Prota glanced at her cards nervously. She wasn't playing the deck John had given her. No, that was being saved for someone special, and not in a good way. However, using her regular deck meant that Lilith was familiar with her playstyle, and that made the match harder.

The start of the match had been rather uneventful. Nothing of note occurred, and both players were simply setting up for a potentially game-ending play. Prota held a slight upper hand for most of the game, until Lilith played a card Prota had never seen in her friend's deck, catching her off guard and lowering her health by twenty. In return, she was forced to make a play before she was prepared, resulting in good damage, but not a game-over.

Now, both players were at less than ten health. A single wrong move could be the end of either of them.

"Come on, Prota," Lilith taunted with a grin. "Or do you not have anything to play?"

The one thing going for Prota was her eternal poker face. Even in the heat of the moment, her expression never changed. Only John was able to tell she was nervous, but that was because he'd been forced to learn how to read her expressions over the years. Lilith might've been able to tell had she been closer, but thankfully, the two players were on opposite ends of the field.

"Nn…" Prota eyes flickered back and forth as she calculated her options.

She couldn't lose here.

In her hand were three options. She could draw a new card, but she had no way of knowing what she would get next. She could use a potion, but that would only recover two mana, and that wasn't enough to use any of her spells. Finally, she could use an attack, but the problem was that if Lilith defended, Prota would be in an incredibly uncomfortable position.

A stray thought crossed her mind at that moment. She wished she could [Reset]. That way, she could play the match again, and this time, she'd be prepared for Lilith's—

No. She shook her head. [Resets] were gone. Besides, they weren't meant to be abused. They were their ticket out of death, not some sort of way to cheat in a card game. Well, John had been planning on using them to play poker, right? Then she could—no. She'd berated John for thinking that way. She couldn't allow herself to think that way either.

"Thirty seconds remaining," the referee announced.

Shoot. Prota's head snapped up and analyzed the field. All three options were equally viable; all three options had an equal amount of luck involved. She just had to make a choice.

Throwing a card down, she sent forward an attack for fifteen damage. A giant holographic mace appeared above Prota's head, and it was now Lilith's turn to respond.

Prota's friend went a little pale. Her smile froze on her face, looking at the mace.

"I… you still had one of those?" she said weakly.

Prota felt the stress melt out of her body. She'd won.

"I didn't think you'd call my bluff," Lilith said, laughing shakily.

A mace came crashing down as Lilith raised her hands in surrender. The victory card that emerged over the arena announced Prota's victory, but she didn't pay it any attention. Instead, she walked up to Lilith and nodded.

"Good game, Prota," Lilith grinned, extending her hand for a handshake. "Oh, right."

To her surprise, though, Prota took it. It was brief. Just a light squeeze before Prota immediately let go. But it was one of the first forms of contact the two had ever made.

Lilith's eyes went wide in surprise before her grin widened even further.

"That was fun. Good game, Prota."

Prota nodded, but a smile was nowhere to be found. She'd done her job. Lilith didn't have to face Draco.

But that meant she would be the one to do so instead.

~~~

Draco sat in his room, going over his deck. In his mind, he'd been winning because of his skill. He believed himself to be the superior player, his victories a result of his tactical mind rather than his status.

"I'm a noble," he muttered to himself. "I need to win. It is my right. It is my responsibility."

Still, he felt uneasy. His final opponent tomorrow was Prota Char. He'd been trying to subdue her for so long, and yet he'd never been able to do so, even after two years of torment. That girl might bow, but her spirit never broke. She never lowered her gaze when crossing paths, never strayed away, never acknowledged him for what he was.

It was all her brother's fault.

To Draco, the girl was quiet. She was shy. Perhaps she was strong, but she wasn't actively defiant. Her brother, on the other hand, was someone who actively scorned him. He'd beaten down Draco's subordinates, defied the natural order of nobility, all without any consequence of any sort.

Commoners weren't supposed to stand up to nobles. It just wasn't right. Fundamentally, they were meant to be on different levels of existence. So then why did this John boy continue to do so?

Draco's rage only continued to grow as his thoughts echoed around his mind, fueling his anger until his brain was a roaring furnace. With heavy breaths, he opened his drawer to see the pill Lupin had given him.

"I'll show you what it means to be a noble," he muttered, slowly closing the drawer once more.

His mind began to scheme.

~~~

"Ladies and gentlemen, students and professors, welcome to the grand finals of the Scholaris Magecraft tournament!"

There was a loud cheer as the school band played a song in the stands, pumping the crowd up for today's first and final event. The betting booth was filled to the brim, with the odds being almost even. Nearly the whole school was present. Even those who didn't care much for the card game wanted to be present for such an exciting event.

