➨ You... lost.

The team had just been a split moment too late and you didn't break the crystal in time. Magna did deliver the final blow, but he didn't do it quick enough. Without looking at him, you knew it was going to mess with him for a while afterwards.

"Damn it!" And there it was. A slight crack in his demenor.

The effects of Xerx's spell was wearing down now, and you took a moment to observe the aftermath. Kirsch was on the ground out of commission, for the second time you'd have to guess. Sol was still shook up at the fact that her seamless plan was pulled apart. And Magna... was holding himself together.

The three people you could see from the winning team; Asta, Mimosa and... him. Their fourth guy was missing, maybe he was knocked out somewhere. Wouldn't be surprising but even if that's the case even he'd get to move on in the matches.

As moments passed by, you watched as Mimosa rushed over to Asta who was on the ground, moving in slow motion. You nearly forgot that you did that to him while trying to stop him from doing the inevitable. Or really–winning the match.

"Asta." You called out to him as he sluggishly rolled on the ground. "Sorry, stay still for a second."

The only way that you knew to remove your own effects was to dispel it yourself. Kneeling down next to him, you pressed your hand to Asta's forehead and absorbed the ill mana that was coursing through him. It wasn't like you were healing him, you obviosuly couldn't remove anything else that wasn't inflicted by you. But you bet it was a lot better than letting him sleep it off. Which is really the only other way it could probably wear off.

"All good?"

"Aw yeah!" He jumped up on his feet and flexed his arm. "Sweet, you rock! And hey, you put up a really good fight, throwing my sword like was really risky, I thought I'd miss it!"

He was way more incredible than you think he realized. Aiming that precisely when he couldn't see straight at all. Well, the target was huge so you're sure it aided him. But still. That heavy ass sword was another obstacle.

"Nice job." You congratulated them. "It's earned and you definitely deserved that."

You were more upset at yourself that you couldn't do anything else to get the win.

Then another voice from behind you barked an order. "Who the hell cares? Fix me too."

Xerx.

It was only right. So you did. Making your way back to him on the floor and bending down. The mark was on his stomach so you swatted his own hand away so you could replace it with yours. Similar to the process with Asta, the mana flowed back into you.

"Do I get any congratulations?"

You retracted your hand from his skin. "You should be fine now." You took a step back from him and scanned him over briefly while actively ignoring his question.

He grinned and kicked and pushed himself up off the ground. "Thanks. Now then, would you like some advice from the victors? I can give you so many pointers about where you screwed up."

"I don't think I want to hear it."

"I'll tell ya anyway." He stepped in front of you. "Actually, you weren't that bad. Maybe if your useless ass teamates would've helped a little more you wouldn't be wallowing in your defeat. You actually managed to nearly stop that shrimp from breaking your crystal. Man, I almost thought you were a threat."

If everything that came out of his mouth was going to be an insult was there really any point to stick around much longer? He won. So he's going to drag that around you every chance he gets. It sucks because he actually wasn't all too bad himself. He must've been forced to work together and not alone this time.

And it paid off.

"Hey don't be a freakin' jerk! They did really well!" Asta jumped in. "If you don't have anything nice to say you shouldn't say it at all!"

Xerx cocked his head to the side. "Well if I stuck to that mantra I'd never talk."

"Good, get to it then!"

It didn't take long before both teams cleared the battlefield for the next match. There were medics on site and some of them asked if you were injured and needed any healing. You felt fine, so you declined any medical assistance. Instead your team had stood off to the side with each other not speaking a word.

Well, except one person.

"So... commoners- I mean–" Kirsch sighed with frustration. "Teammates... I apologize for my behavior. Perhaps if I hadn't been knocked down so easily, I would've done more to help."

"Twice." Sol corrected. "You got knocked out twice."

"I understand! That makes everything so much more embarrassing! My actions were so ugly and humilating, I can't believe I'd do something like that!"

"I can." Magna crossed his arms. "You flipped out because we're lower class than you. Turned our whole plan to crap and then couldn't even recover it!"

He gasped. "But I apologized!"

"I don't give a shit. How are you going to trash on us and then crash the hardest?"

"M-me? But Sol had the crystal and it was her golem that took it out and brought it into the open!"

Sol shoved her hands on her hips. "What? That totally wasn't my fault! Maybe if you were still concious you could've done your magic detection thingy and stopped all that from happening!"

