The last day of the practical exam was finally here. It was the morning of the finals. The students of Class 1-1 headed to the training arena together. Their steps felt much heavier than normal. It was not just their imagination—they were weighed down by the pressure of the real battle they had to face today.

  "Wow, I never expected us to reach the finals."

  Lily Pierce's familiar voice reached my ears. She quickly walked up to me, her dark hair flowing behind her like the night sky.

  I slowly turned to look at her.

  Lily gave me a confident smile.

  "However!"

  She pointed her finger right at me.

  "Your lucky streak stops now!"

  "..."

  "You have to fight me in the final match!"

  "..."

  She stood tall and looked incredibly proud. I just stared at her blankly.

  "Oh, really?"

  "...Why are you reacting like that?"

  My boring answer completely ruined her excitement. She played with the ends of her hair, looking annoyed. Why was she acting like this in front of so many people? Did she not feel embarrassed at all?

  "...You never play along with me lately. It is no fun."

  Lily complained with a pout. She was usually quiet around other people, but she acted like a whiny seven-year-old when she was with me.

  We must still be very close if she acts this way around me.

  "Oliver, Oliver. Are you confident about the match today?"

  "I suppose."

  "There you go with the boring answers again."

  "To be honest, I am not confident about winning today. Your team does not just have Julian Vance, but you also have Julia Troy."

  Julia Troy.

  She was a classic mage from abroad.

  She ranked 14th out of all the new students. If you ignored the single-digit rankers like Julian Vance, Damian Steele, and Serena Sterling, she was the highest-ranked student in our class.

  Since she was not fully used to the language here, she always spoke very formally to everyone. She was basically the polite character of the group.

  "What about you? You do not seem worried about facing me."

  "Worried about you...? Why should I be scared of the student ranked 257th?"

  "Ha. Unbelievable. Why is the bottom ranker acting so confident? I guess I need to show you how hard my punches are. It has been a while since you felt one."

  Lily raised her fists and took a boxer's stance. I stared at her for a second before bursting into laughter.

  "You seem to be in great shape today. That is good. Today is going to be a very hard fight."

  "Oh, are you feeling confident now?"

  "Not because of my own skills. It is just... well, never mind."

  "What? Why did you stop talking?"

  What was going to happen when that special event finally started? I really hoped Lily would not get hurt, but nobody knew how things would unfold.

  Honestly, I did not have a clear answer right now.

  All I could do was try my best.

  "Anyway, Oliver. After this exam ends, do you want to—"

  "Oliver Brooks. Can we talk for a second?"

  Serena Sterling's sharp voice interrupted Lily right as she was speaking. I turned my head to see who it was. Serena stood right there.

  "Oh, my apologies. Did I interrupt your conversation?"

  Serena walked up to us with a small smile. However, her apology was clearly fake. She did not look sorry at all.

  She stepped closer with a very confident walk, looking like a rich noble lady.

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  Lily frowned at the rude interruption. However, Serena ignored her completely and kept talking.

  "If you are not busy, can I borrow Oliver for a minute? We need to talk about something before the match starts."

  She put her hand on my shoulder to act like we were very close friends, asking if she could take me away. Lily knitted her eyebrows together. She clearly hated seeing Serena act so friendly with me.

  "I see you two have become pretty close."

  "Uh, well..."

  Serena pretended to be clueless at Lily's cold question before giving a wide smile.

  "We have been working as a team for a few weeks now. So... maybe we have?"

  "Is that right?"

  Serena kept trying to annoy Lily. First, she interrupted her on purpose, and now she was touching my shoulder to show off.

  I should probably step in before things get ugly... right?

  "That is great to hear. It seems like Oliver is interested in you."

  "Oh, really?"

  Lily's sudden words made me blink in shock. What was she even saying?

  Serena laughed proudly and looked at me.

  "Sorry, but you are not my type."

  I, Oliver Brooks, received a rejection today.

  Honestly, it felt a little sad.

  "Haha. Maybe your face just isn't good enough?"

  "Sure, he doesn't look bad. But his looks are just... average."

  Even though I was the main heroine's childhood friend, I looked decent enough. However, I obviously fell short when you compared me to the main male characters.

  But why were these two girls suddenly judging my face?

  "I actually think I am pretty good-looking."

  "Yeah, sure. Let's just go with that. Wow, our Oliver is so incredibly handsome."

  "No, seriously, don't I look completely fine...?"

  Compared to my old life, I wasn't exactly a supermodel, but I definitely looked much better now.

  I was actually very happy with how I looked.

  "Let's stop talking about this. Anyway, Serena."

  "Yes?"

  "You said you needed to tell me something before the match began. What was it?"

  "Oh, I should not really talk about it here."

  She looked over at Lily. We could not discuss our team strategy in front of the enemy. We had to go somewhere else.

  "Lily."

  Right at that second, a clear male voice called out.

