The Return Of The Exiled Villain

”...Hey, why did the teacher call us? There’s still an hour or so until the classes start!” A student groaned.

”I don’t know... but I’ve heard that we, the first years, are going to have a competition.”

”A competition? Doesn’t that mean that we’re going to lose?”

”Did you forget that we have Gray?!”

”Oh, yeah~... he looks as handsome as always~”

The girls whispered to each other, which Gray ended up catching all of that because of his extreme senses.

”Attention.”

Clack, clack!

Ellen spoke, standing at the front of the classroom with her hands folded behind her back. She somehow had an annoyed expression, instead of her usually happy one.

”...Today, we’ll be having a direct engagement between all four classes.”

The room absorbed that.

”All four at once?” a girl asked.

”Simultaneously,” Ellen confirmed. ”A large-scale team battle conducted in the Mirror Arena. Each class operates as a unit, and the last class standing wins.”

”What are the rules?”

”Elimination by incapacitation or forced boundary exit,” she stated.

The noise in the room built.

Gray was leaning back in his seat with his arms loosely crossed, listening.

Ellen continued.

”Now, onto your opponents. I’ll just talk about the ones you should be worrying the most about, and first comes The Black Turtle Class.”

The projection above her palm displayed three figures from the exchange program roster.

Lyra, Adrian, and Katia.

And beside them, three names Gray didn’t recognize.

”Joining the exchange participants in the Black Turtle Class are three of their top students.” Ellen’s eyes moved across the room.

”Vael Orin. Advanced water and ice dual affinity. Ranked second in the Black Turtle Class overall standings. His defensive output at the Great Grandmaster level has not been breached in recorded sparring.”

The projection showed a tall, lean young man with close-cropped silver-white hair.

Two catalyst rings on each hand suggested flexibility instead of focus on one specific task.

”Mira Dusk.” Ellen moved to the second figure.

”Single affinity, shadow type. Ranked fourth. Her primary technique set operates on misdirection and positional control rather than direct damage output. She has not lost a positional engagement in two years.”

She had dark hair and dark eyes, with a face that was easy to misjudge because it showed no emotions.

A single short blade at her hip that looked secondary to whatever she was actually doing with her hands.

”And Cael Vorne.” The third figure. ”Unaffiliated affinity type. His cultivation base doesn’t respond to standard affinity classification arrays.” Ellen said this in a way that showed she just found it interesting, not worrying.

”What is known is that his physical output at Peak Grandmaster exceeds most Great Grandmaster baselines.”

The third figure was big, but not like Leon, who was strong from training.

This person was just naturally large. In the projection, he looked calm and a bit distant, as if he thought things weren’t as important as everyone else did.

”Then comes White Tiger Class.”

Selene, Selina, and Lira.

And three more.

”Asha Veil. Wind affinity, sword type. Ranked first in the White Tiger Class. Her movement speed at current cultivation has not been accurately tracked by standard monitoring arrays during active combat.”

The projection showed a girl with short copper hair who moved like she made the most of everything.

She stood and held her sword in a way that showed she was ready for action. She looked quick even when she was just standing still.

”Rem Sola. Earth and fire combined affinity, catalyst type. Ranked third. She specializes in terrain modification during combat, reshaping the field to create advantage before engagement begins.”

Shorter than the others, with the broad, grounded stance of someone whose relationship with the floor beneath them was different from most people’s.

Twin catalysts, one at each wrist.

”And Dain Harrow. Pure sword type, no affinity. Ranked second.” Ellen paused on this one slightly longer than the others.

”And surprisingly... just like our princess over here, he has achieved sword qi just a few days ago.”

The room went quiet.

The projection showed a young man with unremarkable features and the kind of posture that only existed in people who had spent so much time training that their body had reorganized itself around the practice.

A plain sword... with nothing about him looking exceptional.

Which, Gray knew, was frequently the point.

”The Azure Dragon Class.”

Ronan, Leon, and Claire.

