I tiptoed forward, keeping my eyes peeled and my ears pricked as I searched for any signs of Forest Willow's location.

  Our initial exge had turned into a silent stalemate as I moved slowly through the trees. The arena wasn't too big, all things sidered, and I had a small advantage because I was pletely invisible, while she couldn't bee pletely invisible herself.

  She was also likely much better at marksmanship than I was at magic. I had a few advantages in terms of power and raw magical potential, but her ability to move ued, use of the terrain, and physical advantages put me at an overall disadvantage. She had a much bigger advantage on the initiative too, given how I had seen her arrows smash through barriers, shatter trees, and explode into spears and thorny brambles in her opening move.

  I had to py it smart, or I would be in for a very, very bad day.

  I'd already seen that her arrows were strong enough to pierce my barriers. They would only buy me a sed or two of safety, and then I would be done.

  The dead silence was a bit unnerving, and I took care to not use of my magic to try and flush her out.

  If she was hiding in the shadows, the st thing I needed was to reveal my position. And, if I used magic, she might just fire on my general location with another volley of magic arrows.

  But the question was, where could she be? I was certain she had moved into the trees lining the outer circle of the arena. There weren't a whole lot of hiding pces outside of them.

  There was a loud rustling in the leaves nearby. I jolted, looking upwards.

  Nothing.

  I couldn't see anything from my position on the ground. Just more trees and bushes and leaves.

  I felt a shiver go down my spine as I remembered the feeling of something whistling past my head, just a hair away from hittihe trees she'd hit had been ripped to pieces in that opening barrage.

  What could she possibly be doing?

  I stayed still, trying to avoid making any noise.

  My best option robably to create a mirage to bait her out, but she knew I was capable of making illusions.

  Wouldn't that just make it more obvious that it wasn't real? I did have a range limit, and she'd likely fire wide-area attacks in my general dire.

  Was that a risk I was willing to take?

  I looked up to the trees arourying to think of the best pce for a sniper .

  Nothing. She could be up on the branches or down in the foliage and bushes for all I knew. She could even be somewhere else entirely, and that movement I'd heard could have been her using an arrow to draw my attention to a specific location.

  My only option was to flush her out somehow. If I didn't, I'd just be wandering aimlessly through the sixty or seventy odd trees Strike had created until time ran out or she took me out. her of which would reflect well on me.

  I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, fog my magito an illusion spell. I didn't have anything to lose. At least this way I could draw her attention to me without revealing my exact position.

  I exhaled slowly, visualizing what I wanted.

  "Luminary Mirage."

  The glowing outline of my avatar shimmered ience about 10 yards to my side, floating a few inches off the ground.

  I kept my eyes closed, setting it to run through the treeline away from me. I couldn't hear it making any sound, but I could see it running with my mind's eye.

  She was nearby.

  I heard the faint sound of a b being pulled taut, and opened my eyes. A series of thwipping sounds echoed through the arena as a flurry of green glowing arrows shot out from a dech of foliage irees.

  There she is.

  The arrows flew in a tight cluster, arg upwards through the air before falling down harmlessly onto my mirage. I moved quietly at an angle as her footsteps quickly came my way to get a better angle on the decoy.

  She was fast.

  I had to be careful. If she saw me or realized my position, she would easily take me out.

  The forest floor was littered with leaves, and she was sure to notice them if they were disturbed, even by a small amount.

  I waited patiently for her to get closer. I couldn't see her, but I heard her footsteps. She was ing closer and closer to my position. She robably about fifteen or twenty feet from me.

  I heard her exhale as she jumped directly above me onto the branch of a tree.

  Her footsteps nded lightly on the branch above me, and I saw the faint outline of her green tunic peeking through the foliage as she he leaves rustled as she adjusted herself and leaned over, looking down to check the status of her quarry.

  The mirage was standing there motionless, and I was still croug in a nearby patch of tallgrass and flowers. She had probably assumed I'd moved out into the field when the decoy went through the trees.

  She let out an annoyed huff and jumped off the branding silently on the grass.

  "Man, this matchup bites..."

  I didn't make a sound, staying pletely still. She didn't look in my dire.

  "I guess we could have had a different approach, huh?" Willow said.

  There ause.