"Why are we pushing everything back onto me?!" Kirsch exclaimed. "I tried to apologze for my ill mannered actions and-and this is the response I get?!"

You rubbed the bridge of your nose. "Well we lost. So there's nothing to do about it now. Might as well head back up to the stands while we still can."

At the sound of your voice, Kirsch's eyes shot back over to you. He opened his mouth as if he was about to say something. Most likely grabbing an excuse and throwing it at you. But before he did, his lips closed and he just silently seethed. Then, he turned on his heel and stomped off elsewhere.

"What the hell was that?" You followed him with your gaze.

"He knows he can't say anything to you about this round. You actually did a lot more than him." Magna said.

Oh. If that was the case, you're happy he walked away.

Both teams cleared the floor and you took that time to wander around off-field alone. Yuno did say not to go back if you were a loser. Even though he might've been half-joking, you needed the space anyway. What could have gone differently?

Maybe you should've followed Sol and not Magna?

Taken Xerx out earlier?

Or perhaps if you would've summoned someone different. Your shield, like the original idea.

There were too many alternative routes that could've been taken, and a few of them might've led to victory. It was just unfourtnate that this one didn't.

Marionette Roulette.

On the ground you watched the shadow form. It was the smallest one.

You rolled your eyes as Acro popped into view. Not giving it a second before you recalled it back.

Again.

You tried again, maybe this time it would be the shield.

Wrong.

The tiny gymnast popped out again.

"Damn it, Acro." You cursed and released them again. This whole randomized aspect is a little too random for your liking. Most times it doesn't cause issues because there hasn't been a situation where everything depended on one puppet. This was the only time.

"Wow you suck." A sneer came from behind you. Sadly you knew it was Xerx before you even turned.

"Can I help you?"

"I actually wasn't trying to find you. You just so happened to be where I had planned to take a nap." He scratched his head. "Then I see you wasting mana on whatever this is."

"It was just an experiment."

"A failed one."

Whatever his problem was, wasn't yours. He had been so cocky that you would've hoped he'd be eliminated first. However the only reason you didn't want that was because of his teammates. Mimosa and Asta had every right to become a Royal Knight. So you guess that means...

"Don't drag them down." You said.

"Huh, what are you talking about?"

"Your team. Don't screw up their chances because of some sick bone in your body. I can tell you don't care about this, but they do."

His eyebrow raised dramatically. "What makes you think I don't care? I don't need you of all people telling me that."

"What does that mean?"

He smirked. "It means that I don't think you care about this either. I'm shocked. I thought the Golden Dawn were top class and the most dedicated. You don't strike me as the type to enter some test to be in the Royal Knights."

Maybe he did read right through you. You didn't really care for this. Captain Vangence was the one who pushed this. It wasn't joining the elite squad that interested you. But the more you thought about it, the benefits didn't seem all that bad.

What had kept your focus was the Spade Kingdom. Clearly being just in the Golden Dawn wasn't going to get you there. Or learn anything remotely close about it. Now that opportunity is gone too.

"Is your name actually Xerx?"

It was such a random question that wasn't connected to your inner monologue. He just threw you off. But he didn't give you the same vibe you would've assumed Xerx would give. Nobody's actually seen the guy, but if you had to guess, he doesn't act like this.

"Who cares who I am?" He shrugged. "I think I make a great Purple Peacock, right?" He said tugging on his robe.

"Orca."

"What?"

"Purple Orca. You're a Purple Orca." You snickered.

"I knew that." He put his hands on his hips. "I'm just testing you, and you passed. Congratulations."

"Yeah well don't go testing other people. Where's Xerx then?"

"Chasing pigs that can fly." He yawned. "But it doesn't matter. I'm tired. Can you find somewhere else to wallow in your defeat?"

If that's really what he wanted, you'd let him have it. Better for you anyway. As you were about to walk past him there was the sound of a loud explosion and the ground shook violently. It came from where the current battle is being held.

Something about the air felt so sinister that it rubbed you the wrong way. Anybody is capable of making that rumble, sure. But not many can exude that type of aura. It was dense, and stuck to you.

"That's not right..." You mumbled.

"So go look." The red-head was already on the ground, leaning up against a tree trunk. "I know you want to."

"You don't?"

"Nope."

Without wasting any more time with him, you briskly walked back to the arena. Following the path until you approached just beyond the invisible borders that separated the areas. It was difficult to see anything, but as you got closer to the center, the mana was getting heavier.

