CHAPTER 84— First semester exam (5)
Seated comfortably in a corner area overlooking the arena floor, Zephyr Stormholt shared a sofa with Isadora Vellynne.
He boldly took her hand in his, gently rubbing his thumb over her knuckles as he flashed another dazzling, silver-screen smile.
Isadora giggled behind her free hand, a bright flush painting her cheeks as she leaned in, completely captivated by his relentless charm. The casual flirtation flowed so effortlessly it looked like it had been lifted straight out of a high-budget romance drama.
Seraphine slapped her palm against her forehead for the third time that hour.
"Ugh... Lyren please do something about this idiot Zephyr, he is single handedly ruining the image of the Elemental houses."
Lyren sat beside her, maintaining a stoic, outward posture, though a faint twitch in his jaw betrayed his true feelings.
"I'm only keeping my mouth shut because every student and faculty member in this hall is currently watching us." Lyren replied coldly. "Otherwise..."
"Oh! My match is up," Isadora announced brightly, standing up as her name flashed on the summoning board.
Zephyr reluctantly released her hand, offering her a theatrical, encouraging wave.
"Break a leg out there, Isa. May your spells hit as hard as your beauty."
Isadora blew a playful flying kiss in his direction before hurrying down toward the combat floor.
A few rows back, Rowan watched the absurd display with a look of profound bewilderment.
"Is that Even allowed in the academy?"
"The instructors only care about the exams." Ritvik replied, shrugging. "They don't give a damn of what students are doing in their free time."
"Oh...", Rowan deadpanned, trying to change the topic. "Any idea when our group's turn will come up?"
"Just be patient," Sarina said, keeping her arms crossed. "It's a completely randomized matrix. There's no predicting when the algorithm will pull your name."
The mechanics of the tournament were grueling. With eighteen supplementary groups consisting of three members each, and a massive surplus of first-year students, every senior repeater was required to fight five separate elimination rounds.
To successfully pass their probationary status and avoid expulsion, the supplementary groups had to secure at least three victories out of those five matches.
Meanwhile, down on the main floor, Seraphine was rapidly losing her patience, aggressively tapping the heel of her boot against the tiles.
"Ugh... When will my turn come i can't keep standing around doing nothing." Seraphine grumoped. "They are just wasting our time"
"Then don't waste your time and analyse the supplymentry students. You don't know which group you would come against." Lyren advised without looking at her.
"Hah! I don't need tactical analysis to crush a bunch of repeaters," Seraphine scoffed, tossing her hair.
"Alright, let's generate the next randomized group..." the automated announcer's voice boomed across the hall.
The holographic display above the arena flickered to life. The cascading images of all remaining first-year students began scrolling past at a dizzying, terrifying speed.
Three distinct columns formed on the screen, each designated for one member of the newly minted team.
"Don't you think it would be awesome if all three of us gets assigned togather in one group?" Ritvik mused, staring up at the chaotic blur of names.
"That would honestly be incredible," Rowan agreed.
"I don't think that would happen." Sarina deadpanned. "The chance of something like that is 0.000001%."
"Where do you even pull these random percentages from?" Ritvik asked, blinking at her.
"And the next randomized team is..."
The scrolling instantly locked into place. The first portrait to materialize on the board was none other than the stern, proud face of Seraphine ignis from Class S.
"Finally," Seraphine muttered, pumping her fist in fierce satisfaction.
The second column spun to a halt a second later, locking onto another female student. She possessed long, wavy brown hair tied loosely over her shoulders and piercing, brilliant emerald eyes. Chole maria from Class S.
"Hey, that's you."
"Right. I'm going."
"Oh, hey there," Chole greeted with a bright, easygoing smile as she stepped toward Seraphine.
"Looks like we're paired up," Seraphine acknowledged, giving her a sharp high-five. Her competitive spirit flaring. "Let's crush whoever we're facing."
"Two Class S in a single team? This match is already over," a student whispered from the stands.
Now, only the third column remained active, rolling frantically to decide the final member of their triad.
The holographic system whirred, rapidly cycling through names before finally snapping to a dead stop.
Seraphine's eyes flicked to the monitor. Her expression of triumphant anticipation instantly curdled into sheer, unadulterated disappointment.
"See? What did I tell you?" Sarina murmured, glancing sideways at Ritvik.
