Deceptions

Seraphine's spell lacked the destructive force she had displayed in the forest, which was hardly a surprise. She had been firing rapid bursts at me; there would be no way she could also channel a strong spell at the same time.

Instead, she gathered what little power she could spare and focused it all into a strong knockback. It was enough to send me flying across the line marking the edge of the arena.

But I wasn't ready to end the battle just yet.

She broke all conventions to challenge me here, in front of everyone. There must be more to it than just showing off.

To the astonishment of the crowd, I used a burst of wind to stop and reverse my movement before hitting the ground.

I crashed just barely within the boundary of the arena. I tried to make it look like a rough landing, I doubt a regular student would be able to pull off a stunt like that gracefully.

Seraphine watched me get back up with the same confident expression she had the entire match. Everyone was watching with bated breath, waiting to see which one of us would make the next move.

I was still trying to figure out how to proceed from here. I tried reading Seraphine’s expression, watching for any subtle cue that could help me figure out what exactly she is planning. What I noticed was…satisfaction?

Then, Seraphine raised her hand again, except this time she didn't cast a spell. Instead, she signaled to the judge that she forfeited the match.

Wait, what?

With Seraphine's forfeit we had officially become the talk of the academy. Everyone was gossiping about us, trying to guess what was going on between us. The teachers coordinating the assessment tried to calm the crowd and get them to continue with the few remaining duels, but it took them quite some time to get things back on track, and it took me some time to get away from all the students asking me what that last duel was about.

I really didn't want to feed the rumors, but I needed to talk to Seraphine. With countless eyes still on us I approached her and led her outside of the arena to at least try to get a bit of privacy.

Once outside I asked her: "So, mind telling me what that was all about?"

She smirked and answered: "I see we dropped the formalities. Would it be enough if I told you, you've played your part beautifully?" The answer was obvious and so she didn't bother waiting for it. "You've attempted to deceive me each time we met. Why would you place any trust in my words? What makes you believe I won't treat you the same way?"

I wasn't sure how to respond. I wanted to tell her another formulated lie, a response designed to get her to trust me again. But instead, I answered without thinking: "Nothing. Because you will."

For the first time today, she was caught off guard. She looked at me as if she had predicted every possible response I could give her, except that one. Then her expression softened.

"That's right. I will. It's human nature after all. We deceive. We deceive others. We even deceive ourselves. It's all we do."

From the game I can guess what she is talking about. She always felt crushed by the expectations placed upon her. And because of that she started to lie to herself, pretending to be something she isn't. Pretending to be whatever others want her to be.

"I don't think that's true." I heard a voice saying it from the direction of the arena. I recognized it immediately.

Oh no.

"I think it's important to be honest. If not to others than at least to yourself." Lily continued.

Seraphine's expression immediately soured. I couldn’t quite tell if it’s because she disagrees with Lily’s optimism, or if the mere presence of Lily already sickened her. For a moment I was worried she was about to snap at Lily, but instead she turned to me and said:

"My answer is this: I wanted to see what kind of person you are when you're not given a chance to prepare a facade. Whether you believe that or not is up to you. Now, if you excuse me."

She turned around and walked away. Lily watched her with a concerned look on her face, then she spoke: "Um, sorry about that. It just sounded like the two of you were having a difficult conversation and I wanted to help. I hope I didn't make things worse."

So far, you've been making everything worse. But this may be an opportunity...

"Sera- Lady Mireidyne is under a lot of pressure from her family to perform well. They expect her to achieve the top score at the assessment." I explained to Lily, who nodded in understanding.

"So, if she gets the best score, it'll make her happy, right?" She asked.

Lily is so easy to manipulate. I may not even have to do anything during the second part of the assessment; I can just get her to throw the competition for Seraphine.

"Well, she's probably a shoo-in for the first part already, but I'm not sure about the second." I told her.

"Right! I'll do my best not to steal the spotlight from her!" Lily said excitedly, then ran back into the arena.

I stayed outside a little longer to contemplate the plan a little longer. My own score wouldn't matter, but with all eyes on me after the combat round I should probably show off a little to avoid any suspicion. As for Lily, it wouldn't hurt to have a backup plan in case she still ends up performing better than Seraphine. My original plan was to sabotage the spell she was going to show, but now she will probably use a different spell...

Hold on. She just said she'd avoid taking the spotlight away from Seraphine. Am I reading too much into it, or does she know that Seraphine is going to place just below her?