The Return Of The Exiled Villain

The referee’s call for the next representative from Gloria Academy hung in the air only briefly before a new figure stepped forward from their ranks.

It was none other than Adrian.

A 2nd-year, the same as Gray.

The moment his name and face registered across the projection screens, a fresh wave of recognition and commentary swept through the stands.

”That’s Adrian!”

”Lyra’s brother... he’s still in?”

”He’s one of Gloria’s strongest 2nd-years if not the strongest. He’s an elemental swordsman; he practically uses the sword like a focus for multi-element casting.”

Adrian walked onto the elevated platform slowly.

His usual sharp presence was still there, but something about his posture carried a heavier, more restrained weight than in earlier stages of the Exchange.

He stopped opposite Gray and raised his sword, the blade already faintly shimmering with the layered glow of multiple elemental affinities.

The crowd instantly leaned in with renewed interest.

A match between two 2nd-years at this stage of the finals was rare enough on its own. The fact that one of them was Gray made it the clear centerpiece of the current round.

In the VIP section, several nobles murmured among themselves.

Adrian settled into his stance.

The elemental light around his sword stabilized into a tight, disciplined flow.

His expression was serious, almost grim, carrying none of the earlier open hostility he had sometimes shown toward Gray in the past.

He looked ready to fight with everything he had.

Gray regarded him in silence.

To most of the arena, the two simply stood facing each other, one calm and almost bored, the other coiled with elemental power and resolve.

But only Gray noticed the detail that mattered.

Adrian’s eyes.

They were no longer their usual color.

A dull, muted gold had settled over them, washing out the natural shade and leaving something flat and distant in its place.

The change was subtle enough that no one else in the vast arena appeared to notice it.

But Gray saw it clearly.

His lips curled up.

A small, dark, unmistakably interested smile.

’A Divine’s Descent... huh? I wonder what God is possessing his body at the moment...’

Adrian was not the one controlling his body right now. It was his patron god instead—hence the change in eye color.

’I might need to take this seriously then...’ Gray thought.

Even though he was miles stronger than the real Adrian, the body in front of him was being possessed by an actual god.

The combat experience behind those dulled golden eyes would be off the charts, and Adrian’s current vessel should be overflowing with temporary power far beyond what a normal 2nd-year could produce.

Gray’s smile faded back into his usual calm expression, but the interest in his eyes remained.

Across the platform, ”Adrian” raised his sword with a precision and stillness that did not belong to a student.

The four elemental affinities circulating along the blade no longer looked like a talented youth’s carefully balanced technique.

They moved with a seamless harmony, all the elements - fire, water, wind, and earth flowing into one another without the slightest friction or waste.

The referee, unaware of the true nature of what stood on the stage, lifted his staff.

”Begin!”

Swoosh!

The possessed Adrian moved first.

It was a basic overhead swing that looked exceptionally simple.

The elemental sword came down in a straight vertical arc, fire and wind reinforcing the edge while earth stabilized the force and water kept the flow continuous.

To most observers it would have looked like a talented student testing the distance.

Just as the blade began its descent, Gray spoke.

”Is that body satisfactory as a vessel?”

Fwooop!

The sword stopped dead in front of him.

Not because the god controlling Adrian had chosen to halt the attack.

Gray had simply raised his right hand and caught the tip of the elemental blade between his index finger and thumb.

He held it there with no visible effort, the four circulating elements sparking uselessly against his skin.

His posture remained careless, almost lazy, as if he had intercepted nothing more dangerous than a falling twig.

The dulled golden eyes narrowed.

”...What do you mean?” the voice that came from Adrian’s mouth asked. The tone was colder and far calmer than the real Adrian’s had ever been.

Gray tilted his head slightly.

”You can’t hide your identity from these eyes...”

He pointed two fingers toward his own face.

『✯ Yin-Yang Divine Eyes ✯』

The black of his irises changed at once.

A clear yin-yang symbol formed across both eyes, the left dominated by the white half, the right by the black.

The passive glow of the Spirit Eyes was replaced by something scarier and far more invasive, a gaze that peeled back surface layers and looked directly at the nature of what stood before him.