Ritvik froze. He stared blankly up at the ceiling, slowly dragging both palms down his face in a motion of pure spiritual defeat.
On the screen, Ritvik's photo came in the third row.
"Ugh... Why is the universe against me."Ritvik murmured staring blankly at the ceiling with tired eyes.
He felt a sudden, oppressive rise in temperature. Slowly, fearfully, Ritvik lowered his head and looked sideways.
Seraphine was staring directly at him.
'What is her deal?' Ritvik thought in a panic.
'She's looking at me like I personally rigged the academy's mainframe just to ruin her day.,'
Ritvik's internal instincts started telling him in binary codes that this is rigged, Ritvik's brain screamed internally.
'Which bastard coded this? Who is this secret enemy of mine? I didn't even step on anyone's toes this week!'
While Ritvik was undergoing a full existential crisis under Seraphine's death glare, Lyren leaned back in his seat.
"Is that the boy whose face you accidentally sat on?" Lyren inquired smoothly.
"Fuck! Are you insane?! How can you say something like that out loud with a straight face?!"
"Why? You can do it but I'm not even allowed to say it." Lyren replied back. completely unbothered.
---
'What kind of cursed team composition is this?!'
Minutes later, Ritvik found himself standing in the preparation zone.
Chloe was chatting amicably with Seraphine, trying to break the heat of tension.
Seraphine, however, stood entirely silent, her arms crossed tightly over her chest with her eyes closed, radiating hostile indifference.
'Why is no one talking to me?'Ritvik felt like a ghost haunting his own execution.
According to exam protocol, every newly formed team was granted ten minutes of mandatory strategy coordination before stepping onto the combat floor.
"Alright," Seraphine finally sighed, breaking her silence and turning toward her teammates. "Does anyone have anything to say before we go?"
Ritvik cautiously raised a trembling hand.
Seraphine stared at him like he was a particularly offensive insect before speaking. "Speak."
"Who's going to be the team leader?"
"Leader? What are you, a stray puppy that needs a handler to walk you across the street?"
"Well, yes—I mean, no! But every functional team needs a leader!" Ritvik stammered.
"Why?"
"For tactical cohesion and operational flow!"
Seraphine groaned, rubbing the back of her neck in sheer exasperation. "Fine. I'm the leader. Happy?" she snapped, crossing her arms again. "Does anyone have a problem with that?"
Chloe nodded instantly with a bright smile.
"None at all, lead the way!"
Ritvik slowly raised his hand a second time.
Seraphine turned her gaze back to him. Her expression shifted into something so terrifyingly murderous it could have stopped a charging war-beast in its tracks.
"What. Is. It. Now."
"What's our actual battle strategy going to be?"
Seraphine's expression did a complete 180-degree turn. Her murderous scowl vanished, replaced by an expression of profound, utter confusion, as if someone had just spoken to her in an ancient alien dialect.
"Strategy?"
"Yes. The plan on how we win."
Seraphine stared blankly up at the ceiling, tapping a single index finger against her chin as she tried to comprehend the concept.
'To be honest, I wanted to formally object to her leadership, but my survival instincts are screaming at me to shut up.' Ritvik thought, sweating profusely. 'I don't want a repetition of that hellish last week.'
Finally, Seraphine dropped her hand, looking entirely satisfied with her own internal logic.
"Do whatever you think is right, and try not to get in each other's way."
Ritvik's soul temporarily left his body. His face went completely blank, his eyes hollow.
"That's... that's your strategy?"
"Ugh, are you kidding me?"
Seraphine scoffed, rolling her eyes.
"Don't tell me you're still a child who needs someone to hold your hand through a basic skirmish. Fight your opponents, don't friendly-fire each other, and trust your own judgement. Simple."
Clap. Clap. Clap.
Chloe enthusiastically started applauding, her eyes sparkling.
"Brilliant! Such profound leadership, Ms. Seraphine!"
Seraphine offered a smug, self-satisfied smirk at the praise.
Ritvik stood frozen like a stone statue in the middle of the staging area, his expression devoid of all hope.
'Yeah... at this rate, I am definitely failing this semester,' Ritvik thought, not even needing the binary codes of his instincts to spell out the grim reality that might be awaiting him.
---
CHAPTER ENDS