Zeke arrived at a section of a stadium he had never been to before. He came to a halt in front of a large wooden door. The guards on either side scanned his figure. After they had deemed him not to be a threat, the leader of the two spoke up.
"Mister von Hohenheim has already been informed of your coming," the man said in a matter-of-fact tone. "You have been permitted to enter."
Zeke nodded at the man and stepped up to the door. He had come to the most luxurious viewing box in the entire Colosseum. This section was reserved for the headmaster of the Elementium. He had come to Victor Windtänzer's private area.
Viola had sent a message ahead to inform her grandfather and Maximilian of his coming, so the guard's statement did not surprise Zeke. Still, now that he stood in front of the room, he hesitated. It had been a while since he had been this nervous.
He had come to see his mentor with a specific goal in mind. Zeke was trying to lay the groundwork to convince the old man to adopt Leo into the family. Zeke was aware that this would be no easy feat. The old man was extremely careful with who he trusted. He had people observe Zeke for weeks before ever making contact with him.
He took a deep breath, filling his lungs to the brim. He tried to let go of all his nervous energy alongside the air leaving his body. It seemed to work somewhat as Zeke felt ready. He had a plan and he was going to stick with it.
The well-oiled door opened without a sound and Zeke entered the room. Maximilian and Victor were bent over a table. The two men were deep in conversation. Zeke could only make out a few hushed words from across the room. He could only hear fragments of what they were saying.
"…not a good idea…" Victor whispered in an agitated tone.
"…have to…" Maximilian responded.
They seemed to be having an important discussion. The moment Zeke took his first step into the room, the voices fell silent. Their heads snapped up, searching for the source of the disturbance.
When Maximilian's eyes landed on Zeke, his expression lit up. "Come over, my boy!" he said in an inviting tone. "We have been waiting for you to get here."
Zeke walked over without any hesitation. As he stepped into a five-meter range of the table, his [Perfect Spatial Awareness] allowed him to see all the documents on the table. While slowly making his way through the room, Zeke quickly scanned the document the two men had been discussing. Victor quickly stuffed the piece of parchment into a stack of papers to hide it from sight. Little did he know that this posed no hindrance to Zeke's spatial awareness.
Zeke scanned the title and first paragraph of the document.
AN INQUIRY INTO THE IMPACT OF MEDITATION UPON CORE FORMATION
Authored by Maximilian Bombastus Von Hohenheim
The primary objective of this manuscript is to scrutinize the repercussions of protracted, aimed meditation on the formation of a magical core. Our test subjects are juveniles between the ages of 9 and 12 years. The purpose of this inquiry is to demonstrate that simple and inexpensive methods may substantially augment the likelihood of core formation in those of plebeian descent. The influence of such practices on children from a noble lineage has yet to be scrutinized…
Zeke was all too familiar with these words. He had read the document many times. Most of the data cited in the document had been measured and checked by him. He had not expected the old man to share their research with anyone. They had talked about this at length. Only after the research was safely in the hands of the Mages Association would they show it to other people.
The reason for this was that the Mages Association was an international organization with branches in every country. It was the stated goal of the association to further magic and magic studies. They owed allegiance to no country and didn't care about politics. The organization always stayed neutral in questions of war. It was exactly this organization that they would trust most to spread the word about their discovery. Nobody would stand to gain more from this study being published to the masses, after all.
Zeke's eyes met Maximilians. His mentor was of course aware of the fact that Zeke would see the paper. He only nodded at Zeke, letting him know that they would talk about this later. Zeke arrived before the table and slightly bowed his head to the two Arch Mages in front of him.
"I guess congratulations are in order," Victor Windtänzer said in a jubilant voice. "You are most likely going to be the tournament's champion this year."
Zeke was confused. He had yet to win a single fight against Leo. He might be confident in his victory, but he would never make the mistake of underestimating Leo. Despite Zeke's huge leap forward in strength, Leo's natural talent for combat was hard to overcome. His bewilderment at Victor's words must have been obvious on his face, as Victor explained his statement.
"I talked with my friend Kurt earlier," Victor explained. "He is the only Life-affinity Arch Mage in the empire if you didn't know. He is also the person that has personally looked after Leo after his fight."
"How is he doing?" Zeke asked in an excited voice. He had visited Leo before his fight. His friend had not been in a good state back then and there was only so much the run-of-the-mill healers could do. Things would be very different for an Arch Mage, Zeke suspected.
Leo had inserted mana-infused stone into wounds and all around the bones of his left arm. He had put everything on the line to win his fight against Felix. Wounds like that tended to be problematic to heal.
"His arm is back in working condition," Maximilian explained. "Kurt cut off Leo's entire arm and regrew it. 'Much easier this way' were his exact words if I remember correctly."
"If Leo is back in fighting form, then why do you think that I'm going to win, sir?" Zeke addressed the headmaster.
"His arm might be in working order again, but that doesn't mean that he is back to 100%," Victor explained. "After having a limb regrown it usually takes days to become familiar with a new set of nerves again. Your friend Leo is somewhat of an anomaly in that regard, however. It only took him minutes to get the hang of it and move his arm somewhat proficiently."
Maximilian couldn't stifle a chuckle at the memory. "I haven't seen old Kurt this shocked before. I swear his eyes were about to fall out of their sockets. He gave the boy the whole speech about being careful and not overdoing it and all that. And what does the boy do? He draws his saber and waves it around as if it was nothing. Do you know what he said?"
