The video feed provided exclusively to the backstage seemed to have been muted.
The entire evaluation area fell into a dead silence.
Immediately afterward, an eruption of shocked, exhilarated, near-delirious cheers penetrated layer upon layer of walls, echoing throughout the evaluation complex and making Gloria’s scalp tingle as she watched from outside the screen.
Gloria was now thoroughly convinced that the new Holy Son was a man born to put on a show.
Even though the Bishop of Domination had not yet publicly introduced her Holy Son of Domination to the world, if the man recognized as the Holy Son made such a conspicuous display of himself before all of Protos Royal Magic Academy—raising everyone's expectations to the sky—only to suffer a humiliating defeat or get torn in half at the crucial moment, it would undoubtedly disgrace the entire Domination branch.
With a bounty of a hundred and thirty thousand credits hanging over his head, even Gloria would have felt her scalp go numb if she were down in the evaluation area.
It was enough to turn every single student rabid.
Anyone the Holy Son encountered within the barrier would become an enemy who would stop at nothing to bring him down.
Moving forward, ordinary protective rules would likely fail to deter anyone, save perhaps inside classrooms where formidable instructors personally maintained order!
Many students would gladly seize the chance to break the rules and strike.
After all, violating the rules would at most incur an instructor's reprimand or a deduction of a few hundred credits.
Compared to a hundred and thirty thousand credits, that cost was practically nothing.
It was well worth the gamble to discard all sportsmanship, flout the rules at the critical juncture, and hunt down Zestira.
Furthermore, the bounty system had a customary mechanism:
[For every examinee eliminated as a result of the bounty target's direct or indirect actions, the total bounty shall increase by 1%.]
Regardless of whether an examinee harbored hostile intent, if the target directly or indirectly inflicted severe injuries rendering them unable to continue, the barrier would seal their vitals, instructors would retrieve them, and the target's total bounty would tick upward.
Although students signed detailed safety waivers upon enrollment, the academy had no desire to see fatal casualties during an academic fixture like the Monthly Evaluation Day.
Under normal circumstances, an exceptional target would only see their bounty rise by a few points for each enemy they defeated.
Yet with the Holy Son of Domination's utterly absurd base sum, every person he took down would inflate his worth by over a thousand credits!
Even if the Holy Son could fend off several—or even a dozen—opponents early on, this grueling twelve-hour ordeal would become a hopeless war of attrition. He would face an endless surge of increasingly numerous and powerful enemies!
"His desire to win isn't strong to begin with, nor do I expect him to accomplish much under this academy's rules. If he can somehow protect his employer, Zestira, and hold out until the evaluation ends, he will have already exceeded my expectations,"
Sigrid remarked with unruffled calm, having formed a very clear assessment of her Holy Son's role.
After all, fighting on unfamiliar turf imposed heavy constraints.
"..."
Gloria wisely refrained from offering further commentary, watching in silence.
As a direct retainer, it was not her place to question the Bishop's eye for choosing a Holy Son.
Even so, she couldn't help feeling that the Bishop of Domination was blinded by personal bias toward him.
She could not fathom how a mere Tier 4 Holy Son could possibly survive a twelve-hour onslaught and hold out until the evaluation came to a close.
***
Meanwhile, in the southern evaluation area of Protos Royal Magic Academy.
Ten minutes remained before the official start of the evaluation at nine o'clock.
In a ground-floor hallway of a dark, obsidian-hued building, the Demon Realm flora motifs woven into the carpet shifted periodically, swallowing their footfalls and lending the corridor an unfathomable aura of mystery.
Every few steps, portraits and mirrors alternated along the walls, their gazes seeming to trail the passing students as silent witnesses to everything within the ancient academy.
After his observations during the preparation period, Lanqi appeared to have grasped the surrounding layout completely. By now, they were nearing their target classroom.
The dim light cast their shadows against the cold, hard marble walls, stretching and shrinking as they walked. Finally, Lanqi slowed his pace and came to a halt before a set of doors.
Further down the hallway behind them, several ghostly shadows had already crept into pursuit.
At present, every student was suppressed by the barrier, unable to engage in combat. This restriction would only lift once nine o'clock arrived.
For those targeting Zestira, approaching rashly was ill-advised.
It was better to let others test the waters first.
"Teacher,"
Zestira called out softly, not adding another word.
She had long been forcing down the anxiety churning inside her.
For a Tier 2 student like her, the immense pressure was far too overwhelming.
The only person she could place her trust in was her teacher.
"Rest assured. I'm already starting to get my old groove back,"
Lanqi offered an easy smile, his tone completely assured.
Hearing this, Zestira felt slightly comforted.
Boss Cat hiding in the shadows, on the other hand, felt its heart skip a beat.
While it had never witnessed Lanqi let loose in a school setting firsthand, it remembered Hubao mentioning in her chats with Tata that once Lanqi shed his moral constraints, he would carry out insane acts of karmic sacrifice—and would genuinely believe the Goddess was going to commend him for it.
Zestira glanced at the doors before them.
The plaque outside did not detail the specific assessment, but from her observations along the way, she could deduce which broad academic department it belonged to.
"This should be the Department of Magical Beast Husbandry. Do you know anything about this, Teacher?"
Zestira asked with a touch of worry.
It was a thoroughly niche field.
Although the magical beasts in the city today were domesticated, their origins lay in the Demon Realm, leaving many in Protos ill-disposed toward them.
On top of that, it was exceptionally dangerous.
"We Demon Realm folk have a natural advantage in this area. It'll be fine,"
Lanqi's voice brimmed with confidence.
"All right."
Zestira felt that ever since arriving in this evaluation area, his sense of identity had subtly shifted without her noticing.
"Zestira, keep watch for me."
Before entering, Lanqi stepped forward into the door alcove. As if following a premeditated plan, he cleanly drew a carving knife and brush from his portable card-making toolkit.
Zestira nodded, shifting slightly to stand to the side as she watched the distant corridor entrance.
Meanwhile, Lanqi swiftly modified the symbols on the door plaque.
"All done."
The moment the words left his mouth, he pushed open the door and walked right inside.
Though done in haste, his absurdly skilled technique made the alterations virtually undetectable at a glance.
Before dashing in behind him, Zestira took a closer look.
The plaque's inscription had been changed from [Magical Beast Husbandry - Difficulty 3] to [Culinary Arts - Difficulty 1].
Zestira: "?"
Chapter 285