Slyvia could no longer hear the conversation between Ray and Wilfred. After that shocking reveal, it seemed like the two had quietened down to discuss something. After a back and forth between the two of them, they eventually parted ways and Ray started to make his way back.
As Ray turned the corner, he spotted Slyvia there.
"Did you hear the conversation between Wilfred and me?" Ray asked.
"Only a little."
"Well, don't worry about it," Ray said as he continued to walk off.
"Wait!" Slyvia shouted, "I know you feel bad about what you did, but no one blames you. The others told me what you said to them. You were just trying to help them."
Ray stayed silent for a little while before he decided to reply.
"Do you know why I acted like that?"
"I don't know why... but all I know is you looked sad."
Ray then felt something in his chest again. He finally came to the realization he wasn't angry; he was sad. He didn't want to admit it to himself this whole time but the death of Amy had affected him more then he thought.
"Gary's sister died. She was… now that I think about it, I don't know why I was so stubborn. Perhaps because she was a human, I didn't want to believe it, but she was my first friend."
Slyvia understood, she had heard the stories from the other red-haired children about how they grew up. How they were outcasted and treated like children of Sen. From just these words she could tell that Amy meant a lot to him. The one thing Slyvia was stumped on was when Ray said: "Because she was a human." But Slyvia simply thought Ray had misspoken.
Slyvia then held out her hand.
"You're not alone Ray."
Ray thought about it for a while. Perhaps if he hadn't been so stubborn with himself and accepted the humans around him as friends, then maybe he could do something about it. In the past, he wasn't able to protect the people he cared about. But right now, there were people right next to him that he wanted to protect.
Humans were cruel but Ray found out not all of them were. Some deserved to be punished and Ray would continue to do so. But there were also those that Ray now wanted to protect.
Ray held Sylvia's hand and said, "thank you."
Slyvia blushed a little before letting go and the two of them carried on walking to meet up with the others.
The two of them had finally arrived at the balcony with the others.
"Slyvia your face is a little red. Did something happen between the two of you?" Martha asked jokingly.
Slyvia head was now so hot it looked like steam was about to emit from it.
"No, no I found him in the hall and we just got here."
Just then the announcers started to speak.
"Ladies and gentleman thank you for waiting. It is time for the next event to begin. It will now be starting in 3….2….1… go!"
The match began and everyone's eyes were now focused on down below.
"Hey Gary, I don't see your girlfriend anywhere?" Dan said.
Gary was slightly confused by Dan's comment.
"He's talking about Jasmine," Monk replied.
Just then everyone turned and smiled at Monk.
"Oh, so it looks like you do know something about her?" Dan said.
Gary started to look around the arena for Jasmine but he too couldn't see her.
"Relax, she's just a third-year black sash knight. She helped us out at training a few times that's all." Gary said while he was still trying to find her.
Martha pouted.
"So boring. You guy's need to start thinking about romance once in while instead of swords all the time."
Ray started to focus and try to find Jasmine himself. It was hard for him to see but eventually, he found a space in the arena where it was slightly distorted. Jasmine had gotten better at using her black sash skills but so did Ray.
As the match continued, many contestants were quickly eliminated. Just like with the second years, there seemed to be a big difference in power between those in the top ten compared to the rest of the Academy.
"Is there anyone that catches your eye Gary?" Slyvia asked as she could see Gary was clearly focused on someone.
"The blonde boy at the back."
Gary was currently focused on Harry. Surprisingly Harry was currently the only student on the field who still had all of his HP. He hadn't been hit once. Even Jasmine who had been hiding had been hit by a stray arrow and lost some HP.
Harry's style of fighting was beautiful. His swordsmanship was almost like a dance. He would be able to lead his opponents into the right place to attack and once he had them where he wanted. He would make quick work of them hitting all the vital parts.
"Yes, he's very impressive. His style reminds me of yours a little bit, but different at the same time. While you attack more instinctively, it seems like his style if more planned." Slyvia replied.
Gary didn't know about Harry but he knew about himself. He couldn't quite explain it but when he fought against people, sometimes these white lines would just show up telling him where to strike. The white lines occasionally appeared on a body or creature and as long as he followed that path, he would do critical damage. It wouldn't happen all the time but only in situations where he was desperate.
The last time Gary experienced this was when he was fighting the Pureblood member. Gary had been training every day since to try to get the same feeling to come again. He was hoping if he found a way to activate it at will, then he would be unstoppable.
"We have our five winners!"
Currently, standing in the ring were the five contestants that would go through to the elimination rounds. Harry had shown the most skill with his sword work.
The next was a contender named Geo. He was a giant for his age and his main weapon was a two-handed axe. There were also two female warriors who worked together named Violet and Aqua. The two of them were sisters who used a metal fan to fight.
Everyone in the arena was slightly confused. They could only see four in the ring: Harry, Geo, Violet and Aqua, but then suddenly dark shadows started to form in the centre of the arena. Once the shadows had disappeared, out came Jasmine.
These were the five students going into the next round.