"How could she really look exactly like Philly?"
Nora sat in the slightly crowded stands, her head full of questions. She blinked, wondering whether she was seeing things.
But no matter how many times she blinked, the sight before her remained unchanged: a figure who looked almost exactly like Philly.
"This..."
Nora no longer knew what to say. Should she suspect that the person standing there was the Philly she knew, or assume that this was simply someone who happened to look like her?
"Philly already sent me a letter a month ago. Even if she were coming to the Champion Mage Challenge, she should be meeting me in the stands, not standing in the Duel Arena..."
Her brows knitted tightly, and she kept shifting restlessly. She stared so hard at Fran that her eyes were beginning to dry out.
Nora's mind had stalled, and she had no idea what to do next.
It was not impossible for someone in the world to look exactly like another person.
But if that identical person belonged to the same major organization and even had the same name...
Then one had to wonder whether it was a coincidence or deliberate.
Still, Nora could not figure out what anyone stood to gain by copying Philly's appearance, if this was not a coincidence.
Philly was only a First Order Mage. Even if someone used her identity to enter the Champion Mage Challenge, why not enter under their own identity?
That "Philly" had won thirty-one consecutive matches in the Preliminaries without anyone noticing anything amiss. That alone proved she was using a mage's skills, not some other ability.
Since she already possessed a mage's abilities, and a Spirit Realm Mage could not achieve thirty-one consecutive wins in the Preliminaries because their ceiling was too low...
Then