Caeden wasn’t happy about it, but his prediction proved correct. The islanders and family members obliterated the few continental students among them. The continentals had no gear to speak of, so they went into fights as they had the previous round. Meanwhile, the islanders, and especially the family members, were pulling out infused weapons and armor without a thought.

It was galling, seeing the same trick he had pulled on Ander being used by everyone else. Caeden was uniquely aware of how much difference properly infused equipment could make. Ether had a strange ability to interfere with shrouds when correctly infused into a material, and that showed here in spades.

Funnily enough, both Cat and Erik were spared having to deal with it as they fought each other. Neither had gear, so their match was just a repeat of all the sparring they had been doing. Erik actually treated it that way, giving further instruction as Cat did her best to invade the goofball while he repeatedly tied her spectral soldiers to each other, making them hit each other with their own weapons, and generally made her attacks look like a joke. If it wasn’t Erik doing it, Caeden would swear he was purposefully trying to humiliate Cat because his own skill made all her attacks look invariably pathetic. He was lucky she wouldn’t give two shits what the crowd up in the observation room thought.

The rest of the matches were either islanders casually cutting through every attack thrown their way and forcing surrender at the end of a weapon or fights that devolved into a display of martial skill. Caeden and Lily had agreed after discussing Caeden’s duel with her brother; at their current level, a weapon was more of a threat than anything they could do with their shrouds.

“What’s your plan?” Caeden couldn’t help asking as they watched two islanders fight it out. One used a spear and shield while the other had a hook on a stick. Caeden didn’t know the technical term. He wasn’t sure why he asked since he and Lily had been refining their strategies for ranking day the entire week.

Lily noticed, giving him an incredulous look.

“Sorry, I think watching all this is making me nervous. Maybe I should have taken some weapon lessons.” Caeden clenched his hands. Something about this situation, knowing he was going into a fight with a disadvantage he had created, irked him.

“Don’t fall into that thinking.” Lily lightly slapped his arm. “Trust yourself more. We worked through every scenario we could come up with, and this isn’t even that wild. Focusing on the basics was a good idea. You don’t really think you could have learned enough about any one of the weapons you can use to be useful now, do you? Maybe against the average islander, sure. But the time you would have put into that was better spent doing what you did. What we did.”

“I know you’re right.” Caeden nodded, “Putting death on the table has me worried, though. Adding weapons to that makes it so much worse. I guess it’s making me second guess our plans.”

“Yes, it is a bit nerve-wracking.” Lily laughed a bit. “The Academy is crazy. I can’t believe they would let the families' scions die in a sparring match.”

“Do you think…” A thought jumped into Caeden’s mind.

“No,” Lily followed along. “There’s no way they’re faking. I’m sure my brother came knowing what was going on, just like he knew about everything else. It just goes to show how much prestige and political pull the Academy has. I knew people were careful in matters that involved the school, but this is next level. Besides, even if they were lying and they wouldn’t let students kill each other, it's not like we can confirm it. Are you going to bet on that being true with your life on the line?”

Caeden snorted. “I would act like my opponent was going to kill me even if the teacher explicitly stated he would stop any deathblows. It’s not worth the risk.”

“Exactly.” Lily clapped her hands and pointed at Caeden. “That’s what I’m talking about. We can’t treat it like they’re lying anyway.”

The whole time they were having this conversation, a very different one was occurring behind them.

“I’m just saying, when she does that spear lunge, it really makes her butt pop. Even with the robes.” Cat spoke as if imparting great wisdom.

“Absolutely. Spears are where it's at. That or whips, but that’s a different conversation.” Erik nodded solemnly.

Lily sighed. “Why are we friends with either of you?”

Caeden nodded. “Sometimes, I’m deeply disappointed in myself for letting this happen.”

“Aww, you know you love us.” Erik wrapped his arms around Caeden’s shoulders while Cat mimicked him with Lily.

“Yeah, you can’t hate us. It’s not our fault the two of you are repressed.” Cat played along.

“Having a serious conversation about the life and death battles we’re fighting does not make us repressed.” Lily protested.

“You know what that is?” Erik looked to Cat.

“Sounds like something a repressed person would say.” She nodded.

“Liliana Meteoris!”

“Oh, thank the Shroud.” Lily tossed Cat’s arms from around her shoulders. “Have fun with them.”

Caeden shook his head. “I refuse.”

{}

Lily headed down to the arena, contemplating how to handle this fight. Her opponent was Bronze affiliated and likely from a family, though she didn’t recognize him. Not that she knew many people from other families. She remembered his previous match. He could be either an object or a modifier. His attacks produced some kind of energy, which made it hard to tell which of the two he was. Nothing about the fight had given any strong indicators. Either way, he seemed to produce heat.

