Chapter 1290: Gone Fishing

"AAH!"

The startled guild leader’s head whipped around at the loud thud and the pained scream that immediately followed.

So did nearly every other first-year’s.

One cadet had just slammed face-first into the ground.

"?!"

A senior cadet was already sailing over him.

Apparently, the older student had deliberately planted a foot against the unsuspecting freshman’s back and used him as a stepping stone to propel himself toward the newly opened doors!

The unfortunate first-year hit the floor hard, groaning in pain.

And the senior?

He didn’t even look back.

If anything, the bastard looked amused.

The surrounding freshmen stared in horror.

Then, almost instinctively, several of them turned toward Vice Principal March.

"..."

Surely he was going to say something.

Surely that wasn’t allowed.

But much to their surprise, the normally uptight Vice Principal remained completely expressionless.

Though internally?

Wesley March was screaming.

But what exactly was he supposed to do?!

The exercise had already started, and he couldn’t exactly blow the whistle just because someone hadn’t been paying attention to their surroundings when they’d already been warned that everyone else could be considered competition!

And unfortunately, or perhaps just as expected, the senior cadets who’d likely received the same eye-opening treatment from their own predecessors understood the implications much faster than the freshmen did.

The first one had gotten away with it.

Which meant it wasn’t against the rules.

"!"

That realization spread through the Training Hall almost instantly.

Then all hell broke loose.

The older cadets understandably moved first.

Several launched themselves in the direction of the battleships while others immediately targeted whoever happened to be standing in their way, regardless of whether the unfortunate victim was a senior from another academy or one of the stunned first-years.

People were shoved aside.

Legs were swept out from under unsuspecting cadets.

Someone was practically thrown into another battalion’s formation!

Because apparently, getting to the battleships first wasn’t enough.

If they could leave early and incapacitate a few competitors before anyone even reached Caldris Minor-7?

Why wouldn’t they?!

And just like that, the Royal Military Academy’s freshmen finally understood what Vice Principal March had meant by a fruitful competition.

There was absolutely nothing friendly about it.

__

"Holy hell, is this actually happening?!"

Ollie stared in absolute disbelief at what was rapidly turning into a full-blown stampede.

And maybe he really was a changed person now, because somehow, this looked even worse than their dungeon simulation run!

Even the oddly frizzy sim people weren’t acting this unhinged, and to think they’d had every reason to when they were quite literally being invaded by an armada of corrupted beasts!

Meanwhile, these feral cadets hadn’t even left the Academy yet and they were already resorting to stepping on someone else for a headstart!

"Maybe I shouldn’t have spent all that time learning control!" exclaimed the mop, his hair already starting to look mildly offended on his behalf. "I think these guys deserve a little tingle! I mean, look at them?!"

Not that he particularly wanted to electrocute his fellow batchmates.

But if he accidentally separated a senior’s soul from their body after they came charging at him like that, Ollie figured he wouldn’t feel too guilty about it.

But when the blonde turned to see what his good brother thought about the matter, he immediately realized something was wrong.

All of his guildmates looked incredibly serious.

"..."

Oh.

Maybe he should’ve known better.

Kyle was already turning toward Ada.

"Ada, I’ll make sure Her Highness stays safe, but please look after my wife."

"Of course." Ada nodded solemnly. "I will see to it that he returns alive."

"..."

Ollie slowly looked between the two of them.

While that was undoubtedly sweet, why did it sound like he was raising a flag?!

But before he could complain about taking back such words and knocking on surfaces three times, something moved incredibly fast beside him.

"?"

The discharged lighthouse whipped his head around just in time to see Luca dart toward Xavier.

Mwah!

One incredibly quick goodbye kiss landed on the Prince’s cheek.

Then, just like that, his brother was already turning back, somehow carrying such an inexplicably cool aura that Ollie could only stare.

"We should go help now!"

Well, sure, okay...?

Ollie wasn’t quite certain how someone like him was supposed to be of much help without sending anyone straight to the medical bay, especially when he couldn’t even use most of his usual toys.

Still, he was down for anything.

Whenever his good brother decided on something, the supportive blonde had long since learned that it was usually better to follow along first and ask questions later.

After all, there was always a very real possibility that he simply hadn’t understood Luca’s current genius yet.

So Ollie watched as Luca’s golden eyes remained fixed on the chaos unfolding below, his expression unusually focused while spiritual energy quietly gathered around him.

But instead of hearing about some battle plan, what came out of his brother’s lips was:

"Jax, Theo."

The two immediately looked over.

"If you can, please hold on tight."

"Huh?"

Now, most sane people probably would’ve responded with what?

Or why?

Perhaps even the very reasonable question of hold on to what?

But maybe that was simply the advantage of spending far too much time around Luca Kyros, especially when one of them relied heavily on his instincts while the other was secretly one of Luca’s biggest and most trusting supporters.

Because the moment several spiritual tendrils suddenly wrapped around Jax and Theo’s torsos, neither of them screamed.

Not even when their feet left the ground.

Not even when Luca abruptly launched himself into the air.

And not even when an ethereal platform of condensed spiritual energy formed beneath him, allowing the golden-eyed cadet to land smoothly several meters above the increasingly chaotic crowd.

Jax merely grabbed onto the tendril around him and held tight.

Theo, meanwhile, didn’t make much of a sound at all.

Though after a while, that might’ve had less to do with trust and considerably more to do with the sudden motion sickness currently rearranging his internal organs.

Hopefully, the rest of the people about to experience the exact same bizarre method of transportation would have a much better tolerance for it.

Because judging by the absurd stampede unfolding below, Luca clearly wasn’t planning to stop with just two.