The Strongest Student of the Weakest Academy-Chapter 361: The Beginning Of The End [XXIII]

Chapter 361: The Beginning Of The End [XXIII]
A few hours passed, and it was finally time for the last exam, as well as an extra one that wouldn’t affect the grades.
The one suggested by the Valkyric Division.
Because of that, every single student was gathered in the same open field… absolutely all of them.
Even the ones who had been eliminated in the very first round stood there among the crowd, shifting nervously, whispering, glancing around as if expecting something to jump at them.
The reason was simple.
This final special test could actually restore a student’s position if they succeeded.But those who already had their ranks fixed… nothing would change for them.
‘…This is giving me a bad feeling…’
Aestrea frowned as he looked down at the huge crowd of students, barely holding back the urge to simply escape away from there.
He didn’t know if the barrier planned by the Valkyric Division had already activated without him noticing… or if they were just waiting for the perfect moment.
Which, obviously, was now.
All students gathered in the same place… the ideal timing.
“Ugh… bro, after this we can finally go back… so damn tiresome,” Elijah yawned beside him, stretching lazily like someone who hadn’t just helped supervise life-and-death exams all morning.
It was still crazy to think that Elijah was supposedly on the same level of strength as the professors. His relaxed personality made it feel impossible.
Hearing his tired voice, Aestrea made up his mind instantly.
Time to run.
“Ahh… me too, man. I think I’m going to leave now,” he said with a casual roll of his shoulders, trying to look like a normal, exhausted student and not someone desperately escaping a trap.
Elijah nodded without a hint of suspicion.
“You did extremely well, Junior. Go rest. You earned it,” he said, waving him off with a gentle smile.
Aestrea almost sagged in relief, forcing himself to keep his expression calm as he turned away and began to drift from the group.
Just a normal student going home early.
But just when he was a few meters away…
“Where are you going?”
Until a familiar yet mechanical voice called out to him.
Aestrea stopped at once.
“…President?” he turned around slowly.
Lunara hovered there, perfectly still, her long hair floating gently in the air, her eyes locked on him with her usual mechanical expression.
Her gaze did not blink.
“You didn’t answer my question,” she retorted, arms crossing slightly, just enough to sharpen the pressure around her.
“Ah, that!” Aestrea let out a soft laugh, scratching his head lightly. “I’m leaving since this last test doesn’t need my supervision, and I’m a little tired, you know? Figured I’d go rest.”
“Mhm…” Lunara hummed as if analyzing every micro-movement he made.
He prepared to leave again, lifting one hand in a casual wave.
“Then, if you’ll excus—”
“Stay for the last exam.”
Her voice cut through his sentence like a blade.
He froze.
“I’ll be the one supervising this,” Lunara continued, her mechanical tone unchanged. “So you need to watch it carefully. This is one of the few times I will personally handle an exam.”
Aestrea’s lips twitched.
But his expression shifted instantly into something bright and eager, like a kid about to watch fireworks.
“Really? Then I can’t waste such a rare chance to see the president herself in action!” he spoke with the fakest cheerful smile he could muster.
Lunara nodded once, clearly satisfied with his expression.
‘…I should fucking kill her,’ he added inwardly.
“Let’s go then,” she waved her hand.
Aestrea followed her like a well-trained little pet, keeping just a bit behind her, and then drifted back toward Elijah’s side.
He stared at me with this confused look, like I had just grown a second head.
“Didn’t you say you were going home?” he asked, eyebrows lifting a little.
“Yeah… but the President said she was going to act herself, so I couldn’t miss such a good chance!”
I clenched my fist like some excited kid, making sure my eyes shone just enough.
Elijah blinked, but soon nodded.
“No wonder… the president almost never acts,” he muttered, his gaze moving toward Lunara.
She stood in front of the crowd now, floating just a bit above the ground, her hair falling neatly along her back, her mechanical eyes sweeping over the students like she was counting every soul present.
“Hello,” her calm voice echoed across the entire field.
“As everyone knows, I am Lunara, the Student Council President, and I will be supervising this last exam.”
A ripple of whispers moved through the students, but she didn’t wait for them to stop.
“This exam will be simple. Each student will attempt to synchronize with one of the ancient relics prepared for this test.”
The air shifted a little at her words, since it could be an opportunity for them to get much stronger than before.
“If a student who was eliminated manages to synchronize with a relic, they will immediately earn a rank. It will not be higher than what they could have originally earned, but it will be a valid rank nonetheless.”
A few students who had lost earlier perked up, their eyes shining with sudden hope.
“But if a student who already passed the exam synchronizes with a relic…” Her tone didn’t change, but something sharp passed through her gaze.
“…then that student will be allowed to keep the relic. This rule comes directly from the Valkyric Division.”
Gasps followed as some students even stumbled forward from excitement.
At that moment, Lunara’s mechanical eyes slid upward, locking onto Ardeon, who hovered calmly in the sky with his arms crossed and a faint, pleased smirk on his face.
Her gaze lingered on him for one slow second… then returned to the crowd.
“I will now place the relic rods,” she said.
Crank…
She held the relic rods like fragile glass, placing them into the ground with exact precision.
