Chapter Twelve: Realization

"Alright, that's enough."

That was the confirmation from Michael that Devon won the spar and, to be honest, none of them in that room including Emilia who was rooting for him the whole time was expecting him to come out on top.

They've seen the two take on each other countless number times and the times Devon had come out on top was nothing compared to the number of times Aurora beat him.

"I think you went a little too over your head this time," Devon said as he bent toward her offering his hand to help her up.

"Get away." She knocked away his hand before quickly getting up on her feet.

"That was expected."

"Good job, Devon I wasn't really expecting something like this from you this morning, maybe you are starting to improve," Michael said with his gaze on the two who were standing beside each other.

'Of course, you never miss the opportunity to talk about improvement.'

"As for you Aurora, you are a good fighter, better than Devon obviously but you shouldn't underestimate your opponent just because his or her strength doesn't compare to yours. Being a good fighter isn't all it takes to be strong, you have to be rational and thorough, learning about your opponent's tricks is all it takes to beat him, I believe you already grasped all that from what just happened now."

"Yes," Aurora replied before letting out a deep breath.

"How does it feel being the one to get lectured today?" Devon said with a smug look on his face.

"Doesn't feel nice for sure, but shut up, you're getting pounded in the next round, I'll make sure of it." She said before returning to sit beside Erina.

"Oh, dear."

Just thinking about how their last serious fight went sent shivers down his spine but this wasn't something he could easily escape.

"Hey, good job," Emilia said with a smile as soon as he returned to sit down beside her.

"Thanks, Emmy, it turns out you were the only one rooting for me," Devon said before turning his gaze to John and Alvis.

"You know you can't blame me, bro," John said before raising both of his hands.

"I wasn't really rooting for anyone but just like John said, you really can't blame him, you only got lucky, if there was a rematch here and now, you would lose and you know it." Alvis expressed.

"Um….I think John had a different reason for saying that, Alvis." Erina said.

"I'm aware of that, Erina, don't be so obvious." Alvis blurted.

"Oh, sorry."

"What about you Erina, who were you rooting for?" Devon asked after turning his gaze to her.

"Um….I like to take a neutral stance on these occasions, as long as nobody gets hurt, I'm fine." She replied.

"Hmph, of course." He said before turning his gaze away from her.

"Did I say anything wrong?"

"No." He said before shaking his head.

"Alright, everyone, it's time to move to the next stage," Michael announced. "Now, Alvis and John, pick up your weapons."

The two picked up their weapons, John had a long blade with a black hilt and as for Alvis, he had a silver polearm that was just about the same height as him.

The two were about to make their way to the stage when the door was suddenly pushed open by Christina.

"Oh, hey, Mother," John said as soon as he spotted her.

"Hi, John." She said as she made her way to Michael.

It looked like she had something pretty urgent to tell him about.

The two moved to the corner of the room where the kids wouldn't hear them.

Obviously, all of them had their eyes on the area apart from Alvis who was busy spinning his polearm skillfully.

It didn't take long for Christina and Michael to finish discussing whatever they were discussing, and as soon as they turned their gaze to the kids, it looked like they were never looking in their direction.

Michael waited for Christina to leave before he said what he wanted to say.

"Alright, everyone, it looks like we'll have to cut off our training here for today, but you can continue training if you wish to, that's…"

"What came up?" Devon asked before Michael could even finish what he was saying.

"It's not something you're supposed to know, Devon because it doesn't affect or benefit you in any way," Michael replied trying to sound as calm as possible.

Devon wanted to throw in another question there, but on second thought, he decided to shake it off.

"Alright, if there are no more questions, I'll be leaving now."

As soon as Michael left and shut the door, Devon quickly got up from where he was sitting and made his way to the door.

"You're leaving?" Erina said.

"Yeah, there's nothing here for me to do, so I might just take my leave."

After saying that, he quickly left the room and shut the door to avoid any more questions from anyone.

_______ _______

This morning was one of the most boring ones Devon had ever experienced.

He was expecting to get some kind of mission but nothing came and now that it was afternoon, there was still.

"Uhh…." He sighed in boredom as he made his way down the hallway until he got to the treatment room where Erina was.

She was the only one there and happened to be reading a book.

"Hey, Erina." He said before crashing down on the bed there.

"Oh, hey, what's the matter?" Erina asked after slowly bringing her book down.

"Nothing you need to worry about, I'm just bored." He replied before burying his head into the bed.

"Oh, I see, you haven't received any order to go rob someone today." She said before putting her book back in her face.

"Exactly, I mean, what is happening today?"

"Is that really the only thing you see as fun?" She asked.

"Um….not really." He replied. "I mean I would like to go have some pizza but going alone is always boring so it's not much of a difference."

"Pizza? You know that stuff's expensive."

"Yeah, but the taste is worth it," Devon said before quickly sitting up on the bed.

"And you have enough coins to get one now?"

"Of course, I have a couple of gold coins with me at the moment."

"A couple of gold coins? How do you even get all these coins?"

She was quite astonished.

"Shh…keep your voice down."

"I know you steal and all but the others do the same too and they never have a couple of gold coins lying around, are you sure you're not doing something that will get you into trouble later?"

"We do things that will get us into trouble if we get caught every day so I don't really understand your question."

"I mean if you're are….um…..Oh, just forget it." She said before putting her book down and turning it over. "Since you have the coins, why don't you ask any of the others to accompany you?"

"They're all busy or so they told me, and if only Emmy wasn't hurt, she wouldn't mind going with me."

"Oh, fine, I'll go with you." She rolled her eyes before closing her book.

"Really?"

"Yeah, if it makes you feel better."

"I wasn't really trying to persuade you but it's cool if you want to come along, it's very nice of you."

"You'll have to wait for a few minutes though, I have something I need to finish here."

"Sure, I'll be right here." He said before he laid back on the bed and turned away from her.

Erina made her way to one of the cabinets in the room, and as soon as she opened it to reveal a couple of bottles in there, she remembered something.

"Hey, Devon."

"Yeah."

"When you asked me if someone could use an ability without having an ability mark yesterday, was there a reason for that?" She asked before picking up one of the bottles which had a gray-like fluid inside it.

"Um, I don't understand," Devon replied.

"I mean did you guys see anything during your mission that made you ask me that question."

"You mean apart from the boar? No." He replied. "Why are you asking?"

"Um….I just found it strange that Emilia asked me that same question before you came in."

"She asked you that same question?"

His eyes opened in shock as he said that and before Erina knew it, he was sitting on the bed.

"I'm pretty sure that was just a coincidence, I think she just wants to know the possibility just like me." He said with his hand on the back of his head."

"Yeah, that's what I thought too but…"

She wasn't able to finish what she was saying because looking at the bed where she saw Devon last, he was no longer there.

"I didn't even hear him leave."

****

If you're enjoying the novel so far, then some power stones and a review would be nice.