BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
Immediately upon feeling the ground beneath his feet solidify and finding himself in the room, Ryuk felt a powerful explosion that snapped his eyes open, followed by a sharp whistling.
He turned his head to the side, and horror painted itself on his face.
Flying with incredible speed toward Ryuk's face was a gigantic hammer, whose head was larger than his own.
Before Ryuk could move a muscle—
The hammer smashed right into his face, immediately sending him off his feet and throwing him away like a ball.
He slammed into the wall 10 meters away, sending cracks through its surface. The hammer fell to the ground right after, and Ryuk slid down from the wall.
Right now, his nose and lips were swollen to the size of his head, and as his hand tried to rub them, he paused.
The pain was so sharp it almost brought a tear to his eye.
"Tch, talk about bad luck!"
"Imagine being in the way of Von's flying hammer!"
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. He doesn't seem too good."
The words rang like loudspeakers in Ryuk's head as he slowly rose, his swollen face glaring angrily at the place where the hammer had been sent flying from.
It didn't take long for him to identify the source—a muscular-looking kid, covered in an incredible amount of sweat, who had an indifferent expression that annoyed Ryuk to his absolute limit.
"Fuck you, you giant block of shit!" Ryuk cursed as his hand reached for the hammer, wanting revenge.
But his face quickly changed when he grabbed the hammer and tried to pull it up, only to find the hammer unmoving.
"What the hell?" he thought as he wrapped both hands around the hammer and tried to lift it again, veins bulging on his pale hands.
"How is it so heavy!?" Ryuk shouted aloud, drawing another round of mocking laughter from the fallen guys around him.
Finally, the muscular bloke walked towards Ryuk, bending down and picking up the hammer as easily as one would lift a pebble, before hooking it by his waist.
"Sorry about that, kid. Didn't see you in the way."
"Why would you appear in the center of a battle royale anyway? The proper door in is right over there…" The muscular giant gestured to the side, where a door labeled Exit was written.
It was clearly the place where anyone ought to come in from.
Yet when Ryuk turned his gaze to where he had landed, he found himself in the very center of the stage where the battle royale was currently taking place.
Somehow, he had teleported right into the middle of a battlefield!
It didn't take long for Ryuk's gaze to settle on a figure responsible for his plight.
Who could it be if not for the boisterous man who had forcefully dragged him to a teleporter!?
The man stood there, but in his hands were two sharp swords still gleaming with golden energy. Two students could be seen nailed into the wall around him. Feeling Ryuk's gaze, he smiled before replying.
"That was fully your fault."
"Huh?" Ryuk said with a raised eyebrow as the man walked towards him with both swords in his grasp.
"When both of us teleported right in, you were in the path of a flying hammer, and I was in the path of two swords ready to clash together with their most powerful energy.
"Yet here you are, with lips as swollen as a pig's head, and here I am, with two swords in my hand and my attackers sent flying into the walls...
"So we both went through the same ordeal, attacked unexpectedly, yet here I stand, not a single injury."
"So who else is really to blame for you plight, except your own lack of strength?" The man spoke with a taunting expression that struck at Ryuk's heart.
The man wasn't wrong.
Ryuk could see the two swords in his hands, still flaring with golden energy. That meant the man must also have been unlucky enough to appear right in the path of clashing swords. Yet he was standing fine, unlike him.
Who else really was to blame for Ryuk's swollen face if not for his own weakness?
If he had been strong, he could have just stopped the hammer in its path, just like how the fallen man had stopped the two swords and sent his opponents flying instead.
In other words, it was Ryuk's full fault, and slowly, his anger faded away as he smiled.
"Very good!" The man said with his usual boisterous smile as the two swords in his hands soared to their respective owners and he clapped Ryuk hard on the shoulder, dragging him up and making Ryuk's feet dangle a few inches in the air.
"You pompous weaklings here better look up straight!" The man called for their attention as the various fallen geniuses turned their focus on him and stopped their fights.
"This here is, um…" The man said grandly but paused as he looked at Ryuk, who forced out through gritted teeth:
"This here is Ryuk, a boy that has been placed here by the devilish half-Fallen Clestria herself!" The man said as the geniuses immediately had their attention piqued to the maximum.
"The...The Half Fallen Celestria!!?"
"He will now be the 60th genius partaking in the Ascension Academy test with you all. For the next one month, he will be training with you and finding a way to overcome his weakness so that he will be able to absolutely crush your dreams and hopes in the test, seizing a spot for himself!"
"Will you lose to him, or will he lose to you? That choice lies squarely in your hands!"
"Due to his arrival, further classes will be dismissed for the day and start again tomorrow!"
"You all can leave!" the man announced grandly as Ryuk felt his expression drop.
What kind of class introduction is that!?
Now he could feel every one of the fallen geniuses looking at him with fierce intensity in their eyes.
Even though they were already aware he was weak, the fact that he had been sent there by the half-Fallen herself revealed there had to be something special about him.
They would be foolish to underestimate him.
Just what did I get myself into!?