"MOVE!!!"

The loud shout broke through the stadium, shattering the tense silence just as Professor Helene’s hand started to drop.

Every head in the crowd turned toward the source of the noise. Thousands of eyes moved away from the arena and locked onto the main entrance balcony.

Running through the crowd, pushing past surprised students to get to the front railings, was a tall elf. His silver hair flew wild as he jumped down steps two at a time, entirely unbothered by the hundreds of furious glares he was drawing.

Princess Cordelia and Julia hurried into the light of the stadium. Both of their faces were bright red, burning with pure embarrassment as they tried to pretend they didn’t know the lunatic shouting at the top of his lungs.

...And walking right behind the two girls was a white-haired boy.

Leo was currently massaging his temples, silently cursing the damn elf with every breath he took. He had wanted a quiet entrance to observe the match from the shadows, Roan had just put a big target on their backs.

The focus of the entire arena shifted. Even down in the ring, Arthur’s golden eyes drifted toward the commotion, tracking the white-haired figure like everyone else.

Leo? Arthur thought, his grip tightening on his sword. Of course he would be here. In fact... I wanted him to be.

Feeling the weight of all the eyes on him, Leo looked down from the upper seats toward the ring. Arthur saw the gaze shift, thinking for a second that the white-haired boy was looking at him.

But Leo was not looking at the hero. His eyes had gone past Arthur, locking onto the black hair girl standing across from him.

Seris turned her head slightly, her crimson eyes rising to meet Leo’s.

For a long, quiet second, the two of them simply stared at one another across the vast distance of the stadium, their expressions completely unreadable.

The heavy tension between them was easy to feel, and the students around them quickly noticed it. Anyone who had heard about the recent tournament knew the rumors about the stabbing incident during the Gate.

Seris was the first to break the contact, quietly shifting her gaze back to the floor. Up in the stands, Leo’s lip twitched barely a fraction before he looked away. Is she mad? Damn it, how would I ever know if a woman like her is mad or not? he grumbled internally.

Her face was blank, as always. He couldn’t tell if she was annoyed, or just tired. But before Leo could think more, a loud voice echoed across the entire section.

"Hey! Will you stop staring at your girlfriend?! You can stare at her from up here! Now get your ass over here and sit down with me!" Roan yelled, waving his arms like a madman from the front row seats he had just taken.

Because of the arena’s design, the words echoed off the stone walls with perfect clarity. The stadium went quiet for a second, and then the whispers started.

"Girlfriend...?"

"Wait, does he mean Leo von Celestial and Seris Lunaria?!"

"The Primus of the second year and the Primus of first year? Since when?!"

"No wonder he survived getting stabbed through the chest! It was a lovers’ quarrel!"

"Damn it, she’s the untouchable ice beauty of the second year! How did a freshman pull that off?!"

A wave of shock, jealousy, and awe swept through the rows as thousands of eyes locked onto Leo. Leo cursed under his breath, giving the elf a glare so cold that the students near him moved a few inches away.

Realizing the sudden silence, Roan slowly put a hand over his mouth, his eyes going wide. "Oops. My bad, bro," he said, though his voice was still too loud. "I forgot you guys were not making your relationship public. You are already busy dealing with other gir—"

Fwip.

Before the elf could finish that terrible sentence, the space in front of him bent. Using his space affinity, Leo appeared right next to Roan and slapped a heavy hand over the elf’s mouth.

"Keep your mouth shut, you bastard," Leo hissed, his eyes flashing with a deadly look.

He knew exactly what the idiot was about to say. Roan was the type of guy who, instead of correcting a misunderstanding, would accidentally invent two more problems for you to solve. But the damage was done. The students around them were already thinking, their imaginations running wild.

"Did he say other girls?"

"Wait, is he cheating on her?!"

"The audacity of this bastard..."

Leo felt a sudden, profound urge to dig a hole in the stone floor and die on the spot. He looked down at Roan, who was currently letting out a muffled, nervous laugh beneath his palm. Leo wanted to kill the damn elf.

Down in the announcer’s box, Cynthia’s voice came through the speakers, saving Leo from murdering the elf.

"Ahem! Wow... well, that was quite the entrance!" Cynthia chuckled, her voice dripping with amusement as she looked up at the space-affinity user. "It seems our famous freshmen cannot stay out of the spotlight! But let us keep the love life drama for after class, boys! Take your seats so we can start the fight!"

The crowd laughed, the tension easing just enough for Leo to let go of Roan and drop into a seat, his face blank.

Cynthia turned her gaze back down toward the center of the ring, giving a nod to the professor. "Alright, Professor Helene! The stage is yours once more!"

Helene’s gray eyes swept over the stands one last time, making sure everything was in order, before she raised her hand again. The silver marks on the stone floor glowed with new power.

"Let the duel begin," Helene commanded, her arm dropping like a blade. "Three. Two. One. GO!"

The moment the count hit zero, the noise of the crowd faded into a low hum in Arthur’s ears. He locked his focus on Seris. She had not moved. Her face was still blank, her red eyes unreadable as they watched his stance.

Arthur took a deep breath, his mind unusually calm. He was not here because of pride. He knew his limits. He knew he was standing before someone he couldn’t defeat at his current level. The reason he was here was simple: to learn.

He simply wanted to learn from her and gain experience.

Originally, he had intended to request a formal duel with Sylvia, Leo’s older sister. He knew her, and he knew that if he asked her for a sparring match to test his growth, she would accept and push him to his limits.

But fate had a strange way of changing plans. Before he could go find Sylvia, he ran into Seris.

Everyone knew she was strong, but when Arthur stood near her, he felt something else — a faint, old trace in her power. It was something he had felt once before, in the Gate tournament. It almost felt... divine.

The Goddess in his mind had confirmed it, her voice showing rare surprise. "The Moon Goddess... she has an Apostle. Fight her, Arthur. Create a connection with her. You will learn more from one fight with her than a hundred normal training sessions."

Driven by his wish to grow, to finally stop watching Leo and Roan pull ahead, he had issued the challenge. He had thought she would say no, or at least ask for something in return. What surprised him the most was how easily she had accepted his sudden challenge without asking for a reason.

Let us see it, Arthur thought, his golden eyes glowing. The power of an Apostle.

Boom!

The dirt under Arthur’s boots exploded as he moved. A bright line of gold light cut across the ring, his sword swinging in a fast arc as he closed the ten-foot gap in a split second. It was a perfect, fast opening strike, aimed at her shoulder to force her to block.

Clang!

The sound of metal against metal echoed across the arena.

Seris had not even pulled her sword out. With a move so smooth it did not seem real, she had simply stepped back half a step, using the tip of her sheathed sword to catch the center of Arthur’s blade.

A wave of freezing power burst from the point of contact. The gold light on Arthur’s sword started to crack, thin lines of blue frost moving up the steel toward his fingers.

Arthur’s eyes went wide as the heavy weight of her strength traveled up his arms, threatening to numb his grip and lock his fingers solid. She had not just blocked him — she had stopped his whole attack with a piece of wood and leather.

Through the frosty mist between their faces, Seris’s deep red eyes stayed steady, staring into him like a cold winter.