"I need to change the order," Ren announced after studying Team Twelve's composition with careful attention to details most people would miss.

Roran's team was strong, very strong compared to typical fifth-year groupings. Four beasts at Silver 2 or higher rank, six at the boundary between high Bronze and low Silver.

And among the four high-rank beasts was Roran himself at Silver 3, a rank above most competitors.

"Ron, this time you'll go fourth instead of first," Ren instructed while mentally calculating probability matrices. "Trevor, sixth position. Iris, third."

He reorganized the order based on what he anticipated Roran would do given his personality and strategic tendencies.

Because he knew Roran intimately from years of training together. Understood roughly how he thought strategically, how he approached problems. Knew that Roran would use his strongest beast, the Giant Troll Dog, near the beginning to break the opposing team's momentum before it could build.

Not at the very start exactly. That would be too obvious and would waste the beast if the first opponents were fast enough to avoid damage while depleting its stamina.

But somewhere between second and fourth turn, that's where Roran would maximize impact without being predictable. Probably putting a fast beast before himself to probe the fast opponents.

THE INITIAL BATTLES

The first battle was victory for Team Five through a matchup Ren had engineered to be close but manageable with proper execution.

His first fighter faced Team Twelve's fighter with a wind element advantage, but being against a Silver 2 the battle morphed into an exchange that came down to endurance rather than explosive power.

After five minutes of grinding combat, team five's beast emerged victorious through superior stamina management.

Score: 1-0

In the second battle, Roran sent another one of his Silver 2 members as Ren had predicted. A powerful fire beast that was aggressive in its attack patterns, clearly designed to counter fast moving wind opponents... Perfectly positioned to serve as a counter to the first wind beast of the 2 ones team five had.

Score: 1-1

Team Five's first member, lost exactly as anticipated in the strategic plan. The fire beast overwhelmed it with both rank and elemental advantage.

But Ren had sent one of his water elementals second specifically because he'd known fire was highly probable here, Roran trying to hunt the wind beast that he most likely would deploy early.

The water beast extinguished the fire beast's flames through overwhelming type advantage that couldn't be overcome through superior rank alone. Water pressure attacks doused fire before it could build to dangerous temperatures, systematic dismantling of the opponent's primary weapon.

Score: 2-1

Roran had countered by sending an earth element.

The battle was intense with few or non elemental advantages on either side, earth could absorb some water but water could erode earth through persistent pressure. Back and forth exchange where neither beast could establish decisive advantage through element alone.

It came down to individual skill and stamina management, factors harder to predict than simple type matchups.

After seven minutes of brutal exchange, Team Twelve's earth beast emerged victorious through marginally better endurance, its tamer having conserved energy more efficiently during the crucial moments.

Score: 2-2

Iris entered third position against the earth beast that was already tired from the previous battle that had pushed it to limits. Despite the elemental disadvantage, her wind beast had sufficient speed to dodge the attacks slowed by fatigue, dancing around increasingly desperate strikes while landing accumulating damage through hit-and-run tactics.

She won again through attrition, saving energy and wearing down an opponent that couldn't catch her even once to land what would have been a finishing blow.

Score: 3-2

And then Roran entered at fourth turn as Ren had calculated he would the latest.

RORAN'S GIANT TROLL DOG

This was what Ren had wanted… putting Roran against a fast beast that would hopefully fatigue him through prolonged chase. But the reality of facing the Giant Troll Dog made that strategy seem optimistic rather than practical.

The beast stepped onto the arena and the ground trembled slightly under its weight, pressure announcing presence before visual impact registered. It was a massive creature standing four meters tall on four legs, muscles that looked carved from stone, short thick fur that gleamed with a natural magical resistance that made elemental attacks less effective.

Neutral type, which meant it had no particular elemental advantages that could be exploited... but also no elemental weaknesses that could be targeted for quick victory.

It was a pure tank in philosophy and execution. Impressive elemental resistance layered on top of natural physical robustness. At Silver 3 rank against opponents who were Silver 1 or weaker...

The matchup was almost unfair before it even began.

Iris's wind beast wasn't hit easily, or at all… and maintained itself comfortably out of range through superior speed. It could fly, so in theory it had an absolute advantage through mobility that the tank couldn't match.

But her attacks...

The Giant Troll Dog decided not even to move in response to wind blades that struck its hide, choosing instead to conserve energy by tanking damage that didn't actually threaten it. Each attack that landed did minimal damage against defenses specifically trained to resist elemental assaults.

The wind beast exhausted itself trying to find vulnerabilities that didn't exist, stamina depleting while the opponent remained fresh and patient.

It was almost unfair in how one-sided the one-sided exchange became.

Score: 3-3

Ron faced the Troll Dog next with his salamander launching concentrated fire attacks that had worked against every previous opponent.

Direct hits landed, flames washing over the beast's body in waves of heat that should have caused serious damage.

The Troll Dog shook off the fire like it was merely a warm annoying breeze rather than a weapon meant to burn, its natural resistance making Ron's best efforts look inadequate.

Then it charged with speed that was deceptive for its massive size. Ron's salamander tried dodging but the Troll Dog's acceleration when it actually decided to move, and you couldn't fly, was faster than anticipated for something that large.

A direct impact sent the salamander rolling several meters across the arena floor, collision force enough to knock it out despite the salamander's natural durability.

Victory for Roran in dominant fashion.

Score: 3-4

Would Ren need to fight this time?

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