Reginald bursts through the door to the locker room with a reddened face and a wide grin. He was met with congratulations from most of the guys in the locker room, with the exception being the Azurans, who were minding their business.

I decide to head into the crowd of people to try to get to him. Reginald spots me and immediately moves his way through the crowd in my direction.

"Oi, Raine! You said you'd give me a gift, right?" He walks over with a smile.

"I did say that, didn't I?" I reach into my coat pocket and pull out two books, "Here."

Reginald grabbed the two books and began flipping through the pages of the first one. He then picked up the other book and immediately put it back underneath the first one. He looked at me with a grin and gave me a thumbs-up.

Just what did I give him exactly?

Over the years, I have compiled a complete list of psychological tips and weaknesses that one can use to either exploit a person, or see straight through their facade. Well, to keep it short, it's a book on how to steal a person's heart.

I gave one of those books I made to Reginald, seeing as he's technically family, and all of my family needs to be decent at speaking to the opposite sex.

I had already slipped multiple books of the same kind into the rooms of the rest of the royal family while they weren't looking, so I really just have to begin spreading out to more distant families.

The other book I gave him was a copy of "How to Best Pleasure a Woman" because, don't think I didn't notice the body language going on during that fight. Reginald had just seduced a noble from an enemy kingdom.

The truth is Analisse hadn't been just some random noble from an enemy kingdom. In the novel, Reginald and Analisse have a fated love, it being described as 'love at first sight' for the two. Their relationship was crucial when nearing the end of the Knightford and Azure war arc.

I walk back over in front of the crystal screen.

I stared up at the large screen displaying the next names that were battling, Sylvia Goldenwind vs Nicholas Azure. I turned my head toward the other orange haired boy. He looks nervous, but he gulps down his anxiety and prepares himself to leave the room.

"Hey, Nicholas was it?" I call out to him.

"W-what is it now?" He exclaims while turning back toward me.

I walk over to him and stare directly into his eyes. He has a fearful glint in his eyes, obviously due to his upcoming battle with Sylvia, who had already proven her superior strength.

I wave my hand over him and cast a special healing spell.

"It's a spell to relieve anxiety," I stated calmly, "anxiety is very common for me, so I developed a spell to help with it."

"Eh? Why wou-" I cut him off with my hand.

"Just get in there and fight freely. I don't want any bad blood between us at the start of this year, so let's just start clean."

I extend my hand outward for a handshake. At first, he's hesitant to grab it, but eventually, he reaches out and shakes my hand.

He looks away, embarrassed, and lets go after a bit. He exits the locker room in a hurry, slamming the door on his way out.

I rub my forehead as I walk back to sit next to Aaron.

"Why did you do that?" Aaron looks over at me with a confused expression.

I sit down next to him and sigh at his question, "You may not understand this, but everyone has circumstances that lead to who they are."

I turn to him and give him my full attention, "You should never be quick to judge a person based on their initial appearance. Just like how you go through things, the same happens for others as well, no one's exclusive."

I turn back and relax my body as I face the crystal screen. Aaron still looks like he's thinking about what I had just told him, which is good. I hate people who are quick to judge another person.

As an avid reader, I know best not to judge a book on its cover. However, I know it not just as a reader, but as someone who knows what it's like to see the other side of a bully's life.

I adjust my posture as the image of Nicholas stepping up into the arena appears on screen. He had been wearing a long white coat and a blank white helmet that covered his entire head.

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He was holding an incredibly long white sword in his right hand as he walked forward. He began glowing white as he got into position and readied himself.

On the other side of the screen, Sylvia elegantly walks into the arena holding her lengthy black wand. She was wearing a tight white bodysuit that covered her entire body with a short white jacket that acted as a top and white boots. Each step she took created an icy footprint as she took her position and readied herself.

Sylvia's mouth was moving as if she were speaking to Nicholas, but the screen didn't manage to pick up their conversation. She seemed to have been talking about something important because her facial features were serious.

They finish speaking when the sound of the bell rings out through the arena.

Sylvia raised her wand into the air and a rind of gigantic ice swords formed her rotating around her waist. She extended her right arm and her wand began forming ice and eventually became a long ice rapier.

She flings herself forward with incredible speeds that could even rival Reginald's. A trail of ice could be seen as she flew forward.

Nicholas did nothing except continue standing in his starting position, waiting for her. She made it to Nicholas's position in an instant and thrusted her rapier at him with blinding speed.

Her rapier was met with a deflection followed by a sidestep into a counterattack. Nicholas swung his massive sword downward but was blocked by one of the rotating ice swords. Sylvia reached out her left hand to grab another ice sword and slashed at Nicholas with great swiftness, cutting his flesh.

Nicholas backed up immediately and felt his fresh wound. The warm blood that had been spilled was becoming chilly. The gash was becoming colder as frost spread throughout where he had been cut.

He looked up and cast a white flame spell that came from his left hand. He proceeded to press his hand against his chest, successfully removing the frost, but also burning his skin and armor in the process.

Nicholas waved the flames off of his left hand and cracked his neck as he flew forward toward Sylvia. He went for a soft right upward slash at Sylvia, which she blocked effortlessly. However, this was a trap, as he twisted his sword and went upward, drawing away her blade from her chest.

He moved in for a kick to her open chest, but an ice sword came and blocked his strike. He kicked off the sword into the air and she sent multiple swords flying after him.

Nicholas slashed the first sword away with his own. He weaved out of the way of the next one and hopped off of the third sword, sending multiple white fireballs toward Sylvia. Sylvia elegantly dodged three of the fireballs and cut the rest in half. She raised her rapier and around eight more ice longswords formed behind her.

