Aurora's voice cut through the nervous chatter behind me as I studied the parchment in my hands. The rules were laid out in crisp, formal text:
COMPETITION RULES
- Each castle contains an object worth 100 points when captured or destroyed.
- Destroying the entire enemy castle rewards 250 points on top of the 100.
- Capturing enemy team members rewards 15 points each.
- Captured members are freed after the sign up time for the next challenge concludes, and cannot be captured again or make any captures for half an hour.
- Challenges will be announced every 30 minutes, with the final challenge at 19:00.
- Completing a challenge rewards 25 points to both participating teams, with an extra 25 points for the team with the best score.
- Challenges last 30 minutes. With 15 minutes for sign up of the teams and 15 minutes for the challenge itself.
- Challenge zones are safe zones during their 30-minute duration plus an additional 15 minutes.
- Competitors may not leave their castle's general area until the first challenge is announced (30 minutes from start).
- Competitors may not leave a challenge zone early once the challenge has started.
Good luck to all competitors.
I read through the point system again, trying to understand the optimal strategy. The numbers made the intent clear: aggressive play was heavily rewarded. Capturing objectives or destroying castles was the fastest path to victory.
The math was brutal. Defensive play would lose you the competition. You had to attack, had to take risks, had to engage.
"The Prince won't wait," Aurora said, her gaze fixed on the castle entrance. "He'll siege us the moment the restrictions lift. We need to be prepared."
"I'm on it!" Mira was already at work, drawing complex magical circles on the walls with what appeared to be luminescent blue paint. The patterns were intricate, layered, clearly the work of someone who'd done this before.
Nico was nowhere to be seen. Or felt. I looked around but couldn't locate him anywhere. Wherever he'd gone, I wouldn't find him unless he wanted to be found.
Aurora began distributing assignments, directing students to defensive positions. Most were tasked with reinforcing the castle's defenses. As minutes passed, lower-ranked students helped Mira strengthen her barrier seals while the higher-ranked ones used their own specialties—enchanting equipment, scrying the surrounding terrain, or preparing combat spells.
Erick remained in his corner throughout all of this, lying on the floor with his hands behind his head, completely relaxed. He might as well have been napping in a field somewhere. Aurora seemed to deliberately ignore his existence, her gaze passing over him without acknowledgment whenever she turned to survey the room.
She approached me last, her expression serious.
"Kai. I need you to help me." Her voice was commanding. The tone of someone who'd never considered that orders could be refused.
"Okay," I said, straightening up instinctively.
"The Prince has two primary targets in this competition: myself and you." She spoke like it was a true fact, as she was discussing weather. "If I'm visible on the field, he'll pursue me directly and attempt a duel. We cannot afford that risk. Not yet."
I saw where this was going, and I didn't like it one bit.
"So I need you to act as bait. You'll leave before me and head toward the first challenge location. He'll want to face you directly after what happened with Mary. This will allow me to move freely while his attention is occupied."
"So I'm supposed to just... let myself get captured?" I asked, wanting absolute clarity.
"Ideally, you'd evade him long enough to reach the challenge zone, but yes. Even if you're captured, it accomplishes the objective." She paused. "You'll only need to do this once. After you're freed, the Prince will recognize the strategy and it won't work again."
I hated the idea. Every part of me rebelled against deliberately walking into a trap. But refusing would undermine Aurora's plan and potentially cost the entire team.
"I guess I can do that," I said, trying to sound more confident than I felt.
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"Good. I'm counting on you." She said it simply, but something in her tone felt more genuine than her earlier commands. Like this actually mattered to her.
She returned to coordinating defenses, leaving me to my thoughts.
I had time before we could leave the castle area. Time to think about rules.
My first instinct was obvious: 'The Prince cannot beat me in battle.' But that was just asking for trouble. The universe might interpret "beat" in unexpected ways, or create circumstances where I won in an absurd way.
'I cannot be beaten in battle' had similar problems. What if he used an unavoidable attack and I just tanked it through my rule? That would draw way too much attention.
Anything involving not being found or running away risked him giving up and going after Aurora instead, which would ruin her entire strategy.
