The Strongest Student of the Weakest Academy

Fwooooom!

My pristine white hair suddenly ignited with black fire from the roots outward.

Strand by strand, the snow-white color bled away, replaced by an abyssal black that swallowed light itself.

The length surged, growing past my shoulders in a wild cascade that whipped around me like a living shadow.

My eyes snapped back to their true form: vertical slits.

The irises turned pitch black, endless voids that absorbed everything, while the slits themselves burned a vicious, blood-red crimson that glowed with primordial hunger.

A mysterious black energy brimmed from my body, coiling around my limbs like living smoke.

It wasn’t chaotic in the wild, destructive sense anymore.

It was pure and flawless... the root from which all things had been forced to emerge.

The reversed flow inside my core didn’t fight me any longer, and instead, it obeyed me completely, smoothly flooding through every cell of my body.

Seraphiel tried to pull away.

But it was already too late.

I squeezed.

CRACK!

Her wrist bones, divine, reinforced by the Eclipse, shattered like cheap glass under my grip. The sound echoed across the fracturing arena like breaking reality itself.

"AAAAARGHHHH!"

She screamed in complete pain.

Her perfect features twisted in shock and pain as black-and-gold energy flickered wildly around the injury.

I didn’t give her a single second to recover.

With a casual yank, I ripped her entire arm forward, using her own momentum against her.

My fingers dug deeper, and with one effortless motion, I tore the limb clean off at the shoulder.

Splat!

Golden blood mixed with threads of darkness sprayed in a wide arc, painting the crumbling stone beneath us.

The arm regenerated instantly in the next second, new flesh knitting together in a burst of Eclipse light.

But it didn’t matter as she wasn’t holding me by the throat anymore.

I was free.

I flew to the sky, the mysterious black energy propelling me into the air as if gravity had never existed.

My long black hair streamed behind me like a banner of oblivion.

My blood-red slit eyes stared down at her with a coldness deeper than any abyss I had ever touched.

The mysterious black energy continued to pour off my body in dense waves, warping the space around me.

"Ugh..."

Seraphiel staggered back, clutching her freshly regrown arm, her six wings flaring in panic as the last fragments of her domain flickered and died around the edges.

I opened my mouth and spoke with the 『 ✯ Words of Law ✯ 』, obviously, not the watered-down version gods used, but the original cadence that Chaos itself had used to birth existence.

"Vanish."

Normally, using the Words of Law against someone stronger than you was suicide.

Their will would simply overpower yours, their authority crushing the command before it could take form.

But this wasn’t a mere law.

This was Chaos speaking.

And everything... EVERYTHING... followed Chaos’s words, because Chaos was their one true creator.

CRACK!

The Domain of the Eternal Eclipse didn’t fight to resist, and instead, it simply ceased from existence.

One moment, the arena was a twisted nightmare of light and void; the next, it snapped back to the original pristine white stone with a violent lurch.

The spires collapsed into dust, the inverted physics flattened, and the crushing pressure vanished as if it had never been.

"K-kurghhh!" Seraphiel convulsed.

A whole mouthful of golden blood erupted from her lips, splattering across her chest and the arena floor.

Dark tears slid down her cheeks from both mismatched eyes, now wide with disbelief and dawning horror.

"H-How...?" she gasped, voice hoarse and broken, wings trembling as she dropped to one knee.

"That domain... it was my pinnacle... my perfect fusion... How could it just... vanish? What did you do?! This isn’t possible! You were dying! Your core was reversed! You had nothing left!"

I descended slowly, my boots touching down a few meters away.

The black energy around me coiled lazily, humming with quiet, absolute power.

My long black hair settled around my shoulders like a mantle of night.

I looked down at her with those blood-red slit eyes, my lips curling into a slow, cruel smile that held no warmth at all.

"Possible?" I almost wanted to laugh.

"You keep using that word as if it still applies to me."

I raised my hand, palm open, then dropped it in a lazy, almost bored gesture.

BAAAAAAAM!

An immense, invisible pressure slammed down onto Seraphiel’s body like the weight of the first universe collapsing back into singularity.

The air itself groaned.

