"10,000 monsters, please."
Simon's stunning declaration sent the underground dungeon into an uproar.
"What—What did he just say?"
"I must have misheard him, right?"
The student break room erupted into chaos. In the waiting area, his own teammates stood with their jaws agape.
With a dull 'thud', the leader of Group 4 slumped against the wall, his eyes vacant. Lorraine was at a loss for words, while Eshe, looking utterly devastated, clawed at her hair and screamed.
"President, you crazy bastard!"
Toto's eyes trembled. "H-He must have misspoken. It has to be a mistake..."
It was an incomprehensible number. The dungeon keeper asked him to repeat it, and Simon, as if driving a nail into a coffin, declared it again for all to hear.
"I will challenge 10,000 monsters."
A booming laugh echoed from the VIP seats. While everyone else was stunned into silence, one of the Elders watching from above roared with delight.
"Yes! Yes! That's the kind of spirit a Kizen Student Council President should have!"
"He's out of his mind," another Elder on the opposite side grumbled with a frown. "Ten thousand in fifteen minutes. Does that boy think the number ten thousand is some kind of joke?"
Opinions were divided even among the seasoned Elders. The students were convinced Simon had finally snapped and was throwing the match. It was the only logical explanation.
"I will prepare them," the dungeon keeper said, turning to silently carry out his duty.
-This is Aaron.
Just then, Aaron's voice came through a communication crystal.
-Can you prepare 10,000 monsters in the underground dungeon?
"...Well, if we scrape together every last one from the bottom, we can manage it somehow."
As the dungeon keeper descended, Simon took a deep breath and closed his eyes.
'Focus.'
He had come this far with the help of so many. The first thing that came to mind were Grelion's words.
"Your concept is certainly unconventional. But why isn't your method?"
"The answer is in your head."
Grelion's advice had resonated deeply. Simon had immediately gone to see Lin and Lune, the twin professors of Summoning Thanatology.
"The skull of an Ancient Undead?"
Simon had shown the two of them 'Manus's Skull', which Erzebet had sealed away. The twins placed it on their desk and circled it with fascination.
"How interesting! The core and everything else has been destroyed, but its grudge must have been so potent that a minuscule residual thought remained attached to the very tip of the skull."
"You drew that residual thought into a summoning circle and spent a great deal of time reviving it. That's what this is."
"This isn't the 'Manus' you speak of, Simon."
"And you certainly can't call it a 'fragment of Manus,' either."
Simon had nodded.
"I know. I want to control this altered fragment, even if just for ten minutes."
"If that's the case!"
"Then it's our time to shine!"
The two undead girls had picked up chalk and approached the blackboard.
"As Ancient Undead who have existed for a faaar longer time!"
"Shall we teach you how to train this little one?"
After that, with only the bare minimum of control measures in place, Simon began to formulate his plan. How could he fuse the head and body of two different undead into a single Dullahan?
There was no need to obsess over linkage runes, complex formulas, or the idea of overturning common sense. He wasn't the first necromancer to create a Dullahan.
'You don't overturn common sense.' He shifted his perspective. 'You transcend it.'
Chaos.
The Chaos magic circle Simon had drawn on his side. This power would be the key to the entire process.
-Student Simon Polentia. Please prepare.
Hearing the announcement, Simon opened his subspace. The body of a Guardian Dullahan flopped out, collapsing to the floor like a puppet with its strings cut.
At the sight of it, unable to even stand, the students in the break room scowled.
"What the hell? It looks like he didn't even finish it."
"So the 10,000 monsters thing was just a bluff? Did he just give up?"
"...What a total disaster. And he's supposed to be the top student?"
Jeers and scorn filled the air. The faces of his own teammates in the waiting area began to harden, but Simon paid them no mind as he began his preparations.
'Ready.'
With his left hand, he gripped the Chaos magic circle on his side. With his right, he unfurled the activation circle that would bring the Dullahan to life.
A violet crackle filled the air. Even this magic circle was woven from Chaos, glowing with an otherworldly hue. Simon inscribed it onto the Dullahan's body.
'Connect.'
He wasn't using a linkage rune. He used a 'transmission rune' forged from Chaos to connect his own magic circle to the Dullahan's. This was merely the first step.
And then...
The real work began with a low hum.
Simon took out Manus's skull. At the sudden appearance of the skeletal head, the spectators murmured and leaned closer to their screens.
"A-A skeleton's skull? He's putting that on a Dullahan's body?"
"Has he completely lost his mind?"
The skull seemed to have crossed a line. This time, even the Elders hardened their expressions.
"Does he intend to insult Kizen?!"
