Shoujo Hater

As Luis began to worry, a sudden light erupted and started annihilating everything, leaving him in absolute darkness.

He rose to his feet as he remained calm.

It seems this is the third test.

Luis started moving slowly as the glow of a tunnel appeared ahead, seeming to be the only way out.

He sprinted forward, his gaze locked into a death stare, and at that moment Luis shed every shred of humanity he had left.

All he wished now was to complete the final exam and rescue his mother from that cursed clown.

Because from what he understood, Jester never entered a battle he would lose, and that mention of accomplices confirmed he was not working alone.

Luis forcibly cast out his dark thoughts as he summoned his Grimoire and pressed forward until he reached a valley cradled between two green mountains.

The moment he stepped inside, the golden eagle materialized above him, its piercing cry declaring the start of the final test.

"A FIGHT OF CHARACTER FROM THE ARCHIVE WITH UNKNOWN RULES."

The library selects a past version of a character from the archive at random.

And as light flooded the space, a boy of seven years old stepped forward, gripping his sword.

He had brown hair and a frigid stare.

If a title were needed to capture this swordsman, it would be a wolf in sheep's clothing.

And that figure was none other than Ian, the son of Lowen Russell.

The one who deceived Lin and the Frost family. The one who used his own sister as a pawn for his ambitions.

The bastard unbloodied successor to Arthur the King, the second greatest sword wielder of the previous generation.

"Damn it!!!!" Luis muttered, already sensing the depth of trouble ahead.

Ian Lowen Russell!!!!!!!

Without warning, a blinding strike sliced through the air from Ian's blade. Luis barely evaded it using his Grimoire, yet the deflected force carved a massive gash into the mountain behind him.

"Godmother of the Sword, lend me your power."

The golden woman from the first exam materialized at his back as his sword blazed yellow and his eyes burned fully gold.

Luis dug his heel into the earth as his body coiled, then launched himself at Ian, and so a clash ignited between two extraordinary swordsmen: the Godmother's edge and Arthur the Almighty King.

It seemed the two souls themselves were clashing as well, each fighting with absolute seriousness, each driven by pride alone.

And as the two blades met!!!!

"Boom!!!!"

A tremendous wave of two opposing yellow auras detonated against one another.

But the seven year old Ian abruptly loosened his grip. As Luis was pulled into the redirected momentum, a sudden punch connected with his face and sent him tumbling across the ground.

As the sword dropped, Ian snatched it in an instant and swung it wide as his aura blazed and his brown hair ignited into gold.

He drove his foot into the earth as his blade burned yellow and stretched into a colossal weapon. With one devastating upward swing, a massive yellow slash tore through the air and surged toward Luis.

At that moment Luis glimpsed his mother's face, and rage detonated within him as he called forth two more abilities and two additional souls rose behind him.

A storm erupted as the landscape around them transformed. Yellow thunder split the sky and two towering hurricanes swirled into existence as his sword blazed and two golden wings unfurled as a tribute to the Godmother of the Sword, Lysandra. Flanking her stood two supporting magicians: the wind magician Hermes and the light magician Lurk.

A sudden force descended from above like a meteor toward Ian, whose aura had grown blinding in preparation for the collision. Flames curled around him as he flared with intensity, bracing to meet Luis who plummeted from the sky.

Luis unleashed a torrent of wind arrows and light blasts, which Ian deflected with sweeping arcs of his sword's aura.

And even so, the blades converged. The force between three souls and one detonated outward.

A young Arthur against young Hermes, Lurk, and Lysandra.

It was not that the three were feeble, but the borrowed ability Luis wielded had not reached its true depth.

That power came from the library, a privilege shared by all who inherit one once their name is etched as its current owner.

It granted him the ability to draw one skill from a previously recorded figure, bound by a single condition: he could not wield it against that figure's original owner. Furthermore, the borrowed strength matched the owner's level. No one could draw power from above themselves.

Equally, no one could borrow a skill incompatible with their nature, and certain abilities carried dangerous consequences upon use.

Yet one exception existed: if the user was forging something entirely new for the library, it would shatter its own law to help them reach that knowledge, under one condition. Their bond with it had to be strong enough to receive that gift.

As for Luis, he carried no blessing or path yet.

The only thing he had unlocked was a Grimoire that mirrored his soul.

That was because he was a Grimoire magician, unlike any other classification.

As the blades traded strikes at blinding speed, devastating shockwaves erupted in every direction. One lapse in focus and either of them would be cleaved apart. Luis's thunder kept raining down, but Ian wove between each bolt with terrifying fluidity. As for the hurricanes, Ian sent two precise slashes tearing through their cores, dissolving them entirely, and so his sword's aura contracted and condensed back into the blade. He shoved Luis with brutal force, then with one elongated strike, the phantom of Arthur's soul surged behind him and amplified his power beyond measure, hurling Luis into the massive mountain at the valley's center. He slammed into it and collapsed to the ground, his sword landing beside him as blood streamed from his nose and eyes.

