The exam had a rhythm at the start — Nyxes spilled from doorways, candidates fought, points climbed, the scoreboard flickered fast and simple. That rhythm was gone now. All of the candidates had stopped chasing monsters and started tracking the names higher up the list, and when someone near the top flashed past a corridor, every head turned at once.
Nobody said it aloud, but the rule had formed anyway: take one of the higher-ups down, everyone below them climbs.
The host was still trying to keep the carnival alive. "Alright, folks, I'm seeing some competitive spirit out there — this is a Nyx exam, not a back-alley brawl, let's keep it classy!" but the joke died in his mouth as steel rang off steel somewhere in the arena.