"All this for what?" John muttered as he leaned back in his chair.

He wasn't concerned, but he couldn't shake the uneasy feeling in his chest. He continued to watch as both Draco and Prota walked out onto the stage. While the noble didn't seem to be up to any tricks, the mere sight of him made John a little upset.

"You think he's gonna try anything?" Destiny muttered.

John shook his head. "I don't know. I don't like that I don't know. I mean, what kind of loser would pull something over a card game?"

To their surprise, Danjo leaned forward, his face in a deep frown.

"Draco? Isn't that the guy who tried to kill us?"

"You… you remember that?" John said, surprised.

"Do I- what? Of course I remember!" Danjo said, getting upset. "I had a knife held to my throat because of that guy! And then John- um. Never mind."

"No, no, that was my bad," John said sheepishly. "I probably won't do that again."

"No, it's ok," Danjo said, rubbing the back of his head. "I get it. But… I don't get it. That Draco guy is a real pain in the butt."

Briar leaned forward at that.

"Wow, Danjo, I've never heard you insult someone like that," she grinned. "That Draco guy must be more of an asshole than I thought, huh?"

"You don't know the half of it," Destiny muttered. "I don't want to deal with that guy ever again."

"I'm telling you, you should've just let me kill him," John said, nudging Destiny.

John nodded slowly, although he was a little surprised to find out the other kids didn't know about Draco. An oversight by the [Author], probably.

Regardless, at this point, everyone nearby was starting to get interested in what kind of person Draco was, and John was more than happy to oblige in letting them know. Destiny and Danjo didn't bother to hold back, either, although they weren't as strongly opinionated as John was.

Celeste peeked over Destiny's head, eyes wide. "Wow, there are nobles like that? What an idiot!"

Eventually, though, the match started, and thoughts of what Draco had done in the Town of Beginnings were dropped. The holograms appeared above the contestants' heads, and Prota was to make the first move.

"Did you bet on her?" Destiny whispered.

John shook his head. "I'm actually not so sure on how this match is gonna go. I don't think she'd fold to Draco, but you never know. If it comes to skill, though, she should win. She's even using an extra interesting deck today."

Destiny nodded soberly. He didn't even comment on John's tone when he'd mentioned the extra interesting deck.

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Draco was just that much of a killjoy.

They all watched Prota play out her match. Despite their confidence in their friend's skill, nobody could predict the outcome. The unknown factor of "the power of nobility" was something that could never truly be calculated or determined, meaning there was no real way to know who would win.

And nobody wanted Prota to lose.

She was using the stall deck John had taught her, and it seemed to be frustrating Draco to some extent. His expression was ugly as he played card after card, but his offensive style deck wasn't well-suited for Prota's high defence deck. In fact, it was almost as if Prota's deck had been created as a perfect counter to Draco's.

A bit of hope began to rise in everybody's heart. She was winning. She wasn't holding back. Just a few more rounds of holding out, and she would claim victory as hers. All eyes were on her.

And then Draco opened his mouth.

Nobody knew what he said. Nobody was paying enough attention to read his lips, nor did anybody really pay attention. Everyone's eyes were on Prota, watching her every move.

Everyone but John.

He knew Prota's deck, understood her skill, understood her psyche, and so there was no need to watch her. He was waiting to see if Draco would do something, and in the end, his waiting paid off. He watched as the noble uttered his only words of the match.

"You know what'll happen to your friends if you don't give up, right?"

John clenched his fists, clenching his teeth so as not to yell out in rage.

Blackmail.

Since when? How? John hadn't even noticed. But if he was pulling some kind of trick on her now, that meant he'd had this for a while, a couple of months at the very least.

But then why hadn't she come to him for help? Why had she refused his offer to assist her? He shook his head lightly. Right, she couldn't have come to him for help. She understood his character. He would've done something about it, consequences be damned. He didn't care about what happened after; he just cared about getting rid of Draco.

For how long had his sister suffered?

For how long had he done nothing about it?

Anger slowly began to rise in his heart. Not just against the noble, but against himself. He wasn't supposed to be this stupid.

The match slowly came to a close. Prota could've defended. John knew she could've. But she didn't. She slowly lost her health until Draco won, the crowd cheering wildly for the new grand champion of Magecraft.

"Damn, she just didn't have enough defence… John? Are you ok?" Destiny said, turning to his friend.

John immediately let go of his anger, his expression settling back to normal.

"Yeah, yeah, it's fine. I didn't think Prota would lose," he explained with a smile. "Guess Draco was better than we gave him credit for, huh?"

"I guess," Destiny said with a sigh. "Well, good thing you didn't bet anything, huh?"

