My Deck Is Made Up Of OP Anime Characters

Azrael's expression remained stormy as he stepped out of the taxi at the hotel entrance. The driver's cryptic comment about "wellness clinics" had left him with an uncomfortable feeling of unease, though he couldn't quite put his finger on why those particular words bothered him so much.

How could he not understand what the driver was implying? Azrael thought grimly.

But the man had been right about one thing—the Empire of Aetherlight was indeed rotting from within. The longer Azrael spent in this world, the more obvious the decay became. Corruption, political maneuvering, and the constant dance between various power factions created an atmosphere of barely controlled chaos.

Fortunately, when the sky fell, there would always be someone taller to hold it up. For now, such grand concerns remained far beyond Azrael's current sphere of influence.

Just as he reached the hotel's glass entrance doors, Azrael spotted Yurek approaching from the opposite direction. The other student was visibly sweating, his school uniform slightly disheveled—clear evidence he'd been exploring the city on foot.

"Azrael, you're back!" Yurek's face lit up with excitement when he noticed Azrael.

Azrael nodded in acknowledgment, but then caught Yurek subtly sniffing the air around him with an expression of growing curiosity.

A moment later, Yurek's voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper, his dark complexion flushing slightly. "Azrael, you smell like... perfume and incense. Did you really go to Velvet Springhouse?"

Just as Azrael opened his mouth to defend his innocence, Yurek pressed on with barely contained enthusiasm. "Azrael, can you tell me what Velvet Springhouse was actually like? What did you see? Was it really as fancy as people say?"

Azrael turned to stare at Yurek with dawning disbelief, sighing internally at his classmate's unexpected corruption.

You look so innocent with those thick eyebrows and honest eyes, Yurek. I never expected you to be this kind of person!

"I didn't go," Azrael said with exaggerated indignation. "I got this smell from helping an elderly woman cross the street. She was wearing very strong perfume."

Yurek's expression clearly broadcast his complete disbelief in this explanation, but Azrael was too tired to continue defending himself. Without another word, he headed for the elevator bank, leaving his disappointed classmate behind in the lobby.

Time seemed to accelerate after that evening, and before Azrael knew it, the morning of the Greenridge Province Unified Examination had arrived.

Since the exam drew participants from across the entire province, even though individual high schools only had a handful of registered Lore Cardians, the total number of gathered students was substantial. The examination venue—a massive convention center complex—buzzed with nervous energy and excited conversations.

The event was officially called an examination, but Azrael recognized it as essentially a large-scale competition similar to the Elite Talent Cup, just with government backing instead of private sponsorship.

In Azrael's opinion, the most logical approach would have been putting students into secret realms to hunt demons and accumulate points based on their performance. Unfortunately, accommodating so many participants would require an enormous secret realm, and larger realms invariably meant greater danger. The association couldn't justify sending mostly Black Iron level students into environments that might prove fatal.

Instead, the examination had been structured with three distinct phases: preliminaries, main competition, and elimination rounds.

The preliminary round operated on a points system. Over two thousand students had been divided into 128 groups, with only the top performer from each group advancing to the main competition.

Students like Azrael, who were already registered Bronze-level Lore Cardians with the association, received automatic advancement past the preliminaries and entered the main competition directly.

The main competition mixed advanced students with preliminary survivors, organizing them into groups of four or five for round-robin matches. Victories earned three points, draws earned one point each, and defeats earned nothing. In case of tied standings, additional matches would determine final rankings.

After the main competition concluded, only thirty-two students would remain for the elimination rounds, where they would compete in single-elimination matches to determine the ultimate winner.

However, students who failed to reach the elimination rounds shouldn't despair. University representatives would observe the entire competition, meaning impressive performances could still earn early admission opportunities even without high final rankings.

The key difference was leverage: lower-ranked students would be chosen by universities, while top performers could choose their preferred institutions.

The competition structure was straightforward enough. Since Azrael didn't need to participate in preliminaries, he went directly to the special viewing area reserved for advanced students after completing his registration.

A few students were already scattered throughout the elevated seating section when Azrael arrived. He immediately spotted Nick among them—his former opponent from the Elite Talent Cup competition.

"Azrael, it's been too long," Nick called out, standing to greet him with a genuine smile.

Despite still harboring ambitions to eventually surpass Azrael, Nick held no personal grudges. More importantly, Azrael had saved his life during that chaotic incident at Golden Credit—a debt Nick wouldn't soon forget.

"Good to see you again," Azrael replied with a slight nod, settling into the seat beside Nick.

