Chapter 96: Investment 96: First Trial
The first trial began at dawn, five teams gathered at the edge of the academy’s training arena, an enormous structure normally reserved for individual duels now reconfigured into something considerably more elaborate—a sprawling, multi-tiered obstacle course threaded through with illusory hazards and shifting terrain.
"Trial One," Professor Xuyie announced from an elevated platform overlooking the arena, her usual sharp, irritable tone carrying easily across the assembled crowd of students and spectators. "Objective: retrieve your team’s designated banner from the arena’s central spire, and return it to the starting platform. Simple in concept. Considerably less simple in execution, given the obstacles we’ve prepared."
"How comforting," Kael murmured, studying the arena’s twisting terrain with careful, assessing focus.
"When has anything at this academy ever been simple?" Edith replied dryly.
Their team—designated, somewhat unimaginatively, as Team Five—stood at their starting platform alongside four others, each comprised of students from various year groups, some familiar faces among the crowd and others entirely new to Elliot.
"Strategy," Deria said, cracking her knuckles as she studied the arena layout posted on a nearby display board. "We’ve got maybe thirty seconds before the trial actually starts. Someone want to suggest one?"
"Kael and I take point," Elliot said quickly, the plan forming with the same instinctive clarity he’d developed over weeks of training alongside the others. "Wards up, clearing the direct path. Deria, you handle terrain obstacles—anything requiring brute force or defensive barriers. Edith, healing support and utility. Seria—"
"I’ll handle anything that requires actually freezing something solid," Seria finished, a faint, competitive smile tugging at her lips. "Which, judging by the arena’s design, I suspect will be considerably more useful than it sounds."
"Sounds solid," Edith said. "Though I’d suggest keeping communication constant. If this course is even half as chaotic as the layout suggests, we’re going to need real-time coordination to avoid tripping over each other."
"On it," Kael said, already weaving a subtle thread of mana between the team members—a simplified version of the hive-mind connection Jin had once used, allowing quiet, instant communication without the need for shouted commands.
"Didn’t know you could do that," Deria said, impressed.
"Family technique," Kael said simply. "Useful for coordinated combat. I’ve been meaning to offer it during training, but the opportunity never quite presented itself."
"Well, it’s certainly presenting itself now," Elliot said, as Professor Xuyie’s voice rang out across the arena.
"Trial begins in five. Four. Three—"
The teams tensed at their starting platforms, and the moment the countdown reached zero, the arena erupted into motion.
Team Five moved as a coordinated unit from the very first second, Elliot and Kael forging ahead through the initial obstacle cluster—illusory beasts conjured from shifting shadow, designed to test reflexes and defensive coordination rather than deal any genuine lethal damage. Elliot’s ward flared reflexively at each threat, while Kael’s precise, economical strikes cleared paths with ruthless efficiency.
"Left flank," Kael’s voice echoed through their shared mental link, and Elliot pivoted instantly, ward extending to intercept an illusory strike aimed at Edith before she’d even fully registered the threat.
"Nice reflexes," Edith said, genuine surprise coloring her voice through the link.
"Practice," Elliot replied simply, already moving toward the next obstacle.
The arena’s terrain shifted without warning midway through the course, solid ground giving way to a series of narrow, floating platforms suspended over a chasm filled with swirling, disorienting mist.
"Ice bridge," Seria called out, already moving, and a solid path of frost crystallized rapidly across the gap, allowing the team to cross without breaking stride.
"Showoff," Deria muttered, though there was clear admiration in her tone.
They reached the arena’s central spire well ahead of two of the competing teams, though a third—comprised largely of upperclassmen Elliot didn’t recognize—had already claimed a significant lead, their banner nearly in hand by the time Team Five arrived at the spire’s base.
"We’re not catching them through speed alone," Kael observed, assessing the remaining distance with quick, calculating focus.
"Then we don’t rely on speed alone," Elliot said, an idea forming rapidly. "Deria, can you collapse the spire’s lower support without bringing the whole structure down?"
Deria’s grin widened immediately, understanding the plan without further explanation. "Give me ten seconds."
She slammed both palms against the spire’s stone base, and with a controlled, precise application of force, a section of the lower structure crumbled away, creating a direct, if considerably more hazardous, shortcut straight through the spire’s interior.
"That’s either brilliant or suicidal," Edith said, though she was already moving to follow.
"Why not both?" Deria said cheerfully, leading the charge through the newly created opening.
The gambit paid off. Team Five emerged at the spire’s summit mere seconds behind the leading team, banner within reach, and in the brief, chaotic scramble that followed, it was Seria’s precise, controlled burst of frost that finally secured their prize, freezing the leading team’s grasping hands just long enough for Elliot to claim their own banner cleanly.
"Go, go, go!" Kael urged, already leading the sprint back toward the starting platform.
They crossed the finish line seconds ahead of their nearest competitor, breathless, exhilarated, and—much to Professor Xuyie’s visible, if grudging, approval—having completed the trial in record time.
"Well," Xuyie said, studying the results with something almost resembling a genuine smile. "It appears Team Five has set quite the standard for the remaining trials to follow."
As the team gathered, breathless and triumphant, at the starting platform’s edge, Elliot caught Kael’s eye across the small circle, both of them sharing a quiet, satisfied acknowledgment of exactly how far their fragile alliance had come in such a short time.
"One trial down," Seria said, allowing herself a rare, genuine smile. "Two to go."
Whatever the tournament’s true purpose, Elliot thought, watching his team celebrate together in the arena’s fading morning light, he suspected they’d just proven, decisively, exactly how formidable they’d already become.
Across the arena, high in the observation gallery, the headmaster watched the celebration with quiet, thoughtful satisfaction, his mismatched eyes lingering a moment longer than necessary on the easy, practiced coordination between Elliot and Kael before finally turning away, already considering what the trials still to come might reveal.