The Author's Extra: My SSS Skill Turns Souls into Anything!

The arena changed while everyone was still processing the first round.

The stone floor cracked open in sections, grass pushing through, and the flat circular battlefield restructured itself into something considerably less simple. Uneven terrain rose and dipped. Clusters of trees appeared where open ground had been. Rocks jutted upward at odd angles, and thick bushes filled the spaces between, creating sightlines that only lasted ten or fifteen meters before something blocked them.

It didn’t look like an arena anymore.

Darius stepped forward as the last of the terrain finished forming.

"The second round tests something different."

The noise in the stands settled.

"You will compete in squads of four. A mana crystal will be hidden somewhere within the arena. Your objective is to locate it and charge it with your own mana." He let that sit for one second. "You will also be competing against an opposing four-person squad at the same time. Protect your teammates. Disrupt your opponents. Find and charge the crystal before they find it. The first squad to complete the charge wins."

He looked across the arena.

"This round measures more than combat ability, awareness, coordination, decision-making under pressure. Your squad’s average rank determines your matchmaking tier."

The moment he finished, the arena turned into controlled chaos.

Students were already moving, calling names, cutting across the floor, making decisions before someone else made them first. The best partners disappeared fast, and the students who hesitated quickly discovered they were negotiating from a weaker position.

Alden surveyed the room.

’I need a decent squad.’

His eyes found Seris standing nearby, which was the obvious first thought. She was arguably the most valuable person in this arena. She was also looking at no one in particular, which meant she hadn’t been taken yet.

He started toward her. "Seris if you’re—"

"I’m afraid I have to stop you there." Augustus appeared between them with the seamless timing of someone who had been watching and had chosen this exact moment on purpose.

Alden stopped.

Augustus glanced at him with the usual easy expression. "Your Senior Seris has already joined my squad. We’re full. No room, even if you wanted in."

Alden looked at Seris.

She looked back at him.

She didn’t say anything.

That was the part that registered as slightly odd, she was never short on something to say. But she stood there with the same composed expression she always wore and let Augustus handle the conversation entirely.

"I see," Alden said. "I understand, President."

He turned and walked away.

’What was that about.’ He shook his head. ’Whatever. I need to find a squad.’

"Alden!"

He turned.

Leon was jogging toward him with Legion one step behind, both of them looking like the obvious answer to the problem he’d just been trying to solve.

"Squad together?" Leon asked.

"Yes." Alden didn’t hesitate. "I was actually looking for you two."

"Good." Legion glanced over his shoulder. "Then we’re already four."

Alden raised an eyebrow. "Who’s the fourth?"

He looked past Legion.

A girl stood a short distance behind him, fidgeting with her fingers, working up to something.

"S-Senior Alden..."

Alden looked at her for a moment.

"...Emilia?"

He glanced at Leon.

Leon nodded. "She wanted to join my team. We knew you’d join us and it would make us three with one missing, so she’s the fourth."

Emilia stepped forward and held out her hand. The nervous energy in her expression was doing its best to hold itself together.

"I hope we can get along, Senior Alden. And..." A small determined smile found its way onto her face. "I hope we can make it through this together."

Alden looked at the outstretched hand.

Then smiled and took it.

"Let’s do our best, Emilia."

From directly behind Alden, a very specific silence occurred.

Leon’s expression had gone somewhere dark.

His eye twitched once.

His jaw went tight.

"Since when did this guy become such a womanizer," he muttered, somewhere between a question and a statement.

Legion placed one hand on his shoulder.

"You’re imagining things."

"I am absolutely not imagining things."

"You definitely are."

"Attention, students!" The announcement cut through the arena and Leon’s argument simultaneously.

"All squads have been registered. The second round begins now. Let’s see the first matchup!"

The enormous screen above the field flickered.

Names began appearing.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

TEAM 1

Rank. Name. Pts. Year.

7. Leon: 2,684 pts — II Year

8. Legion: 2,630 pts — II Year

85. Alden: 1,039 pts — II Year

108. Emilia: 967 pts — I Year

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Leon stretched his arms and rolled his neck.

"We’re up first." He looked at the opposing section of the arena. "Who are we up agains—"

The screen flickered again.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

TEAM 2

Rank. Name. Pts. Year.

5. Nicholas: 2,828 pts — II Year

6. Roselle: 2,739 pts — II Year

31. Daniel: 1,830 pts — II Year

73. Sierra: 1,237 pts — II Year

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Leon read the names.

His expression collapsed completely.

"WHAT."

He grabbed his own head with both hands.

"WE’RE FIGHTING SIS?!"

Legion watched this exchange from beside Alden.

"This is going to be interesting," he said.

Alden wasn’t listening.

His attention had moved to the other side of the screen.

Nicholas had already found them. His eyes had settled on Alden’s group.

Roselle beside him gave the same look with different expression.

Daniel was there too. Eyes on Alden.

And Sierra.

She was looking at the screen. Then at Leon. Then, slowly, at Alden.

He didn’t look away, but she did.

Alden’s eyes moved across the four of them.

Leon had stopped arguing with himself. Legion was already mapping the field.

Emilia on the other side was taking a breath and refocusing, the family argument filed somewhere she’d come back to later.

The announcer’s voice rang across the arena.

"Both squads, take your positions!"

Alden’s hand relaxed at his side.

’Nicholas is the stronger squad on paper... And Sierra is on that team.’

He hadn’t forgotten what she’d tried to do to him.

This was an examination. He wasn’t going to use it to settle anything personal.

But he wasn’t going to hold back either.

"Begin!"

The terrain swallowed all of them.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!