The Academy's Genius Mage

The field exploded into motion the second Vance finished speaking.

Cadets scattered in every direction at once, calling names across the crowd, pulling friends aside by the sleeve, some already deep in strategy conversations and others just spinning in place trying to locate the one person they’d decided they needed.

Lucas stayed where he was for a moment, one hand against his chin.

’Alright. Think about this properly.

Nova. I’ve been training with him for months. I know his rhythm, when he attacks, when he pulls back, and he knows me just as well.’ A small smirk arrived without being invited.

’That kind of understanding... it’s not easy to build. We might actually pull this off cleanly. not having to explain yourself mid-fight is worth more than raw stats.’

He’d made up his mind before he finished the thought.

A few steps away, Sylvia was running her own calculation with the focused stillness she brought to everything.

’If Celia takes the defensive role, I won’t have to hold back at all. Her control over wind is precise, stable...’ Her fingers shifted slightly. ’she won’t let anything slip through easily. That would let me focus entirely on offense, on breaking through, taking another hemisphere, ending it quickly.’ She glanced at Celia across the group. That’s the setup that ends the round quickly.

She was just about to say it—

"Hey, Nova." Lucas stepped forward and dropped a hand on his shoulder. "Team up with me?"

Nova blinked.

Celia blinked.

Both of them looked at Lucas with the synchronized expression of people who have just heard something mildly unexpected and are still processing it.

"With me," Nova said slowly, pointing at himself with one finger. "You’re actually serious."

"Why wouldn’t I be?"

"I just—" Nova glanced at Celia briefly, then back. "We kind of assumed... you’d go with... Sylvia. You know..." He made a vague gesture that communicated everything without saying any of it. "Considering everything. It would’ve made more sense for you two."

Celia nodded along, her expression carrying the careful diplomacy of someone trying not to make it awkward while also making it slightly awkward. "It would’ve been the natural choice. I mean no offence, it just seemed obvious."

Lucas opened his mouth.

His brain caught up to what he’d done approximately two seconds too late.

Oh. Right.

We’re dating. We’re supposed to be dating. In a partner-based round of a major tournament, every single person in this field would expect—

I didn’t even think about that.

The silence was getting a shape to it.

"Don’t mind him."

Sylvia’s voice arrived with the calm. She sighed, the kind that comes from dealing with something familiar.

"He’s doing it on purpose." she said, shaking her head slightly. "He just... enjoys getting under my skin like this."

She looked at Lucas with the specific expression of someone who is absolutely done with a behavior they’ve been tolerating for a long time.

"For him, this is just another way of annoying me. Either way... we’ll pair." she added.

Nova looked between them. His smile came out a bit forced as he turned his head toward Lucas, one eyebrow twitching slightly. "Oh. Right. Yeah, that... tracks actually."

Celia nodded along, though her expression wasn’t entirely convinced. "That’s... surprisingly childish of you, Lucas. I didn’t expect that side."

Lucas scratched the back of his head with an awkward laugh, playing along on the outside while inside he exhaled in relief.

’That was close. That was genuinely close.’ His eyes moved to Sylvia for just a second, she was already looking elsewhere, composure intact, the performance completely natural.

’She handled that way too smoothly before it became a problem.’ He looked back at the field. ’She really thinks things through before speaking... unlike me just blurting stuff out.’

Sylvia, meanwhile, was maintaining her expression.

’That was too close,’ she thought, her fingers pressing together once in her side. ’I was about to ask Celia myself. In front of everyone. Good thing Lucas jumped in first, thanks to him, I got to play it off’ A small invisible exhale. ’I need to think ahead like this, or this falls apart.’

Gideon had not said anything during any of this. his eyes moved between Lucas and Sylvia. He slightly narrowed his gaze.

Nova rolled his neck and turned to Gideon. "Alright then, what about you? Who are you teaming up with?"

"Obviously," Gideon said. "You and me."

"Actually, about that," Nova said.

Gideon stopped.

Nova continued, taking two deliberate steps backward and positioning himself beside Celia, like this had always been the plan. "I felt a bit bad. Leaving Celia alone didn’t seem right." He gestured loosely at himself and Celia like he was presenting an arrangement that had always existed. "So I’ll team with her."

Silence.

Celia stood beside him with her arms folded and a polite smile that was carrying a lot of subtext.

Gideon looked at the space where Nova had been standing. Then at Nova. Then at Celia. Then back at Nova, very slowly, with the expression of someone watching a piece of furniture they loved being taken out the door.

"You," he said, his voice dropping to the specific register of calm that means the opposite, "traitorous bastard."

Nova blinked like this was an unreasonable response. "It’s called kindness."

"You stabbed me in the back and call it kindness?"

"I’m being generous to a lady."

Gideon’s hand came up and pressed against his chest. "You’re being generous to a lady while I, the person who has defended you from Celia’s judgment on multiple occasions—"

"Those occasions were your choice"

Celia, standing beside Nova, was looking somewhere to the upper right with the expression of someone who is not laughing and is working fairly hard at that.

Lucas had both hands in his pockets watching this unfold with the mild enjoyment of someone who is not involved.

Sylvia tilted her head toward Gideon, the faintest trace of something in her expression. "So," she said, with the calm curiosity of someone who has watched someone’s plan collapse and is genuinely asking what comes next, "who are you partnering with now?"

Gideon let his hand drop from his chest. Looked at the field around him, cadets still pairing off.

"I’ll find someone," he said, with the composure of a man who has accepted the situation and is moving forward. "Someone reliable. Unlike certain people."