The Burning Flowers

Chapter XIII

“You’ve gotta be kidding me…”

Despite the stunning turn of events, Ilirianna couldn’t help but smile slightly at the soft and furious mutter of Acostav Luz just on the other side of Grunly. His words came as a reaction to the sudden and pathetic fall of his daughter, who had just been eliminated from the match by Hirokol Pafran after doing almost nothing to contribute to it. She had only fired off a few blasts of light, which hardly scratched the surface of her affinity’s potential, before her arms suddenly gave out and an opening was presented to take her down.

Hell… I had heard that Album had issues with her mana, but I never realized it was this bad. No wonder Acostav’s been so irritable today. He’s probably been terrified that the truth of his daughter was about to be exposed.

Overall, she wasn’t sure what to make of the battle. With Album out, it seemed unlikely that the Noctalus’ team could win, especially given the fact that Abigail lost her best chance at eliminating Fayela. Nigreos was just barely managing to keep Rennigan at bay, and now Ryokumo was going to be forced to take Jessi and Hirokol on alone. Unless some major upset took place, their team might have already lost.

So what does that mean? If they do lose, will Mother still back them despite this? I mean, if that’s the extent of Album’s Luz’s abilities then she’s not only unfit to serve on the royal team, but she’s unfit to attend this school!

“Acostav,” Nakoma began, a slightly concerned tone to his voice, indicating that he was thinking the same things Ilirianna was. “What just happened to your daughter? Why did her arms suddenly burst open like that?”

The Master of Light clenched his fists and turned a glare toward Nakoma, as if it was somehow his fault that Album had just lost. “Her body doesn’t produce mana at the same rate as a normal person so light magic has been a struggle for her. To combat this, we’ve been supplying her with gigga root from Dunnovia…”

Ilirianna nodded, realizing that gigga root was almost certainly the most efficient medicine for Pinner’s Syndrome. While expensive and hard to purchase in Ijiria, the root was ridiculously mana-dense, and just by eating one or two of them, even a Master’s mana supply could be quickly restored. But naturally, there were side effects as well, and Master Grunly was quick to pick up on Acostav’s implications.

“But if you eat too much of it, you can overfill your body with mana,” Grunly muttered. “And without anywhere inside of you to go, it simply goes out. I suppose that’s what happened to Album then. She ate too much.”

Acostav nodded sharply. “That dumb child! I had a bad feeling that her anxiety would cause her to wind up overeating the root! And now she’s out…”

As the Master of Light trailed off, Ilirianna turned her eyes back to the battle, taking another sip of wine as she observed the remaining three competitors left over on Album’s side. Thus far, Ryokumo and Abigail had proved that, even if they lost, they were ridiculously talented, and the princess couldn’t deny that she was interested to see if they could somehow pull a victory off anyway.

And so, as her attention shifted back to Ryokumo Caeli, standing alone against Hirokol and Jessi, then to Nigreos and Abigail still at a stalemate with Rennigan and Fayela, she couldn’t help but grin in anticipation of what was to come.

***

“Coreas!”

Just as he had been determined to do from the start, Nigreos Noctis kept his focus solely on Rennigan, trusting in Abi to keep Fayela off of his back long enough for him to defeat the water mage. Naturally, given the fact that Rennigan had been admitted into the Academy, there was no doubt that he would be a strong adversary, but despite that, Nigreos had been confident that with his dark magic, he would still be able to claim victory in a matter of minutes.

And yet, he just won’t go down!

“Nikirin!” Rennigan chanted back, barely a second after Nigreos’s shadows emerged from his hands and rushed across the ten yard gap separating the two of them.

The boy’s incantation caused the moisture in the atmosphere to combine with his mana and freeze into ice particles that immediately merged together to form a barrier of ice right in between them, stopping Nigreos’s shadows from getting any closer. Cursing under his breath, the eldest Noctis child returned the darkness to his body and sent wind magic into his feet, propelling just a few meters to the left just before a barrage of ice in the shape of spears slashed through the area he had been moments before, piercing the grass and burying themselves in the dirt instead.

