The students who watched the match between Team 15 and Team 16 could not stop talking. The fight they just saw was much more exciting than anyone had guessed.

  The very first arrow attack was especially amazing.

  Even though it was hard to use that kind of combined superpower attack over and over, it definitely caught everyone's attention.

  Changing the arrow's path, making fake copies, and controlling its speed. An attack combining these three powers was incredibly dangerous. The arrow's flight path shifted, it split into multiple illusions, and the sudden speed change ruined the timing for a block.

  If it had been anyone else, they probably would not have been able to defend against it at all.

  However, Serena Sterling swung her spear perfectly. It was almost like she already knew what was coming. She easily knocked away the real arrow hiding among the fakes.

  Was it because she was the descendant of Alexander Sterling, the Spear ? The students looked at Serena with pure awe. They used to look down on her a little since she ranked just below Julian Vance and Damian Steele, but now they realized how wrong they were.

  Serena's skills really shined in this match.

  "Serena Sterling was incredible! She basically won the whole fight on her own."

  "Wow, how did she even block that?"

  The students gathered around and kept praising Serena without stopping. To everyone watching, Serena was definitely the main star of this event.

  "Hey, Julian Vance."

  Watching the crowd from far away, Damian Steele shifted his eyes toward Julian. Hearing his name, Julian turned his head to look at the red-haired boy with a blank expression. Damian grinned playfully and asked a question.

  "Could you have stopped that first arrow?"

  "I am not sure."

  Julian thought about it for a second before answering with a bit of doubt.

  "If I knew how the attack worked beforehand... maybe. But without knowing anything, it would have been really hard."

  He felt sure he could block it about half the time, but relying on luck in a real fight was pointless.

  "I figured as much."

  Damian clicked his tongue and mumbled to himself.

  "Honestly, I am not sure if I could have blocked it either."

  Unlike his normal cocky attitude, Damian admitted the truth. He looked over at Serena again, seeing her in a whole new light.

  "Serena Sterling, huh. I never really cared about her before, but now I kind of want to fight her myself."

  The spearmanship taught directly by the Spear Phantom...

  He never cared about it before today, but now it looked very interesting.

  Damian tightened his fist and smiled with excitement. As someone who also fought with a spear, his desire to compete was burning brightly.

  "Hmm."

  At the same time, Diana Reed, who was grading the match between Team 15 and Team 16, tilted her head in confusion. A spark of interest showed in her dark eyes. Serena's battle left her with a lot of questions.

  The reaction speed she had seen from Serena over the last month was not fast enough to stop an attack like that. Even a professional hero would have struggled to block it. Also, while the students did not notice it, even Serena looked a bit shocked that she actually stopped the arrow.

  It was not just dumb luck.

  After all, she placed her guard exactly where the arrow was going to hit before it even got there. That was definitely not an accident. It looked more like someone had told her what to do, but she did not fully believe them until it happened.

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  There is also the mystery of her fight against Caleb Thorne.

  Since Serena was ranked seventh, it was obvious she would beat the 91st-ranked Caleb. However, nobody expected her to completely crush him in just a minute or two.

  Looking at their training, physical strength, past duel records, and middle school stats, Diana thought the fight would last at least five to ten minutes.

  But when the match actually happened, Serena won far too easily.

  She completely controlled Caleb the entire time. Every time he tried to fight back or use a strong attack, she stopped him like she already knew what was coming. It felt like she had memorized all of Caleb's moves.

  This meant she was not just using her raw strength. Instead, she likely knew all about Caleb's fighting style, bad habits, and attack patterns before the match even started.

  The fight between Nina and Marcus Flint was also very strange.

  It was Nina's super strength power against Marcus's illusion copies.

  Marcus made his illusions so well that they could easily trick anyone. Somehow, though, Nina instantly found his real body hiding among the fakes and knocked him out right away.

  How did she tell the real Marcus from the fakes so perfectly?

  From what Diana Reed knew, Nina should not have been smart or perceptive enough to see through Marcus's tricks that quickly.

  And finally, Oliver Brooks...

