What the hell? Thorne and I could only watch in shock as Titanforge's dead body collapsed on the frozen sands.
Just like that, a veteran of the Silver League had died. We were just in the midst of processing it when—
Creak.
Our attention was suddenly shifted away from the screen to the direction of the bathroom door. Someone had entered inside. Hesitating, I glanced toward Thorne, silently signaling him to put away the projector.
Sensing something had gone wrong, I pulled out my smartwatch, only to see a series of messages from Jadis.
-"Everything is fine. I got this. No one suspects anything. How is the match going anyway?"
-"The blood witch just entered the classroom. Oh no, she's searching for you guys. She knows you came in today—who told her that?"
-"She just asked me about you. I told her I didn't know anything, but I don't think she bought it.
-" Vega told her everything, even that you're planning to hide somewhere. Seriously, what did you do to piss her off so much?"
-"Get out. Get out wherever you're hiding. Answer my texts, damn it. Get out. Get out."
-"This guy..." Thorne was right; he really is unreliable.
Why did this have to happen now? The match was in its final few seconds. ArcticBlaze had just killed Iron Clad.
Damn it, even though both of us were dying to see what was going to happen, the risks were too high.
Tok tok tok.
Sharp footsteps echoed inside the bathroom, slowly coming closer and closer. Listening closely, I realized student shoes didn't make these kinds of sharp sounds.
Yep, it was someone from the staff. Thorne turned toward me, his hand clutching his mouth in horror and fear evident on his face. From the looks of it, he had noticed it too.
The sound of footsteps paused right outside our stall. I took a large gulp, staring at the stall door, waiting.
"I know you're inside. Come out on your own, and I might not be so hard on you."
It was her. Thorne shook beside me, his hand reaching for the door in surrender.
This idiot. I hurriedly snatched his hand. "Offering yourself to the lion because it promised it won't eat you?" He looked at me in protest, but once again, I signaled him to be quiet.
Our current situation was bad, but getting caught red-handed in here was only going to make it worse. I took a deep breath and tried to calm myself down.
On the other hand, if for some inexplicable reason the blood witch, would just leave on her own, even for a minute, that would give us enough time to escape and think of something later. It wasn't like there was any proof we were inside the bathroom stall. As far as she or anyone else was concerned, we were both lying sick in the medical bay this entire time. Yes, that was a good plan. There were even a couple of guys we could easily bribe to match our story.
Nodding to myself, I took out my smartwatch and began typing a message to Jadis. This useless idiot better pull this off. I finished typing and was just about to click send when suddenly—
"I know what you're thinking, Vale. I'm not going anywhere."
A fist smashed through the stall's lock, crushing it into pieces.
"Run!" I screamed, and both Thorne and I leaped in opposite directions toward the side walls of the stall, hoping to scale them and escape. Unfortunately, before we could, the stall's door was pulled off its hinges, revealing a woman with short red hair. Her face as stern as a stone statue.
"Not so fast," she muttered before grabbing both our legs and yanking us down.
"Argh," I grunted as my body hit the floor. Thorne was no better. What made it worse was that, despite pulling us down, she still hadn't let go of our legs.
"Seems like simple punishments dont work on you anymore," she said, her eyes boring into mine.
Why the hell was she looking at me? I cleared my throat and glanced at the now unattached door with a hole in its side. "With all due respect, Miss, you're one to talk. Damaging academy property like that—I don't see how that can be good for young, impressionable minds like ours. I have to say, you're at fault here too."
She paused, her eyes widening a bit before returning to normal. "I... I, that..." She fidgeted. "I'll be paying for this." Her gaze suddenly sharpened. "As for you two..." An unnatural smile appeared on her face. "Don't worry, I won't be giving out physical punishments today."