Crimson: born as noble lived as phantom

The stadium speakers boomed, shattering the tense silence of the waiting area.

"WAVE FORTY-TWO: WILL GURBERR, ALONG WITH APPLICANTS NINETEEN THROUGH THIRTY-SEVEN, REPORT TO THE GRAND ARENA FLOOR IMMEDIATELY!"

I stood up, adjusting the collar of my disguise locket. Beside me, nineteen nobody commoners scrambled to their feet, their faces pale and their hands shaking so violently they could barely hold their practice shields. They knew what had happened to the previous waves. The Royal Knights weren't testing us; they were conducting a systematic slaughter.

As my 6'4" blonde frame stepped out onto the scorching sand of the colosseum, a massive roar erupted from the commoner stands. They were chanting my fake name, expecting the beast-slayer to pull off another miracle.

From the opposite iron gate, a single figure walked out onto the sand.

The heavy, black enchanted plate armor of the Royal Knights clanked rhythmically. She unlatched her runic helmet, letting a cascade of familiar hair fall over her shoulders. Her face was hardened like stone, her bloodshot eyes holding an absolute, unyielding coldness that hadn't been there a week ago.

It was my older sister, Erina Novalanch.

Through the faint whispers of the surrounding nobles in the front rows. Erina hadn't just joined the Knight Order; she had been fast-tracked directly into the elite Royal Knights. She had proven her ultimate loyalty to the crown by publicly denouncing her "kin-slayer" brother, refusing to forgive his crimes. Backed by a direct, personal recommendation from Princess Quina herself, she had taken the fated mantle.

Erina drew her signature rapier, the steel humming with a lethal, pressurized wind magic. She didn't look at the nineteen nobodies. Her sharp, unforgiving gaze locked instantly onto my blonde disguise.

"The nineteen of you," Erina spoke, her voice carrying a freezing military authority across the sand. "Step back. If you interfere, my blade will not hold back. My only target here is the boy who thinks he can mock the Knight Order."

The nineteen nobodies didn't need to be told twice. They frantically scrambled toward the stone walls, dropping their weapons and leaving me entirely alone in the center of the massive ring.

I looked at my sister, a slow, dangerous smirk spreading across my fake blonde features. This was the perfect setup. I didn't need to hold back, and I didn't need a crowd of useless rookies getting in my way.

"A Royal Knight Vanguard," I spoke aloud, my deep, disguised voice echoing across the quiet colosseum. I raised my right hand, pointing my matte-black training blade directly at her chest. "Twenty-versus-one is far too boring, Captain. Let us make this an official solitary duel. Just you and me. Three minutes on the clock."

Up in the VIP stands, Lady Neria gasped, while Lord Drake leaned over the edge, an ecstatic, roaring laugh booming from his chest. The entire audience of 7,300 rookies held their breath. A commoner rookie was openly challenging a Royal Knight to a solo survival duel.

Erina’s eyes narrowed, her wind magic violently swirling around her boots, tearing up the sand. "Arrogant fool. I will break your pride in less than thirty seconds."

"START!!!" the announcer bellowed.

SHING!

Erina vanished. Her speed was explosive, supercharged by her new Royal Knight mana core. In a microsecond, she materialized directly in my blind spot, her rapier executing a blindingly fast, pressurized wind pierce aimed straight at my shoulder.

But my reflexes were already processing the trajectory.

Without even turning my torso, I violently spun my matte-black blade backward.

CLANG!!!

The titanic collision of our steel created a massive concussive shockwave that blasted the surrounding sand outward in a perfect circle. Erina’s eyes widened in pure shock as her elite piercing strike was flawlessly, effortlessly deflected by a single-handed parry.

I spun around to face her, my fake blonde bangs shadowing the dormant crimson of my eyes.

"Your speed is excellent, Captain," I whispered, stepping into her guard with a explosive burst of physical power. "But your stance is completely wide open."

I launched a relentless, multi-directional flurry of heavy strikes. Even without channeling my true phantom mana, my raw, unweighted physical strength was monstrous. My black blade cut lines through the air, forcing the elite Royal Knight backward step by step across the arena floor.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Erina breathed heavily, her face twisting in utter disbelief as she desperately tilted her rapier to parry my onslaught. The vibrations from my strikes were rattling her bones, turning her palms numb. She couldn't comprehend how a random rookie possessed this level of crushing, absolute output.

One minute and forty seconds remaining.

Realizing she was being entirely overwhelmed in close-quarters combat, Erina executed a desperate defensive retreat, channeling her full magical reserves into her blade.

"Storm Bringer: Tempest Execution!" she screamed, thrusting her rapier toward the sky.

A massive, towering vortex of razor-sharp wind magic violently erupted from her core, ripping the stone tiles clean out of the arena floor and rushing straight toward my position like a localized hurricane. It was a high-tier spell meant to shred an entire vanguard to pieces.

I stood completely still in the path of the oncoming storm. It was time to give the audience the grand finale they were waiting for.

I placed both hands on the hilt of my sword, dropping my center of gravity. I didn't draw a spectral card—I didn't need to waste a contract ability on a standard human duel. I simply concentrated the raw, dense physical pressure into the edge of my steel.

With a fierce, silent roar, I swung my blade downward in a single, flawless vertical arc.

BOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

A terrifying, invisible shockwave of sheer physical air pressure erupted from my swing. The sheer force didn't just meet the hurricane—it completely, violently sliced the entire magical tempest clean in half, neutralizing the wind magic into harmless, drifting embers.

The shockwave continued forward, the concussive wind blast slamming squarely into Erina’s chest armor and launching her flying backward across the sand. She crashed heavily against the stone wall of the colosseum, her rapier slipping from her fingers as she collapsed to her knees, gasping for breath.

The stadium fell into a dead, horrifying silence.

BUZZZZZT.

The giant magical clock above the arena hit zero.

"THREE MINUTES UP!!! WINNER OF WAVE FORTY-TWO:  TEAM WILL GURBERR!!!"

The commoner stands exploded into an absolute, deafening frenzy of cheers, while the noble sectors sat entirely paralyzed with fear.

I calmly sheathed my matte-black blade, walking past the nineteen trembling nobodies who had automatically passed the trial just by standing in the corner. Stopping at the exit gate, I looked back at my unconscious sister being tended to by medical mages, and then up at the sweating, terrified face of Lord Gurberr in the VIP box.

I turned my back on the stadium, my blonde hair catching the wind. The exam was officially over. I had earned my badge. The legal shadow of The Crimson Card was locked in, and the fated march toward the deaths, misery, and terror of the Blood Kingdom was finally ready to begin.

AUTHOR'S NOTE : for those of you who skipped all or some of the previous chapters to read this chapter you need to go back and read all of the chapter you skipped to understand erik's motive to take the knight exam and why is he so desperate to visit blood kingdom as the author  i will recommend you not leave a single thing before the terorr of blood begins go and read those chapters QUICKLY

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