Chapter 369 (1/2)

Chapter 369

SETH MILVIEW

"They've been gone for so long," Pascalnext to him We were all lined up in rows as assistant Aphene led us through a series of movements and forh Sovereign could the Scythe of Sehz-Clar ith our professor, anyway?"

"Maybe he offended or angered her in so nervously with his lasses, but they didn't fit with thesinceto pause and squint up at assistant Aphene to see what stance she had twisted her athletic frame into

"Don't be stupid," Valen scoffed "A Scythe wouldn't come personally for that She'd send her retainer, or maybe just a bunch of soldiers With almost all the Scythes present at the Victoriad, it's to be expected that they would appear in person at some point"

"Maybe the professor is Scythe Seris Vritra's secret lover!" Laurel giggled, hiding herbraids

Mayla leaned toward me and whispered, "Someone needs to lay off the cheesy ro to replace her retainer," Marcus suggested "We've all seen how scary he can be when he wants to Have you known anyone else, even professors, who can train so easily atplatform at school? He doesn't even break a sweat"

Valen shrugged, breaking for around offering se and yellow hair was pulled back, which for so ready to kick so," she scolded

"Interesting theories," Valen went on, his voice lower, "but it could be more mundane than that I've personally oth Vritra, and Viessa Vritra already myself It's—"

"And I've kissed Scythe Melzri Vritra," Yanick said, cutting into the conversation and getting a surprised laugh out of everyone, even Valen assistant Aphene cleared her throat and brushed the dark bangs from her eyes as sheto say," Valen said as the noise petered off, "is that it isn't unheard of for the Scythes tobloods"

"Except that Professor Grey isn't a high-ranking highblood, as far as we know," Deacon pointed out, huffing slightly fro at the same time "And besides, Scythe Seris Vritra is known to be a recluse She doesn't make social visits"

I stayed out of the conversation, too e up in front of the Scythe to say anything or draw attention to myself

And so of course Mayla chose that ht? You seem a little shaken up"

"More like frozen stiff," Pascal said, starting another round of poorly suppressed laughter Mayla pinned hi slightly "Just kidding, sheesh"

assistant Aphene cleared her throat again, but before she could scold anyone for talking, all eyes turned toward the front of the staging area, where an event official wearing a red de into our space and staring around

At nearly the sa area opened and the professor stepped through, Lady Caera just behind him The professor raised a hand and see to the class when he noticed the official

"Professor Grey of Central Academy?" the official asked in a clipped tone

"Are you here about the tourna long"

The official's eyes narrowed behind his mask as he marched across the room and held out his hand, which the professor shook perfunctorily "You haven't, which is good as I have four nantly and began what sounded like a very rehearsed speech "The unarin in twenty minutes, Professor Multiple matches run concurrently, but your students will be placed at these platforms closest when possible Students should be at the ready at their assigned ring no later than five le-elimination tourna forced froic is not allowed under any circu caused by the presence of runes will result in immediate forfeiture of thewith intent to maim or kill is also forbidden"

He took a breath as he unrolled the next length of his scroll "The first competitors fro six Deacon, blood Favager, ring seven Portrel, blood Gladwyn, ring nine Sloane, blood Lowe, ring eleven"

I let out a sigh of relief At least I wasn't one of the first to fight, so I wouldn't be the first one knocked out of the tournament Probably

Professor Grey checked with the four na numbers, then thanked the official

He nodded curtly back "We also ask that the team lead—in this case, you, Professor—re on his heel, thearea and on to the next

"Well, you all heard hi over the students

"You look like a flock of little chicks waiting to be fed," he said with a sigh "I suppose none of you are going to focus until I've explained, correct?"

"What did the Scythe ith you?" assistant Briar asked in a hushed tone

The professor shrugged "We drank tea and had a casual chat Nothing special"

assistant Briar snorted and rolled her eyes as assistant Aphene wrapped an arrandfather won't believe I was standing so close to a Scythe, not even at the Victoriad!"

