Yuto moved. Crouching low, Calipha watched his back with expectant eyes. What was happening over by that cliff was precisely what she had most looked forward to in this exam.

Aristocrats drunk on their own superiority being brutally trampled. Reduced to the same helpless state as the weak they violated every day. The rights of those who thought themselves the only worthwhile human beings in Callisto being thrown into the gutter. Guiltless pleasure driving them to destroy one another.

If she kept watching, she would get to see something even more entertaining. A sheltered young noblewoman being molested. The boys' characters becoming corrupted as they realized that, here at least, even nobles were not equal—and that they need not answer for their crimes.

If Calipha had her way, she would have stopped Yuto from intervening. Without Shiro's orders, she would have done so long ago. Indeed, she would have taken the lead herself, inflicting horrific suffering on Yuto and killing him before turning this place into a vision of hell.

But Shiro's orders came before that desire. To this old witch who had lived for over a hundred years, the barely fifteen-year-old Shiro Ristal was a master as indispensable as light and salt.

And so Calipha did nothing. Crouching low, putting on a frightened expression, and trembling at the shoulders, she devoted herself to giving Yuto a look of faith.

Yuto felt that gaze, too. Had Calipha not been so very convenient, he would never have questioned it. Not all nobles were overbearing and evil. There were plenty of nobles worthy of their station in the world, like Rufus and Levian. Calipha was weak-willed, but not wicked.

Without his suspicions, he would have left it at that. But now Yuto did suspect Calipha. There was nothing to lose by being suspicious. In fact, it made him notice every expression and action of hers in greater detail.

'She really does give me nothing but reactions that won't rub me the wrong way.'

She felt sorry for the eliminated students, flinched at Yuto's sword, and watched him warily. Perfectly ordinary reactions, and this moment was no exception. Calipha pitied the girl and loathed the boys. She was rooting for Yuto to intervene.

STEP.

Yuto approached, deliberately making his footsteps audible.

"Wh-what?"

The boys flinched and turned around. Surprise soon spread across their faces. It was the pauper who had engulfed the auditorium in darkness. They swallowed hard, looking at Yuto and the sword in his hand.

"Hello."

Yuto spoke, his dry voice reaching the boys. The abrupt greeting confused them. Then the boy with his foot on the sword smirked.

"Such nice manners. Yes, that's how a pauper should behave. You ought to know how to look up to nobles and greet them."

There were two of them. They had hidden Evomon, too. The darkness he had displayed in the auditorium had certainly been startling, but ultimately, it was just a performance. Common sense said a mere pauper couldn't possibly possess that much aether. And even if he did, didn't he lack even a constellation's blessing?

"As for not kneeling or bowing your head... I'll forgive you. We might end up attending Maria Academy together, after all."

He acted authoritative without being too insulting. Nor did he lower his guard. The boy was unmistakably nervous around Yuto. Numerical superiority, a constellation's blessing—everything he had felt uncertain in the face of Yuto's presence.

"So... what did you want to talk to us about? Uh, stop right there. Don't come any closer."

The boy spoke hastily. Yuto stopped as instructed and jerked his chin toward the girl cornered at the cliff's edge.

"I was curious what you were doing."

"As you can see... playing with her."

"Even though she's a fellow noble?"

"Outside, sure. But not here. Here, strength and survival are what matter. That's the kind of exam this is, isn't it?"

Having said that, the boy studied Yuto's expression.

"Looks like you... don't have a partner? Makes sense. No noble would want to pair up with a pauper. Hey, how about this? Come along with us. Not as a pair, but as a team."

The trembling in the boy's voice subsided. Judging by the way the pauper had approached them with interest, he clearly wanted a group, too. It wasn't a bad proposition for the boy, either. Surviving this long without a partner or a constellation meant he had the skills to match.

'Besides, he's even worked as an adventurer. He must know something about surviving in the wild.'

Most of the noble students here had no such knowledge. If they wanted to go camping, they generally took servants along.

"A team, huh."

Yuto scratched his chin and looked at the girl.

"What are you going to do with her?"

"Heh... Why? Interested?"

The boy grinned.

"Well, I suppose you would be. When else would a pauper ever get to bed a noblewoman? If you want her, wait. We'll use her first, then hand her over."

"..."

"After that... if you like her, we can let her join the team. But why bother? There are plenty of other nobles somewhere around he—"

"I've heard enough."

Yuto nodded as he spoke.

THUMP!

He kicked off the ground. In an instant, the distance between them vanished.

The boy had not let down his guard. He also had enough skill to back up his bluster; his family was a fairly prominent martial house. His sword swing was quite competent. In other words, yes—he had about as much presence as a wriggling earthworm.

CRUNCH!

Yuto's descending sword crushed the earthworm. The boy's blade slammed into the ground.

"Aaargh!"

Both wrists that had swung the sword hung limp and broken.

THUD!

Yuto kicked the boy in the chest.

"E—Epard!"

The boy bellowed. A pitch-black wolf-shaped Evomon sprang out of thin air and lunged at Yuto, but—

WHOOSH!

