CHAPTER 92— The "Odd Trio" and the "Loser Trio"(5)
The vast combat hall was slowly clearing out as the final matches of the first-semester evaluations drew to a close.
Only a handful of freshmen lingered, stretching sore muscles or resting against the stone pillars after their grueling bouts.
Rowan whipped his head around, his eyes darting frantically across the room as if searching for someone.
When his gaze finally landed on the familiar, lanky figure of Julian from the repeater trio chatting casually with his teammates nearby, Rowan let out a long, shuddering breath he hadn't realized he was holding.
'Gosh... thank god he didn't actually die.'
Up in the spectator deck, upperclassmen were grumbling in bitter disappointment.
"Ugh... losers really are just losers at the end of the day."
"Can't believe they blew such an easy match..."
Despite the disgruntled groans from the repeater spectators, the "loser trio" didn't look bothered in the slightest, laughing and joking among themselves as though a the supplimentry exam was nothing more than a minor afternoon inconvenience.
Hearing the harsh comments from the crowd, Rowan only offered a quiet, relieved chuckle. Though the lingering weight of Rune Island wasn't completely gone, he felt a genuine, stabilizing sense of progress. He had finally pushed back against his trauma when it mattered most.
"Hey..."
A lazy, familiar voice broke his thoughts. Ritvik was leaning against a chair a few yards away, lazily waving his staff in greeting.
Rowan and Sarina walked over to join him.
"You're still hanging around here?" Sarina asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah, what? You wanted me to leave already?" Ritvik replied, closing his eyes with a self-satisfied smirk. "I wait for my friends, You know."
"..."
"For a second i was starting to think you were really gonna lose." Ritvik then shifted his gaze toward Rowan, studying him closely. "Hey you okay now? You are not gonna start your another week long hermit period again aren't you?"
"Uh... no, I'm fine," Rowan muttered.
Ritvik let out an exaggerated sigh of relief.
"Thank goodness, because every time you start acting all cryptic and brooding, I get cold sweats worrying your hermit phase is back."
"Hey, I'm not the type to just lock myself away randomly," Rowan retorted defensively.
"Yeah, yeah. That's a huge relief, otherwise I might have had to spend another week sleeping outside on public bench in the freezing night air while crazy things happen around me. I'm not a masochist; I don't need any more chaotic life events."
Rowan stared at him blankly, feeling like half of Ritvik's commentary was flying right over his head.
"Um... Can you stop talking in riddles and talk in simple language."
"It's not my fault that simple launguage sounds like a riddle to you."
"Hey you—"
"Alright, both of you shut up," Sarina said quietly.
Her voice wasn't raised, but it carried an ice-cold edge that made both boys instantly snap their mouths shut. They turned to look at her, realizing a fraction too late that their relentless bickering had completely pushed her past her breaking point.
They stood there in awkward silence under her severe glare.
By the time the remaining matches concluded, the main hall had emptied out toward the central corridor, where the giant, glowing holographic result boards had just flickered to life.
Rowan, Sarina, and Ritvik stood in front of the massive screen, tracking the group rankings and the total credit point distributions.
The academy's evaluation algorithm split earned points based on individual contribution, displaying both the group totals and individual breakdowns for everyone to see.
Rowan and Sarina scanned down the list until they found their designation.
---
39. Group 42 — Total points : (82)
Distribution :
1) Rowan vayen— 21
2) Sarina welclover— 29
3) Damon voss— 32
---
Rowan's shoulders slumped slightly. "I'm sorry."
Sarina glanced over at him, keeping her expression calm. "What for?"
"I mean... because of the mess I made out there during the middle of the match. That's probably why our point dropped—"
"Don't be ridiculous," Sarina interrupted, lightly tapping her fist against his shoulder.
"It's only our the first semester exam, and we still landed safely in the top 40. That means we outperformed more than half the freshman class."
Rowan blinked, his eyes widening before a small, genuine smile touched his lips.