"Yeah. Would've been bad," John said cheerfully. "I'll go get Prota. You guys head on out."

"Alright. See you later," Destiny said as John turned away.

His smile instantly dropped off his face as soon as he left the building. He couldn't go rushing in, not as long as Draco held whatever blackmail he had over his sister. But he had his ways of getting around that. John left, heading straight to his room.

He'd lied. He wasn't going to pick Prota up. He had something to prepare.

~~~

"Rough match, huh, Prota?" John said as she entered their room.

She nodded, dropping onto her bed and burying her face in her pillow.

"It's a shame you lost," he continued, shuffling a deck of cards.

Prota didn't respond. She should've won. She was winning. And then—

Well, she'd been half expecting this, hadn't she? That was the whole point of her desire to win against Lilith. She hadn't wanted her friend to go through this. With that in mind, she felt a little more relieved. She'd seen this coming. It was fortunate that nothing else had come of it. After all, she and John had been worried that something would happen during the final match, right? If this were the most that would happen, then that was infinitely better than cultists or something of the sort invading the school.

The tournament would blow over, they'd continue their schooling, and all would go back to normal. She lifted her head from her pillow, only to find John still calmly shuffling his cards.

"...what are you doing?" she said carefully.

Now that she was a little calmer, she was noticing his mannerisms. He wasn't acting nearly as lazily or as aloof as he usually did. His eyes were focused rather than empty, and there was a bit of light dancing around inside, replacing the usual emptiness.

He was thinking of something.

"Oh, don't worry about it," John said, smiling. "Just thought I'd pick up Magecraft after watching you guys play."

Prota shook her head. His smile was fake, and not in the usual way. There was a difference between his mask and when he was covering up a lie.

Right now, he was lying through his teeth.

"John," she said carefully, now on full alert.

All thoughts of her match against Draco were gone. She now needed to figure out what John had planned.

Normally, she wouldn't be all that concerned. John did things all the time, and he usually knew what he was doing. The problem was that he hadn't told her what his plans were, and that worried her. He almost never withheld information from her, and if he did, he always let her know that he wasn't telling her something.

But this time, he was lying about his intentions. That meant that he didn't want her to know what he was doing. He was likely aware of the fact that she would try and dissuade him from whatever he had planned. Well, at least he probably knew his actions were bad.

Wait. No, no, that was the wrong line of thought. If John was aware that his actions were foolish, that meant his actions were indeed foolish, and that was all the more reason to stop him.

"Prota?" John said curiously. "What's up? Something on your mind?"

He was good at lying. She couldn't even tell that he was hiding something anymore. But he'd let just one moment of weakness slip, and that was enough.

"John," she said again. "Don't do it."

"Do what?" he said innocently.

"John," Prota repeated a third time.

Ice mana gathered at her fingertips, but John just frowned.

"Hey, if you're upset about losing, I-"

She didn't hold back. Jumping forward, she grabbed his shirt and held a concentration of ice mana near his face.

"John. What are you hiding?" she said quietly.

He grimaced. Shoot. She wasn't going to back down now.

"Hey, I wasn't the one who was hiding things first," John said, dropping the facade. "Why didn't you tell me Draco had something over you?"

Prota's eyes widened. How did John know?

"To be fair, I didn't notice," John nodded. "I just read Draco's lips during your match. You threw. You didn't have to throw, but you threw. You know you don't need to be worried about me, which means there's something else. Let me guess, Ryan and Lilith?"

Prota backed off, letting her spell fall apart. He'd figured out what she'd been so desperate to hide for a year and a half now, all off of one slip.

"Don't worry, I won't let him hurt them," John assured her.

His smile was fully gone now, replaced by a strange look of determination. He didn't quite look angry, although Prota sensed that he was. She didn't know how to feel about this anymore.

"But I can't just let him walk off. It's been over two years, Prota. Two years. I need to do something. I'm done with that bitch."

"John-"

"I'm not going to hit him or anything. Don't worry."

He got off his bed and headed toward the door, then paused one last time. He looked back, that strange look still on his face.

"Hey. Do you trust me?"

She nodded.

"Then don't worry. I have a plan. Ryan and Lilith are your friends, right? I might not be the most considerate, but I understand why you hid it for so long. I might not get it, but… if they're precious to you, then I'll keep that in mind."

He nodded once, then left the room. All Prota could do was stare at the closed door, hoping her trust was well placed.

~~~

Clouds covered the night sky, shutting out the moon and the stars. The only light was that coming from the various lanterns scattered around the island.

John sat in the darkness, shuffling his deck over and over, waiting.

"This deck relies on you," he said to someone who would never physically exist in the world.

It didn't matter. He knew the being was listening.

