"Were we wrong?" The aftershock of Dark Magic Burst's destruction was still settling, and the principals were already second-guessing themselves.
It wasn't just the students wondering if Mana was secretly Seven-Star. Townsend, Brandt, and even Victor Ashford had felt their certainty waver the moment a Six-Star Storm Sparrow evaporated in a single finishing move.
"Honestly?" Victor rubbed his temples. "I'd like it if she were Seven-Star. But if she were, the combat power she's been displaying wouldn't be limited to what we've seen."
He shook his head slowly.
"She's shown a lot of versatility. Anti-magic, flight, high attack power. But in terms of raw destructive output, she hasn't reached the Seven-Star threshold. Not consistently."
"Then there's only one explanation." Brandt inhaled sharply, and when he spoke, his voice carried a faint tremor. "That last attack had an execution effect."
The room went dead silent.
An execution effect. A conditional kill trigger built into the skill itself, one that could end a fight regardless of the target's remaining durability, as long as certain conditions were met.
For a student-level Card Master, owning a Card Spirit with an execution skill was like strapping a rocket to a bicycle. It changed everything. One lucky trigger could flip a fight that should've been unwinnable.
"Anti-magic. Flight capability. And now an execution skill on top of it all." Victor Ashford had, at some point during the last thirty seconds, pulled out a mana-infused cigarette and lit it. The thin wisp of smoke curled upward from his fingers, and the hand holding it was trembling.
This was a man who never smoked in public. Private indulgence only. A thousand-year habit of composure that he'd maintained without a single lapse across his entire tenure as City Lord.
Luke's Card Spirit had broken that streak in one exam.
Shaking hands. Racing pulse. This unified exam had delivered more surprises than Victor had experienced in the last century combined.
Townsend and Brandt exchanged a look. The jealousy had evolved into something deeper now. Something closer to genuine pain.
Why. Why did Westbridge, of all schools, the weakest of the three, produce this kid this year? If Luke had enrolled at Crestfall or Ironvale...
The thought formed simultaneously in both their minds: The college entrance exam is still weeks away. There's no rule against transferring schools before then.
Could they...?
The fantasy lasted approximately two seconds.
If they tried to poach Luke now, after what the entire city had just watched him do, Grant Harlow would declare war. And they'd do the exact same thing in his position. Some lines you didn't cross, no matter how tempting the prize.
They buried the thought and pretended it had never existed.
At that exact moment, Victor's personal terminal chimed.
As City Lord and Sovereign Realm Card Master, plenty of people wanted Victor Ashford's contact information. Vanishingly few actually had it. Everyone who did was someone of consequence.
Victor glanced at the screen. His expression curdled.
"The crazy woman from Moonvale."
Even Harlow's face tightened.
Moonvale City. One of the twelve satellite cities under the Capital's jurisdiction, same as Ashenvale. But where Ashenvale sat comfortably in the middle tier, Moonvale was a permanent fixture in the top three.
Helena Frost, Moonvale's current City Lord, was widely regarded as the most combat-obsessed leader in all twelve cities. The word "restraint" wasn't in her vocabulary. Among the other City Lords, she'd earned the affectionate (and terrified) nickname of "the crazy woman."
Her reaching out right now was not going to be good news.
"Great." Victor read the message and confirmed his suspicion. "Helena wants to hold an inter-academy friendship exchange with us."
A friendship exchange. Between Moonvale and Ashenvale.
Three principals processed this information and arrived at the same conclusion simultaneously: She's coming to stomp us.
"Can we decline?" Townsend ventured, though his tone said he already knew the answer. "The college entrance exam is right around the corner. The timing is terrible."
"Can't." Victor shook his head. "She sent the message after she'd already left. Their first stop is Sunridge City. We're next, in two days."
"Sunridge is probably getting demolished as we speak." A moment of grim solidarity for Vernon Drake, the Sunridge City Lord, who was almost certainly having a worse day than they were.
The three principals fell silent. There was nothing to do about it. Moonvale was coming whether they liked it or not.
"Alright." Victor's gaze shifted to Luke's feed, still open on his display. The boy was casually collecting Storm Sparrow feathers while Mana twirled her staff beside him, looking pleased with herself. "This exchange match is happening. But don't forget, this year isn't like the others."
The implication was clear, and all three principals followed his eyes to the screen.
"Based on what Luke and his Card Spirit have shown today," Victor continued, measuring each word, "in last year's college entrance exam, they would've been competitive for first place in the entire Capital region."
He let that sink in.
"So maybe, this time, we'll be the ones handing out surprises."
The tension in the room shifted. Not gone, but redirected. Ashenvale was still the underdog against Moonvale. But they had a weapon now that nobody outside this room knew about.
Before anyone could respond, the chamber doors opened. An elderly man walked in, led by the mansion's steward. He took one look at the faces around the table and raised an eyebrow.
"Why does everyone look like they just swallowed something sour?"
"Harrison." Victor straightened up, surprise breaking through his composure. "You're back?"
Harrison Cole. Branch President of the Card Master Association's Ashenvale chapter. Sovereign Realm, same tier as Victor. One of the two most powerful Card Masters in the city, and Victor's oldest friend. They'd known each other since they were young. Centuries of history.
The Card Master Association operated parallel to the City Lord system, both organizations sharing jurisdiction over Card Masters in each city. In most places, the relationship between the two was cordial. In Ashenvale, it was genuinely close.
Harrison had been away for weeks, summoned to the Capital's Association headquarters alongside the branch presidents from all twelve satellite cities. Whatever business they'd been handling, it had kept him out of the loop on everything that had happened locally.
"Got back a little while ago." Harrison settled into an empty chair and waved a greeting at the principals. "Figured I'd swing by since it's exam day. See how the new crop turned out."
His eyes narrowed slightly as he studied their expressions.
"But judging from those faces, either the students were disappointing, or something else is going on."
"The students were fine. Better than fine, actually. We even got an unexpected wildcard this year." Victor shook his head. "What you're seeing is us processing the news that Helena Frost is bringing a delegation here in two days for a 'friendly' exchange match."
Harrison winced. "Ah. That explains the atmosphere."
"It does."
A beat of silence. Then Harrison leaned forward, curiosity replacing sympathy.
"So. This wildcard. Show me."
For every 500 Powerstones extra chapter.