Chapter 9: The Mask of Shadow

Monday – 7:43 PM. Final stretch before the end of the exam.

The sun was slowly setting over the campus of the High School of Excellence, tinting the windows with amber and blood-red reflections. In every classroom, tensions were at their peak. The countdown was accelerating.

72 hours.

Three days of chaos, strategies, betrayals.

And only 2 hours and 17 minutes remained.

---

Class C – Room 304

Raizen, the self-proclaimed leader of Class C, stared feverishly at a series of hastily scribbled notes. There were names, faces, theories. At the center of this spiral of doubts: a single certainty.

— “He told me… he identified all the avatars.”

Clutched in his fingers was a black card, secretly handed to him by Winner a few hours earlier.

On it was written one word: “Trust.”

Winner had offered him a deal.

— “If you believe me, you strike Class B. You steal their leader’s avatar and take all their points. If not… you lose everything.”

Raizen had taken the bait.

And just as planned… he was about to betray.

---

Class B – Room 302

Meanwhile, Class B, confident they had identified Class A’s avatars, was preparing an ambush…

But what they didn’t know was that their own avatar had already been exposed.

By someone they hadn’t even taken seriously.

Salia.

Or at least… that’s what they thought.

---

Class D – Spider’s Web

In the shadows, Winner was pulling the strings.

Thanks to his infiltration into the Stability Committee, he had discreetly recorded all movements, alliances, and reactions. He had planted false leads, turned the classes against one another, and spread paranoia.

He had even helped Class A misidentify a target…

Only to make them fall harder.

Their avatar? Found.

Their card? Stolen by a Class D girl while they were busy trying to trap Class C.

Who orchestrated this distraction? Him again.

Friday night, he began spinning the web.

Monday night, he closed the trap.

---

8:50 PM

All classes were exhausted, suspicious, disoriented. Some students had even started to doubt their own teammates.

Meanwhile, Salia was being showered with praise. Many saw her as the shadow strategist. Even the teachers looked at her with interest.

Winner?

He sat silently in the back of the room.

But a faint smirk betrayed his invisible advantage.

---

10:00 PM – End of the exam.

The school’s screens displayed the results:

Results of the Special Exam “Hunt the Avatar”:

Class D:

3 avatars identified (Class A, B, and C)

2 cards stolen

Avatar preserved

+5000 collective points

Class A:

2 avatars identified

0 card stolen

Avatar exposed

+2400 collective points

Class C:

1 avatar identified

1 card stolen

Avatar lost

+1800 collective points

Class B:

1 avatar identified

0 card stolen

Avatar stolen

+1200 collective points

Winner of the exam: Class D.

Yet despite this crushing victory, the overall ranking remained unchanged:

1. Class A

2. Class B

3. Class D

4. Class C

Class D had just proven it could dominate the cruelest exam without losing its avatar or exposing its mastermind. But the starting gap was so wide… that two more steps remained to reach Class A.

Winner, eyes half-closed, listened to the cheers around Salia.

— “You’re really amazing,” a classmate told her.

She smiled faintly…

But her eyes drifted toward Winner.

The shadow was closer than she thought.

And he…

He was just getting started.