Once the battle with Lucas had come to a conclusion, Leopold patiently waited by the arena grounds for his battle with Ivory sometime later that day. The following match had already started, the student council president Lilia Dragoness was taking on her brother from class 1-A. He was the boy known as Leviathan and the current acting "advisor" that was under the care of Princess Cinder
The boy yawned, looking at both fighters. "I've noticed that I barely know much about either of those two. Other than the clear fact that they don't seem to have a great relationship with one another, there isn't much information available." He crossed his arms as he watched.
As he so clearly remembered, Leopold had first met Lilia when he arrived at the academy. She had been the girl who had asked him to give a speech on why people from the Forsaken Realm and Noble Realm should be separated.
Despite that strange little deftest for commoner and noble relationships, the girl seemed quite nice. Plus, being someone from the Underworld as that of a Dragonman has helped Leopold develop a respect for her.
On the opposite end, Leopold had never actually spoken to Leviathan directly. All that the Class 1-D male knew about the boy came from the one time they met, when Cinder had crashed Leopold's speech on the first day. Leviathan had been working as Cinder's assistant by then and begged the girl to stop with her antics in that moment, although to no avail.
He didn't seem like someone who liked to get into many fights and was a very introverted person to say the least... It was honestly something that Leopold found himself pleased with, especially since his boss was such a hothead.
"And yet he deals with Cinder on a daily basis..." Leopold observed, looking at the blue haired boy. "Guess that means he must be incredibly diligent. These Dragoness kids are quite impressive..."
Leopold could only watch their fight in awe...
There were a few more things that the boy could add to his previous notions. Leviathan was a water magic user while his sister used something known as storm magic. Lilia's magical power was said to be a lot stronger than that of her brother's as well, putting Leviathan at a major disadvantage.
Still, he must have trained his magic well since he was putting a good fight up against his powerful sister. He looked at the girl, a bright glow of determination seen in his diamond looking eyes.
The boy gritted his teeth. "I will beat you this time, Lilia!" He held both of his hands out and let an enormous blast of what looked to be water flow from his palms right at his sister.
Unfortunately, Lilia was able to easily dodge the blast by simply stepping to the side. She looked at her younger brother and frowned. "Still weak, little brother? You've never beaten me and you know that you never will..." She held her hands up in a very haughty manner, starting to mock the boy. "This is exactly why mother and father never showed you affection, Levi. You're still just a weak loser!"
Leopold's eyes widened as he listened to her words. It had been like this all round, the same occurrences. Leviathan would shoot off quite an impressive attack at least from where Leopold's was sitting.
However—no matter what he tried—Lilia just knocked it away or dodged every time, scolding her brother soon after.
"She seemed nice when I first met her." Leopold thought to himself, still not sure what to think of her suddenly hostile behavior. "However, just like Ceil's brother, it would seem that she has some sort of problematic notion when it comes to her sibling."
The boy couldn't never understand what went through the minds of people like that. As an older sibling, it should be your job to watch over your sibling and protect them! These people made it seem more like they were trying to train them for the army!
Despite his sister's worlds, Leviathan kept sending barrages of attacks at the girl in hopes of making a dent in her defenses. Stil, none of them could even leave so much as a scratch! She has more experience in battle, and her magic was far superior.
Leopold sighed, shaking his head. "This is already over..." There was nothing he could do at this point. The boy couldn't see just what could possibly give him an edge at this point.
Still, even though Leopold didn't see a chance of the younger brother winning this fight, it seemed that he was of a small majority. The boy saw that from the other side of the arena, waiting for her match as he did, none other than that of a furious Princess Cinder Kushida came into view.
She yelled at him, cheering him on at the top of her lungs. "Go, Leviathan! You can do it!" The was screaming cheers for Leviathan, which was something Leopold had never witnessed her do for most people. He had taken her for the type of person to be just as pushy as Lilia was being right about now. "You and me did all that training, right?! Now go and show her what all that work was for!"
