The brackets on the massive arena display board began to populate, each name appearing with an agonizing slowness—until finally, after what felt like a nervous eternity, the full roster was complete.
1) Yu Shen (C) – 0 challengers
2) Khyaal (VC) – 3 challengers
3) Minerva – 2 challengers
4) Jude – 7 challengers
.
.
.
10) Enzo – 93 challengers
The bracket display on the arena's massive holoboard finally locked in, illuminating the room as the matchups beneath each team member began auto-populating into cascading sub-brackets.
Almost immediately, every cadet's eyes darted to three names.
The first was their own—just to confirm they were seeded under the team member they had selected.
The other two?
Leo Skyshard and Su Yang.
"Holy shit…" someone muttered. "Skyshard went after Vice-Captain Khyaal?"
"No way—really? That's a ballsy move. Khyaal's only a Master, but people say he's this close to a breakthrough."
