“Eh? Why didn’t you let me go first?” Leo asked Eve, as she was well aware how much he wanted to get on the stage.
“Patience, Leo. It wouldn’t be fair to the others if you acquire all of the spotlight.” Eve smiled.
Leo didn’t say anything else and proceeded to watch the match.
Cora Shannon was one of the best knights in the Four Witches Academy alongside the old Leo and Julian Shaw, who was the other participant.
Her performance was magnificent, and she managed to defeat her opponent within minutes. However, most of the people in the audience weren’t paying attention to her.
Instead, their gaze was on the handsome young man standing outside the stage.
“Hey… Isn’t that Leo Magnus? That bastard who consumed the priceless treasure Fruit of Magic Awakening.”
“You’re right! So he has the courage to show up before so many people after what happened, huh?”
“Do you think he will be participating in the Knight Tournament or the Magic Tournament this year? They only have 9 people, unless one of them is hiding somewhere for some reason.”
“He’ll definitely participate in the Knight Tournament. How long has it been since he started using magic? A month? There’s no way he can compete against the other students with that little experience.”
“Damn! Look at his stupid face! I am getting angry just looking at him!”
“I still can’t believe that he’d consumed the Fruit of Magic Awakening. What a waste. He should’ve stayed as a swordsman for the rest of his life. Why even bother learning magic now? He’s a decade behind everyone else. I really don’t see the point.”
“Bastard has zero consideration for the rest of us. If only he’d given the Fruit of Magic Awakening to the researchers.”
“Right? What a selfish prick.”
Many people within the audience cursed Leo out loud, a stark contrast from the last time he participated in the tournament, where the majority of the audience were cheering for him.
“Wow, I think I just heard someone booing at you.” Lilith suddenly laughed at him.
“How do you know that they were booing at me? I’m not even on the stage yet.” Leo calmly said.
“I just know.” She continued chuckling.
“Whatever.” Leo proceeded to ignore her and the crowd, solely focusing on the match.
‘Her movements are swift and decisive. However, she is making too many unnecessary movements.’ He subconsciously assessed Cora’s movements.
After winning the first match, Cora decided to stay for the second.
A few minutes later, Cora defeated her second opponent as well.
In the end, Cora stayed for all 3 matches, defeating all knights from the opposing team in less than 15 minutes all by herself.
“Good job, Cora.” Julian said to her when she returned.
“Thank you.”
Cora turned to look at Leo, who was staring at her.
“If you have something to say, say it.” She said to him in an unfriendly manner for some reason.
“Well…”
After a moment of silence, Leo proceeded to give her a ‘lecture’ regarding her match, telling her about her useless movements.
This dumbfounded Cora, who wasn’t aware of it.
“Of course, this is just what I noticed. You don’t need to listen to me if you don’t want to.” Leo ended his sentence with that and a smile on his face.
“…Thank you…” Cora mumbled in a low voice before turning around and ignoring him.
Sometime later, the Magic Tournament began.
“Headmistress, I would like you to send Leo out.”
One of the participants suddenly said, and to Eve’s surprise, it was Helia who had just made that request.
“Why?” Eve asked.
“I want to see what he’s capable of and if he’s truly qualified to stand on the same stage as us,” she calmly said with a stern-looking face.
Helia didn’t intend to look down on Leo. She genuinely wanted to know if Leo was qualified to participate in the Magic Tournament.
Eve turned to look at Leo and asked, “What do you think?”
“I will go up.” Leo nodded with a serious look on his face.
Eve sighed, “Alright, you can fight. However, you will only fight one round, and you can only use your Tier 2 spell, Flame Blast.”
“I understand.” Leo nodded before calmly approaching the stage.
“What?! Isn’t that Leo?! Why is he approaching the stage?! I thought he’s participating in the Knight Tournament!”
The audience were greatly shocked when they saw Leo entering the stage. Pretty much everybody in the audience had expected Leo to be participating in the Knight Tournament since he didn’t have the experience to fight with magic just yet.
“Holy shit! The Four Witches Academy has gone mad! They actually let this loser who just started learning magic on the stage?!”
“Hahaha! They must be desperate or something! This is hilarious!”
The entire stadium was in an uproar.
pᴀɴᴅᴀ-ɴ0ᴠᴇʟ Leo ignored the laughter coming from all directions and said to his opponent, “Leo Magnus, nice to meet you.”
‘Leo Magnus? So he’s the one who consumed the Fruit of Magic Awakening…’ Thalia stared at Leo from above with a look of interest, her thoughts unknown.
“Hmph.” The student from the Fly Leviathan Academy coldly snorted.
“Aren’t you going to introduce yourself?” Leo asked.
“You’re not worthy. Making me fight a novice who just started learning magic… Are you bastards mocking me?” The student said in a cold voice.
“Whether we are mocking you or not… Why don’t you find out?”
“I will finish this in less than a minute!” The student then raised his wooden wand supported by the tournament and pointed it at Leo.
A Tier 4 magic circle appeared a moment later.
Leo yawned and asked, “Are you done yet? What’s taking you so long to cast? It’s just a Tier 4 magic spell.”
The student ignored Leo’s provocation and continued to cast his spell.
The very next second, right as the student was prepared to unleash his magic spell, Leo raised his arm and pointed his palm at the student—
BOOM!
Without showing any magic circle and before one could even blink, Leo unleashed a powerful Flame Blast that covered half of the stage, immediately sending his opponent flying off the stage like a broken ragdoll.