The body wearing Adrian’s face froze.

A brief, involuntary golden halo flickered into existence above its head before the controlling presence forcibly suppressed it again.

The dulled golden eyes widened with genuine shock.

”T-those eyes... h-how is it possible?!”

The voice trailed off, the ancient composure cracking for the first time. The next words came out sharper, almost disbelieving.

”...N-no... n-no... that demoness... is still alive?!”

Gray raised an eyebrow at the reaction.

Then he twisted his hips and drove a clean roundhouse kick straight into the side of the possessed face.

CRACK!

The impact snapped the possessed head sideways with brutal force.

Adrian’s body was lifted clean off the platform and sent skidding across the reinforced stone in a rough, uncontrolled tumble.

The elemental sword clattered away, its four circulating affinities sputtering out the moment contact with Gray’s hand was broken.

A visible shockwave of residual force rippled across the stage, drawing startled shouts from the nearest sections of the crowd.

Before the body could fully recover, Gray raised his left hand and made a small, almost casual gesture.

Dark-red mist bled out from behind him and rapidly condensed into a tall, elegant feminine silhouette.

In the next breath, the mist solidified into Jasmine’s full manifested form: long silver-white hair, vivid crimson eyes, flawless features, and the same black dress that clung to her curves with effortless authority.

A faint, oppressive aura of beauty and destruction rolled off her presence even though she remained only partially powered.

The effect on the god inside Adrian was immediate.

The dulled golden eyes went wide with something close to primal recognition and fear.

The body scrambled backward on the platform, one hand rising instinctively as if to ward off a nightmare it had never expected to see again.

Jasmine’s crimson gaze locked onto the golden-eyed figure.

Her expression, usually calm or faintly amused when dealing with Gray, turned cold and sharp as she recognized the god in front of her.

[Gray.]

Her voice rang clearly inside his mind, carrying a rare edge of old contempt.

[Oohh... I know that one. That is Zephyrion, the former God of Shifting Winds. He was one of the many who pursued me during the peak of my power... first with offerings and declarations, later with schemes when I rejected them all. After he crossed the line and allied with those who tried to seal me, Sanguina and I made an example of him. We did not kill him... just made sure that he would remember the difference for a very long time.]

’...So you tortured him?’

[Basically yeah.]

’Noice.’

Gray’s yin-yang eyes faded back to their usual deep black.

At the same time, he gave a small mental tug, and Jasmine’s manifested form dissolved into dark-red mist that streamed back into his body without resistance.

The golden-eyed figure on the platform had only a fraction of a second to process the sudden disappearance.

Gray was already gone from his previous position.

He reappeared directly in front of the possessed Adrian, close enough that the residual wind affinity still clinging to the vessel stirred the edge of his black robes.

His right fist was already traveling in a straight, clean line toward the god’s borrowed face.

The punch landed square on the jaw.

CRACK!

Adrian’s head snapped back.

The body stumbled two full steps before Gray’s left hand shot out, seized the front of the academy uniform, and yanked the vessel forward again.

A short, brutal knee drove into the stomach.

”Kugh!”

The air left the god’s borrowed lungs in a sharp, involuntary gasp.

Gray did not give him time to recover.

He released the collar only long enough to slap the golden-eyed face open-palmed, once, twice, the sharp reports echoing across the silent platform.

The dulled golden eyes remained wide with residual fear.

The ancient presence inside was still reeling from Jasmine’s sudden appearance; the usual divine combat instincts that should have flooded the vessel were sluggish, fragmented, half a beat too slow.

Gray stepped in again.

A low sweep took the legs out from under the possessed body. Before the back could hit the platform, Gray caught the ankle, lifted, and slammed the vessel down hard enough to make the reinforced stone shudder.

He followed the motion with a casual stomp toward the chest that forced the god to roll desperately aside.

Even that roll was clumsy, far below the level of control a true divine descent should have displayed.

”Come on... show some will to fight at least.”

Gray looked down at him.

”I’m getting fucking bored.”