Every time a rod slid into the soil, a soft click echoed, followed by a faint ripple that trembled through the earth.
The air shifted in a strange way, as if something old had just woken up. Everyone thought that it was simple… sound caused by the relic rods.
The students shifted nervously.
The instructors whispered to each other, and even the sky seemed tense and still.
‘…There’s something strange about this,’ Aestrea frowned lightly.
Something was definitely off.
The rods were reacting too fast as they were vibrating before they were even fully planted.
His breathing stayed even, but his heartbeat tightened in his chest.
Lunara pressed the last rod down.
Click…!
Far above them, high in a golden hall that floated among the clouds, Ardeon leaned forward on his throne.
His fingers curled slowly over the armrests, knuckles pale. His chest moved with an uneven tremble.
A tiny giggle escaped him.
“…heh.”
Then another.
“Hehehe…”
And the sound grew louder and louder…
Until it burst into complete madness.
“Ahahaha—AHAHAHAHA!”
Aestrea’s head snapped up.
A crushing pressure slammed onto the field like a massive weight falling from the heavens. The sky tore open with twisting rainbow light.
SHWOOOOOOOM—!!
Seven-colored power exploded outward and wrapped itself around the entire arena, closing like a giant dome. In one instant, thousands of students were sealed inside.
Aestrea felt the barrier bite sharply at his skin.
“…This is it.”
『 ✯ Moon Mark ✯ 』
He didn’t waste a second as he quickly activated his Moon Mark, as that was the only thing that could actually reveal his identity as the Fallen God.
And fortunately for him, nobody noticed that he now had Moon Mark on planted on both of his eyes, including Lunara.
She simply lifted her head and stared at the laughing figure glowing on the massive floating screen above them.
Her voice came out sharp and calm:
“…What did you do?”
Ardeon tilted his head, smiling wider, like he was enjoying a beautiful melody.
“What did I do?” he repeated gently.
“Oh, President… I simply started the real exam.”
All around her, the relic rods suddenly burst with blinding light.
FWOOM—!
Every relic, whether it was blades, talismans, armor pieces, or crystal cores, exploded upward like a storm of steel and light.
Then they dropped.
…Straight toward the students.
“HAAAAARGH—!!”
“GET IT OUT—!! AAGHHH!!”
Screams filled the arena as relics smashed into bodies, forcing themselves inside with violent flashes of energy.
Light cracked along arms and legs. Some students fainted while others screamed until their voices broke.
FWISSSHHHH!
One after another, relics fused with the students forcibly.
Aestrea’s expression turned colder.
“…He’s fusing them by force.”
Lunara’s body finally moved.
Her fingers curled tightly, her face sharpening into a hard, cold shape, but then, she saw something that made her eyes widen in complete surprise.
What Ardeon held in his hand….
A long scepter, forged from black metal, and crowned with a cube-shaped gem pulsing in seven shifting colors.
Her breath caught in her chest.
“That… that is the Ancient Scepter of Olocko.”
Her voice was barely a whisper, yet the entire field seemed to feel it.
“That relic was sealed. No one should be able to use it. No one should even be able to touch—”
Ardeon lifted it slowly, as if displaying a priceless treasure.
“Oh, this?” He grinned with childish pride.
“It was always meant for me, of course~”
Lunara stared at him as though reality itself had betrayed her.
“You weren’t supposed to have that. You weren’t supposed to even know it existed.”
Ardeon chuckled under his breath.
“But I knew everything.”
Her eyes narrowed, sharp with danger.
“What do you mean?”
He tapped the scepter lightly against his throne’s armrest.
“I knew you broke into our faction’s private room~”
Lunara’s eyes widened a fraction.
“I knew you read my files. I knew you checked the countless arrays we had put. I knew you poked around in things that weren’t obviously yours to touch.”
He leaned forward, resting his chin on his hand, smiling like he had already won.
“And while you thought you were being clever… You were walking exactly where I wanted you to walk.”
“You’re lying.” Lunara’s voice tightened as she clenched her fists.
“No, Lunara. I simply~ left the door unlocked for you.” Ardeon laughed madly, his eyes almost twisting in delight.
He lifted the scepter slightly.
“I left the papers on my desk for you.”
His smile turned sharper, and yet, it contained a huge amount of excitement, as if watching a toy that was meant to be destroyed a long time ago, finally fulfill its destiny.
“Every step you took was a step I planned for you.”
Fwssssssshhhhhhh!
The rods flared again.
More relics forced themselves into screaming students.
Lunara’s voice broke for the first time, barely above a breath.
“…Y-you used me.”
Ardeon’s tone dropped into pure wicked delight.
“I did more than that.”
He stood from his golden throne as the seven-colored dome pulsed like a living thing behind him.
“I tested you.”
THRUUUM!
The ground started shaking tremendously, as the whole blue sky suddenly turned into a seven-colored shade.
Aestrea watched in silence, the Moon Mark faintly shining on his eyes.
Ardeon spread his arms wide, like a man welcoming the end of the world.
“Look at it, Lunara.”
His voice deepened, becoming even more thrilled, trembling with victory.
“Look at the barrier you helped complete.”
He tilted his head with sick joy, eyes burning with seven-colored light.
“The preparations are complete!”