"How pathetic. It would have been better to just give up."
What Simon did next was simple. He released the seal on Manus's skull and placed it upon the Dullahan's empty neck.
'Here we go!'
Simon activated Manus's summoning circle. Instantly, a gleam of light flared to life within the skull's eye sockets.
'I was lucky to see Manus move last time.'
Manus generated a massive amount of Jet-Black to claim nearby undead as its own body. Simon would use that very property.
A torrent of Jet-Black gushed from Manus's skull, seeking to possess the Dullahan body before it. But waiting inside that body was a magic circle drawn with the ingredients of Chaos: Divinity and SM-1 blood. On its own, the circle had no effect. But when it came into contact with Jet-Black...
The three elements fused with a roar, transmuting into Chaos—a power that only Simon could wield. The black smoke pouring from the Dullahan's body turned a deep violet. Its entire being now ran on the power of Chaos. For its engine, he used the core taken from the One-Eyed Gentleman, the one Erzebet had acquired in Frigod. It was the only material that could withstand Manus's output.
"Now!" Simon shouted. "Begin the exam!"
-The exam will now begin.
With a deafening 'clang', every gate in the underground dungeon flew open, and a tide of blackness surged out.
Ten thousand monsters.
In an instant, the exam area was plunged into darkness.
"What the—!"
The spectators watching the screen collectively gasped and recoiled in horror. The moment the gates opened, the monitor went completely black, the entire space instantly choked with monsters. Nothing could be seen. Nothing could be done. The students in the waiting area let out groans of despair.
"H-How is anyone supposed to fight in there?"
"It's over."
As everyone scoffed, scorned, and despaired, a single violet flame flickered to life in the pitch-black darkness.
The flame erupted.
As a great 'whoosh' of light flooded the screen, the spectators witnessed it: standing in the darkness was a Dullahan, wielding a sword that burned with an unholy fire.
"Let's go, Manus," Simon said, his voice firm with resolve. The Dullahan held a blade with a purple wick, engulfed in a deep blue flame.
'Simon Original - Chaos Dullahan'
Behind the barrier, Simon drew his arm in a straight line. The candle-flame sword mirrored the motion.
One strike.
The flame tore through the darkness with a roar, incinerating every monster in its path.
[Remaining Monsters: 9,287 / 10,000]
"Whoa, whoa! Whoa!"
"What in the world is happening?!"
The break room and waiting area were in an uproar.
Simon placed a hand on his Chaos magic circle. 'Increase the output!'
He doubled the amount of Chaos feeding the wick. 'Absorb the mana!'
The Dullahan's Jet-Black engine began to devour all the mana in the exam area, creating an illusion of space itself distorting around it.
The Jet-Black flame enveloping the enlarged purple wick grew with a crackle. The sword became a giant, swirling vortex of fire, its tip now reaching from the center of the room to the far wall.
'Go.'
The Chaos Dullahan raised the sword to its forehead in a solemn, ritual-like gesture. Then, its torso twisted, and the flaming blade spun a full 360 degrees.
The darkness was split asunder with a roar, and legions of monsters were burned to cinders.
[Remaining Monsters: 7,461 / 10,000]
The students screamed, their faces flushed with excitement.
"Th-Thousands in a single blow?"
"Is that even possible?!"
Manus—no, the Chaos Dullahan—began to swing the raging, candle-flame sword again and again. Its slashes tore through the world, leaving trails of violet destruction.
'Imperial Swordsmanship – Woo-hwa'
'Imperial Swordsmanship – Jun-cheon'
'Imperial Swordsmanship – Hyeon-mong'
'Imperial Swordsmanship – Wi-mu'
The Dullahan performed a deadly sword dance, and the darkness receded with every move.
"This is insane!"
In the administrator's area, a Crow agent ripped off his mask with a 'thud', his eyes wide with disbelief. "The lost Imperial Swordsmanship... How can a Dullahan use it?"
The flames drew curves and straight lines, left shimmering afterimages, and bloomed into dozens of deadly blossoms. The sword burned away the blackness on the screen, creating a blank, white canvas. The void was quickly swallowed by darkness again, only to be wiped clean by another sweep of the blade.
Manus readjusted its grip with a soft scrape, making a motion as if to sheathe the sword at its waist. Then, it spun and drew.
The world was consumed by fire.
'Imperial Swordsmanship – Hoe-cheon'
[Remaining Monsters: 5,115 / 10,000]
"Wooooooooooah!"
"He's already taken out half of them!"
"Five thousand! He's killed five thousand monsters!"
The students watching were losing their minds.
