Alastor barely dodged a swipe from the Silver Shadow's claws, as a thin trail of blood appeared across his neck.
'Fast.'
The creature's pantherian body suddenly twisted like a snake's, as it wrapped a leg around his arm, the claws digging into Alastor's bicep.
The fight had barely begun and the situation was already dire.
The Silver Shadow let go of the spear and whirled to tear out his neck, but was stopped as Alastor bit into it's nape first.
That didn't stop it for long, but prompted it to remove the leg wrapped around Alastor's arm and using to carve a bloody furrow across his face as it used him as a springboard.
It disappeared into the shadows once more.
'Hmmm. Should I give this one up?'
'No, I haven't been pushed to the extreme yet.'
'Only when one's life is in danger, does one grow.'
A silver streak flew through the air as Alastor found a new wound marred into his chest, scraping his rib.
He suddenly felt a flash of pain in his hamstrings, and collapsed.
'How ironic.'
This was exactly what he had done to the Cyclops.
Desperation was beginning to set in, but Alastor forcefully calmed his mind.
'Now, a critical strike would be the best choice if I were the Shadow.'
'So...'
His instinct screamed and Alastor leaned backwards, again barely dodging a fatal strike as the Silver Shadow arose from his shadow.
Not freely however, as another gash had been carved into his chest.
'Best not to reveal my demonic form. Even though the Shadow's essence should conceal mine, I don't know if we're being watched or not.'
'But....internal use should be fine.'
As demonic essence flooded into his wounds and swiftly retreated, the Silver Shadow seemed puzzled for a moment.
It did not know if it was facing a demon or human.
It settled on human and lunged again.
'On second thought, how am I still alive?'
Alastor thought as he dislocated his arm entirely to prevent the demon form latching on to it like before.
With a flex of his muscles, his arm popped back into place as the creature suddenly arose from the shadow behind him.
'This is almost getting repetitive.'
After another near fatal blow, Alastor finally realized something.
'It's starving.'
He realized this because he had seen a healthy Silver Shadow, albeit at a lower level of evolution, when he had been offered the evolution.
'How long has it been kept caged by the Academy, for it to degrade to this level?'
'An year? Five?'
'No wonder I'm still able to fight it on some level.'
As the creature again lunged for his face, Alastor no longer felt the same desperation.
'I can't keep dodging......but it can't keep attacking either.'
The Silver Shadow, a once mighty Demon Viscount now reduced to a shred of it's past strength, still stubbornly fought against it's inevitable fate.
Either it would be killed by the Academy, or by an examinee.
And yet, it fought.
"Come."
Alastor finally spoke up, ending the brief break that had unconsciously ensued during the battle.
The Silver Shadow gathered it's strength and it's meager demonic essence, and began flitting along the walls of the room, building speed.
Alastor did not move, simply held his spear ready to strike.
The Silver Shadow knew this attack would be it's last.
Even if it won, it wouldn't be kept alive.
So, it used whatever it had left, in one final act of defiance.
Because that was how a demon lived and died.
Alastor felt the Silver Shadow's body pierce onto the spear that he had held in position beforehand.
'Best to make sure.'
He then proceeded to stab it several times, in it's head, torso, limbs.
'Might as well make sure with absolute certainty.'
He kicked the corpse over and over.
"Yes, it's dead."
He was tempted to absorb it's demonic essence, but knew it might be noticed.
He removed the demonic essence cloaking his wounds to prevent bleeding out and returned it to his Astral Body.
As the words for "Level Five" began forming, he quickly pressed the button that said exit.
................................................................................
As the crowd watched, the red 4 marking the door turned golden, signifying that the demon had been defeated.
Murmurs rang out, only to be silenced as the door opened.
The first thing that could be seen was the blood, and yet the person whom it belonged to seemed unfazed.
"A monster...."
Nobody knew who murmured this at first, but it spread, considering how fitting it was.
At this point, he wasn't a genius, but a monster in disguise.
Alastor simply ignored the crowd, and headed to where Axel and Karna were sitting.
"You guys made it till?"
Karna held up three fingers, while Axel held up two.
'Karna was expected, but I'm surprised he beat a Baronet rank demon.'
Karna reminded him, "Go stand by your door again for that healing thing."
After a quick heal, Alastor finally decided to pay attention to the gazes looking at him.
Particularly, one girl who was shocked by the lack of a Story above Alastor's head.
'I was hoping I could have used her as a way to counteract the Weaver, but it seems she is too close to the truth.'
'I'll keep her alive until she finds out. That much time without a Weaver's interference is enough.'
Yes, the seemingly ordinary girl could ward off a Weaver's influence, simply by existing.
Amber Rose was born from the grudge of the Owner of the Book of Fate, after all.
Alastor recalled the lines from the novel, his memory already getting slightly blurry.
'As the Owner of Fate predicted, her creations tore her apart and divided her body amongst themselves.'
'Enraged, she gave up on resurrection, in order to create a being that goes against everything her creations, the Weavers stood for.'
'If allowed to grow, she can be a trump card against the Weavers, but I won't hesitate to end her if she suspects something.'
Meanwhile, Amber Rose remains puzzled.
'Where is his Story?!?!'
................................................................................
They found themselves teleported again, this time standing in front of the gates of the Academy once more.
Displayed on the large gates, were the rankings of the examinees.
Half of them were greyed out, signifying failure.
Some of them were red, meaning they were dead.
Alastor instantly looked at the top of the list.
'As expected.'
Written in bold azure letteres, were the Top Ranks.
[Rank 1: Alastor Stele]
He could feel the opinions forming in the crowd.
Envy, admiration, hate, all were present.
'It is...acceptable.'
And thus, a demon became the highest ranking examinee to enter the Academy made to kill demons.