SSS Awakening: Only My Summons Evolve

Chapter 52: The Jester’s Colosseum

The venue was very massive on the inside.

It wasn’t like a boring exam hall or a stadium but instead it looked like a completely high tech Colosseum, with screens on the walls and holographs that gave directions to the students.

At the far end of the Colosseum, a stage stood beneath a massive screen which was the size of a small apartment building, currently flickering with static.

Verso walked toward the center of the arena where everyone else was gathered.

He looked around, his heart sinking slightly as he estimated the density of the crowd.

’There must be at least a thousand people here.’

If this place was one of the five venues hosting the exam across the country, that meant over five thousand hopeful students were competing for a better future today.

The sheer scale of this exam made his recently acquired Elite Sea Serpent feel a little less like a cheat code and more like a basic necessity.

With around five thousand people giving the exam, statistically there were going to be dozens of people with Elite Summons, making him less special.

"Hello, everyone!"

A voice, amplified by mana and dripping with theatrical flair, boomed from the stage as a man had appeared out of nowhere.

He had sharp black hair and wore a black suit, with a tall, slightly crooked top hat.

He looked out over the sea of teenagers that stopped their chattering with a smile that was far too wide and far too bright to be comforting.

’He looks creepy...’ Verso thought looking at the man who had an odd smile.

"All of you are participating in the Summoner Academy Exams with your dreams on the line!" the man shouted, pacing the stage like an animal in a cage.

"I can see some of your naive faces, while some of you... well, I recognize a few from last year."

He gestured vaguely at the massive screen behind him, which suddenly displayed a surprisingly small number, five hundred.

"Unfortunately for you all, we only have five hundred seats available across all the Academies combined."

He leaned over the edge of the stage, his expression twisting into something manic.

"Which means that the vast majority of you are going to be going back home in a casket!"

He let out a grainy high pitched laugh that echoed off the high walls of the Colosseum.

"What is that supposed to mean?" a boy in the front row shouted, his face reddening with indignation.

"That’s bullshit!" Another girl added with her voice full of anger.

"The recruitment quotas were supposed to be higher this year!"

The strange man on stage did not bother arguing. He did not even stop smiling. He simply tipped his top hat toward the protestors.

FWOOSH.

In a split second, the air around the vocal students ignited, spiraling upward until they were completely engulfed in a pillar of fire.

Seeing this sudden act of terror, the arena erupted into screams as the two students who had tried to protest collapsed on the ground, thrashing around in agony.

Just as eight other candidates reached out to help them, their bodies also caught fire.

"If you have any complaints." The man said softly, his voice carrying clearly over the screaming.

"you may leave."

Verso froze, his hand instinctively reaching inside his hoodie.

He had been planning to grumble about the ten percent acceptance rate himself, but seeing the two kids which turned into ten burning on the floor, he felt a cold wave of relief that he had kept his mouth shut.

"That’s the Jester of Flames." Someone whispered a few paces to Verso’s left.

Verso’s eyes widened as he turned to look back at the man on stage.

Almost everyone in the country knew that name, but no one was able to recognize the man because Jester was famous for his terrifying white and red face paint.

Seeing him without it made him look... like a human, but his reputation was anything but. He was a ruthless, legendary tier summoner who functioned as the government’s ultimate problem solver.

’The exam is going to be-’

Before Verso could finish the thought, the fire that consumed the students abruptly went out.

To everyone’s shock, the students on the ground were not charred neither were their bodies smoking. Even their clothes were intact.

However, they were pale and motionless meaning that they had passed out from the sheer overwhelming sensation of pain.

The Jester’s smile never faltered.

"So, many of you must have recognized me today! Hehe, you already know what this means."

The arena went deathly silent. The chatter died as hope faded from the student’s faces, and the mood turned completely sober.

"They have upped the difficulty of the exam." A girl standing near Verso muttered in a defeated voice.

She was right, this was exactly what Verso had also thought.

With over five thousand candidates and only five hundreds spots, the traditional testing methods would not work.

This meant that the academies needed a way to cull the massive and they needed to do it fast, which explained the sudden increase in difficulty.

"So, are you guys ready for the exam?" the Jester asked with a low chuckle that echoed through the ground.

Not a single person in the crowd replied to his quest. Everyone’s eyes were locked onto the man, waiting silently for the passing condition that would determine their lives.

Laughing loudly at the tension he had created, the Jester slowly raised his hand spreading all five of his fingers.

"Okay then! You have ten minutes to make a group of five people before we proceed."

Hearing the Jester’s instruction, chatter erupted among all candidates as they all rushed to find a teammate.

’Umm...’

Verso silently stood in the center of the moving crowd looking at people finding their friends as they started forming groups.

’Who... Who do I ask to team up.’

He looked around at the faces of other candidates as he realized that his policy of keeping to himself had finally backfired.