map you can see on the screens now."

On the gigantic screen beside the stage, a detailed topographical map materialized. It was a vast expanse of a tropical forest, green and dense, which Klaus immediately identified as mirroring the real forest located just outside the capital city.

There were also small hills and winding rivers between the expanse, clearly visible on the map, along with various landmarks, indicating a diverse and challenging terrain.

"The rules are simple, aspiring hunters. Every single participant gets 10 points initially.

If anyone kills you, he or she will get all your points. But you will not be disqualified. Instead, you will be respawned at the initial position where you started to participate.

From there, you can re-enter the battle, participate again, and challenge foes to earn points"

"The total points the participant has accumulated at the very end of the tournament will be considered his score for the ranking.

There are no other rules except for one absolute command: the damage inflicted should be only in terms of battle and fight, no harassment, no targeting based on family naming, no sexual assulting, otherwise, direct banishment from the Academy will follow."

The host declared this rule with a grave tone. "This rule is absolute for everyone, even the Legacy Families. The Academy cherishes fairness, and reputation is paramount."

The Paragons in the observation room looked at Magnus with wide eyes. There had been no such explicit rule before.

While heirs generally refrained from such overtly shameful acts due to the live broadcast being shown to the whole world, there were never explicit special rules to void the familial status or to prevent personal attacks.

This was a clear message from Magnus, a shift in how the Academy intended to operate.

Meanwhile, the host, Leonard, continued his job.

"Each participant will be observed by the high ranked professors of the Academy. And if any harassment of any kind is observed, they will immediately take action, ensuring a level playing field for all."

"There are also monsters spread around the landscape, aspiring hunters," Leonard announced, pointing at various markers appearing on the virtual map. "These monsters will award you some points for defeating them.

The lowest level is B-ranked, and the highest is SSS-ranked. while the monsters above s rank would be rarer in numbers. The points will vary according to the rank of the monster."

He then displayed a clear table of points on the screen, detailing the rewards for monster kills:

B-ranked Monster: 10 points

A-ranked Monster: 50 points

S-ranked Monster: 125 points

SS-ranked Monster: 250 points

SSS-ranked Monster: 500 points

"Hehehe," Leonard chuckled, a sly grin on his face. "And if I may tease you a bit, there is an EX-ranked monster hidden somewhere in the landscape! It won’t wake up until certain criteria are met, so don’t go looking for trouble, aspiring hunters!"

The crowd murmured in astonishment. An EX-ranked monster in a ranking battle was unheard of.

"But in case you meet one, you need to run! Else, getting killed by it will deduct 10 points every single time it kills you! It’s a high-stakes gamble!"

"And although it’s almost impossible," Leonard continued, his voice a dramatic whisper,

"still, the brilliant designer of the event had allocated some points to this EX-ranked monster! A whopping 5,000 points are allocated to the EX-ranked abomination, in case it wakes up and by chance, by a stroke of luck, someone actually kills it!"

As Leonard made these startling revelations, the audience reacted with a symphony of audible responses.

When he announced the 10 points for B-ranked monsters, there was a collective, bored murmur, as it was a standard reward. When he revealed 500 points for SSS-ranked monsters, the crowd was surprised.

SSS ranked monsters generally weren’t even included in previous years.

But when he spoke of the hidden EX-ranked monster and its 5,000 points, a collective gasp echoed through the arena, followed by an immediate eruption of excited, disbelieving shouts.

The idea of an EX-ranked creature being present, even virtually, was terrifying and exhilarating.

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