The Return Of The Exiled Villain

Gray spent more than thirty minutes together with Ellen, watching over all three instances.

Unfortunately for him, Jasmine didn’t feel any divinity from the other students, which quite disappointed him since the only reason he wanted to watch along with seeing how the others were doing, and to try and find someone with divinity.

After that, he went back to the city and rented a motel room.

”Mhm...”

He hummed thoughtfully as he looked at this rapier before giving it a small swing and then inserting mana into it.

”Come out.”

Fwoosh...

A small white energy came out of the rapier before flowing out to the room’s bed, and suddenly transforming into a small snake figure.

Its scales were white with a faint nine-colored glow, which made it look even more divine than it already was.

”Here.”

He stretched out the serpent’s core that instantly made the eyes of the little snake flash with hunger as it jumped onto his arm, coiling around it before taking down the core in a single bite.

”Slick~”

After that, the little snake slithered onto his shoulder before licking his cheek lightly, as if to show affection towards its master.

”Soul Beast Status.”

He called out, and instantly, a blue panel materialized in front of him.

[———✵ Soul BeastStatus ✵———]

Name: Unnamed

Gender: Female

Titles: N/A

Race: Supreme Spirit

Type: Nine-Colored Attributeless Snake

Rank: Peak King Realm (2%~32%) [Absorbing the Mutant Serpent’s Core...]

Unique Talent: Attributeless Evolution (If the snake consumes enough energy of every attribute, it can evolve and become the legendary Nine-Colored World Devouring Snake)

Active Skills: Attributeless Devour [Innate], Prism Sovereignty [Early Emperor], Fire & Ice Twin Breath [Peak King], Reflective Magic Barrier [Early Saint]

Passive Skills: High Mana Recovery, High Magic Resistance, Serpent’s Senses, Bloodline Suppression [Below the Peak King Realm], Venemous Blood & Fangs

——+——+——+——

Taking a look at the little snake’s status, Gray was beyond satisfied, especially about its Unique Talent and the active skill [Prism Sovereignty].

The skill [Prism Sovereignty] essentially allowed the snake to release nine overlapping, colorless shockwaves that deal pure non-elemental damage in a large area.

Each wave would strip 1 buff or reduce all resistances briefly, making the target more vulnerable to follow‑up attacks.

In paper, this was the skill of an emperor-level curse user, but this little snake actually had it despite being a mere peak King creature!

Tickle~

He gently rubbed the little snake’s head.

”Your name... is Snow from now on.”

Hisss!

The snake suddenly protested, causing Gray to tilt his head in confusion, but then he remembered that it was actually a female.

’Mhm... Snow indeed sounds a little... manish.’

He was thoughtful for a moment before speaking once again.

”How about Atrinae?”

”Slick~”

The snake instantly licked his cheek in response, hissing softly before softly coiling around his arm and closing her eyes.

Gray smiled lightly at this, but before he could do anything else...

Shineee...!

The communication seal given to him by Gloria started shining, so he instantly picked it up and gently infused mana into it.

The projection materialized above his palm, small and pale blue, carrying the faint visual static of a long-distance connection.

Gloria’s face appeared there.

”Gray.”

”Mhm, do you need something?” he replied lightly.

”You performed well in the dungeon practical today.”

Gray paused.

”...You were watching?”

”I watch many things,” she paused slighly as her mechanical quality softened almost imperceptibly.

”The Phoenix Class finished first. By a considerable margin, apparently. Your professor must be pleased.”

”She seemed to be.”

”Mhm,” Gloria’s eyes moved in the way they did when she was processing something adjacent to what she was saying.

”I’m contacting you regarding an upcoming event at Clementine’s Academy.”

Gray said nothing, waiting for her to continue.

”The Sword Festival.”

”It begins in two weeks. Interclass, inter-academy. Open bracket competition with unrestricted technique usage above the Grandmaster threshold.”

”It is a significant event. The other three major academies, including ours, will be sending participants.”

”I know what the Sword Festival is.”

”Good.” The mechanical tone settled back fully.

”Then I will be brief. I want you not participate.”

Gray looked at the projection.

”...Why?”

Gloria was quiet for a moment.

”There are elements in motion around that event that I am currently tracking,” she said finally.

