Rebirth: The Shadow Of Greed

... Looking at the stage, the instructor stood in front of the S.A.D as he announced the names for the next batch of students.

"Alright! Next batch of students! please enter the arena!"

He spoke in a calm voice as he watched the area below.

Basil who had been sitting in the corner stood up as he walked towards the stage. In the past couple of months, he had lost his boyish demeanor and the scar on his face made him look fierce beyond his peers.

The crowd went wild as they got excited watching the "Flame Prince" take the stage.

"Oh my god, look at him, isn't he the best?"

"I don't even care about that scar on his face if anything it makes him look manlier."

A pair of girls looked at Basil as if they wanted to devour him.

"Damn it, I don't see you girls swooning for me like this"

A man in the crowd said as he sized up Basil.

"Who would want to look at you! I'd rather look at a baboon's b.u.t.t."

Someone shouted, making him embarrassed. Just as he was about to come up with a retort, everyone's attention had shifted to the stage.

"Isn't that Soli Aquos? I thought she went missing! She's back? She missed a lot of training though, do you think she'll be okay?"

"Did you all see the Juggernaut that day? Before that, he was weak and flabby and hardly had any strength. Did you see how strong he was that day? he was practically dominating the stage."

"What's your point?"

"Wasn't he the one who was trapped with Soli in the basin? If someone like him can make such a huge turn around then wouldn't Soli be..."

The crowd turned to Soli and swallowed a gulp of saliva. If this was true then wouldn't Soli be a beast?

--- 

On the stage walking beside Soli, Basil nodded his head as he started to speak. 

"I'm glad to see you back alive. Shall we see who gets the top spot for the trials this time?"

There was something magnetic about his voice.

"I'm up for it, let's do it. But I doubt the top spot would be any one of us."

Soli smiled as she took her position on the stage. 

The Examiner once again grabbed the S.A.D as he started to speak again. 

"Are you all ready? 

5…

4…

3…

2…

1…

You may begin!"

The 4 students readied themselves as they were thrust into the battlefield. 

Soli slowly cracked her neck while preparing for her assault. 

Basil had already warmed up earlier and his hands were lit on fire. Seeing a group of soldiers in front of him he charged full speed towards them. The group turned their attention towards him as they noticed him dashing towards them. 

They readied their spears as they thrust forward with great force. The spears encountered practically no resistance as they passed through his body. 

In that instant, Basil looked up at his Hp, seeing it not moving at all he smiled and continued to charge forward, burning all the soldiers to death before running to yet another group. 

---

"Wait, what's going on? Why isn't his HP decreasing?"

The chief examiner hurriedly said, asking his staff. 

"Boss, didn't you ask us to fix the manifest issue? We fixed it that day, right now whatever damage caused will be after the calculation of their manifest."

"You did it so quickly? There's nothing wrong with that, however, I'm just worried about the backlash we would face from the students who got eliminated without factoring in their manifest earlier."

"Boss, honestly, these are the offensive department we are talking about. They are practically weak on defense, so if we don't give them their manifest, we probably can't gauge them properly."

The chief examiner stroked his chin as he nodded. 

"We'll go with that. Good job with the changes. You've really managed to complete it quickly."

---

Back on the stage, Basil was on a rampage, whether it was spears or any cold weapons they couldn't damage him whatsoever. 

He was dashing through the field and racking up points like mad. Reaching the gate, he bashed through with the ranged soldiers trying to hit him with no avail. 

He strolled through the gates as he set everything on fire. He was like the devil incarnate, his footsteps would leave behind flames as he walked. 

Entering the building, daggers were shot towards him, needless to say, it passed through him as he continued on his warpath. 

On the other stages, the other 2 contestants had already been eliminated, be it due to bad luck or lack of skill. 

Soli finally waited for the countdown to be complete as all the soldiers started to converge within her location. 

As their standard operating procedures, they surrounded her entirely as they began their approach. Soli smiled as she watched them approach as her eyes gradually turned light blue. The area around her started to freeze as the cold air traveled outwards. All that was left were statues, frozen statues of the soldiers. Taking a step forward she did a grasping motion as all the sculptures exploded into tiny shards of ice before falling onto the ground. 

Soli was calm and collected, she had basically gathered the soldiers there without doing much work. 

---

"Holy shit! Did you see that? Master Basil was amazing! He managed to burn through the enemy's defences and break into the castle."

"Yeah, he's strong but… look at Miss Soli! I told you she'd be strong!"

"Whatever it is, I foresee them occupying the top spot no matter which of them does it."

---

Soli continued to walk towards the castle, arrows zipping through the air. As they approached Soli, they began to become sluggish as their courses were diverted. 

The arrows entering her domain started to freeze upon entry, the added weight made it so that all the arrows started to fly weirdly, unable to hit anything at all.