"And the winner of 43th round of second phase is Leonard Avaritia!" The referee announces loudly.
"We don't accept it!"
"This is rigged!"
"That man is a fraud!" The crowd's criticizing screams confirms Karl's suspicion. But just to confirm it, he walks closer to the corpse then proceeds to poke it with his blade.
'Wow. It really committed suicide.'
The camera moves to the judges who are showing very different emotions. While Treypin and Ratan are shocked and surprised by Karl's power. The chief is silently laughing as if he saw something funny.
'Showing your powers in the broad daylight? Aren't you underestimating me?' He took this incident as some kind of open challenge to himself.
Meanwhile, Ian who was watching from the suite, facepalms himself.
Oblivious to all of this, Karl goes back to the elevator with a big smile. Once inside, he presses top floor button. Few seconds later, the elevator door opens up and he sees Ian sitting on the sofa, rubbing his eyes.
"Dude! I got free win! You saw that right? Such behaviour among beasts is common?" Karl pats Ian's back aggressively as he sits beside him.
"First. There is no such thing as free win. Second, You shouldn't be proud that the crowd hates you. Those people might be important in the next phase-"
"How?"
"Don't ask because I don't know myself and I am not finished. Third and the last, what does the chief wants from you? Whenever you are in the ring he observes you like a criminal and he has been digging information about you almost everywhere. Did you two had some quarrel during your arrest?"
Ian's words shatters Karl's happy mood and made him actually think. "About the chief. Honestly, I don't know myself. He just randomly taken interest in me like a weirdo."
"Did you do something unusual that made him think that you are a terrorist?"
"Not that I think of. We just talked during the interrogation and that's it." Ian stares at Karl for few seconds.
'Hmm. He is slowly starting to resemble Ray. Is this the benefit of that old man's training?'
"I do something about the chief just try to avoid him." Ian says as he sighs slowly.
"I try." Karl sees Ian's frustrated expression. "What are you thinking about, Ian? Shouldn't you be happy that I cleared second phase without wasting any mana?" He couldn't help but question.
"It's not that. The fact that the beast suddenly decided to take his own life is not normal and it happened with you, the warrior representing the Phirsecot family. To the general public, it will be rumoured as a rigged match by the Phirsecot family and the dandelion family along with other hostile knighthoods would try to hurt my father's reputation. Father has been trying to improve our reputation for quite some time. But this match would just ruin it again." Karl remains silent as there is nothing he can do. The match already happened. It all happened in a blink of an eye as my hand went cold.
A sudden realization hits Karl. "Ian!"
"Yes?" Karl's yelling startled Ian. Then, Karl proceeds to explain Ian what actually happened to him.
"It's Koraet." Ian says calmly.
"How can you be so certain?"
"After you managed to defeated that ancient beast it became your constellation and left a mark on your left hand all the way to the neck. Then few minutes ago, just as the lizard was about to release your left hand felt cold before you zoned out. When your senses came back you only saw the corpse of the lizard lying on the ground, right?"
"Yes."
"That means, when you felt your hand getting cold was the moment when Koraet took over your body." Ian makes an educated guess.
"What? It can do that?" Karl is now genuinely concerned.
"Yes, whenever you the host is being threatened by any factors, the constellation manifests itself and takes over the host's body for short period of time to protect it's host."
"If that creature could take over my body then why didn't it do that? Instead of taking senses." Ian thinks for a second.
"Maybe the ancient beast thought that just by showing bit of it's presence the lizard would die, which it did. Afterall thar was some tremendous amount of killing intent."
'So, that's why the judges was acting so shocked.' Leonard says in Karl's mind.
'Then, why the fuck was that weirdo laughing so creepily?' A shiver is sent down Karl's body as the chief's face pops in his mind.
"Anyhow, keep an eye out for any symptoms and don't mention anyone that you have a constellation. An ancient beast at that. It will gather some unwanted attention." Karl nods at Ian's suggestion.
"I will send Alessia to perform some checkups after this phase ends."