  "What are you doing over here?"

  Julian Vance walked up and looked at all of us.

  "Oh, I was just... well..."

  "The match is starting soon. Let's go over our plan and get ready."

  Julian glanced at me quickly before waving for Lily to follow him. She nodded her head.

  "Alright, I am going to head back now, Oliver. I will see you in the arena."

  "Okay."

  Lily and Julian walked away side by side.

  I watched them leave for a moment and thought to myself.

  Caution.

  I could tell that Julian was keeping his guard up around me. It was not exactly jealousy or anger yet, but I should probably act more carefully. I did not want to accidentally make him overly possessive of her.

  "Julian really seems to care a lot about Lily."

  Serena mentioned casually.

  "He does seem very focused on her."

  I nodded slowly.

  "I wonder if Lily knows about his feelings, or if she is just pretending to be clueless."

  Serena suddenly looked right at me.

  "What do you think about it, since you are her ex-boyfriend?"

  It was a tricky question, but I just shrugged my shoulders.

  "She is pretty dense when it comes to romance. She probably has no idea."

  "Are you sure?"

  Serena asked, trying to dig deeper.

  "Is Lily really that clueless?"

  "What exactly are you trying to say?"

  "I heard a rumor."

  Serena smiled like a sly fox.

  "People say she broke up with you on purpose so she could date Julian."

  I knew she did not actually believe that crazy rumor. Serena was just trying to mess with my head. She wanted to plant seeds of doubt in my mind. It was classic gaslighting. She was likely trying to slowly drag me down. She wanted to ruin my friendship with Lily, even just a little bit.

  "Do you actually believe that nonsense?"

  "Well, you never know. People always say it is impossible to read someone's true heart, right? Only the two of you would know the real truth."

  But she had just asked me because I supposedly did not know.

  "You claim you two broke up peacefully... but who knows? Maybe Lily had a hidden motive."

  Oh, really?

  Her voice sounded like a snake hissing in my ear. I sighed deeply in my mind.

  I really did not have the patience for this right now.

  "If she dumped you just to get with another guy, that would be incredibly sad..."

  "Are you jealous of Lily?"

  "Excuse me?"

  "Are you upset because Julian only pays attention to Lily?"

  "You..."

  Serena's eyebrows twitched a tiny bit at my direct attack. Did I strike a nerve?

  "Let's stop talking now. The final match is starting soon."

  "Fine, whatever."

  Serena looked like she wanted to argue more, but she kept her mouth shut. Thankfully, she dropped the topic before I made her feel even worse.

  I have way too many things to worry about besides this exam... Sigh.

  I needed to keep an eye on the main heroine, Lily, but also watch the relationship between the male lead and the villainess.

  After this practical exam ends, I really need to pay closer attention to them.

  Thinking about this, I just stared ahead at the arena we were walking toward.

  "Both teams, please get into position."

  As we stepped into the training hall, we walked to the opposite ends of the room.

  Every student held their weapon tightly and stared at the enemy team.

  Alright, was it finally time to begin?

  "If you are all ready..."

  Beep.

  The teacher pressed a remote, and a giant circular shield completely covered the arena.

  The entire room turned into a locked cage.

  We could not get out unless someone used the remote or broke the shield from the outside.

  "If everyone is fully prepared, let us begin the finals. Three, two, one... Start!"

  Whirrrrr!

  Suddenly—

  Emergency alert activated.

  "What?"

  "Huh?"

  The shield was built to protect the crowd and stop the building from breaking. But today, it failed its purpose.

  Today, it just trapped us inside like rats in a cage.

  Spatial vibrations detected nearby! All students and teachers must stop immediately and evacuate to the designated safe zones...

  Because of this.

  "Damn it. The match is paused. Everyone stop fighting and follow the security guards to..."

  The event I was waiting for was finally happening.

  "Huh?"

  Crack. Crick-Crick.

  It sounded like the world itself was ripping apart.

  The air cracked open like a spiderweb and shattered into pieces.

  "Wait, is that a...?"

  It was a hole in space.

  Something terrifying was hiding on the other side.

  "A dimensional rift...?"

  "Everyone! Hurry up and come this way!"

  Diana Reed screamed at Team 1 and Team 16, who were frozen in shock. But she was too late.

  "Kekeek? Keeeeek!"

  Giant arms that were as long as a monkey's and as thick as a bear's ripped the rift wide open. A horrifying monster stepped out.

  "Keeeeeek, eeeek. Keeek."

  Horrible creatures oozing with pure hatred crawled out from the portal. They licked their lips as they glared at the students.

  "It is a monster! A real monster!"

  Yes.

  It was a monster.

  Real monsters had broken into the exam arena.

  "Keeeeeek, eeeek, eek."

  "Growwwwl, growl."

  "Chirp, chirp."

  And it was not just one. A whole group of monsters had arrived.