No More Pain For This Villain.

[An Hour Ago.]

[Third Person View.]

Year: 1738

Date: 15th

Month: Lunaris

Time: 6:00 am

Ren stood behind his group as everyone just kept staring at each other to make a first move after Amrose's speech. But for their confusion, Nari stepped forward, taking the lead, while her whole team followed her one by one behind her.

It was the first time since everyone's arrival that they had seen students of Nexus Institute's team other than the leader Nari. None of them had anything special going on for them, wearing their regular uniforms of the academy as they kept their gaze straight while they walked.

"LONG LIVE AMROSE NEXUS!!!"

"Huh?" Ren raised his brow as he heard someone shout these words at the top of their lungs. The next thing they knew, hordes of Nexus Institute's students flocked out of their dormitories.

"Is this some kind of trick to bring down the morale?" thought Blaze as he jumped on top of Ren's shoulder.

One by one, the cheers kept piling up as the whole Nexus Institute's team went towards the surface by the stairs.

Next came the team of The Mystic Grove Institute, the academy from Elishia Forest.

"Who let their students run when the kingdom was in civil war a few weeks back," added Ren sarcastically. It was true; the amount of pride they took in their name contradicted the cowardice they showed when the kingdom was in need.

Archibald Nightingale, an elf with long, flowing silver hair and pointed ears, led their team with grace and elegance. Her team consisted of fellow elves.

"But the problematic one is Thalara Evergreen," Ren observed, eyeing the red-haired, frail-looking half-elven girl being led by Archibald. "Weird name for a girl, but each to their own."

Thalara looked like the walking dead, her hand held by Archibald as they strode forward. She was their anomaly for this round.

"How?" asked Blaze, but Ren ignored him as Adam Stales led their team to walk next, followed by everyone else.

Ren looked around as the cheers for Nexus Institute had long ago changed into boohoos for other teams, with name-calling and all. The scene didn't bother him much at all.

He caught Aron slowing his pace, coming a bit back, right beside Ren.

"You really don't plan to work together, do you?" Aron asked.

"What do you mean?" Ren looked at him, his expression as always masked by his porcelain mask.

"..." Aron paused. "I-?"

"Guys... I'm getting crushed between you two... I'm sorry," they heard a small voice belonging to Erik, who somehow was walking right beside Ren, but it seemed Ren didn't notice him, nor did Aron.

"Shouldn't you be with Vexa? You two are a pair, if I remember correctly," Ren said as he looked at Erik.

"Umm..." Erik glanced at Vexa's back, right behind Adam, and his face went a bit pale.

"Don't tell me you're scared of her," unexpectedly Aron spoke.

"It's not that I'm scared... Yeah, I am a bit intimidated by her," Erik admitted, facepalming himself.

Ren glanced back at Erik with a hint of amusement in his eyes.

"Well, you better get over that fear quickly. We need everyone focused and ready for what's ahead," said Aron.

Erik nodded, swallowing nervously as they continued walking. Ren's gaze shifted to Aron, who seemed lost in thought, his eyes scanning the surroundings with a thoughtful expression.

"You do care, huh," Ren said....for a quiet a time Ren's been trying to gauge the real personality of Aron but with the more he knows the more it becomes weird.

"That's something I should be saying to you, and no, I don't. I only care about winning the Gambit," Aron clarified.

"Relatable," Ren gave a one-word response.

After a few minutes of walking, they emerged from the door they had descended from a few days ago. However, they couldn't see the sun due to the enormous shadow cast by the floating landmass above, obscuring the city of Eshmera below.

As Ren reached the ground, he unwittingly released his gaze from someone who couldn't believe what they had witnessed.

On the stairs leading to the ground stood the team from Luminary College of Magic.

John led his team, but he noticed something amiss. "Everything fine, Mrs... Professor Lockner?" he asked the woman walking beside him.

But she didn't respond at all.

"Professor!" he shook her shoulder.

"Huh?" As if waking from a dream, she blinked dumbly.

"You're here to guide us, don't tell me you ended up getting cold feet," John joked.

But the professor didn't deny it.

'Did I see it correctly?' she asked herself as she replayed the boy who had walked past her without much thought. His single stride had altered the entire personal development she had undergone in the past half year.

Every flashback flooded back, the metallic scent of blood and the clanging sound of metal making her shut her eyes before feeling her breath burden her.

"Miss Anabelle!? You okay?" asked a girl as she stepped closer to her.

"Y-yeah," she tried her best to maintain her composure.

"I-I'm fine, let's go, kids," she said, but she couldn't shake the mental note of Ren who had just walked by.

After that day, she never thought she'd see him again. She had made up her mind to visit Sephra once she was ready to see him again, but she never imagined that Ren would be here, at the Mage's Gambit.

He looked so different from the last time she saw him. His hair had grown, with red ends that made him stand out, but his skin had become sickly pale, giving him a ghostly appearance.

He was easy to spot, too, being the tallest in his group...

"The representative of the Imperial Academy," she thought to herself. She never forgot that Ren's adventure was to prepare him for his academy trial, but that encounter with the bandits that day made her question her knowledge of Ren as a person as a whole.

[A/N: WHAT THE FUCK- ANNABEL!!?!!+(3;₹+#+#;!]