"" What do you think, who will fight against each other in the semi final? ""
The question started to circulate around the crowd like wildfire as Rudra effortlessly defeated his opponent and made it to the semi final. People were whispering amongst themselves, placing last minute bets, debating with complete strangers sitting next to them. The energy inside the arena had shifted into something electric, something that made the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.
"" Finally we have our semi finalists and they are —
Rudra
Talia
Amanda
Kevin ""
The announcer's voice boomed across the arena like a thunderclap and the crowd erupted. Four names. Four students who had clawed, sweated and fought their way through every round to stand on the edge of glory.
"" Get excited everyone, as we are about to draw the match schedule! "" the announcer called out, his voice barely containing his own enthusiasm.
A wave of excitement tore through the crowd like a current. People rose from their seats, some grabbing the shoulders of the person next to them, others pointing wildly at the massive screen that was slowly descending from the ceiling into the middle of the ground. It was enormous, easily visible from every corner of the arena. The names of the four semi finalists appeared on it and then, like the spinning reels of an arcade machine, they began to rotate and shuffle at a dizzying speed.
The crowd began to chant. Slowly at first, then louder, then deafening. The drumroll coming from the official orchestra pit added to the madness of the moment. Every eye in that arena was locked onto that screen.
Then, after what felt like the longest minute in history, it stopped.
The arena went dead silent for half a second.
Then it exploded.
"" Now the results have been announced! The first semi final match is between Rudra and Talia And the second semi final match is between Amanda and Kevin "" the announcer declared, his voice cracking slightly from the sheer excitement.
He took a breath and continued, grinning ear to ear.
"" Ladies and gentlemen, please do not go anywhere because the main event starts right now! ""
If the crowd was loud before, now it was something else entirely. The noise was almost physical, pressing against your chest like a wave. The name Rudra was being thrown around every corner of the arena. Some said it with awe, some said it with doubt, and some said it with disbelief. He was practically a nobody just weeks ago, a face without a reputation, a student without a story worth telling. And yet here he was, standing at the doorstep of the final, matching strides with students who had been groomed since birth to be exactly where they were.
The students from noble backgrounds watched with complicated expressions. They couldn't quite dismiss him anymore, and that bothered them more than they wanted to admit.
Up in the elevated viewing gallery reserved for the academy's staff and distinguished guests, the atmosphere was considerably more composed but no less entertaining.
"" So what do you think, who is going to make it to the final? "" Sophie asked, turning to Adam with a gleam in her eye. The two of them were seated comfortably alongside the other professors and the headmaster, each with a cup of tea that had long gone cold because neither of them had remembered to drink it.
"" It is going to be Rudra and Amanda, "" Adam replied with the calm confidence of a man who believed he was never wrong about these things.
"" Ohh, fuck off, it's going to be Talia and Amanda, "" Sophie shot back immediately, not even blinking.
"" Sounds like someone is a little too confident in their choice, "" Adam said, raising an eyebrow.
Sophie narrowed her eyes. "" I don't do confidence, I do facts. There is a difference. ""
"" Is there? "" Adam smirked.
Sophie leaned forward. "" You know what, let's make this interesting. A bet. The loser has to give the other a full year's worth of their academy salary. ""
Adam stared at her for a moment then slowly extended his hand. "" Fine by me. Especially since you have somehow managed to lose every single bet you have ever made with me since we were children. ""
"" Wha — what did you just say?! "" Sophie's voice went up a full octave as she turned to face him fully.
"" I said what I said, "" Adam replied, completely unbothered, still smirking like he hadn't just signed his own death warrant.
Sophie looked like she was about to launch herself across the seats when a calm voice cut through the tension from somewhere behind them.
"" But I think the semi finals will also give everyone quite a punch, you know. ""
Both Adam and Sophie froze.
"" Who the fuc— "" Adam started to turn around with the full intention of telling whoever interrupted them exactly where to put their opinion, but the words died in his throat the moment he saw the face.
The whole gallery had gone still.
Adam shot up from his seat like someone had lit a fire under him. Around him, every single professor followed, the headmaster included, all rising in a single unified motion of respect.
"" Your — your majesty, "" Adam managed, his voice suddenly stripped of all its earlier bravado. He bowed his head.
"" Greetings, your majesty, "" the headmaster offered with a composed and practiced reverence.
The Emperor stood before them dressed simply, almost deliberately so, as if he had made a point of not announcing himself. There was something quietly commanding about the way he carried himself, the kind of presence that didn't need a crown to make itself known.
