Lucian thought for a few seconds, then casually tossed his entire bundle of flags over to Cassian’s side. He let out a low, barely audible chuckle.

’Hmm... interesting.’

Lucian knew full well that beating Cassian to a pulp right here wouldn’t be too difficult, given his current strength. But if he wanted to completely expose Cassian in front of the entire academy and make him blab the truth out of his own mouth, Lucian had to play along. He had to pretend to be weak.

’System, can you show me Cassian’s deep stats?’

[Deep stat analysis is not possible while ’Villain’s Gaze’ is only at Level 1.]

’Why did I even bother expecting anything...’ Lucian grumbled inwardly, masking his annoyance with an irritating smile.

"What’s wrong? Cat got your tongue? Or are you just scared?" Cassian mocked.

"No..." Lucian replied calmly. "I was just thinking about something."

Cassian’s eyes narrowed. "Don’t think I don’t know what you’re plotting. I’ve seen that conniving brain of yours at work a thousand times before."

"Oh? So you—"

Before Lucian could finish his sentence, a burst of loud, hysterical laughter echoed through the clearing, instantly ripping both of their attention away.

Iris, who was standing safely off to the side, also turned her gaze toward the source of the sound—Marcus.

Marcus had relentlessly beaten his three brainwashed cronies to the ground. Standing tall with their elimination flags firmly in his grasp, he watched as the three battered students vanished in a flash of light, teleported back to the academy.

Then, he just stood there, throwing his head back and laughing like a complete maniac.

Slowly, Marcus started walking toward Lucian and Cassian. But something was wrong. As he stepped closer, thick, pitch-black veins began to bulge violently across his neck and pulse down his arms. His entire aura felt sickeningly dark.

"Now watch, you motherfuckers..." Marcus growled, his voice distorted and heavy with malice. "I’ll show both of you your true place." 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

Cassian casually pointed the tip of his sword at Marcus, completely unimpressed.

"What the hell is wrong with you, pussy? Did beating up a few mindless weaklings suddenly give you an ego trip? Do you even realize who you’re trying to flex on?"

Thick sweat drenched Marcus’s forehead, which he swiped away aggressively.

"Shut the fuck up, you fuckface!" he roared at Cassian. "I’ll handle your ’righteous’ ass in a minute, But first, I’m burying this fraudulent bitch right here."

He snarled, fixing his intense gaze on Lucian. "Hey, you worthless dickhead. You always loved running that goddamn ass-face mouth of yours. Let’s see how well you talk after I break it."

With a primal roar, Marcus ripped his shirt to shreds, casting the rags aside to reveal his horrific transformation. Three jagged, obsidian stones were crudely embedded directly into his flesh — one in his mid-chest, one in his ribs, and one in his navel. Vile, pulsating black veins spiderwebbed across his entire torso like a grotesque map.

Lucian’s eyes narrowed into slits.

"Corrupted mana? And it’s leaking uncontrollably... I knew it was weird for Marcus to be this quiet since the beginning of the match. He was aiming for me all along."

Not one to stand back and watch, Cassian thrust his hand toward Marcus, attempting to activate his special skill. yet nothing happened. Instead, he felt a sudden, violent pull of his own mana was being violently siphoned away, absorbed directly into the black stones embedded in Marcus’s body.

"Tch!" Cassian spat.

"Marcus, have you completely lost your goddamn mind? Do you have any idea what you’re unleashing right now?"

"Hahaha! Can’t you see the power coursing through this body, you fools? This... this is TRUE power! And with it, I’m going to slaughter this pathetic piece of shit first. Then, Cassian, your turn will come."

The words had barely left his mouth when Marcus’s body began to twist and tear itself apart in a sickening, unnatural manner. His muscles shredded and expanded violently—first his arms bulged to impossible sizes, then his legs, and finally his chest fractured and reformed.

He transformed into a towering, obsidian giant. It was a complete monstrosity; the creature had no head. Instead, in the place where a skull should be, Marcus’s own human torso stuck out, halfway fused and dangled within the massive, dark form like some grotesque parasite trapped within a larger monster.

Marcus’s erratic gaze suddenly shifted toward Iris, who had been standing quietly off to the side, observing the terrifying transformation.

With a thunderous leap, he lunged toward her. Before she could even react, he snatched Iris up in his grotesque, massive hand like she was nothing but a fragile toy.

"Oh, what do we have here?" Marcus’s distorted, booming voice echoed from the hideous torso fused within the giant.

"A little toy to play with before the main course..."

He lifted Iris high into the air. She immediately began thrashing wildly, her face twisting in pain under his crushing grip.

"Put me down, you ugly creature! How dare you—"

Iris frantically tried to gather her magic to fight back, though just like Cassian, she felt a violent pull. Her mana was instantly siphoned out of her body, absorbed completely by the corrupted black stones.

Seeing this, Cassian hurriedly tried to deactivate his ’Hypnotism’ skill to sever his connection with the streaming familiars, it was no use. He was completely cut off. The familiars’ mana had already been sucked dry by Marcus’s monstrous gravitational pull, and the metallic creatures now lay completely dead on the ground.

Every single drop of ambient mana in the surroundings was being ruthlessly devoured by Marcus’s mutated body.

Keeping his sharp gaze locked onto the towering giant, Cassian muttered through gritted teeth.

"Listen, Lucian... I absolutely fucking hate the idea of doing this, but it looks like we’re going to have to fight together right now... at least to save Iris."

However, Lucian didn’t respond. His mind was reeling somewhere else entirely. He hadn’t even heard a single word Cassian just said.

He was completely frozen in place, his thoughts spiraling into absolute chaos ever since the System had suddenly whispered that into his head...