Lieren swallowed, feeling fear bite into his nerves like a rabid and hungry dog.
"And who's was it? The rings, I mean."
Vesba gripped his hands and looked down with contempt. He seemed to be… in pain, which was a rather rare sight. Maybe he knew the contestants who had been killed.
"One was… from Cancer, and the other is Virgo, I think. I couldn't really tell, since I was too on edge with his movements."
Lieren placed his elbows on the table and joined his hands together, on edge himself.
"So, what's Leo like? I've heard about him, at least, but I think at this point, I deserve the right to know about this contestant in particular, no?"
He had said it somewhat sarcastically, but he was genuinely pleading. Leo had always been a somewhat dangerous contestant in his eyes, especially after so many warnings about him had been made. Still, this recent news had brought him to a higher plane of existence. If he could take down two contestants like that, the he must somebody of considerable strength and power.
The main family, the Exousia famiglia, had been very reluctant on giving him information about the other families — even more so with their contestants. If it wasn't for Alice's and his master's — and Vesba — then he wouldn't have even had the chance to read about the family tree and learn about the multiple factions surrounding it.
And so, he chose this chance to make get some valuable information.
Staring intensely at Mysta on the other side of the room, Lieren made his suggestion, and waited for an answer. He was nervous, as there was still the chance that she would refuse, just from a whim.
Luckily, his expectation this time had not been dashed.
Looking up from a stack of papers, she cleared her throat and said somewhat sluggishly:
"Ahem! Leo, also known as Chimera Exousia, is the bastard child of Blessen Exousia from a mundane commoner. Because of his tainted heritage, it has been dictated that he cannot succeed the main head, and thus has been a recluse that immersed most of his time building his strength and magic like a madman. Nobody paid him any attention — after all, nobody expects anything from him. He's just a bastard child, after all. That is… that was until he participated in a major battle during the Purple Night, an event that made and broke New Mireton from the ground up."
She paused.
"What happened then?"
Mysta gazed at him with the most intense gaze he had ever seen.
"He singlehandedly defended the main family with his bare hands from start to finish. Slaughtering monstrous abominations and horrific demons all by his lonesome for the entire time. If I had to guess, and be aware that this is just my personal opinion... there's nobody in this entire city who can match up to him in terms of pure power, resilience, and dedication, even if all of the contestants team up, both dead and alive. Though I doubt that'll ever happen."
◇◆◇◆◇
Lieren looked up at the moon, his mind in current disarray. He was alone.
Leo… Leo had turned out to be more of a problem than he had thought. Not only was he strong, but he was also experienced, as well had much, much more resolve than him. Enough to drive one mad.
A long sigh escaped his lips.
"Hah~ What do I do? There's no way I can beat that guy, even if all the other contestants were to all gang up him. What a conundrum."
"…What a conundrum, indeed."
Not bothering to turn to the source of the unexpected voice, he just looked up at the moon with a forlorn expression. Was it his imagination, or was it less bright than usual?
It was still beautiful, though…
Sitting beside him on the cold asphalt of the training platform he had shed blood on, a lean figure appeared and continued:
"So you found out about Leo, huh?"
He raised a brow.
"You know about him?"
"Of course. Well, just the rumors though: nothing too concrete. Just enough to make out a rough image. Still, what I heard was truly outrageous. To think that…"
"I know, right? The Purple Night… somebody actually challenged that hell all alone. What a monster."
Patting him on the shoulder, Harita smiled amicably. His Aegis was trying to comfort him.
"Well, it's not like you're any different."
'…Huh?'
"What do you mean? Pleases don't tell me you see myself in that guy."
This time, it was Harita who raised a brow.
"What are you talking about? You're ten, recently Adorned, and has already reached such high astounding magical insight and knowledge to create your very own spell, and exploit various facets of it with great efficiency. Though your sword skill is a bit lacking, your hand-to-hand combat proficiency is coming along well, too. You may not be the strongest, but you have the most potential out of anybody here."
Lieren flinched and felt his face tense. His Aegis was… right. Even he had to accept that sometimes. Still, there was a part of him that rejected the thought wholeheartedly.
However, hearing it come from such a valuable confidant felt different somehow. Not like when Alice had said so, or his masters had chatted about.
It was less surreal. More truth than fiction.
Looking down, he sighed, and glanced meaningfully at his lean Aegis.
The man lingered for a while, then seemed to recall something and looked up at the moon. In that very second, Harita's consciousness seemed to reach far beyond him, as if intending to swallow the darkness. And then the next, the feeling had disappeared, as if it had never existed in the first place.
"Okay, there's nobody watching."
With that, the lean man pulled out a small note, passed it to him, and said in a clear voice:
"I did as you said and lured Virgo and Cancer to the unknown contestant, which had turned out to be Leo. I also looked some stuff up about the Exousia with Bian and found that the urgency of the two contestant's defeat is making the main family panicked, as well as all the others. At this rate, their plan to… replace you should speed up. I've already got confirmed info that other families are scheming and building shaky alliances with each other in preparation to fighting against Leo, as well as other who aim to resign to him. After all, a contestant doesn't have to die for another to take its place. You only need to obtain their proof of participation and ally yourself with their family. That is, unless you already have a proof of participation of your own."
He nodded and digested the information, thinking.
'Though there were some setbacks — namely the defeat of Virgo and Cancer — the results stay the same. Now, some of the hate and ire of the other families have been taken off me and replaced to another: Leo. I'm already aware of the famiglia's plan to assassinate me long ago. Their plan to replace me will most likely involve a lot of espionage and sabotage to lower my standing in the famiglia and drag my name down as much as possible before presenting their own agreed-upon contestant. I have the support of the bride-to-be in question, after all. As well as her father, the main head… I think.'
Putting his hands together, Lieren gazed at the moon, sighed and surreptitiously stuffed the piece of paper Harita had given him and stood up, glancing at his Aegis curiously. Just then, he thought of something.
"Oh, yeah, how's Bian, by the way?"
Harita lingered for a few moments before saying back with an exaggerated sigh:
"…You know, still annoying."
The two laughed into the night, as their voices echoed throughout the training grounds, never quite reaching the ears of anybody still awake.