Chapter 216: Voice Of The End [Part 2] "I’m the Head of the Music Department!" Professor Arienna roared. "I will not be defeated by a student whose voice sounds like nails scratching a chalkboard!" But Alex couldn’t hear her at all. He had ascended. His arms were spread wide. His shirt fluttered with the breeze. His eyes were glowing—not with power but with pure, unchecked delusion. "Let the dream begin, let the darker side give in To the power of the music that I write The power of the music of the night! You alone can make my song take flight Help me make the music of the Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight!" Several members of the audience were now clinging to each other as they cried softly. The teaching assistant, Heather, had gone into the fetal position and was humming a lullaby to herself. When Alex sang the final verse, a ripple of death energy—it’s every bit as soul-sucking as "death energy" could be—blasted across the arena. Magical barriers cracked. The orchestra disintegrated. The audience clutched their heads. The arena lights blinked wildly, as if possessed. One by one, the glow sticks of the audience fizzled out, not because their magic had faded, but because they couldn’t bear to illuminate the scene anymore. The stars above them jittered like faulty pixels. The constellations themselves tried to realign into a giant ’MUTE’ button. Professor Arienna fell to one knee, panting heavily, her hair singed at the tips. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚 Her guitar hung limply from her bleeding fingers. All of its strings had snapped, unable to fight something that wasn’t possible to defeat. Her ears were ringing. Her soul felt personally offended. She was starting to wonder why she had even tried to challenge Alex in the Battle Choir. "It was a mistake," Professor Arienna muttered as if she had lost not just a battle but her soul. Alex, meanwhile, turned slowly to the stunned crowd with a triumphant, completely delusional smile. "Did you feel it?" Alex asked dramatically as he placed right hand over his heart. "The beauty... the darkness... the music of the night!" He spread his arms. Silence. What beauty? There was no beauty. The only imagery they saw was suffering... with lots of burning garbage. Music? There was no music. It was just the sound effect of some inexplicable force tearing their soul apart like paper. Dim Dim, eyes still blank, held up a cardboard sign mechanically. "Please stop, Alex." Sue wiped her cheeks to get rid of the glowing dust from her broken glow stick and spoke sadly. "We lost Heather." They turned toward the teaching assistant who was still curled up and humming to herself. "... Do teaching assistants get free therapy these days?" Melodina remembered to ask. Although the fairies were shaken, their resistance to Alex’s singing had drastically increased after hearing him sing over and over again. They were the true survivors of this tragedy and would live to see the sunrise the next day. Everyone else was devastated. Even the domain itself seemed to be trembling, overwhelmed by Alex’s singing. Soon, the scenery returned to that white world, where nothing existed except the participants of the Battle Royale. A moment later, Alex heard a notification sound and a blue window screen appeared in front of him. ——— < You Have Completed A Hidden Quest! > Mission Name: Your Song, Your Beats Objective: Beat Professor Arienna in the Battle Choir! Rewards: – 5,000 Arcana Points – Bonus: Divine Attention Acquired Note: The Tone Deaf God is very satisfied with your performance. He has given you the skill, Voice of the End. ——— [Voice of the End] "He sang so off-key that the universe gave him a weapon." – Tone Deaf God, Patron of Musical Mayhem. Skill Grade: Divine Active Skill — Unleash a sonic blast of catastrophic disharmony. Can cause confusion, dizziness, spiritual trauma, and spontaneous existential crises to all who hear it within a 50-meter radius. — Ignore all Defenses. — Barriers will not protect anyone from this sh*t—err, skill. — Friendly fire is an inevitable side effect of using this skill. Cooldown: 5 minutes. Note: Use with caution. Effects may include shattered friendships, exorcised spirits, collapsed structures, and irreparable psychological damage. ——— Alex blinked. "...Voice of the End?" He didn’t expect that he would receive some kind of debuff skill that would be useful against many enemies at the same time. The only problem was that it caused friendly fire, which made him realize that he couldn’t use it when he was fighting alongside others. Professor Arienna finally stood up from her reverie, brushing herself off. "...Alex." The Professor walked towards the young man and rested her hand on his shoulder. "Y-Yes, Professor?" Alex asked, slightly unnerved. The Professor’s tone was mild, but her grip was vice-like and her eyes were cold with thinly-veiled killing intent. "There is a Battle Choir competition in the Inter-Class Battles, I want you to represent us there." Professor Arienna, who now fully understood Alex’s musical prowess, chuckled soulessly, as if she couldn’t wait for others to experience the same suffering that she did. She then went toward Heather, who was still rocking herself gently while in fetal position. The psychological damage had caused the teaching student to mentally regress to childhood. Professor Arienna helped her drink a rejuvenation potion before drinking one herself. She was absolutely drained after her battle with Alex. However, one thing was now clearer than ever. She was convinced that Frieden Academy would emerge victorious during the Inter-Academy Singing Competition. At the very least, the Battle Choir contest was a guaranteed win. As for the Singing King and Queen contests, there was still time to remedy this problem. Astrea would be representing the ladies division. But there was no way in hell Professor Arienna would allow Alex to represent them in the singing competition. She would definitely find a replacement at the last minute, by hook or by crook. Dim Dim, who had been in a daze since the first line of Alex’s performance, blinked once then twice as it finally regained its consciousness. It then looked around and found itself in the white room, which made it believe that the challenge was now over. Dim Dim was having a hard time remembering what had happened. It was as if its brain had, in a bid to protect itself, automatically deleted all the traumatic experiences. Since that was the case, the little bun jumped on top of Alex’s head and congratulated him for winning against the Professor in the Battle Choir. "Thanks, Dim Dim," Alex replied. "Did you like my performance?" "... Dim!" "Um? Is it just me, or was there a delay in your reply?" "Dim!" "It’s just my imagination?" "Dim!" Alex chuckled before leaving the training room triumphantly. He had left the Professor and the Fairies behind after saying his goodbyes because they seemed to have something very important to discuss. As he appeared in the lobby of the Seventh Training Room, all eyes locked on him, including Astrea’s. The students had tried to watch the Battle Choir between Alex and Professor Arienna, but they had been denied access. This meant that the Professor had used her authority as the manager of the Seventh Training Room to prevent anyone from seeing their battle. "Who won?" one of the students asked. This was the question that was on everyone’s mind. They had already recognized Alex as the current top ranker in the Seventh Training Room, so waiting for the results of his battle with the Professor had left everyone on the edge. Seeing that Astrea was also looking at him, the young man lightly patted his chest and looked at everyone with pride. "I won," Alex declared with confidence. He then flipped his hair like a shampoo model before walking away like a winner in life. Astrea watched his retreating back, wondering how the young man was able to defeat Professor Arienna, whom she respected the most in the academy.