Contrary to what Damon had told Anastasia, the two teams didn’t take nearly that much time to return. Alistair and his team areived in just ten minutes.
"We’ve got the flag." Alistair raised the flag up, with a victory smile as the group approached us.
Behind him, Elsa smiled.
"What about the flag your team was supposed to get?" she turned to damon.
"How about you mind your own business?" Damon smiled coldly. The bitch actually had the nerve to speak to him. Oh how he wished he’d be paired with her during combat classes. That way, he’d be absolutely free to mess her up, and no one would be able to say a word.
"She was only asking, Damon?" Alistair frowned.
"Well then, she shouldn’t ask me." Damon scowled. "I’m not the only one here am I?"
"What’s wrong with the lady asking a question?" Calum snorted.
"Why don’t you come closer and say it to my face?" Damon turned to him.
"You think I wouldn’t?" Calum scowled, but still didn’t move from his spot.
"You’re just being unreasonable." Alistair cut in, eyes narrowed at Damon.
"So what if I am?" Damon’s smile returned. "What does it have to do with you?"
Alistair didn’t answer, but turned to Elsa instead.
"Don’t worry, just ignore him. Some people just never change." He said turning back to me, before turning his gaze to Anastasia who stood watching with amusement.
"I’m sorry Ms Necron, some people just make me unable to hide my dissatisfaction."
The redhead smiled.
"What’s there to be sorry about for being yourself?"
Alistair’s solemn expression also gave way to a smile.
"I’m glad you understand Ms Necron." he said before extending the flag to her.
Anastasia received it, before passing it to Damon.
"Place this next to our flag." She said.
"No." Damon replied flatly.
The redhead turned to him.
"What do you mean no?"
"No, as in, I won’t do it." He emphasized.
"And why won’t you do it?" she tilted her head.
"Since he brought it, he can do it instead." Damon pointed at Alistair.
Anastasia blinked, not knowing what to say for a moment.
"You’re one petty human, you know that?".
Though, she didn’t know, that pettiness was only partly the reason why Damon said no. The other part was the way she said it. She was essentially ordering him to go do it.
Anastasia didn’t give the flag back to Alistair. Instead, she turned and leapt to the top of the castle, where she planted the flag into a groove meant for it, right next to 1–Alpha’s own flag.
After that, Alistair and Elsa moved away in chatters and smiles, leaving Damon, Fabian, Calum, and Sarah standing there, after which Calum also did the same leaving only Damon and Fabian standing alone.
After some moments of awkward silence, Damon walked closer to Fabian. "Uh, hey Fabian." he said. "Look at us, standing all alone." he chuckled.
Fabian merely glanced at him, before turning away. He didn’t know what game the unruly prince was playing, or what he wanted from him, but he wasn’t interested in what it was whatsoever.
’Areogant bastard.’ Fabian’s dismissive attitude however, made Damon inwardly curse. He really felt like strangling Fabian.
"Isn’t it ironic?" Still, Damon continued as if he didn’t mind being ignored. "Two princes not being able to fit in due to some semblance of pride and ego."
This finally made Fabian turn back to Damon with a cold stare.
"I don’t fit in because I don’t want to. You don’t fit in because you can’t. Don’t you dare lump us together."
The silence that followed was heavy, punctuated only by the sound of their breathing, as the tension between them grew palpable.
Damon’s brow twitched in irritation. ’This bastard.’ he thought, before taking a deep breath and began speaking.
"Perhaps you’re correct. I don’t fit in because of my reputation, and don’t have any friends. Well maybe one, but that’s it. Still, at the very least, I’m better than you who doesn’t have any." Damon said, then smiled slyly.
"Apart from your secret crush of course."
"What... do you mean?..."
An uncomfortable expression appeared on Fabian’s face, becoming more profound by the second.
But despite that, Damon continued to speak without pause.
"A little princess visited the another empire with her father once upon a time. There, a prince of the resident empire decided to become her friend at first glance."
"Shut up..."
"The little prince engaged with the little princess in many activities, gradually feeling as if she was the only one who truly understood him."
"I said... stop it." Fabian gritted his teeth.
"When time came for the princess to leave, the little prince felt aggrieved, but there was nothing he could do about it."
