The Perfect Knight and the Illusionist (BL)

MARIUS

The morning training session was very pleasant. I had a chance to spar with Alexis instead of Dimitri, who had become my usual sparring partner and always presented me with a great challenge due to his sheer power and ferocity of attacks. Alexis, on the other hand, had a very solid foundation in his swordsmanship. As he once told me, he did not have the natural strength or speed of his friends, but I could tell how much effort he had put in over the years to perfect his forms and movements. He was a hard worker with true grit, which often takes a man a lot further than pure talent would.

After the morning session, we headed to the other side of the field to join Mr. Kvratchka’s magic class, where we were told that we’d watch a demonstration of ’teamwork and control.’ What followed was a truly enjoyable show of skill and creativity, and I felt pride and excitement at what my peers could do still so early in the semester. There was no telling when—if ever—we might be deployed in combat as a team, but I looked forward to fighting alongside the talented mages that some of my classmates clearly were.

But of course, the presentation I’d waited for the most was that of Beatrice, Isabelle, Janice, and Skylark. I already knew that Beatrice and Isabelle were gifted, but didn’t have a chance to fully witness Janice’s wind magic before, so that was something to look forward to. I was a little concerned about Skylark, especially regarding whether his body would be able to cope with using magic again. However, considering that Falken had approved Skylark joining the classes again, I had to trust his judgment. And when it finally became the group’s turn, I was also happy to see that Skylark received a warm applause of welcome and encouragement as he came forward with the rest of the group.

Positioned in the center, Skylark took a deep breath and closed his eyes. It took him a while to get started, but eventually he managed to produce a water sphere and make it float in the air, which was a little wobbly at first but soon steadied itself.

After that, Isabelle produced three fireballs and let them orbit the water sphere that Skylark had created, which was then joined by Beatrice’s three water balls, which were smaller in size but were expertly controlled in a smooth circular motion. It was actually quite an impressive feat considering that any contact between the water and fire would lead to an instant failure.

Then, once the two elements’ orbits stabilized, Janice stepped forward and threw the flowers she had collected in a basket into the air, and with a graceful swirl of her hand, she brought them into the orbit together with Isabelle’s fireballs and Beatrice’s water balls. This earned a big cheer and applause from everyone, along with a smile of approval from Mr. Kvratchka, as all the elements swirled in harmony without interfering with each other, all centered around Skylark’s water sphere, which held its place steadily in the center.

"Excellent. Well done, guys," Mr. Kvratchka said, clapping his hands too.

At that moment, I saw a big smile appear on Skylark’s face—only because I was observing him closely under Falken’s orders—and suddenly his water sphere grew bigger and the other elements swirling around it started to move faster. This earned another round of applause from the classmates, which seemed to make him even happier. The orbits became even faster, their circumferences bigger, and Skylark’s water sphere floated higher. Then all the elements started to swirl at great speed. The flickers of flame and light reflecting on the water spheres made quite a spectacle, and the class started clapping in sync as if to provide a beat for the elements to dance to. Then I saw Beatrice and Janice look at each other, a little confused. It didn’t look like they had planned this part of the demonstration, and somehow, their magic was going out of control, which was perplexing as all the elements were moving with perfect precision.

"That will be enough," Mr. Kvratchka intervened, but the magical twirl did not stop. In fact, it was getting even faster and bigger.

Then Isabelle put her hand on Skylark’s shoulder, whispered something into his ear, and only then did he seem to come to the realization that the demonstration had come to an end. Isabelle’s fireballs fizzed out, Beatrice’s water balls popped in the air, Janice’s flowers fell, and Skylark’s water sphere—which had grown to quite an impressive size by then—fell to the ground with a splash.

Luckily, Skylark didn’t seem too exhausted from the performance, and he did not wobble or stumble afterward.

"That will be the end of the class, then. Good work, everyone," Mr. Kvratchka announced, and the students began to head back to the school building.

"That was pretty impressive, eh?" Thomas, standing next to me, commented first.

"We certainly have some talented classmates," Briant agreed.

But for me, I noticed something—something I needed to double-check.

I walked over to Skylark and asked him first,

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, sure! That was great, right?" Skylark asked.

"It was impressive indeed. Well done," I said.

"Hehe, thanks!" Skylark said, looking pleased.

I then knelt on the ground where Janice’s flowers had fallen. I touched the ground to feel the grass and the flower petals. What I thought I had observed was confirmed.

They hadn’t gotten wet at all.

"Marius," Isabelle whispered, kneeling next to me and feeling the ground too.

"Shh," I shushed her instinctively.

I looked at Beatrice and Janice, who were chatting with each other and didn’t seem to have noticed that the ground hadn’t gotten wet despite Skylark’s water sphere splashing onto it. Skylark was already away from the scene, talking with Thomas and Dimitri.

I didn’t quite know why, but my gut feeling guided me to the correct path.

"Isabelle, don’t tell anyone about this."

Isabelle looked at me, not quite understanding what was happening either, but understanding enough that this discovery had to be kept between us. So she simply nodded.

There was something strange about Skylark’s magic.

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