After Chris and Kayla's match, the square didn't calm down, because the spinning screen kept pulling new names and every fight after that felt like it was trying to outdo the last one.
Group after group stepped onto the field, and the strongest pairs kept coming out on top, whether it was because a High affinity mage could control the flow of the fight, or because a 7-strength knight could break through defenses that should have held.
The ink-fingered boy with Peak High drowned his opponents with water constructs that moved like living things.
A girl with lightning affinity turned the whole field into sparks in under a minute.
Even the Average mages were showing tricks that made the nobles lean forward in their seats.
By the time half the participants had fought, everyone was buzzing, and that was when the screen began to slow again, and the names that lit up made the whole square go quiet.
Group A:[ JACK & ELIO BRANT]
Group B:[ SLY & ARTHUR VIL]
A ripple went through the crowd because Sly was Stanter's friend, and even though he had a small frame, everyone knew he was fast, too fast, and he had scored a bit higher than average in the strength test because speed made up for it.
But that wasn't what made the mages stiffen.
It was the name next to his.
Arthur Vil. Peak High. The noble son who hadn't fought yet, but everyone already knew about him from the Affinity Test.
On Jack's side, standing beside him, was Elio Brant.
He was a boy with round glasses that kept sliding down his nose, and he looked a little scared the moment he saw the other side of the field, because he knew exactly who Arthur was.
Elio had scored Average in the affinity test with Earth affinity, and his magic was steady but slow, the kind that needed time to set up walls and traps, not the kind that could trade blows with fire.
Elio swallowed and whispered, "That's Arthur Vil... Peak High. We're done, aren't we?"
Jack didn't answer right away. He just rolled his shoulders once and looked at Sly across the field, then back at Elio.
"Hey," Jack said, and his voice was calm. "He's strong. But he can't hit what he can't catch. And Sly is fast, but he can't break through if we don't let him get close. We just don't give them what they want."
Elio blinked behind his glasses, and something in his chest settled. "Right... right. Teamwork."
"Yeah," Jack said with a small nod. "Teamwork."
The barrier rose with a low hum, and the announcer's voice cut through the air.
"Begin!"
Sly moved first, and he was a blur.
He darted in with two short daggers, aiming for Jack's legs and sides, using his small frame to slip in and out before most people could even react, and he expected Jack to swing wide and miss like most bigger fighters did.
But Jack didn't swing wide.
He turned with him, caught one dagger on the flat of his sword, and kicked out to force Sly back, making him reset.
At the same time, Arthur raised his hand and fire exploded outward, a wide arc meant to catch both Jack and Elio at once, but Elio slammed his palms to the ground and an earth wall shot up between them, cracking under the heat but holding long enough for Jack to slip through.
"Good!" Jack called out without looking back. "Again!"
Arthur frowned and shifted his aim, because he realized Elio was the problem, since if the earth mage could keep putting up walls, Sly would never get a clean angle and Jack would never be forced into a bad position.
So Arthur sent a concentrated lance of fire straight at Elio, fast and precise, and this time Elio panicked, his second wall coming up too late.
"Elio!" Jack shouted, and he was already moving.
He intercepted the lance with his sword, and the impact sent fire scattering across the field, but it bought Elio a second to breathe.
"Don't freeze," Jack said as he slid back to his side. "You're not here to beat him in power. You're here to make him waste it. Walls. Traps. Anything."
Elio nodded hard and wiped sweat from his glasses. "Got it."
The fight turned chaotic after that, because Arthur kept trying to burn through Elio's defenses while Sly circled like a hawk, looking for openings, darting in with quick stabs and then vanishing before Jack could counter.
Elio would drop spikes from the ground to cut off Sly's angles, and Jack would use the half-second Sly had to slow down to clip him with his sword.
And when Arthur overcommitted to a big spell, Elio would collapse the ground under his feet and Jack would be there to pressure him.
Eventually Arthur had enough.
He stopped aiming at Jack and turned fully on Elio, and with a roar of fire he broke through the last earth wall and sent Elio flying back with a blast that left him coughing on the ground, out of the fight.
"Elio Brant, you're out," the announcer called, and Elio was helped off the field.
That left Jack vs Sly vs Arthur.
Sly grinned and his eyes lit up, because now it was a 1v1v1 and that was where he shined.
He blurred forward again, feinting left and coming in from the right, but Jack had been watching him the whole time.
He pivoted, caught Sly's wrist mid-dash, and drove his shoulder into Sly's chest, sending him tumbling across the stone.
Before Sly could get up, Jack's sword was already at his throat.
"Sly, you're out."
Now it was just Jack and Arthur.
And that was when the real fight started, because as everyone knew, mages liked to keep distance, and Arthur was a Peak High fire mage who could turn the whole field into an inferno if he had space.
So Arthur immediately jumped back and threw out waves of fire, trying to keep Jack at bay while he built up something bigger.
Jack didn't give him that space.
He ran.
Not in straight lines, but cutting and weaving, because he knew Sly's speed had taught him how to chase someone faster, and every time Arthur tried to reset the distance, Jack was already cutting it in half again.
Arthur's eyes widened because this wasn't normal for someone his age.
"How are you..."
Jack didn't answer. He feinted left, then burst right, and when Arthur threw up a wall of fire to block him, Jack drove straight through it, his sword trailing sparks as the heat burned against his arms.
The crowd was on its feet now.
Arthur tried one last time to end it, gathering fire in both hands for a massive burst, but Jack was already inside his guard.
He twisted, brought his sword up, and knocked Arthur's arms aside before sweeping his leg and sending the noble crashing to the ground.
For a second, nothing moved.
"Arthur Vil, you're out. Winner: Group A. JACK SHADES."
The barrier dropped, and silence hit the square for half a breath before it exploded.
People were standing, shouting, because they had just watched a boy who looked ordinary chase down a fast agile knight and then outmaneuver a Peak High mage in the same match.
The speed, the timing, the way he fought there was no doubt left.
He was a first stage Knight.
Up on the platform, the lead assessor and Phil were both staring, and for once neither of them said anything.
And in the stands, Minny had her hands clasped together, and she wasn't breathing.
"Well against someone as powerful as the mage he couldn't hold back his strength or he would have lost.
Arthur got up and looked at the back of Jack and thought. 'Who is this guy?, even after all the hard work I went through he managed to defeat me a son of a noble family and how the heck! Is he a fisrt stage Knight.'