Before Yuto even needed to swing his sword, Flokiro's flames set the Evomon ablaze.

"Kyeeeek!"

Like the boy, this Evomon was not entirely weak. It screamed and thrashed in the flames.

"Don't move."

Yuto whispered. The boy's partner, who had been about to charge, flinched to a halt. Yuto set his sword tip against the chest of the boy sprawled on his backside and asked,

"You said you're nobles outside, but not here, didn't you?"

"Ugh... uhhh..."

"Then why do you keep calling me a pauper and acting like a noble?"

SQUELCH...

Yuto slowly drove his sword into the boy's chest. It was nothing like the deaths he had given the students he met before.

"Aaaaaaargh!"

Death here did not lead to death in reality, but the sensations were identical. So was the pain. Yuto's sword burrowed agonizingly slowly into the center of the boy's chest.

"You said that was only outside, not here. What else did you say?"

"Aaah... aaaaah! S-stop! Stop!"

"That here, strength and... survival are what matter, right? I agree. Only the strong survive. The weak die."

Yuto smirked.

"Personally, I think that's the same here and outside. What do you think?"

"S-stop! Stop it!"

"No."

The slowly advancing sword reached the boy's heart.

"Who are you to order me around?"

SQUELCH!

At last, the blade pierced his heart. The boy's mouth gaped open. He did not die immediately, instead thrashing and screaming loudly. A short time later, light enveloped his body, and he disappeared.

"You."

Yuto turned to the remaining boy, who shuddered under his gaze.

"I—I don't think the same way as R-Roban! Ah... R-Roban was the guy you just killed... He was a b-bastard. A complete and utter bastard."

The boy raised both hands as if to show he meant no harm.

"I, I really didn't want to do any of this, you... know? Roban made me. I, I had no choice. You saw what a fucking awful personality he had... He said he'd k-kill me if I didn't do what he said..."

"..."

"So... p-please, don't kill me... I really didn't have a choice. I didn't want to do it...!"

"I," Yuto said with a smile, "hate liars."

"I—I'm not lying!"

"That's a lie, too."

Yuto strode closer. The boy faltered backward.

"Why... why are you saying I'm lying? I really..."

"No. You're lying."

Yuto took another step. The murderous intent rolling toward him with that step, those utterly chilling eyes, Roban's slow, screaming death—all of it drove the boy backward. Yuto had taken only one step, but the boy retreated three.

"Your claims that you aren't lying, all the excuses you keep spewing—they're all lies. Because I've decided they are."

Yuto took another step. The boy retreated more than three this time. Then something brushed his heel. Startled, he turned around to find himself already at the cliff's edge, with the tear-streaked girl standing beside him.

"What are you doing?" Yuto asked. "He's come right beside you, into the perfect position to push him off. Do I have to kill him for you, too?"

Horrified, the boy tried to retreat, but the murderous intent pouring from Yuto froze him in place. The girl bit down hard on her lip.

THUD!

Thrusting both hands forward with all her strength, the girl shoved the boy in the chest.

"Aa—aaargh!"

The boy fell over the cliff with a scream.

THUD!

From far below came the sound of his body hitting the ground and breaking.

"Hah... hah..."

Gasping for breath, the girl turned toward Yuto.

"Th... thank you... Thanks to you..."

TAP.

Before she could finish, Yuto nudged the sword lying on the ground with his foot. Startled by the blade sliding right to her toes, she looked back and forth between it and Yuto.

"Pick it up," Yuto said, his expression devoid of humor.

"Wh... why?" the girl stammered.

"What can you do from here on out without a partner or an Evomon?"

"...!"

"Even if I spare you here, you'll die before the day is out. You might die before sunset, or sooner still, to a passing Beast."

Unable to say a word, the girl trembled.

"Or perhaps people no different from those two will catch you, put you through hell, and kill you."

"If... if you protected me..."

"Why should I protect you? You're not my partner. You're of no value to me."

Yuto strode toward her.

"No, you do have some value. Killing you will improve my chances of passing."

"Uh... uhhh..."

"Think carefully."

Yuto's expression and voice changed slightly.

"If you're eliminated right here, all that happens is you return to the auditorium. I won't violate you, and I won't make your death painful."

The girl stared blankly at Yuto. His voice was not the vicious one he had used toward the boys; it held a hint of compassion. His eyes were the same. There was no cruelty in them. They were cold, but utterly unlike the savage brutality she had seen in the boys' eyes.

After staring at him for a long time, the girl sank to her knees and squeezed her eyes shut.

"P-please... don't let it hurt..."

"All right."

Even as he answered, Yuto approached her. His sword moved too quickly for her even to register that she was being cut.

"I'm sorry."

The sword sliced through her neck. Light enveloped her, and she vanished.

Yuto drew back his sword and let out a long sigh. He stood there for a moment, a bitter expression on his face.

What he had said and done to the boys.

What he had said and done to the girl.

All of it had been an act, mixed with his genuine feelings.

If Calipha watched and reported it to Shiro—

It was an act that would leave precisely the sort of impression Shiro would love.