Okay, so that wasn't as satisfying as I'd hoped it'd be...I managed to land a couple of solid punches on his face and break his nose, but before I could do much more damage, Seila teleported him out using her expansive blades.

"Hey, just so you know, your face is super easy to read right now," Remarked Mitchell with a wry smile, "You've got a serious violent streak, man."

"Mhm, you looked really happy when you broke his nose," Added Katie from behind me.

"Um, I thought it'd be better to save our energy for the next match, so when I saw an opening, I took it, sorry," Chimed in Seila in an apologetic tone, who was no longer in what I called her 'serious mode'.

"Nah, it's fine, I was acting out of personal interest, after all. The ideal approach is to take them out as soon as possible, I only chose a different approach for my own satisfaction, not because it was a better approach," I replied sheepishly.

"So, uh...how do we get out of...," Mitchell began to ask, before trailing off as we suddenly found ourselves in the Academy training hall, "...here? Never mind."

We were probably teleported back using the collars and the Duel Field's teleportation function.

"Okay, team Tairo vs team Kilzachs, the winner is team Kilzachs," Announced Instructor Satou, before adding, "Although...Kilzachs, I have to give you a warning for going overboard. Pull something like that again and...you'll be in trouble or whatever, I guess."

"Uh, sure...I'll keep that in mind or whatever, I guess," I replied, keeping a straight face.

"Don't get cute with me," He sighed with frown, "Anyway, next is team Zoya vs team Tairo...but since the latter is missing a member, who is currently recovering in the infirmary, team Zoya will have to have one of their members sit out. It'll start in ten minutes."

I'll just cut to the chase...

.

.

.

.

.

Zoya's team won pretty easily, it was her, Taayin and Lin, with Kiran sitting out. The tactic that they opted for was to stick together and take out Asshole's team one by one as a group, and while it was a rather slow process, it was an effective one. There were hidden cameras in the walls of the maze, so we could see them, though we couldn't hear anything...

There's a good chance that, during the first match, Zoya's team would've seen us using my drones...well, not that it matters, knowing about them won't stop me from using them. Anyway, Asshole stormed out of the training hall with a downcast expression the moment he got teleported back, slamming the door shut as he left.

And so, I couldn't help but congratulate the other team when they returned, much to their bemusement.

"Uh...thanks?" Replied Zoya with a bemused look.

"Ignore him, he's just happy that Tairo got humiliated," Sighed Mitchell, rolling his eyes.

"What, is there something wrong with me being happy?" I inquired dryly.

"No, it's more like what makes you happy that's concerning," He replied with a wry smile.

"The blood of my enemies?"

"...it's even more concerning when you put it that way."

"Chill out, I'm just k-," I began to reply.

"This guy totally gets it!" Grinned Taayin, interrupting me, "Nothing like seeing someone you hate bleeding, am I right?"

Admittedly, I can agree with that notion...

"I was...half-kidding," I remarked, avoiding answering the question.

"Just half?" Inquired Zoya with a raised eyebrow.

"Hey, relax, all the grudges I have in this class are in one team, I'm not interested in seeing any of you guys beaten to a bloody pulp," I assured her.

"That's the most violent thing I've ever heard in such a reassuring tone," Chimed in Seila.

"You're totally the type who would threaten someone while giving them a friendly smile," Chuckled Lin with amusement.

Am I? Well, to be fair...

"...I did laugh after I killed my father," I blurted out loud without meaning to.

"Wait, what?"

"Nothing, just a joke."

Fortunately, they seemed to buy that...I need to be more careful, I'm starting to let my guard down around these people when talking to them. They all seem nice enough, but there's no telling whether some of them are just putting on an act or hiding their true colors...I made that mistake with Bytra over five years ago, I'll never make that mistake again.

Still, it's definitely not a bad thing for me to become more socially adept, so I won't do anything to compromise my friendly interactions with them. I do need to be more careful about what I say though.

"Alright, time for the last match," Remarked Instructor Satou with a sigh of relief, "Go on, hurry up and get this over with so that we can all go home."

As always, gotta appreciate his blunt honesty. Anyway, with that, both teams were teleported into the maze, and the fifteen minute countdown began.

"So, we sending out the drones right away this time, right?" Inquired Mitchell, as I brought up my holoscreen.

"Way ahead of you, already working on it," I replied, as four of the drones on my glasses' frame activated and flew off.

