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Turning his back on the defeated Vyros, Arthur walked slowly back the way he came.
The crowd's noise chased him across the court, his name shouted from the stands in ragged bursts, loudest from the ones waving betting slips over their heads like flags. He could hear the money in their voices.
"WEBB! I LOVE YOU, WEBB!"
"DINNER'S ON ARTHUR TONIGHT, BOYS!"
Smiling softly, Arthur shook his head and kept walking.
'Good. Those idiots actually listened and put down some bets. Maybe I'll have some spare change to keep after all this.'
But from the corner of his eye, he caught a figure high above the stands, up in the shaded noble boxes, glaring down at him. Arthur let his gaze lift, and their eyes met.
For a moment neither of them moved. The crowd's roar faded into background static, and something passed between them across all that distance. Then the man's lip curled, disgust plain on his face, and he turned away, as if Arthur were not worth the attention he had already given him.
'Didn't think you'd be here, Marquess Blackwell.'
Arthur lowered his eyes and walked on.
Behind him, at the base of the cratered wall, the medic team was still peeling Vyros off the ground. One of them tugged the flickering chest plate loose from his body, frowned at it, and passed it to a waiting official without a word.
The tunnel back was worse than the walk out had been. Students lined the barriers on both sides, and none of them looked at him the way the crowd above had. No cheering here. Just quiet stares and lowered voices, competitors and classmates watching him pass with the same expression, one shared thought written across all of their faces.
He was a problem now. A problem they might have to deal with.
Arthur didn't slow down for any of them.
Reaching the holding area beneath the Coliseum, the mood flipped in an instant.
"There he is!" Mars threw his arms wide. "The man, the myth, the wall remodeler!"
"Congrats, Arthur." Garrett clapped him on the shoulder. "Clean win."
"You did great!" Amy beamed up at him, practically bouncing on her toes.
Arthur accepted it all with a small nod, letting them have their moment before he spoke.
"Just be ready for your next matches." His voice was calm, level. "It was easy for me. That doesn't mean it'll be the same for you."
The grins faded into something more focused, and one by one, the squad nodded.
Away from the roaring stands, in a quiet holding area reserved for the second year competitors, Vespa sat alone with her legs crossed, watching a small holographic image flicker above her palm. She had her own matches to fight today, and she preferred to wait for them in peace.
On the tiny screen, Vyros slid down the arena wall in a heap.
'Oh my. Hubby, you showoff.'
The door slammed open.
BANG!
Damien stormed in, his perfect hair falling out of place, and crossed the room straight toward her. He didn't say a word. His hand caught her jaw, tilting her face up to his, and he leaned down like a man reaching for a bottle, desperate for anything that would drown the last hour out of his head.
Vespa let him get close enough to taste her breath.
"Rough day, my lord?"
His grip tightened. Something flickered behind his eyes, and the hunger in them curdled into something else.
"Why are they so strong?" His voice came out low, shaking with barely restrained rage. "You told me they had early Silver strength at best. Did you lie to me?"
"No, I didn't." Vespa closed her hand, and the hologram winked out. "They truly were only that strong. But now that Arthur is Silver tier himself, it changes the whole playing field. And besides, you didn't actually think Silas was going to beat Mars, did you? Mars is stronger than Arthur, and you and I both know that."
She tilted her head, watching him the way one might watch a kettle start to boil.
"It was always just a matter of whether Arthur prepared better than whatever you had in store for him. I'll admit, his skills are strong. Unique. Hard to fight. But I would have thought you'd have prepared well, after I told you everything about him."
Something behind Damien's eyes snapped.
SMACK!
His palm cracked across her face, whipping her head to the side, and before she could right herself his fingers tangled into her silver hair, wrenching her up toward him.
"How dare you." His breath hit her face in ragged bursts. "A mere slut, assuming her master made a mistake. You are just some wench whose pussy happens to be tight. Don't get a big head, you slutty bitch."
He shoved her back down and turned on his heel, his coat snapping behind him as he stormed out, the door slamming in his wake.
Silence settled over the room.
Vespa sat back up, brushed her hair out of her face and touched two fingers to her stinging cheek. Then, slowly, a chuckle bubbled up out of her chest.
"Arthur." She smiled to herself, low and warm. "It seems your plan is working well."
"Will the third group of the first round please come to your corner?"
The announcer's voice boomed throughout the holding area beneath the Coliseum, causing many students to rise to their feet from the benches, Amy and Garrett standing up among them.
"Well, I guess that's us." Garrett rolled his shoulder as he loosened it up, as if that would actually matter in the fight ahead.
"Good luck, you two!" Mars called out, kicking his feet up onto the bench Garrett had just left. "And don't try to show off too much like our boss. We don't want you stealing the spotlight from him."
"Trust me, Mars, nobody's planning to do something like that," Amy yelled back as she walked off with a small grin on her face.
Arthur watched them go, a smile on his face, happy to see the two walk off with confidence, knowing full well they had what it took to face whoever was on the other side.
Garrett had ended up drawing a lanky spearman from the Virtues house who was rather defensive. He seemed to always be one step back, away from Garrett, never letting him close the gap. However, due to the constant drills under Vespa and her golden whip that had beaten patience into him, Garrett closed the distance step by step until he slipped under the spear on a tired thrust and ended it with a clean three hit combo.
The referee's hand went up.
Meanwhile, Amy's match was much, much faster.
Her opponent took one look at the small shy girl bowing politely across the court right before the match started and assumed the naive Amy would be an easy target. However, as the girl sprinted forward, her sword gleaming as she tried to strike down at Amy, Amy's staff jabbed out, blocking the attack before she drove the butt of her staff into the girl's stomach, knocking her to the ground. Igniting her bloodline, vines grew up from the ground below, rooting the girl in place, and Amy leveled her staff straight at her head, its tip glowing blue with a mana bolt.
"And that's the match!" the referee called out, making the fight over before the other girl ever realized that Amy was a true threat to take seriously.
And so with that, two matches and two wins made it an easy victory for them both, the two returning from the battlefield triumphant to a welcoming squad.
"Ayyy, baby! Now that's how you take care of some idiots!" Mars called out, joyful to see Garrett and Amy get through the first round with ease.
"Yeah. That was rather easy compared to what Vespa put us through," Garrett couldn't help but say.
"Yeah, I mean, that girl just left herself so open," Amy added. "It wasn't even like she knew I could defend myself. It was weird."
"And that's why we practice. For all these situations, like that one. But don't get too cocky. Both of your opponents were in the rank three hundreds. Nothing crazy, but from here on out you're going to start running into tougher opponents. So keep your wits about you." Arthur said, trying to keep reality in the grasp of his squad, as he knew overconfidence or a big ego could lead to defeat.
"Don't worry, boss. We won't slack off." Mars saluted the man as if reporting to his actual boss.
Ignoring the antics of Mars, Arthur watched as the rest of the squad conversed with him, joining in every now and then as they watched the other matches. And before they knew it, the fourth group of the first round was being called, and with it, Angela stood up.
"Go get them, girl!" Mars called out, jumping with joy for her as she walked out, calm and composed.