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"Very interesting."
Damien, who had watched the entire fight from his private viewing room, stroked his chin as he thought back over how it had unfolded.
"Those orbs are an advanced use of rune magic, it seems. He's using them to replicate mana stones. To enhance his spells."
His eyes narrowed at the holographic replay, watching the constellation form above the court once more.
"Since they're touched by the arcane, they're able to amplify. Intriguing."
A slow smile spread across his face.
"Intriguing it is. But useless, if one can simply whisk them away."
Damien waved a lazy hand through the air, as if brushing something aside.
"No matter. When it's our turn to face each other, it'll be simple."
The rest of the second round matches went on without a hitch, with Mars, Garrett and Amy taking care of their opponents with ease.
The ones they faced this time were easier than before. Clearly, Damien had wanted to finish it early, hiring only for the first round.
But that didn't mean Damien had forgotten about them. Just a little restructuring to the plan.
And so, before anyone knew it, it was time for the third round.
With the day now stretching into the afternoon, everyone was feeling a bit tired, but this would be the final round of the day. Tomorrow, they would continue the spectacle.
"Who do you think you're gonna face next?" Mars asked Arthur as he ate a big sandwich.
"How would I know? It's selected by random," Arthur said, looking at Mars, who was munching away.
"Well, yeah, I know, but, like, who do you think it is? There's only so many people left. Heck, you might even get one of us."
"No. I don't think that's going to happen. Statistically, there are too many people left for us to pull each other. But it is a possibility."
Arthur paused for a moment.
"Though, what I think is most likely... I'm going to face a certain someone."
"Oh? Do tell." Mars leaned in with a grin.
"Most likely, I'm going to face Damien Blackwell."
Mars looked confused. Garrett as well. Only Amy seemed to be more in the know, barely reacting at all.
"Why would you say you'll face him?" Mars asked.
"Well. Let's just say he's got a bit of a vendetta against me." Arthur's voice stayed level. "There's a reason I faced two of the strongest opponents in the first rounds."
"Wait. Are you saying he rigged the matches?" Mars slammed his hand down, unable to believe such a statement.
"Oh yeah. You think the son of a marquess wouldn't use his resources to get what he wants?" Arthur leaned back. "Think about your fight, Mars. Why would you face someone that strong in the first round? Someone with deep knowledge of your power and the relative skill to face it. You think fighting Silas was a coincidence?"
"It... wasn't a coincidence?" Mars said it out loud, half a question, trying to put together what Arthur was piecing out but not getting the full picture.
Garrett, however, was.
"Is that why my and Amy's opponents seemed so confident fighting us?"
"Because they thought we were easy," Amy finished for him.
"Exactly so." Arthur nodded. "And I suspect he's had enough, and wishes to finish the battle himself."
The rest of the squad looked at him.
"Will you be able to take him on?" Amy asked, not familiar with Damien's strength, but knowing he was a second year ranked in the top ten.
"Oh, I'm not worried about him, honestly. What I'm worried about is what his father is going to do afterwards."
Garrett and Amy looked puzzled at his words, Mars right there with them.
However, Angela, sitting off to the side, nodded her head in understanding.
"That's right. You do have to watch out for him," Angela added into the conversation, still nodding.
"What do you mean, Angela? Why would he have to worry about the Marquess?" Mars asked. "It's not like he can do anything. Arthur's protected by the campus."
"Oh no. Arthur is protected behind the campus. But his family is not."
"And let me guess. Blackwell and Webb don't get along," Garrett said.
"You could say that." Arthur scratched the side of his head. "My father might have had a run-in or two with one of their family members a few years back. And time hasn't been kind to either of us."
"The heck did your father do? Steal the wife of the marquess?" Mars blurted out.
SMACK!
Amy's hand cracked against the back of his head.
"Ow! What was that for?!"
"Idiot. Obviously, if it's something like that, you shouldn't ask."
"Well, I wanna know! I mean, his family is known for, you know, those sort of things. So it wouldn't be too crazy to say his father did something like that."
"No, it's nothing like that." Arthur's voice dropped, and the easy deflection left it. "My father caught the brother of the marquess smuggling human slaves over the Abyssaran border. Trading with them."
"WHAT?!"
Immediately Mars, Garrett, Amy and even Angela sat up straight, none of them expecting Arthur to drop news like that.
"WHAT? The brother of a marquess was smuggling human slaves?!" Mars yelled out.
"Hush, you idiot! You're going to make everybody hear us!" Amy grabbed onto Mars, clamping down on him as a few people around them turned to look.
But seeing Amy shut Mars down, the onlookers lowered their gazes before anything else reached their ears.
"Why... why have we never heard of this?" Garrett asked, confused as to why nobody had ever heard of such a scandal, as something this drastic should have been breaking news across the kingdom.
"Well, my family doesn't really have high standing here in the kingdom. So when my father brought him in, we needed an insurmountable amount of evidence to show he was the perpetrator of such an act." Arthur shrugged.
"Thankfully, my father is well versed in such things and had every piece of evidence needed. But of course, the courts couldn't punish a marquess's family member so easily. Especially when a lowly baron is the one making such claims."
Arthur leaned back, his voice flattening.
"So as such, he's serving a lifetime in prison deep below the capital's dungeons. Or at least, wherever they keep him. I don't know. Last I heard, he was stuck in his cell being fed grapes by a servant, kicking his legs up in luxury in a penthouse prison of sorts."
"Of course. I shouldn't have even expected that he'd be given a fitting punishment." Garrett sighed, Amy looking on beside him, slightly disgruntled.
Mars and Angela, however, looked on with a half knowing look on their faces. The two of them were of nobility and royalty themselves, so such things were more common in their world.
"But yes, the punishment is quite unfitting for the crime." Arthur waved a hand, closing the topic. "Enough about that, though. What really matters is preparing for the next fight. Rest up. It should start soon."
The break between rounds passed quickly, with some of the students taking the time to nap against the walls, others scarfing down food. Others took the time to study or practice their moves.
The holding area had been extremely loud all morning, but now everybody had tired themselves out, all of them settling into the low hum of tired fighters saving what energy they had left for the final bout.
Arthur himself sat back against the bench with his eyes half closed.
Above him, the holograms were playing the final matches of the second years, and Arthur watched one individual in particular.
Vespa.
She was facing somebody ranked in the two hundreds and was seemingly having a difficult time taking care of them.
"What... what is Vespa doing?" Garrett said, confused as to why Vespa wasn't attacking as hard as she did when she was training them.
"I don't know, but she's trying her best! Okay?" Amy defended Vespa.
Arthur, however, said nothing, for he knew the real reason.
Who would believe that a person who was once a maid, going through a second awakening, would have the combat skills to match what Vespa truly possessed? It wouldn't make any sense.
And so, she had to put on a show. A show of her trying her absolute best.
And just as Vespa struck down her final opponent...
"ATTENTION, ALL REMAINING CONTESTANTS! THE SECOND ROUND IS NOW COMPLETE! WE WILL BEGIN THE THIRD ROUND SHORTLY! PLEASE BE ON STANDBY!"
The announcer's voice boomed throughout the holding area, awakening all the slumbering and resting students as they propped themselves up, many of them stretching as they got ready for the next bout.