"Um, won't they see this coming?" Spoke up Seila with a skeptical look on her face.

"Oh, yeah, they definitely will," I answered with a nod, "They'll know that we'll be watching them, but that's fine...we'll still be able to see them while they can't see us, so we'll have the advantage either way."

"Wonder what kind of an approach they'll opt for this time," Mulled Mitchell, as we watched the drones travel through the map of the maze.

"It's obvious," Responded Katie with a shrug.

Yup.

"Huh? No, it's not! You guys don't think it's obvious either, right?" Inquired Mitchell, turning to stare and Seila and me.

"Um...I don't know, I don't think so," Said Seila awkwardly.

"Kilzachs?"

"Well, I don't know if it's obvious or not, but I have a pretty good idea of how they might choose to approach this...," I replied, before explaining, "Since they know that we'll be aware of their positions, they're highly unlikely to split up...so they'll opt for the same approach as the previous match, to stick together. Which means that we'll have no choice but to do the same. Anyway, my drones should reach their location soon, so we'll be able to confirm it shortly."

"Oh...okay, yeah, that makes sense, it'd be suicide for them to split up since that'd let us pick them off one by one...is that the same explanation as what you claimed is obvious?" Mitchell asked Katie, who nodded in reply, as one of my drones came across the other team.

"Alright, found them...we'll watch them with one drone while the rest are on standby a few meters away...it's easier for me to stay in their blind spots if it's just one drone to control instead of multiple drones."

"Nice, we totally got this in the b-!" Mitchell began to declare, when suddenly, the dim lights on our Duel Field collars switched off and we felt a slight rumble all around us.

Huh? What just happened?

"Did the Duel Field malfunction or something?" Wondered Seila with a worried look on her face.

"If that's the case, we can't fight, it's too risky," Replied Katie, a slight crease of concern on her forehead.

"I'm on it," I responded, activating the speaker function on the drone that I had spying on the other team and speaking into my I-Watch, "Hey, you guys, looks like something's going on with the Duel Field, we better call this off for now and group up for safety."

They looked startled for a moment, before Zoya stood up and nodded after spotting the drone...

"Yeah, we noticed the collars turning off too, we can't fight if the teleportation function isn't working. Let's regroup at the middle of the map, the four-way intersection right here," She said, bringing up her holoscreen, making it visible and pointing to the spot.

"Alright, sounds good, we'll meet you there," I replied, before switching off the I-Watch and turning to the others, "Let's go, guys."

...

It took just a few minutes for us to join up with the other team, before we began discussing what to do now...

"I don't understand why we can't just fight anyway?" Sighed Taayin with a look of disappointment.

"Well, duh, it's because-...," Zoya began to reply with a look of exasperation, before being interrupted by the faint sound of a sudden explosion, followed by the sound of rubble crumbling, the maze shaking slightly again.

No way, that was so loud that even the soundproofed walls of the maze didn't fully muffle it, and the impact was so powerful that we could feel it even though we were all the way in the middle of the maze.

"What...the hell was that?" Remarked Mitchell with a frown.

"That sounded like...an explosion was set off by one of the walls," I replied, taking out my X-Blade handles.

I've got a bad feeling about this...

"What should we do?" Asked Seila with a worried look on her face.

"Let's hide...the explosion sounded like it came from that direction," I said, pointing at the path that was in direction the sound had come from, before continuing as I nodded to the path that was to the left of it, "So let's hide around the corner, I'll use my drones to see what's going on."

The others agreed to my suggestion and we hid along the wall of the path, as I activated all six of my drones and sent them out towards the areas close to where the explosion had come from.

"See anything yet?" Inquired Lin nervously.

"No, not yet, I-...," I started to reply, before trailing off as one of my drones came across a small group of-...

"No way, they made it inside the Sanctuary? But...how!?" Exclaimed Mitchell in a sharp whisper, as my eyes widened in surprise.

This is bad, really, really bad...it was a group of five Wights...

_____________________________________________

Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Don't forget to vote, and feel free to leave a comment, I appreciate any and all feedback and criticism!

Also, check out my Instagram account @aimdaqs for posts relating to this book.

Join the Discord server, I plan to tease upcoming chapters and future story arcs here, and you can also discuss or ask me any questions about the story and characters. Use the invite link to join:

https://discord.gg/sRbx9VbTVP