"" C'mon, don't be so formal with me, you know how I feel about that, "" he said, waving a hand as if to physically brush away the stiffness in the room. "" And please, everyone sit. Today the focus is the students, not me. ""
He settled himself into the empty seat beside Adam with the ease of a man who had done far more difficult things in his life than sit down. Within moments he and Adam had fallen into quiet conversation, though Adam's end of that conversation was stilted and slightly panicked, the kind of talking one does when they are trying very hard not to visibly sweat. Which he was. Visibly. Aggressively.
Sophie watched this from the corner of her eye and her composed expression cracked completely. She pressed her lips together. Then her shoulders started shaking. Then she gave up entirely and turned away, laughing silently into her sleeve while Adam shot her a desperate look that screamed for her to behave. She did not behave. She had absolutely no intention of behaving.
Adam could only sink slightly lower in his seat and pretend none of this was happening.
The changing room underneath the arena was supposed to be a place of preparation. A space to breathe, collect yourself and get your head right before stepping back out under the lights.
It was not that, at the moment.
The moment Rudra stepped through the door he was met with the particular kind of silence that only exists when a room full of people have been talking about you and stop the second you walk in. The high ranking students of noble backgrounds stood arranged near the far wall with Kevin at their center, looking at Rudra the way a cat looks at something it has already decided it doesn't like.
"" C'mon everyone, give a round of applause to the fraudster who somehow managed to stumble his way into the semi finals, "" Kevin said loudly, his voice dripping with that particular brand of contempt that only comes from someone who has never been told no by anyone important.
The room was quiet. A few of Kevin's followers smirked. Most of the others simply watched.
Rudra looked at Kevin the way you look at a stain on your shirt. Mildly inconvenient, already forgotten.
"" Fuck off Kevin, "" Rudra replied evenly. "" The only thing you will ever be genuinely good at in your entire life is maintaining that deflated ego of yours, and even that seems to be running on life support at this point. ""
The smirks vanished from Kevin's followers' faces.
Kevin's jaw tightened. "" You bastard, who exactly do you think you are talking to me like that? ""
He took a step forward and the students around him shifted accordingly, the way people do when they want to be close enough to watch but far enough away to claim they weren't involved.
"" Listen very carefully, "" Kevin said, his voice dropping into something quieter and more deliberate. "" The only reason you are standing in this room right now is because I allowed it. I could have shut you down long ago, any round I wanted. But where is the satisfaction in crushing something so utterly worthless? I let you win. I gave you a leash and enough rope to feel good about yourself. But that stops now. Back off before this gets messy. ""
He began to walk slowly across the room towards Rudra, shoulders squared, chin raised, the full performance of someone who had spent his whole life making people flinch first.
Rudra did not flinch.
He didn't step back, didn't shift his weight, didn't even blink differently. He just stood there and watched Kevin walk towards him with the kind of stillness that was somehow far more unsettling than any aggressive response would have been.
That stillness made Kevin pause just slightly. Just enough for anyone paying attention to notice.
Kevin recovered quickly, masking the hesitation behind a sneer. He closed the remaining distance and jabbed a finger into Rudra's chest, leaning in close, voice low and venomous as he began to methodically list every reason why Rudra was beneath this stage, beneath this academy, beneath the notice of anyone in this room. Commoner blood. No legacy. No name. No right.
Word after word. Each one deliberately chosen to cut.
Rudra absorbed all of it without expression.
Which, in the end, was the most devastating response he could have possibly given. Because Kevin had expected fear, or anger, or at minimum the satisfaction of watching something crack. He got nothing. And nothing, to someone like Kevin, was unbearable.
He finally stopped talking. The silence stretched.
Kevin grunted, low and frustrated, then straightened up. "" Final warning, "" he said quietly. "" Remember it. ""
He turned and walked out of the changing room. His followers filtered out behind him like smoke clearing from a room. The door swung shut.
The students who remained glanced at Rudra, then at each other, then quietly returned to their own preparations. Nobody said anything. There wasn't much that needed to be said.
Rudra rolled his shoulder slowly, turned to his locker and began to prepare for his match.
"" Welcome back everyone as we come to our first semi final, which is between Talia and Rudra! ""
The arena shook with the response. The lights overhead shifted, narrowing their focus toward the center stage as both fighters were announced. On the giant screen their names appeared side by side, a split image of two students who could not have looked more different on paper.
Talia, one of the the undisputed star of the first year. Polished and powerful. A student whose reputation had been built match by match with the kind of dominance that made people stop questioning it.
And Rudra who is practically Nobody. It depended entirely on who you asked and when you asked them.
The crowd settled into a tense and buzzing anticipation as both students made their way toward the stage. This was the match everyone had a feeling about. The one that would answer a question the entire academy had been quietly asking since Rudra's name first started appearing in places it had no business being.
The stage lights caught the ground between them.
The referee raised his hand.