Arena

When I came to, I was in a world of nothingness.

Nothing, no grass, no trees, no color at all existed. Both the sky and the ground were pure white. The endless horizon was also just blank.

Just as though, the entire world was drained of color.

“Just like a dream, isn’t it?”

The baby angel spoke.

The angel laughed like an idiot as he continued. 𝐟𝗿𝚎𝐞𝓌e𝒃𝑛𝒐ѵ𝒆𝑙.c𝚘𝓶

“If you are so unsure if this is a dream or reality, then you may go ahead and clarify by smashing your head on the ground.”

So he’s referring to my first day here.

Instead of a reply, I gave the angel my middle finger. The angel kept giggling.

Cha Jihye appeared as well just in time.

We summoned the tablet and confirmed the contents of our exam.

– Name: Kim Hyunho

– Class: 45

– Karma: +150

– Mission: Slay Kazaad Vun Aman.

– Time limit: ???

“What’s wrong with the time limit?”

I asked.

The baby angel spoke with a giggle.

“Should I make an exception and tell you about it, examinee Kim Hyunho?”

“Pray tell.”

The baby angel pointed at me with the little finger he had.

“It’s until you, examinee Kim Hyunho, dies.”

“What?”

“To make the time limit infinite, some examinees may as well live a new life here in Arena, and to set on a time limit, Kazaad may as well hide until the exam is over after hearing about it from the corrupt examinees.”

“So it’s until my death?”

“Yes. Didn’t I tell you already? That you are our final stand?”

“You did, but still…….”

“Oh, just to let you know, this is a secret that no examinees know about. Kazaad and the corrupt examinees may aim for you if they found out after all.”

Hence the question marks.

I then asked.

“What if I decide to live my second life in Arena?”

“Go ahead and try. If you can, that is.”

The baby angel was still giggling.

Of course, I would hate to do that.

‘Tomorrow’ would be the day of my marriage with Jihye. I’ve booked an extremely expensive and luxurious wedding hall for it too. We’ve even done the rehearsal!

I should end this quick and marry her already.

“Open the door already.”

“Sure, sure.”

The baby angel flicked his fingers. The door to the exam appeared before us. We opened the door and stepped inside.

At that moment, I heard the baby angel’s voice behind me.

“Examinee Kim Hyunho.”

“What now?”

“You know that I liked you quite a bit, right?”

“F*ck off.”

The baby angel’s giggle was still ringing in my ears.

That damned bastard. But then, I ended up smiling.

A bright light shone from the gaps of the door. We grabbed each other’s hands and headed towards that light.

***

As soon as I arrived in Arena, I took out the communication device to call Odin.

“Hello?”

-So you’re here. The exam was just as we expected.

“Yes, killing Kazaad Vun Aman.”

-The time limit was written as question marks though, is it the same for your side?

“Yes.”

I couldn’t mention that it was until my death even to Odin. A secret was better off shared with as little people as possible.

-Then for now, please come to this place. Let’s hand out the artificial muscle fiber suit and the communication device to the other examinees and also launch the surveillance satellite.

“Okay, I’ll head there first thing tomorrow morning.”

For that one day, Jihye and I spent our time in leisure.

The next day, we left our fief matters to our head officer Edward and headed off towards Count Wolfenbrooke’s territory.

It wasn’t just her and me. Dana, who was also at our fief, also joined us.

Thanks to riding the eagle nonstop, we were able to arrive at Count Wolfenbrooke’s mansion in one day.

“Welcome.”

“For now, we’ll give you the artificial muscle fiber suit and the comms device.”

“If you’d please. I’ll store it safely in my vault.”

I took out the muscle suits and the communication device.

These were intended to be used by the other examinees, the higher-ranked ones, to help out in the final battle.

“Then let’s try launching the satellite.”

“We should.”

Then, we headed to the launch point of the satellite.

The launch device of the satellite was created through magic, so it was designed so that even we could launch it easily.

I took out the satellite from my pseudospace and put it on the exact specified launch position.

I also took out the laptop that would control the satellite.

Odin and Dana prepared to launch while discussing some things about it. The two seemed to have been educated beforehand from the Nordic researchers on how to launch this thing.

“We can launch it now.”

Dana spoke as he pressed the power button on the satellite, activating it.

“Don’t we need to step back a little?”

“That’s not necessary. The projectile works through flight magic, so there will be no counterforce during the launch.”

After adjusting the launch angle with the laptop, Dana pressed some keys on the laptop before pressing enter. Then,

*Ziiin*

The large satellite started levitating in the air.

After reaching a certain height, it started accelerating upwards.

After a certain moment, it accelerated abruptly and disappeared from our sight.

“Is it done now?”

“Yes, we just have to check if it’s working properly.”

Dana typed on the keyboard and had a look at the current status of the satellite.

The orbit of the satellite was drawn on the screen on a 3 dimensional map.

The red dot, that was the satellite, soon turned green.

