Lewd System: Every Scream and Moan is EXP

Chapter 229: Chapter 229 : Wait! Who’s the Real Beast

The last day had been truly eventful.

First, Jax had woken up to the sound of voices pounding against his skull. Roxana and Elira chattering beside his sofa while his head throbbed with a pain that made him want to strangle both of them.

Then came a long, brutal training session. And then the festival, where he had been certain he would sniff out some champions and eliminate them for experience points, or at the very least satisfy his chaotic nature with some well-earned violence.

But instead, all he got was a reunion with Jenny and a handful of revelations he didn’t like. After that, it was just shooing away a golden-spoon brat who didn’t know when to keep his hands to himself.

The rest of the festival passed uneventfully while his mind spent every remaining hour plotting for today.

And now, standing here in the morning air, the situation he found himself in was genuinely absurd.

Jennifer was right. Choosing the rescue path would be suicide.

Jax looked at Lilith ahead of him. She was ready for her match, wearing the enchanted gear that every participant had been issued.

The magic woven into the fabric was designed to teleport the wearer back to the mainland the moment the monitoring staff detected danger.

With that gear active and the live broadcast projecting every second to thousands of viewers across the nations, it would be difficult for them to target his student openly.

But they weren’t fools. Three academies had teamed up. Whatever they had planned would be designed to make every safeguard fail at the very last moment. When it mattered most. When no one could react in time.

Jax was worried. His mind churned through every possibility, every angle, every outcome. And behind all that calculation burned a simple truth.

He would slaughter every last one of them for his student. Especially now, after knowing certain truths.

Jax, wearing the same enchanted gear which was really just clothes embedded with magic, moved toward his team.

There stood Roxana, Astrid, Seraphina, Elira, and then there was Seris who was geared up as well.

Today was the battleground match. Approximately eighty teams were participating, meaning one hundred and sixty students in total.

Each team consisted of two students along with their professor, who was forbidden from doing anything except commanding and monitoring.

As he reached them, Roxana was in the middle of giving the girls a motivational talk. But Jax walked past her without a word and placed his hand on Lilith’s head.

All eyes shifted to him.

The chatter died.

Jax spoke. His voice carried no sarcasm. No mockery. Just weight.

”Remember this, Lilith. Whatever happens in there, whenever you feel like the world is caving in or everything inside you is screaming to break, don’t panic. Don’t lose to yourself.”

His hand rested steady on her head.

”Just close your eyes. Let the darkness come. And in that darkness, find the girl who stands tallest. Not who others tell you to be. The strongest version of yourself, the one I see when I look at you.”

His gaze held hers without wavering.

”And in return, I promise you this. Every darkness standing ahead of you will fade. And when you open your eyes, the only thing you’ll see is yourself standing in a light you never knew existed.”

Silence.

Everyone was stunned. They didn’t understand what he meant. It sounded assuring, yes. But was it needed right now? Was it even logical here? Their faces creased with confusion, frowns passing between them like a shared question no one could answer.

Then Astrid stepped in.

”Oi, Professor.” Her tone was its usual brand of irreverent. ”Didn’t you say this tournament was important to you?”

She gestured at his hand still resting on Lilith’s head.

”And here you are casting your seduction sorcery on yet another girl.”

Jax turned. His eyes carried the enthusiasm of a stone wall.

”You sure will never change.” He exhaled slowly. ”And this time, it was just motivation. Along with some tactics for what’s ahead.”

She grinned teasingly. ”Oh sure, motivation. But I think you failed again, Professor.” She pointed. ”I mean, look at the poor girl.”

Jax looked down. His hand was still resting on Lilith’s head.

She had gone completely blushing mode. Her entire face burned a shade of red so deep it looked almost painful. Whether it was his touch or Astrid’s words that had done the damage was impossible to tell.

Astrid pressed on without mercy. ”For the entire duration of this match, that poor girl is going to be replaying your words and this embarassing scene on loop instead of focusing on anything useful. Your so-called motivation is going to be the direct cause of your own team’s defeat.”

She crossed her arms. ”I’d bet everything on it.”

Jax removed his hand. Smiled gently. Looked at Lilith.

”It’s okay if she loses.”

The group went quiet.

”In some cases, winning becomes a transaction. A trade where you have to give up something within yourself to claim something that was never worth it.” His voice turned thoughtful. ”But losing? Losing is simply you winning against your own beliefs. A victory over yourself.”

Not a single girl present understood a word he was talking about.

