KYLE'S PERSPECTIVE

Kyle's head snapped around at the sound of our assault, his eyes widening as he took in the scope of our attack. For a split second, his composed expression cracked completely.

I could understand his thought process through the expression on his face. He had been waiting for me to show up, but he never expected this plan. He expected us to compete for the circles, but that was too foolish and basic.

'Robbing people is always easier than making your own.'

He had been expecting some kind of move from us, but the timing and scale caught him completely off-guard. Just when he thought he had secured a strong position through the special circles, we had turned the entire battlefield upside down.

"Sir! Do we engage them?" one of his team members called out desperately.

Kyle's mind raced through the options. His team was already stretched thin holding their circle positions against multiple opponents. Engaging us directly would mean abandoning those valuable resources, but ignoring our assault would allow us to eliminate the other teams entirely.

"Hold positions!" he commanded through gritted teeth. "Help the other teams defend their crests, if he takes them then they would be guaranteed to win."

The calculation was brutal but logical. He couldn't fight a war on multiple fronts, so he chose to preserve what he had rather than risk everything in pursuit of stopping our rampage.

Within minutes, our assault had achieved its objectives. The non-Elite teams found themselves completely outmatched, their Crest Mark carriers overwhelmed and their resources seized with ruthless efficiency.

"Fall back! Everyone fall back!" I commanded as we secured the last of the targeted items.

True to the plan, our forces scattered in different directions, making pursuit impossible for the demoralized and scattered opposition. The hit-and-run tactics had worked perfectly, leaving our enemies with an impossible choice between abandoning their hard-won positions or accepting the loss of their accumulated resources.

The battlefield fell into stunned silence as the full implications of our assault became clear.

Realizing that his team was powerless to prevent my forces from plundering the other teams' accumulated Crest Marks, Kyle immediately shifted to a more aggressive strategy. He turned to address everyone present - including those from the non-Elite classes who had been fighting against him moments earlier.

"My team will assist you! You're going to completely fail this examination at this rate. You must recover what was stolen from you!"

The other classes' leaders frowned deeply at this proposal. While it was true they risked failing the examination entirely, recovering their previous Crest Mark totals seemed virtually impossible. My team had already scattered in multiple directions, making pursuit a futile exercise that was unlikely to yield any results.

Their eyes glinted dangerously as one of the non-Elite team leaders spoke up with sudden realization.

"You want us to help you fight them so you can take all the Crest Marks from these circles for yourself, don't you?" the leader accused. "That's not happening. As long as we maintain more Crest Marks than some of the other teams, we'll still rank in the top three positions."

The tactical calculation was ruthlessly pragmatic - they didn't need to win outright, just avoid being at the absolute bottom.

The leader turned away from Kyle to address his fellow non-Elite teams with a cunning proposal. "Why don't we steal the Crest Marks from Kyle's Elite team instead? They stole from us just like the other Elite class did. We can take their accumulated resources and split them among ourselves!"

The suggestion landed with explosive impact. The assembled non-Elite students began chanting and voicing their enthusiastic agreement, their desperation transforming into collective hostility directed at the nearest target - Kyle's team.

"Yeah! They're vulnerable defending those circles!"

"We outnumber them easily if we work together!"

"Split their Crest Marks between our classes!"

The momentum was building rapidly as the mob mentality took hold. The non-Elite teams had found a new target that was both accessible and justified in their minds.

Kyle stared at the rapidly deteriorating situation in complete shock, his demeanour cracking under the absurdity of what was unfolding.

"How could this turn out this way?!" he exclaimed, unable to comprehend how his attempt at building an alliance had backfired so catastrophically.

His strategic gambit to unite the lower-ranked teams against my forces had instead created a coalition against himself. The desperation and resentment he had tried to channel toward us had been redirected at the nearest available Elite-rank target, his own team.

The non-Elite students advanced on Kyle's positions immediately, their previous exhaustion forgotten in favour of this new opportunity.

"Don't let them escape! Keep an eye out on everyone here, one of them must have the crests." The leader of the green banner team shouted, as he advanced with his team behind him.

Kyle's team found themselves facing exactly the coordinated assault they had been trying to organize against us, but with themselves as the victims.

Kyle's mind raced through increasingly limited options. His team was already stretched thin maintaining their circle positions. Now they faced a unified assault from multiple angry teams who saw them as easier prey than pursuing my scattered forces.

"Defensive formation!" Kyle commanded urgently, realizing that his tactical situation had become genuinely dire.

The irony wasn't lost on him - by trying to manipulate the other teams into serving his interests, he had instead painted a target on his own back. Sometimes attempting to control chaos only created more unpredictable variables.

I stood at a distance from the unfolding chaos, observing the situation with cold satisfaction. A smirk formed on my face as everything proceeded according to plan. Instead of pursuing my scattered forces, the non-Elite teams had turned their desperation toward the more accessible target - Kyle's circle positions and accumulated resources. The outcome was even better than I had initially calculated.

<Time's up! Everyone stop fighting and please make your way toward the gate!>

The Commander's voice boomed across the examination grounds, bringing the chaotic final hour to an abrupt conclusion.

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