Shattered Innocence: Transmigrated Into a Novel as an Extra

Chapter 995: Combat Trial (2)

Kaireth hadn’t responded when they told him. Hadn’t nodded. Hadn’t objected.

But something cold and tight had settled just beneath his ribs.

He wasn’t naïve. He knew how the games worked. Connections mattered. Favors mattered more. And if a small hit to his trial evaluation got him one inch closer to the Crown Prince’s inner circle, then—

So be it.

But that didn’t make it less annoying.

Annoying how Lucavion just stood there, like none of it touched him. Like he hadn’t come up from gutter districts and still walked like the ground was his to claim.

Annoying how his record remained clean despite the pressure.

And most of all—

Annoying how it felt like Lucavion knew all of it. Not guessed. Not assumed. Knew.

Kaireth exhaled once, slow and silent.

”Positions,” he muttered.

Dain cracked his knuckles, already forming a sigil in the dirt with his heel. ”Finally. Thought we’d get through this without any excitement.”

Then—

The ward beneath their feet shuddered.

A low hum, almost musical, spiraled up through the stone.

Lucavion turned his head slightly.

And the world fractured.

—KRSHHH!

A pulse burst from the center of the courtyard, splitting the air with a ripple of distortion. The glyphs beneath their feet ignited in layered gold, twisting outward like a thousand veins rupturing beneath glass.

From the far end of the ruined plaza, the ground tore open.

Black roots snapped back like tendons torn loose from muscle. The earth heaved.

And something stepped through.

Not a projection.

Not a mere phantom.

It was illusion—but illusion woven with weight.

Its breath steamed.

Its claws bit into the stone.

And its eyes—glowing, layered in a sickly mauve light—locked on them.

A Basilican Mauler.

’Damn, is this real?’

Kaireth thought, already lowering into a guard stance.

The creature let out a low, clicking hiss.

Then moved.

Fast.

Too fast.

Lucavion was already gone.

He didn’t leap. Didn’t dash.

Just moved—one second there, the next slashing a precise arc at the Mauler’s shoulder, estoc gleaming with void-light that blurred at the edges.

—CLANG!

The creature reeled—not from pain, but from being touched.

And then it retaliated.

A tail lash, thick as a pillar, spun toward Lucavion with an audible whip-crack.

Kaireth surged forward without thinking, spear in motion, catching the tail just enough to divert its path.

Stone shattered beside them.

Dain’s trap activated, a burst of frost locking the creature’s foreleg in place for a second—

Only a second.

The Mauler snarled and ripped free, throwing Dain back with a shockwave of raw mana.

The Mauler reared back, hissing like hot iron plunged in ice, but Lucavion didn’t wait.

He moved fast. Too fast.

Every step was clean, every motion tight—like his body already knew where the Mauler would strike before it even twitched. He ducked low, void-light pulsing along his blade, then carved across its leg. Again. Then again.

—CRACK!

A sickening pop. Joint displacement.

Kaireth caught it—the Mauler stumbled. And Lucavion was already moving again.

He didn’t roar. Didn’t call orders. He just fought—the way soldiers did when they had no one coming to save them.

Dain launched another ice spike, pinning one of the Mauler’s arms. ”I got it!”

”Hold him there!” Saphielle called, her voice tight.

The earth beneath the Mauler’s rear legs exploded upward, spears of stone driving into its flanks. The creature staggered.

That was the opening.

Lucavion flicked his wrist once—then drove his estoc straight through the underside of its throat.

—THUNK.

The illusion cracked.

The beast flickered, shuddered, then burst into light and ash.

Silence.

Breathing.

Kaireth’s lungs burned slightly, but he wasn’t out of breath. None of them were.

Lucavion stood a few feet away, blade still lowered, his coat rustling in the breeze like it hadn’t even been touched.

Kaireth stared at him.

’That was a mid 4-star monster. Even if it’s illusion... it moved real. Hit hard. That thing could’ve taken out half a class.’

He swallowed.

’And he cut through it like it was nothing.’

Now it made sense.

The subtle pressure from above.

It wasn’t about his attitude.

It was about what he could do.

’This guy... he’s strong. Stronger than most of the nobles in our year. Probably stronger than me.’

He didn’t like the thought.

But he understood it now.

And then—he saw it.

High above, standing along one of the false towers generated by the illusion field—an instructor.

A tall figure, robes fluttering, eyes locked only on Lucavion.

And when Lucavion turned slightly, shifting his weight back into a loose resting stance, that instructor gave a tiny nod.

Not to Lucavion.

To Kaireth.

His stomach turned, just a little.

Then Dain’s voice piped in beside him. ”You saw that too?”

Saphielle didn’t speak.

But when Kaireth looked at them, they were already looking at him.

And that was enough.

The next wave came faster.

Three—no, four shapes flickering into existence at the courtyard’s far edge. Slimmer than the Mauler. Smoother. Covered in chitin-like plates and moving like wolves with blades for limbs.

Illusion beasts again. High-end mimicry.

This time, Kaireth didn’t know what the monster’s name was.

But it was way too fast and fluid to be a low-tier monster at all.

Lucavion was first to move.

Kaireth followed. Dain behind.

Saphielle didn’t rush in. She was already adjusting the terrain, raising jagged rock barriers to funnel the beasts toward a kill zone.

It looked normal.

Natural.

But Kaireth caught the angle.

She raised one of the ridges directly under Lucavion’s feet—just enough to throw off his landing.

Lucavion’s boot hit it mid-stride.

His balance faltered for a split second—only a second—but it was enough.

One of the wolves shot toward him.

Kaireth reacted.

Too late to stop the obstacle.

Not too late to pretend he hadn’t seen it.

Lucavion didn’t fall. He twisted in the air, planted a hand on the stone, and launched himself sideways mid-movement, flipping into a skid that carried him just out of reach of the creature’s jaws.

’He’s adapting even to that?’

Then came Dain’s mistake.

A flame burst—”miscast”—landing far too close to Lucavion’s left side. The impact forced him to pivot again, just as another illusion-beast lunged from the rubble.

Lucavion spun, blade snapping upward just in time.

—SHRKKK!

The creature split in two.

But his coat was torn now. Blood on the side. Shallow wound.

Lucavion dropped low, boot sliding across fractured stone as he twisted out of the creature’s path. The wolf-thing’s jaw snapped closed just behind his shoulder, breath like sulfur on his back.

The ground tore behind him—flame impact. Dain’s spell.

Too close.

Too close.

His coat was burned at the edge. His side stung—nothing deep, but it bled. And still, the illusion-beast was already turning, limping, disoriented from his last slash.

He pushed himself up slowly, bracing one knee on the stone.

And looked at them.

Not angry.

Not surprised.

Just....expected?

That same half-lidded calm settled across his face as he tilted his head, black hair falling slightly into his eyes.

Then the corner of his mouth curled.

”What are you doing?”