After carefully counting every red tag, Chino announced the result.
Sophie's team had won.
Unable to contain herself, Sophie excitedly slapped Demetri on the back.
"We won!"
Completely unprepared, Demetri pitched forward face-first into the damp grass.
His handsome, sharply defined face pressed so deeply into the earth that the mud left behind a perfect mold of his features.
After smoothing out the impression with visible annoyance, he looked back at Sophie and reminded her helplessly, "Easy. I only just recovered after distracting Alec from you."
Once he had lured Alec away, Demetri deliberately sprinted in the exact opposite direction from Caius. At first, Alec patiently followed him through the forest, but it didn't take long before he realized Demetri's route made absolutely no sense. He was simply choosing the roughest, most inconvenient paths possible. Finally losing patience, Alec released his numbing mist.
With every one of his senses severed, Demetri entered a deathlike state.
He lost consciousness once again and crashed heavily onto the ground.
In the end, Alec simply carried him back to the starting area over one shoulder before dropping him onto the ground and dismissing the mist. Only then did Demetri slowly regain consciousness.
By the time he wakes up...
Everything had already been decided.
Fortunately, Sophie had succeeded.
Although Demetri continued grumbling, his actions spoke far louder than his complaints. He naturally walked over to stand beside Sophie.
Compared to the enormous crowd gathered behind Felix, Sophie's victorious team looked almost pitiful, consisting of only three members. The female guard Sophie had once described as resembling a butterfly happened to belong to Demetri's squad as well. Even she now looked at Sophie with newfound admiration. Together, they had actually defeated the seemingly invincible twin combination.
What had once sounded like ridiculous bragging has somehow become reality.
During the third round, Felix accumulated Alec, Jane, and thirteen ordinary guards for a total of thirty-three points, maintaining the lead for nearly the entire match.
Meanwhile, during the first twenty minutes, Sophie managed to recruit only Demetri and a single ordinary guard, falling hopelessly behind. Yet during the final ten minutes, she successfully lured away the greatest threat on the field, Alec, then used the terrain itself to neutralize Jane's attack before finally capturing Caius.
Her final total reached fifty-six points.
The moment all three rounds concluded...
Punishments began.
To Sophie's surprise, Caius appeared far calmer than she had expected.
She had honestly believed that, after failing to punish her personally, he would fly into a rage or even abandon fairness altogether.
Instead, he merely glanced at her indifferently before turning toward the guards who had lost twice. The man who had gone out of his way to make life difficult for her before the match now seemed like an entirely different person.
Sophie couldn't make sense of him.
"Felix!" Caius roared. "Three losses in a row? You're built like a mountain, yet apparently only your fists developed properly. Why don't you donate a little of that muscle to your pitiful limbs?"
After that, he proceeded to verbally tear apart every guard who had suffered two defeats. Most of them were strangers to Sophie, but Caius remembered every single one by name, along with every flaw they possessed. His insults were astonishingly creative, perfectly tailored to each individual until every scolding became a masterpiece of psychological warfare.
"Alec."
After finishing with the defeated guards, Caius's sharp tongue turned toward everyone else.
"Why did you split up from Jane? Leaving your sister alone to chase someone she'd hesitate to hurt... did that strike you as a brilliant tactical decision?"
Alec remained completely silent.
Jane didn't escape either.
Caius had never believed in treating female warriors differently. A soldier was a soldier.
After berating the younger twin, naturally it was the elder sister's turn.
"Jane, have you added a new activation requirement to your pain illusion? Something like politely informing your target beforehand that 'it might hurt just a little'?"
Hidden inside the trench earlier, Caius had heard every word exchanged above.
Sophie felt a flicker of irritation.
Why did he have to repeat everything?
Jane lowered her head in embarrassment.
To her, Caius's criticism was equivalent to publicly announcing that she had developed a weakness.
That she had shown mercy to an enemy.
But she hadn't.
If Sophie hadn't overturned that boulder and interrupted her, Jane would absolutely have activated her pain illusion. .
She hadn't intended to go easy on Sophie at all.
Caius was talking complete nonsense.
Unfortunately, under Caius's overwhelming authority, Jane didn't dare argue back.
In front of Caius's razor-sharp tongue, everyone was equal.
Naturally, neither Sophie nor Demetri escaped.
After making his way through nearly everyone present, Caius finally grabbed Felix by the collar and dragged him forward.
"Jane."
Without the slightest warning...
Felix threw back his head and let out a horrifying scream before collapsing onto the ground.
Jane's red eyes were utterly cold and merciless as she stared down at her fellow guard.
Through her actions alone, she proved beyond question that activating her pain illusion required no verbal warning whatsoever.
When Felix's punishment ended, the second...
Then the third...
Each suffered exactly the same fate.
Watching the punished guards writhe in unbearable agony, remaining unable to recover long after Jane withdrew her gift, Sophie felt her heart turn cold.
A wave of delayed fear washed over her.
Every trace of excitement and triumph from winning disappeared.
Even her naturally icy vampire body seemed colder than before.
She believed now that Jane truly had intended to attack her.
That realization hurt more than she expected.
Jane's special treatment toward her had been obvious enough for everyone to notice. So when Jane finally resolved to fulfill her duty and attack, Sophie had assumed that whatever made her special had finally come to an end. She believed she had escaped only because she'd reacted quickly enough.
Yet Caius's criticism had unintentionally exposed Jane's true hesitation.
If Jane genuinely wished to attack someone without restraint...
They would never be given even the smallest chance to react.
One glance.
One look.
No one could escape.
The only reason Sophie had been able to resist at all...
Was because Jane had held back.
She had attacked out of duty.
But because she couldn't bear to do it mercilessly, she had spoken first.
That tiny moment of hesitation had become the opportunity Sophie needed.
So... I'm still weak.
Sophie lowered her eyes.
I still have to survive by relying on the strength of the Volturi.
The black lace choker around her neck suddenly felt far tighter than before.
It pressed gently against her throat, just as Jane's fingers once had.
And now, it seemed as though the darkness of the vampire world itself had wrapped invisible fingers around her neck...
Quietly tightening its grip.
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