The talk went underway without any seconds wasted. The Twelve missed no beat and discussed the topic regarding the fights. Despite this, Corvan and Charles seemed to be looking at the girl quite too frequently as though she was some sort of creature they haven't seen before. The fourth-ranker had that look in his eyes while Corvan got his trademark wrinkle between the brows.

Genevieve and Zevlin still seemed to haven't resolved their sibling feud. The usual display of affection between the two was absent and they did not seem to have plans on speaking to one another.

"We have come to a decision."

"It wasn't really anything that needed much thinking." Zander muttered loudly from where he was.

Valeriana frowned. For goodness's sake! This guy never learns!

For some reason, she had a feeling Lord Lienhard did not lecture the guy. It was that or he was just plain stubborn.

"Oh, shut it." Tamara glared at him. "No one here needs you talking. Just for a moment, I need to get this out of the way. From now on, everybody shut your mouths if you don't have anything useful to say. Get it? If not, I'll shove down your foot down your throat. The festival be damned."

Always count on Tamara to say exactly what they all have been meaning to say.

The DevDept shook in fear of the third-ranker's glower and manner of speaking she used. Even so, they were courageous lads that they did not let it show.

"Your suggestion has been considered worthy." Charles spoke with formality and pride befitting of the Twelve.

The DevDept seemed happy with their answer that relieved smiles and sighs popped simultaneously.

"But before that is finalized, how do you plan on pursuing this matter? Since this was your ultimate suggestion, the Twelve must know what sort of system shall be used." Rowe leaned forward, his face blank but his eyes wary.

"We will not allow ourselves to be toyed like some sort of . . ." Corvan felt lost at the search for the forgotten word.

"Roman gladiators!" Valeriana quipped, finishing for him.

They all looked her way questioningly.

"Never mind." She shook her head. "Let's watch Hercules later. Was that even the right movie?"

Darcius cleared his throat and stepped forward to take the initiative. In his hands he had a roll of paper that he placed on the coffee table where everybody sat around.

"Alrighty then . . ." He took a deep breath and rolled out the paper. "The concept will be like this. The fights will take place in the dueling arena like the usual, but unlike what we all have gotten used to, you won't be fighting alone. We'll also be making a little bit of renovation to the venue, since we expect the show to be somewhat . . . explosive."

Looks of skepticism were thrown across the room, jaws flapping open at the statement. Even so, Darcius was not finished.

"Without direct interference, you will be assisted by a partner, a full-fledged member of the Zenith, which, if you don't already know, is made up of the students excelling in both academics and development or invention from our part."

"You made an organization that is like your version of the Twelve?" Elfre was dumbfounded.

"The Zeniths are, of course, different. Unlike you guys only having twelve ranks, ours extend to a hundred." Darcius smiled at the expressions he was receiving.

Needless to say, how majority of them was unaware of the existence of such system was amusing. A few of them paid no mind to it, as though the news had long since arrived.

Valeriana didn't know. Heck, she didn't even know there was a DevDept in the first place.

"There was something like that?"

"Tch." Cail looked irked. "It's just that you people are too famous that the rankings in our department get overlooked!"

Harley slapped a hand over the boy's mouth and restrained him from talking further.

Coral giggled. "Well, since you guys are made up of only twelve people, we're giving you the best twelve of ours. However, as a bonus, you'll be getting a team from the first thirteen to fifty assisting you from the sidelines too."

"We didn't want you thinking you guys are being manipulated or something." Said Harley. "So we decided to conduct drawlots to determine the members of your team."

The members of the Circle was then each offered two jars. The first jar had the least amount of rolled little paper sticks, they guessed as many as their number. The second jar was practically overflowing and slightly bigger than the first, probably to accomodate the half a hundred people.

"How many should we take?" Keelan's eyes were bulging.

"The first jar, you need only one. That will decide the head of the team supporting you. After that, you pick four from the other jar. They will make up the members." The student leader approached the first-ranker first.

One by one, the rankers did as they were instructed. Some of them were on the anxious side, some were excited.

When it was finally Valeriana's turn, she found herself praying to the gods above to give her a reliable team. From the first jar, she was greeted by the number six.

"Six . . . ?" She muttered, looking down at it in confusion.

