Not just one light in the auditorium went out. Every light went out at once.

There was not even time for startled screams. The darkness surging up behind Yuto spilled beyond the platform and consumed the floor. It looked as though a pitch-black river were flowing across the auditorium.

It did not stop there. The roiling darkness spread across the floor and swept up the walls. The stage where the headmaster and professors stood seemed hidden behind a black curtain.

The new students gathered on the ground floor and the upperclassmen on the second floor stared at the ceiling in horror. The darkness rising from Yuto and spilling from the platform turned the ceiling into a pitch-black night in an instant.

The test was supposed to project a constellation and demonstrate its power, yet what Yuto had created was a night sky without moon or stars.

Everyone in the auditorium held their breath. The jeers, the whispers, even the sound of breathing vanished.

It was a different silence from the one Shiro's projection had created. If Shiro had inspired a silence of awe, what now ruled the auditorium was a silence of terror.

Yuto's eyes gleamed in the darkness. He looked at the students, not the least bit surprised by the phenomenon he had caused.

“Wh... what is this...?”

“Didn't he have no constellation? Then... what is that?”

“Aether? That's... aether? That's impossible...!”

Astonishment blossomed amid the fear. There was no constellation projection. What Yuto had drawn out atop the platform was nothing but pure aether.

The problem was its scale. The platform was a device that made aether visible. Though the other students' aether varied, none had been as vast or as vivid in color as Yuto's. Nor was appearance the only difference. What decisively set his aether apart from theirs was its atmosphere.

Aizen's aether had generated electric currents even around the platform. Shirin's had calmed the air in the auditorium. Shiro's had compelled everything within it to fall into order.

Yuto's aether engulfed everything. It was vast, silent, chilling, and ominous. It was so dense that it was hard to believe it lacked a constellation's divine authority. This went far beyond anything that could be called impressive or beautiful.

Up on the stage, the faculty were unsettled. The curtain of darkness kept the students from seeing their faces, but the professors were looking through it at Yuto.

“Headmaster, this is...”

“Preposterous.”

The headmaster composed his expression as he spoke, his keen gaze fixed squarely on Yuto.

“That is no constellation projection. It is merely... aether.”

“Are you saying someone can possess that much aether without a constellation's divine authority?”

“Well... even I have never seen a student reach this level. But that boy is hardly an ordinary student, is he?”

His origins in the slums no longer warranted attention. What interested the headmaster was what had come afterward.

“I hear that boy has lived as an adventurer from a young age. He has gained enough experience to save the head of House Marigold, and enough skill to drive the Black Mages out of Belkain. No doubt he has lived a life the nobility knows nothing of, and subjected himself to training they would never undertake.”

A smile settled on the headmaster's wrinkled lips.

“When I first heard that a boy from the slums was being recommended for the special scholarship admissions track, I privately wondered whether the head of House Marigold wanted to see just how far his money could take him. But now I understand. That student deserves his recommendation.”

The headmaster raised his staff and tapped the ground lightly.

HUM!

The platform's pattern was forcibly reactivated. Blue light surged beneath Yuto's feet, pushing the darkness back. The pitch-black shroud over the ceiling lifted, and light returned to the auditorium.

Yuto stood on the platform as if nothing had happened.

[A little excessive.]

Elun's voice rang inside his head. Cold though it was, it carried a trace of relief.

[The Void has not been exposed. Your aether merely flowed out in response to the platform. You could have controlled it. Did you show them on purpose?]

'I didn't think they'd admit me if I held back.'

Yuto answered inwardly.

'If I don't have a constellation, I need to show enough power that they'll have no choice but to admit me anyway. Don't I?'

There had been no test like this in his previous life, so he had no choice but to improvise his way through.

[Hmm... You are not wrong, but... I still cannot help feeling it was a little excessive. You will attract far too much attention.]

'Actually, attention is exactly what I need right now.'

The constellations had interfered with the academy's exam. Shiro was watching right in front of him.

Yuto had to walk a tightrope, providing the constellations with entertainment worth watching and Shiro with value worth exploiting. He had to pursue his goal without leaning too far toward either side.

Yuto stepped slowly down from the platform.

He saw that Shiro's expression had changed. His smile remained, but the light in his eyes was different.

Interest. No, something deeper. The satisfaction of having his expectations met.

Yuto turned his eyes from Shiro to the auditorium.

The room was still in turmoil. The students who had been mocking him moments earlier had fallen silent, and some backed away to put distance between them.

Of course, not every student feared him or regarded him warily. This was Maria Academy, where the continent's greatest talents gathered. The highly talented naturally had great pride to match.

Yuto felt their gazes. Some were interested, some competitive, some friendly, and some envious. Those emotions showed plainly in their eyes. They might be the continent's finest talents, but the newcomers gathered here were still only fifteen-year-old boys and girls.