I needed something that looked accidental. Something that appeared to be luck rather than power. Something that would keep me from being captured without making it obvious I was cheating.
I smiled despite my frustration. This was all pride, really. Getting captured would just be a minor inconvenience, I'd be freed after the next challenge. But the mental image of the Prince's smug expression after defeating me made the idea completely intolerable.
I thought for several minutes, turning possibilities over in my mind. Nothing fit all the criteria. There was no perfect solution that accounted for everything.
"There is no battle that can't be won when you're a mage."
Aurora's voice was softer this time, almost gentle. She was looking directly at me. Had I lost control of my mana for a moment? Or had she just noticed my anxious expression?
But her words resonated. I was still a mage, even if barely. A confrontation with the Prince wasn't completely hopeless, even without a guaranteed-win rule written beforehand. Magic missiles might be pathetic, but they existed. I had options beyond my reality-writing.
The thought made me relax slightly. I didn't need to plan for every possibility. I just needed to be adaptable.
When the preparation time ended, the Director's voice boomed across the field, seemingly coming from everywhere at once.
"COMPETITORS, THE FIRST CHALLENGE WILL BEGIN IN FIFTEEN MINUTES."
To my surprise, the announcement seemed to wake Erick. He rolled to his feet with casual grace, stretched once, and started walking toward the exit without waiting for the Director to finish speaking.
"The first challenge will test precision and magical control," the voice continued. "Three students from each team are to assemble at the marked location in the hills to the northeast. The challenge will begin in fifteen minutes."
Aurora turned to address the room. "Nico, begin scouting operations. Everyone else remains inside until I give the order."
She completely ignored Erick's departure, acting as if he simply didn't exist. I wondered if that bothered him or if he preferred being ignored.
Then she looked at me. "Kai, you can leave first."
"Alright." I headed for the door, trying to project confidence I didn't quite feel.
The morning air was crisp and cool when I stepped outside, carrying the smell of grass and distant trees. The competition field stretched out before me in all its artificial variety.
Even scanning the terrain carefully, I couldn't see any sign of Nico or Erick. They'd both vanished completely, which was probably the point.
Looking toward the hills to the northeast, I could see the challenge location. It had a small but bright spotlight hung in the air above a cleared area, visible even in daylight.
I took a deep breath and began walking at a steady pace. Not running since that would look too much like fleeing. Just walking like I had every right to be here.
My eyes swept the landscape constantly, trying to spot the enemy before they spotted me. Every shadow looked suspicious. Every rustle of grass made me tense.
It wasn't difficult to find them.
When I started going uphill, I saw them. About twenty students, all moving in an organized formation toward our castle. They were still maybe five hundred meters away, but moving with purpose.
For a brief moment, I felt tempted to write a rule ensuring our castle's safety. Something like 'Mira's barriers cannot be broken' or 'Our castle cannot fall.' But the thought felt wrong somehow. Like it would be insulting to Mira and everyone working so hard on those defenses. They'd prepared. They knew what they were doing. Adding my cheat to their genuine effort felt... disrespectful.
I turned to face forward, toward the challenge location, and my heart stopped.
The Prince sat at the top of the next hill, maybe a hundred meters ahead, clearly visible against the sky. His white uniform was pristine, untouched. His spear rested casually on his shoulder. He was looking directly at me with a smile that made my skin crawl. Not angry. Not even hostile. Just... satisfied. Like everything was going exactly as he'd planned.
How did he get there so fast?
I'd taken the shortest path from our castle, practically a straight line. Even if he'd sprinted at full speed the moment restrictions were lifted, he shouldn't have been able to reach that position before me.
I stopped walking, my mind racing through options.
Running was useless since it would ruin the plan. Trying to fight was even more useless unless I wanted to end up embarrassed and captured. And I'd already decided against writing a creative rule.
It was time to improvise with the pathetic tools I actually had.
I took a deep breath, forcing my panic down, and started walking toward the Prince again. Each step felt heavier than the last, but I kept my pace steady, my posture as confident as I could manage.
If I was going to be bait, I might as well be convincing bait.
The Prince's smile widened as I approached.
But in my mind, a plan formed, and I also smiled.