Supreme Warlock System : From Zero to Ultimate With My Wives

Warlock Ch 306. Exam Rules

'Okay. So the damn thing fights back? Fine! Let's see how much it could take!'

Damian activated [Spectral Surge], boosting his speed and reflexes.

Then, he raised his arm again.

The air shuddered as he summoned [Void Rift].

A swirling tear in reality appeared near the crystal, pulling at its protective field, distorting the mana layers around it.

For a moment—just one moment—Damian saw the core.

That was his target.

His eyes narrowed.

He lunged.

Bloodwing dove straight for the core, dodging incoming blasts as Damian readied [Shadow Inferno Strike].

Darkness and fire coiled around him, raw power crackling in his veins.

"Let's see how well you handle this."

He struck.

The impact shook the entire arena.

The crystal's barrier buckled.

A massive spiderweb crack spread across its surface.

The audience gasped.

The examiners' faces turned ashen.

Damian's grin widened.

"Oh yeah," Damian muttered, watching the crystal's cracks widen. "That's gonna break."

But he was wrong.

The fractures spread, jagged and deep, but instead of shattering, the crystal surged with renewed resistance. A pulse of arcane energy erupted from its core, sending shockwaves through the air. The very fabric of the arena seemed to ripple, and the barrier thickened, glowing with an ominous intensity.

Damian gritted his teeth.

Damn it. It was like the crystal was reinforcing itself in response to his attacks. It wasn't just a mana containment unit. It was adapting.

Then he saw it—one of its retaliatory blasts heading straight for Selena.

His instincts kicked in before his brain could even process it.

[Shadow Barrier]!

A translucent wall of dark energy materialized in front of her just in time. The arcane projectile collided with the barrier, exploding in a burst of crackling mana. The force of the impact pushed Selena back, but the shield held.

Damian exhaled sharply. That was too close.

She was barely standing as it was. If another attack like that hit her…

"Shit," he muttered, snapping his fingers.

[Summon: Stoneback Golem]

The ground shuddered, and with a deep rumble, a massive golem rose beside Selena, its rocky exterior forming a protective wall between her and any stray attacks.

"You okay?" Damian called out.

Selena nodded weakly, but even from a distance, he could tell she was struggling to stay upright.

"Just… hurry up and break that thing," she muttered, breathless.

Damian turned his focus back to the crystal, his frustration boiling over. He couldn't afford to waste time. He had five minutes, maybe less.

Fine.

If brute force wouldn't work, he'd shove pure hellfire down its throat.

[Hellfire Spear].

A blazing spear manifested in his grip, its scorching flames twisting and writhing like a living beast. Damian tightened his hold, feeling the searing heat crawl up his arm. This was going to take everything he had.

The crystal flared in response, its defenses strengthening, as if it sensed the sheer power behind Damian's next attack.

"Not this time," Damian growled, launching forward.

He swung the spear, driving it straight into the widening cracks.

- BOOM!

A shockwave erupted, tearing through the arena. The dome trembled, the sheer force of the impact sending spiderweb fractures across its surface. The energy within the crystal began to flicker erratically, arcs of unstable mana crackling around it.

It was working.

Damian dug his heels in, pouring every ounce of his strength into his assault. The power of the crystal pushed back, its defenses screaming in protest.

Then, through the swirling chaos— He saw her.

Aria.

She just arrived and stood among the council members, her piercing gaze locked onto him.

And she did not look pleased.

Damian's breath hitched. She turned away from him, her expression unreadable, and addressed the council members with a flick of her wrist.

He didn't know what she was saying. Didn't know what she was doing.

But he knew one thing.

Something was about to happen.

His grip tightened on the Hellfire Spear. If this didn't work, he had one last option.

Summon Varak.

Use his ultimate skill.

Blow the whole damn arena apart and become a criminal. Again!

The thought burned in the back of his mind, but he shoved it aside for now. He had to push this attack to the absolute limit.

Cracks spiderwebbed through the crystal's surface, jagged fractures widening as the energy within it flickered violently. Sparks of unstable mana crackled around its edges, the dome trembling, struggling to hold itself together.

It was almost there.

Damian gritted his teeth, pouring everything into his final strike.

The Hellfire Spear flared, its searing flames surging outward like a wildfire, twisting and writhing in his grip. He reared back, every muscle in his body burning with exertion, and hurled the spear straight into the core of the crystal.

-BOOM!

The explosion rocked the entire arena.

The crystal shook violently, pulsing with a final burst of resistance— Then, it began to collapse in on itself.

'This is it!'

Damian's heart pounded. One more second. One more hit, and it would be gone.

He braced himself to follow up.

And then, suddenly— The crystal vanished.

One blink, and it was gone.

The barrier collapsed.

The suffocating mana field that had locked them disintegrated in an instant.

The entire arena fell into absolute silence.

Damian staggered, his breath sharp, his mind racing to process what had just happened.

"What…?"

His head snapped toward the council's platform, toward the one person who could have intervened.

Aria.

She stood tall, unreadable as ever, her cold gaze sweeping over the battlefield before she finally spoke.

"Exam Rules, Number 42," she announced, voice crisp and unwavering. "If an unexpected event occurs, the exam is allowed to pause and will be continued later after the situation is stable."

Damian's blood ran cold.

Pause?

That was an option?

He exhaled sharply, his pulse still thundering in his ears.

His eyes flickered to Selena—still collapsed, still struggling for breath.

Damian didn't have time to think.

Save her first. Everything else could wait.

Across the arena, Alric was already sprinting toward them, his eyes wide with panic, his mana flaring around him. But to Damian, it wasn't fast enough.

They had two, maybe three minutes.