Or, well, [Reading].

"But I think you saw this coming, didn't you?"

There was no reply.

"You forced my hand. You wanted me to get involved with Draco, right? I don't know what the point of this is, but you'd better not touch those two kids."

Once again, the was no response.

"This deck only works if you're here. Got it?"

John closed his eyes. There was no answer to his question, but he felt that had there been a response, it would have been satisfactory.

"John Quarta. What a pleasure it is to see you out here on this fine night."

John's eyes snapped open to see Draco's silhouette standing in front of him. He stood up, towering a full head over the noble, but Draco didn't back down.

"I assume you have something to say to me?" Draco sneered.

"You blackmailed my sister," John said simply.

"You dare slander me?" Draco exclaimed. "I did no such thing. I won by my skill."

John just shook his head. Anger began to boil inside of him.

"Sure. Whatever. You know what? I actually don't really care anymore."

Draco flinched. John noticed the flinch. Good.

He had a theory that Draco wouldn't use Prota as ammunition, ever. If he could've, he would've done so already. But John had been left alone for the year and a half they'd been at Scholaris. He wasn't sure why, but all he knew was that he could no longer be touched.

Draco had nothing on him. Nothing.

Even if John did something here, Draco would be unable to use the twins as a trump card. His fear of John was too strong, too ingrained. Technically speaking, John had no way of confirming this, but it was a risk he was willing to take. Of course, he had no plans to attack Draco outright. The noble might react unpredictably if he did so, and that wouldn't do.

That was fine. His plan didn't involve any violence in the first place.

"Prove it to me," John said quietly. "Let's play a game of Magecraft. If you can beat me, I'll acknowledge all of your noble crap. You'll be superior to me. You'll be the better man."

"As I should be," Draco said, nodding with satisfaction.

"But if you lose… nothing."

Draco frowned. Nothing? What did John mean?

"I mean, nothing. I walk away, and I won't bring this up ever again. How about it? Is this a good deal?" John said, a small smile appearing on his lips.

Draco sneered. "Of course."

The two immediately pulled out their decks, shuffling each other's hands, as the rules dictated, before handing them back and drawing eight cards.

"You can have the first turn," John said.

"But the rules state that a coinflip-"

"You can have the first turn."

Draco frowned in confusion, but there was no need for him to question it. He played a longsword, dealing a potential eight damage to John.

"Good hit," John said quietly, playing zero defensive cards.

"What are you-"

"My turn."

A smile formed on John's lips as he took a look at his cards.

His gamble had paid off.

In his hand was an unblockable forty damage, the health Draco had right now. This combination was nearly impossible.

The two cards that made up the attack were the only two useful cards in the deck. The rest of the cards were useless trash that would barely keep John alive for a round or two. Additionally, the two cards he'd played were the only ones of their kind within the stack of cards. Statistically speaking, it was nearly impossible for John to draw both on his first hand.

But luck was only as rare as the [Plot] required it to be. Fiction was fiction. One could accomplish anything if the [Story] needed it. Even if the odds were infinitesimally small, as long as something was possible, there was someone who could make it guaranteed. Even if something was impossible, there was a being who could make it possible.

The [Author] hadn't let him down this time.

"I win."

John slammed the two cards down. Even in the dim light, Draco could see that John had, in fact, won.

"You-"

"You suck," John said, taking his cards back and putting the deck back in his pocket. "Maybe you should get better."

"What was the point of that?" Draco exclaimed angrily. "That's all? You just walk away now?"

"Yes."

Draco paused for a moment before realizing.

"That… that's right!" he laughed. "Right, even if you won, you know it's just luck. You would never be able to beat me in a match of skill. So you just run away after winning because you're too scared to rematch!"

"You want a rematch?" John said, raising an eye. "Fine. Let's go."

The same starting procedure. The same pattern. Draco played. John took a hefty hit.

And then he won.

"You- impossible!" Draco exclaimed.

"Maybe you should just get better," John repeated. "You kinda suck."

"You- what is the point of all this?" Draco said, anger beginning to bubble up within him.

John turned around, fire in his eyes.

"Nothing. I told you, nothing happens if I win. You just realize that you're inferior to me, a commoner. You need to cheat to win because you're not good enough to actually claim victory over anyone."

Draco's eyes shot up in anger. "You-"

"You now have to live with the knowledge that some guy who picked up the game today just beat you in not one, but two matches. Grand champion? You don't deserve the title. But who am I to say that?"

John started to walk off, leaving Draco to fume in his own anger.

"You know you cheated too, right?" Zero said in John's head.

"Yeah."

"Just so you know. Oh, and by the way. Behind you."

There was a loud roar as John spun around.

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