Inside one of Starfield's assembly rooms, the academy's four prefects were watching team number eight receive their vests.
"Team purple," Bruce said to no one in particular. Anri's decisiveness had earned the prefect's approval.
"Helena has already sunk her claws into one of them," Levi told the others. "She visited that brunet not too long ago. I bet he's the leader of purple."
The perfect of Ursa glared at the perfect of Cygnus. Why couldn't he keep his mouth shut about it? It had been a collaborative effort between them and now he was throwing her under the bus. "I recall that you were at the soybean farm a half-hour after I left the place, Levi."
"Calm down, Helena," Levi replied knowing it would ruffle her feathers even more. If Anri was already leaning towards Ursa then he needed to remedy it by making this a problem for both Bruce and Yve. They wouldn't stand by and do nothing as they watched a promising cadet get stolen right under their noses.
"Air more dirty laundry, go ahead," Yve dryly told the quarrelling duo. Ursa and Cygnus had both done the other two houses dirty. Yve and Bruce's access to the information had been cut off by the other two prefects after they'd stolen the necessary candidate details. But this cooperation didn't mean Ursa and Cygnus were allies. All four houses only played nice with each other when the opportunity favoured them.
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Anri had been right about the situation turning chaotic and violent. As soon as the gates had closed, team silver's actions had been swift and brutal. This was the team of four that had formed a group before the others.
The four boys of silver split up into two pairs and attacked the members of team green and black. Despite them going two against four, the members of silver outclassed the others in terms of fighting abilities and speed.
Making no effort to hide his presence, Anri stood silently on a pile of junk and watched the other team's reactions to silver's aggression. They all collectively ran away like cowards intent on self-preservation while green and black fought the attackers. The sorcerer's gaze briefly met the eyes of the silver leader who had two tags in his hand. The teenager smirked up victoriously at him and mouthed - "you're next".
Anri had seen enough. He turned around and leapt off the mountain of junk.
____
"You think it'll work?" Jason whispered to Soren. The two of them were hidden behind a massive iron cupboard. Ahead of them was a certain publicly known figure who was collapsed on the ground with the tag still attached to her vest.
"Doesn't hurt to try," Soren whispered back. His plan was to ambush team pink who was heading their way. If all went according to plan, they would discover Nova and try to grab her tag or render aid to the unconscious girl.
"It's a really obvious ambush..." Jason replied. "Even I won't fall for it."
"You calling yourself dumb?" Soren asked.
"Look- they're here," Jason pointed ahead where a team of three men and a girl were cautiously watching Nova from a distance.
Team pink looked like they were aware it was an ambush but couldn't decide what to do.
"Tch! Move it already," Soren impatiently murmured.
"Ah!"
"What the fuck!"
Soren and Jason both let out surprised exclamations at the same time that they saw Anri swoop down and steal Nova's tag. The teenager was on his knee for barely three seconds after which he ran off as swift as the wind.
"Wait!" Soren held back Jason who was about to run after Anri. The redhead's eyes were fixed on Nova who hadn't made a move against Anri. Why? Did he say something to her? Her tag was gone so why wasn't she getting up?
"What's wrong?" Jason asked in a whisper.
"I don't know," Soren replied. "Let's wait and watch." They were on the same team. He had to trust that Anri knew what he was doing.
Team pink who had appeared surprised by the sudden attack on Nova saw that she was still down. After exchanging a few words with each other, the innocent lambs began walking over towards Nova. To them, it looked like something had gone wrong and Nova needed help. This was what Soren has been waiting for.
A grin made itself known on his face. "Jason, the plan hasn't changed. Let's get them."
___
"How devious," Helena commented. "Luring them in, weaponising their own kindness against themselves. How will the members of pink ever trust again?"
While the others were focused on the view that followed the very aggressive and well-coordinated team silver, Helena had been watching team purple.
"If it's what it takes," Bruce replied. He had been keeping an eye on both the teams. "I applaud team purple's captain for his quick thinking and also for being the first one to realise that the vests can be worn that way."
Levi hadn't cared much for having Anri on Cygnus because he seldom found himself interested in other people. Right now, the prefect was regretting his bad pitch at the soy farm.
On the large monitor, the screen was split into several windows that fed videos of the teams still in battle. The prefects were all watching Anri, his vest worn inside out, who was stalking team pink. From a high vantage point, he could see the positions of his teammates as well as of the enemy team.
Anri coordinated with Soren and Jason's movements though they weren't aware of it. A fight broke out the moment Anri came in from behind took out one of the members of pink.
__
"That's- is that really allowed?" Soren asked Anri when he saw that the sorcerer was wearing his vest inside out.
"Four rules," Anri simply replied. It was time to let the others in on his suspicions about the battle.
"He's right," Nova replied as she took off her vest. "We can literally do anything we want with the vest and the tags so long as the enemy doesn't catch sight of the number on it."
"Then can we just hide our vests somewhere?" Jason asked. He had already removed the black outer clothing so he was shirtless again.
Soren's mouth fell open as he realised how complicated this had become. They couldn't be the only ones coming to a realisation about this cheat, hack, or whatever it was. "This is insane," he let out. "We'll never get the code."
Team purple was silent. Anri allowed the others to fully grasp the implications of it. Nova was the first one to move. She ripped the tag off her vest and wore it inside out.
"Who's gonna hold the tags?" She asked the team but was looking at Anri.
"You," the sorcerer replied. "Put it inside your clothing."
Nova was taken aback by the suggestion but it made sense. While it was easy to just hide the tags away in a pile of junk, a greater sense of security came from having the tags on her, mobile and hidden someplace where most people wouldn't dare to check.
"But, I don't understand," Soren said as he scrunched up his face. "The tags are... useless then, aren't they?"
Anri nodded. The examiners didn't want them to get into the spaceship. The battle was nothing but a mind game, a puzzle for them to figure out. Those with the ability to would realise the true nature of the battle and do their utmost to show off their skills at combat, ambush, and strategy. This battle had little to do with the declared objective. They hadn't explicitly told them that the failure to clear the objective would result in a failure of the exam.
"So now what?" Nova asked.
Anri had seen a broken-down spaceship with some parts of it intact. It had given him an idea that was dangerous, stupid, and unlikely to work, but, he wanted the 200 points.
"Now we pretend to play their game," Anri whispered. He wasn't sure if there were microphones around them and on their tags. He hoped it wasnt the case. If the examiners found out what Anri was planning then they were likely to put an end to it very quickly. "Come closer and form a circle. I have a plan to get us the 200 points."
___
"I wonder what purple is planning?" Yve said to the others. Unlike the aggressive team silver who had already amassed six tags, or the cowardly team orange who had taken to hiding themselves after they'd realised what was up, team purple wasn't doing much aside from squatting on the ground and forming a secret circle.
"Who knows? Maybe they plan to let silver do all the work," Helena replied as she threw a look at Levi. "And then fight them for the spoils."
"Doesn't seem like Anri's style," Levi replied.
"They don't mind playing dirty," Bruce rebutted him. "It doesn't seem an unlikely scenario for this team."
"Have you guys already forgotten that he was the first to figure out the truth about this round?" Levi replied. He didn't have to explain further. The others understood that Anri was smart and he would have known that he had to impress the examiners with his actions. In a real war scenario, it made sense to save energy and resources so as to land a critical blow on the enemy at a calculated time. But this was an examination, a time for them to show off and have the examiners pay attention to them.