In front of Professor Aeldric's office, Lucivar, Sabrina, and Andre stood.
For a mont, Lucivar was on the phone with soone—talking about sothing important from the look on his face. Once he was done, with the phone call, he tossed the phone back to Andre, "Thanks for your help, senior. You can go back to your dorm now"
Lucivar waved his hand above his head as he walked to the lift.
He only called for Andre to use his phone.
Being able to attain a lot of information to manipulate Thalia—and her family through only her phone made Lucivar realized that having a phone is disadvantageous. Of course—back when he was still in his ho village, he always wanted a handphone, that could do more than only receive broadcasts from the officials.
He ca to hear about it from the people who had visited a free city.
Now, he didn't want to anymore.
For that very reason, he told Sabrina to call Andre so that he could use Andre's phone.
It was already late and Andre must've already been comfortable in his room.
Having to step out of his comfort to co here must be really annoying.
But then again, what can Andre do? Refuse him and risk being bullied again? No, that's not worth it.
"Stop calling senior if you don't respect as a senior!" Andre shouted, cursing at Lucivar who did not seem to be bothered by his words at all. He could only punch the air in frustration, "Damn it, why do I have to be involved with a guy like that?"
Cursing under his breath, Andre went back to his room.
Since he didn't want to et with Lucivar again, he opted to use the ergency staircase instead.
Oblivious to him, there was a figure leaning against the wall to his right.
Once Andre went through the ergency door, the figure looked around to see if the coast was clear—before walking out. Silently, the figure went toward Professor Aeldric's door and knocked on it, "May I co in?"
"Go ahead," Professor Aeldric sounded from the inside.
It was only then does the figure stepped inside and stood in front of Professor Aeldric.
Seeing the person standing in front of him, Professor Aeldric squinted his eyes.
"Hmm, you look familiar," He murmured, pointing at the figure. "Oh, right, aren't you…"
…
The next day ca.
Not a trace of moonlight or sunlight pierced through the dorms within the Bastion of Blades.
Night or day, it was all the sa inside the dorm rooms—the light on the ceiling and also the humming of machines in the background were the only things that could be sensed. It was a total isolation, almost like a prison.
A far cry from the hotel room in Kalinan City.
Inside Leandra's room.
She moved her body on the bed to face the ceiling with an arm over her face.
Sleeping has been hazardous for her.
Even though she had been trying to sleep throughout the entire night, she couldn't, the mories from that night kept playing on repeat in her mind. Opening her eyes slightly, she stared at the ceiling with reddened and puffy eyes.
On top of being unable to sleep, she also has been crying throughout the night.
A suppressed cry so that her personal maid wouldn't hear it.
'Now, you see the truth of what I've been fighting for…'
Lucivar's voice rang inside her head, causing her to bite her lower lip hard.
'Good karma brings bad luck while bad karma brings good luck'
"Just what does he an by that…?" Leandra mumbled inaudibly, she had been contemplating the aning behind those words but she couldn't. "Isn't it supposed to be the other way around? Good karma brings fortune while bad karma brings suffering, that's how it's supposed to be so what does he an by that?"
No matter how hard she tried to understand those words, she was t with a dead end.
Recalling the past, Leandra rembered that Lucivar had always been purposeful.
It was clear since he went ahead and tried killing soone when he realized he wasn't used to killing.
Becoming stronger was his goal, that's for sure, but Leandra couldn't help but feel like there's another reason that drives him harder. Sothing more personal that sparked the fla inside of him to beco as wicked as he could.
Sighing deeply, she sat up on the bed and tied her violet hair into a ponytail.
"I need to train," Leandra muttered as she changed and headed outside.
Being cramped inside the room only made her duller, she thought exercising with refresh her mind.
Upon stepping outside, Leandra went to the training area at the center and saw a clock there with a bat sitting on top of it that marked the ti to be three in the morning. It was still very dark—and nobody was around.
Not even those who are hard-working would be training at this ti.
Everyone was probably still asleep.
Leandra washed her face on a nearby sink before making her way to the center of the training area.
Only the moonlight and a few lights lit up the area.
She spreads her legs wide and stretches, loosening every muscle across her body.
Once she was ready, she began to shadowbox—wanting to sweat a little.
Under the tutorship of Tobias, her martial art revolved around striking power with every limb she has since her telekinetic ability from the Star Witch bloodline made it easy for her to open up her opponent and land a critical blow.
Every ti she threw a strike—be it a kick or a punch, a gust of purple ether blew.
She used the entire area as she shadowbox, making rotational and acrobatic moves that were more like a performance of strength and elegance. Had there been any onlookers, they would've thought Leandra was dancing but she's not.
