Whispers in the Waiting Room

The group returned to the stands with snacks in hand, the aroma of sugar and chocolate mingling with the lingering excitement of the arena.

While the next matches played out below, Jace's thoughts had drifted inward. He found himself once again dissecting the intricacies of his terrain spell, already searching for ways to make it more efficient.

The mana cost was definitely the biggest drawback. If he could just reduce the initial casting cost, that alone would make a huge difference. And if he managed to lower the upkeep cost as well, the spell could become a reliable part of his arsenal rather than a situational trump card.

Sure, he had more mana than most people his age, and he trained it constantly, but that didn't mean he was fine with being wasteful.

He was halfway through mentally adjusting the magic circle's structure when a sharp elbow nudged him in the ribs.

"Jace," Aurora said, nudging him again. "You need to look at the arena."

"What?" he blinked, snapped out of his thoughts as he looked up.

The arena was a familiar sight, overgrown ruins covered in thick vines. The setting from the tag round. But unlike before, this match seemed aggressively one sided.

"Okay, I'm looking... What exactly am I supposed to be looking at?" he asked, brows furrowing.

"Well," Aurora began, nodding toward the displays showing the teams. "The match you're currently watching is Team Finn versus Team Uriah."

"Okay? That's rank 2 against rank 8, right?" Jace said, still puzzled. "This looks pretty much like what I'd expect."

"Sure," Aurora said casually. "The problem is that it's not Finn's team that's winning."

Jace blinked. "Wait… seriously?"

She gave a small nod. "Not only that, but if the Target Challenge earlier went the way I think it did, Team Uriah has already won the first three rounds."

Jace sat up straighter, the gears in his head turning. "If I remember right… The only reason Finn isn't ranked number one anymore was because the teachers said he mismanaged his team and cost them a round, right?"

"Exactly," Aurora confirmed. "And now it's looking like he's about to lose an entire contest."

"Damn, sounds like Team Finn is going to be deranking a lot after this contest," Jace said, leaning back in his chair. "And here I was looking forward to dueling them, since they've got two people on the top ten list."

"That's the thing," Aurora replied, her expression shifting to concern. "They do. Both Finn himself and Mason are considered among the top tier of duelists."

"So... did they just not participate then?" Jace asked, his confusion deepening.

"Mason was in the first round," Aurora said, her eyes fixed on the arena. "He lost. It was close, 3 to 2."

"Huh. So it was close at least," Jace muttered, shifting his gaze back to the match. "But even then, if he's top tier, I don't see him losing to someone from a rank 8 team."

"Me either," Aurora said, suspicion lacing her voice. "Especially since the person who beat him was fairly unremarkable before this contest."

Jace turned to her, narrowing his eyes. "Going from unremarkable to taking down the number seven? No way. Something's weird there."

"Agreed," Aurora said, her tone firm. "Every single person I've seen on Uriah's team seems to have gotten a huge power boost out of nowhere."

Jace turned back toward the arena, scrutinizing Uriah's team more closely. "That doesn't just happen."

"No, it doesn't," Aurora agreed.

They both fell silent, eyes locked on the match just as Team Uriah's chaser successfully tagged Team Finn's runner.

Jace leaned back in his chair, letting out a slow breath.

There was something strange going on with this team. And he wasn't sure if there was anything they could do about it.

"I just don't understand it. If this was something they could do, surely they would've done it before," Jace mused, leaning back and resting his hands behind his head.

Aurora nodded slowly. "But there was no sign of this before. Not in the training arena, not in prior contests. Not once."

Astra frowned from where she was perched on the back of her seat, joining the conversation after listening for a while. "What if they were hiding their strength this whole time? Just sandbagging for some reason."

This time it was Ethan's turn to chime in. "That's a dangerous strategy in this school. It's hard to get noticed when you're not playing for keeps."

By now, the whole team was listening and joining in. "Unless," Orion said thoughtfully, "they didn't have anything to hide before. What if they actually did get stronger?"

Lyra crossed her arms, her brows furrowing. "But how? It's not like they could've gotten a magic artifact to increase their powers. They're here, just like us."

"What if someone else gave them a temporary boost?" Selene asked, her voice calm.

The group went quiet again, the sounds from Round Five continuing around them.

"It just doesn't make sense. If it was one of the teams that oppose the nobles, I'd blame them, but Team Finn hasn't done anything that I'm aware of," Jace said, shaking his head.

"There doesn't seem to be any motive that I can see," Aurora added. "What does Uriah have to gain by winning like this?"

"Better rank?" Ethan offered.

"That feels too simple," Felix countered. "But it could be."

Astra flopped down into her seat with a groan. "Well, unless one of you has a folder labeled 'Team Uriah's Master Plan' there's not much we can do about it right now."

"She's right," Jace admitted reluctantly. "We'll just have to keep an eye on them. If Finn loses too, then we'll know for sure that something's up."

"Agreed," Aurora nodded. "If something shady's going on, it won't stay hidden forever."

The group fell quiet again, each of them lost in thought as the round continued.

There was something going on here, and they could only hope they'd find out what it was.