The atmosphere in the second year classroom was suffocating. Haruto sat at his desk, leaning back with a bored expression, while the rest of the students buzzed like a disturbed hive. The news of the Wizard Quest challenge against Kaelen had spread faster than a system virus.
"Is it true?" a girl from the front row whispered, loud enough for the whole room to hear. "A group of freshmen who haven't even been here a week are competing against the second-year elites?"
"They're insane," another boy added, shaking his head.
"Kaelen won't just defeat them; he'll delete their future. Nobody survives a Soul-Binding Pact with him."
Haruto ignored the stares. He looked at his team, and for the first time, the heavy tension of the hallway had transformed into a cold, sharp confidence.
Toya sat perfectly still, his eyes closed, mentally stabilizing the white aura that Ivory had masked. He looked like a statue carved from lightning.
Bellona was sharpening a small throwing knife with a whetstone, the rhythmic shink-shink-shink sound acting as a warning to anyone who got too close.
Lustra was humming a low tune, doodling "Family" in the margins of her notebook with a playful smile.
Ivory was the only one still thinking, her fingers dancing through lines of code as she prepared the final safety protocols for their "Impossible" run.
Haruto felt a surge of genuine excitement. This was the high he lived for—the moment right before the game begins, where everyone thinks you've already lost. He wanted to see the look on their faces when they realized the "Level 4" they were mocking was the one holding the 'Delete' key.
Despite his excitement, a flicker of genuine caution remained in the back of Haruto's mind. Chairman Fedric. The man who ran this entire Academy wasn't just a powerful administrator; he was a shark who had seen Haruto level up in real-time.
He saw me hit Level 2, Haruto thought, his eyes narrowing. And now, in just a matter of days, I've jumped two more levels to Level 4. A normal student takes months, sometimes years, for that kind of growth. Fedric isn't stupid. He knows I'm a glitch in this system.
If the Chairman intervened during the Wizard Quest, the "Impossible" difficulty would truly live up to its name.
Suddenly the classroom was a battlefield of whispers. A group of girls crowded around the Goddesses, their faces a mix of awe and pure confusion.
"Kaelen offered you a spot by his side!" one girl exclaimed, practically shaking with envy.
"You could have been Queens! How could you stay with this guy?"
The Goddesses didn't even flinch. Ivory looked bored, Lustra was busy twirling a lock of her hair, and Bellona looked like she was counting the seconds until she could punch someone. They knew how to control themselves, ignoring the noise as if it were white static. On the other side of the room, the boys were secretly cheering—they were just glad kaelen didn't get his way for once.
Suddenly, the door swung open and Seraphine rushed in, her face pale. She marched straight to Haruto's desk.
"Have you lost your mind? Wizard Quest?! Haruto, do you understand math?" She slammed her hand on his desk.
"One level higher means the opponent is twice as powerful. You are picking a fight with someone five levels above you! Level 3 is way too weak for this!"
Haruto didn't even look up from his notebook. "Actually," he said calmly, "I'm Level 4 now."
Ivory facepalmed so hard it echoed. Uff, he's hopeless, she thought. He just can't keep a secret to save his life.
Seraphine froze, her mouth hanging open.
"Levle 4? Your brain has officially melted. You just somehow reached level 3 from 1 in 2 days and now you are saying you are level 4. You're just making things up now!"
"He's actually telling the truth," Ivory sighed from the back.
"Don't ask me how, but he really hit Level 4."
"Level 4? Yeah, right!" A voice sneered from the center of the room. Kenji, who was currently surrounded by his own group of fangirls, leaned back arrogantly.
"If you're really Level 4, show us your HUD. Prove it, or stop acting like a protagonist."
Haruto stood up, his eyes cold.
"I have more important things to do than satisfy your curiosity. Also levels are just numbers for people like you who can't play the game, Kenji. I'll show you mine when you're worth the effort."
"Spoken like a man afraid of the truth," Kenji taunted, his girls giggling behind him.
"The fear of being exposed as a fraud is real, isn't it?"
Before the tension could snap, a massive, imposing man stepped into the classroom. His presence was like a physical weight. He scanned the room until his eyes landed on Haruto.
"Haruto?" the man asked, his voice deep and authoritative.
"That's me," Haruto replied.
"Report to the Auditorium immediately," the man commanded.
"The Wizard Quest is about to begin. Bring your team. The Council is waiting."
Haruto grabbed his jacket and signaled to Toya and the girls. As he walked past Kenji, he didn't even slow down.
"I'll show everyone my level in the Auditorium... if you last long enough to see it."
The atmosphere in the Academy had shifted from academic curiosity to a heavy As Haruto and his group walked toward the Grand Auditorium, the sheer scale of the event became clear.
The atmosphere in the Great Auditorium was suffocating. Thousands of students leaned over the railings of the tiered stands, their whispers creating a low-frequency hum that vibrated in the very floorboards. This wasn't just a match; it was the revival of a prehistoric ritual. The last Wizard Quest had taken place 150 years ago, ending in a "Total System Wipe" that deleted an entire bloodline from the Academy's records.
As Haruto's group stepped onto the obsidian stage, the sheer scale of the setup came into focus.
In the center of the stage sat a massive, rectangular table carved from a single block of Mana-Conductive Obsidian. Its surface was polished to a mirror finish, reflecting the terrified and excited faces in the stands.
Floating exactly three feet above the table was the Axiom Screen—a gargantuan, shimmering holographic parchment that seemed to be woven from raw, golden light. It wasn't a static display; the edges of the screen flickered with "Live Code," constantly scanning the mana signatures of everyone in the room. Currently, the screen was a blank, translucent void of amber energy, waiting for the blood-price to be written.