  To be honest, Oliver did not do much during the match.

  Compared to Serena and Nina, he barely helped at all.

  It was almost funny watching him block Elena Ward's rain of arrows using two giant shields.

  But why did he bring two shields into the arena in the first place?

  It was almost as if he knew Elena was going to shoot at him.

  There was something the Team 16 students said right before the match began.

  -Let's follow the plan exactly as we talked about.

  -Heh, I can't wait to see this strategy of yours work.

  -If your plan fails, Oliver, you are totally dead.

  A plan...

  Did Oliver Brooks really come up with their entire battle strategy?

  If that was true, then his grade would change completely.

  Collecting information about the enemy ahead of time to make a perfect plan deserved a very high score.

  But could a student who was only famous for getting good test scores really create such a flawless strategy?

  No matter how much data he gathered and studied, the fight went way too smoothly.

  It was just like he already knew the future.

  Inside Serena Sterling's dorm room.

  "...That went much better than I thought it would."

  Laying in her dark bedroom, Serena remembered all the practical exams she had done over the last few weeks.

  The round of 16, the quarter-finals, the semi-finals...

  Amazingly, Oliver's strategies helped them easily reach the finals. Now, they were one of the last two teams left.

  The enemy team in the semi-finals was especially strong, but Oliver's plan worked flawlessly. They won much easier than anyone expected.

  To be completely honest, she never expected much from Oliver Brooks...

  But his skill at making plans and carrying them out was unbelievable.

  Multiple times, she was totally shocked by how well he studied the enemy's bad habits, weak spots, and team synergy to create the perfect counterattacks.

  She especially could not understand how he warned them about the enemy's secret weapons before the fights even started.

  As a joke, she wondered if he could actually see into the future.

  A future sight ability...

  Many people would kill to have a power like that.

  And it was not impossible in this world. After all, real oracles did exist.

  But that is impossible.

  Serena smiled at her own silly idea.

  After all, Oliver Brooks does not have any superpowers.

  He was just a normal person.

  Up until now, Oliver had never awakened any kind of special ability.

  Unless he is hiding his power on purpose.

  Serena shook her head, tossing the pointless thought away.

  She did not want to waste her time daydreaming about impossible things. It was much better to focus on useful thoughts.

  Well... whether Oliver Brooks can see the future or not, his tactical skills are amazing.

  She had watched many pro heroes over the years, and she could confidently say his planning skills were better than most of theirs.

  He carried their team smoothly through the top 16, the quarter-finals, and the semi-finals just by using his brain.

  At first, she thought he was just dead weight.

  But as a team strategist, he was truly incredible.

  Hmm, this is very interesting.

  Oliver Brooks.

  His fighting skills were terrible, but his ability to plan strategies was top-tier.

  She did not know yet if his talent was good enough for the Sovereign Clan to recruit him, but he was definitely worth watching for a while.

  Heroes almost never work by themselves.

  To deal with all kinds of dangerous situations, they always group up into teams.

  Since they fight as a unit, they need talented people who can cover up each other's weak points.

  A guy like Oliver, who completely focused on giving support and directions, could be extremely useful.

  ...Of course, my main goal is still to recruit strong hero candidates like Julian Vance.

  Serena laughed softly and turned off her bedroom light.

  Tomorrow was the final match.

  It was the very last day of the practical exams.

  She felt a little excited to see how well Oliver's plans would work against Julian's team.

  To be completely honest, Serena's team had absolutely no chance of beating Julian's team in a normal fight.

  A genius strategy was the only way they could possibly win such a one-sided battle.

  If tomorrow's match perfectly followed Oliver's plans just like today...

  I wonder what is going to happen?

  Serena was truly curious to see how it would all end.

  "Even though I gave Serena and Nina a really good strategy, we would still get completely destroyed in under ten minutes if we fought them fairly."

  I laughed to myself just thinking about it.

  How could we ever defeat those main characters who were overflowing with natural talent?

  "Well, we do not need to win anyway."

  Because tomorrow, that specific incident is going to happen.

  The special event that is programmed to take place during the finals.