The courtyard floor was already marked by the last few days of practice: footprints, cracks, broken branches.
But this time, the air itself seemed thicker.
Laden with an almost familiar tension.
Ruggero, arms crossed, watched Leo get into position.
"You know I'm Ruby Rank, right?"
"You know I once made you kiss a wall with one blow?" Leo replied, focused.
Ruggero burst out laughing.
"Touche. Now... show me what you've got, classless knight."
Leo took a breath.
He gathered his aura.
Not with a shout. Not with a rage.
With precision.
A black vibration snaked up his left arm and into his fist.
He charged forward.
— "Darkness Punch!"
The fist sliced through the air with impressive speed.
Ruggero lazily raised his arm to block.
Impact.
A sharp breath stirred up dust.
Ruggero smiled, his arm slightly pushed back.
— "Your focus is better. Less aura leakage."
Leo spun around, his aura immediately transferring to his leg.
— "Darkness Kick."
A circular blow flew toward Ruggero's hip. He stepped back fluidly, the blow grazing his clothes.
— "And you can transfer aura from one point to another. Not bad."
Leo grunted. He feinted with his right fist, but channeled the true aura into his left elbow, and went for a direct blow.
Ruggero blocked... but winced.
— "Oh? You even increased the density." You're beginning to understand the usefulness of torso rotation."
Leo stepped back, panting.
"I'm beginning... to feel the circuits. To feel the aura flowing."
"You're still pushing too hard with your muscles. Let the aura do the heavy lifting."
Ruggero charged forward this time.
With a swift palm strike, he struck Leo's shoulder, knocking him back two steps.
"Against a higher-ranked opponent, you have to strike where it counts, at the right time. If you charge too long, it's already too late."
"Then keep attacking me!" Leo shouted.
The two lunged at each other.
Each exchange became more precise.
Ruggero wasn't defending himself fully, but he was forcing Leo to react quickly, think quickly, and strike accurately.
A punch. A dodge. A counterattack. An aura transfer to the knee.
Leo parried, struck, stepped back, and threw again.
His body was on fire.
But he was learning.
And Ruggero, despite his mocking gaze, noted every movement.
He saw a fighter.
Not a kid.
Not a survivor.
A student.
And he smiled.
— "You want to surpass your father, eh?"
Leo, sweating, his fists still dark, replied:
— "I want to find him. But for that... I have to be able to face anything that stands in my way."
Ruggero nodded.
— "Then strike again. I'm not convinced yet."
And the training continued, without hatred. Without fear.
Just two wills. Two paths.
Which, for a moment... aligned.
The sun had set.
Training had stopped.
Leo, still sweating, sat against a tree trunk, holding a water bottle.
Facing him, Ruggero, crouched, arms resting on his knees, stared at him silently.
"Ruggero..."
The older man raised an eyebrow.
"You were there, weren't you? The day of the southern expedition? Against the S-rank abomination. Do you know exactly where that happened?"
Ruggero sighed, looking up at the sky for a moment.
Then he replied.
"Further south. On the edge of an ancient, forgotten village, near the ruins of Quiraz-Nahuatl. A territory that's since half collapsed."
Leo listened, intent.
"And you know... what the reports said?" »
Ruggero lowered his gaze a little, his voice deeper.
— "That your father, Rowan, died there. In the rockfall caused by the abomination's final attack. Even the earth mages couldn't recover his body. Buried too deep."
A heavy silence fell.
— "I'm sorry to tell you again like the others... but he's dead, Leo."
He paused.
— "And if that day, I hadn't prioritized the evacuation of civilians... maybe I could have been there for him. And saved him."
Leo remained motionless.
Then he shook his head.
— "He's not dead."
Ruggero frowned.
Leo took the watch out of his pocket and placed it in his palm.
— "It's linked to his aura." It's not an ordinary object. He gave it to me. He said that as long as the hands turn... he's alive."
Ruggero remained silent.
— "And the very day they announced his death... the watch started to glow."
Leo looked up at him.
— "I lost consciousness. And in a dream, or a vision, I don't know... he spoke to me. He told me he's alive. Unable to come back for now. That he was waiting for me. And that one day, I would have to go and find him."
His voice didn't tremble.
It carried.
— "So now that Mom's working, and knows how to defend herself... I can go. I don't need to be stuck here anymore."
He put the watch away.
— "I'm expecting my pay in three days. And I'll need a map. Of the village. Of the path." Everything."
Ruggero stared at him.
For a long time.
Then he saw.
That look.
The one he'd only seen once in his life.
— "...It's the same look," he murmured.
Leo looked up.
— "Which one?"
— "Rowan's. When he'd made up his mind. When nothing could stop him."
Ruggero smiled.
— "You didn't just inherit his fists. You also got his stubbornness."
He stood up, ran a hand through his hair.
— "You're lucky. I kept an old map of this area in my things. I'll give it to you."
Leo smiled, relieved.
But Ruggero raised a finger.
— "And I'll come with you."
— "Huh?" »
— "You may be independent now... but I refuse to have to go home alone and tell your mother that my beloved Niño died in a chasm to the south."
He shuddered.
— "You haven't seen how she hits with that body shield thing. I have. And I'd rather go toe-to-toe with a dragon than take one of her punches."
Leo burst out laughing.
— "Deal."
And above them, the stars seemed to align.
The sky was beginning to darken over Atokanayah.
In the Fang of the Moa tavern, the last orders were being processed, and Kragg, as usual, was counting the coins by lantern light.
Leo, standing in front of him, impatiently tapped the table.
