Everyone watched as Aren simply carried this dude by the hair off the ground and proceeded to lay more hands, landing punch after punch into his face nonstop.

It got so bad that the only emotion on the face of the dude was horror, pure horror.

"Arghhhhhhhhhhh!" He screamed like a pig about to be slaughtered.

BAM

Another punch landed and shut him up. Aren carried no emotion in his eyes, just throwing down fists. And when the guy looked up and couldn't even see a speck of emotion on the person reshaping his face, it caused more horror.

'Monster, monster.' He screamed in his mind, writhing as much as he could to get away.

Finally, Aren stopped with the last fist almost reaching. He clicked his tongue and then threw the dude to the ground in a puddle of his own blood.

"That was good stress relief." Aren said and then walked back to Athena.

"Let's go." He said, but right then, Elton appeared again, this time with another set of people, and this time, Aren knew three of them.

One was the hoodie girl from back when he had first met the false Shadow, and the other two were Ragna and Lily. The last person was a dude with a very small frame, dark hair, fitting black armor, and a massive one-edged black greatsword on his back.

When Elton looked around and saw the state of things here, she frowned slightly and then looked at Aren, seeing the blood on his fists, but she said nothing to Aren.

"Please clean the floors." She said to the butler. He nodded, and with a snap of his fingers, all the blood vanished from the floor. He then proceeded to walk to the dude and pick him up. "I'll have him treated." He said.

"No, let him be. His injuries are not your fault," she said, looking at the dude with disdain. The butler nodded and let go of him. He fell back to the ground hard.

Ragna and Lily spotted Aren standing there, and immediately their expressions changed from normal to shock, to fear, and then to anger.

Aren got their gaze and then looked at them, winking at them with a smile. Their frowns deepened.

"There has been a change," Elton said. "The positions are no longer fixed as to when you left the trial, because like the dirty pig on the floor, some only managed to finish by stealing the map and finding the route out earliest." Elton said, then walked back to her throne. She sat down and leaned into her palm.

"Not all of you are special. Some of you simply made it out first or found a secret hidden item that allowed you out first, and all that is fair.

But I'm only interested in having the strongest at the top. The trial must be that way, well, for you lot at least. For the rest, even a weakling can leave early and still have a position." She said, then leaned back into her chair, crossing her legs.

"There are currently thirteen of you, seven remaining for this special group, and in the next twelve hours, I'll have those seven. And when the time is done, a tournament will take place to know which position you fall into." As she said that, she immediately saw the looks on their faces change. She smiled for a bit, then focused again.

"Do not worry about dying. The twenty of you are safe from dying. You have already finished the trial. All this is for is to know your position, so measures will be taken so no one kills another person.

Take your time to prepare." She said, then got up, vanishing from there.

The moment she was gone, the tension came. They would still have to fight. Everyone started looking around, sizing their opponents, and for some reason, they were scared to look in the direction of Aren.

They had just seen him crash out a few moments ago, absolutely manhandling the dude. Now, the dude might not be the strongest, but a certain level of strength had to have been reached to allow him to finish the trial, and Aren dog-walked him.

Regardless of that though, they already started preparing measures in their heads for how to deal with Aren.

Aren, on the other hand, was about to leave with Athena when the boy with the massive sword walked up. He looked to be fifteen at the very best.

"Hey." He greeted and stretched out his hand for a shake. "My name is Raze." He said with a smile.

Aren didn't know why he came to him, but he decided not to think much about it and shook his hand.

The moment their hands touched, Aren felt some sort of pressure, like a massive roaring dragon coming against him. It was heavy and domineering, but rather than be fazed, Aren smiled.

Raze's eyes widened in fear and shock, and in his own mind, his Dragon was suddenly faced with a wave of water so high it reached the sky and so wide that it spread as far as the eyes could see, all coming down on him.

It was drowning, overpowering. He felt like he would die in that moment.

Aren then cracked a smile. "I am Aren, nice to meet you." He said before retracting his hand.

Raze subconsciously took a step back, then smiled. "I was right." He muttered, looking up at Aren. "See you in twelve hours to fight." He said, a bright smile as he walked off.

Aren watched him go. "This will be interesting." He muttered.

"Athena, let's go." He said, grabbing her hand and leading her out. He returned her to his room in the castle so she could rest.

She sat on the bed while he took a seat opposite her.

"Alright, Athena, please tell me what happened, all the details." He said.

She looked up, still reluctant, but she could see in his eyes that he really wanted to know what was wrong with her, so she took a deep breath and then spoke.

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