Ch.85First Exam (3)

A single drop of blood scattered through the air.

The flame that began from that tiny dot soon started to burn hotly before the girl.

“Blood Flower, deploy.”

Marna’s voice resonated low and clear, like an incantation.

As that childish voice uttered the words, streams of blood leaking from her veins transformed into small fireballs in mid-air, igniting one by one.

BOOM!

BANG!

Countless sparks spread like lightning.

The moment the small blood droplet touched Zero, a massive explosion occurred as if it had been soaked in gunpowder.

In an instant, the examination hall was engulfed in red flames and storm-like heat.

“Huff… huff…”

Marna clutched her wrist with one hand.

A combat style that turns blood flowing from torn skin wounds into weapons by setting it aflame. It was clearly too abnormal a fight for a human being to endure.

“Please stop. Someone of your caliber cannot defeat me.”

Zero’s voice remained calm.

With her eyes closed amidst the flames, she slowly opened them and stepped forward.

Despite being at the center of the explosion, not a single burn marked her white skin.

“No… I can’t stop…”

Blood drops fell from her trembling fingertips as the girl gritted her teeth and rose to her feet.

Her wet hair clung to her face, and her fragile shoulders shook slightly.

“If I fall here… Mom will abandon me…”

A voice that seemed to contain both resignation and fear crushed together.

It sounded like a daughter crying, afraid of being scolded.

“Blood Trace, Phoenix!”

WHOOSH!

In that moment, Marna sharply cut above both her elbows.

Blood gushed from the torn ligaments.

The blood formed wings in mid-air and shaped a head.

It was the moment of birth for a massive bird made of flames—a phoenix born of blood.

WHOOOSH!

The enormous flaming wings sliced through the sky and lunged at Zero.

Marna slightly raised the corner of her mouth.

“I won! I’ll… I’ll be praised!”

But in the next moment.

SLASH.

“…?!”

The phoenix’s head was split in two, dissipating like smoke.

“My… my phoenix…!”

Before the dumbfounded Marna’s eyes, Zero landed silently.

In her hand, she still held a silver-white sword that hadn’t lost its luster.

“You didn’t construct your ability precisely. The structure was flimsy.”

That statement wasn’t a simple analysis.

It was like a declaration that cut away all of her opponent’s hope in one breath.

“It’s over.”

From one side of the examination hall, Blanche let out a small sigh.

“That child Marna… her potential isn’t bad. No, it’s actually on par with Carmilla from ten years ago… or perhaps even beyond.”

Moving under the pressure of an A-rank hero, and even now holding her own against a former S-rank hero to some extent.

“She’s definitely worthy of being called a ‘genius.’ It’s just…”

That was a story for the future.

Right now, she was nothing more than a young beast throwing a tantrum.

Zero sheathed her sword and walked slowly.

The wounded Marna staggered back a step.

“You can stop fighting now. If you continue, you’ll be disqualified.”

“My… my head… is spinning…”

“You’ll wake up in a hospital. Don’t worry.”

That reckless method of creating weapons from her own blood had already pushed her body to its limits.

Marna could no longer stand straight on her two legs.

But the more she struggled, the more the girl gritted her teeth.

“N-no…”

“…?”

“Mom will scold me…!”

Her small lips trembled as those words escaped.

Only then did Zero see the true nature of this fight.

The reckless reason.

The excessive attacks.

The persistence in continuing to tear her body apart despite the terrible pain.

It wasn’t “will.”

It was merely an “order.”

“Give me… more power, Blood Beast.”

And the final words.

That phrase wasn’t a simple murmur.

Those words seemed like a key to awaken “something” writhing inside her.

Blood patterns began to spread across the floor again.

Now, Marna was no longer a simple examinee.

***

Two years ago, in the Hero Association’s underground.

“Mom… this, hurts…”

Marna’s trembling voice echoed amidst the smell of blood.

With each breath, something hot crawled through her flesh.

“Don’t speak, Marna. You’re a special child. If you endure this pain now… you can become real.”

With those words, the girl’s wrist was secured to a mechanical device with a “click.”

Red blood dripped onto the cold chains.

That blood seeped into the complex contract circle engraved on the floor, summoning something from the darkness.

A Level 5 security zone unknown even to most professional hunters.

This place was a biological testing ground for beast contracts and a grave for countless failures.

That day.

No one could stop the “high-ranking person” who appeared there.

She was Blamashu Strana, the party leader of the Hero City Social Party.