At the second jar, she got eighteen, thirty-seven, twenty, and a twenty-nine.

She found herself wishing whoever these people were, she would at least get along with them. The team wouldn't suck, hopefully. She had high hopes for them, especially since Corvan was her opponent.

"Holy crap." Valeriana coughed.

Corvan was her opponent.

"Holy freaking crap."

Somehow, she couldn't believe she only realized it now.

Why her?

"Is everything alright, Valeriana?" Raziel gave her a brow raise.

"Y-yeah . . ." Val threw her gaze at Corvan's direction and found him staring at her.

Awkward.

The moment he looked away, she did as well.

"Alright!" Coral brought out a thick pile of paper and sported some glasses the fifth did not expect she had. "Cail, are you ready?"

Cail had a quill sitting between his fingers and an ink bottle in front of him. He gave his partner a nod and they both took a deep breath.

"Lord Corvan, what are the numbers you picked? Start with the highest number please."

"Three." He started. "Fifteen, twenty-six, thirty-two, forty."

While Cail was busy writing, Coral was sorting through the papers.

"Those are pretty high numbers." Harley commented. "But you're lucky you have Kaleb in your team!"

His blank expression was not disturbed. "Kaleb?"

Like the order, Rowe came next then Tamara after him. As usual, the third was in high spirits, boasting to everyone how she got the lowest numbers. Her team leader landed on a seven, though. Her highest number was forty.

"All I got was something in the line of threes!" Tamara roared, throwing away the worthless papers that ruined her good mood--not that it wasn't ruined before, it just did her worse. "I only got one high number and that's thirteen!"

"You seem to like threes, third-ranker." Zevlin stated, laughter bubbling from his lips.

"You mean apple trees?" Keelan's eyes glistened at the mention of food.

"Not that, glutton!" Elfre threw a pillow at the eleventh, catching him by surprise.

Valeriana zoned out a bit until it was finally her turn. It did not occur immediately to her, though.

"VAL!"

She jumped.

"Oh, sorry. Is it my turn?" She hurriedly looked towards Cail and Coral, blushing in embarrassment.

"Valeriana is just too adorable." The pink-haired girl chortled. "What did you get, deary?"

"I got six--"

Zander seemed startled.

"Oh em gee!"

"What?"

"Who would've thought these two would be working together?" She continued to cackle.

"We're supposed to reveal it later." Cail glared at the girl but wrote down the number immediately.

Valeriana hesitantly continued. "Eighteen, twenty, twenty-nine, thirty-seven."

"Not bad, not bad. Your luck is great." Darcius whistled.

When they were done documenting the numbers they picked, Coral started swiftly speeding over what they assumed was the list of the Zeniths.

Raziel had high hopes for the team he had since he got the number one.

"Lord Corvan's team leader will be Kaleb Hans, third. Members are Mana Ulay, Sierra Vilm . . ."

Nobody was interested in hearing whose team members would be who. If possible, they just wanted to get the whole thing over and done with in order to proceed with the other preparations for the festival. They still have trouble with what kind of food to offer, the attractions, accomodation, entertainment . . .

"Miss Valeriana . . ." Coral's singsang voice rang. "The team leader will be Zander Levine, sixth."

She doubled over and choked on her own spit. "No way! This guy?!"

"I should be saying the same thing." Mr. Purple spat.

Talk about trouble.

"Tamara! Swap with me!"

The third gave her an irritated glare. "I'm having problems with mine already, I don't want that bastard with me."

"You can't swap with anyone!" Coral's lower lip trembled in such a manner that Valeriana felt guilty. "That's just not fair!"

Although the pink-haired girl looked pretty ordinary, her looks somewhat average and whatnot, she had some sort of charm. Adding in that ability of hers with the direct control stuff, she was deadly.

"I assure you Zander is very competent." Darcius scratched his head. "He just has that . . . unwanted habit of saying what's in his mind."

"I need no backing up from you people." Mr. Purple seethed.

"And somewhat prideful."

"Shut it!" He shouted indignantly.

"Anyhow, let's proceed."

Filled with disbelief, the girl sat down. Her mind felt muddled about the recent results that she could not help but wonder what sort of outcome would she get.

Was this what the gods really wanted?

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