Both competitors packed away their Magic Guide Cards and stepped down from the stage, each returning to their own side.
Robert greeted Virt with a look that all but said, I told you you wouldn't last a round — sympathy laced with smugness.
Dark, for his part, simply walked back to his seat as though nothing remarkable had happened.
The dueling assessment continued.
Technically, once a student had completed this round, they were free to leave the arena — but naturally, no one did.
Only when the sky outside had darkened did the two consecutive rounds of dueling assessments finally come to an end.
Professor Jones offered the first-years a fair measure of praise for their performance, then dismissed the class.
"Finally over!"
"Wonder how many points we'll get for this one."
"Can't be too low — we worked hard enough."
"True. At least none of us got wiped out in a single round."
"Hey, isn't the Academy Cup dueling tournament tomorrow morning? I kind of want to watch."
"But the weekend ends and then it's the written finals!"
"Ha, so which matters more — exams or dueling?"
"Obviously... the exams!"
Students always sounded so rational when discussing things seriously, but the moment the actual event arrived, sentiment took over completely.
St. Marian's Academy Cup was a famously popular event, tickets for it nearly impossible to come by.
Every year, the Academy Cup dueling tournament drew countless spectators.
And every time it rolled around, ticket prices at the venue shot up to absurd heights.
Fortunately, students' parents held a special privilege: simply by verifying their identity, they could claim free tickets from the branch hall in their region. The tickets couldn't be transferred, but they were a convenience for parents — and hardly any parent wanted to sell theirs anyway.
In an age when the status of Magic Guide Masters rose by the day, any family whose child was admitted into St. Marian's Academy would soon find itself prosperous, even if it hadn't been before.
…
After leaving Battle Hall No. 1, the trio of Dark, Diana, and Rose headed to Traveler Street, reserved a table at the Waltz Music Restaurant, and held a small celebration for the end of the practical assessments.
There had been four practical assessments in total, and all three of them had scored above the passing line.
Professor Thompson's Potions and Professor Kazel's Magic Guide Theory practicals had both been set at a fairly high difficulty, and Rose and Diana hadn't performed as well as they might have — but while they fell short of the top performers, they easily outshone the bottom of the pack, and passing shouldn't be much of an issue.
As for the six written theory exams running from Monday to Wednesday, the hardest of them — Arithmetic Class — happened to be their strong suit, and the remaining five would be manageable with a bit of diligent review.
So there was no harm in taking in the weekend's inter-house dueling tournament.
The three of them chatted happily over their meal at the Waltz Music Restaurant, all looking forward to tomorrow's matches with real anticipation.
Dark especially — today's dueling assessment had whetted his appetite without satisfying it in the slightest. Neither Justin nor Virt had come anywhere close to giving him a real challenge.
"Second year, second year would be so much better!"
Once in second year, most of the restrictions on activities within the Academy would fall away, opening up plenty of stages to compete against upperclassmen.
Only then would the richer side of Academy life truly begin to show itself.
As Dark daydreamed about the future, he found himself watching the two girls eat.
Diana's appetite was as hearty as ever — she dug in without the slightest reservation, every so often poking out her small pink tongue to lick the grease from her lips.
Rose, by comparison, was more restrained, though whenever something she loved appeared in front of her, she couldn't quite hide her longing.
Still, young as she was, she already seemed conscious of keeping her figure, and forced herself to hold back from eating too freely.
Dark thought he glimpsed a bit of himself in her, and couldn't help a small, knowing smile.
Rose noticed his gaze and reflexively blushed, touching her cheek to check for any stray crumbs. Finding none, she looked utterly puzzled.
Dark quickly bent his head and busied himself pushing food around his plate, hoping to avoid being mistaken for some kind of pervert.
…
The next morning, Saturday.
Dark had arranged to meet the two girls in the common room, and together they headed for the Open-air Dueling Arena.
As expected, the ring-shaped strip of seating around the arena was packed solid with people — it looked as though every student, upper- and lowerclassman alike, had turned out for the occasion.
And naturally, the first-years were no exception!
Every single first-year who'd claimed they needed to hurry back and review had, without fail, shown up in the ring-shaped strip's audience seating.
Noble House, Knight House, Magic House, and Fool's House — the ring-shaped strip was divided into four sections, one for each house.
Each section had banners strung up and flags planted, everyone gearing up to cheer for their own house.