"Yeah... you're right."
"You two sure are getting along very much for the past few days." Ritvik pointed out dryly, stepping closer to study the upper brackets of the ranking board.
"Oh right. Ritvik what's your ranking." Rowan asked, pivoting to look at the screen where Ritvik's eyes were fixed.
----
18. Group 26 — Total Points: 112
Distribution:
1) Seraphine ignis— (39)
2) Chloe maria — (31)
3) Ritvik..... — (40)
---
"Whoa! Ritvik, you actually got the highest score in your group!" Rowan cheered.
"Yeah, but..." Ritvik said awkwardly, nervously adjusting his glasses as a cold sweat broke out across his forehead.
"My survival instincts are screaming at me that if I linger around this academy board for another ten seconds, I won't be able to see tomorrow's sunrise."
"What?"
"Nothing. I've decoded those binary codes. I'm getting out of here." With that Ritvik quickly vanished from the sight.
Before either of them could respond, Ritvik vanished down the corridor in a blur of panicked motion.
Rowan stared blankly at the empty space where Ritvik had been standing a moment before. Shaking his head, a sudden thought crossed his mind. He turned to Sarina.
"Oh, by the way... did you happen to see Damon anywhere after we got pulled out?"
"That Class S guy? Nah. He dipped the second the battle ended."
Far away from the noise of the main hall, deep inside the isolated S-Class residential dorms, absolute quiet reigned.
Damon sat upright at his polished mahogany desk inside his spacious, pitch-black room. The only source of illumination was the warm, amber cone of a single magic desk lamp, casting long, dramatic shadows against the walls.
With precise, practiced movements, he was drafting an entry into his heavy, leather-bound personal diary. His eyes were steady, sharp, and entirely focused.
Elion Lambzer — Confirmed.
'For the past few months, I have observed and investigated many students of the first year.'
He underlined Elion's name with his pen.
'Some's connection to the dark mages has been confirmed. But most are still suspects.'
Oshen O'Hara — Suspect.
Reshan Romoe — Suspect.
Rio Grande — Suspect.
Rowan Vayen — Suspect.
Damon's pen paused. His eyes lingered on Rowan's name.
'Rowan vayen.'
Slowly, he drew a tight, deliberate circle around it.
'Out of everyone currently on my radar, This guy is the one who is acting most suspicious.'
Damon slowly started counting the incidents.
'When I was executing Inu Makhil in the dungeon, there happen to have a dark mage attack at the students in rune island, and he was the one who landed the final blow on the dark mage. But then he got unconscious and was acting paranoid on train too. Like he has killed some closed friend of his.'
Damon intertwined his fingers, resting his chin heavily against his knuckles.
'Not only that, after the incident he had locked himself up for nearly 10 days. And when he came out he got into an argument with Ashwin Skyris over the dark mage's core. He was acting more and more suspicious so I that if in the first semester exam I got in the same group as him then I would have a better chance to observe him without raising any alarms.'
He recalled the night before the first semester exam, when he had subtly tampered with the automated randomizer, sorting matrix late at night.
"This configuration should do," he had muttered to himself while hacking the console.
He had successfully locked his own identifier alongside Rowan's to ensure a forced pairing. However, the manual override had thrown off the rest of the algorithm, forcing him to scramble and patch together a few random pairings just to stabilize the system before morning.
"Ah, this is the last stray file... where should I drop this one?" he had whispered, holding Ritvik's student profile and photograph.
He had quickly skimmed the remaining slots. "Hmm... this group will do." And with a casual tap, he had dropped Ritvik straight up with Seraphine Ignis.
Back in the present, Damon stared down at his diary, reviewing everything that had transpired during the match.
"That guy Rowan. The way he was acting in the battle after seeing the artificial dark tints... If he is a spy then he should try to remain as oblivious as possible so why is he always acting suspicious."
Damon narrowed his eyes further, thinking through alternative angles.
