The kingdom of Evesdale, where the very air shimmer with the essence of magic, the sun-kissed people thrived as the first wielders of arcane power in all of Tellus. Their skin glowed with a golden hue, a gift from the sun itself, and their eyes sparkled with the knowledge of ancient spells.
Evesdale was a land of breath-taking beauty, where crystal-clear rivers sang melodies of enchantment and towering trees whispered secrets of the past.
The sun-kissed people lived in harmony with nature, drawing their strength from the purest forms of magic that flowed through the land like an eternal river.
Yet, beneath the surface of this idyllic realm, a prophecy foretold of a great darkness that would one day challenge their dominion. First, a being meant for the seas would level kingdoms in its path.
As the shadows began to creep into the edges of their paradise, the sun-kissed people prepared to defend their legacy, knowing that their unity and the purity of their magic would be their greatest weapons against the encroaching night.
Nonetheless, Evesdale was defeated and became the ninth kingdom to join the ANTs.
A land that is home to elemental magic, and a place where the first Neith called home was once again going against the kingdom that created the ANTs, Motherland, the land of heroes and power.
A girl with a figure that would turn the innocent into a lustful bunch, her tight green military uniform reflected her country's way of life, and the purity of their way of life. Her name was none other than Marie-Joyce Playne. Her brown hair complimented her sun-kissed skin, a gem from the kingdom of Evesdale. Her eyes reflected her mana, blue as the ocean, calm as the morning waves but wrathful at the
same time.
Motherland had no other than Harmon Stone, a radiant beauty in a class of her own. Her pale skin complimented her blonde hair in the golden military attire of her nation, like her name, everything about her was in harmony.
But this is not a beauty contest, only brains matter.
Neith looked at the two girls. They may be opposites but in spirit they are the same, for both of them are water mages, one of the four elemental of magic there is in the world.
The overseer took a deep breath, feeding her thoughts. These rounds have been draining, there are things that I need to do. If I am right about who the spy within the ANTs is, then we are all in danger. I need to make sure that this round ends quickly with the next rules so that I can watch that person.
The rules of this round are simple: In all of the teams of twelve each, excluding the participants of the tests, there will be a leader that is elected within the teams, everyone is a SPY. Select a leader, the leader can be anyone except yourself, the examinees cannot elect themselves as the leader in this round, out of the twelve spies in your team, make one of them the leader of the team. The spy in your
team can and WILL betray you at any moment.
The rules were made clear to the trainees and both teams parted ways to strategize a win for either.
Marie-Joyce's way of attack was simple, cause confusion within her own team so that the spies wouldn't be able to relay the message to the other team. Her mind was abnormally calm, processing the information in this stressful situation and trying to find a solution.
If I can just label two people as the leader, the spies wouldn't be able to tell who is lying and chances of the other team finding out the identity of the real leader are fifty-fifty. It comes down to sheer luck. I don't particularly like the odds but this is what I can work with at the moment.
Marie called the first girl, Tamar, and named her as the leader of her team. She then called another one, Rocky, and labelled her as the leader. When she was done creating confusion, she signalled the identity
of the real leader to Neith the overseer.
Harmon wasn't any different either. She had a similar strategy to that of Marie-Joyce, confusion and conquer. "To confuse the enemy, you must first confuse yourself."
She giggled as she uttered those words out of excitement. The odds were totally against her and the only way for her to win is by trusting the enemy within her own team.
Harmon instead picked one person, Terry, and selected him as the leader of her team. She had no powers that would brainwash another's mind nor intimidate them in any way, she was useless in that field. Her power was water, an elemental mage. But nonetheless, she still had weapons other than arcane energy
to win her battles.
In this game, he who is the leader has the power to make another without suspicion.
The time to hand in the names of the other team's leader hath come. Starting the guessing game was Marie-Joyce.
"The leader of Harmon's team is Terry," she said.
Neith asked her to explain her reasoning.
"The spies in Harmon's team were there when she elected him as the leader of the team. And since they are spies, they work for me and they have zero reasons to lie to me. On top of that, I heard from Terry himself, secretly of course."
"Interesting," Neith said.
"It is your turn to expose the other team, Harmon. Tell us who the leader of Marie's team is, please."
"The leader of Marie's team is Rocky. I will even explain. It is a simple guess truly. Tamar was the first girl you chose, obviously that is bullshit if you think about it. You were lazy in planning ahead, you tried to use a girl while you yourself are one. I am truly disappointed, you are supposed to be the first wielders of
mana? Pathetic."
Marie laughed, not because Harmon was wrong, no. Harmon was correct in naming the leader but since they both might be right, they can both move to the second round, which is a combat round and there and only there, would superior elemental magic would reign supreme.
Harmon interrupted Marie's moment, "Oh, additionally, Terry is not the leader of my team."
Marie's world shuttered right then.
"I saw the way he was lusting after me with those eyes but it is fine, boys are easier to use that way. After naming him the leader, I signalled him to name someone else as the leader of my team. I was stupid to trust a spy but it paid off in the end so that is that. It proves to show that even if someone is working for
you as a spy, they can still betray you too if you control their heart."
Some thoughts crossed Neith's mind. Maybe instead of calling out the spy in the ANTs, she could try to seduce him instead and turn him to their side completely. But then she looked at herself and got repelled by the idea, her body wasn't worth looking at from an adult's perspective. "Harold, what will I do about
you…? I wonder."
The winner of this round is Harmon of Motherland.
"Is Harold the spy that is working for the Dark Saints? Or is it Noelle? The weakest one? Or the strongest one? I need to thread carefully from here on out…"