And three more.

”Sera Vane. Lightning affinity, dual sword type. Ranked first in the Azure Dragon Class. Her offensive output speed is currently the highest recorded in this academy’s inter-exchange program history.”

The projection showed a girl with bright eyes and the coiled energy of someone who was always slightly more ready to move than the situation required.

Two short swords at her hips, worn with the ease of things that had been there a long time.

”Bren Colde. Darkness affinity, sword type. Ranked third. His techniques operate primarily through sensory disruption, specifically targeting mana sense and spatial perception.”

Tall, quiet in the projection, the kind of quiet that had a weight to it.

”And Mors Ivel. Multi-affinity catalyst type. Ranked second.” Ellen’s expression carried something that was almost amusement.

”He uses seven catalysts simultaneously. Nobody has successfully explained how.”

Seven.

The projection showed a young man looking a bit stressed, wearing rings on every finger and two more on his wrists.

He had a focused expression that indicated he needed to pay attention to the seven rings, even when he wasn’t actively using them.

Gray looked at all of this in complete boredom.

[...Maybe you should ask if you can go against the third years... pftt!!!]

Jasmine laughed at him, causing him to roll his eyes at her.

But honestly, she was telling the truth, as Gray could potentially deal with all of them alone, just purely based on combat experience.

He had an offensive skill that could bring them all in one go, and yeah, he was talking about the sword art Aurora taught him.

Just the first move was more than enough, and he had already completely mastered it.

Besides, he has already killed a lot of beasts these days, and this has caused the skill [Shadow of Sin] to strengthen his body and senses even more.

’...For them, my killing intent is more than enough...’

Of course, there was also the skill [Villain’s Presence] that overall strengthened his killing intent, and from the quantity of beasts and people he killed...

...it was more than enough to deal with these so-called geniuses.

”Now that I’ve explained everything...!”

FWOOOOOOOOOOOP!

”KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”

”NOT THIS AGAIINNN!!!”

Everyone was instantly teletransported again, causing most of the girls to scream in pure surprise and agony.

And right now, they were inside the Mirror Arena, where the other three classes were already present.

To their left was the Black Turtle Class, where Gray instantly spotted Lyra, who was looking around, and instantly spotted him.

Her face was open and bright, and she raised her hand immediately, waving with the enthusiastic energy of someone who had been looking forward to seeing him and wasn’t concerned about who noticed.

Gray raised his hand back, and suddenly, Lyra’s wave slowed as her eyes moved from him to the class assembled behind him.

Then across the class.

Then back across it in the other direction, more carefully this time, and her expression told him she was counting something and hoping it would produce a different result.

It did not produce a different result....

Thirty-something girls.

One Gray.

Her hand finished its wave and came down slowly.

Her expression, which had been open, warm, and genuinely happy approximately four seconds ago, underwent a transition that moved through several stages in quick succession.

Confusion first.

Then the realization, that caused her face to turn extremely cold... so cold that it even made a cold current of wind reach his body.

The two of them looked at each other.

The distance between the classes was about forty meters, but it felt considerably shorter than that.

Cassandra, standing to Gray’s left, glanced at Lyra... and ignored them altogether.

Maelis, on his right, had also noticed.

She said nothing, but her chin lifted slighly, before she suddenly clung to Gray’s right arm, leaning her head onto his shoulder.

”Hehe~”

She even giggled, causing Gray to sigh.

Across the field, Lyra had not moved.

She was still looking at him with that very still, very cold expression, and the girl beside her, one of the Black Turtle Class students, said something to her that Lyra did not respond to because Lyra was occupied.

And then, Ellen’s voice cut across the arena.

”All four classes present,” she spoke in a loud tone, making sure that every class was able to hear.

”Formation positions. The engagement begins in five minutes.”

The classes began organizing, and of course, Gray turned to his own.

He figured that it would be better to deal with Lyra later on, even though he was somewhat less certain than he appeared.