Dark Magus Returns

Chapter 1408: Crushing Expectations

When the guests saw the Wilton Academy students emerge from the portal, a wave of confusion rippled through the crowd.

The time since the event had begun was relatively short, far too short for anyone to believe they had completed the task. A single thought began spreading among the observers like wildfire:

Did they just enter and immediately search for the exit portal?

That couldn’t be right.

Everyone knew that the entrance and the exit were placed in completely different locations. The event’s nature had been carefully explained, and the Central Academy had issued specific instructions to every participating school about where the exit portal would be located.

This event was timed.

Only the powerstones submitted before the official end of the event would be counted toward the final score.

Of course, there was an option to "bank" powerstones halfway through the event, teams could leave early, submit what they had, and avoid the risk of being too late. But while this was a safer strategy, it was almost never used. After all, even if they submitted early, they’d lose precious time that could’ve been used to gather more stones.

Besides, if their total wasn’t counted due to being late, the spectators could still judge a team’s strength by the number of powerstones they handed in. Playing it safe was seen as weak. Most schools avoided that route entirely.

Still, rules existed to cover edge cases, and this was quickly shaping up to be one of them.

"They exited that early? Are they really trying to play it safe?" one guest scoffed. "They’ll never win that way."

"No, look at the screen!" another pointed, eyes wide.

On the large monitor above the arena, text began to scroll. The official record had been updated. A time stamp appeared, clear, undeniable proof that the portal had closed. The system, connected directly to the event’s monitoring equipment, confirmed the result.

The dimensional boss had been defeated.

Silence gripped the room for a beat.

"Wait... what?" someone finally whispered. "Does that mean the Central Academy didn’t win?"

"This has to be rigged," a noble scoffed, slamming his fist on the railing. "There’s no way Wilton beat them fairly! They must’ve been handed an easy dungeon, or someone inside’s already a high-star mage who took out the boss instantly!"

"You fool," another growled. "This entire event was organized by the Central Academy themselves. Why would they rig it for another school? And to say someone cheated while the Central Academy was monitoring the whole thing? That’s an insult."

"But if what you’re saying is true," someone else said, voice shaky, "and they didn’t cheat... then Wilton just shattered all the records. What kind of students do they even have?"

In truth, Raze hadn’t bothered collecting crystals or powerstones at all. To get the fastest time, they had gone directly for the dimensional boss.

Even if someone questioned their methods, the proof was undeniable. The boss’s crystal was their evidence. And since the Central Academy had verified that all dimensions were equal in difficulty, they could cross-reference the crystal to confirm it.

Besides, the dimension assigned to Wilton was relatively low-level. The powerstones were essentially worthless.

"Are we free to go?" Raze asked flatly, standing at the edge of the platform.

The event assessor was stunned. He didn’t know how to respond.

The plan had always been simple: let all students exit the portals before declaring the winner. But now, only one group had returned, and the others wouldn’t be done for quite a while. What were they supposed to do?

Before the assessor could even form a reply, Raze turned on his heel and began walking away, back toward the portal from which they had originally entered.

"It’s better this way," Raze said quietly, though the others, teachers included, heard him clearly. "We don’t want them asking too many questions. We’ll come and go, destroy every expectation they have of us... before they can even respond."

With a subtle tap of his foot, a hidden magic circle beneath the floor activated. Invisible to the eye, but not to Raze, who had noted it earlier, it began to glow faintly. The ground opened up beneath them, revealing a passage that led back to their preparation room.

And just like that, they were gone.

The guests remained seated, stunned, unsure of how to react. In the end, the hosts had no choice but to continue the event as originally planned. They resumed coverage of the other students still trapped within the dimensions.

But something had shifted.

The crowd wasn’t cheering anymore. The buzz was gone. Excitement had drained from the room like blood from a wound.

Almost everyone had bet on the Central Academy to come out on top.

And now, all those bets had already been lost.

Worse still, when people asked for details on the Wilton students, trying to learn who they were, their ranks, achievements, anything, there was next to nothing available.

Not just for the transfer students. Even the ranked Wilton students had blank profiles. No affiliations, no notable records, no public accomplishments.

Nothing.

The Central Academy, the proud organizers of the event, had been blindsided. An academy they hadn’t even bothered to research had shown up and utterly humiliated them.

Eventually, forty-five minutes passed.

There was a shimmer in one of the remaining portals, and the Central Academy students stepped out, Kayzel leading them at the front.

"Haha! I can’t wait to see their faces!" Bones cheered. "Since the new rules were introduced, no one’s ever managed to defeat the dimensional boss in time. Not a single group, until now."

"And for the first time ever, the Central Academy pulls it off!" another student added, grinning wide.

They all wore victorious smiles, standing tall and proud... until they noticed something strange.

The crowd wasn’t cheering.

There were no thunderous claps. No excited whispers. Just silence, confusion, and the occasional sideways glance.

"Wait... why isn’t anyone reacting?" one student muttered.

They looked left. They looked right.

None of the other teams had emerged yet.

Which meant they had no idea...

They weren’t first.

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