The arena fell into an unsettling quiet as Sarah made her way toward the exit. Every step echoed against stone, amplified by the weight of two hundred pairs of eyes tracking her movement. Students who had been cheering moments before now watched in stunned silence, their expressions ranging from awe to barely concealed fear.
"No way..." someone muttered near the front rows, clutching a crumpled betting slip. "She actually won. How the hell did she actually win?"
"I lost fifty silver on this," another voice groaned. "Veilmont was supposed to crush her. Look what she did to him instead... aged him like twenty years in seconds."
"The professors barely got him back to normal. Thank the gods she stopped when she did."