All that remained at his back was the soul of Lysandra, and she was livid that Luis had sullied her techniques with his clumsy execution. For the first time, a shard of memory addressed him directly, one that pulsed with its own consciousness.

Ian advanced toward him unhurried, certain of the outcome.

"You mistake my patience for mercy, kid.

Stand up. Not as a request,

but as a fundamental truth of your existence.

The Godmother of Swordsmanship is not something for you to taint with your hands.

I am not asking you to fight.

Your consent holds no value here.

Cast aside your doubts.

Cast aside your weakness.

Cast aside yourself.

From the moment you drew upon my sword,

your hesitation ceased to matter.

Now rise.

And fight for me.

Not for your own sake.

Not for your pride.

Not for your desires.

Fight because my will has decreed it.

Fight because your choice no longer matters.

My honor is your duty.

My command is your purpose.

Fight for my will."

A violent aura detonated from Luis as the shard of Godmother Lysandra seized his body and surged forward to meet Ian. Their blades collided, and blood poured from Luis as his body surrendered control. His sword had been severed by Ian's Arthur Mode.

"A magician without a symphony is a magician without a will.

I will become that will."

On pure instinct, Luis severed Lysandra's soul as his eyes flooded red and he reached for a far greater weapon, and that was how the next soul took form. It bore short black hair and dark, still eyes, one hand resting in its pocket. It was the pinnacle of the Vasthera heir, Lin Noctarine, known to the world as the Dark Horse. This incarnation existed before his system had been shattered, carrying his peak strength and speed without using his instinct.

It was Luis's final card. Having already worn Ian down, he had preserved this for the decisive moment, because Lin's method of combat relied not on energy reserves but on pure martial discipline. How far Luis could push it depended entirely on his own body and raw talent.

The moment it activated, Luis settled into his stance, one hand in his pocket.

Ian materialized before him in an instant, but Luis sidestepped the blade with disarming ease, letting the strike tear through empty air beside him.

But Luis did not stop there. His knee drove fast into Ian's stomach, making him cough blood.

A sharp Brazilian strike followed, crashing into Ian's face and amplified by a burst of thunder.

Then with both elbows carrying a wolf's energy, he struck Ian in the face, then grabbed him by his torn clothes, flipped him using an aikido move, and followed with an elbow drop that crashed into his skull like a meteor, breaking a few bones in Luis's own hand from the sheer force of the technique.

Luis took a few steps and stood still, beginning to mend his injuries, his eyes weeping blood from the anguish of being kept from his mother.

While he worked, a sound shattered the silence behind him. Something was rising.

It was Ian.

The man refused to fall.

He seized his sword in a single motion and turned toward Luis. A terrifying pressure erupted from his body, sweeping across the entire battlefield and giving himself the aura of a monstrous king. Every ounce of his strength, every shred of his will, and every fragment of his sword intent converged into one final attack.

His eyes locked onto Luis.

"All I need is one cut.

One cut is enough for you.

I am Ian Russell.

I will kill you.

Raise your sword and face your death, because no one will save you from me.

I am the Uncrowned Sword King."

Ian's sword intent reached its peak.

Luis felt death looming in front of him.

An eagle's will suddenly appeared inside Luis as he neither retreated nor ran.

He just stood there.

And as Ian was about to launch his attack, the world around them shattered into light.

Then Ian's body disappeared. The exam had ended.

A path stretched open before Luis. He seized Ian's sword and hauled it behind him, the blade dragging across the stone with a grinding scrape, mending his wounds with each step forward.

And when he arrived, he found his mother's hand had been severed. Jester was pinned against the wall from some prior impact, battered and bleeding. Beside him stood a boy with white hair and pale blue eyes, regarding Luis with an icy expression. He was draped in a white robe. Luis recognized him immediately. Adrian Law, one of Jester's subordinates and a member of the Arcana of Fools.

A sudden scream erupted from Luis, carrying anger, hate, and insanity. The blond boy with blue eyes had been driven mad by the psycho clown.

"JESTERRRRRRRRR!!!!!!????"

"Oh, the little femboy has arrived.

Haaaaa… haaaaa.

Where's that calm demeanor of yours, kid? Weren't you so composed with me just an hour ago?

So in the end, all it takes is just one day to turn someone's life upside down."

"Do you want to strip everything from me????"

"Do you see me as some kind of a joke, you son of a bitch?"

"I will take you down!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

A surge of mana exploded from Luis as his blue eyes blazed with light.

An eagle-shaped tattoo slowly emerged across his back.

At that moment, the library acknowledged him as its rightful owner.