It was a bad matchup for her. Ice was her main offense. She had gained some new offensive options when Caeden evolved Fog into Cloud, but those were unpracticed and better left as last resorts. She had been running concealment sense all day, so he probably would underestimate her, but the domain disadvantage would be difficult to overcome. Not to mention he was using both weapons and armor.

He had a longsword and small buckler that looked designed more for parrying over blocking. That led her to believe his overall fighting style would be more agility-focused. His previous match had been over quickly and mostly involved him throwing waves of heat at an unskilled continental, so he hadn’t pulled out any real tricks. That left her in the dark for the most part.

Beyond the sword and shield, which were both made of some red-infused metal that gave the impression of flames in the sheen off their surface, he was wearing a minimal amount of armor. Just a helmet with no faceguard and a few plates covering his vitals. His Bronze Seat emblem was still proudly on display, moved so that it could be seen around the armor.

Lily’s investigative sense placed his IP beneath hers at 2,150. She didn’t think he was using concealment, but she wasn’t as good at telling as Caeden was. She had to hope he wasn’t because his IP was already dangerously close to hers. Honestly, his equipment closed that gap and then some. Lily would be fighting on the back foot this entire time. Luckily, she had some leeway.

Remembering the rules that were stated before this ranking day started, Lily manifested her Ice shroud before the match began and started making herself some armor and a dagger. Since this round allowed for any assets to be used, she could start making items with her shroud while she was still protected from reprisal. It wouldn’t be a match for her opponent’s infused equipment, but it would help.

All the work Lily had put in over the last couple of weeks had gone to refining the strategy she had used against Caeden. Everything she had done in the previous two rounds amounted to flexing her shroud and overwhelming her opponents with raw power. A lot of that time had been spent learning to make reinforced ice quickly and efficiently. When she first started using her Ice splinter, it had taken Lily several minutes to do what she now did in only one. Her armor was actually close to the Bronze student’s, with several plates frozen to her robes in key locations. She was happy that her shroud essentially nullified the chill she would normally feel from having plates of ice attached to her clothes; otherwise, this would be extremely uncomfortable.

The boy across from her was actually smirking, watching as she made her own equipment. She knew his type well. Most family members were arrogant and dismissive of anyone they saw as beneath them. She was really hoping to wipe that smirk off his face, but this was going to be an uphill battle no matter how she looked at it.

“Ready, begin!”

Immediately, Lily swapped splinters, using Cloud to flood the entire room with fog. She was grateful that making fog was still within her domain, since fog was just a specific type of cloud. Plus, her evolution had taken her normal capabilities and boosted them dramatically. She created an explosion of fog, covering every inch of the 50-foot length of the arena in seconds.

The first part of her strategy complete, Lily shifted to the next, drawing her shroud into herself, something she had an unreasonable amount of practice pulling off. Now she was just another patch of fog. The only distinguishing factor was her ice, which she cloaked in concealment to complete the disappearing act. She used her shroud's inherent ability to interact with its domain to covertly spy on her enemy, who hadn’t moved. He seemed confused, which was good.

Then things started to go wrong.

The man got over his confusion quickly, his expression shifting back to amusement. He placed the tip of his word on the ground in front of him and spoke. “Heat Wave.”

Instantly, intense heat radiated off of his entire body, evaporating all the fog within two or three feet of him. The likelihood of Lily being able to sneak up on him dropped dramatically. He wasn’t done, though. He raised his sword in front of himself, placing his off hand against the blade. “Burning Blade.” The air around the blade warped and moved with the oven-like heat rolling off the edge. He then held the significantly more dangerous weapon in a ready pose, waiting.

“You best come out soon.” He spoke up after a moment. “You wouldn’t like it if I forced you out, I promise you. If you willingly show yourself, I’m willing to engage in an honest duel with you. If you force my hand, I won’t be so kind.”

What the fuck is wrong with this guy? Lily couldn’t help the thought. He was such a dweeb, saying the name of his techniques out loud, talking about duels. Like any fight between them would be on even terms. He was armed with actual weapons while she was holding a chunk of magic ice. It wasn’t exactly a fair fight.

Unfortunately, he had killed Lily’s normal strategy before it got off the ground. Thinking quickly, she figured taking him up on his offer was her best shot of pulling a win out of a crap situation. He was apparently trying to uphold some weird chivalric code, and Lily intended to abuse that. So she pulled all the fog in the room back to herself, returning to an uninfused form. Changing splinters to Ice, Lily started creating her own sword.

“Fine, I’ll take you up on that duel.” She nodded toward him. “If you’ll give me a moment to prepare.”

“Of course,” He nodded imperiously, “You were not expecting a duel; it's only fair.”

