The sound of grinding stone and metal mixed with the roar of a drake and the eerie whispers of a wraith, which floated in circles, distorting the air around it. The entire arena felt alive, pulsing with the murderous intent of the three monsters.
From the top of the stands, the examiners watched, expressionless.
"Alright... one at a time." His golden eyes gleamed. "Let's start with you, tin can."
The drake unleashed a blast of fire while the wraith fired needles of dark energy. Ethan dodged both, spinning to the side, and launched himself straight at the Black Golem, completely ignoring the other two.
The golem tried to crush him with both arms, but Ethan was already moving. He jumped, using Nexus to create a small platform, narrowly avoiding the hammer-like fists that slammed down, leaving craters in the ground.
In the next instant, he dove down, delivering a Nexus-powered kick straight to the monster's knee. Stone and metal shattered, and a crack split down the creature's leg.
"Let's see how well you fight without that."
The golem groaned, briefly staggering, but quickly stabilized itself. Its core, glowing with crimson energy, pulsed, sending waves of mana throughout its body. Black runes lit up across its surface, it had entered combat mode.
Meanwhile, the drake circled around, firing more flames, and the wraith launched spikes of dark mana, aiming for Ethan's back.
Ethan flexed his arms as Nexus expanded up to his elbows, thickening into a reinforced gauntlet. He blocked part of the fire with a quick barrier and dodged the spikes without ever taking his eyes off the golem.
"Wait your turn," he muttered, as if scolding noisy children.
The golem spun its body, throwing a barrage of three heavy punches. Ethan dodged the first, caught the second with Nexus, absorbing part of the energy, and used the momentum to propel himself straight toward the creature's chest.
"Found you."
Right in the center of its chest, between cracks and layers of stone, pulsed the glowing core, its weak point.
Ethan shaped Nexus into a short, spear-like drill extending from his fist. Channeling mana, he thrust it directly into the core.
The golem staggered, its energy lines flickering in panic. But it didn't fall.
Suddenly, plates of stone shifted and began closing around the core, activating its defense. At the same time, the drake roared, sprinting around the arena, while the wraith appeared right behind Ethan, ready to stab through him with an ethereal blade.
Ethan sensed it approaching but kept his focus.
"You wanna play? Fine, take this."
Nexus glowed, wrapping entirely around his forearm. Ethan punched the ground, releasing a magical shockwave that blasted the wraith and drake back temporarily.
Without wasting a second, he dashed at the golem. He leapt, ran along the side of the creature's body as if defying gravity, and when he reached chest height, Nexus extended, forming a drill once again.
"Explode."
With all his strength, he pierced the core.
For a moment, everything went silent. Then an explosion of mana erupted inside the Black Golem, shattering every part of its body from the inside out. The runes failed. The core's energy fragmented into shards of light.
The colossus collapsed, first to its knees, then crashing sideways with a thunderous impact that shook the entire arena.
[You defeated: Black Golem — Level 50]
Ethan landed with a smooth roll.
"One down."
But before he could even catch his breath, a shadow fell over him, the drake was already diving, and the wraith reappeared at his back, ethereal blade in hand.
"Hah... You guys are really in a hurry, huh?"
The drake's roar split the air, but that wasn't what made Ethan move, it was the chill running down his spine as he sensed the wraith's blade coming from behind.
He spun instantly, Nexus dissolving from drill form back into a gauntlet, then expanding to cover his entire arm. The spectral blade sliced through the space where Ethan had been just a second earlier.
"You're next." His golden eyes flashed.
The wraith didn't reply. It wasn't the type of creature that communicated. Its floating body, made of condensed black mist, flickered with a gray aura. Small streams of energy extended from it to the ground, as if siphoning power from the environment itself.
It lunged. Appearing and disappearing in flashes, leaving distorted trails of mana in the air. Three blades formed from its mist, firing at Ethan in rapid succession.
Ethan raised Nexus, shaping the gauntlet to form barriers. The blades clashed and ricocheted, one cracked a distant stone, another embedded itself in the drake's body, making it roar in irritation, and the third exploded against the ground.