Laurel leaned in close to Mayla In a singsong voice, she whispered, "Secret lover"

Everyone burst out with questions and excited comments, but the professor waved away the cos Everyone else, pay attention"

Enola and the others hurried out to the rows of cos and waited Just like the official had said, they were fairly close by, near enough to see all four fights at once I jogged to the front to get a good view, the rest of the class right behind me, and ended up sandwiched between Mayla and Brion

Enola was the first into her ring, striding confidently up the stairs right on the heels of the official as leading her, her golden hair gleaht

Deacon, on the other hand, walked like he was being sent to the director's office, his feet dragging on the ground, his head constantly swiveling to look back at us

When Portrel did the sa aboutback over his shoulder to look at Valen, even when he was in the ring across from his opponent

The co a few excited cheers from the audience, butarea Next, an organizer and referee shouted out the instructions, their voices allwith each other and the crowd

According to what I'd read about the Victoriad, the student tournaments were mostly just a warm-up event—incredibly important to the students and our bloods, but not really attended otherwise

The fact that the stands were only half-full yet proved this, but didn't bother et my butt kicked

The officials each raised their right hand, and all at once, they shouted out to begin

It was chaotic trying to keep track of all four fights at once, not toon in front of us that weren't froe as a dark-skinned girl with a reen mohawk jumped up and tried to knee him in the chest, but then Sloane landed a punch that dropped his opponent to the floor, and ht instead

Sloane juold unifor knees and elbows, but Deacon let out a yelped and so I turned back to his fight just in ti barrier to fall hard to the dirt

Next to me, Brion hid his face in his hand, and there was a chorus of groans frorabbedof jealousy watching the larger boy grab his opponent's fist out of the air "He's so strong," I muttered

"Yeah, it's crazy Oh, ouch!" Mayla winced as Portrel sla him out cold with three quick punches to the face

"That's right! Knock his ass out!" Remy shouted, his fists raised in the air over his head Another cheer went up, and I realized with a jolt of exciteo, Sloane!" I shouted, laughing when Brion threw his ar with hts had also already ended, s to where Enola was still going toe to toe with a girl as at least four inches taller and thirty pounds heavier than her

But that didn't even ht like a crazy demon She was so talented, it was hard to believe I was coh the other girl was bigger than her, Enola was a way better fighter

Hearing chanting co areas down, I leaned over the rail and pointed the other school's students out to Mayla "Do you knohat acade, not taking her wide eyes off Enola's fight

"Bloodrock Acade over between me and Brion "They tried pretty hard to recruit"

"They see the rows of students shouting and sto in unison There were a lotarea away from the rest of the Central Acade, "Enola! Enola!" and waving her ar us to pick it up The nah the stadium with the beat of a druht went on, which was several ot so into it that I foundEnola'sto

"Hey, watch it, Seth," Marcus grumbled when I accidentally stepped on his foot

I stopped and gave hihed, poking ht nerd, Seth"

I stuck ue out at her, but then turned ht

It was pretty clear when the larger girl started to get tired, and when she did, Enola moved in to finish it with one of the special coht us

She threw several punches and kicks in quick succession, each one tie of her opponent's irl desperate, each dodge or block wilder and irl's undefended temple Or at least, that's how the professor explained it

Our staging area exploded Mayla ju hed and cheered even louder

Enola, Sloane, Deacon, and Portrel entered the staging area shortly after to raucous applause

I slapped Deacon on the ar you couldn't even see"

"Whatever, at least now I can just sit back and relax," heet your butt's kicked, of course"

I wanted to congratulate Enola too but hung back with Deacon, Mayla, and Linden when I realized she was beelining for the professor "Sohow'd I do?" she asked, al around and shouting at each other

"Your execution was a little sloppy You'd have won in half the tihtly "You did well"

Enola beaave her a thumbs up and roup as Brion, Linden, Marcus, and Pascal started peppering her with questions and reliving their favorite ht

It seemed like only a few seconds passed before the ing area to a sudden halt He repeated the part of his previous speech

about where to go and not usingup as he prepared to announce the next round of fights

"Re eight; Mayla, blood Fairweather, ring nine; Seth, blood Milview, ring eleven"

A hand grabbed mine and squeezed "Good luck, Seth!" Mayla said excitedly "Let's show everyone just how much we've learned, okay?"

"Yeah," I said,out hoarse

Then ere allwith a dozen other students fro I was supposed to go to, and ended up walking around in a circle before an official tookeleven My face burned as I heard laughter fro area, but I didn't turn to look at which academy it was

I blinked and suddenly the official was urging me up onto the combat platform opposite my opponent