The best option was to head up to the stands and get a better view of what was going on. So you did, already liking the elevation. Everybody stood with their mouths open. Jaws slacked. One main thing that caught your eye was some giant cotton sheep creation taking up a lot of space on the spectator end.

You looked over too, and your eyes widened at the sight below. The Black Bulls were down there, but it didn't appear that they were fighting. In fact, they were protecting someone who was down on the ground full of holes.

A little to the side you saw Langris, being surrounded by Magna, Asta, and some electricity guy.

Had he done that?

The young man on the ground looked to be in terrible condition. Langris' spatial powers literally slashed through space and erased it. Anything like that shouldn't be used on people. Especially not on other competitors. It wasn't even that serious.

"Y/N!" You heard your name being called from somewhere on your right. Klaus was waving you down with Yuno by his side.

You went to join them. "What the hell is he doing?!"

"He overdid it." Klaus shook his head in disappointment. "I knew he had a mean streak. But this is absurd."

"There's no reason for him to go all out on something like this. All he ever cares about is himself. Why did nobody stop him before it got this bad?"

Klaus' eyes were wide with an unsettled fear. "Perhaps the Wizard King didn't think he'd do it."

"Didn't think?" You echoed. "Even an idiot would've known that Langris isn't pulling his punches on anybody. Are we seriously new to this?"

Yuno kept his stoicism. "But if the Wizard King stopped every attack that looked too threatening, we'd never get anywhere. Didn't you almost decapitate someone?"

"Yeah but that's an illusion. Langris literally cuts space. That can actually kill somebody."

"But anybody can kill a person." He pressed on. "We all can if we try hard enough."

"But who is going to–" Your words reached your mind before you finished speaking them.

Who is going to try and kill someone here?

Actually, with everything going on it would only make sense, right? It's not hard to believe that someone could very well try to kill someone in here. Or at the very least, make someone do it.

The attack on the capital. Now this?

"A traitor." You concluded. "That's who."

Yuno nodded. "So whether or not it's Langris, somebody could use this as a murder cover up. But something about him is different."

Klaus sighed. "You're right. I find it difficult to comprehend that he would purposely try to murder his own brother."

"His what?"

"You didn't know?" Klaus glanced at you.

"Most the information I know about Langris is against my will. I don't really care about him enough to know his lineage."

"That's fair." Yuno agreed. "Still, it's a bit of a longshot."

"Not really." There was something that he said earlier that makes his point even more understandable. "If the Wizard King has the same idea as us, he's not stopping anything too soon. This whole test might be to weed out the traitor."

"Which means he placed some pretty strenous bets." Klaus nodded.

"Even so, that doesn't give him the right to use us as some sort of theory test. That Black Bull could've been killed because of that." As you watched the scene unfold, he did actually end up stepping in. Freezing both parties in place.

There was a brief silence that passed over the three of you. Then Yuno spoke again. "Klaus, in your opinion, is a phantom attack like Y/N's capable of causing some uproar like this?"

"Why does that matter?" You asked him.

Klaus put his hand on his chin. "Not really, no. Well actually, to the eye, it might look a little extreme. And if you're struck with it, you'd probably say otherwise. She went for the neck which might be the most vital spot to do it on."

What is that supposed to mean?

Sure it'll give your opponent a shock, but it's not like they could actually die. The move was non-fatal, it's never killed anybody.

"Most of my spells are just tricks and mind games. And why are you bringing this up anyway?"

Klaus must've caught on right before he was about to explain because he looked at Yuno in bewilderment. "You don't mean..."

"I do."

"What are we talking about?" You raised your hand to make sure they did know you were still there.

Klaus crossed his arms. "Think for a moment. Let's just pretend that someone hypnositzed Langris or something like that. That means they would've had to know where he is most of the time to catch him off guard. Afterwards, all they'd have to do was make him do whatever they wanted, however they wanted. Like a–"

"–Puppet." You felt your heart sink.

Klaus didn't seem to like that. Especially not after it came from his own lips. "I'm not saying anything is for certain. And I don't want to tell you this at all but the odds might be stacked against you."

But Yuno didn't seem to care about that. "You need to watch your back, Y/N. If the Wizard King or anybody else important comes to a conclusion like that, you're done for."

"So you're saying that I couldn't convince them otherwise?"

"I'm saying that I'd rather it not come down to that."

If people like Klaus and Yuno can come to that type of ending, someone with much more power and status can do that and more.