Agh! If only it were just a little darker! With the sun right above us, my shadows can’t even penetrate a mere wall of ice! If I could just block some of this light somehow, I’d probably be able to gain the upper hand, but…

Nigreos didn’t have the time to form a plan as Rennigan’s ice wall shattered into roughly a dozen blades, which spun in midair and flew directly toward him. Grimacing, the dark mage sent his shadows through his fingers once more and used them to smash the ice before they could reach him, successfully deflecting Rennigan’s attack.

“Is this really all you have for me, Noctis?!” Rennigan taunted with a satisfied expression on his face. “I knew I’d be able to beat you, but I honestly thought you’d put up more of a fight! What a pity!”

Nigreos clenched his teeth, knowing that if he lost this battle then he would never hear the end of it, not only from Rennigan but also from Viiro Noctis.

I have to win! Rennigan’s good, but he’s still far too obsessed with beating me! He’s not paying Abi any attention at all, which means that if I could somehow gain her help then we could probably win! The issue with that is…

Just seconds before, he’d seen out of the corner of his eye that Fayela Rio was contained within the grasp of over a dozen vines, her armor cracking and her defeat almost guaranteed. But then, with the shout of an incantation, her defense pulled itself back together and the rock mage successfully broke free of Abi’s restraints, placing the fight right back where it started.

Which means I can’t count on her besting Rio anytime soon, he thought with frustration as he dodged yet another rapid assault of ice, then sent his own burst of shadows—an attack met with yet another defensive wall. And as for Ryokumo and Album, they’re now a complete mystery to me! That being said… His eyes momentarily shifted to the wall of rock Fayela had created, separating the two halves of their teams. There’s only one affinity that could get over that wall… So if you’ve noticed it, Ryokumo, you should be able to deduce that Pafran specializes in wind magic!

As far as he knew, each one of his teammates had their hands full, so if he couldn’t overcome Rennigan alone, he would be letting them down.

And I can’t lose this battle! I have to become first rank! I have to get the attention of Princess Ilirianna! Everything rides on this…

An image flashed through his mind of his little sisters back in Noctalus, Lunara and Neah. As much as he knew he had to live up to his father’s expectations and become the next Master of Darkness, that wasn’t the sole reason Nigreos was there in Erika. He was going to thrive in the capital because he wanted to support his siblings and he wanted to find the cure for Neah that all previous Noctis generations had utterly failed to find.

If I can get close with the princess, I’ll be in the most ideal position to do that! This is my first major opportunity to save Neah and I’m not going to allow Rennigan Glaus of all people to get in my way!

“If I don’t have at least five pages then I’m gonna be disappointed. You better write an entire novel about what happens, okay? And I’ll be really disappointed if you lose! Go kick some butt, Brother!”

Right! Bringing up another wave of shadows to defend himself from Rennigan’s ice, Nigreos recalled Neah’s parting words to him. I’ll do that, Neah! I’ll kick his butt!

“Devare!” he shouted at the top of his lungs, casting a spell he had yet to try simply because he wasn’t sure it would even work without a strong amount of darkness around him. But regardless, his constant castings of Coreas weren’t getting him anywhere, and thus, he had to try something else. The shadows that were already swirling around his body lunged violently toward Rennigan, who unsurprisingly threw another wall of ice up between him and Nigreos.

As I expected, Rennigan mostly fights with ice rather than liquid and steam. He seeks to become Master Nyx Rana’s apprentice, and since her own fighting style is predominantly ice-based, he’s imitating her. But the problem with that is that ice is brittle! Water magic is designed to use all three phases in tandem but Rennigan is so dead set on his goals that he’s not thinking logically! Incorporate that flaw of his into my strategy!

