Calipha rose as she watched Yuto return from the cliff.

She replayed what she had just witnessed. He had killed one boy slowly, then driven the other to the cliff and made the girl kill him herself. Afterward, he had put a sword in the girl's hand and offered her a choice.

His anger toward the boys had been genuine. Mingled with it were the hatred and resentment the poor felt toward nobles.

'But he doesn't hate every noble.'

Calipha had grasped what sort of person Yuto was. Hatred of nobles was something all the poor shared. Yet that boy did not hate them all. For one thing, he enjoyed Marigold's patronage and was on friendly terms with Levian Marigold. Shiro had told her that he had even greeted the nobles with smiles at last year's banquet.

The boy knew how to control his hatred. He could acknowledge a noble's worth, too. What he hated were nobles who failed to act as nobles should—no, nobles who were all too typical of their kind. Nobles who despised the poor and took their privileges for granted. Haughty, arrogant nobles who delighted in trampling others.

'Killing those boys wasn't a practical decision like the others. With your skill, you could have killed one without even being noticed. Just now, you were intensely emotional.'

By killing slowly, he had instilled terror and inflicted excruciating pain. That terror had broken his victim's partner's will to fight. Watching the noble falter and retreat had filled the pauper with delight. Then, rather than wielding that power himself, he had handed it to the girl they had been harassing.

And then he had killed even her. Just as his words to the boys had been sincere, so had his words to the girl. That boy could pity a noble. Perhaps he had even delighted in the fact that he, a pauper, could pity a noble and hold her life in his hands.

'It looked as though you gave her a choice, but there was only ever one outcome. Even if she'd attacked you with the sword, she would have died. Even if she survived, she'd die anyway. If she died now, there would be no pain. Every choice ended in death, but you showed mercy in the manner of it.'

Calipha was familiar with this approach. It was not one she enjoyed—but she knew someone who did. Shiro Ristal, whom she adored, took pleasure in precisely that sort of thing.

'Similar, but not identical. Lord Shiro designs everything. You are rather impulsive and emotional.'

The process was entirely different, yet the result was similar. Shiro smiled when he acted that way, whereas Yuto had sighed. He had even mourned his victim, saying he was sorry.

'I see why Lord Shiro is interested in you. It isn't just because you're strong, or because you've interfered with him. You are... exactly the sort of person Lord Shiro loves. Someone like him, yet different—and therefore easy to read and manipulate.'

That was how Calipha understood Yuto, and it was exactly what Yuto intended. That was the impression he wanted Shiro to have of him.

'I don't know whether you're connected to Shiro. But if you are, seeing me like this will make him even more interested.'

Shiro Ristal. A man of many secrets. Yuto still did not know exactly what Shiro wanted, nor how much power or influence he possessed.

Before his regression, even in the days when they had considered each other brothers despite sharing no blood, he had never truly understood Shiro. Back then, Yuto had thought they were close, but in truth they had not been close at all.

Even now, after his regression, Shiro remained impossibly distant. Yuto was still small, and the sword in his hand was too short to reach him. To stab that distant Shiro to death, he would have to get close enough for his blade to reach.

But Yuto could not approach Shiro.

To close the distance, Shiro would have to approach him.

He intended to make that happen.

* * *

The first event was nearing its end. Whenever Yuto said, "Next," Calipha cast detection magic and told him where to find their prey.

Students, Beasts—all were prey. For the rest of the allotted time, Yuto and Calipha moved without pause, devoting themselves to the hunt. They roamed the vast forest and even ventured out onto the plains beyond it.

Most battles were brief and one-sided. Occasionally, though, they lasted longer. When an opponent was particularly skilled. Or when Yuto did not want to ambush them.

When scenes like the one at the cliff unfolded, when violence was about to be inflicted without a trace of guilt, when someone's dignity was about to be trampled, Yuto chose not to ambush.

Whenever the strong maliciously abused the weak, whenever they tried to ruin someone for nothing but amusement and desire, Yuto let his emotions show. Calipha was certain this was his true nature, and all the more convinced that he was the sort of person Shiro wanted. Shiro's ultimate wish was the same.

Just as Yuto rejected the tyranny of nobles, Shiro rejected the tyranny of the constellations.

"Whew..."

With the first event's deadline fast approaching, Yuto and Calipha returned to the riverside where they had originally planned to establish a temporary base.

"I've never killed this many in a single day before."

Yuto heaved a deep sigh and sat with his back against a boulder. After setting up a barrier, Calipha sat in front of him with an awkward smile.

"Y-you must be tired."

"I am. I've killed quite a few."

"I-I'm sorry. If only I knew how to use offensive magic..."

"I'm not blaming you. You've had as hard a time as I have."

Yuto glanced at the crystal in the sky.

"What a vicious scoring system. Only the kills you make yourself count..."

"I-I'm fine. I'm not... confident I could kill anyone, either."

Throughout the first event, Yuto and Flokiro had handled all the killing, while Calipha had confined herself strictly to support. Barely three minutes remained now. Yuto currently had 107 points. Calipha had zero.

"If they're keeping score, there must be some sort of benefit for high scorers. Maybe they'll pass people early, starting with the highest scores."

Yuto gazed steadily at Calipha.

