My Yandere Empress

Enzo opened his eyes. He had returned back to his world.

A nagging sensation crept upwards his body almost instantly. It was the lingering feeling of the pincer-like limbs slicing his torso and breaking his shoulder bones.

Even though he knew instinctively that all his injuries had vanished along with the searing pain, the trauma remained.

Unfortunately, he didn’t have the time to check on himself and provide comfort to his mind as a sword sang with a metallic shing and sliced at him diagonally.

Enzo moved on instinct, his mind already calculating a straightforward strategy at an astonishing speed.

Before he could himself be aware of the idea his mind had conjured, he found himself leaning into the sword strike.

He deliberately positioned his head along the flattened edge of the sword. Ariel’s eyes widened as he saw through his plan but failed to stop himself. His momentum carried him uncontrollably as the flat surface of the sword struck his head.

Enzo felt his vision burst into stars that had no right to exist at the surface level of the planet. He groaned in pain as his head spun sideways and he fell face flat on the ground.

He felt blood seeping out of him but even through the pain, only a grin was plastered on his face.

"Match forcefully terminated. Candidate nine hundred and ninety-nine wins the match by default due to the violation of rules by his opponent."

The verdict rang loud and clear as the invigilator of the sixth ring was already turning towards the host, asking him to initiate the next match.

Ariel, however, was completely displeased by the verdict. He ran towards the elder and frantically explained, "But he cheated, sir. He deliberately threw himself in front of me!"

"Rules are rules, young man. It was clearly mentioned that hurting your opponent on the head or killing them resulted in instant disqualification. Now get out from the field before I call the guards."

"B-but I am better...I was clearly winning!" Ariel whined as he almost begged the invigilator to rethink his decision.

In the end, he was dragged away by the guards and thrown out past the fence.

Enzo ignored it all. Clutching his throbbing head, he walked over to his group. Alyssa stepped forward and asked him, in concern, "How is your head doing? Paining?"

"A lot."

Alot more than that, actually.

He felt at that moment, as if someone had cracked his skull and, every alternate second, was attempting to piece together the cracked bones with pure force.

The pain was slowly but surely reaching his jaw and chin as well.

"Man, I am impressed by your strategy. You did that intentionally, right?" Shen asked, amusement dripping in his tone.

Enzo could only nod. Talking at that moment felt like he needed to first surpass the pain in his jaw, which definitely wasn’t worth the effort.

"I wonder if those healers would help us as well..." Smut muttered under his breath, causing all four of them to glance towards a small camp that had been prepared while the first round of matches had started.

Healers in white robes paced around, calling the injured winners and performing small-scale healing spells.

But none of them had called Enzo for healing.

The message was clear — a silent reminder of their lowest status in the Empire.

Just then, a familiar wave of energy washed over him. More like it was directed at him.

The throbbing in his head ceased to exist, and the irritation from all the minor scratches all over his body cooled down as well.

The wounds still remained open, but the negative feedback from his nervous system had been healed.

Enzo turned towards the pavilion. It didn’t take him long to spot a Bewitcher sitting at the front row, subtly channeling her spells at him

He flashed a small smile in her direction before quickly turning back to his group.

He was truly grateful for her intervention. Both inside the Underworld and here.

Although he felt a prickling sensation that someone had rather ordered her to do so...

But as long as it benefitted him, who was he to complain?

He sat down on the ground unceremoniously. Alyssa and Shen got their first matches in the second round itself. And they both smashed their opponents with no struggle.

Alyssa didn’t even need to carry a weapon. Her Aspect allowed her to make weapons out of thin air. Her imagination was the only limit on what type of weapon she could produce.

Enzo shivered when he first got to know her ability. That was something a transmigrator from Earth would definitely want to have for themselves.

After all, who wouldn’t like to be blessed with the ability to nuke his enemies at the beginner level itself?

Shen wasn’t fully awakened, having only produced a mana core. In fact, the majority of the candidates hadn’t even formed a mana core, let alone manifest their Aspects. Smut was the same as well.

However, Shen was a named Hermann. With the blessing from his naming ceremony, his physical stats and constitution had already surpassed that of an average human. And his years of training had sharpened his senses and paved the way for him to become a potentially great warrior.

Apart from his own group, Enzo also noticed a few other participants in particular. Each of them completely awakened and with a strong, indomitable battle presence.

There was this short, bald boy who moved like a viper — his sword burning through defenses and accumulating massive amounts of points. His opponents were all left in the dust by the end of the three-minute mark.

Then there was a tall boy with an almost skeletal frame. He kept teleporting inside the ring as he collected points for himself without even moving from his place.

Well, technically he wasn’t "walking," right?

There were a few other enigmatic fighters among them, but the one who captured the spotlight from everyone was the hunk of a man wielding a greatsword.

He was tall. Extremely tall. His face looked like he was already in his mid-twenties, although his bone age had already confirmed he was only nineteen. A whole year younger than Enzo.

His hair flowed behind him, reaching his waist with ease. And his eyes possessed a bored look as he crushed his opponents with a single strike.

Just one strike. And his opponents lay flat on the ground. Unconscious.

He fought thrice on the first day. And all three times, he won with a score of 1-0.

Enzo felt a sense of trepidation. He would rather fight the short, bald fighter than this reincarnated hulk.

He wanted nothing to do with this guy. And he was sure neither did anyone else.

He was called for his second match in round twelve of the first day. It was almost evening, and the audience had started thinning as well.

The pavilion was near empty, the Bewitchers and most of the nobles having already departed in the afternoon.

Before going away, though, the lady from before had given him a subtle nod. As if acknowledging his presence and bidding him goodbye.

His second match was against a rather skinny boy, identical to what he himself might have looked like at that moment.

His opponent chose a long sword. And much to Enzo’s surprise, the boy even carried it without breaking his composure.

As for himself, Enzo chose a short sword and the battered shield. This time, he also donned the battered helmet.

Precaution, no matter how flimsy, was better than nothing.

The match went smoother than Enzo had expected, who overwhelmed his opponent in swordsmanship, despite being a beginner himself.

By the end of the three minutes, the boy was groveling in the dust, his dormant body being beaten mercilessly by a mana-strengthened Enzo.

"Candidate nine hundred and ninety-nine wins."

The thirteenth round soon followed. And then, with the sound of a gong, the first day of the entrance test came to an end.

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[A/N: I am gonna use the em dashes instead of the hyphens from now on. Looks more pleasing to the eye.

That said, I am informing you beforehand. So as to be not accused of using AI in my books.]