Chapter 124: Game of Students
From Nolan’s distant vantage point—high above the battlefield, interface window open like a canvas of moving life—he watched it all unfold in silence.
The sounds had died down. The fog of bloodlust had begun to settle. Yet, Nolan could see it—clearer than anyone else. The tension was far from gone. It clung to the trees. It hid in the mist. It waited, quiet and patient, beneath every footstep.
Then, one of the attendants stepped out from the carriage. A young man, face speckled with dust and dried blood, eyes sharp and voice calm despite the chaos that had just ended.
"Sir Varros," he called.
The armored commander turned his head, blinking as if woken from a long dream. His armor was stained, his face pale beneath the grime and sweat. When the attendant waved again, Varros staggered forward, feet moving on instinct rather than intention. He passed through the blackened ground littered with mana crystals and melted flesh, and stepped up into the carriage like a man entering a chapel of the unknown.
And what he saw—
Nolan sat forward slightly, narrowing his eyes. "There they are," he whispered to no one in particular.
Inside the carriage, gathered with surprising calmness, were the students of the Silver Blade City Academy.
Selin. Ruvin. Erik. Calien.
And a few others Nolan didn’t immediately recognize by name, but their faces were burned into his memory. The same brats he had observed not three days ago—barely formed mages, full of reckless arrogance and untested theory.
But now?