The yearly ranking competition always started the first day of each year, and that year hadn't been an exception.
For the students, it was a chance to show their prowess and make the teachers take notice of them, but for those outside the academy meant the possibility of observing fights among geniuses.
It was perfectly possible to learn things just seeing them battle, so a lot of people always attended.
Of course, there were spies of the Cult of the Goddess and the Followers of the God of Fate mixed among them.
It was one thing for them to not act directly, but they still wanted to keep an eye on the academy, and the yearly ranking competition was a perfect chance for it.
The student both sides wanted to evaluate the most was Shiba. They all heard a lot of rumors and legends about him, so they wanted to see if he would be able to live up to the expectations.
