An Omega who could match with Miles Sherman’s squad would be popular anywhere. It was only with Miles’s team that they were willing to take the hit and endure their coldness, simply because they were all S-Class.

Now that someone had finally broken the ice, everyone naturally started to draw closer.

Or rather, they couldn’t help but feel their hearts flutter a little.

After all, the union of an Alpha and an Omega was as natural as breathing. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

And as for S-level Alphas, a bright future was practically guaranteed after graduation.

Not to mention Alphas like Erin Xavier, who came from such a good family that he didn’t need to strive for a future, yet was still accomplished in his own right and already scouted by military units.

But to everyone’s surprise, the closer anyone got, the colder Erin Xavier became.

His tongue seemed to be tipped with poison, tearing people down with ruthless precision. When an Omega, unable to bear the degradation, started to cry, he would feign surprise, his mocking tone grating on their nerves. "No way. Don’t you know your face scrunches up like an ugly monster when you cry?"

Unsurprisingly, after a performance like that, no one was interested in Erin Xavier anymore. In fact, they downright hated him.

The battle between Chase Shaw and Holden Hayes finally came to an end.

With Holden Hayes’s elimination, Zoe Pierce watched as their team’s score on the Intelligent Brain instantly shot past five hundred.

The Intelligent Brain’s display quickly changed, and a large "WIN" appeared on the screen.

The other squads hidden throughout the mountain range saw the notification on their Intelligent Brains that a team had already reached five hundred points. Every last one of them was shocked to the core.

They were desperate to know who had won: the First Military Academy or the Federal Military Academy.

The results quickly flashed on their Intelligent Brains: The Federal Military Academy’s S-Class squad was victorious.

Photos of Nathan Lockwood’s team flashed across the Intelligent Brain of every Alpha still in the game. But this time was different. It wasn’t an Alpha’s photo that appeared first, but the Omega’s. The young woman’s delicate, exquisitely small face was the first thing everyone saw.

Cherry-red lips, a fine nose, and almond-shaped eyes that shone like spring blossoms.

Her image lingered for a full four or five seconds before the system began to cycle through the photos of the Alphas.

The students from the Federal Military Academy first breathed a sigh of relief, which was quickly followed by elation. Though they knew they had no chance of winning themselves, seeing Miles Sherman’s team rack up the points in such a short time inspired a heartfelt sense of approval that was far more persuasive than their ranks alone.

But where some celebrated, others mourned.

The Alphas from the First Military Academy, on the other hand, looked much grimmer.

No one was happy with the title of "perpetual runner-up."

All the livestreams were now closed.

Teachers had already picked up some of the students who were closer by, returning their personal Intelligent Brains. Several of them couldn’t wait to turn them on, wanting to see just how Miles Sherman’s team had managed to win so quickly.

But the moment they opened their Intelligent Brains, they were flooded with messages.

BEEP BEEP BEEP. The notifications were endless.

The red notification dot had already soared past 99+.

He randomly tapped on one. "Bro, do you know Zoe Pierce? Can you give me her contact info?"

"How could you have an Omega like that at your school and not tell me!!! Dude!!! Please, give me a chance, just let me come to the Federal Military Academy for a meal."

He was a little baffled. ’Who’s Zoe Pierce?’

’An Omega?’

"Did you know you guys were being livestreamed? You looked so pathetic when you hit the ground! Total face-plant, hahaha, I’m dying laughing."

’A livestream?’

’Huh?’

He scrolled through dozens of messages. Eighty percent of them were asking about Zoe Pierce, and the other twenty percent were from his so-called friends, laughing at him.

Luckily, one of those friends sent him a link. He clicked on it and saw the special joint broadcast from the Federal Military Academy and the First Military Academy. He saw Zoe Pierce—the girl he’d been asked about a hundred times in his messages—and finally understood what had happened while he’d been cut off from the network.

The now-concluded livestream had a recording available, and with a stiff expression, he watched the clip of himself falling while trying to hide.

This was a public execution. A complete and utter public execution!

A similar scene was playing out for nearly every Alpha who had survived the exercise.

When they realized it had been a nationwide broadcast, most of them completely lost it. ’Oh god, what have we been doing? We showed *that* to the entire country?’

The entire Federation, across all its star systems, had a population in the tens of billions. Even if only one percent of them had watched the livestream, that was still a hundred million people. A hundred million people saw them looking like that?

They were socially dead.

There was no way they could go on living on this planet.

...

After Chase Shaw defeated Holden Hayes, Zoe Pierce brought her attention back to her own team.

Noticing that Erin Xavier was still gripping her hand, she patted his with her other one. "It’s okay now. Your spirit sea is fine."

Erin Xavier seemed to snap out of a dream. His gaze fell to her wrist, and he slowly let go.

She glanced over at Nathan Lockwood and Miles Sherman. Their spirit seas were almost completely unaffected; it was clear that dealing with the other Alphas hadn’t taken much effort.

She made her way down from the large rock, with Erin Xavier following two or three meters behind her.

He watched as she walked straight toward Chase Shaw.

Standing between Miles Sherman and Nathan Lockwood, he sounded a little sour. "Is Zoe Pierce obviously playing favorites with Chase? Why didn’t she come soothe you two first instead of running straight to him?"

His attempt to stir up trouble was as crude as ever.

Nathan Lockwood glanced at Erin Xavier. "If you hadn’t come down just now, she would have come looking for you."

’He, on the other hand, is acting a little different from his usual self.’

Erin Xavier had a sudden, regretful realization. "I should have just let her come down herself." ’A mistake.’

Miles Sherman didn’t join Erin Xavier’s conversation. The image of Erin pulling Zoe Pierce into his arms was still flashing in his mind.

’I’ve been paying too much unconscious attention to her lately.’

’Something’s off about the focus of my attention.’

’It wasn’t on the normal soothing, but on Erin Xavier pulling her into his arms. The smile on his face... it was an eyesore.’

’And Erin Xavier is supposed to be the last person to ever get close to an Omega...’

"Miles!"

Erin Xavier’s raised voice cut through his thoughts. Miles Sherman’s pupils contracted for an instant before he looked at Erin as if nothing was wrong. "Hm?"

"What were you thinking about? I called you and you didn’t even react." Erin Xavier looked up at the small airship already approaching in the sky. "It’s over."

Miles Sherman looked up. The airship landed in a wide, flat area. The teachers from the Federation were watching them, each one smiling.

Director Quinn was there too.

His normally serious face was now graced with a smile, his eyes filled with admiration.

His gaze drifted away again, landing on Chase Shaw and Zoe Pierce’s clasped hands. Her back was to him, so he couldn’t see her expression, and Chase was leaning down to say something to her. The roar of the airship’s propellers filled the air.

If he used his spiritual power, he could probably hear what they were saying.

"Miles, well done." Director Quinn had already walked up to him. "Last night was very impressive."

Miles Sherman focused his attention, his reply calm and polite. "Thank you, Director."

Not arrogant in victory. Satisfied, Director Quinn clapped Miles Sherman on the shoulder. "You’ll only get better from here."