Philip reaches his hand at the climbing Lyre. Lyre stopped climbing and hesitated on taking his hand. She eventually grabbed it and Philip pulled her up
"Good job out there!" Philip said with a smile as he unconsciously was about to pat her head but he fortunately stopped midway and he avoided a trap
Lyre saw this and closed her eyes. As Philip saw her close her eyes with expectation, he couldn't help but continue his hand and pat her head three times in an awkward manner
He then turned around and went back to his seat next to Yuze. Yuze looked at him with expressionless face while the others slightly blushed from the sight of Lyre blushing as she tried to hide her face. Wendy went to her and grabbed her back to their seats
The other students and professors started to see Lyre in a new light after her Mystical Test. They were scared from the manifestation of the being inside of her but they felt relief and joy after they were forgiven if they changed the way they treat Lyre. Another reason is when Lyre spoke before she climbed up, they didn't felt any effect from them or towards Lyre
It was like they were cured or Lyre changed and her voice doesn't make any effects to people who hears it anymore
There was a momentary silence inside the Evaluation Center after the incident happened. The students reflected, the Mystical Masters had a discussion, the professors graded, and the Headmaster is standing in the middle of the arena. Looks like everyone is waiting for the Headmaster's order or decision
"Continue the tests!" The Headmaster finally opens his eyes and declared to continue the Mystical Test
No one objected against the Headmaster since his words are absolute and everyone is interested in every students' abilities, particulary their overloaded abilities
The Headmaster jumped and went back his initial position in the VIP lounge with his arms crossed
"Alright class, we have learned a valuable lesson here. No matter how different is a person from the rest, it doesn't mean that we should treat them differently from other. I ought to learn from this as well"
Chihaya taught a valuable lesson to the class after the being that manifested in Lyre opened their eyes
"Okay then... Next in the list is... Philip?" Chihaya opened her clipboard and he was surprised that Philip was next
Usually the new transfer student was supposed to go last after the entire class. She was surprised that Philip was called on this early. Was this fate or coincidence?
She then realized and looked at Philip with furrowed eyebrows, 'Fate...'
She remembered when Philip opened up and said that he has two additional abilities and those were his real abilities, different from what was written in the clipboard, Pain Denial and Emotion Manipulation
She then felt fear and dread as she unconsciously stepped back while her legs was shaking. She couldn't help but sit at an empty seat beside the students
"Are you alright Chihaya-sensei?" A student asked when he saw Chihaya holding her head with her right hand
"I'm okay... Though, I don't know if we will be later..." Chihaya said mysteriously. The student didn't understand and just ignored it as he continued to talk with his seatmate
Aoyuki, the Guardians, the Mystical Masters, and Yozu didn't miss this odd behavior of Chihaya. They became wary and looked at Philip as he stand and began climbing the stares
Their hearts skipped a beat after seeing Philip. Not because of a sudden burst of power or an overbearing aura, but due to excitement at what Philip would show
***
Philip climbed down the ladder with excitement and nervousness because this is the very first time he would do this. He felt vertigo as he walked towards the middle of the arena
He looked at his group when he arrived at the center. He could see the yellow haired Yuze with cat hair ears, a buff muscular Alex, Nana, Wendy, and Lyre looking at him with expecting eyes
He looked in front of him and suddenly, he could see everyone looking at him. He became extremely nervous since he has stage fright. An odd feeling washed over his mind
He manipulated this emotion and burried it deep inside of him. He took a deep breath and his eyes became empty. He was ready for the test. He ignored the eyes that are directed to him
Moments later, a buzzing 8-bit sound echoed around him as the holographic projectors started building the disaster scenario for Philip. He closed his eyes and waited for the building process to finish
After a while, he abruptly opened his eyes after he heard a loud explosion to his right
He saw a red bruning world. The skyscrapers at the distance was ruined and devastated. There are no clouds present and their are rivers of lava flowing in different branches
Another extremely loud explosion echoed in the horizon as large rocks fell from the sky like meteors. It will take about a few minutes before the shockwave could reach Philip's position
