Broken peace

The following weeks went by with an unnatural sense of calm flowing through the school building.

It was as if Valentine's tragic end had made all my classmates fall in a collective catharsis.

After witnessing such a gruesome end, it seemed like everyone just wanted one thing: to forget everything that happened.

So the days flew by in a forced sense of normalcy.

Every Monday, however, to remind us that it hadn't all been just a bad dream, one of our comrades vanished into thin air.

But even these disappearances, initially met with dismay, were now becoming part of our routine.

Up to that point, the fight for survival hadn't been particularly fierce. The eliminated students had been nothing more than sacrificial pawns, almost incapable of winning any duels.

Had the school really selected them with the sole purpose of turning them into cannon fodder?

If their plan was to desensitize us to the death of our classmates, well, perhaps they were already succeeding.

However, I knew that things wouldn't continue to go so smoothly forever.

I was now aware that among us were people with special powers, and soon, once put under pressure, they wouldn't hesitate to use them.

For this reason, I had to act in advance.

Instead of resting on my laurels, after Valentine's defeat I continued to duel relentlessly, to the point of easily reaching the top position in the rankings.

Collecting as many points as possible would make my life easier when the competition would inevitably become more fierce.

However, I had a more important reason to exert myself: protecting Amy.

I knew very well her low magic potential was going to paint a target on her back sooner rather than later.

I needed to do something about it.

For this reason, I had made an effort to ensure that my duels were seen by as many people as possible. I wanted to make it clear to everyone that I was not someone they wanted to mess with.

I then made sure to spend as much time as possible with Amy.

"If you mess with her, I'm going to make you pay."

,

That was the message I wanted to send.

And so far, my plan had worked: no one had dared to challenge her and for now, she was comfortably sitting around the middle of the rankings.

To improve our chances of survival, I set another task for myself: observe our classmates to identify the most dangerous ones.

Obviously I had no way to tell if behind an unassuming student lurked a terrifying innate power wielder. So I mainly focused on identifying the most skilled magic users, by spectating as many duels as possible.

Between everyone else, one girl immediatly stood out to me.

Her name was Celeste and she was the first daughter of Duke Fitzroy, a powerful lord said to be the King's right-hand man.

The fact that the offspring of such an influential noble had ended up in this deadly trap made no sense.

Did the Sovereign really think it was a good idea to send the heir of his most powerfull ally into this death trap?

Anyway, that girl was going to be a problem.

I could clearly remember seeing her name right below mine, when the headmaster had ranked us by mana level on the first day.

And, after witnessing some of her duels, she knew very well how to put all that mana to use.

Unlike me, who loved to crush my opponents with sheer power, she seemed to favor a more tactical approach.

When she challenged a boy particularly skilled in fire spells, Celeste Fitzroy conjured up a violent downpour that, if it hadn't been for the magical barrier, would've probably flooded the entire dining hall.

She then unleashed a lightning storm, electrocuting her helpless opponent. She protected herself by summoning a large dome of stone. Luckily the poor boy was only injured and recovered after a stay in the infirmary.

Those spells were definitely advanced though, there was no doubt she would be a tough nut to crack.

I hated fighting tricky opponents.

To complicate matters, thanks to Amy I had learned that she was engaged to another very skilled student, a certain Philemon Hargrave.

He was the son of an extremely wealthy marquess, so there was a high probability that it was an arranged marriage. That was often the case between nobles after all.

But if the two actually got along, well, they could prove themselves to be a frightening couple.

The boy seemed extremely skilled in defensive spells after all.

However, those two weren't even remotely to be the most dangerous individuals in the school.

If I were to represent our class with a pyramid, at the top, as the apex predator, there would be her:

Sophia.

As said after their duel, she had taken Valentine's place as public enemy number one in the eyes of all our classmates.

During lessons and meals a small desert formed around her. When she walked through the corridors or entered the common room, other students would do everything in their power to avoid her,

Like Valentine, she could have easily racked up points, as no one would have dared to accept a challenge from her.

But I knew she wasn't the type to take advantage of it. She was too proud.

Seeing her so isolated, I couldn't help but feel guilty about it. After all, even if she would've definetly denied it, it was at least partially my fault.

If I hadn't let Valentine's intimidation tactics get to me, she wouldn't have needed to step in to save me.

However, whenever I thought about approaching her, something stopped me.

It was because of the last words we had exchanged:

"I don't want to kill a friend."

I still hadn't been able to find a good retort to that.