On the far side of the table, Kaelen sat in a throne-like chair, his legs crossed with the casual arrogance of a predator. He had expanded his circle—six Level 6 elites now stood behind him like statues of iron, their collective mana creating a visible distortion in the air.
Two new high-ranking second-year "Executioners" had joined his original four, their eyes glowing with the activation of their combat sub-routines.
Kaelen's own Level 8 red aura was leaking onto the table, causing the obsidian to hiss as if it were being scorched.
Haruto stood at the entrance, looking at the blank Axiom Screen. To everyone else, it was a death warrant. To him, it looked like a clean save file waiting for a new set of rules.
"Look at them... they're actually going through with it," a senior whispered.
"150 years since the last one... this isn't a game, it's a social execution."
As Haruto's group entered the stage area, the sight was intimidating. On one side of a Floating above the table was a massive, shimmering holographic screen. It was currently blank, waiting for the Mana-Link Pact to be etched into its surface.
Standing far to the right was Professor Vane, Kaelen's class teacher. He was a tall, unnervingly thin man with sharp, rectangular glasses that glinted under the auditorium lights. Known as the top academic in the city, Vane only taught the elite "S-Class" students. He looked down at Haruto with pure disgust, his gaze treating the Level 4 student like a cockroach that had accidentally crawled into a palace. Even Professor Elara held a lower rank than him in the Academy's hierarchy.
Suddenly, Professor Elara herself slipped through the crowd, appearing right behind Haruto. She leaned in, her voice a low, dangerous whisper that only he could hear.
"You're playing a dangerous game, Haruto," she murmured, her eyes flicking upward.
"Look toward the high balcony. Chairman Fedric is here himself. He hasn't looked away from you since you entered. I haven't told him about our little 'arrangement' yet, so keep your end of the deal. Don't die, and don't let your team get deleted. I still want that promotion to Head Teacher."
She paused, a small smirk playing on her lips. "I heard Kaelen's shouting earlier. Level 4, huh? My suspicion just turned into absolute certainty. You really are a walking glitch."
The moment Haruto's eyes locked onto Chairman Fedric on the high balcony, something inside him finally snapped. The constant hiding, the masking of his aura, and the suffocating pressure of pretending to be a "lucky Level 1" felt like a heavy, rusted chain around his soul.
No... not anymore, Haruto thought, his breathing slowing down as a dark, exhilarating thrill began to override his fake "fear." I'm done suffocating. I'm playing a game of Impossible Difficulty, and what's the point of playing if you never let the world see the final boss?
He felt the Glitch System pulsing in his veins, synchronized with his heartbeat. If I keep hiding, if I just "survive" in the shadows, it'll be the most boring life imaginable. I'd rather burn the whole Academy down with my full power than live a lie for another second.
A low, jagged chuckle escaped his lips—one that wasn't part of the "scared kid" act.
I'm leveling up at a speed that defies their physics anyway, Haruto's inner monologue turned predatory. So why hold back? Let them watch. Let the Chairman see the monster he's allowed into his school. It's time to play the game my way.
Then, as quickly as she had approached, she recoiled with a fake expression of horror. "Haruto! How could you be so reckless?"
she cried out loudly, acting perfectly for the students and the Chairman's eyes, pretending to be the worried teacher trying to stop a suicidal student
She grabbed Haruto by the shoulders, her eyes wide.
"Do you even understand what you've accepted? You aren't just jumping into a pit—you're dragging the entire future of the first year with you!"
She pointed a trembling finger at Toya and the three Goddesses.
"Toya is our Ace! These three are the highest-ranked girls we've seen in decades! If you lose this quest—and you will lose against a Level 8 elite and six Level 6s—their lives are over. Their levels, their titles, their freedom... Kaelen will strip it all! You are drowning, Haruto, and you're pulling everyone who trusts you down into the abyss with you!"
The auditorium went silent, the teacher's desperate plea echoing off the walls. Kaelen leaned back in his chair, a sadistic smirk playing on his lips as he watched the "boy" get scolded.
Haruto's eyes flickered toward the balcony where Chairman Fedric sat like a silent god, then back to the frantic, "terrified" face of Professor Elara. He didn't miss the wink. A small, invisible smirk touched the corner of his mouth.
If everyone wants a show, I'll give them a masterpiece, Haruto thought.
"Professor Elara." Haruto said, his voice quiet but carrying a strange, metallic weight.
"You're looking at the ranks on the screen. You're worried about the 'Ace' and the 'High-Rankers.'"
He looked back at his group, who were all standing behind him with unshakeable expressions.
"But you're forgetting one thing," Haruto whispered, a small, dark smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.
"In a game where the rules don't exist yet, the one who knows how to break the code is the only one who survives. Don't worry about us drowning... worry about what happens to the Academy when I finally decide to stop playing nice."
Haruto walked past her and took his throne-like seat at the obsidian table, directly opposite Kaelen.
Professor Elara stood frozen, her breath hitching as Haruto walked past her. The metallic resonance in his voice had felt less like a student's bravado and more like a System Notification—cold, absolute, and inevitable.
The group also took their seats at the obsidian table. The silence in the auditorium was so thick it felt physical. Suddenly, the massive floating screen above the table flickered with a violent burst of golden static.
[NOTIFICATION: WIZARD QUEST INITIALIZATION]
[PROTOCOL: THE PACT OF TOTALITY]