Stratus smiled, looking at her from across the arena."Well I'll be... I suppose that Cinder Kushida wasn't quite the asshole I had originally taken her for." He laughed, looking back at the fight that was still raging on.
Lilia used an apparent "lightning attack" that quickly shoved Leviathan back. The boy was slammed into the wall behind him. Blood flowed from his mouth, him hitting the dirt ground soon after.
Leviathan's sister looked at him, her eyes narrowed and an even more disappointed look on her face than before. She sneered. "Pathetic... Just how in the world did I get stuck with such a useless brother anyway?" She put her hand on her forehead and sighed softly.
Leviathan groaned, trying to get back to his feet. "S-Shut up! I will beat you!" He raised his fists, trying to remain steady and regain his breath while he still had the opportunity.
Lilia looked back at the boy. "And just how do you expect to do such a thing when you haven't even landed one attack? This fight is already almost over, little brother! How do you expect to beat me now?!" She waved him off with one of her hands. "You should give up and go back home. You and I both know that you aren't meant to be a hero! The only reason you're here is because Lady Sparrow had sympathy on you!" She fired what looked to be a blast of fire at the spot where Leviathan stood, hitting the boy directly.
Leopold's eyes widened. "Hold up... This seems a bit more complicated than just simple pushiness!" He wanted to go out there and save the boy, even if he wasn't supposed to do that.
Unfortunately, it was far too late.
Cinder cried as she watched the scene. "LEVIATHAN!" She too reached her hands out to to the boy from up in the stands, tears falling from her eyes in such a way that Leopold had never witnessed before.
Smoke filled the arena, clouding the view of the fight. Everyone's former cheers grew quiet, nervous thoughts overtaking everyone as to what they had just witnessed in those few moments. The silence was enough for Leopold to need in all of his lifetime, no one daring make one peep.
For the next couple of moments, this was the condition of the area as everyone watched the scene in worry. Leopold had his eyes widened, thinking of what had just happened a few yards over from him.
"This is freaking crazy!" He couldn't believe what had just happened. "This is outrageous! I'd say this qualifies her for a terrible sibling right?!" He bit his lip and narrowed both his eyes.
Even Ceil's brother, from what Leopold had heard, was nowhere this level of insane. Pushing your siblings past their own boundaries in one thing, but this... For all Leopold or anyone else might have known, Leviathan could have been killed by a shot like that! There was no way she had pulled a stunt like that!
And yet she most definitely had.
However, what happened next was not anything close to what the people watching could have ever expected. From within that dark cloud of smoke, Leopold could suddenly see the sight of what looked to be someone moving. He was wobbling, but seemed to be conscious and still on his feet!
"There's no way..." he breathed.
And then there was Leviathan, still standing although not in the best of conditions. He had bruises and blood all over his body. Blood oozed from his mouth and he didn't look fit to continue fighting. Leopold thought that the boy might even topple over and pass out at any moment.
Yet, he held his hand high and smiled!
"You haven't beaten me, Lilia!" Leviathan exclaimed.
Lilia narrowed her eyes. "Oh? Still able to continue?" She grinned, stretching for a moment. "Fine... If that's how you feel, then let me finish it." She raised her hands to the sky and started to use her magic once more in an attempt to quite possibly put her brother down for good.
"Combination magic! Rage!"
As she spoke those few words out into the arena, Lilia and everyone saw that all the attributes of her fire, water, lighting, and wind started to make what looked to be a massive spell appear above the stadium. It swirled like that of a massive storm, people feeling as if they would be blown away at any time.
Leopold was surprised, trying to hold himself down to the earth as he watched. Combination magic was an advanced type of magic that combined all of your magical attributes into one spell that could decimate a large number of people depending on its power. It was generally considered to be too powerful for most people to use, so many didn't even bother to study the ability.
"Neither Lucas or myself even have the necessary knowledge and skills to use this kind of magic!" The boy looked deep into the swirling vortex that Lilia had formed. "She is not joking here. I'm pretty sure that Leviathan may be in more trouble here than anyone actually realizes!"