'...A wave-type technique,' Hector thought, biting his lip as he watched with unnerving intensity, his arms crossed.
The Chaos Dullahan swung its sword, and a crackling, electric energy leaped from the blade, coursing through the monsters. It chained from one to the next, causing them to detonate simultaneously.
'So that's it. In a confined space, once you pass a certain threshold, the number becomes meaningless.'
Numbers weren't a measure of absolute strength. They only held tactical value in a wide, open area. In a single room, it didn't matter if there were a thousand insects or a hundred million; they would all be annihilated by a single bomb.
A technique that affected the entire space. That Dullahan possessed it, and that was why Simon had chosen ten thousand.
"Damn it!"
Hector slammed his fist on the armrest of the sofa. 'So I was the one who set my own limits, bound by the rules!'
The Chaos Dullahan pushed through the horde, moving to the far end of the dungeon. Its sword swelled to a colossal size with a low hum.
'Imperial Swordsmanship – Chang-cheon'
The blade of Chaos, Jet-Black, and flame swept through the world. The screen went completely white.
[Remaining Monsters: 945 / 10,000]
[Time Remaining: 7 minutes]
There were no more gasps of admiration. Everyone could only stare, their mouths agape in stunned silence.
"Simon!"
Lorraine's sharp cry cut through the silence. Everyone's attention, which had been fixed on the Dullahan, snapped to Simon.
He was covered in blood.
"Hah! Hah!"
There was no way the caster could be unharmed while wielding such immense power. Blood streamed from his mouth and nose—a clear sign of Jet-Black backlash.
'The power is greater than I expected, but...!'
The risk was also far greater. His consciousness flickered. His heart hammered against his ribs, and his insides twisted into knots.
"He's in danger!"
"Stop the exam right now! The student could die!"
The medical team rushed forward with a stretcher, but Simon slowly raised a hand to stop them.
"Student!"
"Simon Polentia." Aaron had somehow appeared at the front of the exam area faster than anyone. He only said the name, but his voice was thick with concern.
"Let me... keep going... please!" Simon choked out, suppressing a mouthful of blood as he held his hands forward. The Chaos Dullahan mirrored his stance, swinging its sword at the charging monsters.
A series of clean lines were drawn through the air with a 'swish', and monsters fell to the floor in pieces, joining the thick layer of ash that already coated the ground.
"Why...?" Eshe whispered, her legs having given out from under her. "Why are you pushing yourself so hard? It's just an exam! If you just killed a thousand, or even eight hundred..."
'Because Simon...' Lorraine thought, clenching her fists. '...doesn't set limits for himself.'
The exam was just a catalyst. It could provide motivation, but one's true limits were defined by oneself, not by a test. He was fighting a battle against himself to shatter those limits. That was why he'd created a Lich when others were making Skeleton Mages. And it was why he was taking on 10,000 monsters when others were fighting 40.
'He's aiming for something higher.'
In the break room, Serne sat on a sofa, biting her index finger. She licked her lips, her eyes gleaming with appreciation. "Hoho, are you finally revealing your presence among the sardines?"
In the waiting area, the break room, and the spectator gallery, everyone held their breath, watching in a trance.
"Ugh!" Simon clenched his fist so hard it felt like bone would shatter. His entire body creaked in protest. His breath hitched, and his vision swam.
The flame on the sword, which had been weakening, finally flickered and went out, leaving a plain longsword. Manus, who had been gleefully slaughtering monsters, stopped dead in its tracks and turned to stare at Simon behind the barrier. Simon could feel its dissatisfaction and let out a dry chuckle.
"Sorry. But still..." He forced strength into his blood-drenched arm. "I can still fight."
-Keeeeeeeeek!
-Kiiiiiii!
Monsters charged at the stationary Dullahan. Manus readjusted its grip and swung without looking back. An X of shimmering steel appeared in the air, and dozens more monsters were bisected, their bodies piling up on the floor.
[Remaining Monsters: 445 / 10,000]
"You can do it, Simon!!"
A cracked, reedy shout came from the waiting area. The sound snapped Simon back to his senses.
'T-Toto?'
Toto, having overcome his shyness, was screaming at the top of his lungs. "You can do it!!"
His cry broke the spell, and the other teammates, who had been momentarily dazed, joined in.
"You're doing great! Keep it up!!"
"Presideeeent!"
Suddenly, the air was electric with cheers. The break room erupted, the students shouting at the screen.
"What are you doing?! Get that one that's running away!"
"It's getting away on the side! Pay attention!"
"Keep going! Keep going!"
