The sun had dipped behind the academy spires by the time the students trickled out of the arena. The stone paths still shimmered faintly with leftover Essentia trails, like echoes of the day’s chaos clinging to the air.
Towan walked with Elliot, both of them dragging their feet more than usual.
“That was exhausting,” Elliot muttered. “Mentally. Emotionally. Spiritually. My soul needs soup.”
“You didn’t even break a sweat,” Towan replied, bumping his shoulder.
“Yeah, but Len looked at me like she wanted to turn my bones into bookmarks.”
“That’s just her resting noble face.”
A few steps behind, Sylra and Alira followed, both with towels around their necks from post-match cooldowns.
“I still can’t believe she dodged everything,” Alira said, shaking her head.
“You mean Sera?” Sylra raised an eyebrow.
“She made Deyar look like an amateur. Without even fighting back.”
“Maybe that’s her strategy,” Sylra said. “Play soft now, hit hard later.”
“She’s strange,” Alira muttered.
“Yeah,” Sylra replied, eyes drifting forward to where Sera walked ahead of them.
Sera strolled calmly, hands clasped behind her back, humming something tuneless under her breath. A few students still glanced at her as they passed—half curiosity, half confusion.
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She didn’t seem to notice. Or care.
Rellie walked beside Len, who was so tense her fan looked ready to snap if she so much as blinked wrong.
“Do you want me to say she was just lucky?” Rellie asked flatly.
“She was lucky.”
“Right...” Rellie bit her tongue.
She’d felt Sera’s true intent beneath the surface—but she kept it to herself.
Len wouldn’t want to hear it.
Len said nothing.
Rellie glanced sideways.
“...You know you ranked higher than her.”
“I better have.”
Rellie rolled her eyes.
“I mean in terms of actual points. But she beat you where it hurt.”
Len froze mid-step.
Rellie kept walking.
As they neared the dorm building, a few students had already collapsed onto benches and grass patches, groaning about theory questions and sore knees.
Towan stepped up to the doors and stretched.
“Tomorrow we get our results.”
“Think you passed?” Elliot asked.
“No idea,” Towan said, cracking his neck. “But I felt cool.”
Sylra smirked. “You looked like a martial arts poem.”
Alira raised an eyebrow.
“He also got punched across the ring.”
“Minor footnote,” Towan replied with a grin.
Inside the dorm lobby, Kaelin’s voice echoed from a crystal embedded in the wall:
“First-year results will be posted at 9:00 a.m. sharp. Please refrain from harassing staff for spoilers. Or each other. Sleep well.”
“Too late,” Towan muttered. “There’s already people wanting to stab.”
“I don’t stab people,” said a cold voice behind him. “That’s commoner behavior.”
Everyone flinched.
Rellie, sipping tea that no one saw her make, added casually:
“She’s been behind us for five minutes.”
“I didn’t mean you,” Towan said quickly.
“Come on, don’t try to play dumb.” Len’s words cut clean before she swept past and vanished down the corridor.
As they climbed the stairs toward their rooms, Towan paused.
Just for a second, he glanced back.
Footsteps that had been echoing behind them just moments ago… were gone.
No one was there.
No movement. No sound.
Only the faintest smell of rain in the air.