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"Serena Frost." Lily spoke the name quietly, eyes on the cold beauty who'd just entered the dining hall.
"You know her?" Luke and Elise turned to Lily simultaneously.
"She's Everhold City's top candidate this year. Same exam cycle as us." Lily nodded. "When City Lord Drake took us to Everhold for an exchange visit a while back, I fought her."
A brief pause. Lily's gaze flickered toward Luke, a reflex she immediately suppressed. She'd fought Luke too. That one had gone considerably worse.
"And?" Elise leaned forward, intrigued.
"Draw." Lily held up her hands in a helpless gesture. "She specializes in ice and snow-type cards. Strong ones."
"A draw with you isn't nothing." Elise's eyebrows rose. She knew Lily's strength better than most. Not many competitors their age could match her.
As if on cue, Serena Frost's pale cyan eyes swept the dining hall. They landed on their table. Without hesitation, she changed course and walked directly toward them.
The rest of the room collectively groaned. Another beautiful girl heading to THAT table? Is that corner enchanted?
"Lily Fairchild. I knew you'd be here." Serena's voice matched her appearance: clear, cold, precise. Like ice crystals forming on glass.
"If you're here, why wouldn't I be?" Lily met the challenge with quiet confidence.
Serena's gaze passed over Elise and Luke. Her eyes narrowed fractionally. There it was again, that instinct she'd relied on her entire life. The same sharp intuition that had saved her from ambushes and traps since childhood.
Both of them were dangerous. Not obviously, not in any way she could articulate, but her senses were screaming that these two were at least as strong as Lily. Maybe stronger.
"Then we'll settle it at the competition this time." A competitive edge sharpened Serena's words. "I won't draw again."
The declaration should have been intimidating. It might have been, if not for the faint flush that crept across Serena's pale cheeks as she spoke. Her cyan eyes brightened. Her breathing quickened slightly.
Strong opponents. Finally. Real ones.
The blush deepened.
Luke watched this transformation with growing alarm. Is she… getting excited? Like, combat-excited? That flush looks borderline clinical.
He decided not to think about it too hard.
"We'll see about that." Lily was unruffled. Their previous draw had been exactly that, a draw, and she had no intention of being the one to blink first.
Serena lingered only long enough to make her point, then turned and left as abruptly as she'd arrived. She selected a corner table, sat alone, and began eating in silence.
"She's got personality." Elise watched her go. "I'm done. You two?"
"Same." Lily set down her chopsticks.
"Go ahead," Luke waved them off. "I need to pack some things to bring back."
"You eat that much?" Elise's eyes drifted involuntarily downward, taking in Luke's build. Now that she was actually looking, she noticed what she hadn't before: the proportions were close to textbook ideal. Lean but not thin, defined but not bulky. A physique that suggested discipline rather than vanity.
She stared a beat too long.
"Don't." Lily grabbed Elise's arm and started pulling. "Don't be a creep. I refuse to be associated with a best friend who ogles boys at dinner."
"I wasn't ogling! I was assessing!"
"Same thing. Move."
As for the "packing," Lily had a pretty good guess. She remembered how lifelike Luke's card spirit had been during the exchange match. Practically human in every way. If he was bringing food back for her, it tracked.
In Magic Card Civilization, relationships between Card Masters and their card spirits weren't uncommon. Lily wasn't one to judge.
Luke finished his meal, assembled a care package of the dining hall's best desserts, and headed back to the villa.
-----
The next day, every competitor in the Youth Training Competition gathered in the Capital Association's main arena.
The space was vast. Designed to accommodate hundreds, it swallowed the assembled teams from all thirteen branches without feeling crowded. The arena floor stretched flat and wide, ringed by observation stands, and above it all, a main stage dominated the far wall.
On that stage stood more Sovereign Realm Card Masters than most of the competitors had ever seen in one place. The twelve satellite city branch presidents. The Capital's vice presidents. Over a dozen Sovereigns, their combined presence pressing down on the arena like atmospheric weight, even with their auras deliberately restrained.
And at the front of that formation, one step ahead of everyone else: Edmund Hargrove. Immortal Realm. Capital Association President.
Many competitors were seeing an Immortal Realm Card Master for the first time. The awe on their faces was palpable.
"Welcome." Hargrove's voice carried effortlessly across the arena without amplification. "You already know why you're here. You represent your respective branches, and your performance reflects on every Card Master in your city."
"Give everything you have. That's all I ask."
He raised his hand, and the arena's ceiling responded. A massive clock dial materialized overhead, its face marked with thirteen positions, one for each branch. Two golden needles hung at the center, motionless.
"The competition begins now."
The needles began to spin.