After all, the idea that one day I would be forced to kill Amy often kept me awake at night.

What was the point of forming new bonds with someone, if we were destined to kill eachother one day?

"It's better to avoid getting attached to Sophia," I had thought.

However, the regret I felt seeing her ostracized by everyone was a sign that, maybe, it was too late after all.

This internal conflict was tormenting me.

I had talked about it with Amy several times.

Lately, we had started to study together in her room a couple of times a week. The school lectures were getting quite complicated, and I wanted to help her as much as I could.

Even though we didn't have to worry about grades and exams, the spells we were being taught could one day end up saving her life.

And the intimacy of her room allowed us to discuss whatever we wanted, away from prying ears.

Unfortunately, even Amy didn't know what to do regarding Sophia.

«Both options suck,» she had said bitterly, during one of our study sessions, «if you leave things as they are, you'll keep feeling terrible about it. But if you go against what she told you and try to approach her again, things will be harder when you're opponents...»

So I continued to be consumed by uncertainty about what to do.

The days passed, and the distance between me and Sophia seemed insurmountable, to the point that I was starting to reminisce fondly about the days when all she did was tease and make fun of me.

However, I wouldn't have to wait long for our paths to cross again.

It was a drizzly October morning . A light rain tapped on the windows of the school building.

My gaze wandered into the leaden sky, filled with gray clouds. Usually staying inside in the warmth would have been perfect on such a day. But right now, I would have given anything to feel the cold autumn air prickle my skin.

It had been over a month since we had been trapped in that golden prison called Duelcrest, the Royal Academy of Magic.

From what we knew, only one of us would ever make it out of here alive.

"I wonder if Sophia would be able to cut the entrance door in half..."

She hadn't hesitated with the door to my room, after all.

But I wasn't deluding myself. I wasn't stupid enough to think there was only one door separating us from freedom, otherwise I would have personally tried to blow it up.

After seeing what headmaster Skylark was capable of, who knows what kind of diabolical spells would have struck us if we had tried to escape...

And anyway, I had nothing more to do with Sophia. It had been several weeks since we last spoke.

As often happened in those days, my thoughts went back to her.

With my head in the clouds, I traversed the school corridors, heading towards the dining hall.

"Maybe today I could try to say hel–EH?!"

Suddenly, I stepped on something that made me slip backward and fall to the floor.

Luckily I managed to avoid hitting my head, catching myself at the last moment with my arms.

I got up, rubbing my sore bottom. Two students went by me me, giggling.

What a close call.

"Elizabeth Belvoir, dead because she wasn't watching where she was going."

It would have been ironic if, in the midst of this deadly competition I was trapped in, I had lost my life in that way.

But, what had I just stumbled upon?

On the floor in front of me lay a female school uniform, complete with skirt and boots.

"Who the hell left this stuff on the floor?"

Had someone just suddenly decided to undress in the middle of the hallway?

"Being locked up for a month could mess with your head I guess..."

More likely though, it was some kind of prank. The school had provided us with several copies of the uniform after all. Someone must have thought it was funny to leave one lying around. But my backside wasn't laughing.

Cursing at the unknown person, I finally headed towards breakfast.

«Do you want me to ask around who did it? You could have really gotten hurt!»

Amy and I were heading to class after eating. After seeing my pained expression when I sat at her table, I couldn't help but tell her about my little mishap. Protective as she was, she took it too seriously.

«No, no, I really mean it, Amy. They definitely didn't mean to–»

«AHH!»

A piercing female scream interrupted me. It came from the direction of the classroom.

Not for a second had I believed that the atmosphere of apparent calm that had characterized the last few weeks would last long. I had always been on alert, ready to pick up any signs that something was wrong. That scream was like a signal.

Without hesitation, I began to run, my heart pounding in my chest. Wand in hand, I burst into the classroom, bracing myself for the worst.

The scene I found, however, was different from what I expected. No blood. There wasn't even any sign of a duel in progress. But, as it usually happened every Monday, a small crowd of students had gathered under the right wall of the classroom, where the leaderboard was magically inscribed.

"But today is Wednesday..."

I had a bad feeling.

I could hear desperate sobs coming from that direction. I approached to see what was happening. Surrounded by other students, who were probably trying to calm her down, a petite girl with long curly hair was kneeling on the ground, tears streaming down her face as she stared at the wall. My gaze followed hers and I saw what I feared:

91 students remaining

It had started again.