Chapter 101 The Academy Road

The Crown Trials final opened beneath a gold scoreboard, forty thousand live spectators and one arena floor carrying the Benefactor's residue under fresh paint.

Team Sterling entered from the east while Lucas led four white-coated students through the opposite gate, his injured shoulder bound beneath clean armor.

'Lucas built that team after two public refusals, studied every fight we had, then walked in smiling with the shoulder still bound, damn.'

The final used three phases: formation control, rotating objectives and one captain bout if neither team achieved a complete sweep.

Mina checked her independent relay before accepting the score link, leaving every maker channel sealed while Isolde tested dust beneath their starting line.

"The paint hides black salt near three joints, so the floor was repaired after our semifinal without any record," Isolde said, closing the tube.

Vivienne felt Reciprocal Interval settle between herself and Damien, then touched her signed anchor before drawing both blades.

"The bond remains clear, the ward remains untouched, and I will answer only after a declared Stay," she said, taking the forward pressure lane.

"That leaves me responsible for surviving long enough to declare one, which feels unnecessarily demanding before breakfast," Damien replied, drawing Verdict beneath the opening bell.

'Four anchors sit ready and three seconds of heals remain, yet Blank is chewing my collar toward the floor instead of watching Lucas.'

Lucas sent his shield specialist toward Mina while two fast fighters swept behind, using the exact formation Team Sterling had shown against the quarterfinal standards.

He did not follow the academy counter-table, instead matching Damien's likely intervention through clips of Gutter footwork and every public Flicker angle.

"Your left exit closes after the second step, so choose another habit before I reach it," Lucas said, cutting toward Damien's uninjured side.

"Watching recordings made you considerably ruder, though the improvement suits you," Damien replied, breaking rhythm before the predicted step.

The floor split beneath both captains before either blade met, firing black-gold stakes upward from three repaired joints.

[Correction sabotage activated]

[Death Flag: Finals opening execution]

[Fatality: 97%]

'The first bell lasted four seconds before the mountain attempted murder, which may be a national record for administrative failure.'

Damien shoved Lucas aside with one shoulder and caught the nearest stake against Iron Veil, feeling its point drive mana backward through his arm.

[Debt: 0 → 401]

The remaining stakes turned toward Sterling's side rather than Arden's, ignoring every student who wore white while the score board kept counting formation time.

Mina dropped two plates beneath Isolde and Vivienne, lifting them above the killing line without connecting either anchor to tournament metal.

"The stakes are reading team registration, so I can erase our score signature for five seconds before officials disqualify us," she said, twisting her key.

"Erase it, since disqualification sounds recoverable while impalement has expensive paperwork," Isolde replied, pouring black salt across the nearest plate.

'No system reward for fighting students, but the Correction brought its own ×10 invoice into the final, damn, somebody really wants Level 1,000 delayed.'

Lucas ordered his own team away from the safe white lanes and used a broad shield to cover two spectators trapped near the lower rail.

The arena responded by opening a perfect path behind him, though he ignored it and held the shield where falling stone struck his injured shoulder.

Vivienne cut one stake through Mirror-Edge while Damien left Stay closed, preserving their declared interval for the captain bout rather than wasting it blindly.

"The central joint controls all three trajectories, but black salt prevents my blades reaching its housing," she said, drawing pressure away from Mina.

Damien branded the repaired joint, letting another stake scrape his coat and raise Compounding Wrath through genuine hostile contact.

[Debt: 401 → 917]

[Compounding Wrath: 917 → 953]

'Level 991, one sealed form, plus nine million EXP sitting behind survival if the refund math remains honest.'

Isolde turned the hidden salt reactive through her carried resin, exposing a silver core beneath black paint while Mina removed their team signature.

The stakes lost target lock for one second, giving Vivienne time to cut the central housing while Lucas dragged both spectators behind his shield.

Damien released Reckoning through the exposed core rather than toward any student.

[Reckoning: 953 × 2.0 = 1,906]

[Verdict conductance: 2,287]

The repaired joint shattered, breaking every stake into ordinary arena metal while emergency barriers finally closed around the damaged floor.

[Death Flag survived]

[Finals sabotage destroyed]

[Base reward: 900,000 EXP]

[All rewards ×10]

[Experience gained: 9,000,000]

[Level: 991 → 1,000]

[Experience: 448,000 / 1,000,000]

[Active skill slot unlocked]

[Active slots: 6]

[Mirrored Rain unsealed]

[Public registration update required]

'Four digits arrived through somebody trying to nail me to a tournament floor, which feels much more appropriate than a ceremony.'

Verdict's tally flashed gold, then divided into three silver rain-lines that remained visible after the balance emptied.

The national registry station above the judges found Damien before commentary recovered from the sabotage.

[Registered level: 380 → 1,000]

Every board inside Crown Basin paused, replacing the old public measurement with four digits beside the former Trash assessment.

The academy section erupted in separate waves, beginning with students who grasped the number before nobles realized what the registry had just admitted.

Cassius remained seated beside Aldous with one hand closed around the conclave invitation hidden inside his coat, watching the son he had once measured through inheritance become impossible to classify.

"The registry accepted the reading without challenge, Father, which removes the family's last respectable excuse for pretending this is temporary," Cassius said, keeping his voice beneath the surrounding roar.

Aldous did not answer, though the silver head of his cane bent beneath a grip that had never tightened during Damien's previous public victories.

'The old man resents the number, Cassius hates the silence, plus both are discovering that four digits make denial expensive.'

Rhea rose from the champion gallery and struck one fist against the rail, while half the academy section forgot to make any sound.

"They kept him registered at three hundred eighty while he crossed one thousand, which makes the Board look drunk," the commentator said, abandoning prepared language.

Mina's grin lasted one second before she pointed at the damaged score apparatus and demanded the final resume through independent clocks.

"His level can terrify the audience later, while those towers remain compromised and nobody touches our formation total," she said, lifting her evidence seal.

'She watched me break a national record, then returned to sensor custody before the applause finished, which is exactly why our score still exists.'

The judges removed the damaged center and restarted formation control with raw witnessed time, giving neither team points from the interrupted exchange.

Arena medics tried to pull Damien toward the eastern tunnel, but he submitted his arm to a ten-second scan and refused the stretcher after Iron Veil stabilized.

"The puncture never reached bone, the hostile mana has dispersed, and removing me now rewards whoever installed those stakes," he said, signing the refusal slate with his uninjured hand.

The chief judge accepted it only after Lucas signed a matching statement that the sabotage had targeted neither captain's lawful exchange.

Lucas rolled his injured shoulder, studied the three rain-lines above Verdict and changed every hand signal his team had prepared.

"The counter-table no longer applies, so we use what he actually does rather than what Sterling forms say," he told his team, taking a stance built from Damien's own footage.

The second bell rang with Mirrored Rain active and Lucas waiting through a strategy fate had never written for him.