The Doom Fiend delivered a jab, which easily broke the sound barrier and briefly deafened Jered. Unfortunately, his 'Physical Enhancement' didn't allow him to pull back in time, and a huge chunk of flesh was torn off his neck. Blood spilled out in continuous rivulets. He quickly tamponed it with his hand, flaring his mana to quicken his healing speed. In a burst of 'Shadowport', he put some distance between them, which was immediately shortened after the Doom Fiend reappeared in front of him, a second jab coming straight for his head.

A 'Mana Barrier' was erected, but the creature's physical strength was clearly at the Royal-Tier. The barrier shattered in a shower of gilded sparks. Jered didn't stay idle and pushed the Doom Fiend back with a combo of 'Kinetic Blast' and 'Telekinesis'. It was not nearly enough to damage the creature, but it stunned him, which bought Jered enough time to cast more powerful spells. With a dramatic wave of his hand, a swirl of fire bled out of the ground and shot up in the air, until the ceiling overhead stopped its ascent. Slowly, the fire grew a cloak, limbs, and a scythe.

'Hell Spawn'.

And because Jered instinctively knew it might have not been enough, he added his 'Green Flames of Greed' in the mix. The Reaper turned emerald green, with a sheen that reminded of the namesake gem. Without waiting for an order, the Reaper swung the scythe down at the Doom Fiend. A purple first coated in crimson light met the scythe halfway in the air, punching a hole through it. Jered capitalized on the slight distraction and teleported behind the Doom Fiend, a 'Lanza del Diablo' elongating in his hand.

He fueled it with so much mana that the air around it was warped and twisted.

The Doom Fiend sensed the danger; it was stuck between the spear of darkness a few inches behind its back and the renewed attack from the 'Hell Spawn'. It had to make a choice, and it chose the less damaging one. With little time to maneuver its body around, it let the scythe crash on its unprotected back as it focused its defense against Jered's 'Lanza del Diablo'.

An explosion of black and green went off, swirling up in the air yet contained by the 'ceiling'.

When the dust settled one, the Doom Fiend flew back, drilling its way through the Reaper, and crash-landing a hundred meters away from the explosion. Its feet skidded along the ground, slowly coming to a halt. Its body was covered in soot and injuries, though nothing of it was lethal or crippling. Jered reckoned he had to catch the creature at its weakest point, which wasn't going to be easy by any means. The Doom Fiend's face was pulled into a frown, its crimson eyes zeroing on Jered.

There was no more mischievousness, only anger and killing intent.

"I preferred your previous appearance; you looked like something Jasmine would hug to sleep," Jered couldn't help but laugh.

"..."

The Doom Fiend didn't share his humor—not that it could understand it either.

Its lips pulled back into a snarl, and not a second later, the ground cracked yet again as it sped off towards him.

The Reaper ghosted between him and the creature, its scythe sweeping at the Doom Fiend. Unfortunately, Jered's summon was not Royal-Tier, hence it could barely hold off the Doom Fiend before it was riddled with holes. And although it could easily regenerate, its speed couldn't match the Doom Fiend. Naturally, Jered was aware of that, and had prepared in advance. A powerful pillar of wind swirled around the Doom Fiend, slowing it down greatly and even pushing him up a few inches off the ground.

Jered didn't waste more time. With a soft smile on his face, he activated 'Soul Eater'.

A silvery mist blew out of the ground, cloaking him with a hazy, white curtain. His eyes went pitch-black, and even his laugh gained a sinister edge, "I can power up too."

The Doom Fiend's face twisted, a cold shiver crawling up its spine.

The 'Turbine Slash' was enhanced as a result, and so was 'Hell Spawn'. The Reaper's emerald body presented a couple of silver streaks, as if lightning was coursing through its body. And the moment its scythe moved for another downward swing, the faint rumbling of thunder could be heard. The Doom Fiend's eyes went wide open—if that was even possible due to its already wide, oval-shaped eyes. It had to avoid it! But then it faced a second, more troublesome problem. And that was Jered casting not one, not two, but three 'Lanza del Diablo'.

The spears made of darkness hovered behind him, long, shadowy, and thrumming with power.

The Doom Fiend screamed, the crimson light around it bursting with so much light that for a brief moment, it reigned supreme in the dungeon.

Still, even that was slowly absorbed by the encroaching darkness that came with the spears, all of them lunging for the creature.

The Reaper's scythe joined in at the right moment. The pressure looming over the Doom Fiend pinned it down, the ground underneath it cracking. The power rolling off the young man in front of it had briefly surpassed what someone of its tier was capable of, and because of that, it began to feel a primitive, innate fear. The fear of having a natural predator stalking it.

The Doom Fiend growled as the crimson light around it intensified. It was a short-lived moment, however. The sudden burst of power was decimated by the incoming spears, which twisted their way through the air and zeroed in its face. Darkness was all the Doom Fiend could see. Then came the pain. From both sides. Dark and Green.

An explosion must have gone off, but by that time, it was already drifting off into unconsciousness.

