After leaving the VR hall, Noah walked toward the cafeteria with the others.

Damien had positioned himself directly beside Noah the moment they stepped out of the room, staying close in a way that made it very clear he wasn’t letting him wander off before getting his answers.

Noah glanced at him sideways.

’What do I even tell him. Let me think of something.’

"By the way," Leonard said from Noah’s other side, his voice loud and already excited about reliving things. "How did you eliminate Travis? The man is seriously strong. I can’t believe you took him down alone."

"Yes." Kaelan’s voice came from behind them, calm as always but carrying a thread of genuine curiosity beneath it. "I’d like to know that as well."

Noah looked back at him briefly.

Kaelan wasn’t the type to ask questions like that. The fact that he was asking now said something about how unexpected it had been. When someone did something that genuinely surprised Kaelan, his attitude changes towards that person slightly.

"I’ll tell you while we eat," Noah said.

"Same. I’m curious too." Damien smiled pleasantly beside him.

"It was probably luck." Emma’s voice came from the other side of the group, her arms already folded across her chest. "There’s no way he defeated Travis with his strength."

Noah glanced at her.

’This girl. Always talk like this." He thought about it for a second. ’She’s one of the female leads too. She is beautiful. But I have absolutely no interest in her. Same with Ophelia. At first I did...but not anymore. Maybe personalities are really important.’

Noah thought about it. Currently he only talks sweetly with Arisha, Lyria and Mary. And it was honest.

Though he also talk like this to others. But with others he mostly act to talk sweet. To avoid conflicts.

Obviously Ophelia was some different kind of case. No matter how much polite he talk. She always bitch talk with him

"You’re not wrong, Emma. Luck definitely played a part."

Emma tilted her chin slightly. "As I expected. Let’s hear the full story when we sit down."

"I think he must have done something clever," Arisha said, her voice even. She didn’t look at Noah when she said it. Just a simple statement directed at the group.

Leonard’s eyes lit up immediately. He looked between Arisha and Noah with a wide grin spreading across his face.

"Look at that. Defending her man." He nudged Noah with his elbow. "You’re a lucky one, Noah."

Noah’s lips pressed together slightly.

Arisha’s eyes moved to Leonard for exactly one second. Then it passed and she looked ahead again as if nothing had happened.

She said nothing.

Leonard smartly let the subject drop.

---

They reached the cafeteria, collected their food, and settled at a table in the corner away from the main crowd.

The room was already filling with students from both classes, the noise of conversations and the clatter of trays building steadily around them.

Leonard sat down and immediately pointed his fork at Noah before he had even properly settled into his seat.

"Alright. Tell us. Now."

Noah looked at his plate for a moment.

Everyone at the table was watching him. Leonard leaning forward with barely contained impatience.

Lyria with calm and patient curiosity. Kaelan with his usual unreadable expression, though his eyes were attentive. Arisha quiet and still. Emma with her arms still folded, waiting to be unconvinced.

And Damien, sitting directly across from Noah, not touching his food yet, watching him with an expression that was friendly on the surface and something considerably more pointed underneath it.

’Okay. Here we go.’

"It was just me and Damien left standing," Noah began, setting his fork down. "Travis was still in the fight. Damien was spent, he couldn’t fight anymore after using his ability. So I did something simple."

"What simple thing?" Lyria asked.

Damien said nothing. He just waited.

"I eliminated Damien first."

Silence landed on the table like a dropped plate.

"What?" Leonard’s fork stopped halfway to his mouth.

"You’re joking," Kaelan said flatly.

"Why would you do that?" Lyria asked, her brow furrowing.

Even Emma uncrossed her arms slightly, looking genuinely caught off guard.

Noah waited for the noise to settle, then continued.

"Think about it. Damien couldn’t fight. He was sitting against a rock. He was going to get eliminated anyway, it was only a matter of time." He looked across at Damien directly. "So I eliminated him myself. After that, Travis attack me...but not to emiliminate me. Why do you think Travis didn’t just finish the fight and cut me down immediately after?"

Damien stared at him. The table went quiet as people thought about it.

Arisha answered before anyone else could.

"Because he wanted to know why you did it. Thats how most people acts."

Noah pointed at her. "Exactly." 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

He leaned back in his chair and continued.

"Travis came at me furious. He demanded to know why I had eliminated my own commander. So I told him calmly. Looking genuinely regretful about the whole thing. That Damien had asked me to do it. That eliminating him was supposed to give me a better chance somehow." He paused.

"And then I pointed out one more thing. That Damien said to me even if B-1 won the battle from that point, Travis personally would not get any points for eliminating a commander. Because the commander was already gone. Damien was worth the most individual points on our side. And I had taken that away from him."

Leonard set his fork down slowly. "That’s cold."

"Travis didn’t take it well," Noah continued.

"He was angry. Genuinely angry. So I walked up to him, put my hand on his shoulder, and apologized. Very sincerely. I told him I hadn’t realized what I was doing. That I was sorry for making things difficult. That he should just go ahead and eliminate me since I had no way left to fight back."

Kaelan’s eyes narrowed slightly. He could already see where it was going.

"Travis lowered his guard," Noah said simply. "He bought it. He went to thrust the tip of his sword into my stomach. A finishing strike, slow and controlled because he thought it was over."

He raised his right palm flat on the table, facing upward.

"I had already formed a layer of compressed ice across my stomach while I was talking to him. His sword tip hit it and stopped. In that same moment, while my hand was on his shoulder, I slid it across to his neck."

A small ice spike formed above his palm for just a second, sharp-tipped, and then dissolved.

"I put that through his neck. And that was it."

He picked up his fork and resumed eating as if he had just described something mildly interesting that had happened on his way to class.

The table was completely silent for several seconds.

Then Kaelan leaned back in his chair and exhaled once through his nose.

"Damn, Noah." His voice carried something that on anyone else would have been called impressed. "You are one hell of a bastard."

Leonard erupted. "HAHAHA! That’s insane! You actually– hahaha! you talked him into it! He walked right into it!"

Lyria pressed her fingers lightly to her lips, not knowing if she should be impressed by his smart move...or disappoint because he eliminated his own teammate.

Arisha said nothing, but the look on her face suggested she was filing the information away carefully.

Emma stared at him for a long moment.

Then she picked up her chopsticks and looked away, saying nothing further.

Damien had been quiet through the whole story.

Now he picked up his fork slowly, looked down at his food, and exhaled through his nose.

"But you eliminated me bastard," he said quietly.

"I did so we could win..." Noah agreed.

"And you might also get points for eliminating me."

"That’s not important. What’s important is that it worked."

Damien was quiet for another moment.

Then the corner of his mouth moved upward very slightly.

"Don’t do that again."

"No promises," Noah said pleasantly, and took a bite of his food.