"Now we got our next fight! Your Prince Leon Rex versus Fourth year Selim of Team Moon. Now give a round of Applause."
Leon, or rather, fake Leon did some warmup stretches while keeping his eye on her opponent.
"Ready! Seeeetttt! GOOO!!!!"
*
Rufus and Leon, still disguised as Nathaniel, watch the fight from a different booth, overlooking the colosseum.
"How long have you been preparing this?" Rufus asked calmly while looking down the fight. Leon is just slouching on that damn chair of his.
"Admittedly a few weeks," he lazily says, "The spell is incredibly tricky to come by and even trickier to maintain. It requires us to not reveal our true identities, and it wears off unexpectedly. We had to be careful with how much of our magic we let out as it could easily wash off the disguise. It was like earlier when you saw my eyes change color. Only me, Nate and Kitty are in this. Theo contributes to the spell by unknowingly lending us his support."
Rufus turned around, "Why the heck did you leave me out?"
"The assassins are scared of you, not me! I figured you would be hunting them down during the tournament, leaving the rest of us, unsupervised."
"Do you know who the assassin is?"
"Nope," he admits with a grin, "But we are keeping an eye out. Theseus told us everything. Ryllis doesn't believe her friend is the assassin."
"And you believe her?"
He turned to Rufus with a straight face. "Of course I believe her. She hasn't been wrong before."
"Did you already forget about Violet?"
"I just received news that she's awake. She woke up not too long ago. The timing is perfect actually."
"She is?"
"Yeah, the same doctor that treated Kitty helped her before coming here. Mother has given Vivi the decree to go to the Orlando Duchy to purify the source of the plague and its people." Leon then put his hands behind his head with contentment, "Ah, about time! Meli is apparently not sleeping or eating well since she got there. I miss her. Both girls missed a lot of school, but it seems that Vivi is studying for the Dragon's test and Meli is smart enough to not be held back this year. That's good. Remember when we had to take that test?"
"Is that from trust or blind faith on your part?"
"What part?"
"What Amaryllis said about the assassin," he answered.
"She has done what should have been impossible. She found and killed the Ripper when no one else was able to. Realistically, those false seers are even bigger frauds now. They've been beaten by a kid. The whole lot of them! Though I admit that while that guy Selim may have had a hand at putting us in medical attention and sending Meli away, it is also true that he hasn't killed anyone. He's just paving the way but damn it, I wish we got the answer to who the mastermind is then this whole charade would have ended sooner."
Rufus watched the fight. Selim is not a weak opponent. Amaryllis might be right about him. He is trying to attack in places that aren't fatal. He is not innocent but all his efforts incapacitate them, not kill.
"Now that raises the question, who is the fake you down there?"
"Take a guess, I think you might have figured it out."
Thinking back, Rufus made the fake Leon blush after seeing him and he acts extremely flustered. There are rumors in the school that the two might be gay because of their closeness and dating habits but it was not well known. Since that day, Leon's flustered expression seems to feed more into that rumor. It was actually quite confusing, but he didn't take priority into investigating or asking about that. He should've known the moment the fake Leon won the obstacle match first. That speed can only belong to one person.
He stared down, watching, analyzing the fight. "Is that... Sabina?"
Leon response was a condescending smirk.
"Her legs!"
"She's wearing metal braces. I also strengthen her legs enough so that she could fight without worrying but reality warping her legs like that is not the same as healing it. She just needs to keep this up long enough until the assassin shows up."
He turned around terrified, "Why are you putting her in danger?!"
"Relax~ she knows what she's doing. She volunteered the moment I asked. She is well protected."
Taken aback, he tapped his fingers nervously on his hand while continuing to watch the fight.
*
The sniper is in position. Hand outstretched and unnoticed. The black scalenohedron appeared at their hand, small enough to fit in their palm, easy to hide as it can turn invisible, undetectable as it cannot be detected by magic. She positioned the weapon and with a clear shot, the item shot out at full speed, towards the prince.
*
Sabina is tired. Her legs are still recovering and yet she's fighting like this! Leon assured her that his power on her legs would not cripple her even if she pushes so hard but the more she got closer to the finals, the more anxious she is of herself.
Leon says that she can only stay in this disguise until he says it. She can also drop out if it gets too hard but knowing him, he will want to take back his place back in the tournament and win the championship himself so she has no choice but to keep fighting until she can't.
Her opponent is the suspect right now. She could try to preemptively kill him but he doesn't seem to have the intention to kill her hence the lack of killing intent and he is keeping a distance from her. This might be a sign of the assassin being nearby. She has to watch out but where-
Then without warning, she felt impact at her neck and suddenly her whole body glowed brightly, illuminating the stage.