"But Ten years later, the prince now no longer little, finally saw her again. He wanted to tell her how he felt, but didn’t have the courage to approach her. Plus, it looked like she didn’t remember him, or refused to acknowledge him. And hence he faded into the background, watching her go about her everyday life."
Fabian moved, grabbing the collar of the unruly prince.
"I don’t know who the fuck told you about this..."
"Do you want me to tell her?" Damon smiled, interrupting him.
"You wouldn’t dare." Fabian hissed.
"Are you sure?"
Seeing the way Damon was looking at him with his mischievous eyes, a cold chill ran down Fabian’s spine. He could tell Damon wasn’t bluffing. He really would tell ’her’
"Mind letting me go," Damon said, shaking the Ashton prince out of his thoughts. "We’re making quite the scene."
Frowning, Fabian looked around and saw the rest looking at them. Especially Calum who was snickering in amusement.
"Tsk." Fabian clicked his tongue, as he released Damon’s collar.
But Damon wasn’t done. "Ohohoho, look, there she comes." he gestured just as Rose, Delilah, Dion, and the buff guy arrived.
"This is not over." Fabian whispered walking away.
Damon sighed. In the novel, Fabian liked ’her’, but Alistair with his insane protagonist halo beat him to it. But that was a thought for another day.
That was because, for some reason, Delilah was giving Damon a death glare. Not that it was anything new, just that the intensity was chilling.
"Why’d you leave me with that mad woman bro?" Dion whispered as he sauntered over to Damon.
"Which mad woman?" Damon asked, his eyes moving between both Delilah and Rose.
"The blue haired one." Dion replied.
"Man, I couldn’t even tell Alex my story in peace because she was trying to strangle me at every turn."
"Well, that’ll explain why." Damon replied.
"Why what?" Dion raised a brow.
"Your stories are just too absurd." Damon sighed.
Dion once again went into ranting, but Damon tuned him out, and watched as Rose leapt to the top of the castle, handing the flag over to Anastasia, who soon planted it into the last groove.
As soon as she did that, the three flags shone brightly, before a voice that was unmistakably instructor Black’s boomed across everywhere.
"Winner of the mock exam, Class 1–Alpha!"
The moment the voice echoed, a bright light enveloped everything, making Damon and the others instinctively close their eyes.
Once Damon opened his eyes, he was no longer in the field before the castle. Instead, he was back in the stadium where they had entered the portal, and so were the others who were with him a few moments ago. Including some of the other members of class 1–Alpha.
Just as chatters began, due to the arrival of Damon and the others, instructor Black appeared in the middle of the stadium, prompting everyone to keep quiet.
"The mock exam was originally supposed to last two days, but you all managed to finish it in less than five hours." The moustache man announced with a smile.
’Wait, is he complementing us?’ Damon thought in disbelief. This was instructor Black, the sadist who loved to watch young girls and boys barely out of their teens brutalizing each other.
"Congratulations, you’re less disappointing than the current second years during their first year." Instructor Black continued.
’Aha, I knew it was coming.’ Damon snickered.
"Now, check your bands, for each student you eliminated, you get twenty points." Now this finally broke the silence instructor Black’s presence held.
The crowd of students grew amazed and excited, and naturally, noise followed.
Damon also hurriedly checked his band, and saw that he had gotten 160 new points. Meaning he had eliminated eight students.
"Bro, I got 100 points. How many did you get?" Dion’s excited voice reached Damon’s ears.
Damon just shoved his band at Dion’s face, showing him the number.
"Damn, you got way more than I did." Dion exclaimed. But Damon wasn’t listening to him, instead he turned to Anastasia.
"This is what you get for lazing around." Damon mouthed as their eyes met.
"And 300 points for the leader who lead you to victory." instructor Black announced, causing Damon to freeze.
Now it was Anastasia’s turn to smile.
"Who’s laughing now?" she mouthed back.
**********
FINALLY, THIS IS THE END OF THIS MINI ARC.
DONT FORGET THE POWER STONE GOAL.
200 powerstones/ 20 golden tickets→ 1 extra Chapter on next release.
500powerstones/ 50 golden tickets→ 2 extra Chapters on next release.