To his disappointment, Rennigan’s ice was strong enough to prevent Devare from breaking past it despite its more aggressive nature, and Nigreos was once again shoved onto the defensive as the wall split into icicles, lunging at him in an almost random manner, as if Rennigan was attempting to use shear force and numbers to beat him rather than any sort of coherent strategy.

Yet another flaw of this bastard! And yet, for all his flaws, I still can’t get past him! My magic isn’t designed for usage in broad daylight! If it were night, Rennigan would have lost in mere seconds, but—

Before he could finish his thought, something unexpected happened.

The armored form of Fayela Rio came soaring through the air, heading straight for where Rennigan was standing. The water mage reacted with surprise, dodging out of the way as her body slammed into the ground, sending dirt flying up all around them. Nigreos didn’t know if Fayela was eliminated or not, but the distraction was a perfect opportunity to take Rennigan out. The dark mage uttered a quick incantation, causing one of the pellets in his pouch to fly into his hand, and without waiting, Nigreos enhanced his throw magic and sent it straight for Rennigan’s head…

But he never saw whether it landed or not before steam abruptly exploded out of Rennigan’s body, concealing everything around both him and Fayela. And to confirm that Rennigan wasn’t yet out, icicles burst from that cloud, heading right for Nigreos. The only reason they didn’t find their mark was because he was suddenly pulled away, and before he knew it, he was tumbling through the air.

Damn it! Who got me?! Did Pafran or Yuahl get over the wall?!

But his concerns for an enemy intervening were eased when he realized that vines were wrapped around him, taking him away from the cloud of steam before setting him down just beside the wall of rock where Abigail was waiting, a confident expression on her face.

“This isn’t working,” she said the moment his feet were firmly on the grass. “I know we said we’d fight individually but Faye’s too strong for me!”

“Honestly,” Nigreos grumbled, his eyes never straying from the cloud of smoke where their opponents still were, though the fact that another attack had yet to come most likely meant that Rennigan and Fayela were taking the chance to alter their strategy as well. “Rennigan’s strong, but with the sun out, I just can’t get enough power to overcome him.”

“What do you mean, with the sun out?” Abi inquired.

Realizing that he’d never actually explained the drawback of his power, Nigreos gave her as quick of an answer as he could. “The lighter it is, the less I can do. Dark magic is overwhelmingly strong, but only at night. During the day, it’s about the same power level as the base five affinities. That’s why Rennigan and I have been mostly stuck in a stalemate.”

Shadows coming to his hands, Nigreos knew that a counterattack was imminent, but before Rennigan or Fayela could appear from that cloud, Abi spoke again, with a slight slyness to her tone.

“Then…you’re saying that if the sun was gone, you could beat him?”

Against his better judgment, Nigreos spared a second to glance down at the girl, only to find her smiling wryly, indicating that she had some sort of a plan. Knowing that they couldn’t keep using the same strategies over and over, Nigreos decided that whatever she was thinking, he needed to know.

“Yeah, probably? Why? What did you have in mind?”

***

I think…I might not have a chance anymore. I’ve done my best, but without backup, I might be screwed. And here I was, the only one confident that we didn’t have anything to stress over…

Yet, despite internally realizing that he probably already lost, Ryokumo Caeli bit back his regret and never once stopped moving, casting Proto non-stop as he darted around the arena, avoiding the combined attacks of fire and wind that Hirokol and Jessi were throwing at him. Jessi remained in the back, pumping flames into Hirokol’s wind, allowing him to throw flaming attacks faster than any normal fire magic straight at Ryokumo. Luckily, Ryokumo’s speed was one of his best attributes, in his own opinion, and since Album’s elimination, neither had managed to get a hit in on him. At the same time, Ryokumo wasn’t gaining any chances to go on the offensive, and if he didn’t find that chance, his stamina was bound to run out and result in his elimination.