"Or is it that his mission is different from the other spies."
Damon was making theories on his mind. And the theory was plausible.
"And that girl accompanying him—Sarina. She clearly noticed his psychological distress." Damon's eyes narrowed as he recalled the moment. "She seemed worried about him. Is he grooming her to act as his unwitting alibi.... That seems to be the case."
Damon clicked his pen shut and returned it neatly to its stand.
'Whatever it may be. Right now she is out of suspicion. But still... I can't let anyone off the hook. Since there's no telling when someone might join the dark mages. So it's better to keep everyone under suspicion.'
With a soft, definitive thud, Damon closed his diary.
---
Meanwhile, out in the sun-drenched stone corridors of the upper campus, the late afternoon sun was casting a warm, rich orange hue across the stained-glass windows.
Running for their lives down the hallway were three very desperate individuals.
"Move your legs faster! If we sprint, we might still make it before they close the pastry counter for the three-layered chocolate cake at the Aion Bakery!"
It was none other than the "loser trio," tearing down the passage at maximum speed.
Julian nearly tripped over a stray wooden bench left out by the cleaning staff, but Caleb smoothly hooked his foot out and booted the obstacle out of their path just in time.
"Watch where you're putting your feet while running, idiot!" Caleb snapped, though Julian's entire field of vision was glued entirely to his mobile screen rather than the floor.
"He's still grinding that stupid romance harem simulator on his phone while sprinting?" Manos called out from the lead position.
"Yeah, he's totally addicted. He never closes it, even during practical combat," Caleb yelled back.
"Shut up, guys, stop breaking my concentration! I'm literally one dialogue option away from unlocking a new route with the cold empress girlfriend," Julian protested, his thumbs flying across the glass.
"Yeah you can only ever get a girlfriend in game anyway not in real life."
Caleb teased ruthlessly but Julian didn't even flinch or look up, maintaining his steady stride as though Caleb had simply stated an objective law of magic.
Suddenly, Manos slammed on the brakes, coming to an abrupt halt. Julian and Caleb nearly crashed directly into his back, skidding to a stop.
"What? Did we make it to the bakery already?" Julian finally lifted his head, blinking stupidly at the hallway ahead.
All three of them froze.
Blocking the end of the corridor, leaning casually against the stone pillar with a warm, knowing smile, was Instructor Vanika Ariha.
"Hey there, boys," she greeted cheerfully, giving a light wave.
"Uh... hello, Instructor?" Manos squeaked out.
"I happened to review your performance metrics from the supplimentry trial evaluations today... and I took a look at your complete academic histories."
Gulp.
Gulp.
Gulp.
All three repeaters swallowed hard in absolute unison.
"As you may or may not know, once the repeater supplementary trials conclude, second-year instructors are permitted to handpick specific candidates for direct placement into our class," Vanika explained, crossing her arms and tapping her index finger rhythmically against her sleeve.
"So... I was thinking of putting all three of you in my class. Second year Class A."
Vanika paused, expecting to see expressions of overwhelming gratitude or shock on their faces. Instead, she was met with blank, thoroughly bewildered stares.
She smiled warmly. "So, I came down here specifically to discuss your transition—"
"Um, Instructor?" Manos raised his hand politely, cutting her off mid-sentence.
"Yes?" Vanika blinked.
"Can we save this discussion for later? You see, right now we are in a hurry if we are anymore late then we might miss the three layered choco cake of Aion backery."
Vanika stood frozen, staring at the trio with wide, uncomprehending eyes. "Huh...?"
"Thanks, bye!"
Before Vanika could process the conversation, the three repeaters bolted past her in a single, synchronized sweep, disappearing down the adjoining corridor like a streak of lightning.
Left standing alone in the hallway, Instructor Vanika could do nothing except stare at the empty corner, a profound mix of awe and awkward bewilderment settling heavily across her face.
---
CHAPTER ENDS