The first thing I noticed after school was the number of adults in the academy grounds. They walked in groups around the campus, and I could hear some of them reminiscing about their days at the academy.

“I don’t think half these people actually studied here.” William remarked as we walked towards the arena. “They’re bragging about something that didn’t happen.”

He jerked his thumb towards a particularly loud gentleman in a green robe.

“That guy came to my birthday, he was a plus one, and I know for a fact that he went to Illima academy. A perfectly fine school, no need to lie about it.”

I looked at the man in question and he didn’t look familiar.

Amanda’s father had invited a lot more people to attend the match than I had thought. My impression had been that the match would be watched by students, and then recorded for others to see later on.

I was wrong.

Several nobles were in attendance, and a few people that I could see in business suits.

“I never asked, but what business does Amanda’s father run?” I watched the adults walk by us.

Every noble family got to their positions through a combination of business acumen and raw power. A lot had inherited their wealth from ancestors that had created a business that became profitable, usually during the frontier days of the city.

“They supply heaters and fire magic to frontier towns.” William raised his head towards the dome. “Fire magicians that can condense magic into beads are rare. Young fire magicians that have time to practice the skill and improve it are rarer. It’s a huge benefit for their family that their bloodline provides that ability. People need sources of fire on the frontier, especially the soldiers.”

I recalled the six beads of fire that Amanda used in our matches.

I didn’t know that they were raw fire. I’d thought they were an ability of some kind, activatable only by her.

“But her dad isn’t a bloodline inheritor, right?” I frowned. “And Amanda doesn’t spend her time making them.”

“She has a grandfather.” William raised an eyebrow at me. “Their company also focuses on hiring people with that ability. They’re one of the biggest sources of fire magic in the country. Maybe even the continent.”

“I didn’t realise fire was such a big source of money.”

I thought about the magic that Amanda had shown me in our battles.

Each bead held a small cyclone of mana within it. I could see why that would appeal to soldiers that had to travel light and fight deadly creatures.

We walked through the doors of the dome and into the front lobby.

“Andross!” I heard a melodic voice call my name out.

I turned towards the source and saw Roxxy waving at me. She wasn’t alone. Cresp was beside her, and an older man looked over at me curiously.

He had a silver mask at his side, three eyes carved into it.

He was a Zodiac employee.

Roxxy saw my glances and grinned.

“This is our dad.” She hooked the man into our conversation with a one-armed hug. “He works with me at the Zodiac branch.”

The man gave me an awkward smile and I shot one back at him. I could see waves of water mana emanating from his body into the air, gliding across his robes gracefully.

Then the man’s eyes glimmered in recognition.

“Andross Silver?” He asked.

“Yes, sir.” I tilted my head.

Had we met before?

“I was one of the people that looked over your library permit application.” He held his hand out towards me. “Congratulations. I’m glad to see you’re putting it to good use.”

“Thank you, sir.” I shook his hand.

“Nonsense, your application was more than reasonable considering your contributions to the company.” His lips curved into a smile. “Roxxy says you’re quite talented. You’re working with our symbols department, right? I’d love to hear all about it.”

My eyes gleamed but before we could continue our conversation Roxxy coughed, and I saw her rolling her eyes.

Cresp had a light smile on his face as he viewed his sister’s antics.

“Dad, you can’t go around bringing work into every conversation.” She tugged at his robes with puppy-dog eyes. “Mum already does that enough when we see her.”

“Okay, okay.” Her dad chuckled and raised his hands up in surrender. “We’ll have to talk afterwards about business matters.”

He winked at me as Roxxy led him away. Cresp gave us a small wave and followed behind them.

I turned towards William.

“Why didn’t they say hi to you?” I frowned. “Also, I didn’t know that Cresp and Roxxy were siblings.”

They looked slightly different, with Cresp having tougher features and brown hair, compared to Roxxy’s blond and athletic figure.

“It’s a matter of rank.” William didn’t mind. “They’re afraid of insulting me, especially her father because my dad is his boss’s boss.”

“Oh, I get it.”

My dad was the same. When he was speaking to William’s father, I’d seen his skin trembling underneath his clothes.

“Does that mean I should be careful around you? Technically you outrank me.”

“You can’t be serious.” William saw my joking grin and rolled his eyes.

We walked through the entryway and made a beeline for the front row seats. The main arena had been set up for the day, and I could see that a lot of the venue had transformed to accommodate more people.

There were even a couple of VIP boxes on either side of the room.

The academy had gone all out for the occasion.

We found a couple of empty seats towards the back end of the dome, underneath one of the VIP boxes.

“Do you not need to be giving Amanda emotional support right now?” William glanced towards the nearby entrances into the arena grounds. “I can’t imagine her family is supporting her.”

“Where do you think Gold is?” I tapped my empty shoulder. “Amanda wanted a bit of quiet time, but I wasn’t going to let her and Agni be alone.”

I’d considered waiting with her, but she’d insisted on meditating before the match.

She wanted her mind to be in a perfect state for when she and Agni transformed. The clearer her head was, the easier it was for the two of them to manoeuvre.

Gold was there to calm down Agni as Amanda meditated.

“They’re half siblings.” William’s voice was soft compared to the conversations of the stands.

“Who?” I looked around us.

There was nobody nearby.

“Roxxy and Cresp. You asked about them earlier.” William gestured with his thumb towards the dome entrance. “Roxxy’s mother is a director at Zodiac. She works in a similar position to my dad, but in the animal and monster oversight department.”