But what choice do I have?! There isn’t an opening! Every time I land, more wind-powered fire is coming at me! These two are a hell of a duo!

Part of him wondered if simply keeping them at bay long enough for Abi or Nigreos to get to him was the best move, but in the end, he knew he couldn’t rely on support from the others. He had declared confidently that he could handle these two, and even though he had been banking on Album’s support, he knew he would have trouble facing his team again if he failed so miserably after acting so certain of himself.

Which means I have to find some way to take these bastards down alone! And that’s fine! It’s not like I’m not used to fighting alone! Ever since I left Sukon, I’ve been by myself and I’ve always managed to survive and power through! Yes, having Album would have been beneficial, but I can still do this! Just think outside of the box!

But thinking was tough when he wasn’t being given the chance to even survey the battlefield.

“Nex!” Ryokumo snarled the second he had a chance to breathe, throwing a shield of air in front of him just as another flaming Perkari crashed into it. However, while the shield did manage to protect his body, the pressure of the hit still knocked his body backwards, sending him flying out of the sky before colliding with the ground below.

“Nex!” he shouted once more, extending both of his hands outwards to block yet another blade of wind, this time managing to keep himself steady. Then, knowing he needed even just a few seconds, Ryokumo reached within himself and cast his strongest spell.

“Coniune.”

It was the most challenging spell he knew, one far above his average level. It was a hybrid of wind magic and mind magic, enabling him to slow his perception of time while simultaneously enhancing his reactions. It gave him the moment he needed to get his bearings and focus on a way to overcome his opponents, but because it used just a little bit of mind magic, it couldn’t be incorporated into open combat, and was only effective in brief moments like the one he currently found himself in.

Roughly fifty yards away from him, still in the center of the arena, Hirokol was standing with wind flowing all around him. Meanwhile, Jessi was a mere few yards behind him, fire erupting from her fingers to infuse with her partner’s magic. The way they fought him with hardly any conversation between them spoke to the amount of time they had known each other and fought together. Ryokumo wasn’t up against individuals that were strangers to one another. These two were old friends, which made them all the more dangerous.

But that means that if I can take one out, beating the other won’t be that hard. They work together magnificently, but they’re also relying too heavily on each other. When it comes to teams like this, they’re often much weaker alone…but how do I break past their defenses to eliminate one?

With time slowed, Ryokumo’s eyes simply scanned the individuals ahead of him, both staring with utter focus at where he was, bursts of flaming wind shooting from Hirokol’s hands to head straight for him. He would need to react in only six or seven perceived seconds so he didn’t have much time before he’d need to drop Coniune and go back to running.

So far, they’re seeming to rely on wearing me out so that I’m too weak to defend against a pellet. If they can knock me on my ass and leave me prone, eliminating me is easy. That’s their plan… With that, an idea formed in Ryokumo’s mind, one that would leave him severely disadvantaged if it failed, but also had the highest chance of success. Well as they say, high risk, high reward. Let’s try it.

Allowing Coniune to fall, returning his senses back to their proper state, Ryokumo cast Proto and went to jump up into the air to avoid the blast, but just as the next wave of fire was upon him, he didn’t get high enough and felt his body lurch backwards, sliding into the grass once again as a searing pain erupted across his legs.

Oh, damn that hurt! he internally cursed, and despite having allowed it to hit him, he still hadn’t been ready for the inevitable burns. But this is my chance. Play up the pain, Ryokumo. Make them think they won.

He could sense the oncoming rush of a wind-powered pellet on its way to eliminate him, so Ryokumo choked out a Perkari of his own and sent it flying up into the air, away from where he was still laying. He made to pretend like he was trying to get up, and he figured that the actual pain in his legs made the performance far more genuine than it would have been otherwise. At this point, he could hear Hirokol and Jessi closing in on him in attempts to prevent his escape, and that was exactly what he wanted. In order to pretend like he was desperately trying to protect himself, he sent a few Perkari as he pushed himself to his knees. They were intentionally bad attempts to strike them, but there was a method to his madness. Wherever he attacked was intended to herd the two of them to a certain position.