"Okay." Ian gets up and clicks something on his watch. "Going out?"
"Yes, I have few important classes that I need to attend. I will directly meet you tomorrow." Ian corrects his tie before entering the elevator, leaving Karl alone in the suite. After waving goodbye to Ian, Karl sighs loudly and lies down on the sofa.
"Now, I got two dumbasses living in my body rent free."
Few hours have passed and the last match of the second phase just ended. The phase ended early because the number participants were less as the majority of them got eliminated in the first phase. The people who were able to advance through the second phase and into the third phase are all strong fighters with expectational organizations backing them. Karl decided to stay in the suite because if he went down in the crowd, there are bound to be people who would call him a fraud which was annoying to him.
Slowly, the sun settled in the sky and the last of match of the second phase ended. Unfortunately, Karl did not see any familiar faces. 'I guess Serena's match took place before mine.'
He puts away the empty food plate and gets up from his seat. With tired long steps, he walks to the elevator. Once inside, he sees the Fan standing alone. "Hey! Where were you all this time? I thought Ian sent you to look after me." Karl scolds the knight assigned by Ian.
"Hehe. Sorry Sir, I had few other things to take care of. Please forgive me." The knight slightly bows to Karl.
Unconsciously, Karl starts to rub his hands together as if an itch appeared on his hand. "You should at least tell me beforehand-"
TING! The elevator door opens and instructor Ken followed by the Chief. "Hello, my dear student!" Ken immediately goes and puts his arm around Karl's neck, choking him in the process.
"G-Greetings." Karl somehow answers Ken. The chief quietly stands in the corner and gives out a small smile. Karl releases himself and puts both of his hands on his back to scratch his finger in silence.
"We watched your match and you have certainly made me proud." Ken loudly says.
"Yes, everyone was surprised." Even the chief praises Karl's performance.
"Ha. Ha. It was just a fluke."
"Come on. Don't be so humble. Also, I think Leonard is not the only one as majority of warriors are hiding their true strength which they will use as a trump card in the third and fourth phase." Chief expresses his thoughts.
"But no one will be able to beat my student!" Ken aggressively rubs Karl's head and laughs out loud.
"We see about that." Karl says it in a small voice. Seeing Karl's timid reaction Ken pats Karl's back heavily. "Have some confident our black little pony."
"What did you call me?" The knight in the back could not hold back his laughter and laughs loudly.
"People have been calling you the little pony of the Black Pegasus academy. Little for your height and Your blade resembles a unicorn's horn thus pony. In short Black little pony." The chief explains with a smile, clearly having fun.
'What kind of bland racism is this?' Ken laughs out loud.
TING! The elevator stops and Karl steps out of it followed by the knight. Few minutes later, Karl is lying down on the creaking bed in his room. Fen said he had some work to do and left. 'What a dumb name.' Karl thinks as he closes his eyes, trying to sleep.
Just then a loud knock wakes him up. "Fuck, this useless knight." Karl opens the door in a force, only to see Serena.
"Um. Am I bothering you?" She asks.
"Yes, you are." Karl replied without any hesitation.
"Great. That was my intention." She walks into the room pushing Karl away.
"Your match was surprising. It really caught attention of everyone."
"Was it that impressive?"
"Believe me, it was. Just enough to catch the attention of few annoying people. Here." Serena hands Karl a white card which has [R] written on it.
"What's this?"
"An invitation. For the party." Karl's expression immediately changes. In the past, Karl as a person was very introverted. He often disliked social gathering.
"Do I have to come?"
"Your choice. I was only asked to invite you."
"By whom?"
"Dandelion Family. They seem to have taken an interest in you. If lucky you can join that Sentinel family and leave the Phirsecot's already doomed boat."
'If only I could do that.' Karl sighs in his mind and nods to Serena's words.
"Good, the party is in 2 hours. Call me if you plan to go. Also, do your best in next phase too. The academy has hopes from it's Black little pony."
"Fuck off."
Serena smiles and leaves the room.
'Is it me or she has become too talkative?'