The massive vortex of magic came down from the sky and again... went right for Leviathan! Not only Leopold this time but referees overseeing the battle tried to step in and save the boy from what might be his ultimate demise, but the surging winds made it almost impossible to do so much as move until the spell had come to an end.
Leopold gritted his teeth, watching with a face of fear. "With another direct hit from a spell like this, he may actually die! This is really bad!" And yet, there was nothing that he could do anymore. He was powerless to even move!
"Damn it! No!"
However, just when all things had looked lost, a true hero steppee into the mix. None other than the principal himself who was still seen moving stepped into the mix and was able to use his "Nullification Magic" to stop the vortex before it could actually make contact with the Dragonman beneath.
"That's enough!" he called. "The battle has reached the maximum time limit!" The man pointed over to Lilia and nodded. "Miss Lilia takes the win as she received less damage!"
Leopold took a deep breath, falling to the ground in a feeling of a relief. "Thank goodness! If the principal hadn't been here, this could have gone very south." He wiped the sweat from his forehead and sighed.
However, Lilia herself didn't look even close to happy. The girl gripped her weapon tightly in her hands, hearing the results for herself. There was definitely something off about her now, something that still seemed to worry Leopold in the moment. The evil glare that shone in her eyes...
"I refuse!" she said, looking back at her brother in anger. She quickly imbued her weapon with more magic and made a dashing attack at her brother. Leviathan was so beat up that he couldn't defend himself! "You said that you weren't going to give up, so I'll make sure that you receive your proper reward! You had better be ready for this!"
Stratus narrowed his eyes. "I knew it." He got back and then too made a dash of his own so as to get in front of Leviathan. Once he was, he drew his sword and slashed the girl across the chest before kicking her across the battlefield. Lilia was sent flying across the battlefield, smashing into the wall behind her.
"Hey..." Leopold breathed, sweating bullets now as his mind was filled with complete anger. He looked at the girl, gritting his teeth. "The battles over now. Take your win and get the hell out of here. I won't let you bash a clearly helpless fighter, even if he is your brother."
Actually, the fact that Leviathan was her brother made the situation even worse! Still, he needed to retain some composure in the moment. Don't cause a scene.
All around, people watched the scene with amazed glances. Their jaws all dropped when they watched the Class 1-D boy completely manhandle the student council president with relative ease.
"It's that guy again! He just bolted in an instant to the guys side and shoved the student council president in an instant!"
"I agree with that guy! You're a horrible sister!"
"Poor boy! He was trying his hardest to fight his sister and he just treated him as garbage..."
In an instant everyone in the stadium was yelling insults at Lilia while sympathizing with Leviathan. Leopold blinked as he heard it all, wanting to almost laugh at the complete and utter humiliation that was now falling upon Lilia's shoulder's because of his actions.
He laughed, turning back to look at the boy behind him. "Wow." Leopold scratched the back of his head in awe. "Look at that, bud! You're a fan favorite now!" He grabbed Leviathan's hand and helped to drape him over his shoulder.
Leviathan laughed with him, shaking his head.. "Guess so, huh. Thanks, Leopold Strats." He looked over at his sister who was lying on the ground, frowning. "I suppose that it really doesn't matter now. I've already lost to her..."
Leopold smiled. "Don't beat yourself up. That battle was impressive and I'm sure that Cinder will get some revenge for you." He soon carried Leviathan over to a medical crew who took him to the infirmary. "Just get better, alright?"
"Sure."
On the other side of the arena, Lilia heard the hateful comments of the people around and stalked off in anger and embarrassment. She got back to her feet and looked at them all for a couple of moments before storming out of the arena, another thing that seemed quite abnormal for her.
"Guess she's getting what she deserves..." Leopold observed, still grinning at the sight.
As Leopold watched the beaten and bruised boy get taken off for a few seconds longer, he quickly spotted Nix off to the side who was about to fight Cinder for Bracket B's first battle of the current ground.
Now that he had taken care of that little problem for what he hoped would be the last time, it was only natural for the boy to think that he should use a couple of seconds to go and see a fellow classmate of his. After all, that was one of the key points of advice that Zion had given him before this whole gig started.