"Can't you analyze all the students' scores?"

"I-I tried, but that was beyond me. Your score was the only one I could check..."

"I see. We've been actively hunting throughout the event, so my score is probably quite high. I don't know whether it's the highest, but I'm sure I'm near the top."

After a brief silence, Yuto spoke.

"If I pass early and leave, what will you do? Without offensive magic, you won't be able to fight."

"Ugh..."

Calipha lowered her head, looking miserable. She fidgeted with her fingers before stammering out a reply.

"E-even if they pass the high scorers early... they won't select all one hundred by score. All you have to do in this exam is survive until you're among the final hundred..."

"You're going to hide until only a hundred remain?"

"Y-yes... My magic is specialized for that sort of thing, too."

Calipha forced a smile. She could use detection magic to avoid threats. She could also use analysis magic. This was a virtual space, not reality, and there were objects in the environment they could interact with. If she played her cards right, she could find somewhere safe, set up a barrier, and hold out.

"Calipha Rudrock," Yuto began.

"We only met today. It's barely been two hours."

"Y-yes."

"But you've helped me. Without your magic, this would have been far more troublesome and irritating."

"Hehe..."

Calipha scratched her head and smiled.

"Y-you've helped me, too, Yuto..."

"In our next fights, I'll let you have the sword."

"What...?"

"I'm not telling you to fight them yourself. I'll subdue them so you can kill them. I'll cut off their limbs so they can't move. All you'll have to do is finish them off."

What a gruesome act of kindness. Thinking this, Calipha briefly considered her response. Could a young lady from a minor noble house, desperate to enter the academy, really kill someone through ambition alone? Even knowing this place was not real, and neither was death here?

"Th-thank you for offering, but I'm all right," Calipha stammered.

"Of course... I want to pass the exam, but... that doesn't mean I want to kill students with my own hands."

"Death here isn't real."

"But the pain is... I-if I accepted your kindness, the students would suffer terribly until I killed them..."

"..."

"S-so, you don't have to do that for me. Even if you pass early and leave... I'll hide well... and make it into the final hundred."

Based on her own thinking and her assessment of Yuto, Calipha was confident she had given the best possible answer. Indeed, Yuto's expression was changing. His eyes wavered slightly, and his tightly set lips softened into a smile.

"Calipha Rudrock. You're... different from the nobles I find so distasteful."

"Hehe... N-not all nobles are bad..."

"Yes. I know that well."

Yuto closed his eyes for a moment, thinking.

"The head of House Marigold. Lady Levian. They were different from the nobles I'd known."

"Th-their good character is well known..."

"So were the prince and princess of Ristal."

Calipha drew a small breath.

"I grew up in the slums of the Kingdom of Ristal. It was a truly shitty place. For every petty celebration the nobles held, they'd line up the poor as props and flaunt their blessed lives before us."

Calipha did not answer immediately. Yuto was speaking of his past of his own accord. He had not mentioned the colosseum in Oltea, but surely the fact that the boy was voluntarily talking about his past meant he had opened his heart.

"So I hated Ristal's royal family. Just as nobles didn't consider the poor fellow human beings, I thought Ristal's royal family saw us the same way. And wasn't that the truth? In all my time in those slums, I never once felt the royal family's benevolence."

Yuto hesitated briefly, then shook his head.

"When I first saw the prince and princess of Ristal at the Marigold banquet... I dared to be rude. I glared at the prince and treated him with hostility. But he didn't reprimand me for my insolence. Instead, he smiled kindly and told me... that we should meet at the academy and become friends there."

Yuto smiled as though embarrassed by his own words.

"Even someone who stands above the nobility showed me neither prejudice nor contempt for being poor. Yet I... hate nobles simply for being nobles. I treated you that way, too."

"I-I didn't notice..."

"I held it back because I decided you were useful. But after hearing your answer just now, I'm certain you're different from the nobles I hate."

Yuto's eyes were no longer as cold as before as he looked at Calipha.

"Calipha Rudrock. I sincerely hope... that we'll meet again at the academy as fellow new students."

"Yuto..."

What touching words. Despite her private thoughts, Calipha clasped her hands together and put on a deeply moved expression.

"I-I'll make sure... we meet again, too."

To think she would hear him speak about Lord Shiro. Calipha burst into laughter inwardly. That story, those true feelings Yuto had revealed, were exactly what Shiro most wanted to hear, yet could never hear directly.

'You, too, were drawn to Lord Shiro's radiance. Of course you were. The deeper the darkness someone is born into, the more they are drawn to a bright light.'

Calipha hated Yuto for killing the Black Mages and ruining their work in Belkain. If the opportunity ever arose, she wanted to kill him with her own hands.

And yet—she had the feeling that day might never come. If Yuto was drawn to the light that was Shiro, and Shiro brought Yuto into his light, then Calipha and Yuto would both become his devotees.

"That's for later. The exam isn't over yet."

Yuto looked up at the crystal. The event should have ended by now, but no announcement had been made.

"Calipha. Analyze the crystal. Don't tell me they've extended the event?"

"Yes, I'll try. Just give me a mo—"

Before Calipha could finish, the crystal changed color.

Brilliant red light blanketed the sky.