He looked up and he can see a close up of the moon as it was semi-split in half and about to crash on the Earth. Fortunately, it rotated and just barely missed the Earth in the horizon and ejected itself further as it was caught in an ellipse orbit
After the moon passed the Earth, it revealed a large black hole eating the Sun as it already created a superheated disc from the Sun's corona and started ejecting masses in its north and south pole
Philip's heart started beating fast as he felt that the disaster scenario felt real. This was extremely exciting for him and he wanted to go all out like a bird escaping from the cage. Although, his feeling changed when he realized something
"What am I supposed to do here when a disaster has already happened?? Everything's destroyed and the world has already ended? I'm pretty sure I'm the last human left alive here?" Philip clutched his chin and thought of ways to clear this test
In the end, he didn't thought of anything and he deemed it impossible to clear. He took a deep breath and decided something ridiculous,
"Since it's impossible to clear... Let's use that and tease everyone who's watching. Here we go!" Philip raised his left hand and snapped his fingers. An audible sound reverberated throughout the holographic world and into the Evaluation Center
The disaster scenario started to dissipate in pixelated particles. Before the scenario completely disappeared, the black hole expanded rapidly as if it tried to devour Philip and everything else as the world began to darken. Fortunately, the disaster scenario has already ended
Everyone was shocked after seeing Philip snap his fingers and the Proficiency Test ended. The type of disaster scenario was one thing, but what kind of ability does Philip have to clear it with a snap?
Yuze began to doubt herself as she narrowed her eyes at Philip. She thought that Philip only does the snapping mannerism for controlling his emotions, same for the Headmaster
The Mystical Masters also narrowed their eyes at Philip because it was the same snap that he did when he stopped the being that manifested in Lyre. It also disrupted the Mana in the air
Aoyuki's eyes became slit once more as he observed Philip with interest and seriousness. The Guardians felt this and they also glued their eyes on Philip
Philip decided to reveal one of his powers to everyone. It was not like they will figure it out, except for Chihaya. He was not like other people who hides his power on the spot to avoid attention not other people that always reveal their power to assert dominance
He was just simply bored and wanted to show off. If his recklessness made trouble come to him, he would deal with it later, but he believed that trouble won't come to him this time since he believed it and Fate would also probably do it
He then thought back at the disaster scenario that was built for him. It was a strange scenario, the disaster already happened, there was no more saving it
It was also the same for everyone that watched Philip's test. They were incredibly confused with the disaster scenario. Falling meteors, destroyed cityscape, disorbitted moon, a black hole, and an extinguishing Sun. It was already over
Nonetheless, they wrote this note on their grading sheet for Philip for further investigation in the future
Chihaya, who saw the snap, still can't help to stop his shaking legs and cold sweat dripping on her forehead. She steeled herself and used her ability of Willpower and explained the next test
***
"Next is the Expertise Test. Since you have two abilities, your Pain Denial will be tested in this test. Your Emotion Manipulation will be tested on the Mastery Test." Chihaya explained with conviction that everyone in the venue could hear. Philip nodded at Chihaya and she started the next test
A second later, a 5-meter long metal spike stabbed Philip's heart and penetrated through his back. He was dangling in the air as the metal spike held him
Everyone was shocked and their souls shook by the sudden happenings. All of their jaws are opened wide with the Mystical Masters suddenly stood up, as well as the Guardians
"NOOO!"
"NOOO!!"
Yuze and Lyre screamed as thick yellow lightning surged around Yuze and hazy pink mist surrounded Lyre in a storm. Tears poured out their eyes while they had angry look on ther faces
Nana blocked Yuze from using her ability with her enhanced aura. Wendy and Alex stopped Lyre as Alex blocked her and Wendy held her
"Don't stop me!" Yuze yelled at Nana
"Get out of my way!" Lyre shouted while her voice was cracking. Fortunately, her voice didn't have any effect on any of them anymore
"Calm down!!!" Yashida shouted at the two while he looked to the side with furrowed eyebrows and frustration towards Philip's condition, "Just watch!"