"Hey, Nix!" he called to the Beastwoman, waving to her as he walked.
Hearing the sound of a familiar voice, Nix looked over at where it had come from. She blushed when seeing the sight of Leopold, the classmate she had from 1-D. "H-Hey! I saw what you just did and it was kind of cool!" She tilted her head, smiling. "Nice work out there, Leo."
Leopold scratched the back of his head, grinning at her comment. "Thanks. That makes me feel better..." He crossed his arms. "Although I'm not sure that something like that really needs recognition."
Nix laughed. "Maybe not... Still, it was cool." She put both of her arms behind her back, continuing to talk with the boy about different parts of the tournament."
"Anyways, you ready to fight Cinder?" Leopold asked as they waited. He looked over at Cinder who was coming down from the viewing area, still pissed at what had happened during the match before hers. "She is going to be a fairly tough opponent for you. Do you think that you can win?"
Nix nodded. "I think so. I do agree that if will be difficult, but its also a good test for me!" She looked at Leopold with a determined glare, clutching her fists. "I'm nowhere near her level, sure. However, with enough strategy, I can win! I have to!" She looked over at Cinder. "I need to if I want to be stronger."
Leopold tilted his head, confused by her words.. "Be stronger? Why do you need to be strong?" He looked at her, waiting for some sort of answer.
Nix again blushed. "I-It's nothing!" As she said her remark, the call for the next match of the round was sounded. "Well I guess that's me. See you later, Leopold..." She walked off and onto the grounds as Leopold watched.
Leopold watched her go, still more than a little confused. "Just what was that about?" At this point, that was a question that may never be answered.
Meanwhile Nix was deep in thought about Leopold as well, only it was much more embarrassing... "I need to be strong so that I can be on Leopold's level and he will love me! That means I can't afford to lose this battle!" She put her hands on her sword and smiled, preparing for what was to come.
"Let's do this!"
===================
Once again from up in the seats, Zion and Amy were watching the ongoing battles between students. It was finally time for Nix to fight Amy's sister, Cinder. Zion worried about this matchup, honestly not really thinking that Nix had much of a chance at winning.
Sure, Nix was a very capable fighter with both her physical combat skills and with her magical abilities. However, she was going up against one of the most ruthless fighters that Zion had ever watched! Cinder was certainly known for her reputation as a strong warrior and it was so surprise to why that was."
Zion narrowed his eyes. "Nix may be strong, but she doesn't hold a candle to Cinder Kushida..." He looked over at Amy and smiled. "You probably agree with me, right?"
Amy nodded. "My big sister has always been strong, to say the last. Im pretty sure that the only person I've ever seen beat her in combat are Ceil and her older brother. True, she did say that someone beat her in a battle on the first day of school..."
Zion was surprised, by that comment. Someone had managed to take down THE Cinder Kushida? "Just who was it?" Who would have such great power?
Amy shrugged. "She never told me or any of my siblings. She didn't give us a cleara name, only that this person was male and an annoyance for her. Yet, I'm pretty sure she started the fight in the first place." The girl shook her head and sighed. "I told her that something like that would happen one day if she kept up her spree of challenges."
Zion nodded and refocused back on the fight. "Well, whatever the case, Nix isn't one of the people who will ever beat Cinder..." He knew that. Even if he was rooting for Nix, he knew that this fight was already finished.
===================
Leopold watched the fight from his spot in awe. So far, seven minutes had passed in the fight and neither Cinder nor Nix had gone down. It was certainly not something that Leopold had expected to see in this fight, especially since the person in question for this match was Cinder of all people.
He looked intensely at the fight. "Nix is certainly fighting hard. Strangely though, thats not what surprises me." Nix fighting like her life depended on it was one thing, but was what was strange was that... "I've never seen Cinder take a battle so seriously either." Did it have to do with Leviathan? Leopold wondered what was going on in this fight, his body feeling like it too was on the edge of its seat.