"Come on, Kragg... You could give me a little extra for that, couldn't you? I've certainly increased your female clientele with my pretty red face."
He ran a hand through his hair with a mocking smile.
Kragg didn't even look up.
"All the extra Celis you generated, I'm going to invest in rebuilding the backyard your assailant turned into a battlefield."
Leo crossed his arms, pouting.
"That was some serious training..."
"It was a catastrophe."
Silence. Then Kragg sighed and took out a small purse and threw it on the table.
— "2,000 Celis. And I'll add extra. Not for your flirtatious face... but because you saved my life and Eline's."
— "You're more tender when you're grateful."
— "Don't take advantage of it."
He jabbed his thumb at the door.
— "Speaking of Eline... did you know she's been spying behind the door for a good five minutes?"
He added, "I need about a week's leave for an important matter."
— "Wha—"
— "WHAAAAAAA?!"
A woman's voice burst from behind the door.
It flew open.
Eline, her cheeks flushed, burst into the room.
— "Is that true?! You're going away for A WEEK?!" »
Kragg grunted.
— "Eavesdrop again, and it'll be -1 Celis on your pay every time."
— "But that's not the point!"
She turned to Leo, frowning.
— "Why are you leaving?!"
Leo calmly put the purse back in his satchel.
Then he looked up, serious.
— "I'm going to investigate. What happened in the south, three months ago. Where my father disappeared."
Silence fell in the room.
Eline blinked.
— "...Are you going there alone?"
— "No. With an old colleague of my father's."
Kragg narrowed his eyes.
— "You mean that weird guy who sometimes floats around like a leaf?"
Leo smiled.
— "That one." »
Then he took a deep breath.
— "I need to know. And now that Mom's safe, I have no more excuses."
He turned to Kragg.
— "I'm asking for a week's leave. You can even cut my pay at the end of the month. But... I have to do this."
Kragg was silent for a moment.
Then he gestured with his hand.
— "Go. You'll come back with answers. And even stronger arms."
Leo nodded.
Eline, however, remained frozen, looking upset... and worried.
But she said nothing.
Not yet.
Because deep down, she knew that this departure was only the beginning of something else.
The door to DioAngelo's house creaked open.
The evening sun cast a golden light inside, and a divine smell of warm dough and spices hung in the air.
Leo entered, bag slung over his shoulder, his feet already heavy... not from physical fatigue, but from mental exhaustion.
He knew the moment was approaching.
The most dangerous moment of his week.
He slowly took off his shoes, his heart sinking.
And then, from the kitchen, a singsong voice pierced him:
"Wash your hands! And come on, I've made your favorite empanadas! And guess what? I have a nice, thick sagamite waiting for you!"
Aurona appeared wearing an apron woven with a northern motif, her hair tied back, radiant.
"I have a ton of things to tell you!" There was a patient today, I swear, he thought he had a curse because he sneezed when he walked past pretty women! Can you believe it?!"
Leo forced a smile.
"That's... original."
"And how was your day? Would you like some hibiscus juice? I sweetened it just the way you like it."
Leo washed his hands slowly. Very slowly.
He sat down at the table.
In front of him, a steaming plate of crispy empanadas, next to a bowl of creamy sagamite.
He took a bite.
"...It's so good."
"That's normal. She's your mother."
A silence.
Then Aurona continued, cheerfully:
"Tell me, then?" You seemed in a hurry yesterday. You had something to tell me, right?"
Leo slowly put down his glass.
It's now.
— "Mom... I..."
She looked up, attentive.
— "Yes?"
He took a deep breath.
— "...I have to go."
She squinted, her fork hanging.
— "Leave?"
— "For a week."
— "A week? Where?"
— "South. To investigate. About Dad."
A long silence.
Aurona put down her fork.
— "...You mean... where they say he died?"
Leo nodded slowly.
— "I know he's alive, Mom. I told you. I can feel it. The watch... It's ticking. He spoke to me." And now that you're strong, that you're working, that I no longer have to protect you every moment... I can go."
She didn't answer. Not yet.
Then Leo added, more quietly:
— "I'm not going alone. I'm going with an adult."
— "Who?"
— "...Ruggero."
A silence.
Icy.
Suddenly.
Aurona stared at him, her expression frozen between shock and murderous instinct.
— "Ruggero Martinez?"
— "Yes."
— "The same Ruggero who broke two ribs, put you in a coma, and almost killed you in a courtyard?!"
— "Uh... roughly speaking... yes."
Aurona stood up. Slowly.
— "THE SAME Ruggero who dared to touch my kid?"
Leo raised his hands.
— "He tested me! He wanted to know if I was a monster or not! And ever since, he's been helping me! He's even training me!"
— "He's training you?! So he's a guru now?!"
Leo leapt to his feet, despite the dangers.
— "He knew Dad. He respected him. He said I have the same eyes as him when I'm determined. And he agreed to come with me. Not to use me... but to help me."
Aurona stared at him. For a long time.
Then she closed her eyes and sat down again.
— "You're not asking my permission."
— "I know."
— "You just came to tell me."
— "Because I'm twelve. And I'm too old to abandon you... but not old enough to continue ignoring this call."
She breathed. Long.
Then she smiled. Softly. Tired.
— "You'll come back. Do you promise me?"
— "I swear."
She reached out and placed her palm on his cheek.
— "You're my son. My miracle.
But you're not a chain."
She smiled, tears welling up in her eyes.
— "Go get him. And if Ruggero hurts you..."
Her fist cracked.
— "I'll snatch his collection of Attira effigies and make him eat them one by one."
Leo burst out laughing, his eyes shining.
— "Deal."