Leo looked at Mary uncomfortably, during her description of Max death he asked her to stop. It was a little too much for him, gathering himself he grabbed her hand.

“I… does anyone else know about this?” Leo asked.

She shook her head “No, I don’t think so. After that, I hid in one of the empty classrooms and was only found after everything ended.”

Leo nodded “Let’s keep it a secret then. I’m sorry I forced you to this…”

Mary smiled a little “Actually, I’m little happy that I did, like this I don’t have to hide it from you anymore.”

Leo looked at her for a moment then nodded. He didn’t think that what she did was right but he didn’t hate her, she went through much more then he could even imagine. He stood up and said “We should get going, we are lucky that no one found us here till now. The time at which my parents will arrive is getting closer and I still need to change. We will see each other tomorrow.”

Mary nodded and smiled at that. “Yeah, until tomorrow.” She said standing up. Walking closer to Leo she placed her hands on his shoulder and placed a kiss on his cheek. “That is thanks for not despising me.” She said smiling before running away.

Leo looked at the door to the room for a second, not really knowing what to think anymore he returned to the training hall. It seemed that nearly everyone has left already since the place was mostly empty.

“Leo, you are still here?” he heard someone say. Turning around he noticed Mr. Etan sitting at his usual place looking through some files on his device. “I thought I said to you that you should go back home and calm down for a day.”

“Ah, sorry, I ended up talking for too long and didn’t notice how much time has passed.” Leo explained hoping that his face wouldn’t betray anything.

Mr. Etan smiled. “Well, you should go back home and rest. I have a nice special training program for you for tomorrow to compensate for today.”

Leo nodded and ran to the changing area. Soon enough he returned home, his parents were worried about him but he already forgot what happened in the capital and all his mind was focused thinking about Mary.

He didn’t feel that what she has done was right but at the same time, he couldn’t blame her. He was more angry at himself for not noticing anything at all. Had he done that, he maybe could have done something to prevent those things from happening.

For a long time, he couldn’t fall asleep, turning around in bed his thoughts prevented him from relaxing. When he finally did, his dreams didn’t seem to bring him any peace of mind either.

He saw a black haired man his eyes were filled with tears, looking around he noticed his surroundings were covered in flames. He could tell that he was in some kind of room, it looked quite exquisite, every wall had at least few paintings on it and red curtains covered the windows, everything was burning.

Looking back at the man he noticed that he was holding an axe and was wearing leather armor both were covered in blood despite the fact that he didn’t look injured. Looking at his feet he found the one to whom the mess belonged, a similar black haired man was laying at his feet but he wore an expensive looking colorful robe on him with a red belt made of cloth. He also seemed little plump.

He had a big wound on his chest his chest, he was still breathing. He opened his mouth “I always hated you, you know… always the good boy... just end it.”

The other man brought up his axe and swiftly brought it down beheading him in one strike. Afterwards, the man fell down to his knees and screamed. Then Leo' dream ended.

-*-

Not much changed in Leo’ life despite everything he learned, soon Miss Anna returned and Mary seemed to behave normally despite what happened. He also tried his best to behave as if nothing happened and after a while what occurred seemed like a thing of the past. More like a bad dream.

His examination returned to being a monthly which was easier for him, apparently his fluctuation sometimes become worse but soon after they went back to normal.

He started training with the magic devices he got much harder and the day he could use those spells alone without help seemed to be in sight yet still far away. He stopped trying to use it in duels since they used more mana then he could spare and was too tired to fight competitively after just one use.

Like that two years passed and he was in his ninth year, he was now 14 years old. Soon he would be fifteen. He was now 5 feet 11, which made him the highest boy in class.

Leo just finished his final exam on magic theory, he felt that he would pass if even just barely.

He stretched his arms and marked his test as finished on the holographic screen in front of him. It was sent for checking and soon he received his score. He released his breath, he passed, his grade was not the best but it was good enough for him.

Looking around most of his classmates seemed to have finished already. The time limit was getting close anyway. After five more minutes the bell ringed and everyone who was still writing their test had it send for grading automatically.

Leo got up excited, today was a day of the secret tournament. Over time the number of people training there changed to thirty-two.

“How did you do?” Mary asked him, Leo overtook her in hight quite a bit since she was now 5 feet 6 inches tall. Still, she became pretty over years, at least in Leo’ eyes. Her brown hair was now shoulder length and her figure also was getting more woman like. Her chest was the size that would perfectly fit his hand which he sometimes thought of but soon tried his best to get rid of such thoughts.

After the day that Leo learned what Mary did they didn’t talk about it much. Both of them avoiding the topic since discussing it wouldn’t change anything and like that it was both easier for Leo and Mary to forget about it which Leo thought was to be the best choice. There was no need in his mind to dig it up as it wouldn’t change the past.

