Just the fact that every academy student—aside from the top ten—was forced into the competition under the guise of "better evaluation grades" already proved what kind of farce this was.
Maybe the academy was trying to look considerate, to balance things out for the foreign schools who had come all this way.
But it was obvious, painfully so, that the setup was designed to restrain Lumen Academy's own students.
Their opponents were all the top-ranked elites of their respective academies.
Which meant, in the end, the lower-ranked students from Lumen were nothing more than props—stepping stones to make the foreign students shine brighter.
Seo didn't feel pressured.
She didn't feel nervous.
She didn't even particularly care about the setup.
But… she couldn't deny the weight she carried now.
The eyes of her team.
Their shaky confidence. The way they clung to her sword arm like it was their last hope.
Even she felt a little restrained by it all.
'What would Riley do here…?'