Yuze and Lyre somehow calmed down because it was Yashida who said so. With his Sixth Sense, surely he knows something was happening. To their surprise, there was something happening
The Headmaster only looked down at Philip who was stabbed at the chest by a long metal spike, 'With this, I will know if you really have Pain Denial, the same as me. If you do, I'm sure you'll survive this'
***
As Philip was dangling on the metal spike, with his weight pulling him down and compressing his upper chest and head, he couldn't think properly as pain filled his entire being
"AHHHH!" Philip couldn't help but scream in pain as he wasted a part of the reflected pain by denying it. Good thing their was a little bit more left as he tries gouge himself out of the spike, experiencing more pain as he lift himself up the elevated tip to gain more denied pain to reflect
He held the body of the spike on his chest and tried to lift himself up. Unfortunately, he had no more strength left as he already exhausted it from gripping the spike. The spike crumpled, but still intact, and he wasted the reflected pain by holding the spike tightly
His arms lost strength and flopped down to his side. Blood flowed from his chest to the metal spike. He coughed up blood and he began to turn pale. He was like a lifeless corpse that was crucified on a spike. His vision started to blur
"Agh, it's cold..." Philip said in his mind
"It's also hot at the same time... I'm burning." Philip said in his mind
"Am I dying? I'm dead, right?"
"So, this is how it feels to die..."
"Isekai world... Here I come..."
"..."
"Do I really want to die?"
"I only wanted to die when I was suffering and in despair when I was a child..."
"I remembered this feeling... My desire to die... It has always been my wish...
"No I do really want to die..."
"But magic became a reality because of you!" Philip started talking to himself, to another him
"Do you really want to die now that there's already magic here?"
"..."
"I think I don't want to... But it's unfortunate since this is a lethal blow... My heart is destroyed... Like I always wanted it to..."
"I can't let you die"
"Are you Fate? You always don't want me to die..."
"That's only your figment of imagination"
"Then let me die..."
"You won't die"
"Why not?"
"You have a lot to do"
"No I don't..."
"Agh! It's hot and cold at the same time! What is this?!! Aaagghh"
"I told you that you won't die"
***
Unknown to Philip, who was in his stream of consciousness and talking to himself, his body refused to die even up to now
The only reason that Philip didn't die from the past, despite him not taking of himself too much, is because his body was stubborn and resilient. His immune system was overpowered and for some reason, cold or flu doesn't drop on him. His body copes up for the mishaps of him not taking care of himself. His body was adapting
To everyone's eyes, Philip was dead. The Headmaster shook his head and Lyre cried and Yuze teared up. Yashida was gritting his teeth and he was expecting something to happen because his Sixth Sense was screaming
Suddenly, they felt hot and began to sweat. They turned to look at the arena and saw the air around Philip distort like there was something hot or burning around him
Then, their eyes widened when they saw the metal spike glow red like it was being heated up in the furnace. They then saw Philip's body being wet with water. The water then became solid and his eyelashes and hair had white dots on them when water vapor undergone deposition to turn to ice
The metal spike eventually melted and dropped Philip's body on the ground in a plop and the molten metal dropped on his body and slid off. The arena floor also began to glow red as his body became covered in what looked like snow
At this point, everyone watching was incredibly confused by what they are watching. Even the Headmaster's eyebrow is twitching and the Mystical Masters had their jaws open from confusion. Is Philip alive or dead? What's happening?
Philip's body was adapting and trying to keep it alive. It rummage around the brain, trying to find a way to survive. It found Fate Control and Future Vision but it couldn't use them since the brain is needed and Philip is out of it
It found Emotion Manipulation but that couldn't help at this situation. It found Pain Denial but the body is not experiencing any pain right now since it became numb. It kept rummaging in the brain deeper and deeper
Finally, it found a forgotten imaginary power that Philip was using when he was a child, the Bipolar Body
Bipolar Body is the state where the body becomes cold when the surroundings is hot and the body becomes hot when the surroundings is cold
The body immediately used this and rediscovered it for survival. Now, Philip has another ability
Although, the arena floor was still heating up to the point it's glowing white. The self regeneration of the arena floor compensates it from melting completely
Philip abruptly opened his eyes and found himself lying on the floor. He inhaled so much air and he became alive
As he still keeps inhaling air, the heat and cold from his body stopped. The opposite concepts then cancelled each other and Philip felt warm despite the glowing hot arena floor and frozen hair and eyelashes
He looked down on his chest saw a large gash across it and a hole. He then saw the hole close and left a scar across is chest
"What the?!" Philip was surprised because he saw his wound close, "Superhealing?!"