“I did alright, got 68 percent score and you?” Leo asked.

“I got 96 percent, it seems that our studying together paid off.” She said smiling.

“Yes, thanks a lot for that.” Both of them often studied together often after classes in the library. He was really thankful for that because when he studied alone he could never focus for more then it took for him to look at him magic training device.

“Don’t worry, I enjoy spending time with you.” She said smiling and blushing a little.

Leo blushed a little and panicking said “Ah, yes! Let’s go, we will be late for training!” Taking his things he waited for Mary and both left the classroom heading to the training arena.

As they reached the place a lot of people were already there. Leo changed into his tracksuit and started stretching. He was now waiting for the placement and fights order to be announced.

Alice walked up to him, it looked like Mary was still changing. “Hi, You look quite excited.”

“I am, I wonder who I will be placed against though.” said Leo.

“Looking at the past years I’m sure that Sophie will be on your block.” She said combing her long black hair into a ponytail.

Leo smiled wryly, last two years he ended up fighting Sophie in second and third rounds respectively and despite him getting better she got stronger too and even when he did his best he ended up losing to her. She also won both of those tournaments.

“What are you thinking about?” she asked him after a moment of silence.

“That I would rather not have to fight her in the first round.” responded Leo.

Alice hugged his arm suddenly pressing her more than average sized breast against his arm.

“Eh?!” Leo screamed surprised.

“This summer vacation, I’m planning to go with few friends on a small trip to the beach and I wanted to ask if you would join us?” she asked looking him in the eyes.

“Eh, well… I think I should be able too, I would need to confirm with my parents.” Said Leo hesitantly.

“Then it’s a promise!” she said happily.

“cough…” Leo heard someone behind him. It was Mary, fastly he tore himself apart from Alice despite her dissatisfaction and looked at her.

“Oh, you were he…”

“That sounds like a fun. Can I join too?” Mary cut Leo off.

Alice glared at her. For a moment there was a silence but soon Alice smiled and responded “Yes, of course, you can. The more the merrier!”.

Both girls smiled and looked at each other. Leo as always was not exactly sure how to react when they faced each other like that but it seemed it turned out alright today.

Soon the principal along with vice-principal entered the room. Everyone looked at them.

“Good day, everyone. I’m sure you are excited so we won’t make you wait long. We will show the pairing right now.” A big holographic screen activated and tournament brackets were shown.

Leo searched for himself he found himself first on the list. He was going to fight a boy that he only knew used a longsword and a earth magic. Looking for people he knew he noticed that Sophie was on the other side so the only chance he would get to fight her would be in finals. Looking who was going to fight her in a first round his eyes opened. Her opponent was Mary.

Leo looked at Mary who was standing next to him. She didn’t seem to mind it too much, she never seemed to be too interested in sparing, though Leo never questioned her about it.

“What do you think?” asked Leo.

“I am just going to do what I can. I have some ideas though.” She responded.

The principal continued. “First round will start in 10 minutes. Get ready. I hope that everyone will be able to enjoy themselves and remember as long as you do your best it’s already a win.”

Everyone just smiled, no matter what they were told everyone liked to win not just do their best.

Leo got ready himself, getting his axe and putting protection equipment on. Entering the arena he looked at his opponent. It was a red-haired 13-year-old boy with hazel eyes. He was already ready holding his longsword in front of him. Leo remembered that he joined the class only this year.

Leo too got ready, he used the enchantment magic that he got so familiar with and held his axe with both hands.

The mana absorption shield was activated and soon the judge shouted “Start!”

Leo jumped ahead moving so quickly that nearly no one was able to follow his exact movement with their eyes. His opponent barely reacted and created a big earth wall between them.

The blond haired boy took the easiest route he could see and jumped over the wall, where he found his opponent creating earth golems. There were four of them and they seemed to be made of bronze.

He smashed first one that was closest to him making it fly away since the protection field was not on it. Next, he faced two at the same time, both swung their fist at him which he blocked at the same time with the shaft and a blade of his axe with little problem.

From behind him, the last golem attacked him, Leo disengaged and jumped above the golems in front of him. Landing behind them he jumped forward in direction of his opponent who was still focused on his creations and attacked him with his axe with an overhead swing. The boy put a sword in the way in the last second but the brute force of Leo swing made it irrelevant and he landed a hit on the boy’s head ending the fight.

“The winner is Leo Redmond!” shouted the judge.

Leo bowed to his opponent and shook his hand. The boy seemed little bitter and left the arena with his head down. Leo wanted to cheer him up but getting over a loss usually was something everyone had to do on their own.

Looking around he found out that Mary’s and Sophie's fight didn’t start yet. Both girls just entered the arena and were getting ready. Leo made sure he got as close to the arena as he could to be able to watch it carefully.