Dana spoke with a smile.

“Annnnd we’re in orbit. Success!”

Yes!

Clenching my fist in joy, I spoke to Dana.

“Try if we can survey the area.”

“Okay. First, we’ll have a look at the Aman Imperial Palace.”

Dana adjusted the super-high resolution camera on the satellite with the laptop.

When he did, the entire Aman imperial palace could be seen from a bird’s eye view.

It was quite a clear picture too.

“Wow!”

I exclaimed.

Dana zoomed in on the dome of the palace.

“I escaped through the hole I made on this very dome. You can see that it’s under reconstruction, right?”

Just as he said, some construction workers were fixing the hole on the dome.

“Can we have a look at the Aman imperial army as well?”

“It will take too much time to have a look at all of them one by one. I need to know the exact location.”

“Right now, they should be at the border.”

“Please wait a moment then.”

Dana controlled the laptop again.

After a brief while, an image of a large number of soldiers could be seen on the screen.

It was the Aman Empire soldiers.

“It works!”

Odin Rejoiced.

As someone who had experience in commanding a war, he knew what kind of advantages this satellite would bring.

“I’m done now. With that, the war is as good as won.”

“So we only have to succeed with Mr. Kim’s plan now.”

“Indeed. I’ll have to ask you for your help with this Mr. Ritalin. Not only do we need to watch over the army’s movements, but we also have to keep track of Kazaad Vun Aman as well. Both the Arend Royal Palace and the examinees with the communication devices are checking in on him, so we should be able to achieve complete victory in information warfare.’

“Understood.”

Things were starting off well.

The biggest problem, the satellite, had gone according to plan.

There was just one problem left.

‘Will Kazaad Vun Aman really move according to our expectations and appear in the Brown Mountain Range?’

If he doesn’t and decides to lock himself up under the palace, then the exam would become much harder than predicted.

At that point, we would have to fight until the Aman Imperial Army retreated.

We stayed in Count Wolfenbrooke’s fief for quite a while.

Dana checked up on our enemies every day, and we also waited for other examinees to recon here.

There were a total of 33 people participating in the plan to slay Kazaad Vun Aman.

Most of them were strong people that were within the top 50 of the official world rankings.

Among the people I know, there were Odin, Marie Johanna, Dana Ritalin, and Cha Jihye.

In Jihye’s case, her ranking was quite low as she had never revealed the total karma points she had, but as she had achieved Aura Control High Lv1, and stepped into the realm of masters, she was more than qualified to participate in the plan.

In any case, the five of us were in Count Wolfenbrooke’s territory right now.

After about a week, the examinees participating in my plan started arriving one by one.

The first one to arrive was Nakai Shuhei from Japan.

Although he had a small stature, around 170cm tall and very thin, he looked very serious and careful.

“Welcome to this place.”

“So we meet again. Please take care of me.”

We exchanged greetings and got to know each other.

Apparently, he was High Lv 2 for Aura Control.

Although this didn’t seem to differ much from Cha Jihye’s own skill, his way of battle centered around a sub-skill called Darkshadow Steps.

The effects allowed him to erase any sound from his footsteps once he achieved a certain speed, and could hide in bright daylight if he stood still. This was the skill behind the greatest assassin character.

“For now, please take this artificial muscle fiber suit and the communication device. You will have to familiarize yourself with the suit quite quickly.”

Odin took out the two items and provided them to Shuhei.

Shuhei was surprised to find that his own muscular strength was enhanced through the suit, and started training himself to adapt to the suit in the training court inside the mansion.

Apparently, he was the dojo master of a famous kendo dojo before he became an examinee, and indeed, he was quite diligent.

He spent his time training and sparring with Odin, Cha Jihye and the others.

Examinees other than Shuhei started arriving one after the other, and the mansion started being filled with people.

Soon, Odin’s personal training court was filled with examinees trying to adapt themselves to their new power.

***

Palace underground.

There was a golden throne, prepared for the conqueror that returned from death.

The throne that shined in a luxurious gold color was currently occupied by the rightful owner.

Even the current monarch of the Aman Empire, Sultan Sarlock, had to stand on the right side.

The rightful master of the golden throne, Kazaad Vun Aman, arrogantly looked down upon the black-haired man beneath him.

“Lee Chang-wee was it.”

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

Lee Chang-wee’s voice contained a hint of nervousness.

Even he, who was at ease when confronting Sultan Sarlock, could not do the same in front of Kazaad.

“You say this is the last exam?”

“Yes, the contents of the exam is to slay Your Majesty, and the time limit is written with question marks, which is peculiar.”

“Question marks, you say. Do you mean to say that there is no time limit?”

“No. If that was the case, it would say ‘unlimited’, not a vague expression like this.”

“So there is some secret behind it. Well, I guess it doesn’t matter.”

Kazaad laughed.

“After all, I shall soon become the first monarch in history to rule over two worlds!”

The curtain to the final exam rose.