This was not the case. The body chose to close it since it will be bothersome. His heart is gone and it doesn't exist anymore. What about his blood flow? It also stopped, but the body compensates from it and pushes itself around the body. Oxygen is immediately absorbed into his skin and transferred to the stationary blood cells. Although he still needs to breathe out of habit and muscle memory on the brain
Suddenly, two figures approached him and lunged at him into a hug after the arena floor cooled down from his frozen body and his frozen body thawed from the heat of the arena floor. The surroundings and his body returned to normal
As the two figures lunged and hugged him, he had a face of confusion and awkwardness. It was Yuze, who was tearing up, and Lyre, who was bawling from tears
Philip found this bothersome but he chose to comfort them by patting their backs and rubbing them, "It's okay, I'm fine"
The people that saw this scene felt their hearts flutter and the others became jealous or envious of Philip as he was being hugged by two beauties
"We thought you died!" Lyre shouted as her voice cracked from crying
"Never do that again!" Yuze said with an annoyed voice
"But I did not choose to do that?" Philip said obliviously
"You dummy!" Yuze hit Philip's left shoulder with her fist
"I'm just teasing you." Philip said. A few seconds have passed, they are still hugging him as they are shaking
Philip, however, looked at the two's heads and thought about something,
'Dang, this is the first time that someone willingly hugged me...'
'But what should I feel? I appreciate them worrying about me... But... Dang, I'm broken, aren't I?'
'I literally don't have a heart since it's destroyed. How am I still alive?'
'Meh, whatever... Let's just try returning back their feelings using my brain. I know it's foolish, but that's the best I can do for now'
He then rubbed their heads and turned his head towards the Headmaster, who was looking at them from the VIP lounge, and looked at him threateningly. As if he's saying to the Headmaster, 'If this is your doing, you'll regret what's going to happen next if you tried to do something else funny'
He then giggled slightly since he did find it funny that he was brutally stabbed and almost dies
"Uh... Guys? I think it's time for my next test?" Philip tried to peel the two from his body
"You'll continue?" Yuze asked
"I have to"
"But... What if something happens to you again?!" Lyre asked with wet eyes
"Don't worry, I'm good now. I unlocked another ability"
Yuze and Lyre's eyes widened from Philip's statement. They looked at each other and nodded
"Alright, we trust you." Yuze and Lyre released their hug from Philip and stood up. Yuze grabbed Lyre and shifted back to the observation deck
Philip just smiled and shook his head because of the two, "What the heck did they see on me? It's just the first day that we met!"
Philip became extremely self-aware and started to question everything around him as he held his head, "Looks like my usual imaginary powers from back then are returning to me, huh?"
