Inside a room in the male dorm building, a boy was seated on his bed, staring at a mass of black smoke that was swirling around him.
"Ah, it's so sad that you can't speak, Nightmare Shadow," Leon sighed.
Though, as a Shadow Lord, he was able to understand what the Nightmare Shadow was trying to say, but it wouldn't be as amazing as talking.
"You can only speak when you've possessed someone's body," Leon muttered more to himself than the Nightmare Shadow.
His mind drifted back to that day when they fought Alex.
When the battle ended, the Nightmare Shadow left Ken's body. Apparently, Ken didn't remember anything or how he got outside.
According to him, the last thing he remembered was entering his bed to sleep. And he didn't know what happened after that.
"Hehe," Leon chuckled. "I don't want to sound evil, but this effect will be helpful if we ever need you to possess someone again."
The Nightmare Shadow stopped in front of Leon and began swirling rapidly as if it was telling Leon something.
"Oh, I guess that sounded evil..."
"Well, time to practice."
With that, Leon closed his eyes. He was also eager to grow stronger.
Arin's eyes opened as he felt a sharp pain in his head.
He was already familiar with the pain, so it didn't hurt as much, still, a slight frown formed on his face.
Just to confirm, he stood up and walked toward the mirror in the room, and just like he thought, the Blood Armour had already formed on part of his head and face.
The Blood Armour covered his chin up to his mouth, but it was yet to cover from his nose to his eyes and forehead.
'I guess I'll be able to fully master the Blood Armour Skill tonight,' Arin thought as he looked outside through the window, the rays of the sun peeking through.
"Greetings, Master," Roxanne said, lowering her head.
Arin nodded his head in response as usual as the Blood Armour disappeared. Since he was yet to fully master the Skill, he couldn't activate it. Instead, immediately after he stopped hardening his Blood Energy, the Blood Armour would disappear on its own just like it did now.
'Once I fully master it tonight, I'll be able to activate and deactivate it at will.'
Arin freshened up and exited the bathroom before summoning Seraphine outside. She appeared in the middle of the room with a grin.
"You know the drill," Arin said as he picked Roxa~ahem~the bracelet from the floor.
"Practice in peace, and refrain from making noise," Arin said. "I hope that's clear."
Seraphine nodded. "I understand."
Arin didn't even wait for her to reply before he exited the room.
'It's no use,' he thought, realizing that he was easily getting irritated for just no reason.
Maybe it was the stress or the constant thoughts, but it wasn't like Seraphine or Roxanne were responsible, so there was no need to get irritated or transfer his stress to them.
He reassured himself and made sure to remember that Seraphine had been supporting him ever since she became his subordinate, so giving her unnecessary attitude was no use.
Arin finally exited the dorm building and found his way to the Main Academy building before entering his classroom.
The class went on smoothly as usual, and they all went to the training space for the second round of the competition.
The competition started, and Arin watched the fights that took place one by one. There was really nothing exceptional he could copy from the fights, but at least, watching them was calming.
The shortest fight was Tessa versus another girl. The girl barely had time to react to Tessa's strikes and could barely keep up with her speed.
Tessa was constantly absorbing the sound of their strikes and even the sound of the students cheering, so her speed was insane.
The fight ended in just the first minute, and Tessa had successfully qualified for the third round.
'From the seriousness on her face, it seems like she's planning on taking part in the tournament,' Arin thought. 'If that's the case, then a spot is already guaranteed for her.'
Well, he also wasn't planning on stopping her from participating. After all, the next part of his plan could be carried out by only himself.
'Hmm, I'll need to see him also,' Arin thought. 'Just the both of us will be fine. We'll be able to pull it off.'
This was the real reason why he wanted to take a spot among the four students who would represent the Academy. He had just been lying when he told Riya that he was just doing it.
"If I'm able to secure a spot, I'll have access to that. If I remember correctly, he must have gotten it by now."
Arin looked around and didn't see Alex anywhere. 'Yeah, I'm right. He might be collecting it as I'm having this thought.'
All he needed to do now was just to secure a spot.
'I would've told Riya what I was planning, but...' Arin thought. 'It's not like I don't trust her... I just don't want to tell her every single thing about what I'm doing. At least, not yet...'
The competition ended for the day, and all the students began walking back to their rooms.
"I guess my fight will be tomorrow," Arin muttered to himself as he arrived in his room.
Immediately after freshening up, he chatted with Seraphine and Roxanne a bit.
They joked and laughed together. At least, Arin had now cleared the mood, unlike the former irritation he was feeling due to too many thoughts and being stressed out.
With that, it was now time to complete the Blood Armour Skill.
He sat down in a lotus position and closed his eyes.
'This Skill is powerful and will increase my overall strength,' Arin thought. 'Though, I know that I still need to get stronger, but at least, this is great progress.'
With that thought, he began.