No More Pain For This Villain.

Knock knock.

I woke up to the knock on the door. Last night, I didn\'t sleep much because of overthinking a few things.

"Coming," I replied as I walked to the door and opened it to see Professor Night looking up at me.

"Wake up, young man. We have things to discuss with the team," she said.

"I\'ll be out in a few minutes," I replied, to which she just nodded and left.

I turned around. "Where\'s Smokeball?" I asked myself. He didn\'t wake me up in the morning and is not in the room either.

[After a few minutes.]

We sat at the round table in the extra room that was given to us. It\'s more like a common room, not much here. Everyone was here from our team, and the atmosphere was tense. Erik sat beside me on the left, and Aron was beside him. To my right sat Vexa.

"Haa, so tomorrow is the first round of Mage\'s Gambit, Chameleon\'s Maze. Listen, kids," she pulled her chair and sat down. "I know for a fact that you all have issues, but you are not dumb, and you know it too. We came here as a team, and we are going to win as a team too. I do not need any kind of animosity between you kids while we are on that match because I know for a fact that others have picked up on the weird atmosphere of our team," she laid it all out.

"Adam, you are the captain. Whatever you have going on in your mind for Ren and Aron, I need you to stop because Headmaster Stormborne believes in you more than anyone," she stroked Adam\'s ego.

"As for Ren Hilton, boy, I know for a fact that you are not dumb either," she said, "and I\'ve seen you in the ring too. You will follow your captain once you get in there... am I clear?" she asked.

I remained silent.

She face-palmed herself. "Ugh, I did not know it\'s this serious."

"So, y\'all really hate each other, huh?"

The room fell into an awkward silence as Professor Night\'s words hung in the air. I exchanged glances with my teammates, each of us processing her stern admonition in our own way.

Finally, Adam spoke up, his voice carrying a tone of determination. "Professor Night, you have my word. We\'ll set aside our differences and focus on the task at hand. Winning this competition is our priority."

\'Said like a true protagonist,\' I thought.

"Good," Professor Night said, visibly relieved. "Now, let\'s discuss our strategy for tomorrow\'s challenge."

"Do any of you know what we have to do once we enter the maze?" She asked.

"Collect whatever item they want us to before any of the other teams, it\'ll give us points," I spoke.

"That\'s... a very simple way of putting it, but true. Tomorrow, for the round, y\'all won\'t be allowed to get any weapons into the maze. It\'s a task of searching. It has about 10 points for the winning team. There are seven rounds of about 200 points, and it\'ll be about a 14-day event with not much resting at all. Once it starts, it starts, and there\'s no going back. Few of them are life-threatening, and if you die, no one but you is to blame," she was blunt with it.

I could hear Erik gulp loudly.

"Anyways, for tomorrow, we split the team into two parts for search," she said. "Adam, you form the teams."

"Me, Isolde, and Vexa in team one, and the rest in the other," he didn\'t even think for a second before blurting out his response.

I turned my face towards Aron, who was oddly calm about all of this as he has not uttered a single word from the start of this meeting.

"Umm, Miss, can I suggest something?" Came and voice

"..." I raised my brow as I was not expecting this. Vexa spoke.

"Yes, please do! At least someone is willing to act like this all matters," Professor Night threw in a backhanded taunt.

"Why not go with three teams of two?" Vexa put it.

"Elaborate why," the professor leaned forward.

"If I think about it, then wouldn\'t it be better for Adam and Isolde to work together as they have a history of working together for combined class activities of their respective school years, which\'ll make them better communication-wise. Second team could be Me and Erik Weller, as I think he\'s not the strongest among us, and I can carry him thoroughly."

"Third team would be Ren Hilton and Aron Velcrow," she said.

"And how would that help us?" Asked Isolde, but was stopped by Adam.

"You continue, Vexa," he said, looks like he\'s trying to score some points in Vexa\'s eyes...ugh who cares.

"Thank you, Adam," Vexa acknowledged before continuing. "Ren and Aron, despite their differences, possess skills that complement each other. I think Ren is a fast thinker while Aron could be one to navigate faster using his wind element....well atleast we both know that they are strong."

"Furthermore," Vexa continued, "by dividing into three teams, we can cover more ground and increase our chances of finding the required item before the other teams."

Well it made sense.

Professor Night considered Vexa\'s proposal, her expression thoughtful. "That\'s a valid point," she conceded. "Alright, let\'s go with Vexa\'s suggestion. Adam, rearrange the teams accordingly."

Adam nodded, his brow furrowed in concentration as he mentally reorganized the teams based on Vexa\'s plan. "Alright, team one will be Isolde and me. Team two will be Erik and Vexa, and team three will be Ren and Aron," he announced.

I glanced at Aron, who met my gaze, but I could see that he wasn\'t that big of a fan of the idea.

"Now that\'s settled, let\'s focus on preparing for tomorrow\'s challenge," Professor Night said, her tone firm. "We\'ll meet here again after dinner to go over the final details."