Though far from the position of Chancellor, she had enough influence within the party to control overall hero policies.

And simultaneously, she was also the mother of Marna, who was still just an elementary school student.

“She’s still… too young.”

“It doesn’t matter. To handle the Blood Beast, she needs to be trained from now. Especially with Avanka… it seems that woman will pass a new hero bill soon.”

Originally, contracts with beasts were only possible for adults.

Official association permission, physical tests, mental evaluation, preparation for the imprinting ceremony…

It was a dangerous procedure that normally took over two years.

But Blamashu ignored all of that in one go.

She forcibly manipulated the association’s devices and connected her daughter’s body to the experimental equipment.

There was only one reason.

She needed a real variable to undermine the support for Progressive Party leader Avanka’s “new hero bill” that was being prepared at the time.

That variable had to be Marna.

“Endure it! You must endure, Marna! This isn’t just pain! It’s changing the world! You’re the only one who can overturn everything on the stage that woman has set!”

“Mom… Mom! AAAAARGH!!”

Marna screamed.

Something crawling through her veins from her wrists, chest, and heart was changing her body as if decomposing it.

It wasn’t a “contract,” but an invasion.

That day, Marna made a forced contract with the “Semi-Special Grade Beast” that had been sealed in the Hero Association’s underground for over 200 years—the “Blood Beast”—under the condition that she would only survive for 5 years after the contract.

From that moment, she was no longer someone’s daughter.

She was nothing more than a contracted weapon.

And now.

That weapon was releasing its performance beyond its limits, as if breaking an ancient seal.

The examination hall was melting.

“Ugh, uuugh, AAAAARGH!”

A scream like a roar erupted from within the flames.

As the red heat spread, the special structure designed to never collapse began to bend.

“It’s too hot…!”

“Impossible. This examination hall was even tested directly by A-rank heroes?!”

Blanche, who had been moving the failed examinees from the outskirts, raised her head with a start.

What unfolded before her eyes was a “melting” phenomenon that had never occurred in any experiment.

But what was even more surprising was the “being” that had created this terrible situation.

It was… a young girl.

“Impossible. That’s… beyond dangerous, it’s suicidal…”

Marna.

The girl was burning herself, ignoring her own limits.

Both hands were stained with blood, and wounds burst open across her body.

Yet she didn’t stop.

She didn’t even extinguish the flames engulfing her.

Seeing this, Blanche unconsciously bit her lip.

‘According to the rules… I can’t intervene. That’s not cheating…!’

As a supervisor, helping any one examinee would be a clear violation of regulations.

Even if that examinee was dying right here, burning her own body.

Blanche clenched her fists.

‘The only one who can save that child is…!’

“Confirming temperature rise in the examination hall. It has exceeded the allowable limit.”

It was then.

Zero quietly raised her head.

“This can no longer be left unattended.”

“…Examinee Zero, what are you trying to do?”

“I’ve made a judgment regardless of the supervisor’s approval. I consider examinee Marna Strana a dangerous element. To protect the lives here… I will now begin ‘subjugation.'”

“What?!”

Blanche drew in her breath.

But Zero’s gaze didn’t waver in the slightest.

She was, fundamentally, an artificial human who prioritized calculations and results.

She didn’t even feel the need to weigh ‘those who will die’ against ‘those who will live.’

Now was the moment of ‘sacrifice’ for the ‘majority.’

It didn’t matter who the opponent was, their age, or their reason.

Meanwhile.

“No… don’t!”

She couldn’t even move.

Not even a trembling fingertip could muster any strength.

Completely pinned to the floor, gasping for breath, her identity was Song Hana.

Her consciousness was fading, and her vision blurred.

Nevertheless, she struggled to raise her head. That small voice was almost like a prayer.

“Hana, get a hold of yourself!”

Janghoon’s urgent cry spread, but she was already on the verge of losing consciousness.

So, with all her might before falling asleep, she opened her mouth.

“Janghoon… please stop Zero… please stop Zero…”

It was a final plea to a friend.

Knowing that her idol wasn’t trying to do something bad, but if this continued, the girl’s blood would stain her hands.

So she squeezed out her last strength to make the request.

“…I understand, Hana.”

Janghoon quietly nodded.

After carefully covering Song Hana with a dark energy, he quietly stood up, avoiding everyone’s sight.

And then.

Swish.

He slowly raised his hand.

A movement as if… “writing” something.

At that moment, the air rippled slightly.

It was like a preview of a “real monster” awakening from its slumber.