Chapter 305: Meeting of The Battle Junkies

With my match as Feyt wrapped up, the arena was already being cleared and prepped for the next bout. That meant my next match as Carine was up in mere minutes.

No time to rest. I began making my way out of the eastern prep room as Feyt, planning to head upstairs to the stands, while simultaneously descending the flight of stairs toward the participant tunnel as Carine.

But then, on the way there, I spotted someone leaning against one of the stone pillars at the end of the corridor near the stairs. She was crossing her arms, humming lightly, as her short black hair, blocking one eye, bobbed about.

“M-Marina?!” I blurted out as Feyt, while Carine’s heels instinctively slowed their pace.

Dammit, I need to get out of he—

Marina snapped her head in my direction, and a sharp grin appeared across her face as she pushed off the wall and offered a wave.

“Heyyyy! Feyt! There you are!” she called out loudly, as if we were buildings apart.

I’m doomed.

She sauntered over, almost menacingly, with a hand on her hip. As she stopped directly in front of Feyt, she towered over me ever so slightly.

“Congrats on the win! Real nice showing out there,” she said with a proud smile. “Good to know you winning against me earlier wasn’t just some dumb luck, huh?”

“Uhh… t-thanks?” I replied as Feyt, instinctively leaning back.

Why is she suddenly so friendly?!

And why is she waiting for me?!

“You looked cool out there, you know?” she continued, taking a step closer, leaning in. “Looked a little bored, maybe? But you handled him like he was nothing! That was awesome!” she said, not bothering to lower her volume in the slightest.

Knowing what she was capable of, her “compliment” sounded more like empty praise. I wasn’t sure how to feel about that.

“Oh yeah, I was thinking! We should head out to eat together again sometime, maybe even now! There are still plenty of stalls for us to try, right?”

And risk hearing another gory story?

No, thank you!

Despite Marina pestering me at the arena entrance, I was running out of time as Carine and decided to just brave it and continue down the stairs.

As soon as I set foot on the ground floor, Marina turned her head, her eyes snapping onto Carine’s.

I was about to offer a proper greeting, since the situation looked like Feyt was talking to a friend, or perhaps being bullied, but the former sounded less awkward to confront.

But before I could even say a word, Marina looked me up and down as if sizing me up, then her cheerful smile rapidly curled into a scoffing smirk.

She turned back to Feyt, reached out, giving Feyt’s shoulder a heavy pat that almost drove me through the ground.

“Well, looks like my time’s up,” Marina said with a mischievous wink. “I’ll see you real soon, Feyt. I’ll be waiting for your answer!”

…Answer to what?

Without wasting a single moment, she turned on her heels and strutted past both of me toward the exit gates, whistling a tune as she vanished into the sunlight outside.

…What the hell was that about?

—

As Feyt, I was sitting on the other side of the spectator stand to Lionne and Eve, amongst my mates from class A, the few who managed to get or afford a seat, anyway. Normally I would’ve wanted to rest in my dorm, but my paranoia hadn’t slipped away, it seemed.

I would’ve loved having Ricent around to see how he would react to the fights in the arena. Or even mine. But apparently, even though all students were given a week's break for the sake of the tournament, contestant or not, mage students were an exception.

If they weren’t holed up in the library or the various empty classrooms, I was sure both Ricent and Mirabelle would’ve loved being here.

As soon as I made myself comfortable as Feyt, I opened the door to the western prep room as Carine.

Waiting inside was Olivia. The moment the door swung open, she snapped her back straight as she turned to me.

“L-Lady Carine! Welcome back!” she greeted, though her voice lacked its usual steady gentleness.

Her cheeks were flushed, her collar was slightly messy, and she looked rather frantic.

“Good to see you again, Olivia,” I replied calmly. I walked inside and closed the door behind me. “Are you all right? You seem rather… disheveled.”

“A-Ah, it’s that obvious, huh?” Olivia said meekly, immediately reaching up to smooth down her hair and straighten her cuffs.

