Barnes Mansion, Ishtar.

"What is going on?!! What happened?" His wife asked him with tears in her eyes.

"There is nothing to worry….it was just a spar..." Ander consoled her.

"Don't try to fool me...you think I don't have any idea about the family's situation…" The lady glared at him.

Ander felt a headache. She was too smart for her own good….

"Don't you trust your own sons? There is nothing to worry about...I am here as well." Ander said as he held her by her shoulders.

"I want to see Lear now.…" The lady said with a serious look. It looked like that any answer except for a yes would lead to bloodshed.

"The competitions are going on right now... it's not that easy to bring him back...why don't you wait for a bit, when they arrive in Ishtar for the competitions, he is all yours.." Ander tried to persuade her in the sweetest tone.

"Then I will go and meet him.." She replied, looking at him.

Ander began to sweat. He didn't like the idea of retorting her but it wasn't that easy to allow her to go.

"You know someone with your position can't just go to another House's territory like that...I won't feel safe as well…" Ander tried his best to talk to her.

"Where is the next competition being held?"

"B-Blue Water…." Ander said nervously.

"But I heard it was Trinity…" She tilted her with a smile which immediately sent a chill down Ander's spine.

"Why did you lie, D-a-r-l-i-n-g?"

Ander felt his throat going dry.

''Has this something to do with Trinity being the Roxle's Territory….are you still stalking her?"

Ander began to tremble looking at his wife's smile.

"W-What do you mean stalking? She is just a friend I knew from Academy days…"

"Great!! In that case, your friend wouldn't mind if I paid them a visit to watch the next competition together, right?" The lady said as a smile blossomed on her face.

"I am going to pack my stuff...hurry up and contact your friend…" She said as he hugged him and gave him a peck on the cheek before leaving.

"Sh*t! She played me…." Ander's face was dark. But if he didn't do it now, he knew she would chase him to hell with a scythe.

He sighed and fell on his chair with a face full of worries. He then looked toward the television and replayed the match from earlier again and again.

He could see that Lear had struck a killing blow while Arthur was still hesitating. If not for the life saving artifact, he would have been dead.

Thank god his wife didn't catch that….

But he couldn't understand the reason for Lear's change.

"That brat...what in the hell happened after he left?''

Ander knew that Lear was maintaining a low profile to not stand in his brother's way. This was his decision and no one could change his mind when he stubbornly decided to stick to his act.

But Ander was sure that Lear was nowhere that strong when he left Ishtar.

Just what happened after he left?

And what was even more confusing was his action towards Arthur….why was he doing this now...did he change his mind….no...most likely he was forced to…

Ander had heard that Lear had left with Max from Ishtar. So, there must be some connection...not to mention, Lear had threatened him to save Max when he was caught and put up on a trial.

He had been keeping an eye on Max actually...and recently the guy was all over in the news.…

Andre even knew that Max had appeared in Ishtar after disappearing in the Arcane disaster for almost a year….

Here he met with Lear and had even visited their place….but the main question was...

What exactly did Max tell Lear to make him change his decision?

Ander refused to believe that Lear was tempeted by Max and had ill will towards his own family. So there was no way he was doing it to hurt them…and there was no way that he was power hungry...even if he was beaten to death, Ander would never believe that Lear wanted power.….then what was he trying to do? Save them?

The moment that thought crossed his mind, he immediately stood up and pulled out the letter that the shadow had left…

'Don't tell me…'

He immediately pulled out his transmitter and spoke, "Sixth Uncle, raise the security level to color red….and bring me every information on Max Edwinson in detail....specially his days in Arcane…"

….

Orca Academy, Capital.

"Let's go, it's time for us to show our faces…" Axel said as he got up and so did everyone else.

It was time for all the participants to walk onto the stage and stand under their Academy's banners.

"They are creeping me out.." Beli said as she took a step to the side and made Max a cover.

Max looked at her and then towards his side only to see the participants of Trinity glaring at them.

"Ignore them…"

At this moment, Lear returned to them and stood at the front.

"Nicely done…" Wilson said as he slapped his back.

"Yeah.." Lear nodded but it was obvious hiss mood was a bit down.

On the other side, the students of Ishtar were looking at Lear with a hostile gazes.

He had insulted his brother in front of everyone even though Arthur tried to go easy on him.

Not to mention, Lear had options and yet he chose his own brother and his own home to insult.

Looking at them, Max was sure they added another enemy to their list…

Trinity and Orca were already a mortal enemy.

Now Ishtar was eyeing them and there were a few students from Ocien who were eyeing Wilson as well. But with Erina in the lead, it shouldn't be a problem..

"You have got a good brother…." Melan who just walked passed by Lear muttered with a laugh.

"And unfortunately, you got a bad one Arthur…" He continued with a laugh and most of the students couldn't help but laugh as well.

Lear looked at Melan but didn't say anything. There wasn't a need to talk anymore….

When everyone took their position, the giant screen hanging from the Airship finally changed and displayed the scoreboards....

The competitions had officially begun….