He closed his eyes then opened it and saw the dimensions of the arena
Diameter = 50 meters; Height = 10 meters; Circumference = 157.08 meters; Volume = 19634.95 cubic meters
He could also see the Unit Circle Chart slapped on the arena as the values of each quadrantal, quadrants, and angles are shown in trigonometric functions and particular coordinates
He could also see the height of the Evaluation Center wall in the distance which is 50 meters high. He also looked at Chihaya and revealed all of her sizes and dimensions, including the distance of a thread from another thread, number of hair stradns on her eyelashes, the luster quantity of her eyes, the grade of her eyeglasses, and much more that Philip doesn't want to look at as he turned his head away
"Seems like my Supreme Sense of Measurement came back? What the heck just happened? It's even powerful, unlike before." He then closed his eyes and tried to deactivate it. He opened his eyes and all of the cursed numbers, letter variables, greek symbols, and mathematical lines disappeared
"I'm ready!" Philip shouted at the unmoving Chihaya. She snapped back to reality and everyone else turned their eyes back to Philip after they discussed and speculated what happened to Philip regarding his death and new abilities, including his relationship with Yuze and Lyre as gossips and rumors began to spread like wildfire
"Wha- Ehem. Alright then, you next test is the Mastery Test. Your Emotion Manipulation ability will be tested here." Chihaya stumbled as she explained to Philip his next test. Philip nodded back
He then prepared himself to properly react to what's to come. He first glared at the Headmaster and gave a warning. The Headmaster could only shrug. Philip sneered at the Headmaster, 'You better watch out'
After a while, a video was projected in front of him. There were hundreds of clips in the video from mutilated bodies, war, sex, cannibalism, oddly satisfying, cringe compilations, food, wholesomeness, humorous, dark side, weirdenss, everything
Philip looked at the hologram video incredulously as he find this part of the test absurd and ridiculous
"What is this?!!"
The students were also confused at the type of test given to Philip
But then, Philip laughed hysterically at the video as he find this extremely funny. He didn't expect this at all
He then sat down on the arena floor and watched the whole 30 minute Hologram Emotion Hyperdrive Rollercoaster Compilation video
***
During the test, he did not feel any feeling particularly, but when food was shown, he would feel hunger, when a sex scene was shown, he would feel pleasure and his dark knight will rise, and when there was ASMR, he would feel drowsy or sleepy
These are the only emotions that he can't manipulate; hungriness, pleasure, drowsiness, and sleepiness
He stood up and laughed after the video and looked at Chihaya. He noticed that almost all of the students were exhausted after bringing them to an emotional rollercoaster
"Next please." Philip said to Chihaya with confidence since he believed that he easily passed the Mastery Test
"Alright then... Next is the Ability Test. Since you're a mental ability user, you will be given a choice to choose a weapon in the Weapons Room. In that way, you will at least have an offensive option if you want to defend yourself." Chihaya explained to Philip
Philip walked towards the opening Weapons Room as Chihaya was explaning. He then entered the room and took a look around
As he entered, he could see various weapons that differ from melee to range. He could see common weapons like different kinds and types of swords, spears, bows, daggers, and many more. There are also rare and exotic weapons such as scythes, tridents, halberds, scimitars, staff, rebar, claws, bats, clubs, gauntlets, knuckles, nunchucks, chakram, and a lot more. Of course there are guns and all sorts of artillery in there
There are the unusual ones like a chair, guitar, a stop sign, bottles, spoons and forks, all sorts of balls from basketballs to medicine balls to steel balls, a frisbee, a compass, a farmer plow, needles, pens, an umbrella, rakes, pickaxes, shovels, and mang more
"I guess everything is a weapon, huh?" Philip muttered to himself when he saw these ridiculous weapons as he go deeper
He went even deeper and he spent a lot of time in there. The people outside was wondering what happened after they waited for around 5 minutes
Philip finally reached the end of the room and he could see a broom, a mop, a bog brush, and a plunger. It seems like he reached the cleaning materials for the room. He was about to leave when he looked at the cleaning materials again
"Maybe they are also weapons??" Philip shrugged and left. But he stopped when something caught his eyes
At the very corner of the room, covered by sticks and cloth, a sword can be seen hiding beneath
Philip went closer and shoved the sticks aside and removed the cloth. He saw a very rusty sword that looked like it was about to crumble when touched lightly
He shrugged his shoulders and unhesitatingly grabbed the hilt of the rusty sword. He pulled it out of the bin and raised it in front of his face
He inspected the rusty sword and it looked like an ordinary longsword. The sword was covered in brittle rust and cracks travelled through the sword
Philip made a sad face upon looking at the sword, he then decided, "This is the weapon!"
