Chapter 50: The Ranking Challenge

Chairs scraped frantically against the floor as students surged to their feet, straining to get a better view. Phones were raised high from every direction, as everyone tried to capture the scene.

"Starlight!" Elle gasped, rushing to her side with both hands pressed over her mouth.

Ariel and Chloe were right behind her, their eyes wide with sheer disbelief as they looked from the disfigured tray on the floor to the bleeding werewolf standing before them. They still could not believe that Starlight had just smashed a metal tray directly into another student’s face.

"Ah, shit," Starlight muttered, looking up toward the ceiling as she exhaled slowly.

This was exactly what she had been trying to avoid: the unwanted spectacle.

Why did the girl have to grab her like that?

Why was it so hard for werewolves to keep their hands to themselves? Seriously, how hard could it be for someone to talk without acting like an aggressive asshole, grabbing and touching people without their consent?

She loathed it. She utterly despised people putting their hands on her, forcing her to let her anger get the better of her.

A high-pitched, choked gasp drew everyone’s attention back to the werewolf girl. She stumbled backward and slowly brought her trembling hands up to her face. When she pulled them away and saw the blood smeared across her palms, her eyes widened in horror.

A second later, pure rage twisted her features into a grotesque mask.

"How... dare... you!" she shrieked, her voice cracking with hysterical fury. "How dare you!"

"Oh, shut it already!" Starlight snapped, stepping forward and glaring directly into the girl’s eyes. "Shut up, for crying out loud!"

The girl’s mouth snapped closed in shock, stunned into temporary silence.

"What is your actual problem?" Starlight demanded, throwing her hands into the air in frustration. "Can’t you make a point without resorting to insults or putting your hands on people? You want the ranking? Take it! Take the damn spot back and leave me alone! I came here to do whatever Lunar Lottery winners are supposed to do, so just free me and let me be! Let me have a single moment of peace!"

The girl’s expression shifted from outrage to pure disbelief, her mouth hanging open as blood continued to drip from her nose to her chin and onto her uniform. She looked completely thrown off, unsure whether to be furious that Starlight genuinely didn’t care about the ranking or humiliated by the way a mere human was talking down to her.

Starlight let out one final, frustrated sigh. "Look, I’m sorry for smashing the tray in your face, but you shouldn’t have grabbed me like that. Let’s call it even, okay? And let it be a lesson to you not to put your hands on people."

With that, she turned to leave.

"Stop right there!" the girl barked, wiping her bloody nose roughly with the back of her hand. The bleeding had already begun slowing down, one of the perks of being a werewolf. Their healing abilities allowed their bodies to recover from injuries far faster than humans ever could.

Starlight paused and turned back around, raising a single eyebrow.

The girl straightened her posture.

"I, Sera Selena, challenge you, Starlight Dawson, to a ranking duel," she spat, her eyes burning with determination. "Winner takes all. The loser will hand over their entire voting allocation to the winner for three months."

The dining hall immediately erupted into excited whispers. It had been decades since someone had challenged a higher-ranked student to a ranking duel, and not a single person in the room was going to miss it.

Starlight looked around in pure confusion, her eyebrows knitting together. What the fuck is a ranking duel? Judging by the sudden surge of excitement lighting up the students’ faces, whatever it was, she was almost certain she was going to hate it. Besides, the name Sera Selena sounded very familiar. She just couldn’t quite remember where she had heard it.

"Well?" Sera demanded, folding her arms across her chest. "Are you going to accept, or are you going to hide behind another emotional blackmail video to rob people of their votes like the shameless attention seeker you are?"

​"Don’t make me smash your mouth next," Starlight said, meeting her gaze, her tone deadly cold. "If anyone here should be called a shameless attention seeker, it’s the one throwing a public tantrum just because she can’t stand someone else ranking higher than her."

Sera scoffed.

​"Whatever. Are you accepting it or not?"

Ariel shook her head gently at Starlight, her expression laced with worry.

Starlight frowned in response, her discomfort deepening. If Ariel was reacting like this, then whatever a ranking duel was, it clearly wasn’t something she should participate in. She had never cared about her position on the Apex Board, but apparently, other people cared enough about it to challenge her over it, and that was already becoming a massive headache.

Sera smirked, noticing Starlight’s hesitation. "What’s the matter? Are you scared your emergency fans won’t be able to keep up?"

Starlight’s frown deepened. Wait, so a ranking duel isn’t even an actual fight? Is it all about the fans? Something like votes?

The word duel had made her assume it was something straight out of Spartacus, where she would have to fight another student in some kind of open rena while an entire crowd watched. But if Sera was talking about fans keeping up, then this clearly had something to do with votes, with their supporters battling it out or something. Somehow, that made Starlight hate the whole thing even more.

Before Starlight could open her mouth to decline the absurd challenge, Elle abruptly stepped right in front of her, blocking Sera’s view.

"We accept," Elle declared loudly. "We accept the challenge, Miss Sera. You just have to give us enough time to choose the day and time."

Sera measured Elle from head to toe, her lip curling into a disdainful sneer. "Whatever. Just don’t keep me waiting too long." She turned sharply and stormed away, her footsteps echoing across the dining hall as the crowd immediately parted to let her pass.

Starlight slowly turned toward Elle, her expression dark and murderous.

Chloe was already staring at her in horror. "Elle, what have you done?" she demanded. "What do you think you’re doing? That’s Sera Morgan, for crying out loud! She was the former Number Three, and her fanbase is practically legendary!"

"Calm down, we’ve got this covered," Elle said, raising her hands defensively before deliberately raising her voice so the surrounding students could hear. "You guys just need to put your trust in the Dawnbreakers, okay? I know they won’t let us down."

If looks could kill, Starlight would have murdered Elle in cold blood and hidden her body where nobody would ever find it.

"Besides, I have a plan," Elle added in a lower, reassuring tone, tapping Starlight’s shoulder and completely ignoring her murderous glare.

"Now, let’s get out of here!" She began ushering the girls toward the exit, physically pushing them forward. "Come on, move it! Move, move, move!"

With Elle nudging them from behind, the girls stumbled toward the exit, and the four of them finally made their way out of the dining hall, leaving behind a crowd already buzzing with excitement over the upcoming ranking duel.