Chapter 172 Fighting the Scarlet Academy
'Leo… He's definitely Leon!' Lia came to this conclusion when the tingling sensation in her body reached its peak, feeling as though Leo was using mana drain on her from afar.
"She's definitely onto you, Leo. Look at the way she's staring at you." Lilith chuckled.
Leo merely sighed at her words.
Sometime later, the tournament began, and Cora went up to the stage first.
During the whole fight, Lia completely ignored the match, and she kept her eyes fixated on Leo, almost as though she was afraid that he'd disappear from her sight if she looked away.
As for Leo, he tried his best to avoid eye contact with Lia by focusing on the match.
Cora and her opponent were evenly matched in terms of technique and skills, but Cora's opponent was a little faster in terms of speed.
Several minutes later, Cora was defeated. However, her opponent was exhausted from the fight.
Julian replaced Cora and defeated her opponent, who remained on the stage to weaken him, but it didn't really work out that well.
After defeating her, Julian went on to defeat his next opponent.
The Four Witches Academy was taking the lead with only a single defeat for the Knight Tournament, but that would not last long, as Julian was defeated by the last fighter in the Scarlet Academy.
Leo consumed a Mana Suppressing Pill before approaching the stage a moment later.
"Leo Magnus."
"Zen Everbleed."
The buzzer resounded, and Leo immediately prepared to confront his opponent, but something very unexpected happened.
"Surrender!" A clear voice suddenly resounded, halting both Leo and Zen.
They turned to look at Lia, who had just spoken just now.
"E-Excuse me?" Zen spoke in a nervous voice.
She glared at Zen and repeated, "Surrender yourself. I will not repeat myself."
Lia's words sent shockwaves through the stadium.
"What?! Did she just tell her own teammate to surrender?!"
"Why would she do that?"
"How overbearing!"
"L-Lia… Why are you telling your own teammate to surrender? You should be threatening our enemy, not our allies!" Her uncle asked her with a bittersweet smile on his face.
"So I can fight Leo faster, and I don't want to fight him while he's weakened." Lia gave her reasoning, which was quite simple yet ridiculous at the same time.
"Uhhh…" The Headmaster had a perplexed look on his face, but he didn't want to upset her.
He eventually gave up and turned to look at Zen Everbleed before nodding his head with a solemn expression on his face, his intentions clear.
Seeing this, Zen sighed out loud, "I surrender."
The audience went into another commotion.
"Hey, hey, hey! Is this even allowed?!"
"I don't think there are any rules that state one cannot tell their own teammates to surrender…"
Meanwhile, Thalia spoke through her microphone, "What an unexpected turn of events! Who could've expected that Zen Everbleed would be forced to surrender by his own teammate! Truly an unprecedented event!"
And before Zen could even walk off the stage, Lia jumped onto the stage, standing right in front of Leo with a nonchalant look on her face.
"I appreciate your effort, but I don't like being looked down on." Leo said to her in a calm voice.
"I am not looking down on you. I wanted to have a fair fight with you." Lia said.
"A fair fight, huh?"
"..."
After a moment of silence, Lia spoke, "You're not afraid of me?"
"Of course not. Why would I be scared of you?"
Lia took a few more steps forward until she was standing literally in front of Leo.
Her eyes glared into his, and she spoke in a low voice that could only be heard by the two of them, "You're Leon, aren't you?"
Leo's eyebrows twitched upon hearing her words, and he immediately distanced himself from her.
"You have the wrong person." He said in a calm voice.
"You're lying."
"I—"
The buzzer resounded, signaling the beginning of the match. However, neither Lia or Leo moved from their spot.
"Why would I lie to you? This is my first time speaking with you." Leo said a moment later.
"You cannot deceive my eyes. I don't know why you're hiding your identity, but it's not going to work on me."
"Like I'd already said, you have the wrong person. And what makes you think I am this person that you're speaking about? How ridiculous."
"..."
After a moment of silence, Lia spoke, "Why don't we play a little game, Leo."
"What are you talking about? We're in the middle of a tournament."
"The rules are simple. If you can defeat me, I will stop questioning your identity. However, if I win, you will tell me everything and become mine."
Leo scoffed, "This game doesn't seem very fair. If I lose, I will become yours. However, if I win, you will only stop bothering me. How is that fair even in the slightest?"
"..." Lia couldn't refute his words, as it did seem unfair to him, who was taking far more risks than she was.
"I understand. Then how about this? If I win, you will become mine. However, if I lose, I will become yours." Lia suggested.
Leo was utterly speechless. Even if he won, he couldn't possibly make the treasure of the Scarlet Family 'his', as her family would immediately hunt him down.
"Ummm… Are you two going to fight anytime soon?" Thalia suddenly asked them, as it has been several minutes since the fight started.
"Sorry! We will begin the fight now!" Leo apologized to her.
He then turned to look at Lia and said, "Alright, I will play your little game."
Naturally, he wasn't going to make her 'his' even if he won.
Leo and Lia distanced themselves from each other.
"Are you ready?" He asked her.
"Whenever you are."
"Then let's go!"
Both Leo and Lia's aura suddenly exploded, causing a powerful mana disturbance in the stadium.
The following moment, both of them released their magic spell.
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AN: The bonus chapters will be released after the mass release. There will be 15 chapters over the next two days.