Infernal Entity: Evolving With My Demonic System-Chapter 67: Cheating

The rules of the underground fights were plain and simple. The use of abilities was prohibited. The fighting pits were meant to foster fair brawls between students.

Abilities ruined that balance in too many ways. They tilted fights heavily in one direction, turning them into one-sided slaughters instead of contests. That was why they were banned. What mattered here was raw physical strength, speed, stamina, and grit.

There was another reason too.

Mutant powers were dangerous. The pits weren’t sanctioned by the Oval Academy, and if a student were to die during a fight, it would open the door to a problem far bigger than bruises and broken bones. One death could bring investigations, attention and shutdown.

Axel knew all of this and despite that knowledge, he had used a skill.

It hadn’t been flashy. No obvious surge of power soo one noticed it. No alarms went off. But he knew the truth.

He cheated, and for some reason, Axel felt good about it.

As he stared down at Orion’s unconscious body, the system suddenly popped up in his vision.

< [You have defeated the Orion Prince] >

< [You also cheated] >

< [+50 EXP] >

< [+10 Corruption] >

"Huh?" Axel blinked, confused.

The system had rewarded him for winning the fight, but it hadn’t assigned any mission. That was strange on its own. But what really caught his attention was the second message.

It rewarded him for cheating. And his Corruption had increased... again.

’Does Corruption rise whenever I do something wrong?’ Axel wondered.

His mind drifted back to the first time it had gone up. He had robbed another student of fifty CNTs without hesitation. At the time, he hadn’t thought much of it. Now, it didn’t feel like a coincidence.

The crowd remained silent for nearly a full minute after witnessing the brutal end of their champion. One strike, that was all it took to knock out the Orion Prince.

Kinsey stood just outside the cage. A soft smile had formed on her face since the moment Orion went down. She looked proud, almost as if she had been the one fighting.

"He cheated!" someone suddenly shouted from the crowd. "There’s no way he beat the Orion Prince without using an ability!"

Whoever it was sounded furious. Not because Orion had lost, but because money had. Losing bets always made people loud.

Coincidentally, Kinsey was only a few feet away from the accuser. She turned toward him and scoffed openly.

"Why don’t you and your Orion Prince suck it up?!"

A few people nearby laughed under their breath as the tension eased slightly.

Accusations or not, one thing was clear: no one had seen Axel use an ability.

And in the underground pits, what wasn’t seen didn’t exist at all.

The cage door creaked open and two attendants stepped in. They grabbed Orion by the arms and dragged his unconscious body across the floor. His head lolled to the side, muscles still tense even in defeat. The crowd slowly found its voice again, a mix of disappointment, whispers, and reluctant applause.

Kinsey ran towards Axel in ecstasy.

"That was insane!" she explained the moment she reached the cage entrance. Her eyes were bright, almost glowing with excitement.

"You didn’t just win, you shut the whole place up! Do you know how rare that is here?"

Axel shrugged lightly. "I just fought." he said humbly.

"Yeah right!" Aurora scoffed. "You CHEATED, you mean. You little weasel!"

There’s the Aurora Axel knew. She’s back.

"That wasn’t just fighting," Kinsey said quickly. "Your timing, your footwork, the way you slipped inside his reach. That last move..."

"Oh great!" Aurora’s voice cut in. "She’s impressed. Very impressed. A little too impressed, if you ask me."

Axel kept his face neutral.

"She’s smiling a lot," Aurora continued. "I’d say there’s a sixty percent chance she’s developing a crush. Forty percent annoyance. Either way, she’s loud as hell."

Kinsey kept talking, completely unaware of the dialogue going on in Axel’s mind.

"Most people freeze when Orion presses them. You didn’t! You even baited him."

"Please make her stop talking," Aurora muttered. "She’s irritating."

Then Kinsey’s expression shifted. The excitement faded and her smile dropped.

"What did you do back there?" she asked.

Axel blinked. "What do you mean?"

"Don’t do that," she said calmly. "Don’t pretend. I saw it."