She let out an exasperated sigh. “I’m sorry, Lady Carine. It’s just… after sending off the previous contestants, several academy officials and even some of the student council members marched in here completely unannounced! They turned the entire room inside out, went through the weapon racks, and searched me up and down for something!”

She pressed a hand to her chest, still catching her breath.

“They didn’t even tell me why! Did something happen outside? As a volunteer, I wasn’t allowed out of the prep room…”

Well, that was thorough of Director Aella. Looks like she had ordered an immediate sweep of every prep area the second I left the office.

“Something did happen, yes,” I said casually, taking a step toward the bench. “The volunteer in the eastern prep room attempted to drug one of the contestants.”

Olivia’s jaw dropped open. “D-Drugged…?! A volunteer?! You don’t mean—!”

She blinked rapidly before gasping, her eyes widening in utter terror. She shot her hands forward and began waving them frantically.

“I-I swear, Lady Carine, I had nothing to do with it! I didn't know anything! I was fully cleared by the officials! I would never, ever do something so vile to you or anyone else, I promise on House Rendaheim’s name—!”

Jumping to conclusions a bit fast, ain’t you?

“Olivia.” I raised a hand, cutting her stuttering panic short. “It’s fine. I know you’re clean. I did say earlier that I would rely on you for my next match, didn’t I?”

Olivia froze. She stared at me for a second, her lips slightly parted, before a visible wave of relief washed over her entire body. Her shoulders dropped, and she let out a long, shuddering sigh of relief.

“Y-Yes… yes, of course,” she murmured, instantly snapping straight. “I won’t let you down, Lady Carine! Please leave the preparations to me!”

Wasting no more time, she turned on her heel and sprinted toward the gear racks as I sat down calmly on the bench.

I promised myself I wouldn’t think about Nicholas or any scandals, just so I could focus on the thing in front of me.

Attila.

I was sure she was preparing herself in the eastern prep room. They should’ve sent a replacement to help the contestants with preparations there by now, so I was sure she was eager to fight me as much as I was eager to fight her.

As soon as Olivia returned with my gear, we quickly began gearing Carine up, and before long, I was standing before the gate, waiting for it to open.

“Good luck, Lady Carine!”

I turned my head and offered a thankful nod before returning my focus to the gate.

Slowly but surely, it began to rise.

I stepped onto the sands as Carine with my sword in hand. Across the other side of the ring, emerging from the eastern gate, was Attila.

She was already rolling her shoulders, tilting her head as she cracked her neck. I knew that since I could actually hear the crack through Feyt’s ears. Her wooden sword was held firm in her hand, while her lips were stretched into a sharp, confident smirk.

If I didn’t know her personally, I would’ve assumed she was walking out here to cave my skull in. At the very least, I was assured to know she didn’t seem to be thinking of holding back on me.

I kept my walking pace steady as Carine, approaching my position while dissecting her every move.

Back then, during our first few spars, she had been a fierce fighter who had pure, heavy strength behind her every swing, on top of polished swordsmanship thanks to her Talent. But she relied entirely on overpowering her opponent with her strength, leaving herself wide open to counters whenever she overcommitted or missed.

Yet, with every spar we shared after that, she had been slowly polishing those rough edges. She improved her recovery, masked her openings, and learned how to keep her footing balanced even after she missed or overcommitted.

And then came yesterday’s fight against Kyro.

In their match, Kyro disarmed her in the second round, but instead of doing the same thing again, she adapted Kyro’s tactics for herself and turned his momentum against him to execute a throw for the history books. Seeing her lift a fellow student nearly twice her size… it was a scene that wouldn’t be easily forgotten, safe to say.

It was a real shame I had missed her last match earlier today while trying to find the mastermind. But one thing was crystal clear: I couldn't afford to treat Attila the same way I treated her during our earlier spars.

We both came to a halt a few paces apart, and slowly took our stances.

“Man, I’ve been waiting for this since yesterday!” she said with unrestrained excitement, like a kid about to open a birthday gift. “You better give me everything you’ve got, Lady Carine! I won’t be holding back!”

“Hmph,” I let out a playful scoff. “The feeling’s mutual. Give me your best, Attila.”