Her knees buckled instantly.

Her six wings slammed against the stone with a sickening crunch, feathers scattering.

She was driven face-first into the white arena floor, the impact carving a perfect imprint of her body into the stone.

"Ghhhaaaah—!!" she groaned, golden blood leaking from her nose and mouth as the pressure ground her down.

Her fingers clawed uselessly at the stone, trying to push herself up, but the pressure on her body only seemed to increase.

"Impossible...! You were... exhausted... broken... How are you... doing this?! My Eclipse... it should have ended you...! What kind of monster are you?!"

I took one slow step closer, then another, circling her prone form like a predator savoring the moment.

The mysterious black energy rippled off me in small waves, each one pressing her deeper into the stone.

"Monster?" I laughed softly.

"Maybe, I really am... but that aside. Before... you stood there, fresh and untouched, while I bled from four consecutive fights, and you still needed your shiny little domain to feel superior. Look at you now."

I stopped directly in front of her head, crouching down so my blood-red slit eyes could meet hers as she struggled to lift her face from the crater.

"Face down in the dirt. Wings broken. Domain gone. Crying dark tears like a child who just realized her favorite toy was made of sand."

She tried to push up again, wings straining, gritting her teeth.

"You... dare speak to me like this?! I am Seraphiel, Peak True God hybrid of—!"

I pressed my hand downward again, increasing the pressure tenfold.

Her words cut off in a strangled groan as her cheek was smashed harder into the stone, cracking it further.

"Shhh. Don’t embarrass yourself more than you already have." My voice was calm, almost gentle, which made the humiliation cut deeper.

"You talked about ending my ’little tale’ as a mercy. You smiled like a predator when you saw how broken I was. You were going to kill me while I could barely stand, all because you thought your borrowed light and darkness made you special."

I leaned in closer, my long black hair brushing the ground beside her.

Seraphiel’s body trembled under the weight.

"Ghaagh!!!"

Another groan tore from her throat, filled with impotent rage.

"Stop... This power... it shouldn’t... belong to someone like you...! You’re just a lesser god from a third-grade universe!!!"

I stood up slowly, looking down at her.

"A lesser god, huh?" I repeated, voice dripping with mockery.

"That’s rich coming from a glorified flashlight who needed six wings and a domain just to feel important. Right now, you’re not a 9✯ Peak True God. You’re not even a hybrid. You’re just a bug I decided not to step on yet."

I tilted my head, black energy flaring brighter around me.

"Tell me, Seraphiel... how does it feel? Knowing that the ’mercy’ you offered me is the only reason you’re still breathing? That the same broken, exhausted god you mocked is now the one deciding whether your story ends in the dirt like the insignificant speck you truly are?"

"H-hic... ugh!" She let out a choked sob of frustration mixed with pain, dark tears mixing with golden blood on the white stone.

Her wings twitched uselessly, pinned by the invisible pressure.

Then, I tilted my head slightly and spoke in a voice just loud enough for her to hear every word.

"...Should I kill you, I wonder?"

The words hung in the air like a death sentence, yet sounded like some curiosity.

For a moment, her pride flared, her mismatched eyes flashed with defiance even as her body trembled under the crushing pressure.

tried to lift her head, lips curling into a weak snarl.

"You... wouldn’t dare," she hissed through gritted teeth, her voice strained but still carrying that same arrogant edge.

"I am Seraphiel. I am no one’s prey. If you kill me, the consequences—"

I ignored her words entirely.

Instead, I reached out with my free hand.

Swissh!

Both swords answered instantly, flying back into my grasp on threads of pure black energy.

The Heaven Swallowing Sword hummed with renewed hunger as I slid it smoothly into the sheath on my back.

The Midnight Sword I kept in my right hand, its impossibly sharp blade catching the arena light in a deadly gleam.

I stepped closer.

The tip of the Midnight Sword lowered slowly until it pressed against the center of her back, right between her shoulder blades.

The blade didn’t cut her yet, and just rested there, promising instant death the moment I decided to push.

Slowly... my aura surged upward.

The black energy around me thickened, the air itself growing heavy with the unmistakable intent to end her life right here, right now.