“Her mum is a gold mask?” That surprised me.

There weren’t many of those around.

“And a connection magician to boot.” William pursed his lips. “I don’t believe she’s a family person.”

“Look at us gossiping about our classmates. I say we get to know them first-hand, are you coming on Crijik?” I leaned back into the chair.

“I wasn’t invited.” William stated expressionlessly. “Alexis and I do not get along… swimmingly. I believe he still thinks I was born lucky. In some ways, he is right.”

I remembered the shredded painting in Alexis’ study.

“That was a dumb question.” I narrowed my eyes at the arena.

The first time I’d come here was when I’d seen Alexis losing to William. Now the second fight I saw would be between another one of my friends and Alexis.

My heart was hoping that I would see an upset victory with Amanda winning.

She was by far the underdog in this fight, with her brother's experience in fighting compounded with his new bloodline awakening. He was good at fighting in close range, and at long range due to his bows.

If people were betting on the outcome, then they were betting on Alexis.

“Do you think Amanda has a chance?” William asked.

He leaned forward as staff members started to direct people towards the seating area.

The fight would begin soon, and I could see various nobles chatting among each other amicably. They were here to make connections and watch two bloodline inheritors fight each other.

It was both business and entertainment for them.

“She’s strong.” I clasped my hands together, feeling the tension in them.

“But?” William probed.

“But I have no baseline of how strong everyone else is to compare her to.” I gestured towards the students around us. “After two fights I don’t know how strong I am, let alone how strong everyone else is. I could be the weakest on the totem pole.”

“That’s certainly not true.” William crossed his arms. “I would say I am the best among the first years.”

He spoke without shame, and I could see a grin at the edge of his lips.

“Humble.” I spoke. “Where does that leave me?”

“If you have continued improving at the same pace, then that would leave you in the upper ranks of Koshima.” William tapped my shoulder and I saw he had equipped his gemstone glove. “Have you continued your fighting practice?”

I nodded.

It was part of the arrangements I had with them, even though I was a scriber section employee.

I was only lacking one on one practice, which was no longer an issue for me.

Not once in the past year had I stopped practising and training my abilities and skills. I’d only grown stronger in time, but even then, I’d still lost to Amanda during our second fight.

“The Mitra household is famous for their fighting prowess.” William’s tone was firm. “You are not weak. They are simply strong.”

Amanda and Alexis had the same background and starting position. I could only hope that Amanda would think of a way to win.

A murmur rose from the crowd as everyone was finally seated. There were fewer students than when William and Alexis had fought. Clearly Amanda’s father’s advertisement was effective.

The chatter died down as the symbols of the arena began to glow bright orange around us.

A small shadow appeared over my eyes, and I heard the flapping of wings. I raised my arm and Gold landed on it, hopping onto my shoulder, and chirping in my ear.

It sounded like good news.

He didn’t move towards the symbols to examine them this time, because there were too many people around us.

Some of them were already giving him passing glances. Magic animals weren’t rare, but Gold wasn’t obviously magical in the same way that Agni and Harpo were.

My eyes scanned the arena entrances.

A familiar face appeared, walking out of the back passage of the dome, and moving towards one of the VIP boxes.

Amanda’s father.

As he made his way towards his seat, a footstep resounded across the arena, boosted by magic.

Our heads turned as one towards the sound, and I saw a figure veiled by fire mana making its way towards the arena.

Step by step it travelled through the entrance and onto the soft sand threshold of the battlefield. I turned my mana sense off and saw the person behind the magic.

It was Alexis.

He had a humble expression on his face, and bowed politely to the crowd, earning him a respectful clap and a couple of cheers.

He had changed out of his uniform and into sporty clothes for easy maneuverability.

I looked over to the cheerers and saw Hutton and Cresp clapping their hands together with smiles on their faces.

He was acting differently compared to when he had fought William. He was trying to earn brownie points and show himself off to his future business partners and social circle socialites.

Then there was another footstep.

Alexis paused at the sound and stood up straight. He turned to face the other side of the arena.

The entrance lit up with a brilliant golden glow, waves of flames brushing over it and washing into the arena.

They crossed over into the stands and I saw a couple of the students raise their hands defensively.

I smiled.

Amanda didn’t have to worry about appearances, she only needed to focus on the fight.

Through the light at the entrance, I saw her figure emerge, wreathed in flames and golden wings sprouting from her back.

She had changed into a robe that glimmered crimson, patterns lighting up over its side and shimmering red against the golden light.

It was a battle uniform I had never seen her wear before.

Amanda strode confidently towards the centre of the battlefield, her brother moving to join her. They stepped towards each other and then kept a respectful distance, each one staring at their opponent carefully.

There was a flash of red and a figure appeared in the middle of the arena between the two siblings. A woman in a robe with a strict expression, grey hair tumbling in waves over her ears.

I recognised her from one of the times I had gone to pick up Amanda for a lunch break.

She ran the fire magic studies classes.

“Alexis Mitra. Amanda Mitra.”

The professor’s lips tightened into a line.

“Are you both aware of the rules of the duel?”

They nodded.

“Good.”

The teacher disappeared; a small puff of flames left in her place.

Amanda and Alexis made their ways to the opposite sides of the arena.

“The fight will begin in five… four…”

I saw Amanda’s fingers curl into fists.

“One…”

Alexis’s floating bows appeared beside him, aimed at his sister.

“Fight!”