Hirokol was in the air while Jessi was still on foot, though she was running rather fast with flames around her feet, enhancing her movements in a similar fashion to Ryokumo and Hirokol’s wind. Hirokol was now just ahead of him, barely forty yards away and protoing through the air, wind and fire surging around his wrists.

Just a little closer… Come on, bastard, get closer…

The fire and wind attacks burst forward from the young man’s arms and Ryokumo blocked it with a well-timed Nex, and once the fire cleared away, Hirokol had reached the ideal position. Shocked that the plan worked as flawlessly as it did, Ryokumo flicked his left wrist upwards, and without any warning, Hirokol’s magic gave out, his body soaring limply through the air before hitting the grass and going still, eliminated.

“What?!” he heard Jessi exclaim, but the single word had barely left her mouth before Ryokumo was on his feet again, propelling himself right for her.

His plan had been to use wind magic to suspend one of the pellets in midair before distorting the air around it to make it essentially invisible to Hirokol so long as he wasn’t actively sensing for it. Then, all he had to do was lure the wind mage to a place either above or below the floating pellet, and once he was in position, all Ryokumo had to do was fling it upwards and hit him before he even realized the pellet was there.

And with that, the board was balanced, and all he had left to do was take down Jessi Yuahl.

***

From out of Rennigan’s cloud of steam, Fayela Rio emerged in a sprint, covering the distance between her and Abi in a matter of seconds, her fists already in motion to take a few shots at the young nature mage. But Abigail had been ready for her, vines immediately bursting up from the ground to counterattack the armored goliath, and the determination in her eyes was enough to give Nigreos confidence that she would be safe while he put in motion the plan that the two of them had concocted.

“Just get close to Glaus,” Abi had told him. “You don’t have to be right up on him, but if you can at least be within ten yards or so, I can set you up to take him down.”

She hadn’t elaborated on what she meant simply because she hadn’t had time. Whatever interaction Fayela and Rennigan were having in the steam finally came to an end, signaled by the sudden onslaught of icicles that were sent their way. It meant that Nigreos didn’t know exactly what she planned to do, but so far, Abi had more than proven that she knew what she was doing, and the certainty in her voice convinced Nigreos to trust her. That was why, as the steam dispersed, revealing Rennigan’s form standing just in the middle of it, rather than keeping his distance as he had been before, Nigreos Noctis broke into a sprint of his own, shadows swirling around his body and wind propelling his feet.

He saw Rennigan’s eyes go wide with surprise before an arrogant sneer twisted his features. “So a suicidal charge is what you’re going with, huh? How disappointing! Geldai!”

Another ten icicles formed from the moisture around Rennigan, and barely a second after the incantation left his mouth, they were already soaring right toward Nigreos. But with his sights set solely on setting Abi up for her plan, he didn’t flinch, snarling, “Coreas”, and using the shadows to cut down every single icicle that came his way. With Nigreos still coming, he could see a flicker of concern on Rennigan’s face, as if trying to deduce what it was he was trying to accomplish with such a direct attack.

Just keep focusing on me! Don’t pay Abi any mind. Rio has her handled, right? You want me! You want to inflate your ego even further by taking me down, but unfortunately for you, I’m not letting that happen!

More icicles came for him and more shadows jumped to his defense, and with one last push, Nigreos reached within ten yards. At this point, Rennigan moved to put distance between them, creating another wall of ice for his own protection, but Nigreos didn’t move to attack and instead shouted out, “Abi!”

His calling of her name was immediately met by a return shout from his teammate, and what happened next left him in awe.

“Vino!” Abi screamed, and with that incantation, he saw both Fayela and Rennigan react by moving away from where they were standing, as if expecting her to attempt to restrain them with vines like she had done to the rock mage earlier.

