Emperor's Reckoning

Lyon looked at the very reality in front of him before Faust's laugh filled the arena.

"Hahaha! You're pathetic, leaving your team to be slaughtered while playing on your own."

Taking a deep breath, Lyon walked to his team dejectedly. Every step felt like a mountain as he kept his eyes on his teammates. Disregarding the man who was laughing proudly of his victory, Lyon crouched down before carrying up his beautiful captain. There was a little bruise on his right cheek and her eyes were closed still.

"S-sorry big brother, I, ran out of arrows hehe."

Jugen got up while holding his bleeding right arm before Martis who was badly wounded being pulled up by Xiaxia. The red-haired man coughed blood before forcing his voice.

"I-I'm not strong enough to handle him much longer, I'm sorry."

Lyon shook his head, "It's alright, let's go down and heal you guys."

He turned around before descending down the arena right in front of the crowd's gazing eyes. Some of them shook their heads while some lamented their fate.

"Too bad isn't it, if only he had a more capable team than surely it would be a competition."

"Yeah, I was waiting for Lyon to handle those two but it seemed it was not a fated battle."

"One star among the shits, that's just bad luck."

One of Nostrian's group was gripping his hand against his pants. He gritted his teeth toward the comments the others were making. Just as soon as he was about to fight them with his tongue the students sitting by his sides immediately pulled him back down to sit.

"Let me go! I will not accept their insults!"

"Calm down, you won't gain anything by lashing your vocabularies against them!"

"What are you saying?! Are you telling me you-"

The man suddenly got slapped to his disbelief.

"What you?! I'm your senior, just calm down rookie!"

"Yeah, stop making a fuss, this is just the first stage of three, besides, don't you realize our number one student is actually smiling?"

His remark turned the attention back to the man who was carrying a girl like a princess. The smile on his face was as if the defeat was nothing but a passing wind.

"Luna, I know you're not fainting," said Lyon softly.

Luna's face turned a shade of red despite having a few minor bruises. Her mouth slowly pouted, "Hmph! So be it, this is your punishment for flirting with women instead of fighting for real."

Lyon could smile wryly against her response. He indeed just went for the beautiful overseer above without thinking much longer.

"Besides, I want to know the feeling of being carried like this since I am a princess," said Luna softly.

"What did you say?"

"Nothing."

"Oh, I thought you said you wanted to know the feeling of being carried like this since you are a princess."

"Y-You!"

Lyon giggled before he finally arrived on the bench where their team was designated to. Though the crowd pitied the talented youth's fate, the first stage was not over yet.

"Alright," Luna escaped from Lyon's arms before dusting away her clothes. The bruise seemed to not bother her at all, better yet, the result of the first stage seemed to be nothing.

"Lyon, help heal everyone starting from Martis, everyone else, watch the match closely and prepare."

Luna had a cute smirk on her face as she observed the arena. By her calculations, the first team to lose after them was probably Firion's team, Snake Eye Academy. Since they only got one captain and one ace on the same person, it would be hard for them to keep up with the twins and the rest.

The second, however, would be proved difficult to measure since she didn't know the rough extent of Chloe's power nor the twins' teamwork. However, one thing certain was that Faust and Fue had a slight advantage over them.

"What are you looking, Luna?"

"The match, of course, wait you're done already?"

"You're the last one, it's magic why would I need to wait? Just let the magic do what magic does best."

"What?"

"Magic."

Luna furrowed his eyebrows at his lame joke, to which Lyon laughed at her expression. She sighed before saying, "But you make sure to do it in secret under everyone's eyes right? It would be another trouble if they found out that you actually also have the Life element affinity."

"Don't worry, they won't notice a thing as long as their eyes fixated on the arena, but I must say, your plan is quite crazy."

"Hmm, is this your first time seeing my bright mind at work?"

There was a proud smile on her face as she said that.

"Actually yes, this is my first time seeing your genius at work."

"Well, that's your fault! You could see a lot more if you don't chase skirt all the time!"

"Not all the time you know, I mean, you're right, I'm sorry."

"Enough, what do you think of the match, who would be the last two of the four?"

Lyon rubbed his chin for a second before answering her question.

"Probably Chloe with Faust since the former is quite careful with her steps and powerful with her strength, I don't know much about Faust but, I'll be more terrified facing Chloe than Faust."

"Nice try pervert!"

"Hey! You wanted my opinion."

Before long, Firion lost the match while he was trying to steal Chloe's pole, while the twins were robbed out by the combined power of Fue and Faust together. Though three of them got their energy drained from the fight, they seemed to not have unleashed their full power yet.

"Well, look at that, I'm right."

"Hmph, just luck."

The arena now was reigned by two academies. With Chloe having one pole left she had no choice but to went with a defensive route.

Faust had a smirk on his face as he faced Chloe while Fue was already having a bout with the wild-looking youth from her academy.

"My offer still stands, ice beauty."

"What offer? I don't recall any such thing."

Her remark instantly made him furious before he plunged his fist forward without further thinking.

"W-what?!"

To his surprise, his fist was actually stopped with hers without much-needed effort. Just from this casual exchange alone, he realized that the woman in front of him was another hidden monster he needed to be wary with.

"Hah! Look at you, being stopped by that frail arm."

"What?!"

Faust glanced at the source of the voice before he noticed Lyon was standing behind Mabia's pole.

"Hmph! Do you even have a chance to fight with me with that much skill, pathetic!"

"Why you?! Keep your mouth shut loser!"

Chloe furrowed her eyebrows (What is he thinking? Why is he taunting him?).

"Loser? I'm not the one whose fist being stopped by a woman!"

"Gah!"

Faust was at his boiling point before he lashed out a barrage of attacks against Chloe who kept him at bay every time. They seemed equal from the exchange but Faust's breathing was getting irregular.

(I have a bad feeling about this) thought Chloe as she kept exchanging blows with Faust.

"Huh?" in one split second she was dodging his fist, she noticed something odd with the other four poles. (Why are the Nostria Academy each member standing beside it?).

Her pupils were immediately shrunken as she felt a rushing cold on her spine. She got goosebumps as she realized something she overlooked. Something crucial that explained Lyon's deliberate taunt.

"Now!" shouted Luna.

All five of the members immediately entered the arena to everyone's surprise. Chloe who was already dodging Faust's attack glanced back to see a smiling figure amidst the chaos of the battle of her members.

*slap

Jugen, Luna, Xiaxia, and Martis immediately slapped the pole and changed the symbol to their academy easily since it was unguarded.

"You both lose," smiled Lyon before he slapped the pole beside him.

"Winner! Nostria Academy!" shouted Sophia to the stilled crowd.

Faust and the others were caught off guard by the sudden result. The victory was already within their grasp but it was suddenly robbed away.

"W-what just happen? You already lost! How could you still activate the pole?!"

Chloe however, was already realizing how and why behind everything but she realized it too late. "Did you plan this Lyon?"

He shook his head, "It was our Luna, the Godmother of Nostria Academy."

Chloe immediately glanced at the woman who was crossing her arm with a cheeky smile on her face.

"How?! Just how could you still activate the poles goddamnit?!"

"Easy, that's because there was never a defeat condition and our Luna immediately took advantage of that."

Faust had his words stuck on his throat as he recalled the scene where Old Dan explain the first stage. He only explained the winning condition then left to start the battle. He didn't explain the losing condition because there was none in the first place.

"So it is crucial that we must be the first team to 'lose' as to set an example for the others to follow, creating an illusion that a loss actually exists in your mind."

Luna flicked her hair toward her surprised opponents before making her way down to the bench, followed suit by the other three as if they were her underlings. Luna the Godmother.