"Saw what?"

"There was a moment," Kinsey said. "Just before you landed the final hit. Orion hesitated. It was like his body locked up for a split second."

Axel said nothing.

"That doesn’t happen in normal fights," she continued. "Especially not to someone like him."

"You’re imagining things, Kinsey."

She shook her head. "I’m not. Don’t lie to me." She said.

A brief silence settled between them. Then Axel exhaled slowly and smirked. "It’s my little secret."

Then he turned and walked past her.

Aurora clicked her tongue...if she had one. "Smooth. Very smooth."

Kinsey watched him for a second, then followed.

They made their way toward the payout booth near the back of the pit.

"You’re lucky," Kinsey said after a moment. "Most people would kill to fight Orion. Fewer live to walk away."

Axel glanced at her. "You seemed pretty confident I’d win."

She smiled faintly before answering. "I was."

They reached the cashier. Kinsey stepped forward and tapped her device against the scanner.

"I placed a thousand CNTs on him," she said simply.

Axel froze when he heard that. "You did what?!" he asked, his eyes wide.

The cashier nodded and processed the transfer. A notification chimed on Kinsey’s device.

[+2000 CNT received ]

Axel stared at Kinsey. "A thousand? Are you serious?"

She turned to him. "Why wouldn’t I be?"

"That’s insane," Axel said. "Where did you even get that kind of money?"

She shrugged. "My little secret."

"That doesn’t answer the question."

"You won," she said. "That’s what matters."

The cashier turned to Axel next and another transfer went through.

[+1000 CNT received]

Axel checked his balance immediately.

1,215 CNTs.

His breath caught for a second.

While he’d been unconscious for a month, his account had slowly accumulated income. One hundred and fifty CNTs added to the sixty-five he already had. And now this.

A thousand CNTs. Just like that.

He looked back at Kinsey. "Why would you risk that much on me?" he asked.

"Because I trusted you to win. You don’t fight like someone who loses," she said.

Axel didn’t respond. His mind was elsewhere now

’She had upgraded the Godrend sword without hesitation. She carried a sleek Mythic bow and arrows that didn’t look cheap in the slightest. Now this?’ Axel thought.

Too many questions, but once again, too few answers.

Kinsey was hiding something and he knew it. Axel glanced at her from the corner of his eye. ’Who are you?’

Aurora hummed softly in his head. "Oh, I like her secrets. They make things interesting."

Axel said nothing as they walked away from the pits together.

Axel and Kinsey moved through the narrow passage that led out of the pits.

Kinsey stretched her arms. "You did good back there," she said once again. "That win alone puts you on a lot of people’s radar."

"I’m not sure that’s a good thing," Axel replied.

Before she could answer, three figures stepped out of the shadows ahead.

They wore dark uniforms with the Apex insignia etched into their collar tags. Third or fourth years, easily. Their presence alone carried weight. The corridor suddenly felt too small.

"Axel Vaelon," one of them said. "Kinsey Kit. You two are coming with us."

Kinsey stopped walking. "On what grounds?" She demanded.

One of the guards stepped forward. He didn’t answer. His eyes began to glow with a sharp, unnatural light.

Axel felt something instantly.

Kinsey didn’t even get a chance to react. Her body stiffened for a split second, then she collapsed, hitting the floor without a sound.

"Kinsey!" Axel shouted, stepping forward.

The moment he moved, his vision blurred and a warning flared across his sight.

< [Warning: Hostile ability detected] >

< [Status effect applied: Mental Suppression] >

A wave of dizziness rolled through him. His legs felt heavy, like they no longer belonged to him.

< [Resistance is active] >

Axel clenched his teeth and forced himself to stay upright. His head throbbed and the corridor spun.

< [Resisting...] >

< [Resisting...] >

The pressure intensified, crushing his thoughts, dragging him down.

< [Resistance failed!] >

Axel’s knees buckled.

The last thing he saw was the Apex guard standing over him, glowing eyes cold and emotionless.

Then everything went dark.

***