One gaze among them was particularly blatant. Aizen Carte stood with his arms crossed, glaring at Yuto. His eyes held unmistakable wariness and competitive spirit.

A boy from the slums who could unleash such aether without a constellation. Aizen knew instinctively that he could not dismiss him.

Shirin took half a step as though to approach Yuto, then stopped, conscious of the eyes around her. Approaching him while everyone's attention was fixed on him seemed likely to make him uncomfortable.

She remained where she was, watching him with worried eyes.

Upstairs, Levian gripped the railing, her face a mixture of relief and amazement. She knew Yuto's strength well, but what he had just done had surprised even her.

With Yuto's turn over, every group had finished its projections.

“We will now conduct the first selection based on the results of Manifestation.”

The headmaster raised his staff and slowly traced it through the air.

Pure-white rings began appearing above the new students' heads. Circular bands of light, they shone softly like the halos above angels' heads.

“Wh... what? Why isn't one appearing over me?!”

“M-me neither... I didn't get one either...”

The rings had not appeared above every student. Those without one cried out in confusion, looking around from students with rings to those without.

The headmaster spoke.

“Those who do not have a ring, please leave the auditorium immediately.”

It was a simple, merciless verdict. An uproar erupted.

“W—wait! What are the criteria?!”

“You can't fail us without even explaining why!”

“My projection clearly appeared!”

“Please, just once... let me try one more time...!”

The headmaster did not reply. He merely stood in silence, looking down over the auditorium. That silence was a clearer answer than any words.

The protests did not last long. The auditorium doors opened, and staff began guiding the students out. One by one, those without rings bowed their heads and left.

Some walked out swallowing their anger; others left in tears. The students with rings watched them with relief or pity.

There had been over a thousand newcomers. Now only five hundred remained in the auditorium.

Half had been cut.

Yuto glanced above his head. Naturally, a ring of light floated there as well. Shiro, Shirin, and Aizen also had rings. So did all the other students who had caught Yuto's attention during the projection selection.

“Congratulations to the five hundred new students who remain.”

The headmaster spoke again.

“But this is not over yet. Five hundred is still a large number. In the end, only one hundred of you will enter the academy as new students.”

The students began murmuring again. The reduction from a thousand to five hundred had already left their hearts pounding, and now those five hundred would be reduced to a hundred.

“We will begin the second test.”

The murmurs subsided, and tension filled the auditorium. What form would the second test take? The newcomers swallowed hard, each making their own guesses.

“Concentrate on the ring above your head.”

The students hesitated at the headmaster's words. Concentrate? The instruction seemed to come out of nowhere.

“There is no need to overthink it. Simply focus your awareness on the ring. It will take care of the rest.”

Yuto focused his awareness on the ring as instructed. Warm light streamed down from it and enveloped his body.

His vision turned white.

Then—his consciousness was drawn inside.

* * *

When Yuto opened his eyes, he was no longer standing in the auditorium.

He smelled grass. A breeze blew. There was soil beneath his feet and a blue sky overhead.

Yet he could tell it was not real. The scent of grass, the wind, and the soil had all been perfectly recreated, but everything felt subtly artificial. It lacked the delicate irregularities of the real world.

'This place... isn't real.'

It resembled a lucid dream, yet was different. There was none of a dream's haziness. His senses were clear; he simply felt that this space was not reality.

Yuto collected himself and looked around.

A vast plain stretched before him. Far in the distance, he could see forests and mountains. He looked that way for a moment, then raised his eyes to the sky.

An enormous crystal floated overhead, taking the sun's place and serving its purpose. It provided this space's light, and probably regulated the laws governing it as well.

[The second test is survival.]

The headmaster's voice came from the crystal.

[You will form teams of two.]

Yuto listened closely. An ordinary fifteen-year-old newcomer might have cried out in surprise or dismay at those words, but he heard no voices. Apparently there were no other new students nearby.

[There is no need to worry about whom to pair up with. Your pairs were already assigned at random the moment you entered this space.]

At those words, light wound around Yuto's wrist. It then stretched out like a long thread and shot off into the distance.

[Follow the light around your wrist. Your partner is at the other end.]

The headmaster continued.

[The final one hundred survivors will be admitted to Maria Academy.]

One hundred out of five hundred. Once again, four-fifths would be eliminated.

[This is a virtual space. Even if you die here, your physical body in reality will be unharmed. However...]

His voice grew weighty.

[Death here means elimination. This test will not end until only one hundred remain alive.]

Yuto gave an involuntary chuckle.

'One hundred people, not fifty pairs. Does that mean I can survive alone even if I lose my partner?'

Apparently, all he had to do was survive by any means and make it into the final hundred.