[Firestorm].

Whenever one heard of that word, one would always think of a small whirlwind with a little bit of fire, spinning vertically while chasing its target.

One would never think of a horizontally spinning fire, burning everything on its way to crisp. Surely enough, one could never think it was the work of a Third Circle Mage.

The nine people, who were standing on both sides of Deacon, looked up at Basil in silent amazement and utter bafflement.

I thought he was a Third Circle Mage?

That thought filled everyone's mind. It was only when they saw the Magic Circles floating behind Basil did they understand what was happening.

Basil had a Solid Realm, which meant he had three Grand Circles.

Surely, none of the people knew Basil, in fact, had three Ultimate Circles which were of a higher quality compared to Grand Circles.

"He did it... Alone."

When the fire died down, all they could see was the charred bodies of Doppelgangers. They gulped dryly. Such a showcase of power from a Battle Mage was shocking to say the least.

It was a common knowledge Battle Mages were people who failed to become a Spellcaster. Therefore, they couldn't believe Basil could cast a Spell better than any Spellcaster of the same stage.

Needless to say, it was only their thought.

Basil didn't need to cast a Spell to produce that result. He had merely controlled the wind with the help Kusanagi, and ignited it. Only a sufficient amount of Mana, and a good control over it were needed to do that.

"Now, what are we going to do?" Green looked at Timothy. "We will wait." Timothy wiped his sweat.

All of them had a pale face. It wasn't because of Basil's attack earlier, but the mental stress they had gotten from facing the now dead Doppelgangers.

The terror hadn't been as much when they had faced the Doppelgangers separately. However, when the Doppelgangers had started to gather themselves, the intimidation had become unbearable.

It was the reason why they had run to Basil's side. They were simply terrified by the [Stare of Death]. They had been constantly seeing themselves right in front of the hell's gate.

Snort!

Deacon's audible snort woke the people from their daze. They stepped away from Deacon, giving him way to pass them. Basil, who was mounting Deacon, had ordered him to move toward somewhere.

"Where is he going?"

"The gate."

"Huh? What are you talking about? A gate?"

"Yes, see for yourself." Kimberley motioned Cloud to see the direction she was pointing to.

Basil was indeed going to the gate. To say they were surprised would be an understatement. They were utterly baffled.

The gate hadn't been there when they had first entered the hall!

However, instead of raging at the unfairness, they followed Basil instead. As expected of Randalvine Magic Institute's freshmen. They crossed the room, until they finally stopped right in front of the gate.

Basil got down from Deacon, and Xiu Li stepped forward. Both of their eyes were instantly planted on the symbols carved on the gate.

"Brother, this is..."

"Hm. It's Rune."

The Rune was shining in orange light. Every symbols carved on the gate seemed to move everytime they saw it. Needless to say, none of them understood what was the purpose of the Rune.

Of course, that was excluding Basil. He was too 'experienced' to not know the purpose of the Rune in front of him.

Kimberley stepped forward, and stood beside Basil. "I bet you know something?"

"I do."

"What is it?" Timothy also stepped forward. "It must be a Sealing Rune," Green answered instead.

Kimberley frowned. "Sealing Rune is useless in this case. I have checked our entrance gate, and it is already covered with a Vanadium wall. If they really want to keep us here, they can just do the same thing rather than setting up this Rune."

"Well, maybe they don't want to keep us here, after all." Green touched the gate. "It is made to be destroyed, don't you think?" He looked at Basil.

Basil smirked faintly. "It is a two-way Sealing Rune." Puzzled, Green asked, "And, what do you mean by that, sire?"

Instead of Basil, Xiu Li was the one who answered Green. "It means, this gate will not open even if we managed to deactivate the Rune. It will only open when the Rune on the other side is also deactivated."

"Huh? Does that mean we will be forever entrapped here?" Green scrunched up his nose. "This is ludicrous."

"No, we have to see it from another perspective. What if after we deactivated this Rune, there is someone behind this gate deactivating the Rune too?" Timothy explained himself.

One of the four people, who hadn't spoken even once, chimed in. "Why will someone stay behind the gate? To greet us? That is highly suspicious." Everyone looked to the girl who had just spoken.

"You got some point there, lady. That is why I'm befuddled. It is highly doubtful that behind this gate, stands our professors or seniors to greet us. They are just tiring themselves by carving a two-way Sealing Rune on the gate to do that."

The girl who had just spoken nodded her head at Timothy's word. Then, as if on cue, everyone turned their head to Basil.

