[Location: Neiber Island]
Evening had caught up with the sea, the sun collapsing beneath the horizon as the moon rose slowly to take its place. The two ships—scarred and battered from the destruction the candidates had unleashed—drifted before a sight too massive to ignore.
An enormous island rose from the same restless ocean, and upon it stood a structure that defied the ships entirely in scale. At its heart sat a colossal cube, dominating the skyline, while smaller buildings—though "small" barely applied, each one miles apart—clung stubbornly to the earth at its corners. Lifts, staircases, and sprawling bridges wove between them all, tethering every structure back to that singular, towering cube like veins feeding a single heart.
It felt less like a facility and more like an entire city thriving on the island, its infrastructure built with a level of sophistication and durability far beyond what any ordinary nation could hope to construct.
The surviving candidates slowly stepped out of the ships, relief evident on their exhausted faces. The danger was finally over, and with it, the final exam.
The number of candidates had drastically fallen. From the large crowd that had entered the trial, barely ten to fifteen remained between the two ships.
Some stared at the enormous structure before them with eyes glinting with excitement. Others looked genuinely stunned, unable to believe they had actually survived and passed the test. A few simply stood there, quietly calming themselves after everything they had endured.
Suddenly, a loud voice exploded through the air.
"EVERY REMAINING TEST TAKER IS REQUESTED TO LINE UP IN A ROW OF TWO!"
The announcement immediately pulled everyone's attention back to reality. The candidates quickly formed two orderly lines.
The person in charge stepped forward and addressed them.
"Now, listen up... YOU are no longer test takers. From today onward, you are officially part of this assassination school. You will be trained both physically and mentally to become assassins."
The words sparked a flame of motivation within almost every candidate.
"ARE YOU READY TO BECOME A PART OF THE S.A.O. ORGANIZATION?!"
"YES, SIR!"
The response came almost instantly, echoing across the area.
The instructor paused for a moment before continuing.
"Now, I will reveal the highest kill scores and the top three rankings of the test."
Everyone immediately became excited.
The kill count had already established an unspoken hierarchy among the candidates—who was considered superior and who was considered inferior.
The instructor finally announced the results.
"Hikaru, first rank. Denial, second rank. Mark, third rank."
For everyone except those three, their expectations shattered deep within their hearts.
Denial, a heavily built man wearing a tank top and shorts, immediately wore an aggressive grin.
"Ahahahaha! See, you shitheads? Now you know who's superior! I'm the second strongest, so don't get too friendly with me!"
He turned toward Sayuri and continued boasting about his strength, his overexcited speech sending droplets of saliva across her face.
Unable to bear it, Sayuri quickly covered her face with her overcoat.
"Come on, strong man. Why are you bullying her? Just look at her face—she's completely drenched because of your unhinged act."
A young man standing behind Sayuri suddenly spoke.
It was Mark.
His appearance and mannerisms contrasted sharply with his gender. He wore an oversized women's shirt and shorts, and his stereotypically gentle, caring tone made him sound almost like an overly concerned woman.
"You okay, honey?" Mark asked Sayuri.
"No, no... it's fine. I'm okay with it," she replied, her expression shy and slightly fearful.
Amid all the drama, however, Hikaru noticed something unusual about Sayuri.
Why do I have such a bad feeling about her?
Is she really as weak as she appears... or is she just pretending?
Hikaru sank deeper into his thoughts.
Suddenly—
"NOW ENOUGH CHATTING!"
The loud voice immediately snapped him back to reality.
"I WANT ALL OF YOU TO FOLLOW ME! I WILL GUIDE YOU THROUGHOUT THE INSTITUTE!"
With that, the candidates began moving forward.
Together, they passed through the main gate and entered the enormous institute, heading toward the gigantic structures that stood before them.
While there was a mixture of excitement, fear, and happiness on the faces of the surviving candidates, somewhere far away from the island, in Hikaru's home city, a battle of true superiority was about to unfold.
The roads were crowded and noisy. The chatter of people, the constant honking of vehicles, and the movement of the city filled the atmosphere.
Inside a taxi, Ishiko sat in the back seat, wrapping bandages around her arms, forehead, and shoulders. Her face was covered with scratches left by Kio.
"That bastard Kio... I'll never forgive him for putting me through such a hard time," she muttered under her breath, irritation written across her face.
Her eyes looked exhausted.
The driver kept glancing at her through the rear-view mirror. He was visibly tense at the sight of the injured woman sitting behind him.
Yet something deeper than simple concern was bothering him.
His instincts were screaming at him that there was something dangerous about her.
After traveling a considerable distance, the traffic finally began to loosen its grip. Eventually, the taxi stopped along an empty highway.
On the left side of the highway stood a huge stadium.
On the right stretched a seemingly endless jungle.
Ishiko stepped out of the taxi.
She reached into her pockets, searching for money to pay the driver.
But before she could even pull anything out—
The engine roared.
The taxi suddenly accelerated and sped away down the highway.
Ishiko stood there in confusion, watching the vehicle disappear into the distance.
Inside the taxi, the driver's heart was pounding.
Wh... what was that feeling?
It's like if I even moved my mouth, I would've been killed.
For the first time in a long while, he felt two emotions at once.
Relief that he had escaped.
And fear of the woman he had just driven.
Meanwhile, Ishiko turned toward the jungle.
Without saying a word, she stepped beneath the trees and began walking deeper inside, heading toward somewhere only she seemed to know.