Jax continued, his eyes still on Lilith. ”Remember those words. They’ll help when the time comes. I don’t expect an absolute victory from you.”

A pause.

”I want a victory toward yourself.”

Then he turned to the rest. His expression shifted entirely. The warmth vanished. What replaced it promised consequences.

”As for the rest of you. You don’t have the luxury she does. Fail me today, and I promise, before they finish stamping my expulsion papers, I will do something so catastrophically deranged that this academy will be writing about it in their records for the next thousand years.”

Every spine went rigid.

Roxana surveyed the horrified faces of the students with a look of genuine pity.

Astrid muttered under her breath. ”Tsundere psychopath. Whispers sweet nothings to one girl, then threatens the rest of us with trauma and sure will call it motivation. Someone put this man’s mood swings in a museum.”

Hearing that, Roxana let out a laugh she clearly hadn’t intended to. She composed herself quickly and turned to the students especially to Astrid.

”I want to apologize for yesterday. I was unnecessarily rude.” Her smile warmed. ”And I think we’ll get along really well. That is, only if you all manage to win.”

Astrid clicked her tongue. But even she couldn’t hold back the smirk tugging at her lips.

Then the laughter spread. One by one, the tension cracked. They were taking Jax’s threats lightly now, laughing at the sheer absurdity of everything happening right before a match that was supposed to be serious.

Meanwhile, Jax stood slightly apart from the group.

His eyes were fixed on Lilith, who was smiling. Smiling like a child experiencing something pure for the very first time.

And now Jax understood why she behaved like one.

That shy side. The outcast tendencies. The quiet, bookish nature of someone who had never learned to exist freely.

And those raw, overwhelming emotions that surface when a person sees someone as their light for the very first time.

Yes. Jax knew everything about her now.

It all made sense. Earlier this morning, before anyone had woken, he had taken Jennifer’s help. Used her ability to piece together the full picture.

And every fragment fell into place.

Why she was never seen outside the academy. Why she never followed Jax beyond the campus grounds, even though she clearly wanted to. Why she wasn’t permitted to join the quest Lysandra had issued, the one where Jax had been trapped in the demon realm.

And why she wasn’t at the festival yesterday.

Jax looked at the sky.

’Poor girl didn’t deserve any of this. Neither did her parents.’

His thoughts turned heavier.

’This world truly is different for everyone. Generous to the wicked. Cruel to the purest souls.’

His fist clenched at his side, knuckles whitening against the morning air.

’I promise to make every last one of them pay. I promise to make that woman pay with both her holes. A promise to deliver the most brutal death in the history of mankind.’

His jaw tightened.

’And I promise to fade every darkness from her life.’

”ATTENTION, ALL PARTICIPANTS!”

The announcer’s voice shattered his thoughts, booming across the grounds.

”I trust you are all well aware of the rules that have been communicated. So let us not waste a single moment and commence the very first inter-academy event of this tournament!”

A pause for dramatic effect.

”And for all those viewing from your homes and halls through runic projections across the five nations, allow us to set the stage! In keeping with our longstanding tradition, the opening match is the Battleground! Students alongside their mentors will be teleported to a designated field jointly selected by all participating academies!”

The crowd erupted.

”This match tests not only the raw strength of our students through hunting beasts but also their ability to engage rival teams and secure superior rankings through strategy and cunning! Forming alliances within your own academy or with teams from other academies is fully permitted! Anything goes! But students, do remember, the entire world is watching. Play too dirty, and you answer to more than just the judges!”

Another roar shook the stands.

”So without further delay, LET THE BATTLEGROUND BEGIN!”

On that command, academy staff moved swiftly across the grounds, gathering teams and directing them onto teleportation circles.

One by one, flashes of light consumed the participants, sending them to random locations across the chosen field.

Jax felt the pull of magic grip his body. Seris steadied herself. Lilith closed her eyes.

Flash.

They materialized somewhere deep within the field.

Far away in the monitoring chamber, Lysandra watched through the runic projection. Her gaze was locked onto Jax’s team. Unblinking. Unmoving. Her eyes refused to leave them for even a second.

Almost half an hour passed.

Lysandra’s expression shifted from focused observation to visible disbelief.

Not a single beast had approached Jax’s team.

Not one.

Every creature within their vicinity had taken one look at them and fled. Beasts that were placed there to challenge, to hunt, to test the limits of these students, turned and ran in the opposite direction the moment they sensed their presence.

As if they weren’t the prey.

As if they were the beasts.