I Killed The Main Characters

The training ground was a sea of nervous energy as students lined up in front of their assigned dummies.

But these weren't ordinary training dummies.

The professor in charge of the physical tests, a grizzled man who looked like he had been born on a battlefield, stood before the students, his face hardened with years of military service.

His voice cut through the murmur of the crowd like a blade.

"Listen up!" he bellowed.

"These dummies ain't like the ones you're used to.

You won't just be hitting them and expecting them to stand there like a bag of flour.

These dummies fight back."

He let that statement hang in the air for a moment as students shifted uneasily.

"They're equipped with a magic called Reflection Mimicry," the professor explained, pacing slowly in front of the rows of students.

"This magic allows the dummy to analyze your movements, your attacks, and your magic.

It will mirror everything you do.

But it gets worse.

The dummies don't just copy your movements—they think like you.

They'll adapt and fight you as if you were fighting yourself."

Noah swallowed hard.

'Fight myself?'

He thought, feeling a cold dread settle in his stomach.

That sounded awful.

A student in front of him raised his hand, his voice wavering.

"So…we're fighting ourselves?"

"Exactly."

The professor's grim smile didn't help matters.

"You thought Ravenwood was just a cruise? You're in for a wild ride, kid."

Panic rippled through the crowd as the reality of the situation sank in.

Noah heard a group of students next to him muttering and cursing under their breath.

"Are you kidding me? Fighting yourself?" one student groaned, his face pale.

"I'm barely holding it together fighting my own demons, and now I gotta fight a magic clone of myself? This is fucking ridiculous."

"Man, what kind of twisted school is this?" another student chimed in.

"I mean, I knew it was gonna be hard, but this? This is some next-level bullshit."

The third in their group laughed nervously, rubbing his temples.

"I'm not gonna make it, guys. I'm already seeing myself screwing this up.

I'm about to get my ass handed to me—by myself!"

Despite the complaints, there was no backing out.

The professor's voice echoed again.

"No whining, no excuses. Your test begins now. Step up!"

The students reluctantly moved forward to face their dummies.

Noah could feel his heart pounding in his chest.

He took a deep breath, trying to calm his nerves, but his thoughts were racing.

He had been struggling with his physical performance all day, and now he had to fight a dummy that was literally going to mirror everything he did.

'Great,'he thought bitterly.

'This just keeps getting better.'

His dummy stood motionless in front of him, its wooden surface covered in strange, glowing runes.

Noah stared at it for a moment, feeling like he was about to face a monster rather than a simple training dummy.

The moment he summoned his mana, the dummy's eyes lit up, and it mirrored his stance perfectly.

Noah began with a simple strike, throwing a punch at the dummy's torso.

But as expected, the dummy blocked his attack with a perfectly timed counter, its movements an exact replica of his own.

Noah grimaced.

This was going to be tough.

He switched to magic, summoning an ice shard in his palm and hurling it at the dummy.

To his dismay, the dummy conjured an identical ice shard, launching it back at him.

He dodged, barely avoiding the icy projectile.

"Come on!" Noah growled, his frustration growing.

No matter what he did, the dummy did the same thing.

It was like fighting in a mirror, every move he made being copied to perfection.

The battle dragged on, with Noah using every trick he could think of, but the dummy matched him at every turn.

His stamina was draining fast, his movements becoming sluggish, while the dummy showed no signs of tiring.

"How the hell am I supposed to beat this thing?" he muttered under his breath.

Sweat dripped down his face as he dodged another ice attack from the dummy.

That's when a thought struck him.

These dummies can only copy what they've seen.

They couldn't anticipate new moves—moves that had never been used before.

Noah hadn't used all of his magic yet.

He had one element left: lightning.

"Alright, let's see how you handle this," Noah said to himself, focusing his mana.

He gathered electricity in his palm, sparks crackling in the air.

With a swift motion, he unleashed a bolt of lightning toward the dummy's chest.

The lightning struck the dummy squarely, sending a jolt through its wooden body.

For a brief moment, the dummy faltered, clearly not expecting the new attack.

But to Noah's dismay, the strike missed the core—the critical point that would shut it down.

Damn it, Noah cursed inwardly.

It was his first time using his second elemental magic, so the accuracy was faulty.

Now the dummy knew he could use lightning, and it quickly adapted, summoning its own lightning bolt in response.

The dummy's palm crackled with electricity, and Noah barely had time to brace himself before it fired the bolt toward him.

He dodged to the side, the lightning sizzling past him.

'Of course it can copy that now,' he thought bitterly.

But Noah wasn't finished yet.

He had another idea—something the dummy wouldn't be able to predict.

Summoning his mana again, Noah formed a glowing blue magic circle in his palm.

The circle spun slowly, gathering energy, as a large ice shard began to take shape within it.

But this time, Noah had something different in mind.

The dummy took a stance, preparing to mirror his next move.

Noah knew what it was thinking—it was planning to counter the ice shard with its own.

After all, it was him, wasn't it?

"Gotcha," Noah muttered under his breath.

At the last second, he altered the spell.

The magic circle disappeared, and the large ice shard shrank down to the size of a bullet.

Noah raised his hand, his fingers forming the shape of a gun.

With a quick, precise motion, he fired the ice bullet straight at the dummy's core.

The small projectile struck the dummy in its abdomen, hitting the core dead-on.

Almost instantly, the dummy's movements stopped, and its glowing eyes dimmed.

The test was over.

Noah let out a long, relieved sigh, wiping the sweat from his brow.

His body ached from the exertion, but at least he had made it through.

He stood there for a moment, catching his breath, when a flicker of light caught his attention.

The system screen appeared before him, displaying a message:

[Ding!]

[■New Runic Ability Unlocked: Ice Bullet]

In another section of the training grounds Amy stood.

Her eyes wandered across the training grounds.

She had already finished her own test.

As Amy looked around, her eyes fell on Noah.

She stood a short distance away, watching him.

But her expression wasn't the usual calm and collected one.

Her eyes were wide, and she seemed to be staring at something on his neck.

"What the…?" Amy muttered under her breath, her gaze locked on the faint blue glow that pulsed from beneath Noah's back.

His uniform was torn from the battle test, revealing a bit of the top part of his back.

It was only for a brief second, but she saw it—a strange, intricate marking running down from his neck.

It glowed softly, its design unmistakable.

"A demonic tattoo…" Amy whispered, her voice barely audible.

Her hands clenched at her sides as realization dawned on her.

"He's one of them..."