”Certain participants. Certain interests that will be present in the audience.” Her eyes met his through the projection.

”Your presence in the bracket, performing at your actual level, would...” She paused again.

”Complicate things.”

”Complicate things...?” Gray repeated flatly.

”Yes.”

”That’s not an explanation.”

”No,” she agreed pleasantly.

”It isn’t.”

”Gloria...”

He held her gaze through the projection.

She held his back with the serene, immovable patience of someone who had been doing this considerably longer than he had and found it mildly entertaining.

”If you participate,” she started.

Something changed in her expression as a brief warmth appeared before flashing away.

”...Just don’t participate.”

The seal went dark.

The projection dissolved.

Gray sat in the motel room in complete silence, Atrinae still coiled peacefully around his arm with her eyes closed, unbothered by anything.

He stared at the space where Gloria’s face had been.

”.....”

He said nothing for a long moment and then looked down at Atrinae.

”Did that make sense to you?”

”Hiss~” she replied, without opening her eyes.

”Thought so,” he muttered.

His eyes narrowed slighly as he started recalling every interaction he had with Gloria, and then also connected those interactions to what happened in the Seven Stars Ball.

”...Is someone going to invade the Sword Festival?”

The conclusion came quickly.

”I’m sure that the Emperor will probably be attending, but if Gloria or Aurora are present, they shouldn’t be dumb enough to try and kill the Emperor in their presence, which means that there probably is a different target.”

”The Sword Festival has three phases. The first one is a basic beast hunting, where only one hundred and fifty students will qualify based on the quality and number of the beasts the hunted.”

”Then goes to a free-for-all until sixty-four challengers remain. Then the students will take a small stick containing a certain number, and the other students will do the same. The students who get the same number battle against each other, and the last one standing will be the winner.”

”The only thing special about the Sword Festival is that the students can only use their sword, as it says in the name, and any kind of use of magic will make the student get eliminated.”

He grabbed a coin from his pocket and silently threw it into the air before catching it, and repeating the same cycle in a hypnotizing manner.

”...Also,” his mind sharpened as he recalled a faint detail from today.

”...Jasmine said that Professor Ellen reeked of Demonic Energy, which meant that she probably killed a demon... maybe two mid-tier demons, while we were in the dungeon.”

He sighed.

”Then, the people invading might be from the Demon Realm, but they usually act very secretly, so one of them will probably try to enter the Sword Festival as a student. And since Ellen fought a demon... It’s probably a student from his academy.”

”The only person I can think that the demon could kidnap... probably would be Seraph, since she’s the Eldest Princess and a Sword Prodigy.”

”Maybe I’m overthinking a little... but how would Gloria know that demons or whatever organization was going to invade the Sword Festival?”

”There’s no way she could be part of them... right?”

He shut his eyes lightly.

[Don’t forget that Aurora can control both Demonic Energy and Mana.]

Jasmine suddenly spoke, but Gray nodded lightly as he had remembered that as well. However, that could be explained by the fact that she’s an actual sword.

And Jasmine also knew that... but why did she bring it up?

”...Are you saying that Aurora is purposely dragging demons into the academy?”

[...Well. A Demonic Swords are different from a Divine Swords. A Demonic Sword can get stronger without a Master, while the Divine Swords cannot pass the Sovereign Realm, as it seems to be capped at that level in this world.]

”Tsk... I need more information,” he clicked his tongue.

He recalled Dante’s memories and didn’t find anything interesting, as the Sword Festival, in the novel, continued without any invasion.

But like Dante had told him, the world’s ”difficulty” had increased, so he needed to be extra careful with whatever was happening.

With that in mind, he made a decision!

He was NOT going to participate in the Sword Festival, but of course, not because of Gloria’s words, but because he could get a clearer understanding from a third person pov.

After all, when you read a novel, you get more information about things that even a reincarnated protagonist doesn’t know.

That’s the most beneficial thing about seeing things from a third person perpsective, after all, you aren’t the one experiencing those things and can get a rational and clear response for those things.

”For now... let’s focus on cultivating the Law of Seduction.”

He closed his eyes and got back to his Sea of Consciousness. In front of him, multiple doors with different names appeared, and so, he chose the first one.

The name of the door was...

[Cold Persona | Kuudere]