"Finally, we are done with it." Barbara collapsed on the sofa in work clothes after finishing the cleaning.
"Aren't you hungry? Go upstairs and fresh up. I'll take you to a popular restaurant nearby." Azzy said while putting away the mop and the bucket. Although he said it with a straight face, inwardly he smiled.
For the past eight months, he would come to the house every month to make sure it's clean even in the absence of the family.
This is the first time he had cleaned along with a person. It didn't feel boring and rather fun.
He was actually pleased that he found another person that he can call family after his adopted family left him because of their personal issues.
Another reason he was happy is because of Barbara's answer. She doesn't even hesitate to choose her family over strength.
He didn't know whether she will change her mind in the future but for now, he decided to trust her.
A while later, both of them exited the mansion and left for the downtown where there are a number of restaurants and a few tourist attractions.
By the time they returned to the academy, it was already evening. He walked with her until they reached the female dormitory of the Elite division.
There, he saw a group of girls who were standing together outside of the dormitory, talking something.
"Oh! Miss Crescent..." A girl called out to her as soon as she spotted her. "Eh? Azrael?"
She was taken aback in surprise to see Azzy standing next to her.
As soon as his name was called out, a few girls turned their heads. Most of them were from Aclein Academy. Coincidentally, Claire and Iphi were also there.
While Iphi was just displeased upon the sight of him, Claire stared at Barbara with a frown on her face before she greeted him with a smile, "Hey, Azrael."
She didn't bother to greet Barbara.
Meanwhile, Azzy greeted back the senior with a plain nod while greeting Claire with Hello.
Zona didn't feel offended by this as she knew he was always like this. She then asked, "Do you two know each other?"
Azzy answered with another nod. On the other hand, Barbara widely smiled, "We knew each from childhood. Kinda grew up together."
"Oh! I never knew that you have a childhood friend, Azrael. Did you go on a date?" She asked Azzy, trying to tease him.
To her disappointment, Azzy ignored her and looked at Claire, "I apologize for not attending the practice session. I'm going to train at training grounds 1 before breakfast. You can join if you want."
"It's fine." She waved her hands, maintaining a forceful smile on her face. She was even more troubled after seeing that neither of them rejected that they went on a date.
"Alright." Azzy nodded to her and then looked at Barbara, "I'll take my leave then."
As Azzy turned around and about to walk away, Barbara suddenly stopped him and asked whether she can join him for training. Earlier, during their outing, he mentioned how he had access to train with the robots which aren't permitted to enter the Arcana world where Moon Academy was built.
So, she became curious about it, all of a sudden.
Zona responded, "Uh... Miss Crescent, training grounds 1 is inaccessible to outsiders. I'm afraid you can't step inside without..."
Before her words finished, Azzy interrupted, "sure. I'll take care of it."
"Eh? You can do that?" Zona was surprised by Azzy's confidence. On the other hand, Claire's face darkened while misunderstanding that Barbara's going to train with him alone.
Until now, aside from Gideon, only she sparred with Azzy who will only do nothing but defend or dodge.
But now, she felt like this new girl is stealing her place. As for why she was bothered by it, Claire still hasn't found the reason.
Saying goodbye to her, Azzy left for the dormitory. There, he didn't find Gideon in the room.
Azzy thought that this guy was with those foreign students from Maple Academy who were staying in the same dorm
Shrugging his shoulders, he left for the cafeteria after having a shower. Since he was a bit late for the dinner, not many people were left there.
He quietly ate his dinner without any disturbing him and then, walked towards the training grounds.
Even though he wasn't participating in the tournament, Azzy never stopped working on his control.
<strong>Meanwhile, at training grounds-2;</strong>
Dozens of boys stood on the sidelines, watching the battle between Kyle Ferlet from Maple Academy, Rufus Spindle of Moon Academy, and Leonard Light.
Kyle and Rufus currently teamed up together as they battled Leo.
After the incident with Azzy, as the representative of the academy, Leo went to them and apologized personally for his junior's mistake.
He then said that he's willing to compensate in exchange to forgive Azzy.
To his surprise, both of them asked to spar with him.
At first, when they found out that Leo accepted both of the challenges, they argued with each other on who will spar with him first.
However, Leo interrupted them, by telling both of them to come at him together while he will continue to restrict his strength to peak-rank-4.
Only did then they realized that this guy was even worse than Azzy. Leo directly wanted to humiliate them by showing their place.
And that's how both of them ended up as a team while fighting against Leo. No one thought it was unfair either, as one, he was the one that challenged them; two, Leo is the current reigning champion of their nation.
Even though both of them brought out their Arcana spirits, Leo, on the other hand, was simply fighting bare hands.
And still, everyone saw Leo has the upper hand. Unlike with the rank-6 robot, Leo displayed his might against these two fellow participants without even releasing a single soul skill.
After a while later, as both of their soul power is exhausted, both of them gave up and accepted defeat while Leo stood as the winner in the end. He wasn't even exhausted in the least.
Everyone was upset that they don't even get to see any of his skills much less the trump card.
Well, it was natural the outcome ended up this way as both of them are only peak-rank-4 while he is someone with peak-rank-6 strength despite being a peak-rank-4 beast.
His overall strength increased from the high-peak stage after he swallowed the original Leo and took his appearance.
So, he was unafraid of battling anyone below rank-7 as long as they aren't a robot or a person with perfect control.
"So, this is Northern Qudour's national champion who everyone is eyeing on, huh!" Vann mumbled to himself while watching the battle. "The league's going to be interesting."
***
<strong>The next day morning;</strong>
Azzy was waiting at the entrance of the training grounds at 5 in the morning.
He saw a girl coming towards his way. He thought it was Barbara. However, to his surprise, as she came near, he found out that it was Claire.
"Morning, Azrael." Claire greeted him with a smile.
"Didn't you say you won't come?" Azzy asked her. He wondered why she changed her decision. As for what he knows of her, Azzy knew that she's a stubborn type who always sticks with something once it was decided.
"Nothing, I just remembered that teacher Exea's warning to not train and take rest a day before the tournament. Thought I will finish my last practice, now."
Azzy nodded in understanding. He felt that she was right. "Okay."
Half an hour later, Barbara arrived there and was surprised to see this girl beside him. "Miss Lefeuvre..."
Claire simply nodded as a greeting.
Azzy took out his pass and scanned it to open the gate.
While they were walking together, Barbara skipped in excitement. The previous night, she asked the others about the robots.
One of the girls from the Elite division told her about how a robot with perfect control easily defeated the national champion. As she's also rank-5, she wondered whether she can tackle it.
"We are here." After walking for a while, they entered the building and continued to walk until they reached a metal door with a giant X carved on it.
Azzy scanned the access card and opened the door, revealing a white room.
They stepped inside of it.
While Barbara looked around curiously, Claire who was familiar with it went towards a corner and said, "as usual, I'm setting it to 2 times the gravity."
"Gravity?" Barbara was confused to hear it. She wondered where the promised robots are. Suddenly, she felt heavy. It appeared very familiar to her.
"Azrael, is this like the Violet pavilion steps at our clan?" She asked him in excitement.
Azzy stiffened all of a sudden.
"Our Clan? Aren't you an orphan, Azrael?" She asked, feeling confused.
This 𝓬ontent is taken from fre𝒆webnove(l).𝐜𝐨𝗺