But that wasn’t what happened.

Instead, in a circle around where Nigreos and Rennigan stood, the vines shot up into the sky, seemingly ignoring all of the combatants, but as they gradually bent toward one another, aiming for a focal point directly above the water and dark mages, Nigreos could only grin with delight. Abi’s vines were creating a dome around them in a ten yard diameter, and as they came closer to each other, more and more sunlight was blocked out. Rennigan caught on quickly, turning his spells toward the vines, but with his attention split between Abi’s attack and Nigreos, the Noctis son had the perfect chance to intervene. Using Coreas, he cut down the icicles that Rennigan sent toward the dome, preventing him from opening up a hole, and soon enough, they were encased in complete darkness.

We win.

“Devare,” Nigreos whispered, pleased that he was getting to use his abilities to their fullest, and within mere seconds, the shadows surrounding them attacked Rennigan, as if the literal air around them had become his enemy. The darkness lunged into his mouth, filling his lungs with shadow and cutting off his breath and his voice, while at the same time, his arms and legs were pinned as his form was yanked into the air. Nigreos’s affinity enabled him to see it all despite the darkness, and with Rennigan incapacitated, all he had to do was grab a pellet and use wind magic to hurl it at the water mage, and the moment it collided with his panicked features, his eyes closed and his body went limp.

Nice try, Rennigan. Better luck next time.

But just as that thought flashed through his mind, the vines abruptly burst open, as if being pulled from the outside, and the last thing he saw before his consciousness faded was the massive form of Fayela Rio charging right at him.

***

Abigail pushed herself to her feet, silently cursing the fact that her plan hadn’t gone as smoothly as she hoped it would. The goal had been for her vines to put Nigreos and Rennigan in place for them to be bathed in complete darkness, but for it to work, she needed to keep Faye from intervening. The problem was that creating so many vines at once weakened her to the point that she also couldn’t bind Faye. Before she knew it, the rock mage had slammed her fist into the ground, causing the earth itself to lurch upwards around her feet, as if a minor earthquake had just taken place. She expected it to be the end for her as she fell to the ground, but evidently, Faye prioritized taking Nigreos down, and when Abi got back up, she found a massive hole ripped in her dome of vines, one Faye soon emerged from. Just behind her, Abi could barely make out the unconscious form of both Nigreos and Rennigan, indicating that it was once again a match between her and Faye.

Darn… I was hoping I could rely on Nigreos to help, but at least Rennigan’s out of the way.

“That was a clever play there, Abi!” Faye called over to her with a laugh. “I can honestly tell why Master Grunly was so interested in you. I really didn’t see that one coming.”

Abi smiled back at her, bringing her mana back to her fingers as she prepared for the continuation of their battle. “And yet, we’re right back where we started, one-on-one.”

“Yup! So let’s finish this, why don’t we?” Faye replied, pounding her armored fists together in a signal that she was ready to resume.

She’s gotta be weakened at this point, Abi reminded herself. She created the massive wall that split the arena, she’s armored herself twice, and she used that earthquake attack on me to get an opening to defeat Nigreos. She has to be running low on mana… Abi then grimaced, feeling her own magical fatigue setting in. But it's not like that vine attack didn’t take a whole lot outta me. Even with Faye so weakened, I might not have the strength to crack the armor a second time.

Unfortunately, she no longer had any option but to once again rely on herself. Nigreos was eliminated and Album and Ryokumo remained unknown variables. Without giving her any further chances to think, Faye pressed off the ground and charged her, forcing Abi back into combat whether she liked it or not. The vines would no longer be strong enough to bind her, and the constructs were too weak to breach the armor, so she realized she might not have anything left in her arsenal that could expose Faye’s skin, and as the armored warrior charged directly at her, part of Abi wondered if she should simply run and try to buy time for the potential arrival of Ryokumo or Album.

And then, as if summoned by her thoughts…

“Condite!”