"Well, Mr. Basil. Why don't you enlighten us on this matter," Kimberley stated.

Basil started explaining instead. "A two-way Sealing Rune is often used by a secretive organization on their base to make sure whether someone is disguising themself as a member. Only members can deactivate the Rune in one try."

Everyone frowned at that. They couldn't grasp what Basil was telling them.

"Once there is someone in disguise trying to deactivate the Rune, they will only manage to deactivate the front Rune. Because, they are not listed on the list of the people who can deactivate the back Rune." Basil waved his hand at the door.

"The back Rune of this two-way Rune is already deactivated."

"Huh?"

They didn't quite understand what Basil meant with that. However, a realization soon dawned upon them.

If the back Rune had been deactivated by the member of Randalvine Magic Institute, the front Rune should have been also deactivated. However, the front Rune was still active. That means, the one who had deactivated the back Rune wasn't someone from the Institute.

"Who is waiting for us behind this gate?" Green gulped. "It should be 'who are' instead of 'who is'," Basil replied, before touching the gate.

Basil infused his Mana into the rune, and started decoding it.

"Anxiousness bears suspicion. Suspicion bears fear. Fear bears hatred. Hatred brings chaos." Everyone looked at Basil weirdly. It wasn't a really good time to be philosophical. "Standing behind this gate are students."

The Rune shone intensely, before calming down. Realization dawned upon the people. Suddenly, what Basil had said made sense.

If behind this gate were their fellow students, they must have experienced the same thing. Therefore, they would be highly suspicious of the other people.

If they just suddenly opened the gate, there was a risk of being attacked. Then, they would be forced to defend themselves. In the end, what would happen was a chaos. They would kill each other for real this time.

Hum!

The gate trembled, before slowly opening itself. The nine people instantly had their heart sunk to the bottom of their stomach. They were worried about the thing they would face soon.

"Surviving is winning. Surviving is winning," Green chanted to himself.

He was already preparing himself to kill. Although he would definitely feel guilty later, he wouldn't hesitate to kill, if it was necessary to ensure his place in Randalvine Magic Institute.

The gate was completely opened, and they could finally witness the scene in front of them.

Another hall with the same size was revealed behind the gate. In the middle of it, stacked ten bodies of Doppelgangers.

Compared to the condition of their hall, this hall was pretty much tidy. However, if they compared their condition to the students inside, theirs would be way better.

"What in the bloody hell has happened here?"

Most of the students were covered in bandage. Even some of them could only lay motionlessly on the ground with pierced stomach. The students who could stand on their feet had a pale complexion. Bloodstains decorated their uniform, and they lost one of their ears.

With Deacon in tow, Basil stepped forward. One of the students from the other side, who was watching him, also stepped forward. As the distance between them was quite far, it took some time before they met.

Still, one of them used Spell to accelerate their movement to show they had no intention to attack each other.

When they finally met, the student in front of Basil extended his hand. "Hello, I am Karan Cayneford. You must be Basil Pacifer."

Instead of grabbing Karan's hand, Basil quirked his eyebrow instead.

"You know me?"

"Yes, I do know you. You are a hot topic amongst us, freshmen."

Basil didn't bother to ask why. He merely asked the thing he wanted to make sure.

"You are the one who deactivated the Rune?"

"Yes I am." Karan smiled.

"What happened to your ear?" Basil motioned to Karan's missing ear.

"Oh, this? I cut it to show I am not a Doppelganger. It is better to lose my ear, rather than my integrity."

Basil snorted softly in amusement. Doppelgangers didn't have ear. Therefore, whenever a disguising Doppelganger had its ears cut, they wouldn't bleed. Karan had done that to prove his identity as a human.

Basil liked his decisiveness. Those students who had their limbs cut must be the people who had rejected to cut their ear, and instead became the victim of the Doppelganger.

Little did they know, cutting one's ear didn't necessarily mean losing it forever. A Priest could easily reattach it. It would be harder to reattach limbs though.

"It must have been rough for you." At Basil's word, Karan quickly waved his hand. "No, no, no. You and your friends must have had it rougher. Facing 290 Doppelgangers aren't easy after all."

Basil smirked faintly, and looked at his palm. A symbol was written on it. This symbol was an incomplete activation Rune. The completion of the symbol was on Karan's palm.

"Let us seal the deal. I have figured only the one who has deactivated the Rune can end this 'test'." Karan once again extended his hand. "Very well." Basil grasped Karan's hand.

Their hand shone briefly, before they heard a familiar sound.historical

[Ding-dong!]

[Congratulations on your admittance!]