Caught In The Act

Of course having lost to his rival Lesley had a rather downcast look on his face and a slight anger hidden in the depths of his light brown eyes. Olivia on the other hand was rather chipper as she practically skipped over to where the others were seated. She seemed excited to see what Jien and the others thought of her skills, at least until she noticed that Jien didn't seem to be paying attention at all.

The truth of the matter was that Jien was paying at least some attention to the match, it was just that as she was looking at him he had returned to reading the book. The adults to the side didn't seem to notice that he had a book in his hand and wasn't focused on the events at hand. They called up the next pair as soon as Lesley had finished gathering his arrows, shoving them back into his quiver for later use. He had been lucky enough not to have any of them snap despite the power and speed put behind them.

Olivia chose to sit on one side of Jien as Lesley chose the other. Immediately Jien knew for sure that this arrangement was not going to end well. He promptly turned his attention back to the text in front of him in a vain attempt to make it clear to the two troublemakers that he wasn't going to join their bickering match. Meanwhile Bernard and Barret stepped forward, one calm and collected with his longsword hung at his hip and the other with a frosty gaze that could make the ice age feel like a summer breeze.

It was clear that Barret was not interested in pulling his punches. The young man had been trained from a young age to never show mercy to an opponent. Mercy was something that would come back to bite you. Their family were the hidden blade of the royals, anything but victory would not be tolerated, even in a match among children. Gloria Romero's gaze told the same story, there was the look of a viper coiled and ready to strike but the well practiced, genial, smile of noble lady on her lips.

The adults were used to this. After all this was how she had been since the time that they had met and trained together like the children here. Of course it was Jien's own mother that knocked that coldness out of her at the time, rather brutally in truth. Now it was time for them to see if her son would be able to claim leadership where she was not able to in the past.

Emily and Mark would remain the referees for this match as well before rotating out with two other adults. As such they waited for Bernard and Barret to reach their starting position, Bernard drawing his longsword and striking a rather heroic stance as if to prove his valor to those watching. Barret did not strike a stance, nor did he appear to draw his weapons, but his cloak had been shifted to ensure he was fully covered so it was hard to tell for sure.

Mark completed the countdown as per the usual and once his hand had dropped the match had begun. Unlike the previous match where they had waited to activate the special abilities of the items with the shapes of animals, this pair did not wait at all. The clasp on Barret's cloak seemed to soak into the fabric as if it had melted, revealing a second, plain iron clasp behind it to hold the cloak in place. As soon as the cat shaped clasp had faded Barret raised the hood of his cloak to cover his head, the shadow of the hood drowning his face, hiding it completely.

As soon as the hood was raised it seemed to become harder to focus on Barret. It was like one's vision would purposely be skewed away from looking at him regardless of how much effort one put in. Of course this pertained to usual eye sight, anyone who could use mana to enhance their eyes would be able to peer through this illusory veil. All of the adults seemed to have at least some level of skill in this way as their eyes seemed to light up ever so slightly. Jien followed the trend as he half focused on the match and half on the book in his hand as to have an excuse not to deal with the pair on either side of him.

The other children couldn't seem to keep track of Barret who walked swiftly but with an unusual level of silence toward his opponent. The very sound of his footsteps appeared to be muffled almost completely, a light sheathe of wind around his boots making sure that not even a footprint was left behind.

The horse on Bernard's breastplate seemed to glow a warm bronze light. Bernard however did not make a move, readying himself to dodge and strike at any moment. He couldn't seem to find his opponent but he remained concentrated on his surroundings to ensure that as soon as he caught wind of anything at all he could move and counter attack. Unfortunately it was not to be.

Jien watched as Barret made his way to his over to Bernard at an almost casual pace, as if moving too quickly would only be a detriment. It was when Barret reached the distance of five feet from Bernard that Jien knew the match was over and turned his attention fully back to his book.

Just like predicted Barret managed to carefully but casually slip within Bernard's guard, having hid his presence in several magical ways. He drew one of his daggers slowly and calmly as if not to alert his prey. He then ever so slowly raised the blade to Bernard's throat from the heir of the Bell family. Emily was quick to announce the victory before Bernard even realized there was cold steel a mere inch from his jugular.

As soon as the victory was announced Barret ended all of his concealment methods, almost seeming to have popped into existence from nowhere at all. Bernard was stunned as he looked down at Barret's black gloved hand withdrawing from before his throat. His shoulders slumped in defeat as he commended Barret on a well fought match, though it wasn't much of one. Barret nodded calmly before making his way back to his seat, followed by a slightly dejected Bernard.

The third match was over and it was time for different adults to take over as referee. Earl and Gloria took the role for this round being the only single parents of the collective. Meanwhile Mark and Emily made their way over to the children rather than the adults. As mentors it was their job to discuss the matches so far over with Jien, of course after his next match which had been chosen against Lesley.

As they made their way over to let him know that he was being asked to spar again they were left speechless by the fact that his attention was on a small book in his had despite the fact that he was now surrounded by those who would be his key connections at the academy.