  She looked down at the leaves, kig them away and revealing the soft dirt and my footprints underh.

  "What the..."

  She immediately looked up and dove forward to the side as I summoned my staff and raised it in the air.

  "Verdant Art:"

  Her eyes widened as her gaze met mine, her bow ing up to aim at me.

  I'd already fihe spell.

  "Entangling Grasp!"

  Thick roots and vied from the grouh me, ing around her ankles and legs and holding her fast.

  Willow struggled against her bonds, and her hands glowed green.

  "Verdant A—" she started.

  I dashed up to her, hands aglow with golden light as I held it up to her tunic point-bnk.

  She stopped, her eyes going wide and she dropped her bow, putting her hands up in a gesture of defeat. "W-Wait. Don't bst me! I yield!"

  I lowered my hand and the spell dissipated.

  "I won't." I said, smiling sheepishly.

  She let out a breath of relief. "Thank goodness." she said. She looked down at her legs. "Um. Could you... help me out?"

  "Oops!" I yelped. I'd almost fotten. "Right."

  I released my grip on her with a snap of my fingers. She slumped to the ground, letting out a relieved sigh.

  "You got me." She said.

  "Time!"

  I blinked as the forest and the night sky faded away and we found ourselves iraining field with the others.

  "Hey! We're back." Willow said, grinning.

  "Yeah, looks like it. Thanks for the spar, by the way. That was... tense."

  "That was uff. It felt like that was iable, though. With the invisibility and stuff."

  "Holy? It was dumb luck. I had no idea what you were going to do , and I just got lucky."

  I ughed.

  A ether suddenly formed between me and a udent, and my eyes shot over beyond the now-missing barrier. An all-too familiar catgirl was lio me, waiting at the ter of the training field. Strawberry perked up and practically jumped and waved at me when she saw the e form between us.

  I waved bad gave her a thumbs up.

  She grinned and pumped her fist. "Heck yeah!"

  "Looks like yoi. I'd say good luck, but... well, you'll ." I beamed.

  She snickered. "Yeah, she's a tough cookie. But hey, you beat me fair and square before. I'll root for ya whoever you're up against!"

  Forest Willow frowned. "Wait, I lost. Why's it rotating you out?" she asked.

  "ht." Strawberry looked at me. "I saw Lux use her weird root thing, right? That's gotta cost an absolute tank in mana."

  "Yeah.... that's like a third of my pool." I admitted, "I don't know what would have happened if Willow didn't cede the round."

  Forest Willow patted me on the shoulder and gave me a sympathetic look.

  "Oof. Sorry. Well, I'm gd yoing to get some rest."

  I smiled weakly and nodded, walking off towards the bleachers where Instructor Strike and a bunch of other cadets were gathered. They'd set up a small refreshment area, plete with drinks, sandwiches and a rge assortment of fruits and desserts.

  "Where'd these e from?" I asked as I walked up to the refreshments table.

  "They were here when I got here." S Dream said, taking a sip from her soda.

  "HAHAHAHA!" Strike bellowed from his seat o a young girl. "I AM IRELY UNCULTURED! THE SODA AND FOOD WAS MY IDEA! SIDER IT A GESTURE OF MY GRATITUDE FOR ALL OF YOU TAKING YOUR TIME TO BE MY DEDICATED PUPILS."

  The girl sittio him gave me a weak smile and mouthed the word 'sorry', which was almost inaudible over Strike's loud voice. The massive, muscle-bound teacher had a bucket of pop that looked bigger than my torso and was wearing sungsses with an oversized soda cup in his p. His spandex-cd body radiated a fiery golden light. He ractically a sun. Even from where I was standing, I could feel the heat radiating off him.

  Strike g me, grinning.

  "Excellent work, Miss Harmonia Lux! A prolonged e between twed fighters that rely oh, traps and illusions was quite the sight to behold! Though your final spell did have the makings of an all-or-nothing gamble that might have backfired."

  I rubbed my head sheepishly.

  "Holy it was a lucky opening, and I was a bit nervous she'd shoot me from the bushes."

  "Ihat is something you should be mindful of for future es." Strike said, smiling. "It is unfortunate for Miss Willow, but sometimes we're caught in es that boil down to a battle of opportunity, skill, and a touch of luck. I would advise that you both work to overe that limitation, as you'll likely enter many other ehat will try to use the same tricks that you attempted on each other today."