Dark arrived somewhat late, and he, Diana, and Rose made their way toward the Noble House section, only to find that all the first-years had ended up seated in the back rows.
Doron was the first to spot him, jumping to his feet and waving him over.
"Hey, Dark! I thought you weren't coming!"
"Why wouldn't I come?"
Dark laughed and sat down behind Doron.
The whole row was empty, perfectly fitting the three of them.
"So how's it looking, Doron? What time does it start?" Diana asked, leaning over the back of the seat in front of her with an air of playful curiosity.
Doron glanced at her and said, "Eight o'clock, obviously. This match is really important for us — it decides who gets the Academy Cup. Whether we get a wish, it all comes down to the upperclassmen!"
Diana nodded eagerly. "Ooh, ooh, ooh!"
Doron's eyes suddenly lit up with mischief, and he pulled out a stick-shaped object from under his seat, waving it at the three of them. "Look, what's this?"
Dark played along. "What is it?"
Doron declared immediately, "It's a firework stick! When a Noble House upperclassman wins, I give it a twist, and then... boom!"
He flung his hand open with a burst of excitement as he said it.
Dark couldn't help but laugh along.
…
Eight o'clock sharp...
The chime from the Spiral Clock Tower rolled out and echoed across the grounds.
Beyond the ring-shaped strip, the outer audience seating suddenly rippled like waves across space, and one after another, projected spectators from various branch halls across the world began appearing in the seats.
St. Marian's Academy Cup dueling tournament was, in essence, a stage for showcasing the Academy's students to the outside world.
St. Marian's reputation was upheld, match after match, through events exactly like this one.
And among those who came specifically to watch weren't just students' parents and ordinary spectators, but all manner of notable figures from various industries.
St. Marian's Academy was the largest producer of Magic Guide Masters in the world, and the Magic Guide Masters who graduated from here each year went on to lead trends across the field.
The students chosen to represent each house in the tournament were, without exception, the best of their year — if not the top student, then very likely the second.
The four students representing the sixth-years in particular were absolutely worth watching closely.
One could say that tracking their movements was as good as tracking the direction the era itself was heading.
So this year's Academy Cup tournament was, unsurprisingly, an unprecedented spectacle.
Naturally, the personal fan followings of individual students were countless as well.
The instant the spatial connections locked into place, the crowd erupted into thunderous cheering.
The supporters of each student were sharply divided into distinct camps.
Particularly eye-catching was a block of spectators holding aloft banners bearing a silver dragon.
Because the "Silver Dragon Maiden" was, without a doubt, set to represent Magic House's fourth-years in this match!
…
"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to St. Marian's Dueling Hall!"
Once again presiding as host, Judy appeared center stage amid a flicker of glowing light and a flutter of falling petals.
Today, Senior Judy wore a fitted, tailored magic robe, her light brown curls pinned up high to reveal her slender neck, giving her an air even more mature and striking than usual.
Before the competitors made their entrance, she was, without question, the most dazzling presence in the arena.
Among the crowd were evidently some diehard fans of Senior Judy, and the wave of sound that erupted for her in that moment actually drowned out everything else in the arena.
…
On the ring-shaped strip...
Watching Senior Judy shine brilliantly on stage, Dark couldn't help but ask, "Come to think of it, what's Senior Judy's real name, anyway?"
He'd meant to ask Doron in front of him, but it was Diana beside him who blinked sharply and said, "Dark, Senior Judy is so pretty!"
Dark nodded. "She really is. But give it a few years, and Diana, you'll definitely be prettier than her."
Diana giggled. "Hehe."
Dark turned the question over again. "But which house is Senior Judy from, anyway? And what year? Now that I think about it, she's never actually said."
"Hmm..." Diana said, "Well, she's definitely not from Noble House!"
"True," Dark nodded. "If she were from Noble House, we'd surely know her."
Rose chimed in curiously as well. "Come to think of it, I've never actually heard anyone say her full name. Which house is she really from?"
The three of them exchanged glances, suddenly realizing they'd stumbled onto a genuine mystery.
Solving this mystery wouldn't actually be that hard.
But sometimes, leaving a mystery unsolved has its own kind of beauty.
"Duang!"
A sudden burst of music from the stage yanked Dark's attention back once more.
An orchestra materialized out of thin air and struck up, with absolute force, the famous "Haska at the Moment of Passing."
