As Aegon appeared, Soren lightly patted Cynthia’s shoulder.
She understood imdiately.
Carefully, she lowered him to the ground.
But the mont his feet touched the earth, Soren’s body bent slightly. A sharp pain tore through his chest, and for a brief mont a trace of blood reached his lips.
He swallowed it back.
No one needed to see that. Besides, it was all coming together.
Showing weakness now would resolve the plan.
Instead, he straightened and looked at Aegon with a faint smile.
"I knew you would panic the mont we didn’t go toward your territory," Soren said calmly. "You really can’t afford to take chances with the bounty, right?"
Those words made Aegon pause.
For a mont, the smirk on his face stiffened.
Because what Soren had just implied was clear.
Even though he had been the one chased across the hunting grounds...
He had been the one leading Aegon here.
Aegon slowly raised a brow.
Then he chuckled.
"Well," he said, stepping forward, "if your grand plan was simply to guarantee your death in a more dramatic location..."
His smirk widened.
"Then I’ll happily oblige."
Cynthia shifted forward slightly, her massive fra tensing as if ready to crush him.
But before she could move—
Aegon lowered his glasses again.
His glowing eyes t hers.
Imdiately, Cynthia’s legs stiffened.
Grey stone crept slowly over her boots, crawling upward as petrification began to take hold.
But unlike the hounds...
The process struggled.
The stone advanced slowly, as if her body itself resisted the effect.
Aegon noticed.
"Interesting," he muttered.
Before anything else could happen, Soren spoke again.
"Aegon."
The noble glanced at him.
"Are you really sure you want to do this?"
Soren tilted his head slightly.
"Because this is going to end with your loss... and a whole lot of embarrassnt for you and your Mohawk Party."
The Mohawk cadets behind Aegon burst into laughter.
Aegon himself chuckled softly.
"I’ve dealt with plenty of commoners throwing empty threats," he said dismissively. "Commoners with no power, no backing, and no real family."
He adjusted his gloves slowly.
"Even if you truly are a Waterfell..."
His smile sharpened.
"You’ll be no different."
But then Soren smirked.
"You’re right."
His voice softened slightly.
"I don’t have a family."
For a brief mont, the words sounded more like he was speaking to himself than to Aegon.
"I haven’t for a long ti."
Then he lifted his head again.
"But I do have backing."
He grinned.
"At least... they want ."
Before anyone could question what he ant—
Soren suddenly shouted at the top of his lungs.
"YOU GUYS KNOW THAT IF I DIE HERE, I NEVER GET TO JOIN YOUR PARTY, RIGHT?!"
His voice echoed across the forest, followed bu him grabbing his hurting chest.
Silence followed.
Nothing happened.
Aegon stared at him.
"...Have you gone insane?" he muttered.
Then he stepped forward again.
And that’s when—
THUNK
A blade shot through the air and stabbed into the ground exactly where Aegon’s foot was about to land.
Aegon reacted instantly.
He leapt backward several ters, landing lightly.
His eyes dropped to the weapon embedded in the soil.
He recognized it imdiately.
Especially the lion head symbol carved into the hilt.
His gaze slowly lifted.
From the trees ahead, figures began appearing one after another.
Landing on branches.
Dropping from rocks.
Stepping out of the shadows.
They moved with practiced precision, forming a loose formation.
At their center stood a tall young man with calm proud eyes.
Li.
Leader of the Lion Heart Party.
Li spoke casually.
"Aegon."
His tone was calm but firm.
"My Lion Heart Party has its eyes on that commoner."
He tilted his head slightly.
"I suggest you piss off... before I get angry."
Aegon’s eyes narrowed.
Third-year cadet Li. The sight of Li made him grit his teeth.
But before he could respond—
Another voice echoed through the forest.
"Li, has the Lion Heart grown so brave that you dare try to poach a mber of my Tea Party?"
Everyone turned.
Not far away, beneath a crooked tree, a large teenage boy sat comfortably at a small prepared table.
He was in the middle of eating a sandwich.
Stuffing his face lazily as crumbs fell onto his tunic.
Another student, a butler at his side, wiped thr fat boy’s cheeks as he ate.
"I Buttermint, will not allow it.." he said through a mouthful of food.
Leader of the Tea Party.
Around him, his party mbers began appearing.
So flashed into existence with bursts of light.
Others simply stepped out of thin air as if they had always been standing there.
The forest grew more crowded.
Then—
A loud, wild laugh echoed from above.