[Your ‘Green Flames of Greed’ have become 50° C hotter.]

There was a stretch of silence as Ravenn, Astoria, and Rudolph stared at one particular screen; it was also the most anticipated one, and for good reason too. Jered had been on their radar ever since the first trial. Someone as young as him was a Royal Magician, and technically, there should have been only a few cases like that throughout history—if any at all.

Naturally, they had been expecting great things from him. In fact, no one thought Jered was going to fail the examination. Maybe the second one, as that focused more on sheer will alone rather than magical skill. However, the ripples of green-laced, acrid smoke covering the screen told them that they might have… underestimated him a little bit.

The output of power he displayed had a dangerous spike. So much so that it had reached the peak of what a Royal Magician could achieve, which was simply ridiculous. Then again, that might have been attributed to that weird spell he used when he was in a tough spot. Ravenn could swear he had seen something similar, but couldn’t quite pinpoint when or where.

“He’s incredible…” Astoria’s voice denoted that the face behind that mask was currently twisted in surprise, “… at this point, I don’t know what kind of training we could have him go through to improve. His spellwork for Elder-Tier spells and below is marvelous, and he seems to have a decent, if not good, grasp of his Royal-Tier ones.”

“Some of those spells though, are quite…” Rudolph grunted out, his head stroking his beard thoughtfully, “… sinister in nature, not to mention familiar.”

“I agree,” Ravenn nodded, “It looks like this talented young man is full of secrets.”

“And that someone of considerable power has been raising him,” Astoria supplied.

“Indeed. Still, as long as he works for us, we could put all of that to good use.”

The dust settled, and the maimed, unrecognizable corpse of the Doom Fiend lay deep in the crater. The purple sheen of its body was lost, and its bright, red blood pooled up underneath it. Under any other circumstance, the Doom Fiend might have been capable of regeneration, but most of its internal organs—its heart included—had been smitten by the explosion.

The notification still hovered by his side, though he wasn’t surprised by its appearance. He had been expecting something like that the moment he unlocked ‘Green Flames of Greed’.

Jered heaved a deep sigh as he cast a ‘Cleanse’ on himself. Actually, maybe it was a bad idea since the test had yet to end. But whatever, he’d cast it again should he get dirty. As a matter of fact, he reasonably decided not to turn off his ‘Soul Eater’ state. If another creature like the Doom Fiend were to pop out, he doubted he could tackle it head-on without the boost in power.

Now that he thought about it, wouldn’t the other examinees die if they met something like the Doom Fiend? Stacy was the strongest one among them, after him, and while she was extremely close to Royal-Tier, she wasn’t quite there yet. There was no way she would be able to handle creatures one tier stronger than her.

Or maybe he was wrong. Maybe they all had artifacts or skills that would help them with this test. It’s not like his knowledge about Archiland’s inhabitants was exhaustive. He only knew what he had been told by Rainey, and what he learned from tomes and books.

He took a look around himself and noticed the wasteland their fight had turned the surroundings into. Granted, he could ‘see’ past the mist, but it was enough to go off of. Eventually, he resumed his walk; there was a limit to how long he could keep his ‘Soul Eater’ active, even if he was a Royal-Tier.

Monsters of varying strength ambushed him regularly. And once one of them died, someone else would replace it. None of them had power that approached that of the Doom Fiend, and perhaps that was because one of them was more than enough per examinee. Or maybe something way worse was waiting for them at the end of the path.

Which was why Jered blitzed his way through the horde of monsters with ease.

A wave of ‘Pharaoh’s Flame’, boosted by ‘Soul Eater’, was more than enough to devour anything in his path. And when the flames fizzled out, a long trail of charred bodies paved Jered’s way forward. He walked through the dancing wisps of smoke and finally reached the end.

A crimson, intricately-carved gate stood between him and the end of the trial. It was weird, since they were out in the open, and there was no building or tunnel that that gate could possibly lead to once opened, but Jered knew that it was his ticket back to the Royal Palace.

There was only one minor issue.

Someone stood in his path, a sword buried deep within the ground.

It was a knight, or at least it looked like one. And it reminded Jered of the Lord, Seline’s father, but not as tall, or as strong. The man was dressed in black, shiny armor that covered the entirety of his body. A crimson, tattered cape fluttered in a non-existent breeze. A pair of steely brown eyes stared at Jered from the slit in his helmet.

“Jered. I’ve been waiting for you.”

“And who might you be?”

A chuckle.

The man easily unearthed the tip of his sword from the ground, and let it rest on his right shoulder, “I’m Ashki. Royal Swordmaster, and Prince Meyan’s bodyguard. Do not worry, you don’t have to defeat me to pass. You only have to entertain me for a few minutes.”

“A few minutes?” Jered laughed in return, feeling a bit competitive. His mana, as if also provoked, was stirred, and a seamless wave spread out in all directions, “No, no, no… that’s not what you’re supposed to say, Ashki. I’m better than that. Forget about ‘a few minutes’, I’ll pass through that gate in only one.”