The pressure on her body increased tenfold, grinding her deeper into the stone as if the entire arena wanted to swallow her whole.

Seraphiel’s pride shattered like fragile glass.

Her eyes widened in raw terror. Her body jerked under the blade’s tip, and the words tumbled out in a frantic, stammering rush.

"W-Wait—! Please! Don’t! I-I beg you, don’t k-kill me—! I was wrong! I’ll d-do anything! Just please, don’t, don’t stab! I surrender! PLEASEEEEE—!!!"

The once-proud hybrid god, the 9✯ Peak True God who had smiled like a predator and spoken of mercy, was now begging like a broken mortal.

Her voice cracked and wavered, dark tears streaming freely down her face as she stammered incoherently, her wings twitching uselessly against the ground.

At those words, I chuckled lightly.

"Oh? Look at you," I teased, pressing the Midnight Sword’s tip just a little harder, enough to draw a single bead of golden blood that welled up around the edge.

"The mighty Seraphiel, reduced to this. Stammering and crying on the floor, begging the same ’broken’ god you were about to execute. Where did all that arrogance go? Where’s the predator smile now? You were so eager to end my ’little tale’... and yet here you are, whimpering ’please’ like a kicked puppy."

I shooked my head slighly.

"Pathetic. Absolutely pathetic. Do you even hear yourself? The great hybrid of Light and Darkness, groveling because a sword is touching her back. How does it feel, knowing your entire domain, your perfect Eclipse, your fresh power... meant nothing the moment I remembered what I truly am?"

She sobbed openly now, her body completely shaking.

"I-I’m really sorry! I d-didn’t know! Please, I’ll serve you!! Just don’t kill me! I was b-blind! P-P-please g-grant me m-mercy!!!"

I let the humiliating silence stretch for a few more seconds, savoring the way her pride had completely evaporated, leaving only complete fear.

Then, with a casual flick of my wrist, I released the immense pressure that had been crushing her into the stone.

The pressure vanished instantly.

"Aaaaaghh! Cough, cough! Kugh..."

Seraphiel gasped, coughing up another mouthful of golden blood as she lay there, trembling, too afraid to move even though the crushing force was gone.

I sheathed the Midnight Sword at my side for a moment and looked down at her.

"Kneel before me," I said calmly, revealing an almost bored look, "and offer me your Divine Soul. Do that, and I’ll let you live."

Her breath hitched.

"B-but..."

My eyes narrowed coldly, the blood-red slits glowing with sudden, merciless intensity. The single look was enough to choke off whatever protest she was about to make.

She fell silent immediately, lips trembling, fully understanding what offering her Divine Soul truly meant... and that was, complete submission.

Body, mind, soul.

Eternal slavery to me, with no possibility of rebellion or escape.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM————!!!!!!!!!!!

But... before she could even begin to respond, a furious aura exploded from the stands beyond the arena.

Her patron god, some ancient, powerful entity who had been watching the entire match, rose in complete rage.

His divine pressure slammed down toward me like a hammer, heavy with protective fury and the clear intent to crush me for daring to demand such a thing from his champion.

"HOW A LESSER GOD LIKE YOU TRY TO MAKE MY CHAMPION YOUR SLAVE?!?!"

I felt the incoming wave of power.

My eyes glowed pure black for a split second, the vertical red slits vanishing beneath an endless void.

Fwoop!

Then I vanished from the stage.

I reappeared instantly beside her patron god in the spectator stands, moving faster than thought itself.

GRIP—!!!!!

My hand shot out and clamped around his throat in an iron grip, black energy surging violently around my fingers.

"Kurg—"

Before he could even react or speak, I lifted him effortlessly off his feet and hurled him downward with brutal force.

He flew like a meteor across the arena, crashing straight into the white stone stage with catastrophic impact.

KAAAAAAAAAAAAABOOOOOOOOOOOM—————!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A massive crater exploded outward from the point of collision, stone shattering and debris flying in every direction.

Dust and divine sparks billowed upward as the patron god lay embedded in the newly formed pit, the force of the throw leaving visible cracks radiating across the entire arena floor.

The stands fell deathly silent.