She waved her sword and each ice sword began attaching to the other and compressing into a larger, double-bladed sword. Sylvia then sent the newly formed ice sword spinning at Nicholas.

Nicholas attempted to block the oncoming projectile by slashing downward at it with his sword.

His sword met the spinning blade and both blades were immediately sent back by the sheer force of each other's strike.

While Nicholas's guard was down, Sylvia took advantage of the opportunity and rushed up to him. Nicholas couldn't get his guard up in time and was pierced in the chest by Sylvia's ice-cold rapier. The sword dug deep into his chest, causing frost to begin freezing more of his chest.

Nicholas reached down and grabbed the rapier out of his chest with his hand and pulled it away from Sylvia with his bare strength. He tossed the sword away and planted his feet on the ground as he slashed at Sylvia from the side.

However, his strikes had gotten weaker as a result of Sylvia's sword causing constant frost build up within him. His strikes that used to be able to contend with Sylvia's were no longer even close to her level. She easily dodged the strike and grabbed the blade with her gloved hands. She yanked the sword away from Nicholas and tossed it away as well.

They both proceeded to engage in hand-to-hand combat, getting into their stances.

Nicholas led with a strengthened right hand into a left hook, which Sylvia had no trouble dodging. He didn't give up, adding a push kick into a back kick.

Sylvia dodged the push kick and grabbed onto Nicholas's leg and swept his planted foot. The weakened Nicholas fell to the ground but quickly got back up with a backward somersault.

He lept at Sylvia with his full force, flipping into a butterfly kick with his right leg. Sylvia dodged once more and Nicholas spun around with a back kick into a question mark kick. Sylvia had no trouble dodging each kick from Nicholas, who was losing more and more energy as the fight went on.

Finally, Nicholas could no longer keep up his fighting, as his body had become mostly frozen. The frost had completely set in his body from the stabbed by Sylvia, and his body could no longer move.

He fell to his knees and looked up at Sylvia, who was coldly staring down at him. He looked downward, accepting his fate, and Sylvia waved her hand as the ice on Nicholas completely dissipated. His vest had been completely destroyed in the battle, so the battle had ended announcing the victor of the battle.

White light enveloped the two combatants and Sylvia began walking back to the girl's locker room. She extended her hand, and her rapier reverted back to a black wand and flew toward her. She caught it and tucked it into her jacket pocket while walking down the steps of the arena platform.

Nicholas got up and brushed the dust that had accumulated on his coat, all of the blood had already dropped off and disappeared. He walked off the arena, grabbing his sword in disappointment as he jumped down and started back to the lockers.

I turned away from the screen, satisfied with the spectacle I had just witnessed. I looked around at the other students who had been watching.

There was a mixture of emotions that included excitement, disappointment, and extreme displeasure. The ones that were extremely displeased were mainly the Azure nobility, who must not have liked watching their prince lose to our kingdom's Lady Sylvia.

While I was inwardly rooting for my Sylvia to win, I wanted Nicholas to at least be able to put up a good fight.

"She's pretty strong," Aaron stated from beside me, "not at my level, but she's definitely the peak of the rest of our kingdom's students."

"You know," I looked over to him, mildly irritated at his words, "I'm right here."

"I know," He nodded and smiled, "but I still don't know your strength, so as far as I'm concerned, you're weaker than me."

This asshole! I hope I get to fight him, no, I really want to fight this bastard. However, I probably won't get a chance to fight him based on the order in which the fights have been going lately.

I looked over and Nathan had finally awoken, sitting up on the bench and rubbing his eyes while looking around the room. He stood up and walked over to where Aaron and I had been standing, in front of the large crystal screen.

"So," He said while rubbing his eyes, "what'd I miss?"

"Nothing much," I replied, "Sylvia has just won her fight."

"Oh," he sighed, "well, do you know who's up next?"

Just as he asked that the door to the locker room opened to reveal a helmetless Nicholas in a long white coat. He had been holding his white helmet in his right hand and his longsword had shortened and been placed in a sheath on his back. He walked through the door and over to my position. He looked up at me with a complicated expression.

"That woman," He gripped my coat's collar and stared directly into my eye, "you better keep her close."

He let go of my collar and walked away to his group of friends, leaving me speechless on the encounter.

Just what exactly happened down there that I didn't know about? That interaction made me wish that I had done more practice lip reading.

I looked back up at the screen that had announced the next fighters, Allison Bernard vs Lyra Bridgett. It was finally time to watch Lyra on the big screen, so I directed my full attention to the crystal screen. Aaron noticed my immediate shift in attention and turned his head to watch what I was so interested in.

The image of a girl with short black hair came into view. She was wearing a tight black bodysuit with a long-sleeve jacket and a utility vest on top of her arena vest.

Her vest was filled with various different small items that were all smaller than a box of cigarettes. She had a pair of long black combat boots with a pair of black gloves. She was walking toward her position while carrying her sniper rifle in both hands, smiling the whole time.

On the other side, a girl with shoulder-length brown hair and glasses came into view. She was wearing a white lab coat and a pair of long black pants. She was clearly not very well equipped for combat, and she gave off a cold and distant feeling. She was carrying a long metal pole in hand as she walked over to her position.

"That girl," Aaron said, "the one with black hair, she is also different."

"How so?" I asked.

The two combatants took their position and the bell rang out, signaling the start of the fight.

The brunette lifted her long pipe, but, not even a second after the bell rang, a loud explosion was heard as her head exploded. Blood squirted everywhere as the decapitated corpse of the brunette had fallen motionlessly to the ground.

Moments later, her body was enveloped in a white light and the damage was completely reversed, leaving her in an unconscious state.

"Her aura, it's one unlike any I've seen before," He spoke once again as the victor was announced, "she is one of the strongest other candidates this year."