The Author's POV

[Teammate Park Jinho has died - Team points: 4]

"Trash"

"khhhkk...plea..se"

-Crack!

Swiping away the notification, Arnold clenched his hand and the sound of a neck-breaking spread across the surroundings.

-Thud!

"Useless garbage"

Throwing away the lifeless body, which soon turned into light particles, Arnold's mood couldn't be any gloomier.

"What happened?"

Sitting comfortably on top of a large rock a pale black-haired youth with yellow pupils spoke to Arnold with an amused smile.

"None of your business!"

Irritated by the youth's presence, Arnold grumbled and walked away.

"Hey don't be so mean! Just because we are on top of a mountain and Jin isn't here doesn't mean you can ignore me like that!"

Jumping off the rock, the black-haired youth happily followed Arnold, further irritating him.

If Ren was here he would've immediately been able to recognize the identity of the man following Arnold. There was only one man in the whole academy who had yellow pupils.

Rank 18 Troy Derekz

A borderline psychopathic student who in the middle stages of the novel becomes an infamous villain.

He like Arnold was one of the three lackeys that followed Jin, but unlike Arnold who voluntarily chose to be his lackey, he had no choice but to become one.

In reality, his father was a direct subordinate of Jin's father. Knowing that his son was approximately the same age as his boss's son, Troy's father—William Derekz, forced Troy to get along with Jin even though he absolutely despised the man.

Born with a golden spoon without needing to be forced to prostrate towards someone just because of their father's influence, or having a happy family that isn't on the verge of a breakdown because of an abusive father who only thinks about work. Jin had everything.

He had what Troy didn't. Money, influence, power, and most of all a loving family.

Consumed by his jealousy and hatred towards Jin, Troy got approached by Professor Thibaut and was tempted into forming a contract with a demon.

The Demon clans were split into 7 clans, each according to the 7 heavenly sins.

This may seem like some cliche story writing, but for Ren, who at the time was thinking of different ways to approach the concept of demons and villains, the 7 heavenly sins sounded like the most well-matched concept he could come up with. It was the perfect scenario that helped him portray the relationship between villains and demons.

A villain was someone who made a pact with a demon when their desire overcome their rationality.

For example, if you found yourself in despair towards a person who was far more talented than you, an emotion called 'Jelousy' would begin sprouting inside of you. Or when you see a really beautiful girl you want to make yours, what you experience is both 'greed and lust'.

Once you experience such emotion, it either subsides over a period of time or becomes stronger as the distance between you and the said 'target' increases.

And in this case, as your desire/negative emotion increases, the demon clan that is most compatible with you makes their appearance in the form of an agent and tempts you into making a deal with you in exchange for power.

Jealousy(Envy), hatred(Wrath), possessiveness(Greed), obsession(Lust), all negative emotions fall into the 7 heavenly sins.

Once a person experiences such emotions and lets it takes over their rationality, only then will the demon tribe with the respective compatibility step in and present you with a deal.

In Troy's case, who was in his own right incredibly talented, falls into an immense state of jealousy clouding all his judgments, resulting in the demon clan of 'envy' to personally make a move.

Because of Troy's immense talent, the 'envy' clan directly approached him instead of contacting him through a clan sub-branch.

A sub-branch, also known as a collection of minor tribes, was a collective of demons whose bloodline was more diluted compared to the main clans.

A demon's rank was determined by their bloodline purity—ranked from, King, Prince/Princess, Duke, Marquis, Earl, Viscount, and lastly Baron.

The higher the title, the stronger they were. with the Demon King being the strongest.

The consequence of having a more diluted bloodline resulted in the contractee being given a lower amount of power as compared to a cantractee who had made a pact with a pure-blooded demon.

Hence why Troy who signed a pact with a pure-blooded demon of the clan of 'envy' becomes an extremely tricky opponent to face in the middle of the story.

The reason why sub-branches existed was because a demon could only make one pact per human. Unless the human died or became stronger than the demon they made a pact with, the contract will never break.

Because of the limited number of pure-blooded demons, only a select amount of humans could make a pact with them. Only the best, and most talented humans could make a contract with them.

If the human was not very talented, then the sub-branch would step in and offer them a contract.

It has to be noted that a demon could never break a contract once it was made, as their soul was directly linked to the contract.

If they forcefully tried to break the contract, they may be at risk of having their soul pulverized.

In the end, only someone of Troy's level of talent could tempt one of the main clans to make a move.

"Stop following me"

Why do you want to get rid of me so

"You know why!"

times already, it's not my

-Crack!

feet started cracking. Below his feet, countless minute crevices started extending from where he

turned around and glared in Troy's direction, who was leisurely walking behind him

ranked higher than me, doesn't mean I won't hesitate to

out man! I

a sign of surrender,

"Hmph!"

teeth, Arnold turned around and ignored

not my fault I was born

"I'll Ki—khhh"

-Roar!

as Arnold was about to lash out against Troy due to his stupid remarks, a large shadow emerged from behind a

weapon, Arnold barely managed to take the full grunt of

"Guukhh!"

second after he managed to stabilize his body, Arnold stared at the ferocious creature whose features

body, fangs that extended from its mouth to the upper end of its arms,

make its presence here today...this test sure is

raised his shield

"Huuuu!!!"

Arnold's spirit, the metal-fanged Smilodon similarly

-Roar!

-Klang!

of a collision could be heard from the distance, as a flock of birds

large claw marks appeared on Arnold's shield. However, if one looked

"Gaaaah!"

-Bam!

Arnold once again, Arnold dipped his body and shoulder tackled

"Graah!"

momentum and felt its body being raised a couple of centimeters in

-Boom!

swung his shield, in a punching motion, towards the beast's stomach sending

-Thud!

the Metal-fanged Smilodon wailed in pain as its back crashed against a

"huu..huu.huuu"

in the direction

-Roar!

the Metal-fanged smilodon appear from the

-Klang!

switching the shield to his left hand, Arnold felt a tremendous momentum being transmitted to his body sending him staggering backward

-Klang!

"Grruuu!"

a chance to catch his breath,

"Basta..khh..rd help me d.ammit!"

cursed as he kept on withstanding the continuous onslaught of attacks coming from

So you can't hold

-Klang!

-Klang!

-Klang!

might ac..khaa..tually huff...huff..

"Say please?"

"QUICK!"

"Ah fine jeezzz"

hand forwards, a bow suddenly appeared in

translucent blue arrow suddenly materialized

"Let's make this quick"

his lips, Troy closed his left eye and aimed at

suddenly a notification appeared in

Rank Dover succeeded in completing the hidden task (Lake trial), awarded +1 point. Team points:

was enough for the beast to seize the opportunity and

"Wha..khuu!"

"AAAGHHH!"

[You have died]

has died, team

the last words Arnold saw before his

-Swooosh!

-Splat!

-Roooar!

after Arnold died and his body turned into light particles, a blue arrow dug its

-Swoosh!

-Swoosh!

-Thump!

dug their way towards where the first

"Fuuu.."

the beast turn into light particles,

"Oops!"

...