Jace the Elemental

The students were, of course, focused on their own matchups, but their eyes kept drifting toward the three high-ranked battles. Gabriel's and Christian's duels barely drew any interest, everyone knew the real spectacle would be between the top ranked teams.

"For this contest, you will not need to submit rosters," Lord Severian continued. "However, each of you will still be limited to participating in only one round."

As soon as he finished speaking, teams immediately broke into discussions, strategizing their approach.

Jace turned, locking eyes with Aurora, already knowing what he wanted to say.

"I know," she said before he could speak, raising a hand as if to slow him down. "But this time, we actually have to talk it through."

Felix rubbed his chin in thought. "Is there anyone other than Aurora and me who can form golems?"

His question brought the conversation to a halt as everyone turned to look at him.

"You can use golems, Felix?" Ethan asked, shock evident on his face.

"I can," Felix confirmed. "They're very basic though, metal golems and lava golems, nothing advanced."

Lyra crossed her arms. "Lava golems sound anything but weak."

"They have a lot of firepower, but they're really slow and require a lot of mana," Felix explained. "If the opponent is fast or has water abilities, they're at a disadvantage."

"Alright then," Aurora said, thinking it over. "Your golem has firepower, my stone golem has durability… Does anyone have something more dexterous?"

Lucian raised his hand. "I can conjure a type of tentacle that can attach to your golems for extra maneuverability."

Aurora nodded in approval. "That works. So that gives us Felix, Lucian, and me for the three person conjuration contest."

She glanced around the group. "Now we have the one-on-one and the group duel left. And we all know Jace wants the one on one."

The entire group nodded like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"While you're not wrong… I am, for some reason, offended by how quickly everyone agreed," Jace said, his voice rising in mock outrage. Causing the group to burst into laughter.

Eventually, they had calmed down enough to continue the discussion.

"The question is, is that the best plan?" Aurora said.

"What do you mean? Selene asked, not quite understanding. "He's our best solo duelist right? Wouldn't it make sense to send our best?" 

"In most cases, yes," Aurora admitted. "But we've been given time to scout our opponents, which means they'll have time to scout us too."

She turned to Jace, eyes narrowing slightly. "And a certain someone," she said pointedly, "caused a pretty big scene in his last duel."

Jace got an embarrassed look. "Yeah… That was my bad"

Aurora ignored him. "I'm guessing they're going to send someone specifically to counter Jace. Which is why, instead of sending our long range, stationary duelist… we send our close range, max speed duelist instead." Her gaze shifted to Lyra, "you ready?"

Lyra grinned, cracking her knuckles. "If they're expecting Jace, they're in for a shock when I step into the ring."

"It's to our advantage that the one on one duel is in round two," Orion said with a grin. "That way, they won't see the strategy coming." He leaned forward. "So that leaves us with the four on four."

"So our remaining members are Ethan, Astra, Jace, Selene, Elias, and Orion right?" Felix asked.

"That's correct," Aurora confirmed. "But I think we should hold off on deciding our lineup until we scout the other team."

"While I agree with scouting, I can't help but be frustrated about not being in round two," Jace admitted.

Aurora smirked. "Don't worry, there's a good chance you'll be in round three. If we apply the same logic, it'll be just as much of a surprise since they'll expect you to be in round two."

"Nice," Jace said grinning, at least he would get to duel.

"For now, I'll research our opponents," Aurora said thoughtfully. "The rest of you should focus on practice. Tomorrow, we'll go over everything and finalize our strategy."

"Roger," the whole team responded in unison.

"Hey," Jace spoke up. "If that's all we've got for now, there's something I want to discuss with everyone."

"Go on then," Ethan said, turning to look at him, curiosity evident on his face.

Jace rubbed the back of his neck. "It's something best talked about in private. Can you all meet me tonight at the training building closest to the arena?"

The group exchanged glances before nodding, their curiosity piqued.