  I nodded. He had a good point.

  "Hey," the girl o him beed me over. She was wearing a blue, flowing dress remi of a ballerina and her hair was styled into twin tails that were as long as her height. "Don't worry. It was still really impressive! You both had me on the edge of my seat."

  She was familiar...

  "Aucir was it?" I asked.

  She shook her head and giggled. "Aucir is my teammate. My name is Azraq. Ballerina of the Blue Danube."

  "Sorry," I smiled sheepishly.

  "Hey! No problem," she smiled warmly and shook her head as she gnced over at the training fields. "I get it all the time. I've gotteo it by now. And your match was really riveting, for the record."

  Azraq was a member of the Knights off Summer Melody, a team that Eris had practically steamrolled when she'd prahe campus on her first day. I looked over across the field, and spotted all three other members of her team setting up in the arenas.

  Ten arenas were lined up across a row, each about half the size of a football field, and the rest of the cadets, the ones not participating this round, were gathered in bleachers lined up about twenty to thirty yards away. There were monitors in front of the bleachers showing close-up images of each arena as the partits squared off against each other.

  "Hey, there's Cw Strawberry." Azraq said, pointing at a monitor that had Cw Strawberry's farged on the dispy. She had a goofy catlike smile on her face as she squared up against an unfamiliar magical girl with bd pink hair and a gothic dress.

  There were so many people here. Both familiar and unfamiliar faces that I hadn't met before, all gathered here in one spot. I hadn't even gotten the ce to introduce myself to them all yet, much less talk to them.

  "Lux?" a soft, melodic voice said from behind.

  I turo see a famiiliar angelic girl with blonde hair beaming at me with a tray of food in hand. A girl in hi-tech e armor followed her, approag me with a smile.

  "Hey Aurora. S Dream." I greeted them, waving at them both.

  "How are you doing, Lux?!" S Dream excimed, giving me a wide grin as she stepped up. "Nice job, I was rooting for you."

  The two of them walked up and joined me iands. "Mind if we hang with you?" S Dream asked. "It gets kinda lonely when everyone else is sparring."

  "Of course! I'd love the pany."

  "Thanks," S Dream said, giving a cheeky wink.

  S Dream plopped dowo me unceremoniously. "Whew, I'm beat."

  Aurora had a rge pte full of finger sandwiches and wings, and a bowl with three small sports drink bottles iher. "Sandwich? I've got chi and some kind of beef, and a veggie . Oh! I also grabbed some of those protein shake things!"

  "Oh, thank you." I said, taking one of the chi ones.

  Where the hell did all this food e from? Did the faculty have this catered?

  I guess I couldn't pin.

  Even though I'd go of the way to eat more than usual, I was starving, and the sandwiches looked and smelled amazing.

  "You guys both get to spar?" I asked.

  S Dream shook her head, a frown on her face.

  "Yup." she sighed, taking a sandwich off Aurora's pte and popping it in her mouth, chewing. "Got my ass hao me."

  She poi one of the monitors, where a familiar winged redhead with spiky hair stood with her arms crossed and her maul at her side. She looked bored.

  "Raging Sparrow?" I asked. S Dream nodded. "Oof."

  She sighed. "Yeah. I couldn't even nd a hit on her. She's way faster than she looks."

  I could believe that. Raging Sparrow frankly terrified me with the way she handled herself during Tesseract's training exercise. She was like a force of nature when she fought, and her raw strength alone was enough to send chills down my spine.

  "Sorry to hear that." I said. "I'm sure you'll get 'em round. What about you, Aurora?"

  "I haven't go," she admitted. "I don't think I'm up to it, holy."

  "I'm sure you'd do great," S Dream said.

  Aurora blushed, looking away.

  "Thank you, but... I only started trainily. I don't like fighting or hurting people, but..." she looked up, a determined glint in her eye. "I don't know. I guess I feel a bit obligated because I got in. It doesn't feel right to quit." She paused and gave us a sheepish look. "Sorry, that probably sounds a bit silly, huh?"

  I shook my head. "No. I uand. You want to give your all and dht by those who've helped you. That's... a lot of pressure, and that takes ce."

