After Leopold's fight with Ivory had been finished, the school had given all of the students some break time before the final couple of matches would begin. Leopold had decided to go ahead and grab some lunch while he was waiting to get back out there and keep on moving through the tournament.
Ceil and Leopold were yet again in the cafeteria as Ceil was bragging about another victory for Leopold. "And then you were like 'knife attack'! And then the thorns came at you, but you just shook them off like 'I got this'! And then you went 'BOOM' and won like yeah!"
Ceil explanation was... interesting to say the least.
The boy scratched the back of his head, embarrassed by her comments of the battle. "It wasn't as easy as it seemed, Ceil." Leopold shyly protested. He looked at her and thought about the rest of the tournament that was soon to come for him. "Anyways... do you know which battle is going on right now?"
Ceil nodded and gave him a list of the leftover fighters. Lilia and some Beastman named Damion Wolfshine had already won each of their respective fights, which meant that there were only two left for the current round. The last of those two fights would be between Leopold and his friend Zion, but the other...
Bracket A
Leopold Stratus vs Zion White
Winner fights Lilia Dragoness in final match
Bracket B
Cinder Kushida vs Breeze Kushida
Winner fights Damion Wolfshine in final match
Ceil wrote the two fights down on a piece of paper that she had with her. The girl quickly pointed to the fight between Cinder and Breeze, looking up at the Stratus boy. "These two are fighting right now and the winner will advance to take on Damion Wolfshine." She frowned, looking at the fight. "Unfortunately for Breeze, she isn't quite as strong as Cinder..."
Leopold nodded, agreeing with Ceil. "Where would you rank Breeze in terms of power between all your siblings?" He knew that the girl was powerful, but on what scale did that strength reach to?
Ceil put her hand on her chin and thought for a moment. "Hmm... I'd probably say she's actually the weakest of all of us siblings." Ceil smiled and listed off her "personal" rankings to Leopold. "Then there is Peter. Then Amy. Then Cinder. Then myself." She sat back against the cushions of their bench. "Lastly would be Lee who's the strongest... I'm still surprised he opted out of the last fight though."
Leopold raised an eyebrow. "I did see that someone named Leopold Kushida called forfeit in Zion's fight. Is that who you're talking about? And isn't he the guy you're trying to be as strong as?"
"Yeah, that's him..." Ceil admitted, She pushed her long silver behind her ears, seeming to blush a little. "None of me or my siblings have ever beaten him. At least, not any time recently."
That comment surprised Stratus just a bit. "Wow... That is scary." He thought back to all of the battles previously and sighed. "We'll we had better head to the arena then. My battle is coming up here shortly." He got up from his chair and put Ceil on his back. "Ceil, remind me why I have to carry you on my back?"
Ceil laughed. "Cuz it's fun!" She pointed to the direction of where the arena was and grinned like that of a little kid. "Now move, my noble steed!"
"Good grief..."
As the two students of Academy Five walked towards the arena, they started to hear the cheers of the crowds gathered to see the ongoing matches. Leopold thought to himself for a moment before they arrived, eyes narrowed.
"My battle is just on the horizon..." the boy observed, walking towards some open seats for spectators. "I never actually got to see Zion in any of his matches. I wonder what he's going to be like during our battle." The boy shrugged, not really too worried about the coming little details such as those.
Noticing the slight chance in Leopold's expression, Ceil tilted her head. "You worried, Leo?" She looked at him, hoping for a positive answer.
Leopold shook his head, setting her back down on her own two feet. "No, I'm just wondering how the rest of this is going to go..." He smiled, gently patting the girl on her head. "Let's just go see how your sister's battle is going. I can worry about my own problems when they arrive."
The two sat down on the seats as they began to observe the battle between Breeze and Cinder that seemed to still be ongoing. Looking down at the two girls, Leopold could see the sheer amount of determination in each of their eyes. He frowned, remembered something from before.
"This battle..." he breathed, crossing his arms. It reminds me of the one between Miss Nix and your sister..." Leopold looked at Leopold and frowned.
Ceil nodded, leaning over in her seat. "I was thinking that as well." She patiently watched the two, observing each one's respective moved. "Recently, Cinder and Breeze have been super determined to progress in this tournament..." There seemed to be something that was driving each of them.
"Have any idea why?" Leopold asked.
Ceil sighed, shaking her head in answer. "No... I'm afraid not." She started to pout, straightening back up. "Those two jerks will never tell me anything!"
"That's siblings for you." the male joked.
Ceil looked at him, listening to his remarks. "Leopold, do you have any siblings?" Her eyes seemed to sparkle as she waited for him to answer the question.
Leopold nodded his head. "I actually do. I had a sister a long time ago, cute and very promising child." A slight wave of sadness overtook the boy as he thought of his past life before becoming a noble. "However, she and the rest of my friends and family were killed when I was young. I was the only one who made it out."
Hearing that, Ceil started to feel sympathetic for the boy. She quickly hugged him, trying her best to comfort the boy. "That's awful, Leopold! I had no idea that you went through such a horrendous event!" It looked like real tears were falling from her eyes as she spoke.
Seeing this, Leopold patted her on the head, smiling once again. "Don't worry, Ceil. That was long ago..." He shrugged. "Besides, shortly after I was able to be adopted and now have another sister who I'm able to spend time with. And I'm sure that my biological sister is still watching down on me from up above."
"If your sure..."
