090 Battle Royale

"The strong." That was the phrase you heard most often at Nobless, and the title everyone craved.

To put it bluntly, it didn’t matter if your personality was a total dumpster fire; as long as you were strong, people respected you. In this world, might made right—it was the absolute, undeniable truth.

With the written portion of the exams finally behind us, the real event was about to begin. I’d need to use every ounce of power I’d gained since enrolling to make it through this.

Every lowerclassman lived in fear of the rumors surrounding this test. In the Original Story, the Term-end Exam was notoriously difficult, though the specific trials were randomized. Not that any of the possibilities were easy. We were talking about fetching rare flowers from the peaks of icebergs or gathering mana stones dropped by monsters in the middle of nowhere—basically, the kind of stuff where "losing your life" was a very real line item on the syllabus. It made sense in the context of a game, but in reality? No thank you. I’d really rather not.

Bright and early, we lowerclassmen were hauled off to an uninhabited island managed by the Academy. Mana clouds swirled thick in the air around the perimeter. The memory of the blizzard during the Survival Exam was still fresh enough to make me shiver, but as we crossed the water on the Nobless Academy private ship, the snow abruptly stopped. My classmates actually started smiling. The temperature was perfect—neither too hot nor too cold—which felt like a cruel joke considering the hell we were about to walk into.

We were herded onto the coastline, where we’d already been warned that the test could last up to seven days.

For me, though, this is a stroke of luck.

It was the best kind of exam I could ask for. If I had to compare it to anything, it was like a "Pro" version of the previous Survival Exam. Of course, that meant the danger level was through the roof too.

Darius stepped forward. For the record, Teacher Milk, Chloe, and Coco had tagged along as well.

"You likely already understand the gist of this," Darius announced. "It is a Survival Exam. However, the rules are completely different from anything you’ve faced before. This time, it is a seven-day Battle Royale. Every person here, excluding yourself, is an enemy. You will fight until a single winner is decided."

The crowd erupted in a nervous buzz. Most of them had probably suspected this based on the rumors. It was no exaggeration to call this the grand culmination of every exam we’d taken so far.

During the three-day Survival Exam, only monsters yielded points. During the Test of Courage, it was all about the rings. But this time...

"The students themselves are the targets," Darius continued. "If you knock an opponent unconscious, you steal their points. Furthermore, for those of you with high scores: if you lose to an opponent with fewer points than you, your total will drop significantly. If you’re eliminated early on, you’ll face a massive penalty. Basically, if you have a high rank and you screw up early, be prepared for the worst."

Upon hearing that, a good portion of the class immediately whipped their heads around to glare at me, Allen, and the other top-scorers. To them, we were just giant walking bags of loot. If they took us down, the payoff would be massive.

The unfairness of it all was staggering, but honestly? It was great. This was exactly how a Term-end Test should feel. Until now, there hadn’t been a strictly aggressive requirement to fight; we were always hunting monsters or finding rings first.

But this was different. While there were monsters and animals on the island, they wouldn't give us a single point. And then Darius dropped the most "interesting" element of all.

"May I ask a question?" one student chimed in.

"Very well," Milk replied.

Teacher Milk, who usually had a 'shut up and deal with it' policy, was actually being kind for once. Well, she was a teacher, so I guess that should have been the baseline.

"What happens if a winner isn't decided after seven days? Does that mean our points won't decrease?"

"Shut up and fight," Milk snapped.

...Wait, what?

"I will provide a more detailed explanation," Chloe said, stepping forward. Her explanations were always easier to follow anyway—though I’d better not let Milk hear me think that or she’d actually kill me.

"As indicated on the maps we’ve distributed, the island is partitioned into zones. Every two hours, a Magic Bird will make an announcement declaring 'Restricted Areas.' By the final day, only one zone will remain. Combat will be unavoidable."

"What happens if we stay in a restricted area?"

"Your points," Chloe said flatly, "will be completely forfeited."

The students started panicking again. Personally, I figured as long as you kept an eye on the map, it wasn't a big deal. The Academy clearly just wanted to force us into a meat grinder to keep things 'efficient.' Still, a two-hour window was pretty brutal. If your current camp became a restricted zone, you’d be forced to move, which meant a high chance of running into an ambush.

To summarize: 1. The exam lasts seven days on an uninhabited island. 2. Areas are divided into safe and restricted zones. If you’re in a restricted zone when the countdown hits zero, you lose all your points. (In other words: Expulsion). 3. Point fluctuations from wins and losses are a secret, but high-rankers losing to low-rankers equals a massive penalty. 4. To prevent cheating, committing 'suicide' to avoid losing points to an enemy is meaningless. You still lose everything.

A lot of people were going to see their rankings plummet. In the Original Story, getting eliminated early almost guaranteed expulsion. I couldn’t even remember how many times I’d played through this part; it was always impossibly harsh.

The Academy was using this to decide who was worthy of becoming an Intermediate-year Student next spring. The kids who had low points right now were the ones who had spent the year running away from every challenge. Now, that cowardice was finally going to come back and haunt them.

"Does the winner get a point bonus?" someone asked.

"Correct," Darius said. "If you're aiming for S-class, winning this is your best bet. But that’s not all. I can’t reveal the details yet, but we’ve prepared a special reward for the last person standing."

I blinked in surprise. A reward? That wasn't in the Original Story.

Damn, now I was actually curious. But then again, I was already aiming for S-class. Winning was the only option from the very beginning.

Once the orientation ended, the atmosphere split down the middle: half the students were vibrating with motivation, while the other half looked like they were about to throw up. If your points were low, you were probably worried sick, but that’s just how it goes in any school. If you can't produce results, you get weeded out.

It felt a bit strange, though. We’d spent so much time recently on Team Battles, overcoming the Calamity and the School Trip together. Now, every friend was a foe. Nobless really had a twisted sense of timing when it came to throwing us into the meat grinder.

But we all had our pride. This wasn't just about points anymore; it was a battle for our dignity as elites.

"Cynthia," I said, catching her eye. "I'm not going to hold back, even against you. So... don't you dare lose to anyone else."

"Hmph. As if I would," she replied with a confident smirk.

"Lord Weiss! I’m looking forward to my rematch!" Lilith chirped.

"Heh. I'll be waiting, Lilith."

As per the usual routine, we were warped to random locations across the island via Teleportation Magic. Since this was a seven-day ordeal, I couldn't just stay on the offensive the whole time; securing food and water was going to be essential.

I had no idea how people would move now that they’d grown stronger than their counterparts in the Original Story. Honestly, I was looking forward to it. It might be fun to finally take down the people I’d never fought seriously before.

Carta, Cecil, Shari, Duke, Cynthia, Olynn... and of course, Allen and Lilith. I didn't care who it was. Even if I had to crush every single one of my classmates, I was going to be the one standing at the top.