The cry from above reached Abi’s ears and Faye’s massive form was yanked backwards, knocking her off balance and bringing her crashing into the dirt as Ryokumo Caeli burst over the side of the wall, a broad grin on his face.

“The cavalry has arrived, dear Abigail!” he declared as he used his magic to soar down to the ground.

Shouting his incantation again, more of Ryokumo’s invisible ropes wrapped themselves around Faye, binding her arms and legs and keeping her from being able to get up. But knowing that air would be far less effective than nature, Abi quickly jumped to aid her teammate, chanting “Vino” and bringing up vines that were significantly weaker than before, but combined with Ryokumo’s strength, it was enough to keep Faye down. As a sign of the rock mage’s own mana depleting, the cracks formed in her armor much quicker than the previous time, with one particularly big chuck of the rock falling off on her right cheek, exposing her skin.

“Abi, throw!” Ryokumo frantically ordered, and she didn’t hesitate to reach into her pouch, grab a pellet, and hurl it right at Faye.

Her aim was terrible, but with a spell from Ryokumo, the air itself altered the trajectory of the pellet, sending it flying right toward that single opening in the armor, and the second it touched her skin, Fayela Rio ceased her struggling and went still. For a moment, the arena was silent before a massive wave of cheering erupted around them, followed by the announcer signaling the conclusion of the fight.

“And with that, the match ends in favor of Caeli, Luz, Noctis, and Abigail!”

Abi let out a sigh of relief as it truly set in that they had won the match. Ryokumo threw his arms into the air and cheered along with the crowd before giving them one of his obnoxious bows, laughing as he did so. The young man then glanced her way and winked, raising his hand to give her a high-five. With a smile of her own, she gladly returned it.

We did it… Abi then raised her head and gazed up at the luxury box overlooking the stadium, her grin growing broader.

Did you see, Master Grunly? We did it.

***

Somehow, someway, the upset Ilirianna sought actually came to fruition, and as the crowds down below went wild with cheers, she could only grin with them as she leaned back in her seat, satisfied yet surprised. After all, if anybody was going to be the architect of that upset, she expected it would be Nigreos Noctis, and yet that victory could only be attributed to the two commoners of the team, Ryokumo Caeli and Abigail. The dome of vines providing Nigreos with a dark environment was key in beating Rennigan, and Ryokumo somehow managed to take Hirokol and Jessi on alone and come out on top, enabling him to rush to Abigail’s aid in her battle with Fayela, which they swiftly won. Where the Noctalus left some to be desired, Abigail and Ryokumo provided her with talent that truly stood out, especially given their backgrounds.

“Well, that was certainly interesting,” Nakoma muttered, a wry grin on his face.

In response to his comment, Grunly merely gave a pleased chuckle and spread his hands before him. “What did I tell you? Abigail is not one to be underestimated, commoner or not.”

He directed that last comment toward Acostav and Viiro, who were silently sitting as they gazed down at the arena with expressions that hardly contained the anger they were feeling inside.

“You’re right, Master Grunly,” Ilirianna chimed in cheerfully. “Commoner or not, that performance cannot be overlooked. It seems I’ll have to take it into heavy consideration when deciding my team.”

Acostav merely snorted, as if barely holding in the many retorts he clearly had, before getting to his feet and stalking away. Viiro, on the other hand, said nothing, remaining a man of few words even in the face of a rather disappointing performance from his son.

Though, that’s not to say Nigreos performed poorly. On the contrary, his skills were befitting of somebody attending this school, but that wasn’t what you wanted, was it, Master Viiro? You wanted your son to be the star of the show, and he got upstaged by mere commoners. That has to hurt.

As if reading her mind, Viiro Noctis shot her a furious glare, which she returned with an innocent smile.

And so, the most critical part of the Academy orientation for Ilirianna Iiji came to an end, and she couldn’t have been more satisfied with herself.