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The third eye on Arcana's forehead shone brightly and the kid-looking acolyte widely grinned, as if he had already won.

"I won't hesitate to slice one of your limbs or two. You'll regret messing with me!"

However…

A few seconds had passed since he opened his third eye, yet his opponent was still calmly transforming into a half-human half-beast creature.

Arcana quickly turned anxious.

The dark-furred half beast with silver hair stared at him with sharp and fierce eyes. Arcana felt shivers down his spine.

He reflexively took a step back.

'No… It's not possible!'

Arcana gritted his teeth and glared back at Emery.

"Don't look down on me!"

He instantly increased the power of his skill and his third eye shone once again.

Emery, however, kept walking closer and closer.

Arcana couldn't believe his eyes, he was counting on Emery to at least step into an illusion for a few minutes like last time. But it was as if his skill didn't have any effect at all.

Howlll!

Emery was glad that the size of his spirit pool wasn't a factor that affected whether he would fall into an illusion or not. Compared to the last time he fought Arcana in the Arena, the only difference was that Emery was wearing the [Bracelet of Anu] this time.

He had initially returned the bracelet to Klea before, but after hearing Arcana was causing trouble, he borrowed the bracelet again and Klea gave it in a heartbeat.

Apparently the artifact indeed had the ability to help him resist Arcana's illusion.

Arcana's skill was only able to give him a headache for a few seconds this time. Just like last time, it appeared the blowing pressure from that eye seemed to just phase away and Emery once again gained full control of his body.

Howll!!!

Arcana's legs were trembling. He tried increasing the power of his skill to the maximum, but nothing seemed to be working.

'It can't be… Something's definitely wrong with my power! There's no way he can!'

He froze in place. He wanted to run, but his body refused to follow his command.

'There's no way!'

"Ack!"

Emery's furry arm grabbed his neck and raised him off the ground. At this moment, fear has taken over.

Arcana grabbed Emery's arm and tried to get his hand off his neck. He struggled to get away with all the strength he could muster, but to no avail.

He had no chance against Emery's high battle power.

"Urghh… stop! Uuugh!"

The kid-looking acolyte was running out of strength to resist.

Looking at his futile attempts at resisting him, Emery felt his primal urge resurface. At this moment, he wanted nothing more than to snap this fool's neck.

Fortunately, Emery still had control over himself. He only tightened his grip on Arcana's neck for a few seconds until his face turned ghastly white, before releasing him.

The kid-looking acolyte helplessly fell to the ground and violently coughed a few times.

"Cough, cough, cough! Uuugh… No! No more! Please… don't kill me! I'll do anything. I'll do anything." The acolyte pleaded in a pitiful hoarse voice.

It felt awkward to see the rank 10 acolytes of the privileged class act like this.

'Some people really don't deserve the gifts they have,' Emery thought to himself

Emery heaved a sigh and a notification simultaneously came into their mind.

[Squad 26 - Arcana - is receiving the level three penalty for attacking the commander, minus 20,000 points.]

[Squad 26 captain, Arcana, is receiving a double penalty - minus 40,000 points.]

This penalty quickly made Arcana the lowest-ranking acolyte among all the test participants.

[Rank 903 - Squad 26 - Arcana]

"Noooooo!!!" The kid looking acolyte started shrieking in shock with the news.

Now that Arcana had an abysmally low score, Emery hoped he would be more compliant and committed to getting more points for the platoon. Emery, after all, had a plan that involved using Aracana's skill.

Emery was ready to intimidate him one last time, however, to his shock, Arcana looked at him with eyes full of tears and began to cry.

"I am a failure… I am a failure… Mother is going to punish me! I am really dead now! Huuh…."

Seeing the kid-looking acolyte cry while mentioning his mother instantly made Emery's previous rage and irritation dissipate without a trace.

Looks like Arcana was not just a kid by figure, but also in the head in a messed-up way.

A minute passed, but Arcana was still crying on the ground. His face was now messily covered in tears - it did not seem as if he was going to stop anytime soon.

Apparently Emery caused him to have a mental breakdown.

'This is getting a little annoying…'

Unable to bear it any longer, Emery shouted at Arcana.

"Stand up! Damn it… You, come with me right now!"

Emery grabbed his shoulder, used [Blink] to go to the middle of the settlement and started killing the incoming Abyss creatures until there were none left.

Meanwhile, the kid-looking acolyte only dazedly watched from behind, his eyes devoid of any hope.

When the area was finally devoid of Abyss creatures, Emery stated his punishment for Arcana.

He pointed at corpses on the ground and said.

"These people died because of your negligence, the least you can do is bury them properly. If you do it right, I'll help you get your points back and pass the midtest!"

"Really!?" Arcana's attitude instantly changed.

The kid-looking acolyte now looked at him with eyes brimming with hope. Emery felt a little scared by the sudden change, but he still responded with a nod.

The kid must have a dual personality or something.

Either way, Arcana started to dig holes. With the power of his eye, he was able to make the bodies float into the holes without even the need to touch them.

Seeing the brutality of the place, Emery was reminded of the incident with his family estate and decided to help. He used [Undermaster] to create multiple holes and carefully carried more bodies in.

It took them a few hours to finish clearing up the bodies.

While it indeed seemed to be a waste of time, Emery could not help it. Being the commander of the platoon, he felt partly responsible for the massacre of the place.

This was the least he could do.

Emery paid some respect to the deceased and afterward Arcana approached him all messy in dirt and sweat, completely lacking what he was before.

"What are we going to do now, commander?" Arcana politely asked with a humble smile.

Before Emery could say a word in response, a notification came into their devices.

[Day one has passed.]

[Personal Points Ranking]

[Rank 7 - 141,225 points]

[Squad Points Ranking]

[Rank 18 - 386,225 points]

[Scanning numbers of known survivors within the planet.]

[Survivors: 13,910,202]

[Time left: 8 days 23 hours 58 minutes]

Other than the almost million survivors who died within just 24 hours, what surprised him was the new additional information in the device.

[Acolyte casualties: 3]

To be continued