Cold sweat immediately formed on the back of my neck. Shit. Shit. She knew. The Queen actually knew. How?

Did she seriously predict I’d try something like that? Was it that obvious? Damn it...

I swallowed hard and slowly lifted my gaze toward the royal platform. Queen Mia was already looking directly at me. Then, somehow, she smiled warmly. That made it even worse.

My entire body tensed. Oh, this was bad. Really bad.

I quickly looked away before she noticed the panic written all over my face.

Winning.

Winning was the only option now.

"Oh, fuck," I muttered under my breath. "Fuck, fuck."

Ken stopped cheering and looked at me with confusion. "Huh?"

"N-nothing," I replied quickly, swallowing hard. "Let’s just do this."

"A-alright." He blinked once, then grinned nervously. "You actually look fired up now. I like that."

Fired up wasn’t the word I’d use. Terrified sounded more accurate.

Professor Veyra stepped toward the center of the arena and raised her voice. "Combatants," she announced firmly. "Take your positions."

The two teams immediately began moving.

The opposing group spread out naturally like they had practiced this before. Daren and Tobias moved toward the front with shields raised while the spear user, Sylra, stayed slightly behind them. Rhett, the rogue, remained loose on his feet near the right flank, spinning one dagger in his hand casually.

And in the very back stood Lenik, the mage.

Already preparing a spell.

"Great," Ken muttered. "They actually know what they’re doing."

Mio ignored him and moved backward instead, bow already in her hands. Since we didn’t have a proper frontline fighter, the three of us kept as much distance as possible between ourselves and the enemy team.

Ken stood slightly ahead of us with his wooden dagger raised uncertainly.

I tightened my grip around the practice sword in one hand and the dagger in the other.

My palms were sweating.

Across the arena, Rhett smirked the moment he noticed my expression.

"Hey!" he called out loudly. "Don’t die too fast, Ambly-boy!"

"Shut up and focus," Mio said flatly.

Professor Veyra slowly raised one hand into the air. The courtyard quieted instantly. Every student watched the arena closely now. Even Queen Mia.

I swallowed hard and adjusted my footing. My heart was beating so loudly that it almost drowned out the noise around me.

Professor Veyra’s eyes swept across both teams. "Ready?"

Nobody answered.

Her hand cut downward sharply.

"Begin!"

The barrier erupted upward completely in a flash of gold.

Rhett moved the instant Professor Veyra lowered her hand.

The rogue sprinted across the dirt arena with frightening speed, his boots kicking dust behind him as he closed the distance between us almost immediately. I tightened my grip around the wooden sword and dagger and forced myself into a defensive stance, trying to steady my breathing while preparing for the impact.

Our weapons collided with a loud crack.

The force of it rattled my arms.

Rhett kept moving constantly after every strike, stepping across the dirt with light footwork while attacking from different angles. His dagger slashed toward my ribs, then my shoulder, then my wrist before I could even recover properly from blocking the previous attack.

I barely kept up. And it was painfully obvious that I had no idea how to properly use a sword. Rhett realized it too.

A grin spread across his face as he pressed harder, his daggers crashing repeatedly against my wooden blade while forcing me backward through the dirt arena. I tried swinging back at him once, but he ducked under the attack effortlessly before twisting both daggers against my sword.

The weapons locked together for a brief second.

Then Rhett sharply yanked downward.

My wooden sword flew straight out of my hand and spun across the dirt before landing several feet away from me.

"Shit!" I stumbled backward awkwardly, now left with only the dagger in my hand.

Rhett immediately lunged forward again, clearly trying to take advantage of the opening before I could recover.

Before he could reach me, an arrow suddenly shot past my shoulder from behind. I turned just enough to realize Mio had fired at him from the backline.

Rhett clicked his tongue and quickly jumped sideways to avoid the shot. The arrow buried itself deep into the dirt where he had been standing a moment earlier.

"That was close," I muttered while tightening my grip on the dagger.

On the opposite side of the arena, Daren charged directly toward Mio with his shield raised high.

Ken intercepted him before he could reach her.

Even though he was technically a ranger, he moved more like a rogue as he sprinted across the battlefield and hurled his dagger toward Daren’s face.

Daren reacted quickly and blocked the throw with his shield. The practice dagger smacked loudly against the heavy Varken wood before dropping harmlessly onto the dirt.

Ken kept moving without hesitation.

He slipped around Daren’s shield bash by stepping to the side, slid low across the dirt to grab his fallen dagger, then rolled behind the larger student while trying to create an opening for an attack.

For a second, it actually looked impressive.

Then Lenik interrupted him.

The mage planted the bottom of his staff firmly into the dirt arena, causing pale blue light to spread briefly around the wood. A second later, a bolt of lightning burst from the tip of the staff and shot directly toward Ken.

The spell struck him in the side before he could dodge.

Ken screamed as electricity coursed through his body and threw him onto the dirt hard enough to send dust flying into the air.

Several students in the audience reacted immediately, while Professor Veyra narrowed her eyes from outside the barrier and carefully watched to make sure the spell had not caused a serious injury.

Ken groaned loudly and slowly pushed himself onto one knee, smoke lightly rising from his uniform.

"That hurt," he wheezed while catching his breath. "Phew..."

Meanwhile, Rhett attacked me again.

A strange green glow suddenly wrapped around his daggers, and I immediately realized he was using some kind of rogue skill.

His speed increased instantly. One moment he stood several feet away from me, and the next he had already blurred forward.

I barely managed to throw myself sideways in time. His dagger sliced through the air where my neck had been a split second earlier.

The desperate dodge sent me crashing shoulder-first into the dirt arena.

Before I could even get back onto my feet properly, Sylra rushed toward me from the side with her spear lowered.

Great.