"... Heh, he's pretty interesting," Leroy, who was watching Claude from a distance, had a wide smirk across his face. "He's a pretty interesting fella, isn't he?" A voice entered his ears and he turned around in an instant. A beautiful girl and a tall and handsome man stood behind him, waving their hand at Leroy, who frowned in response.

"Too bad for you, you won't even get a chance to fight him," The beautiful girl, Eva Walker, said with a grin on her face. Leroy crossed his hands and asked with a frown, "And why on earth would he not end up fighting me?"

"Because, silly," Eva smiled as she pointed at the arena and said, "... You're fighting my brother."

"Next match! Leroy Wayne vs Ray Walker!" Elder Kenneth stood in the arena and announced the next match, and immediately, people began to whisper amongst one another, trying to predict the outcome of the match.

"If you think you'd be enough to defeat me, then clearly you're just dreaming!" Leroy stared at Eva and said with a serious expression. Eva scoffed in response and placed her hand on her brother's shoulder as she spoke. "Just because you won the match last time doesn't mean that you'll this time as well, Leroy. And don't you forget that last time, you only won on a close call. It was evenly matched right till the end!"

"That's right!" Leroy nodded his head as he let out a scoff aiming at Eva. "And? So what if it was a close match? What if it was evenly matched? In the end, even when we were evenly matched, I was the victor. And in a tournament, that's all that matters!"

He stepped forward and spread out his hands. "And I was the victor! Not your brother. But me. And no matter what you say to make yourself feel better, that's never going to change. Not now. Not ever."

"You really are an arrogant piece of sh*t aren't you?!" Eva yelled. Her teasing expression had completely disappeared right now, and in its place was an enraged expression. "I would really love to punch you in the face!"

"I'm right here," Leroy said with a look of disdain in his eyes as he scanned Eva. "Why don't you try it? I dare you. Who knows, maybe the result will be different from last time!"

"You-" Eva was about to yell back at Leroy, but before she could do so, a hand pressed onto her shoulder and pulled her back. "Calm down sister." It was her brother, Ray Walker. 

"But brother.." Eva turned to look at her brother with pleading eyes, and Ray shook his head. "You shouldn't be getting into fights with people right in front of an arena, sister. Especially since you were the one who initiated the fight in the first place!"

"That's-" Eva wanted to speak, but looking at her brother's expression, she shut her mouth and lowered her head. Leroy, who saw this, simply scoffed in disdain at Eva and said, "Hmph, listen to your master well, b*tch. At least he understands the situation better than you!"

"What did you say?!" Eva screamed in anger, but Ray's grip on his sister's shoulders tightened and she groaned in response, immediately feeling her legs go weak. "That's enough, sister." He said as he pulled her back, and she didn't move anymore.

"All bark and no bite!" Leroy murmured under his breath with a wide grin on his face. He then looked at Ray and said, "You trained her well, Ray. However, do consider keeping her on a leash next time. I feel like she might try and bite me."

"Do not talk about my sister in such a disgusting manner, Leroy!" Ray said with a grim face, and Leroy simply shrugged his shoulders in response. "You still consider that b*tch to be your sister? Even though her mother was part of that disgusting barbaric tribe? Isn't that touching!" Leroy smirked. 

"We'll meet each other in the arena, Leroy." Ray, who didn't wish to stay and listen to his bullsh*t turned around and waved his hands, pulling his sister along with him as he walked away. 

"Or maybe you just might be acting! That could very well be the case, now that I think about it!" Leroy screamed at Ray from the back, but Ray didn't stop and continued walking away, until he disappeared from the view.

"Damn it, he's really resistant, huh..." Leroy clicked his tongue, but he didn't look dissatisfied. In fact, it seemed as though he was quite happy with how he handled the situation.

'You might be strong, Ray Walker,' Leroy then turned around and looked at Claude, who was walking towards the infirmary, and smiled. 'But you're not worthy to be my rival.'

He said as he got ready to head for the arena. He had a match to get to.

--------------------

"Ouch!" Senior Beldon was lying on the bed, groaning as he tilted his head from one side to the other. It seemed as though his injuries from the fight weren't completely healed yet.

"I didn't know you were such a crybaby, senior," Claude said as he walked into the infirmary with a smile on his face, waving his hand at him.

"Don't disrespect your elders, you little sh*t!" Senior Beldon said with a bitter smile on his face as he got up from the bed with difficulty and faced Claude.

"Here!" Claude threw a small bottle in Senior Beldon's direction, and he caught it and looked at it. It was a revitalization medicine bottle. "It won't heal your injuries in an instant, but it will help to speed things up a bit."

Click!

"Thanks, junior brother!" Senior Beldon said as he opened the bottle and drank the medicine. The effects of the revitalization medicine wouldn't show in an instant, as it is a slow burning medicine, so he didn't have to sit still and channel his spiritual energy in order to successfully heal. 

"So, what happened to your matches while I was blacked out?" Senior Beldon asked once he finished drinking the medicine, and Claude shrugged his shoulders in response. "Well, I'm not the one who's lying in the infirmary right now. So what do you think?"

"You're going to make your senior cry with those hurtful words!" Senior Beldon faked crying and Claude rolled his eyes. 

"Oh! And what happened to Ian?" Senior Beldon seemed intrigued. "He got expelled for using a physical enhancer." Claude replied.

"Oh? How the hell did he get his hands on a physical enhancer? I thought those were extremely hard to find," Senior Beldon asked. Claude shrugged once again. "I have no clue. Maybe his family helped him out in secret?"

"Hm, that could be a possibility," Senior Beldon crossed his hands and thought to himself, but in the end, he couldn't come up with anything. He then decided to change the topic. "But how on earth did he get caught? As far as I know, it's extremely difficult to detect whether or not someone is using a physical enhancer. And adding that to the fact that it's extremely rare to get hold of, most cultivators wouldn't have even seen it being used in practice."

"It was the Headmaster who caught him." Claude answered, and Senior Beldon's eyes widened. "The Headmaster?" 

"Uh huh!" Claude nodded his head. "But what's strange is that I'm pretty sure he had already known about Ian using the physical enhancer. And yet he only revealed it after the fight was over."

"You're implying that he was the one who supplied Ian with the physical enhancer?" Senior Beldon furrowed his eyebrows in suspicion, and Claude shook his head. "No, no.. That doesn't make any sense. We currently do not have any grievances with each other. And he definitely doesn't have any gains from seeing me defeated." 

Claude didn't want to reveal the fact that he had previously met with the Headmaster and he had been tasked with winning the contest, so he kept quiet about that information.

"So the only other reason was to test you," Senior Beldon said and Claude nodded his head. "You're most probably right about that."

After all, that was the whole point of the contest. The whole sparring contest was a way for Claude to prove to the Headmaster and to the Grand Astral Faction that he was a worthy addition to their team. 

"But to not interfere even after my opponent had cheated.." Claude murmured under his breath. "You're not exactly making it easy to trust you, Headmaster."

Claude wasn't so sure before, but he was sure now, that no matter what happens, he and the Headmaster wouldn't be able to trust each other. 

It didn't matter if he proved himself by winning the sparring contest. They would both be cautious of one another. The Headmaster would be cautious of Claude, who helped him murder his previous master. And Claude would be cautious of the Headmaster, who organised a coup to overthrow the previous Headmaster.

But right now, the Headmaster held more power and had control over him. Claude knew that this had to change.

'I'll play this game to survive, Headmaster..' He said to himself. 'But don't make the mistake of trusting me, for it won't end well for you.'