He raised it above his head and he ignorantly brought the sword outside of the Weapons Room
When Philip went outside, he could be seen wielding a dark brown rustic broken sword
Most of the people that saw this scoffed at Philip and questioned as to why he chose this weapon above anything else
However, Maldera, the Mystical Sword Master, narrowed his eyes and looked at the sword in Philip's hand. Akayuki, did not react and also observed the sword
Philip went to the middle of the arena and took a stance. He held the sword in front of him with his right hand above his left hadn on the hilt. He closed his eyes and concentrated. He tried to connect with the sword like how other people do it in anime and manga
Suddenly, Akayuki's sword, Muramasame, floated out from her back and floated away in front of her. She reached her hand and gripped the sheath where Muramasame is in, "Where are you going?!"
Muramasame shook and Akayuki felt her hand become numb. Aoyuki and the Guardians saw this and they can't help become worried and confused
"Is everything okay?" Aoyuki asked Akayuki
"Muramasame is acting strange. He became like this after Philip took a stance." Akayuki explained after she figured out Muramasame's behavior
"Is that so?" All this time, Aoyuki's eyes were vertically slit. He turned back to Philip and he could feel pressure from his stance
Maldera, who was observing Philip, felt something strange in his arms. The Bloodlust sword that is wrapped in white cloth shook and emanated more of its bloodlust. Parts of the white cloth became red as if it was bleeding and the red patches was somewhat burning into ashes
He held the body of the sword, at the cloth, and clenched it hard. The effects of Bloodlust lessened as it was being punished by Maldera's sword energy
Genji, the Mystical Ninjutsu Master, looked behind his left shoulder and looked at his sheated sword, Asuramaru Ryūichi. The sword was vibrating on his back and the Green Dragon's Presence was impending to be unleashed
He held the hilt of the sword on his back and he pressed it hard on its sheath to contain the sword's power
At the middle of the arena, Philip reopened his eyes and a fierce and piercing glare came out of his eyes. He was in the zone and manifested the sword as his extended self
Then, for some reason, he felt the sharpness of the sword around him despite the rustic and broken nature of the sword he's holding. He felt the presence of all swords around him, including the three swords mentioned, the Japanese swords on Akayuki, the different swords inside the Weapons Room
He felt like he can see everything around him and reach it with his sword despite the difference in distance
At this point, the three swords mentioned strated to vibrate violently. The test dummies appeared around Philip and started to move
Philip's black hair rose and his dark brown eyes became clear. He slashed vertically down from above in a gentle manner
After a few seconds, the test dummies in front of him was obliterated along with the arena wall as there was a huge slash on it. Then, the dummies around him and his back was also obliterated as cut marks appeared on the arena walls
In just a few seconds, the Ability Test was completed. The rustic broken sword in his hand shook ever so slightly and broke completely. The broken parts crumbked into rust particles and disappeared into thin air
"Thank you." An ethereal old man's voice sounded in Philip's ears as the sword in his hand disappeared. Only Philip can hear this voice. Although, Philip seemed to be out of it as he was hallucinating and seemed to be in another dimension
After a while, Philip snapped back into reality and held his head with his right hand,
"Ugh, what happened?" He then realized that he wasn't holding anything, "What? Where's the sword?"
He then looked up and saw Akayuki pulling a red sword on a gold sheat with the help of the Guardians. They were almost at the edge of the observation deck where they will fall, if not only for the floating sword that acts like almost a stationary pole in the sky
He then felt two powerful pressure in the VIP lounge as he see an old man holding a bleeding black-red sword and a masked person shaking uncontrollably as he held his sword at his back and green mist and smoke surround him
The students that saw Philip's demonstration of his chosen weapon became impressed as they underestimated the rustic broken sword. They were also in awe when they witnessed Philip slicing all of the dummies around him in one slash
Lyre and Wendy was happy and also impressed. However, Yuze, The Headmaster, Chihaya, Alex, and Nana was confused and intrigued at Philip's show of sword power and potential
Everyone then decided to continue the test. They felt nervous as they know that the next test will be the Control Test
Philip's Pain Denial and Emotion Manipulation are his only abilities that will be overloaded by Karina. What could possibly go wrong?