Is It Wrong for an Extra to Steal the Protagonist's Harem?-Chapter 88

Behind the massive, one-way mana mirror of the Spire’s observation deck, Sophie leaned against the primary control console, her arms crossed over her tailored black coat.

She didn’t have exceptionally high expectations for the freshmen, except for Ren Montclair. A great Mage could usually be recognized from the sprout, but they were still just first-years. They hadn’t experienced the blood and terror required to truly polish their cores.

"Ren is... as expected. He has a solid foundation," Sophie murmured, tapping her finger against her arm.

The Light element. It was a rare, coveted affinity that earned envy from the entire magical society. Ren was born with it, and he was naturally sitting at the very top of the Vanguard Stars scouting list. Unfortunately, he still couldn’t perfectly deflect the Arc-Cannon’s bolts without heavily taxing his mana, but he would surely grow into a monster in the future.

"And the Frost family is the Frost family, after all," Sophie added, noting down Emily von Frits’s name on her digital tablet.

Emily had shown exceptional skill with her Tier-3 Ice domain. Her localized freezing was precise and ruthless.

Both Ren and Emily were undeniable geniuses among their peers. But could they win against Ivan Baker? Could they beat a speed-type Knight who could cross the arena in less than a second?

Sophie couldn’t easily say yes.

Professor Cassandra stood beside her, taking a long, slow drag from her pipe. "Well, Sophie? What do you think? They’re the cream of the crop for this generation."

"They’re good. Very good," Sophie admitted, her sharp eyes scanning the scorched arena floor below. "But let’s step away from the Guild’s scouting perspective for a second. As a tactician, Cassandra... how are you planning to beat the Knight Department with that?"

Sophie pulled up the compiled dossier on Ivan Baker on the console’s secondary screen.

"The Arc-Cannon’s output is set too low," Sophie criticized, tapping the screen. "Ivan’s ’Flash’ acceleration is practically instantaneous. The magic bolts you’re firing at these kids are too slow. What are they supposed to learn from this?"

Cassandra frowned, a cloud of lavender smoke drifting over the control panels. "If we increase the velocity to match Ivan’s maximum sprint, the students will get severely injured. They don’t have Aura Plating. A direct hit at Mach speed would shatter their ribs."

"So what?" Sophie scoffed, shaking her head. "They’re going to get their ribs shattered in the actual tournament anyway. Isn’t it better they learn the sheer terror of that speed in a controlled evaluation?"

"And risk putting my best candidates in the infirmary before the tournament even begins?" Cassandra countered dryly. "No. The current speed is sufficient to test their reaction times."

Sophie sighed, leaning back. "I really don’t understand why the students think you’re terrifying, Cass. You baby them too much."

Before Cassandra could snap back, the Spire technician sitting at the main console spoke into the comms.

"Final Candidate. Alex Edelhart, please step into the evaluation ring."

Sophie’s eyes instantly narrowed.

She lifted her left wrist. The advanced Aether-Reader strapped to her arm was completely frozen. Ever since her eyes had met the dark-haired noble’s in the lounge upstairs, the expensive, state-of-the-art artifact had been glitching. It wasn’t registering him as a standard Mage. The needle was vibrating violently, trying to calculate a hyper-dense, terrifyingly unstable friction-mana that defied standard categorization.

"Alex Edelhart," Sophie read his name aloud, her voice laced with intense curiosity. "The defective Duke’s heir. The rumors say his circuit is practically crippled."

Cassandra let out a heavy, exhausted sigh. "It’s because of that ’crippled’ boy that I had to change the entire evaluation criteria tonight."

"He changed it?" Sophie raised an eyebrow.

"My original plan was to select Emily. I was going to teach her how to freeze the arena floor and win by ring-out," Cassandra explained, rubbing her temples. "But Alex openly challenged me in front of the entire class. He said throwing mud and running away was the reason Mages always lose."

"He said that?"

"He said we need magic that suppresses the opponent instantly. An absolute, overwhelming strike that doesn’t just win on points, but breaks their Champion’s spirit. And then he arrogantly demanded I evaluate him for the Representative spot."

Sophie’s boredom vanished entirely. A sharp, predatory thrill ran down her spine.

Vanguard Stars was a Guild dedicated to hunting down extreme threats and Cultists. They had plenty of talented Mages. What they desperately needed were apex predators. People who trusted themselves completely. People whose arrogance was backed by absolute, unshakable power.

