Jace and Ethan chatted about the match as they left the arena, Astra skipping ahead while Orion trailed behind.
Astra bounded over to Selene and Aurora. "Thanks for putting me in that match, Cap! That was so much fun." She raised her fist toward Selene for a fist bump.
After receiving one, she was surprised to see Aurora raising her fist as well. "You did good today," Aurora added.
Astra's grin widened as she returned the fist bump. She hadn't expected Aurora to join in on something like this.
"Six points and two assists, Ethan," Aurora said as Jace and Ethan joined them. "You definitely took advantage of them not having anyone to pressure you."
"I know, right," Ethan said excitedly. "I trusted you when you said they didn't have any aggressive players and got my crystals up early. Orion made a really good call early too, guarding me until I got fully set up."
"The decisions you all made were fairly good," Aurora agreed with a nod.
Orion shook his head. "You say that, but I gave up both points like an idiot."
"We'll review it, but I'd say you only really gave up one," Aurora said after thinking for a moment. "One of the points was a mistake, but the other was just them fighting well at the end."
"Yeah, man," Jace added, clapping a hand on Orion's shoulder. "You were pretty much fighting two people for most of the match."
"Plus, if you actually look at our roles, you aren't even a scorer," Ethan said, resting his hands behind his head. "And I'm pretty sure I saw you sneak a couple points anyway."
"You guys recovered from my round one mistake. That's what matters," Aurora said, already heading back toward the spectator area.
"Personally, I think Astra's the one we should be scolding," Jace teased. "She was having way too much fun out there."
Astra stuck her tongue out at him. "Skipping is a completely valid combat strategy, thank you very much."
"In what way?" Ethan burst out laughing.
"Don't you laugh at me," she said, trying not to laugh herself. "It's all about intimidation."
"You're about as intimidating as a slightly angry puppy." Jace couldn't hold his own laughter any longer.
"Hey! I can be very intimidating." She stomped her foot, but the fact that she was barely holding back her own laughter only made the rest of them lose control. Even Orion and Aurora chuckled.
"All right, all right," Selene said, wiping a tear from her eye. "I'm going to check on Lyra again, see how she's doing."
"Good idea," Astra said, recovering from her own laughter. "You wanna go see how Felix is doing, brother? Maybe give Lucian some company."
Elias nodded in response, patting Orion's shoulder and giving him a small nod.
"We'll stay and keep watching," Aurora said, glancing at the others. They nodded in agreement. "If you guys aren't back by the time they post the results, we'll let you know."
"Sounds good," Selene said with a smile. "See you guys later, then."
The group split into three directions, Jace, Aurora, Orion, and Ethan headed back to the stands, Selene walked toward the dorms, and the twins made their way to the medical building.
As they sat down to watch the remaining matches, Jace thought back to their own. While Orion may have been the one who gave up the two points, at least he had also scored two.
The academy provided stats for every match, and he was staring at them.
Ethan: 6 points, 2 assists.
Orion: 2 points.
Astra: 1 point, 2 assists.
Jace: 1 point, 2 assists.
With Ethan soaking up most of the points, Jace hadn't expected to score a ton.
But one?
Only one point?
That was frustrating.
He expected more from himself.
Sure, he had two assists, and he understood that teamwork in team battles mattered. But still, only one point? He should have done more.
He didn't want to overhaul his tactics completely, especially since he hadn't actually lost a match yet. But he needed to make adjustments. Be more efficient in how he casts. More precise with his attacks.
And with their training, they were only going to get stronger.
"We're going to have to duel for practice more," he murmured, lost in thought.
Aurora nodded, though she didn't look at him. "And practice our other skills beyond just duels as well." A hint of frustration crept into her voice. "I didn't enjoy losing."
They all nodded in agreement.
Losing their first round had sucked. Even though only Aurora had been in the match, they all knew that swapping out members wouldn't have changed the result.
The other team had simply been faster.
They watched the rest of the matches with a solemn attitude, discussing various strategies and outcomes as they happened. Most of the other matches involving people from their class went as expected, with only a few real standouts.
Both Team Gabriel and Team Hannah beat their opponents 3-0, while Team Finn triumphed over Team Mira 2-1. However, their team duel had been even more one-sided than their own; they had decimated their opponents 10-0.
But the most interesting part of the day turned out to be one of the final matches, Team Christian's match.
Given their performance against Team Elizabeth, most hadn't expected much from them. But they came out with full force, crushing their opponents 3-0, not giving up a single point in either of the duels.
"Seems like your sister's team is stronger than we thought," Jace mused after it finished. "Team Christian looked good."
Aurora shook her head. "I don't want any of you to misunderstand. My sister and the other four are undoubtedly among the strongest people here."
"Then we just gotta keep getting stronger ourselves," Jace said with a grin.
Aurora nodded, standing up. "Agreed. Now, let's go look at the official scores. They might have our next match posted as well."
They all stood up and followed her.
Jace felt the familiar bubbling excitement in his chest. Before coming here, he had always been one of the strongest around him. But now, having something to chase, something to strive for, made him even more excited.