Everyone was on their feet, faces flushed with excitement, completely captivated by Simon's struggle. Their chests burned with a vicarious fire. At that moment, rankings and competition meant nothing. They just wanted to see this magnificent spectacle through to the end.
The Elders shot up from their chairs with a 'thud', shattering the armrests.
"This gets my blood boiling!"
"Hahahaha! I can't watch this sitting down! If only I were ten years younger!"
Even the Crows were swept up in the moment.
"...Reminds me of my days at Kizen."
"Cut the crap, senior."
And the professors.
"It's thanks to my advice, Simon Polentia."
"No! He referenced Lin's formula!"
"No! He referenced Lune's formula!"
And then...
-One minute remaining.
"You fucking idiot!" Hector, who had been pretending not to care, finally shoved his way through the crowd with a 'bang' and stood before the screen. "If you're going to win, then win properly! Simon Polentia!!"
Manus's sword dispatched eight more monsters with a great 'swish'.
[Remaining Monsters: 8 / 10,000]
But now, the sword strikes had ceased. The Jet-Black engine had stopped.
"Ughhh!" Simon felt like his body would tear itself apart just from maintaining the Dullahan.
Manus looked back at him a second time.
"Keep... going!"
The capillaries in his eyes, pushed beyond their limit, burst, and bloody tears streamed down his face. But Simon didn't stop.
Manus kicked a charging monster, shattering its bones.
"Seven more!"
"Seven!" everyone roared in unison.
"To your side, Simon!"
Simon's eyes darted to the side. Manus's gaze followed, and its blade cut down a monster charging from the right.
"Siiix moooore!" Toto screamed, his voice completely shredded.
Manus charged forward with a 'thud', felling two more.
The remaining monsters were two 'Fleeing Jezillies' and two ordinary orcs that had been driven mad by the Chaos, now rampaging wildly. The power of Chaos was a double-edged sword in this test.
"Keep going!"
"One by one!"
"Thirty seconds!"
He couldn't see through the blood, but it didn't matter. At some point, he had started seeing through Manus's eyes.
'Our minds are completely connected! You've opened your heart to me, haven't you?'
Simon swung his arm with all his might, and Manus's sword followed the motion.
"Four monsters left!"
"Fifteen seconds!"
He could feel Manus's strength fading. Its entire body felt waterlogged and heavy. Even the formidable frame of a Guardian Dullahan was struggling to channel Manus's power. Its limbs were tattered and bent at odd angles, stained a deep, bruised black.
Simon and Manus squeezed out their last reserves of strength and charged, lopping off the head of a Fleeing Jezilly with a 'crack'.
"Two more!"
"Two monsters left!"
"Ten seconds left!" Simon bit his lip. 'Damn it!'
The two maddened orcs were running in opposite directions.
Everyone counted down as one.
"Nine!"
"Eight!"
Better to act than to hesitate. Manus lunged for the orc on the right and swung.
Its foot slipped with a 'screech', and the blade only managed to sever the orc's arm. The creature shrieked and fled.
"Six!"
"Five!"
Time seemed to stretch, and the thread of Simon's sanity frayed.
'Focus!'
9,999 kills was still zero points. He had to get all 10,000.
'Focus!'
Simon poured all his senses into the tip of the blade and swung again. He felt the orc's neck give way.
One remained.
"Four!"
"Three!"
The moment the head was severed, he spun. The last orc was already far away. Faster than the decapitated head could hit the ground, he kicked off the floor and swung.
"Two!"
"One!"
The descending blade...
'Ah...!'
...fell short.
As the sword cut through empty air, the strength fled from his hand, and the weapon flew from his grasp.
A piercing beep signaled the end of the exam.
Simon's consciousness snapped back to his own body. He wiped the blood from his eyes with his sleeve and stared forward.
The last orc.
Manus's skull was embedded in its neck.
'No way!'
Manus had grabbed its own head with its left hand and thrown it.
The Dullahan was looking at him, and Simon could have sworn it was smiling.
The orc, its neck crushed by skeletal teeth, crumbled to the ground.
In the vast, empty space, the only thing left standing was the body of a headless Dullahan.
-Simon Polentia, within the time limit, has eliminated all 10,000 of the 10,000 monsters!
-Student Simon Polentia and Team 6 have acquired 10,000 points!
A thunderous roar erupted from the students. Their faces flushed with a mixture of excitement and awe, they surged toward Simon.
In that moment, a new legend had been written.
Aaron, who had been watching from the front row, didn't even notice the cigar fall from his lips with a soft 'thud'. His palms were drenched in sweat.
"...You crazy bastard."
He had really done it.
He had cut down 10,000.

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