Chapter 12: Cheating

'I am out of mana? But I only performed it twice. This move takes too much mana. I am out for the day. Shit.'

Karl looks up "Y-yes, I am fine. I think you broke my back when you smashed me into the ground earlier."

"O-oh. My apologizes. I think I went a little too far." Ken says in a concerned look.

'A little?'

"Anyways drop me to the infirmary."

 "Sure." Ken picks Karl up like a sack of potatoes.

"Ken? What are you doing?"

"I suggest you to keep your mouth shut."

"What-" Ken takes a step forward and Karl's vision blurs away. Ken travels several hundred meters in one step.

In 2 minutes, Ken drops Karl in front of infirmary. Karl quickly goes into a corner and vomits his breakfast out.

"Oh ho. This reminds me of my first training days." Karl looks at Ken while wiping his mouth.

"I thought you had a car or something?"

"But this is faster than car, isn't it?" Karl sighs internally at Ken's respond.

"Now that you here. I am leaving." Ken turns back to leave.

"Wait. This magic technique. Does it have a name?"

"Name? Everybody just calls it Levihano family's magic technique. As the only people use it belongs to Levihano family."

'Lame.'

"I understand."

"Then, I am leaving." With this Ken disappears quickly. Karl somehow stands up and enters the infirmary.

'So, I should name this. Lev. Lev. Levitating steps? Perfect.' Karl reaches at the reception and sees nobody.

Karl looks at his watch. 3:32 PM. The duel starts at 5 PM. He decides to wait. But even after 5 minutes nobody comes. 'I need to go home too. Where is that damn Doctor?'

Frustrated, Karl goes to find the doctor himself. He searched the entire first floor but doesn't see anyone. Then, he proceeds towards second floor.

Just as he reaches the second floor, he hears a feminine sound "AH!" Karl quickly hides behind a corner.

'What the hell? Who is getting so lovely dovely in the broad daylight?' Karl sneaks closer towards the sound. As he gets closer, he hears more intimate sounds. "T-THERE."

'This is where Andressa was admitted.'

There is a room with a huge glass window to look inside. Karl slightly peeks into the window. There he sees a lot of empty hospital beds. Karl looks around and he sees naked doctor with a naked black haired lady having intercourse on one of the beds. He couldn't see the woman's face.

Karl quickly looks away. Karl takes a deep breath and peeks again. This time he spots clothes; he sees the doctor's coat and a female school uniform with undergarments. Karl turns away.

'Miss Zena is getting cheated on.'

Again, a sharp pain is felt from Karl's chest. Karl clenches his jaw trying not to make sound. After few minutes the pain lessens. He somehow gets up and runs towards the reception.

Once at the reception Karl yells with all of his strength. "HELLO! IS SOMEONE HERE?" Karl waits for the doctor to come. After sometime the doctor shows up. Karl looks at doctor up and down.

'He must be used to this.'

"Oh! Hello, Leonard."

"Skip the introduction. I think I am out of mana and my back is broken."

"Great Horizon! How are you still walking?"

"With my legs?"

"No. No. Don't you feel pain?"

"Yeah. believe me, it hurts like hell." Doctor looks at Karl with a shocked expression.

"F-Follow me." The doctor brings Karl to a room with an empty hospital bed which has few shelves of medicines on the wall. There is a huge pot in the corner of the room. The whole room looks like a lab.

'He avoided the second floor.'

Karl lies down on the bed and the doctor begins his treatment. He casts a spell which brings a soothing feeling on Karl's back. It takes half an hour for the healing process to be completed.

"Leonard. You are young. You have a lot to do in the future. Please don't be too reckless."

"I try my best." Karl responds in a sarcastic way.

"Anyways, doctor. Am I the only patient here?"

"Currently, yes." Doctor answers with a poker face.

'Damn, he is hard to read.'

"Is that so? Actually, I heard few voices when I came here." Doctor's face twitches. "Are they common?"

"No. They are not. I think you misheard the voice."

"Probably. The voice I heard was a feminine voice. But the only person who works here is you. So, there shouldn't be any woman in the entire infirmary, right?" Drops of sweat appears on the doctor's forehead.

"Yes. There is no-one besides us here."

"Could be Miss Zena?" Karl asks in a joking voice. But doctor does not answer.

Seeing this Karl continues "Come on, I am joking. It's not like you are cheating Miss Zena with some other woman." Doctors laughs awkwardly.

"Anyways, Leonard. You should go now as you have a duel to fight." Karl glances at his watch.

4:28 PM.

"Yeah, I am going to be late. By the way, are you coming to watch my duel?"

"I would like to come but as the academy's only doctor, I can't take a day off. So, I am just going to sit here and make some potions while I wait for patients."

"Okay. May The Horizon See you." Karl farewells.

Just as Karl steps out of the infirmary he sees Zena. "Leonard! What are you doing here? Your duel starts in thirty minutes."

"I was just going to the arena but something happened and I came here."

"Oh, Take care of yourself."

"Sure."

"By the way did you see Martin in there?"

'So that's his name. Should I tell her?' Karl ponders at that question.

"Leonard. What are you thinking about? Did something happen?"

Karl smiles. "Nothing. Doctor Martin is on the second floor."

"Where Andressa was admitted?" Zena asks.

"Yeah." Karl then proceeds to walk away.

"Leonard." Karl glances back.

"Break a leg." Zena says with a thumbs up.

"Of course."

Karl then proceeds to run towards his dorm. On the way he gets a call from Ian and Andressa both asking him "Where are you?" Karl assures them of his location and finally reaches his dorm. He quickly runs up and opens the door of his room. He grabs a bottle of elixir from the table which he got from Ian. Karl opens the bottle and drinks it.

A burning sensation is felt all over Karl's body. With each breath Karl feels mana entering his body. The burning sensation continues to grow stronger.

'How long is this going to continue?'

After few minutes, overwhelmed by the sensation Karl falls on the floor. After few more minutes the burning sensation still there. Karl feels his vision failing.

In the arena.

"Is Leonard still not picking up?" Ian asks to Andressa.

"No, he isn't answering the call. Did something happen to him?" Andressa asks in concerned voice.

"I don't think so. Twenty minutes ago, when he picked the call, he seemed fine. Nothing could happen to him." Ian tries to comfort Andressa but in the back of his mind he is worried too.

Ian glances outside. It's a huge colosseum with roman-like architecture. The seats are packed with people. Their eyes are fixed on the platform which is located in the middle of the colosseum.

Ian is currently in the upper suite. It has sofas, a table and a lot of lavish decoration around. He got this suite because of his family background. On the way here, he ran into Andressa and invited her.

'Oh no.'

Ian spots a teacher walking towards the center of the platform.

"Both participants please appear on the platform." Crowd screams as the announcement happens.

On the other hand, Ian and Andressa's heart sinks in fear of Leonard not appearing.