During the Fourth Trial, the students completely forgot that after the Trial, all their wounds would be healed. So, now they were looking at the golden glow covering their bodies with wide smiles on their faces and genuine delight.
Up until now, Trials had only brought them suffering, nothing else, so getting something good seemed like a real reward.
Ethan touched his face, realizing he was still missing his right eye, but he wasn't desperate, he was disappointed.
'Ah... I assumed it wouldn't help, but I had hope. Well, it just means that even the effect of an ordinary item can be above the rules.' Ethan pondered while golden particles slowly fell in front of his eyes, like a heavenly snowfall.
"Ethan... Your eye..." Alisa muttered in a worried voice, then her eyes went wide as if she remembered something.
She pulled a leaf out of her pocket, a dewdrop wrapped inside. It was the same one Ethan had gotten earlier, only a little smaller.
"Here! This will definitely help you! Take it!" Alisa held out the dewdrop to Ethan, with a look full of serious intent.
Ethan shook his head, "No. My eye didn't heal, not because it's too serious a wound, but because there's a curse on it."
Alisa gave him a questioning stare.
"Never mind." Ethan waved his hand, "It's not important right now."
Then, Ethan walked past Alisa with a cold stare, heading towards the direction of the academy.
Alisa wanted to follow him, but something frightened her away in his gaze.
In fact, Ethan was supposed to take something important away from Zariel, maybe it could even decide his life, but he didn't think about it at all at the time.
Whoooooooooooooosh.
The table shone brightly as all attention was directed to it.
Obviously, each participant had a different number of points, some had less, some had more. The average value was equal to - 1000, while on the first line, opposite Ethan's name, was - 12.277.
There were also three unique rows at the very bottom of the table. The first one was for Alisa, she had 1.950 points. The second was for Zariel, his points didn't matter since his line was gray, meaning death.
The third was the only one with 0 points, it belonged to Nitra.
"Shit! Shit! Shit!" Nitra stomped the ground with anger, clenching her fists tightly.
Because of her desire to find the weakest opponent, Nitra ended up being left alone and Ethan was supposed to be her opponent once the preparation time was over. However, because Ethan had challenged Zariel, Nitra simply had no opponent.
"Well, well, once again you lost. Today is definitely not your day." Magnus smirked, approaching Nitra.
"Shut up! This all happened because of that sick bastard! Ethan is to blame for everything!" Nitra responded furiously.
Magnus raised his chin as a devious smile formed on his face, "You should have accepted my challenge. I would have taught you manners, you vile bitch."
Nitra's eyes went wide, anger overwhelming her as she abruptly pounced on Magnus, about to rip his face apart with her long fingernails.
Crack.
Without hesitation, Magnus grabbed Nitra by the neck, clenching her throat tightly. His muscles were strong, and given the effect of the black veins, Nitra could hardly breathe.
"Listen to me carefully. I will not repeat myself." Magnus said coldly, "If you want to act like a bitch, fine, that's your right, but, don't you dare attack me or anyone else outside of Trials. I may despise you as much as you hate me, but when we have a common enemy, none of that matters. We need to win the war first, then, we can waste time arguing."
Magnus loosened his grip and Nitra fell to the ground, immediately holding onto her neck, trying to catch her breath and come to her senses.
Whoooooooooooooosh.
The table shone brightly again, then each row turned into a golden card. Each card had a number of points written on it.
The cards scattered in different directions, each to its owner. Even Nitra received a card with '0' on it.
"What a shame..." Nitra wheezed, looking at her score with anger.
A powerful stream of wind passed next to the girl sitting in the distance. Her long scarlet hair fluttered, whizzing in front of her deep blue eyes. In her hand was a card with a significant number - 5,000, but her gaze was directed elsewhere.
"Agh... How beautiful..." Maris muttered, glancing at the tall silhouette moving towards the square with a slow stride.
It was Ethan, he had already returned, and his gaze was as dark as it was filled with sorrow.
The discussions about the scores and worries about future Trials that the students were talking about were immediately silenced since they all turned to Ethan.
In his arms, he was carrying a girl that had been dead for a long time. Her horrible wounds were incompatible with life, but Ethan was the one who had killed her.
"Lea..." Magnus muttered, with a slight sadness. After all, they were all in the S-Class and knew each other to some extent.
Lea was exactly the kind of person about whom only the good things were said since no one noticed the bad things. Everyone agreed with that, she didn't even have any envious people.
Ethan now had a black bandage on his head, hiding his eye, and a shovel hanging from his belt.
He stopped in front of a decorative tree in the center of the square and placed Lea on the surface covered in a variety of flowers. Then, he grabbed the shovel.
Ethan continued to plunge the shovel into the ground, slowly but surely digging a grave, for someone who in his eyes was many times better than others, who was sincere.
Finishing the job, and burying the grave, saying farewell to Lea forever, Ethan pulled out a wooden amulet from his pocket.
"Lea... You said you have to make a mark every time something important happens. Well, to some degree I will, but in my way..." Ethan muttered as he looked to the side, to where the Government Palace used to be, but now there was only a huge crater.
Ethan pulled out a knife and left three long stripes on the amulet, with a deep stare.
Then, each card shone brightly, and everyone heard the mechanical voice they already knew.
[Zero Epos was over.]
[Prepare to depart for Dimensional Market.]
...
A few minutes before, the egg inside Ethan's began to shake slightly, gradually becoming more active. An amber eye emerged from the egg, staring intently at Zariel's body, especially at its chest, as if it were the most important treasure in Ethan's situation.