When the afternoon bell finally rang, the auditorium emptied out as the students were ordered to head down to the academy's primary Combat Fields.
Arthur hesitated to get up, watching silently out of the corner of his eye as Isoreth calmly gathered her things. To be completely honest, he was having a bit of an internal crisis. The last thing he wanted was to walk right next to her and look like some charity-case bum. He still couldn't fathom why the absolute coolest, most famously anti-social prodigy in the entire class was suddenly trying to be social with him of all people.
Maybe it was a mutual frequency thing, since he was notoriously anti-social too. Or maybe she was just playing a high-tier social game, using him to 'aura farm' by contrasting her flawless reputation against the class joke. It made a cynical kind of sense, the strongest using the weakest as a backdrop to look even more imposing.
"You coming?" she asked, slinging her sleek leather bag over her shoulder.
Arthur frowned, pointing a finger at his own chest. "You're asking me to walk down there with you?"
Isoreth gave a simple, elegant nod.
"Okay, that's officially weird," Arthur said, leaning against his desk. "You don't talk to anyone, Isoreth. You've ignored the heirs of the biggest guilds in the city. Why the sudden interest in hanging out with me?"
Isoreth paused, her sharp gaze locking onto his. "I don't like noisy people. And you happen to be the quietest guy in this room." She stepped a little closer, her voice dropping slightly. "Plus... I think you have an interesting summon. Honestly, I think she's the coolest entity I've ever seen manifested."
Damn, she's actually doing a terrifyingly good job of convincing me, Arthur thought, his chest tightening slightly at the compliment.
He let out a defeated sigh and swung himself out of his seat. "Fine. Lead the way, boss. I'll play the loyal sidekick for today," he joked, trying to mask his nerves.
Together, they left the classroom and made their way down the wide corridors toward the Combat Fields, falling into a comfortable, quiet rhythm where neither felt the need to force small talk.
But as they walked out into the bright afternoon sun, with dozens of students already whispering and staring at them from a distance, Arthur couldn't help but feel a sudden surge of pressure.
Man, he thought, his eyes tracing the dangerous curves of her silhouette beside him, I just hope to god this isn't one of those textbook situations where a guy horribly fumbles a baddie.
The Combat Field was colossal, easily twice the size of a standard football stadium, surrounded by reinforced concrete walls and shimmering localized barrier fields. At the far end of the arena stood an elevated VIP podium. Seated there, watching the gathering students with hawkish intensity, were Mrs. Alger, her assistant, and Principal Kalik himself. This story is hosted at g.com.
The administration hadn't just come to supervise a routine class orientation. This high-ranking group was there to observe three specific anomalies. The two prodigies who had shattered the awakening records by summoning a Platinum-tier beast and a Gold-tier beast, and the kid with the unclassified humanoid wildcard. In other words: Isoreth, Sidwig, and Arthur.
Mr. Touchimani stood dead center in the dust of the arena, his hands lazily shoved into his pockets. It seemed the bored Silver-tier veteran would be acting as the referee.
As Arthur stood off to the side with Isoreth, he caught a familiar, annoying presence approaching out of the corner of his eye. Sidwig was marching over, Christoffer flanking him like a loyal dog.
"Man, I am praying to the gods they pair me up against you," Sidwig sneered, leaning in close enough for Arthur to smell his cheap cologne. "My beast wouldn't even bother fighting that little toy of yours. He'd just bend her over and fuck her instead. Fun fact, Arthur....did you know that Ape has a massive dick?"
He named his Frost-Fang Ape... 'Ape'? Arthur thought, staring at him blankly. The guy genuinely has the brain capacity of a teaspoon.
Before Arthur could even open his mouth to reply, a freezing, suffocating pressure dropped over the immediate area.
"Your summon might have a large appendage, Sidwig, but it's clear you're compensating for a severely lacking one of your own," Isoreth said, her voice dripping with absolute venom and aristocratic disgust. She stepped squarely between them, her sharp eyes flashing a dangerous, draconic violet. "If you don't back away from us this exact second, it won't be your oversized baboon doing anything to Arthur's summon. It will be my dragon tearing your ape limb from limb."
The cocky grin instantly faltered, completely vanishing from Sidwig's face. For all his boasting, he didn't have the balls to cross a direct descendant of a Dragon House. His face flushed an ugly, angry red, and he let out a guttural grunt, glaring over Isoreth's shoulder directly at Arthur.
"You've got a skirt protecting you now, Cole? You're a pathetic loser," Sidwig spat, trying to salvage whatever dignity he had left.
Arthur didn't bother answering. He didn't have to. He just offered Sidwig a calm, pitying smile. He already knew, with absolute certainty, that he was operating on a completely different level than these trust-fund bullies. Soon enough, the arena floor would make that reality brutally evident to everyone.
Before Sidwig could let out another breath, a sharp, concussive clap echoed across the expanse of the arena. The sound wave rolled over the grass, instantly cutting through the chatter of the gathered teenagers.
Mr. Touchimani stood in the center of the field, his hand raised. "Alright, listen up, you little shits," he called out, his voice lazily amplified by a minor wind spell. "Bring your egos into a huddle and pay attention." This chapter was copied from g.com without permission.
The students quickly shuffled into a loose semi-circle around the instructor. Even Sidwig took a hasty step back from Isoreth's suffocating aura, though he kept shooting daggers at the back of Arthur's head.
"This afternoon is a mock exercise," Touchimani explained, scratching the back of his neck with a deeply bored expression. "The sole purpose of these matches is to establish a baseline and rank you on the institution's leaderboard before the main tournament at the end of the month. That tournament is where the real guild scouts will be sitting, so consider this your wake-up call."
He scanned the crowd, his eyes lingering just a second longer on the back row where Arthur stood.
"That being said, don't hold back. If you want a high rank on the leaderboard....and trust me, you do, unless you want to be assigned the absolute worst training resources for the rest of the semester, you need to give it everything you've got. The rules are simple. One-on-one combat. Knockout, surrender, or whenever I decide one of your precious pets is about to get permanently crippled. The arena barrier will protect the summoners, so focus entirely on commanding your beasts."
Touchimani pulled up a floating holographic clipboard, tapping the glowing screen with a slim finger.
"Let's see who gets the honor of setting the bar," the instructor muttered, a tiny, sadistic glint returning to his eyes. "First match... Christoffer Vance versus Alexa Vance."
A collective murmur went through the crowd. Christoffer stiffened, his smug smirk instantly evaporating as he looked across the circle at a sharp-faced girl with short, cropped silver hair. His own cousin.
"Step up to your respective plates," Touchimani droned, gesturing to the two painted circles on the dirt floor. "Let's see what the Vance family line is bringing to the table this year."
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