Nix jumped off the ground and into the sky, sword ready for combat. She looked down at Cinder, taking a deep breath before she cast some sort of magical spell.
"Sword magic! Thousand Sword Barrage!"
From where Nix held her sword, a large number of swords started to multiple around the weapon. That filled the sky, the previous blue becoming that of a sight more like a grayish black instead.
Cinder watched, wasting no time to drop down into a fighting position as a defense measure. She put her hand on her sword's hilt, preparing for her own spell as a counter to Nix's attack.
"Flame Empress!" She drew her sword and with it fire flowing through the weapon's sharp blade. She quickly struck down all of the swords, each of the blades taking the strikes head on and then falling down to the ground around Cinder in what seemed to be just a short instance! "Good. Looks like I'm still working here."
Nix gritted her teeth as she landed back down on the ground, her attack once again unsuccessful. "Damn it." The girl then started to run around the stadium, surrounding Nix as she kicked up dirt.
Leopold watched the fiery battle, particularly noticing the sheer amount of determination that shone deep within Nix's eyes. "Just why is she so determined to win? There isn't any chance that she can, so what's the point?" It reminded him somewhat of the previous fight. Despite all the odds that were stacked against her, Nix was not planning on backing down from the fight anytime soon.
Nix again put her feet on the walls of the colosseum, jumping back into the air. She this time went and aimed herself right at where Cinder was standing. The girl dropped her sword and then barred her claws instead to use claws. She landed and was able to land a few blows on Cinder who was unable to block all of Nix's strikes.
Then, Nix jumped back away from the girl. She looked at Cinder who had a few cuts and bruises, pleased with her work. "Yes!" She looked over at Leopold and smiled, to his confusion.
"Cheap trick!" Cinder growled in frustration.
Nix smiled at her observation, pleased that her opponent seemed to be annoyed.. "Why thank you! You know, Cinder, there isn't any rule on what you can and can't do in a battle. Better keep that in mind..." The girl again barred her claws. "The winner of any competition is decided in the preparation phase."
Cinder narrowed her eyes. "Fine then." She gripped her sword and brought it back into a basic fighting position. "If you're going to pull of stunts like that, then I'll just have to match them."
"Fire Magic: Swords Embers!"
She swung her sword through the air, sending a large blast of fire right towards Nix. The girls's eyes widened as she watched, jumping out of the way and barely missing the large flames that came at her.
She landed on her side when hitting the ground, trying to catch her breath. "Man! That was most definitely a close one!" She looked back to Leopold and frowned. "Guess that little move of mine wasn't enough, huh. Need to keep trying harder if I want to win this!" She stood up and took a deep breath.
"Ice Magic: Ice Brigade!"
Nix raised her hands to the sky and started to form ice that shot itself right back at the fire magic girl. On the other side of the arena, Cinder tried to match the magic of her opponent with her own force.
"Fire Magic: Flames of Ash!"
Leopold looked at both of the determined girls, arms crossed and many thoughts running through his head. He couldn't understand why they were so set on proving themselves in this match, such amazing magical power coming from each of them. What was this exactly supposed to be?
"This is only an arena battle... Why are they both going so far to win this?" The idea was confusing for him. He never could have imagined himself being this set on something such as a simple tournament victory. "Odd."
The magic spells it one another and started a chain reaction that hit both girls and covered the grounds in mist. Leopold's eyes widened at the scene. "Did one of them get hit? Is the battle over?"
"Woah..." Leopold looked behind him and saw Lucas approaching him. Lucas was too watching the scene with starstruck eyes. "Man, your girlfriend is really going out on this, huh?"
Leopold tilted his head. "Girlfriend? I don't think I have one of those, Lucas..." He thought for a moment. "Is he talking about Nix? Why would be even think I was dating her?! True, I wouldn't mind..."
"Well she may not be your girlfriend yet, but I do know she definitely likes you..." Lucas replied to Leopold's statement.
"Do you know her? When did you even meet her?" Leopold asked in surprise.
Lucas laughed. "I met her just before our battle. She seemed pretty nice, although I'd give her a definite tsundere personality..."