In any organization or gathering, factions inevitably formed. Since both Azrael and Nick represented Velkairos, they naturally gravitated toward each other as regional allies. Their sitting together sent a clear message about regional solidarity.

However, their interaction clearly puzzled several talented students from other cities nearby. After all, Nick's presence in this section confirmed his Bronze-level status, yet he showed obvious respect toward Azrael—a dynamic that suggested interesting possibilities.

Only two explanations made sense: either Azrael possessed significant political backing, or his personal strength was genuinely intimidating.

The students who had achieved Bronze level within just three months of beginning their Lore Cardian journeys weren't stupid. They could read between the lines and recognize that Azrael's ability to sit in this section meant he was at minimum a Bronze-level Lore Cardian himself, likely with capabilities that exceeded his apparent age.

After these brief social dynamics played out, the opening ceremony began in earnest.

The term "ceremony" was somewhat generous—it was primarily an extended series of speeches by various dignitaries and officials.

Since this marked the first time the Greenridge Province Unified Examination had been organized, all major factions wanted to demonstrate their importance and influence.

The speaker roster was impressively comprehensive:

Officials from the Southern Capital's Imperial Court Leadership from the Lore Cardians Association Directors and department heads from major universities Representatives from various media organizations Executives from prominent corporate groups

The assembled lineup was undeniably prestigious.

This level of attention also meant that while the examination itself offered no direct material rewards, students who achieved high rankings would inevitably receive private investment offers and networking opportunities from various powerful factions.

Azrael listened to the droning speeches with growing impatience, silently wondering when the actual competition would begin.

"This year, many exceptional young talents have emerged throughout our province," one speaker declared with practiced enthusiasm.

As these words echoed through the arena's sound system, the massive display screens throughout the venue suddenly focused on the special viewing section where Azrael and his fellow Bronze-level students sat.

The young men immediately straightened their postures, acutely aware that numerous influential figures were now observing them directly.

Azrael felt no particular nervousness—after all, he was secretly working as a double agent within the Crimson Oath Society. Could anything possibly be more nerve-wracking than maintaining that precarious deception?

Of course, he wouldn't reveal his composure through obvious behavior. Instead, he simply sat up straighter and adopted an appropriately attentive expression, blending seamlessly with his peers.

At that moment, university representatives throughout the venue were quietly reviewing detailed information packets about the displayed students, careful to avoid revealing their interest to competing institutions.

After all, they were essentially rivals now. If one university secured a promising student, that meant one less talent available for the others.

Azrael's profile was naturally included in these materials.

Many university representatives drew sharp breaths when they read that Azrael had achieved Bronze-level status a month and a half ago—a timeline that marked him as extraordinarily precocious even by the standards of this gathering.

Red circles and priority markers began appearing next to Azrael's name in multiple notebooks.

The corporate group representatives lacked access to detailed academic records, but they weren't foolish. They immediately instructed their assistants to record the names and details of every student shown on the screens.

These were all prodigies with tremendous potential. Backing the right candidates early could dramatically elevate a company's future status and influence.

Besides, investing in these young geniuses required relatively modest capital compared to the massive tributes corporations paid annually to the association and imperial court.

After what felt like an eternity of inspirational rhetoric and political posturing, the opening ceremony finally concluded.

Azrael couldn't suppress a quiet sigh of relief. Under such intense public scrutiny, he hadn't been able to meditate or otherwise occupy his mind, forcing him to endure the entire tedious affair.

The students around him seemed genuinely energized by the speeches—after all, the content had been primarily motivational promises and grand visions of future success.

Azrael found such grandiose pledges hard to swallow. The promises seemed too ambitious and unrealistic for practical implementation.

Thinking back to the rewards he'd previously received from the association, Azrael realized that without his part-time work for the Crimson Oath Society, his development would never have progressed so smoothly. The organization's resources had proved crucial to his advancement.

Moreover, those rewards had come directly from the association, while the Empire of Aetherlight court had offered nothing concrete.

Originally, Azrael had assumed the imperial government was completely controlled by the Lore Cardians Association. However, today's opening ceremony had revealed that the court maintained its own distinct voice and agenda—a political dynamic he'd previously underestimated.

The fact that the court had made no overtures toward Azrael despite his demonstrated potential suggested either bureaucratic corruption or a more complex power structure than he'd initially recognized.

As the crowd began dispersing toward their respective preliminary venues, Azrael prepared for what promised to be an interesting examination period, one that would test far more than just his Lore Cardian abilities.