"Let’s see if he can back it up," Sophie murmured, leaning close to the glass.

Down in the arena, Alex stood with his hands casually resting in his pockets. He didn’t take a stance. He didn’t chant.

"Round One. Firing."

The Arc-Cannon boomed. The blue bolt tore across the room.

Alex casually pulled his hand from his pocket and flicked his finger.

Crack.

The massive spell destabilized mid-air and shattered into harmless sparkles of light fifteen meters away from him.

"Huh?" The technician blinked, rapidly typing on his keyboard. "Did the cannon misfire? Was there a structural error in the mana composition?"

"No," Sophie answered immediately, her purple mana flaring slightly in her excitement. She pressed her hands against the glass. "Cassandra. Did you see that?"

"...I did," Cassandra whispered, her cat-like eyes wide with shock.

They both understood exactly what had just happened. It wasn’t an error. It was structural dismantling. Alex hadn’t raised a shield to absorb the blow. He had fired a microscopic pulse of kinetic energy directly into the spell’s weakest structural node, instantly collapsing its physics.

"What grade of analytical magic is that?" Sophie demanded. "Reading a high-speed spell’s vector in a fraction of a second... that’s Advanced Tier combat theory!"

Cassandra shook her head slowly, completely speechless.

"Round Two. Firing." "Round Three. Firing!"

The technician launched the next two rounds, increasing the speed and density.

The result was identically flawless. Alex took a single half-step to dodge the second, slapping the side of the bolt to shatter it. For the third, he simply snapped his fingers, generating a localized kinetic shockwave that crushed the incoming spell into a harmless puff of mist. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

He did it with his hands in his pockets. He did it without breaking a sweat. It was brutal, elegant, and utterly terrifying.

’He thinks differently,’ Sophie realized, her heart hammering against her ribs. ’He isn’t trying to react to the speed. He’s controlling the space itself. He’s denying the opponent the ability to accelerate in the first place.’

Her interest didn’t just soar; it exploded.

The inside of the observation deck was engulfed in dead silence.

Cassandra swallowed hard. "This... this means Alex is the Representative. He cleared it flawlessly."

"Is that really the limit of your curiosity, Cass?" Sophie whispered, a manic, thrill-seeking grin spreading across her face.

Before Cassandra could process the question, Sophie pushed off the glass. She shoved the startled technician out of his chair and slammed her hands onto the control console.

"Hey! Vice-Guildmaster!" The technician yelled in a panic. "You can’t touch that!"

Sophie completely ignored him. She flared her vivid purple mana, violently bypassing the Spire’s safety locks.

"What are you doing, you crazy bitch?!" Cassandra lunged forward, grabbing Sophie’s shoulder.

"Let’s see how much he really trusts himself!" Sophie laughed, her eyes wide with adrenaline. She smashed her fist down onto the glowing red override button, shouting into the arena intercom.

"WARNING. Manual Override engaged. Launching Round Four! Maximum Output!"

The Arc-Cannon shrieked, glowing a volatile, blinding red.

"Are you out of your mind?!" Cassandra screamed, watching the cannon fire. "That’s Mach speed! You’re going to kill him!"

The red bolt tore across the arena—a lethal, high-density sphere of pure kinetic destruction that perfectly simulated Ivan Baker’s absolute maximum, armor-crushing strike.

Sophie and Cassandra watched in sheer horror as Alex didn’t dodge. He simply raised his bare right hand and caught it.

They braced for the explosion. They braced for the sickening sound of the boy’s arm being ripped from its socket.

But it didn’t happen.

Thud.

The stone floor beneath Alex exploded into a massive crater from the transferred force, but the boy himself didn’t move a single inch. The lethal red spell simply fizzled and died against his palm, completely absorbed into his body.

Cassandra stared, her jaw unhinged, her pipe slipping from her fingers and clattering to the floor.

"He caught it..." Sophie whispered, her breath fogging the one-way glass. Her Aether-Reader watch suddenly cracked, the glass face splintering from the sheer overload of kinetic mana radiating from the boy in the arena. "He caught an Overcharged Arc-bolt... bare-handed."

Down in the cratered ring, Alex slowly lowered his smoking hand. He looked up, his piercing, arrogant eyes staring directly into the one-way mirror, seeing right through the black glass to the terrified faculty hiding behind it.

"If you’re going to test an apex predator," Alex’s cold, mocking voice echoed through the deck’s speakers, "don’t use a toy. You insolent fools."