Trying to change the subject, Leopold pointed back to the battle that was in front of him and the girl. "Hey, why don't we continue to watch your sisters battle each other! It's getting interesting now!" Even if she was being sweet, Leopold didn't really feel like having Ceil worry about him for so long. He would much rather enjoy the event with her and forget about all of the tragedy he once endured.
"It's my problem. She doesn't need to worry about me." he told himself.
From down on the battlefield, Breeze shot a blast of wind from her sword that dispersed the already burning flames of Cinder. She seemed fierce, unwavering even though she was up against none other than her own flesh and blood.
Ceil looked on with amazement, surprised by the turn of events. "Breeze sure has come along way... Even though she is the weakest of us siblings, she seems to be confident in her abilities."
Leopold looked at Ceil, tilting his head. "Have any of you ever beaten Cinder?" He thought back to some of the many comments that Ceil and others had made while he had known them. Just what kind of beast exactly was Breeze going up against here? What made Cinder seem to powerful to Ceil and the others?
Ceil nodded. "I've beaten Cinder once out of thirteen battles we've fought. My brother has defeated her somewhere around eleven or so times, but that's it..."
The book took a moment to process this new information. "That isn't good news. Someone like that... It's no wonder that Cinder is so famed for her strength." The boy narrowed his eyes, looking at the blues haired girl below. "Breeze must really but putting her everything into this match. Still... I doubt that will be enough to have a shot in defeating Cinder here today."
"And how do you figure that?" Ceil questioned
He shrugged, yawning. "Just what I've observed." He thought about both Breeze and Cinder, smiling. "I like Breeze better than Cinder due to her sweet personality. She cares a lot for people and draws others towards her."
"Weird thing to say now."
Narrowing his eyes, Leopold continued with his observation. "However, a sweet personality doesn't help in winning fights. History has shown that battle hungry people such as Cinder seem to have personality traits that give them a kind of 'motivational boost' in battle." He pointed at the two girls. "This battle will be over in exactly fourteen seconds."
The girl raised an eyebrow to this presumptive statement. "Only fourteen seconds left? Thats pretty specific." She didn't nag him about it though, instead choosing to watch and see what would happen.
Breeze shot another round of ice bullets at her older sister who countered the frozen water with a wall of fire, both spells being canceled out. After, Breeze tried to send what looked to cold air created by her magic at her sister in an attempt to possibly catch her off guard and gain an edge in the fight.
Cinder, watching Breeze's attempts, smiled. "You really have gotten better, Lily. Still... I'm afraid that it won't be good enough!" She quickly made another wall of fire that surrounded her, then began to spread all around towards the edge of the field.
The fire was much stronger, so strong that the people such as Leopold and Ceil who were watching started to sweat. Not only that, but the wind that Breeze had created started to grow the flames and make them much more powerful.
Eyes twitching, Breeze attempted to take a step back. "Crap..." She was hopeless now, soon engulfed in the massive flames and only moments later lying defeated on the ground.
I just fourteen seconds no less.
From the side of the arena, trying his best as well to avoid the flames, the referee waved his hand down. "The battle is over! Cinder Kushida is the winner!" The battle was officially done and, as Leopold had predicted, it had been finished in only a matter of fourteen meager seconds.
As everyone cheered for Cinder's overwhelming victory, Leopold watched Breeze rise to her feet in defeat. She seemed to dust herself off, cooling the injures she had received in the heated battle.
Leopold frowned as he watched. "This really does remind me of Nix's battle... And yet, there's something kind of nice about watching her." It looked as though Breeze wasn't in tears as everyone else had been when they lost their own matches. Actually, she seemed confident and happy standing there.
He watched as the girl then started to walk up to Cinder, smiling and waving her hands In congratulations. Everyone watched the scene along with Leopold.
"Good match, big sis." Breeze said to Cinder.
Breeze's sister laughed, patting the girl on the head when she came close enough. "You as well, Lily. You've certainly gotten stronger." She grinned. "I think that if you keep this up, you may even one day you'll reach my level." The two sisters laughed together, enjoying the time.
The sky blue haired girl laughed along with her. "Maybe I will..." They talked for a couple of moments, speaking on different topics while they stood down on that arena battlefield.
After a couple of moments, Cinder looked at Breeze and narrowed her eyes. "Still, I have to ask, just why were you fighting so hard? I've never known for my pacifist sister to be one to take fights this seriously. Even during play fights when we were younger you would always cower in fear at the idea of combat."
Putting her finger on her chin, Breeze seemed to think for a couple of moments. Suddenly, she seemed to turn her head and look over at Leopold. "Oh... just trying to impress someone is all." She started to grin again.
Following her gaze, Cinder saw Leopold sitting amongst the crowds. Her eyes quickly widened whd then she looked back at her sister. "Lily, why out of all the men in this world did you have to choose that one? I think someone as amazing as you could have done better than a dirt bag like that..."
Breeze's face went red. "Don't say that about him, Cinder! I like him and that's all that matters!" She started to pout, frustrated by her sister's harsh comments of the Class 1-D boy.
Cinder sighed. "Fine. If that's how you truly feel, then I'll let you be." She smiled. "Just know that if he ever does anything to you, I won't hesitate to make sure that he ends up six feet under the earth!"
Watching this conversation, Leopold felt a bone chilling feeling run down his spine. "Oh boy. Why do feel like my life may or may not be in danger? And I thought the stories of Carla's attitude towards me were bad enough." The boy put his hand on his head and let out a long sigh as he thought to himself.
"Brother..."