No! I don't want to be a Super Necromancer!

The hijacked mecha wasn't just a weapon. In Damien Bloodbane's hands, it was an extension of his will.

A cold, efficient, and terrifying Death Reaper's scythe.

From the moment he seized control of the unit, the sky stopped being a battlefield. It became a slaughterhouse.

Mecha One crumpled under a direct blast to the core.

Mecha Two was shot and cocooned and thrown into its teammate.

Three through Seven fell in rapid succession—torso shots, joint cripples, cockpit breaches. All clean. All surgical.

By the time most of the first years realized what was happening, Damien had destroyed fourteen.

"God bless Damien Bloodbane!" someone shrieked wildly. "Kill those mecha bastards! Kill them all! Kill them all for mee!!!"

"Hahahahahahaha! Take that! You think you can ambush us that easily?!"

Damien's efficient "killing" of the mechas had turned the ambush completely around.

The first years who were scattered and defensive, instantly retaliated at full strength.

Every single type of attack went zipping this way and that way, causing the mechas a hell lot of headache.

"Fuck!" One of them shouted. "Which bastard said that this would be a simple clean up operation of the damn first years!"

"We got ambushed!" Another one yelled. "This isn't a test for the first years! This is a reverse test! For us!"

"Damn it! I knew it! I fucking knew it! The fucking school wouldn't give us such an easy assignment! There would always be some fucking twist in the fucking plot! Damn fucking it!"

In the observation deck high above the airspace, the instructors stood frozen, lips and hands twitching violently.

"Poor fourth years. We truly didn't set you guys up this time…" They thought to themselves wryly.

But most of them were more stunned about Damien's skill level.

"He's dancing through them." Professor Wu muttered, eyes locked on the display.

"Does he have a weakness at all?" Professor Bai Lian mused.

"Maybe… girls? Should put him in the love and lust trial?" Professor Wu replied thoughtfully.

Bam!

Professor Kong Hu smacked his head.

"He's only fifteen years old." He snapped at his underling. "Don't be crazy!"

"Hehehe." Professor Wu chuckled.

The remaining mechas tried to regroup. It didn't matter.

Fifteen through twenty-two were obliterated in under a minute by the furious first year students.

The remaining were destroyed by Damien.

He spiral-dodged incoming fire, then used their own velocity against them, slamming one into another mid-air before dropping a pair with burst-mode cocoon rounds.

Even the American team stopped fighting to watch.

"Did he just ricochet off his own mana blast?" Jason Park asked, dumbfounded.

"He bounced," Athena said flatly. "Off air. Using mana."

By the time the final mecha exploded, Professor Kong Hu exhaled through his nose.

"He's good."

Professor Wu crossed his arms. "Too good. Now that he has a shell of armor wrapped around him, we should consider handing him his first defeat."

"A controlled intervention?" Professor Bai Lian mused.

Professor Orange didn't speak for a moment. Her golden eyes tracked Damien's every movement. At the thirtieth confirmed takedown, her lips curled upward in a soft, radiant smile.

"No," she said.

The other professors turned.

"Let the students deal with it. They need this. So does he."

A long silence.

Then Professor Kong Hu nodded. "As you wish."

Just as Damien hovered above the smoldering wreck of the final mecha, he detected movement on the ground.

A lot of movement.

Damien's eyes narrowed.

Below, the first years were finally touching down. Some were whooping in victory. Others collapsed in the grass, relieved.

Fatty had managed to peel himself out of his cocoon and was bragging about how his "sacrifice was part of the plan."

Then the earth shook.

From the tree line, the cliffs, the riverbanks, they came.

Second-years in full combat gear. Third-years with elite squad insignias. All charging forward in eerie silence. Coordinated. Merciless.

No speeches. No mercy. No warnings.

Only intent to kill.

The first years barely had time to scream.

Explosions rang out across the ridge. Smoke rose. Dozens were struck down in minutes.

Jennifer Aquafrost threw up an ice wall. But it was almost instantly shattered by an earth burst.

Ji Chen tried to summon a wind barrier next. It was no use at all. It was sniped mid-cast by a lightning spear.

All over the field, barriers and shields were destroyed by a hailstorm of powerful spells.

It was a completely unfair and one sided fight.

But battles are usually like that.

The Americans held formation for five seconds. Six. Seven. Then one of them was snatched by a binding spell and slammed to the ground.

Athena fought like a beast. Hair wild, light magic flaring with intensity, but she was alone. Within seconds, she was surrounded and bleeding.

Jiang Xiao Yu moved like a phantom, weaving through illusions and water veils. But even she didn't see the attacker closing in from behind.

And then…

CRASH.

The entire forest quaked.

Damien's mecha landed like a comet, throwing up dirt and mana shockwaves in every direction.

Three upperclassmen were flung backward. Two others dove for cover.

Damien's cannon was already hot.

He scanned the field and moved.

Jiang Xiao Yu was first.

She was mid-dodge, her spell disrupted. A stun bolt zipped toward her back.

Damien shifted the mecha forward and slammed a shoulder into the bolt's path, tanking the hit. He crushed the attacker with a forward lunge and shielded Jiang with the mecha's left arm.

She blinked up at him and smiled.

Then he was gone again.

Athena was next.

She was panting, knees bent, holding off three opponents on her own. Her barrier cracked. A fire whip lashed toward her midsection.

Damien rammed into them like a missile, cannon offline but fists glowing. He kicked one third-year through a tree and threw another into a boulder. The third fired a mana lance directly into the cockpit—

BOOM.

The mecha exploded.

Metal fragments tore through the air. Damien hit the ground in a spinning roll, body smoking, half his uniform burned, gauntlet cracked.

He coughed once.

But he stood.

Athena rushed to him and yelled. "Let's go! We can't fight them here! Let's retreat into the forest nearby! And why the hell did you save her first?!"

"... … She was closer." Damien replied even as he dashed off with Athena towards Jiang Xiao Yu.

He couldn't believe that he was having such a… senseless conversation in the middle of such a massive crisis.

"That is such a—"

Jiang Xiao Yu popped up beside them out of nowhere, smiling like she was on a picnic. "It's true. I was closer."

"You enjoyed that, didn't you?" Athena growled.

"Immensely."

"Were you smiling when he saved you?"

"Absolutely. A much nicer smile than yours, definitely."

Athena scowled.

Damien just sighed.

They turned and ran, dodging hexes and weaving through trees. Jiang Xiao Yu dispersed fog and illusions while Athena threw back flares of light. Damien stayed at the rear, his movements slower now, but still precise.

Together, they vanished into the wilderness.

From above, on the floating instructor's platform, Professor Orange watched the three figures disappear into the forest canopy.

"It's those two again. And the American Princess." Professor Kong Hu murmured. "I don't think normal is going to cut it for them."

Professor Orange smiled. "Mm. Shall we do this the American way?"