"Big sister!" Livia ran towards Amelia who had just arrived from the World Academy.
She jumped as Amelia caught her and hugged her.
"You've grown so big, and cute," Amelia said as she rubbed her cheeks with Livia's.
Livia started laughing as Amelia closely hugged her.
"Hello," Lucas said to Damian, who awkwardly nodded his head.
The difference between the greetings was so stark that Damian felt weird.
"Asher will come to the Gala directly in the night," Damian said to Lucas who was looking around.
"Oh, okay," Lucas replied, stopping his search for Asher.
Seeing Lucas a bit down, Damian thought of cheering him up but his own experience with his younger brother wasn't much help. Damian was an energetic person, while Nate always preferred to read books and stay indoors. The Seymour brothers weren't the best combination.
'But he likes Asher, maybe so,' Damian thought.
"Do you want to spar with me?" Damian offered. Livia, too, overheard.
"I will do it!!" Livia raised her hand while she was in Amelia's arms.
"Cute," Sylvie chuckled as she looked at Amelia and Livia.
Amelia immediately glared at Damian.
"Eh?" Damian was confused, feeling as if Amelia was warning him not to hurt Livia.
"I train with Grandfather all the time, but he is super busy and nobody spars with me," Livia said, pointing at the servants who became a bit awkward.
"You train with grandfather?" Amelia asked, and Livia cutely nodded at her.
Amelia knew that Livia was learning the greatsword and Nathan was helping her, but she didn't know he was training her as well.
"I also want to spar," Lucas said, looking up at Damian.
"Yeah, I think I'll spar with Lucas. Why not spar with Amelia, Livia?" Damian suggested, making another faux pas.
He felt Amelia's glare had grown even more powerful.
'Are you telling me to hurt my cute little sister?' Damian could almost hear Amelia's thoughts at the moment.
"Will you spar with me?" Livia tilted her head back to ask Amelia.
"B-But," Amelia was at a loss for words, turning to her mother for help.
"Oh, that's wonderful. We still have a few hours before we leave," Sylvie chimed in, looking at Amelia.
Amelia, unable to refuse Sylvie, agreed to spar with Livia, albeit not seriously.
However, she was about to learn why the servants of the Greville Family didn't want to spar with little Livia.
Lucas, sitting beside Damian, watched the duel between Amelia and Livia unfold. Livia took up a greatsword, a comical sight given her small build. She immediately dashed towards Amelia, who wielded a dagger.
Amelia used a water spell to create a soft shield to repel her attacks, but Livia sidestepped and jumped in the air.
"What kind of fighting style is this?" Damian muttered, watching Livia.
"Oh, Grandfather told her to fight like that to make her sparring partners take her seriously," Lucas explained.
"Especially against Big Sister and Uncle Arthur," Lucas added.
"He didn't tell her to do it against Asher?" Damian asked.
"No, he told us to spar with Big Brother with getting injured in mind," Lucas said, recalling Nathan's instructions.
"Oh, yeah he is right," Damian agreed, remembering his own sparring experiences with Asher. Even though it helped him improve, he always got severely injured.
Amelia was trying to avoid Livia, but Livia kept pushing herself onto Amelia, forcing her to use more spells.
Their spar went on like this but in Damian's eyes, it looked like one person was enjoying it, while the other was regretting it.
"Haah, you are so strong Livia," Amelia said, looking at Livia who was panting as she sat on the floor.
"But Big Sister is stronger," Livia responded with a smile, melting Amelia's heart.
'So cute,' Amelia thought.
Damian and Lucas stood up to spar, as Lucas prepared multiple spells in his hands.
"You can multi-cast?" Damian asked, looking surprised.
"Yeah," Lucas replied.
Though he was not keen on becoming a mage in the begining, his talent also surprised his teachers. This was the reason Nathan brought him to the Mage Association, to help him realize that being a mage wasn't bad at all.
Lucas prepared multiple fireballs in his hands, his eyes focused on Damian.
'They give a similar vibe,' Damian felt a resemblance between Asher and Lucas. Although it was small, he could feel it in the way Lucas carried himself.
Their spar was less intense as Lucas knew that his spells wouldn't work on Damian due to their rank difference. He had just reached F Rank, so he was still below Damian.
Lucas compressed the fireball in his hands and ran towards Damian, who wasn't using a shield right now. Damian was fighting with his bare hands since using a shield would make it impossible for Lucas to harm him at all.
They exchanged various attacks, with Livia cheering loudly for Lucas while Amelia just watched and enjoyed the spar.
They were about to leave in an hour, so neither of them pushed too hard.
"We've prepared your baths," a maid came to inform Amelia.
"Let's go, Livia," Amelia said, and Livia nodded. They needed to get dressed, so they left while Lucas and Damian continued sparring.
At the World Academy,
Asher finally emerged from his room after a five-day long training session with his sword art.
"It's increased quite a lot this time," Asher noted, looking at the total increase in his mastery.
[ Node Art ( Novice ) : 62% ]
And Asher could feel that he could push it to 80% with another week's practice. However, he stopped as the day of the Gala had arrived.
Though he wasn't going to attend the Opening Ceremony, he planned to attend after the auction when everyone would gather for a dance. He had something important to do before arriving at the Gala.
"Time to invite her," Asher said as he messaged Alyssa.
At the mansion in Soran, Tom had already arrived while Dane and Kai were on their last mission, which was due to conclude soon.
Tom couldn't assist them any further as the location they were in disabled any form of outside communication.
"This is the most crucial part. I hope they succeed," Tom said as he looked at the data he had gathered over the past two months.
Outside the Portal Dome in Soran, a large number of S Rank and SS Rank Hunters were present. They were there to escort the children of the Elite families and those who were invited.
Normally, the presence of so many hunters would have alarmed the people around Soran, but the whole world was aware of the Kalvas Gala.
"So, they're here," Ria said as she noticed the Hunters of the three Elite families of Desmar standing there, waiting for them.
"Let's go, we should enjoy the Gala," Ria said to Elena.
After the Mid Term, it took them weeks to regain their motivation.
"Yeah," Elena replied, but she also knew about the true nature of this Gala.
For them, they would just enjoy the Gala, but for the adults, that place was where each family kept a watchful eye on the others.
The Auction was the biggest attraction for the Elite Families, as this was the only place where SSS Rank Artifacts could be found.
SSS Rank Artifacts were typically passed down within families, with older ones only surfacing at these auctions.
***
At Mzelm Flying Island,
The Castle, where the Kalvas Gala was going to be hosted, was surrounded by loads of photographers waiting around the entrance where the Teleportation Gate was located.
"Who's going to arrive first?" A man asked his group.
"I don't know, this time the timings are all messy for some reason," one of them replied.
None of them knew about the heist conducted by a group named Zephyr, as this information was suppressed by the Elite Families.
Only a few were aware of this, which is why the reputation of the Whiteheart family was only affected among the upper echelon of society.
"Hey, the first person has arrived," one of them announced, and the cameras began pointing at the glowing Teleportation Gate.
The first guest of the Kalvas Gala had arrived and stepped out of the Portal.
"Why is it night here?" a little girl asked as she peeked from behind her father.
"It's Illusion Magic," her father responded as he patted his daughter's silver hair.
In front of them stood an old man whose presence was a shock to all. After all, this man was known for not attending any social events and he would always send his representatives to the Gala.