"YOU FAT BABOON!"
"AND YOU PROUD GOAT!"
Both Buttermint and Li looked upward.
"The Wild Tiger will not let either of you touch this lady’s prey, ow!"
On a thick tree branch above them stood a group of cadets with fierce expressions.
At the front was a girl with torn tunic sleeves and hair that looked like it had never seen a comb.
Her yellow eyes glead like a predator’s.
Her sharp teeth showed as she grinned.
She looked less like a student...
And more like a tiger ready to leap onto its prey.
Kiva.
Leader of the Wild Tiger Party.
mbers of her party crouched across the branches behind her.
Aegon slowly turned in place.
Looking from one group to another.
His expression finally cracked with genuine shock.
The sa was true for the Mohawk Party behind him.
One of them pointed nervously at the surrounding groups.
"T-That’s..."
Another swallowed.
"The Lion Heart... the Tea Party... and the Wild Tiger..."
The three most powerful student factions in the academy.
All here.
All surrounding them.
"What are they doing here?!"
At that mont—
A figure leapt down from the thick alien foliage above.
She landed lightly on the ground beside Soren and Cynthia.
It was Bloodshine.
She straightened, brushing stray leaves from her uniform. There was a slightly apologetic look on her face.
"Sorry, I’m nøt late," she said, glancing toward the branches where the Wild Tiger Party had gathered. Kiva was really nøt hard to convince... and We did nøt have issues with So hounds"
Soren nodded calmly.
He didn’t seem bothered at all.
"You did good," he said simply.
Bloodshine’s shoulders relaxed slightly at the praise.
When Soren had told Polystar earlier that he was sending Bloodshine on an errand—right before his confrontation with Sophia—this was what he had been referring to.
Of course, he had lied.
Why he lied to Polystar was a matter fir another day.
He had told Polystar that Bloodshine was going to fetch extra bandages from Dr. Kaya.
But the real reason...
Was much more personal.
For the last two days, Soren had been thinking carefully about the trap Sophia was obviously setting for him.
If he still had the ability to rewind the day using Chronovore’s power, he could have approached things very differently.
He could have experinted.
Failed.
Restarted.
Tried again until he found the perfect solution.
But that ability was gone as a result of his injury.
If he died now, his injury would worsen and they would definitely be consequences.
So he asked himself a simple question.
Why did he have to solve everything alone?
Soren rembered the first ti he had resud academy life.
The incident with Goldsworth.
Back then, Li himself had stepped in to diate the situation, even going as far as kicking Goldsworth out of the Lion Heart Party.
Later, Soren had learned just how much status Li held within the academy.
Nobles were proud.
And the nobles who ruled over other proud nobles were even prouder.
aning there was absolutely no reason for soone of Li’s stature to personally intervene in a petty conflict involving first-year cadets.
Especially one involving soone like Goldsworth and a Clown.
If Li truly wanted to handle it, he could have simply sent one of his lieutenants.
But he didn’t.
He ca personally.
And why was that?
The answer was simple.
From the mont Soren and Cynthia shattered the academy record in the Orientation Garden, they had attracted attention.
A lot of it.
And Soren himself had drawn even more interest because of the rumors.
A first-year who supposedly defeated a Soul Pilot.
Sothing considered practically impossible.
Li had simply been curious.
He wanted to see Soren up close.
But the mont Li moved—
Showing interest in a promising talent—
The other factions imdiately reacted.
Buttermint of the Tea Party.
Kiva of the Wild Tigers.
Both were long-ti competitors of the Lion Heart Party.
If Lion Heart showed interest in soone...
The others naturally wanted to take a look too.
The sa thing had happened during Soren’s Gauntlet battle with Goldsworth.
While many noble families were arrogant and self-centered, others had a different priority.
Recruiting talent.
Whether it was Soren...
Or Cynthia...
Both of them were exceptional.
Who wouldn’t want such people joining their ranks?
If Vass hadn’t declined their invitations earlier, the parties would have tried recruiting him as well.
The mont Soren realized this pattern, the solution beca obvious.
He didn’t need to defeat Aegon himself.
He just needed to drag the problem into a room full of bigger predators.
Let them handle it.
That was why he had run with Cynthia in this specific direction.
Because just like the Mohawk Party had their own hunting territory...
The other major factions had territories as well.
And this exact location—
Was the border where the territories of the Lion Heart, Tea Party, and Wild Tiger overlapped.
A place where none of them liked the others stepping too far.
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