Once we left the competition area, we were faced by a wave of students. It seemed like everyone in the academy had come to see us and talk about what happened.

  Of course, I was being ignored. My contribution was almost nothing. But strangely, Erick was getting mobbed with attention. People were surrounding him, talking about how cool he was, asking him questions, practically treating him like a hero.

  What exactly had happened while I was stuck with the Prince?

  Enjoying my temporary invisibility, I slipped through the crowd, ending up on the other side where Lina was waiting patiently. She'd probably guessed I'd try to escape through here.

  "You're alive!" She said it like she was genuinely surprised, which made me question what exactly she thought was going to happen.

  "Guess I am. Had a few close calls though."

  "Yeah, everyone was talking about how the Prince would kill you as soon as the safe zone ended. Thank goodness Aurora arrived in time!" She looked genuinely relieved.

  "Lucky me," I said, though after everything I'd seen, part of me doubted the Prince would have actually killed me. Hurt me badly? Definitely. But kill? That seemed like it would have been beneath him somehow.

  We walked back through the academy toward the dining hall, the noise of the crowd fading behind us.

  "How was it watching everything? Did I look too scared?" I asked.

  "You looked like you were about to have a heart attack for most of it," Lina admitted. "Though they didn't focus the cameras on you much. Erick and Aurora got all the attention until the very end there."

  "What did Erick do?"

  "He stole the objective from their hideout. The one Mary was guarding."

  I stopped walking. "Wait, what? He got past Mary?"

  "Well, he didn't beat her," Lina clarified quickly. "But it was quite a show. Everyone's talking about it."

  "That's still incredible." I tried to imagine Erick pulling off something like that. Actually, now that I thought about it, it made perfect sense. He'd been completely relaxed during all the preparation, like he'd known exactly what he was going to do.

  When we arrived at the dining hall, it was completely empty. We were the first two to arrive, so we headed to our usual table in the corner.

  We talked about the tournament, how the week had gone, what to expect next week. The conversation flowed easily, comfortable in a way that made me realize how much things had changed.

  This was only my first week at the academy, and it had already felt like the longest week of my entire life.

  Sunday was calm.

  Most students were still busy discussing the fight and the competition, which meant I was back to being invisible. As a bonus, the Prince had actually followed through with removing my "undesirable" status. He hadn't apologized though. But honestly? I was already too satisfied to even consider asking for more.

  Lina spent the entire day at the library studying for tomorrow's test. Erick was apparently too busy hiding from his newfound fans. Which left me alone again, though this time it didn't bother me.

  I was just glad to have peace and be invisible, even if I knew it wouldn't last long.

  I spent Sunday morning relaxing, walking around the academy grounds. Past the courtyards where students practiced dueling.

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  Further on, I discovered an actual dueling club with official matches taking place. A small crowd had gathered to watch two B-rank students face off in a contained arena. Their magic was impressive by my standards, but after watching Aurora and the Prince fight, it felt almost tame. Like watching a practice bout after seeing a real war.

  I even passed by a small theater club that was rehearsing something in one of the open pavilions. They were being dramatic, gesturing wildly, projecting their voices. One student was playing a heroic knight, another a damsel in distress. It was so over-the-top that I had to smile.

  The academy was bigger than I'd realized. There were entire sections I hadn't explored yet, clubs and activities I'd never even heard of. It made me wonder what else I'd been missing while being so focused on survival.

  My mind drifted, imagining how next week would go. Would Emberheart push even harder in our training now that I had no immediate urgency? Or would he ease up, satisfied with my progress?

  At lunch, I headed to the dining hall, but neither Erick nor Lina were around. I was about to sit alone at our usual table when I heard someone call my name.

  "Kai! Over here!"

  Mira was waving at me from the third-year table. I hesitated for a moment, then walked over and sat down with them.

  Besides Mira and Nico, there were four other students. Two of them I remembered from the competition, but the other two I didn't recognize at all. All of them were looking at me with interest.

  "So Kai," Mira started immediately, her eyes gleaming with curiosity. "Did you think Aurora would abandon you? Be honest."

  I could feel all their eyes on me, like I was the newest piece of interesting gossip.

  "Um... yeah, honestly," I admitted. "I thought there was no benefit to saving me at that point. I'd already done my part as bait."

  Mira laughed, and the others joined in. Not mockingly though. More like they found my honesty refreshing.

  "Aurora is too softhearted for that," Mira said, wiping her eyes. "She felt really bad about using you as bait, so she had Nico follow you around and keep you safe the whole time."

  Nico gave a small nod of confirmation.

  I blinked. How much of her plan had I been completely in the dark about?

  One of the boys I didn't recognize added, "She had to wait until the last possible minute to save you too. Had to guarantee the Prince couldn't make it back for the next challenge."

  "Was anything not part of her plan?" I asked, genuinely impressed now.

  "Erick stealing their objective, for one," Mira said, leaning forward excitedly. "We knew he was skilled, but we expected more of a 'timely assistance' kind of thing. Not a straight-up hundred-point play where he just walks in and takes it."

  "He was really motivated to beat the Prince," I suggested.

  "He sure was," one of the girls confirmed with a knowing smile.

  "And how was it being so close to their actual combat?" Mira asked, her expression shifting to genuine curiosity. "Nico said you got completely stuck and refused to move even when he told you to."

  I felt my face heat up a bit. "I'd never seen anything like that before. I probably should have followed Nico's advice, but... I didn't want to miss the result."

  "Can't blame you," the boy from earlier said. "I would've done the same thing."

  "I can blame him," Nico interjected quietly. "If they'd gone full power, we would both have been pulverized. Or worse."

  "Yeah, sorry about that," I said sheepishly.

  We continued talking about the previous day, about Aurora's strategies, about how the Prince had just withdrawn like the whole thing had been exactly what he wanted. They shared stories about Aurora from previous years, how she'd always been solitary but incredibly reliable when it mattered.

  When I finally left the dining hall, I had a smile on my face. They were really nice people. Easy to talk to, genuine in their interest.

  Which did make me wonder something.

  If Aurora had a team like this, people who clearly respected and cared about her, why did she still eat alone?

  The rest of Sunday passed quietly. I studied a bit, practiced some basic mana control exercises that didn't involve my reality-writing, and generally tried to prepare myself mentally for whatever the next week would bring.

  Monday would be a fresh start. No competition. No Prince hunting me down. Just regular classes and training.

  Somehow, that felt almost strange now. Like normal academy life was the unusual thing instead of the other way around.

  I fell asleep that night thinking about Aurora's team, about Erick's unexpected skills, about how Lina had looked genuinely worried for me.

  About how, despite everything, I'd somehow ended up with people I could actually call friends.

  My first week at the academy had been chaos. But maybe, just maybe, the second week would be better.

  Or at least slightly less life-threatening.