  She nodded, giving me a relieved look.

  S Dream smiled and nudged Aurora pyfully with her elbow. "Hey, Aurora here's pag heat. And her aim's gettier too. She's been practig at the rah a bunch of different ons." S Dream leaned iving us both a mischievous smile.

  "What?!" Aurora blushed furiously and smacked S Dream's arm.

  "Oh?" I looked over, staring at her curiously.

  "M-My dad put me through firearm safety training when I was eight. And took me out skeet shooting a few times. I'm a fast learner, and the academy has all this fancy tech that makes it easy to practice..."

  S Dream nodded, giving me a knowing grin. "See?"

  Aurora huffed and turned aouting as her cheeks reddened.

  The sight of a petite, soft-hearted blonde angel pulling out a pistol on Sanguine Sorceror was a sight I wouldn't fet anytime soon.

  "Repent, motherfucker?" I teased, winking at her as I made a finger gun and a shooting motion. Her face turned a shade of red deeper than a beetroot as she let out an embarrassed squeak and hid her face behind her hands.

  I couldn't help but ugh, and after a moment's hesitation, Aurora joined in.

  I looked over at her and gave her an encing smile.

  "You've got guts. That's more than half the battle right there." S Dream nodded, grinning as well. "And it doesn't sound silly at all. It's a very admirable attitude, I think. Most of us fight as a st resort. You don't necessarily have to fight once you're in the field, but the fact that you want to learn to defend yourself and others is endable."

  Aurora sighed. "Thank you, both."

  "Woah. Who's that?" Azraq suddenly excimed, pointing at the ss.

  A girl with a gait slowly walked across an arena. She looked like a noblewoman — dressed in a silver gown that looked more appropriate for a royal court or a fancy dinner party. Her dress had a high colr and long, flowing skirts with a white corset over the bodice. Her long, flowing ptinum blonde hair shimmered and glistened as she moved, and the way her hips swayed was almost mesmerizing.

  She was beautiful — like a work of art. A real life fairy princess. Even from here I could see her soft, amber browhat seemed to shine in trast to the pierg red gaze of the irl.

  "That's er. That's Elysia Veritas," I said.

  "Wow," Azraq whistled. "I've heard the stories already, but this is something else. She's geous."

  "Isn't she like a legend among us first-years? Like she ran through half the css alone."

  One of her teammates, the girl in the red musketeer's coat walked over, drink in hand.

  "Dunno Verne. Vanna's at sounded far fetched to me."

  "Ehh, it's probably just rumors. Vanna exaggerates a lot."

  The rest of her team moved to join her oher side of our se of bleachers.

  "Shit's about to go down, though," an unfamiliar boy in a yellow jumpsuit sitting behind Azraq chimed. "She's fag off against Sparrow."

  A sudde in the air made itself apparent.

  I could practically taste the electricity, and I gnced back at Strike, who had stood up to get a better view, pop in hand. He looked serious.

  "Oh? What have we here? This might turn into something special..." He said, smiling as he sat down. The entire bench creaked and shook from his weight, and the whole group shifted forward. "I have high expectations for this one. Let's hear what they're saying!"

  Raging Sparrow smirked as Elysia ehe arena, her eyes gleaming with excitement.

  "I'm not going to hold ba you, little princess," she called. "What a fortunate day!"

  Elysia curtsied. "Of course. It would be an insult to your pride, Raging Sparrow." Elysia replied in a calm, collected manner, a hint of a smile pying on her lips.

  Raging Sparrow chuckled, twirling her maul around in a circle.

  "Ooo. Such elegance, such grace. It's a pity. You would be a great dancer."

  "Your pliments are appreciated."

  The baded passive aggressive bahey were spewing had me on the edge of my seat. They were practically dang around each other already, sizing each other up.

  They took their stances, fag each other with a look of respe each other's eyes. A silent uanding that this was not a simple spar. Almost everyone had taken their attention off the other monitors.

  Strike grinned, his massive, pearly-white teeth glistening in the light of the arena's artificial lights.

  "Now... BEGIN!"

  There was a long, drawn out pause as timers fshed across the monitors and ticked down.

  4:59...

  4:58...

  Then, without warning, the two batants moved in a fsh.