“So… what do you think about this sudden event, David?” A low voice rang out of the metallic suit of armor standing by the side of David.

“You know me, Entalia. Why ask the obvious?” David sighed in defeat while observing the stage from the VIP seat.

“Is that sarcasm? If I didn’t know any better, you should be the one who is the happiest among us. After all…” Entalia pause and look at Prince Carlos figure standing on the stage discussing with the referee “You were the one who supported prince Carlos the most when he tried to persuade his father to break off the engagement in order to pursue that girl.”

“For god sake, her name is Leila. It is not THAT hard to remember.” David yelled and then he sulked “Yes, I suppose I would be the happiest since this will guarantee that Carlos will succeed as the next King within our kingdom and increase our power greatly with Leila. However…” David change his sight back on the one frail figure on the stage “I have an unpleasant feeling about this supposed “fair” bet”.

Entalia questionably looked at the stage “Are you sure you are not overthinking yourself? We both have witnessed the whole process and we have not seen anything unusual so far.”

David shook his head and sighed again “Yes… nothing unusual so far.” While simultaneously thinking about the “Handicap” that Elisa had given to the Prince when they made the agreement “Maybe I am overthinking it.”

Entalia pat David’s shoulder “Relax yourself. We are not dealing with anyone exceptional in this school here. We are dealing with a lovesick idiot young woman who has the worst talent and therefore unsuited to be the bride of our Prince. She just happens to be a Duke’s daughter and get to bind our prince with a marriage contract.” Entalia scratching his helmet with his finger trying to remember something “I believe that was what you said to the King when we were in his private chamber, correct?”

David nodded silently and fix himself to be more comfortable in his luxurious chair “You’re right. No need to overthinking this matter. Even in the worst-case scenario, we are not losing anything important. I do not need to beat myself over it.”

Entalia chuckled “That’s the spirit. Now, instead of worrying about a trivial matter, why don’t you focus on the actual problems after the Prince won?”

“Hold that thought.” David motion Entalia to stop when something unbelievable happening on the stage.

“Cough cough” Maria coughed loudly inside the dusted smoke created by the Prince’s fiery attack. “Seem like the protection doesn’t include breathing air” Maria thought to herself “Well, it is not that bad I suppose” As she felt completely fine after the attack.

Contrary to Maria casual action of checking her body, Carlos was shocked.

“How?” Carlos was sure that was a direct hit from his attack. He was confused but just for a moment before he prepped the second attack. This time, unlike the first attempt where he just threw his attack in Maria's general direction, he concentrated and created a fiery spear out of thin air in just a second and threw it toward Maria with great force.

“Cough cough…” and like the first attack, Maria stood unharmed.

“…”

It was a deadly silent compared to the lively atmosphere just a few seconds ago.

“Wha... What did you do? Hey referee, was there someone outside helping her?” Carlos shouted.

“No, there is no one interfering with the match aside from you and her, Prince Carlos. If you are confused, why don’t you try hitting her harder.” Odius talked to Carlos through the voice amplifier while looking at Maria in amusement.

Hearing the mockery in Odius’s tone, Carlos was angry, but he knew that the referee was right to be mocking him. After all, a referee has no business in helping him analyzed the battle situation. He only has himself to blame for asking a stupid question. And so, Carlos relaxed and rethink the whole situation. The situation on the stage was awkward without Carlos yelling and attacking but it only lasted for a few minutes.

“So, you came prepared, huh? I don’t know what you did but I will still be the winner in the end.” Carlos raised both of his hands. Within his palm rise a small flame that grew larger and larger as time passed.

To Maria, that small flame was insignificant than the last two attacks. However, as time trickle down, that small and insignificant flame had grown tremendously. As the flame grew in size and intensity, it also changed the surrounding. The air that was cool and calm just a moment ago now raging along with the flame as if threatening to engulf everything. Even Maria, in her confidence that nothing could go wrong with her supposed “Invincibility” fairy’s protection, felt a bit nervous. She started to falter and tried to ask for backup from the Advisor in her head but to her surprise and disappointment, no response came. “This might get bad?” Maria thought to herself.

“Ignite!” As the prince yelled, the flame that obediently lay on his hand transformed instantly and engulfed everything standing on the stage. The raging flame that filled the barrier sketched to heaven and continue to burn for a good amount of time before it died down and revealed the two figured still standing on the stage. One of them belonged to Carlos, who is now on his knee, breathing heavily. The other was, of course, Maria, who is currently covering her face with her hands as if expecting them to do something better than a shield.

Despite the odd pose that Maria was currently doing, she survived unscathed which riled up the crowd after the long silence. Carlos on the other hand, look grimly at the opponent that he had looked down before. He understood the situation perfectly. He had lost. Even though there was still some time left before the match end, he could not create another attack that was stronger than the previous in his current state. The attack had eaten up all of his strength in order to fuel the burning flame. This is it, his first defeat in this Academy. He has imagined all the ways that he will taste defeat when enrolling at this Academy but never in his wildest dream would he get defeated by the one that is not even on his list. Rage, unreconciled, and shame filled Carlos for a while before it was forcefully suppressed by a voice from inside his head “What’s the matter, Prince Carlos? Why don’t you stand up and fight?”

“Huh? Who are you?” Carlos reflexively asked.

“Oh, you already forgot about me. I guess I will be punished you later. Right now, let me lend you a hand.”

The mysterious voice was familiar to Carlos but before he has time to think or ask, he found himself unable to control his body. With just a few simple actions, Carlos’s “body” created a flaming spear out of his hand and throw it toward Maria at incredible speed. Maria, who was slowly uncovering her hand to see the situation, was greeted with a spear flying at Mach speed. It sent her flying into the air, out of the stage, and crashed into the wall to the spectator seats.

The sudden turn of the event caused an uproar to the crowd. No one among the crowd expected Carlos to win after seeing Maria withstand the barrage of attacks unscathed. Yet, Carlos was able to effectively push Maria with an attack that looked pale in comparison to all of the previous attacks. Everyone was dumbfounded. However, the silence was lifted when Odius announced the winner.

“Due to Prince Carlos violation of the rule, Elisa is the winner of the match!!!”