Having to train most of her life, her moves were already automatic.
Leandra was shadowboxing but her mind was sowhere else, on Lucivar's words.
Just thinking about Lucivar made her more energetic and angrier.
"Hyaargh!" She groaned as she made a straight punch.
A storm of ether flew forward and struck the cave walls with a resounding crash.
Straightening her posture, Leandra wiped her sweat.
She then placed her hands on her hips and looked down to the floor, her thoughts racing, 'Instead of thinking about it and making assumptions about him, shouldn't I just ask him directly? Find out what he's truly after—and why he's doing all of this?'
Even though she made a promise to herself to change Lucivar, she took the wrong approach.
Allowing Thalia to show him the good side of the world was the right move, considering that Lucivar has always been excited about a free city. But her move against Lucivar back in Kalinan City—it was an act purely driven by her emotions.
Leandra was frustrated.
Instead of wanting to change him, she wanted to beat him instead—and that's the wrong move.
She was too focused on herself and her feelings.
'Instead of fighting and losing, try to understand '
'Perhaps, you could be the only one who would understand '
Recalling what Lucivar whispered to her, a flicker of determination crossed her eyes.
'If I wanted to change him—the right move would be to try and understand him first. Only once I understand him fully, know intimately about his thought processes, would I able to change him,' She fird deeply.
Realizing her errors, she decided to change her approach entirely.
Just then, however, she lifted her gaze when she heard footsteps coming from the cave entrance.
She assud it was one of the guards guarding there, but the sound didn't match the heavy steps of the armored boots the guards were wearing—it was lighter, more hesitant. Awaiting for the figure to step inside, she caught a glimpse of a man clutching his stomach.
For a brief second there, the man and Leandra made eye contact.
However, in the next instant, the man quickly covered his face with his hand and rushed to the side.
"Mirel?" Leandra raised an eyebrow in question.
Even from the distance, she could tell that it was Mirel—and he seed to be hurt.
Not wanting to let go of this and also worried, Leandra quickly ran to the corridor and called him.
"Mirel, stop!" She shouted, causing Mirel to stop.
Jogging towards him, she pulled on his shoulder and forced him to look at her, "What are you doing? Why are you avoiding ?" She asked questioningly—before she noticed traces of dried blood on the corner of his lips. "What happened to you? Did you get into a fight?"
Bombarded by questions, Mirel smiled acutely and pulled her to the side.
He checked around to see if anyone was around before sighing.
"What is it? Are you keeping secrets from us, now?" Leandra pressured further.
Upon hearing this, Mirel placed a finger between his lips, gesturing for her to lower her voice, "Quiet down, Leandra. It's nothing, really, nothing bad. Why don't we forget about this and move on? Let's just pretend this never happened"
"Pretend this never happened? Do you think I'd do that?" Leandra barked back.
She then pushed Mirel against the wall, her eyes scrutinizing.
"Tell what you're doing in the middle of the night, outside of the cave, and coming back bloodied like this" She demanded, squinting her eyes sharply. "If you don't then I'll wake up the others and have them ask you what you did"
"Alright, alright…" Mirel raised both hands in surrender.
Once he did that, Leandra pulled away—giving him space to breathe.
"We wouldn't have this conversation if you didn't cosplay as a night owl with an exercise obsession"
"What? So you're blaming now?"
"I an, even before we enrolled we never exercised at three in the morning"
"Hmph! Fine!"
Leandra turned away to go and wake up the others in annoyance.
Realizing this, Mirel quickly grabbed her hand, "I'm joking! I'll tell you but keep it a secret will you?"
Crossing her arms, Leandra raised an eyebrow, gesturing for Mirel to explain.
Having no other choice as he got struck with bad luck for crossing Leandra as he went back, Mirel was forced to tell the truth. He has no room to lie as doing so and getting caught would make matters even worse for him.
It wasn't life-threatening or sothing like that but he would lose a mont he's anticipating.
A mont that he didn't want to be ruined.
If Leandra knew he lied to her, she could ruin that by telling the others about his suspicious act.
Once Mirel told her the truth, Leandra stared at him in shock.
"Tell ," Leandra stepped forward and cupped Mirel's face with both hands. "Did you hit your head hard in the dungeon or sothing? Because I refused to believe that you're this dumb. You're making a very stupid mistake, Mirel"
"Oh, co on," Mirel rolled his eyes and pushed her away. "I wanted to win, that's it"
"Yes, I understand that." Leandra nodded. "But you do know that you could lose your life, right…?"
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