The atmosphere of the entire arena shifted at once into something formal and official.
Then, guided by Senior Judy, twenty competitors — from five grade levels and four houses — filed onto the stage from behind the curtain.
Since they were representing their houses, every competitor wore their formal school uniform, complete with house crest and dueling badge.
But beyond that, each of them had clearly received some light styling for the occasion — makeup, hair, the works.
The girls looked exquisite, painting-perfect; the boys looked dashing and heroic.
The twenty competitors lined up in five groups of five, standing from left to right.
Senior Judy then gave a brief introduction for each competitor in turn.
Dark listened closely and found, to his interest, a few familiar faces among them.
First was Pandora Dragon of Magic House.
As one of St. Marian's most prominent rising stars, Senior Pandora represented Magic House as the presumptive top student of the fourth-years.
Next came Winnie Skadi, also of Magic House.
This was the senior who had been unexpectedly eliminated at the Easter Dueling Festival by her fellow third-year Tom Nixon — and here she was again, back on the dueling stage.
But her expression this time was clearly different. She meant business.
Fool's House's third-year representative, however, was not Tom Nixon.
Nor was Noble House's second-year representative the familiar pair Dark expected — Elsie Kevin and Ma Li Bond.
Knight House's fifth-year representative, on the other hand, was still that same "Dark Night Baron," Noah Sharp.
But Fool's House's fifth-year representative was not "Dragon-Slaying Warrior" Luke Bechi.
Dark watched the unfamiliar upperclassmen with curiosity, and then suddenly noticed that Senior Pandora's gaze had already locked onto him.
He couldn't help smiling, raising a hand and waving vigorously.
Diana and Rose exchanged a glance, then just as vigorously raised their own hands and cheered along with the crowd, calling out support for Senior Pandora.
Doron then whirled around, baffled. "Why are you two cheering for Magic House? They're our mortal enemy this year!"
This year, if Noble House wanted to claim the Academy Cup, Magic House stood as the biggest obstacle in their path.
Naturally, Doron had no love for them.
"That's where you don't understand," Diana said, lowering her hand and speaking with the tone of a weathered old sage. "We're on good terms with Senior Pandora. If she wins, we're happy. If she loses, we're happy. It's a win-win either way."
Rose covered her mouth, laughing. "Sounds more like the secret to a permanently good mood."
Doron decided women were simply beyond understanding, and turned back around with a scowl.
Dark, for his part, could barely hold back a snicker.
…
The Academy Cup dueling tournament, commonly called the Academy Cup, officially kicked off around nine o'clock.
Under the standard format, the five competitors from each house formed a group, and each group would duel each of the other three groups once. The winner of each individual duel earned their house ten thousand temporary points.
There were six rounds of inter-group dueling in total, with five matches per round.
After those six rounds concluded, the cross-tier challenge round would begin.
In this phase, competitors could freely choose to challenge an upperclassman from another house, so long as that opponent was from a higher year than themselves.
Winners earned ten thousand base points as usual, plus an additional cross-tier challenge bonus — an extra ten thousand points for every year level crossed.
By the end of the tournament, whichever house had accumulated the most points overall would receive a bonus reward of one hundred thousand points.
All these points would then be tallied into the overall calculation determining which house won the Academy Cup.
…
Once the introductions concluded and the competitors filed off the stage, Senior Judy activated a Magic Guide Card, summoning forth the symbols of the four houses — a crown, a jousting lance, a spellbook, and the "Fool" tarot card.
She arranged the four symbols in a circle, then spun the pointer positioned at the center.
Two spins later, the pointer had landed on the crown and the spellbook.
Which meant the first match of this year's Academy Cup would be Noble House versus Magic House!
The two houses currently holding the highest point totals were about to collide head-on in the very first match, and the atmosphere surged instantly.
Between the students of Noble House and Magic House, the tension crackled like lightning about to strike.
Both sides' cheerleading captains thrust their banners high, roaring encouragement with soaring morale, launching their own contest in the stands.
And on the stage, the competitors of the two houses stepped forward, one after another, to begin the match.
____
Gift for Everyone: Once we hit 50 Powerstones, I'll release +1 bonus chapter
________________________________________
If you want more chapters, please consider supporting my page on (P). with 50 advanced chapters available on (P)
👻 Join the crew by searching Leanzin on (P). You know the spot! 😉