There had been many surprises in today's event, but the one that just happened no one could suspect.

  Falling to his knees in the ground was Roy. Whenever he saw a powerful person, he couldn't help himself but try to face them.

  When watching the student known as Nes fight, Roy managed to gauge the strength of his fire abilities. Although what Roy was doing looked reckless, he actually was very careful to just use the right amount of power. He was sure the student would have been able to deflect his attack.

  Yet none of that could excuse him now, for he had done what a teacher or any member of the academy should have ever done, he had killed a student.

  "The assessment has been called off for today, all students are to return to there classrooms with the professors," Betty commanded.

  "Wait!" Said Mia's doll.

  While the whole thing was happening, Mia had been watching it through the eyes of her doll. She still didn't know quite what was happening, but there was still a Ray next to her. Which could only suggest that the decoy really was in the arena.

  But this was bad. If they were to cancel the assessment early then, that also means that the tower masters would be asked to return to their tower.

  "I know what just happened is tragic, but the student had attacked a tower master and nearly killed another student," Mia explained. "And when Roy came out, he could have easily chosen not to attack, but it seemed like the student Nes chose to fight on his own accord. Roy will be punished for his actions, but for now, we should continue the test for the remaining students."

  Betty looked at Roy who knelt down on the ground, then turned towards Dez who was currently being healed by a white mage but seemed like he would soon be back into action.

  "The test shall continue onward, but Roy will no longer be a judge in the upcoming matches. An official announcement will be made later today."

  In the history of Roland, something like this had never happened. There were times when a student would badly get hurt and maybe lost a few limbs, but they had a way of fixing those problems. But once a student was dead, a student was dead.

  Norah and Kaito were heartbroken at what they had seen. Although they didn't talk to Nes much, they still considered him a dear friend. Max, on the other hand, felt like something was up. He knew the real strength of Ray after seeing him face off against the shadow guard.

  There was no way he would die this easy. Was this Ray's way of saying goodbye by to everyone? This way, there would no longer be any record of the student known as Nes.

  ****

  Mia and Ray had just entered the first floor of the tower. There were two guards stationed outside, but once Mia gave them a task, they quickly left, and Ray was able to sneak in with Van on his back.

  Bliss who had been following them between houses and staying a safe distance behind, now had to make a choice. If she was to go into the tower, it was clear she would be spotted.

  An internal debate within herself started. To report them to one of the others, but this was a tower master she was talking about. The only people that had the authority to do anything over her were other tower masters.

  Just before Ray entered the building, he stopped outside and said. "Are you coming or not?"

  Judging by Ray's words he had known Bliss was following the whole time yet chose not to say anything and continued to head to their destination. Then when she looked where the two were, she realised that they were in front of Betty's tower.

  'Are they here to see the Divine being?'

  It was the only thing they could think of. The question now was if they were here to destroy it or not. But thinking back at how Nes had protected them against the shadow and all the nice things he had done for Van, she couldn't believe he was a bad person.

  She came out from her hiding spot and ran towards the tower.

  When she entered, she could see that Mia was giving a strange look to Nes.

  When Mia looked over her shoulder, she could see a little smirk on Ray's face.

  "What did you do? you know Roy could lose his position as tower master for this?"

  For the first time, the Ray by her side had spoken to her.

  "He was too rash. First, he attacked one of the Redwing members who was only trying to protect me, then he tried attacking me himself."

  Ray was still upset at the fact that Roy had hurt Jack the first time they had met, and he still hadn't apologized for attacking him. If Jack or himself were any more worn out, he could have killed them. This was Ray's way of not only leaving the academy but also punishing Roy.

  "Since when did Roy start attacking you?" She said with a confused look on her face.

  There was no longer any need for Ray to hide his appearance. Now that the others thought he was dead, if someone were to spot him looking like Nes now, it would also blow his cover.

  Slowly his appearance started to change. His hair colour went from black to red, while his facial features and body were slightly altered. His old human form had returned but still with his dragon features hidden. Ray still wasn't prepared to show anyone that.

  Mia stepped back a bit later seeing the transformation, and so did Bliss, but finally for both of them, everything was starting to make sense. The reason Bliss hadn't seen Nes when they went to the Shadow continent was because he was with them the whole time. The familiar feeling she felt.

  And Mia, she finally understood they never sent a child to do the Redwings bidding. The leader himself was involved.

  "Come on, let's go!" Ray said.