Leopold was definitely confused now. "Is that how Lucas sees Nix? I never would have seen her as a tsundere... True, maybe that's why she's trying so hard out there..."
"Ooh!" Lucas exclaimed, poking Leopold's shoulder. "Look! The mist is clearing!" The mist cleared from the field and when it did both Nix and Cinder could be seen standing, bruised and battered!
Leopold's eyes widened. "They both look as if they could collapse any second!" He decided he would yell to both girls to get them to throw in the towel. "Please! Don't sacrifice yourself! Just give up now!"
Nix turned around at looked at Leopold. "Give up? I can't do that! I need to be strong for you, Leopold!"
Cinder also looked at Leopold. "Is he talking to me?! Does he want me to give up so that he wins our little scuffle?! I can't just give up when I've come so far!"
Both Nix and Cinder looked each other in the eye. "I will win this!" The girls charged at each other, sword in hand, and clashed.
"I have to win this!" Nix exclaimed.
"Well you're not the only one!" Cinder replied.
The girls jumped back from one another while Leopold watched in worry. "They could both go down at this rate! Why won't they just give up?!"
Lucas laughed. "It seems that both girls may like you..."
Leopold looked him. "What? There is no way in this world!" He looked at the girls and frowned. "There isn't anyway that girls as amazing as that would even care about me..."
Lucas suddenly turned around and walked the other way. "Well I have to go see Ivory before you two battle. See ya!" He put up his hand to wave and shortly disappeared down the dark halls.
Leopold looked back at the battle. "I don't know what Lucas is talking about, but..." He looked at how battered both Nix and Cinder were, blood coming out of sliced spots on the skin and stamina draining. "One thing is for sure. These two are such amazing people to be still fighting to their last breaths..."
"I-I have to win..." Nix wheezed.
"Y-You're speaking my language." Cinder agreed, breathing heavily.
The girls looked at each other in the eyes, narrowed them, and jumped back at one another yet again. "For Leopold and my own honor!"
"Times up!" The referee yet again spoke up before a calamity could start. The time limit had reached the thirty minutes and the match was over. "The match goes to Cinder Kushida as he took less damage."
Leopold closed his eyelids. "That's unfortunate for Nix. I could see the determination in that battle, so to lose on something like this..." Leopold saw as Nix dropped to the ground and started to cry.
"No..." she mumbled through blood and tears. "This... this isn't how it was supposed to go... how am I supposed to reach his level now? I'll never be good enough for Leopold..."
Leopold watched as she broke down. "I feel so bad for Nix... Maybe I should go and comfort her. She needs someone to talk to her." Before Leopold could walk out though, he watched as Cinder got up and walked to Nix's side.
"Hey." Cinder said looking down at the fallen girl. She bent down and did something that Leopold would have never expected. "You did very well, Miss Nix. That may have been the toughest battle I've ever fought."
Nix looked up at Cinder, tears falling down her face. "But I lost... There is no way that was tough... Your just trying to get me to feel better..."
Cinder nodded. "Trying to get you to feel better yes, but it was a tough fight." She smiled. "Just because you lost doesn't mean that you're weak."
Leopold watched, eyes widening. "Those are the same words that I told Ceil! Is Cinder trying to repay be for helping her friend?"
Cinder helped stand up Nix and walk her over to Leopold. "She needs some comforting from you, idiot."
Leopold grabbed Nix and smiled. "This once I'll agree with you." He look Nix and looked her in the eyes. "You did a good job, Nix. Now you just need to rest."
"B-But I didn't win..." Nix mumbled.
Leopold shook his head. "Maybe not, but I don't know why you thought you needed to win. That battle was something else and impressed me." He smiled. "It's not like you needed to win the whole tournament. Even I don't think I could do that with an army behind me..."
Nix's eyes sparkled. "Okay..."
Leopold looked back at the arena grounds. "Well I guess it's my turn... Wish me luck!" He set Nix down and ran onto the battle grounds. "Let's get this show on the road!"