"Pathetic." Ethan jumped back, dodging the next attack.
The wraith vanished again, reappearing right above him. A spear of dark energy formed, condensing, draining light and heat from the air.
But Ethan was smiling. Nexus pulsed, expanding, morphing into a chain that shot upward, wrapping around the wraith's ethereal body.
"You think you're the only one who can disappear and reappear wherever you want?"
He yanked the chain hard, slamming the wraith down to the ground, and Nexus immediately solidified, pinning the shadowy figure in place.
The wraith struggled, but Ethan clenched his fist. The chain tightened, constricting, crushing, forcing the energy that held the creature together to destabilize.
"Let's see if you really don't have a physical body."
The wraith exploded in a burst of shadowy aura, trying to break free, summoning dozens of mana blades that shot in every direction.
Ethan charged straight through them, Nexus covering his chest, arms, and even forming a shield in front of his face. Every blade that hit the shield sparked with magical light.
Once close enough, he shaped Nexus into a short, condensed spear, spinning with black and golden energy.
"Break."
He drove the spear straight into the center of the wraith's body, where a condensed orb of energy pulsed, the creature's core.
For a second, the world went completely silent. Then cracks spread across the orb, followed by the sound of shattering glass as the core exploded in a wave of dark light.
The shadow unraveled like smoke, dissolving into the air.
[You defeated: Wraith — Level 51]
"Two." Ethan grinned.
But before he could even breathe, a blast of fire shot past him, so hot it felt like it scorched his bones. The drake had no interest in waiting.
"Yeah, you're pissed, huh?" Ethan looked at the winged creature circling above, charging up another breath. "Alright then... let's finish this."
Nexus pulsed, reshaping again. This time, it didn't form a gauntlet but twin blades that extended from his forearms past his elbows.
"Your turn, lizard."
The drake roared, unleashing a stream of fire that lit up the entire arena, painting the sky red and gold. Its wings flapped hard, sending waves of scorching wind across the ground as the earth trembled under its claws.
Ethan didn't flinch.
He sprinted straight into the blazing breath. At the last second, he expanded Nexus into an angular shield that split the flames apart like water crashing against a rock.
The heat was suffocating, but his golden eyes never lost their glow.
"If you think fire's gonna work... then you really are just an overgrown lizard."
As soon as the breath attack ended, Ethan dashed forward. The black blades of Nexus extended into hooks that shot straight at the drake's wings. The hooks pierced through the thick membranes, anchoring themselves.
"Get over here."
With a brutal tug, he yanked the beast down to the ground. The drake thrashed, its wings flapping desperately, but Ethan was already sliding beneath its head as Nexus morphed again, this time into a long spear, charged with pure mana at the tip.
The drake lunged to bite, but Ethan rolled to the side and, upon rising, drove the spear right into the joint of one of its front legs. Bones cracked, scales shattered, and the beast let out a sharp, agonized screech, stumbling.
Ethan didn't stop. He sprinted along its side, climbing its flank, using Nexus as hooks to quickly scale toward the base of its neck.
"Time to end this."
The drake thrashed, trying to shake him off, but Ethan was ready. Nexus glowed, channeling his mana, forming into a massive blade.
"Fall. Now."
With a shout, he swung the blade down, slicing deep between the scales at the base of the creature's skull.
The drake struggled for a few more seconds, its wings trembling... then its entire body went limp. It collapsed, sending dust, ash, and debris flying everywhere.
Silence.
A notification echoed in Ethan's mind.
[You defeated: Drake — Level 54]
He took a deep breath, staring at the now-lifeless massive body.
"I expected more," he muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. "Guess I overleveled thanks to that damn worm."
Nexus quickly reverted back to its glove form.
When he turned around, he saw the examiners watching from a distance behind protective barriers. They were trying to maintain neutral expressions, but even during his fight, Ethan had noticed their eyes widening in disbelief as he took down the monsters.
Ethan brushed the dust off his uniform and, with a calm smile, murmured to himself,
"I wonder how many minutes have passed."