Whatever weirdo. Lily kept from rolling her eyes. Did he think this was some kind of make-believe with knights and princesses? They were supposed to beat each other by any means necessary. He was handicapping himself for no reason. She appreciated the honesty and attempt at fairness, but it came across as deeply condescending right now.

Lily advanced with a sword in one hand and a knife in the other. “Ready when you are.”

“Indeed, come at me!” He whipped his blade into a ready position.

What followed was an absolute mess. Lily had enhanced her body as best she could and just went on the offensive. She was not a swordswoman. This fight was so far outside her element that it wasn’t even funny. Her first lunging swing was deflected by the man’s shield, causing her to overextend past him, her lunge carrying her forward without the resistance a solid hit would have afforded.

He followed up with a sweeping attack of his own, coming in low and up toward her face. Now her ill-planned lunge saved her, as she was inside the range of his blade, limiting its impact. It would have cut up into her side, but she defected it over her shoulder with her knife. That brief contact melted part of the blade, making it essentially useless for its original purpose, namely stabbing this guy in the throat.

Lily diverted part of her attention to trying to reform the blade, and another part to trying to counteract the heat of his weapon. It was too much at once, and she had to drop the second task in favor of getting her knife back quickly.

Meanwhile, the dork jumped back, apparently figuring out that letting Lily get in close was a bad idea. She got the impression that he wasn’t all that good with a blade himself, but he had at least a little training, which put him above her. The momentum of her lunge wasn’t gone, so Lily just decided to go with it. If he wanted space, she wouldn’t give him space. In fact…

Lily reached out with her shroud and let most of her sword fall away, leaving her with two knives. Using a sword with no training was stupid. Knives were simple; pointy ends go in, blood comes out. She followed her opponent's retreat, not letting him get away. Coming at his throat with both her knives while still inside the range of his longsword.

Seeing her coming, his expression shifted to panic. Waving a hand between them, he yelled out, “Nova!” Searing heat blasted all around him, right into Lily’s face. She had a moment of abject terror and fell into old habits without thinking. Before she knew it, Lily was ten feet away in fog form. She had changed splinters without thinking. Her attacker had followed and now had his sword leveled at her throat. Her daggers were gone, melted in the heat.

“Damn.” Lily raised her hands in the air.

{}

“You nearly had him.” Caeden offered up as Lily returned to her seat. It had been a hard fight to watch, what with the fog and then the close melee. Up until the very end, it looked like Lily was about to pull off an implausible victory. Her opponent's domain was a bad matchup, and he was carrying infused weapons and armor. It was a crap fight from the beginning. He told Lily as much.

“I blanked out at the end. I might have brought it back otherwise.” Lily frowned.

“Don’t let it get to you.” Cat patted Lily on the back. “You did great.”

“Hmm,” Lily didn’t respond, merely letting the moment pass.

They weren’t able to get Lily out of her funk, and not long after, Caeden was called for his own fight against Juliette Ursine. Caeden had a strong feeling he would have to be very quick to surrender if it came to that, based on the death glare he was getting. Juliette was decked out head to toe in chainmail and plate armor. The only thing missing from the whole ensemble was a faceguard. All of it was in a luminescent jade with detailed filigree. It was obviously an expensive and carefully crafted work. The part that had Caeden worried were the clawed gauntlets. The claws were nearly six inches long, much bigger than the standard.

She didn’t try to talk to him, for which Caeden was grateful. Dealing with false accusations from someone who had no interest in believing him was not on his list of fun things to do. Instead, they both made their way to the arena in complete silence and squared up across from each other. At this point, Caeden pulled out Forged Infinity. He wasn’t sure what his best option was to deal with his current opponent. Her previous match had involved her curb-stomping her opponent based on invasion alone, which was impressive in and of itself, but he doubted she would go that route this time.

Considering her lack of weapons, Caeden went for the safe option. With a click, the dial rolled to 004, and Forged Infinity made several loud clunking sounds as it expanded into an eight-foot-long militia spear with a leaf-shaped head. Distance would likely be to his advantage.

That proved true as the start was called, and Juliette grew into a giant bear.

Caeden was sure it was some monstrous variety with jade green fur shot through with gold accents. Her armor had expanded to suit her now ten-foot frame, and the previously six-inch clawed gauntlets were much closer to a foot and a half. Caeden quickly maximized his Physical Enhancement and readied his spear.

Juliette roared, causing the air to shake with the force of it. Then she dropped on all fours and charged right at him.

Like a flash, Caeden had a moment of clarity. What the fuck am I doing? I have an armed and armored ten-foot magic bear coming at me that wants to murder me. I have fucking spear. This is dumb.

Taking a step back, Caeden raised his hand. “I surrender.”

The look of abject disappointment on the colossal ball of fur and death let him know he had made the right choice.