"What?" Zeke asked with a growing smirk of his own.
"He said: Yeah, this is a little annoying," Maximilian said with a wide grin. "I've got to hand it to the boy, he is something else."
Zeke was overjoyed that his mentor had such a high opinion of Leo. This might make his task a lot easier. Still, Zeke was even more confused now.
"That sounds like Leo is fine. Why do you two still seem to believe that I am going to win?" Zeke asked.
"It's his core," Maximilian stated. "As you know, it's not unusual for a core to develop some fine cracks after being strained, but Leo overdid it this time. He will not be able to cast any magic for at least the next few days."
"That means…" Zeke started.
"Yes, that means that you will be fighting an opponent that can't use any Magic while being at peak condition yourself," Victor finished for him.
This revelation gave Zeke pause. He had wanted to ask Maximilian for a favor in case he won the tournament. He could then leverage this favor to get Maximilian to give Leo a chance at least. However, this new development threw a wrench into his plans. He wasn't sure if Maximilian would still agree to the deal. Why would he, if Zeke was going to win this easily?
His head drooped at the thought of his plan falling through. Maximilian chuckled at the sight.
"You don't look too happy about winning the tournament," he teased. "But enough about that, though. Tell me why you have come to find me."
"I wanted to ask you for a favor," Zeke explained. "If I win the tournament."
"Well, you have certainly earned a reward," the old man said with a kind voice. "Even if the last fight is going to end in an easy victory for you, that doesn't diminish the achievement. Even I didn't manage to win the tournament during my time at the academy. In fact, I came in third. If your wish isn't too excessive, I am certainly willing to grant it."
"It isn't excessive," Zeke stated, "but you aren't going to like it."
Maximilian's gaze turned serious. If Zeke was this hesitant to say what he wanted, then it must be something important.
"I want you to adopt Leo into the family," Zeke finally said.
The room fell silent upon the declaration. Maximilian looked shocked, and Victor had a pondering expression on his face. There was a long moment in which nobody spoke. The atmosphere grew heavier and heavier until it was finally broken by a solemn voice.
"Why would you want that?" Maximilian asked. "Is it because he can inherit my magic?`I've told you many times that I don't need somebody to pass my-"
"It has nothing to do with that," Zeke interrupted while shaking his head. "If you don't want to teach Leo your techniques, then that is fine with me."
"Then why?" Maximilian asked with a frown. "And why would you even care about that? I am sure the Feuerkranz and Steiner families are already licking their lips at the thought of getting such a talent. He is going to be well-taken care of in either family."
"It's not what he wants, though," Zeke countered. "Leo has his heart set on our family, and I'm certain that he will not join any other."
"Ohh?" Maximilian said with a voice full of suspicion. "And why is that?"
Zeke walked over to the table and grabbed the feather from Maximilian's hand alongside an empty piece of paper. After scribbling on it for a while he blew on the paper to make the ink dry faster. Zeke looked over his handiwork for one last time before folding the paper and passing it to Maximilian.
"Remember this?" he asked.
Maximilian seemed intrigued and opened the paper. He read the words on the paper. His eyes grew wide the moment he recognized the words as his own. He read the entire letter over and over before lowering the paper with a thoughtful look on his face.
"That boy was Leo?" he finally asked. Zeke nodded.
"Isn't it natural that he would want to join us? After this? After what you did for him?" Zeke asked. "Listen, old man, I know that you don't trust easily, but I am not asking for much here. I am only asking for you to give him a chance."
Maximilian fell into a thoughtful silence. He still seemed hesitant on this matter. Victor had picked up the letter from the table and read it as well.
"Fascinating," the headmaster proclaimed. "Who would have thought the boy had such a troubled past?"
He then addressed Maximilian directly, "If you agree to this, the other families are not going to like it. The Feuerkranz and Steiner families are already in negotiations over who will get the boy."
"It's not their fucking choice!" Zeke cut in. "Those damn vultures can stay the hell away from Leo. They had their chance!"
"Calm down," Victor said in a stern voice. "I am merely stating facts. Nothing more, and nothing less."
Zeke was immediately embarrassed by his outburst. This was no way to speak to the headmaster of the academy and one of the most powerful Mages in the empire.
"My apologies, sir," Zeke said sincerely, "I lost control of my emotions for a moment."
"What a strange Mind Mage you are," Victor said with a chuckle as he waved the entire thing away.
Maximilian seemed to have come to a decision, as his eyes regained their clarity.
"I agree to give Leo a chance under one condition," Maximilian proclaimed.
"Name it!" Zeke exclaimed. He was overjoyed by Maximilian's agreement.
"I want you to win the tournament -" Maximilian said slowly. Zeke's smile widened. "- without using any magic," the old man finished.
Zeke was shocked. Could he beat Leo without magic? Was it even possible? Before answering his mentor, he considered the proposition in detail. In their previous fights, Leo always had the upper hand in a physical confrontation. Even though Zeke was stronger, faster, and tougher, he had never managed to best his friend.
But what about now? Zeke had increased his physical stats across the board by training with his resistance suit. He had left behind any other Mage of his age. On top of that, Leo was still injured. Even though he had recovered much sooner than expected, there was no chance that he could use his new arm perfectly already. Could Zeke win? He wasn't sure, but he was eager to give it a try.
"You've got yourself a deal, old man," Zeke stated with a smile.
"Very well," Maximilian responded in a solemn tone. "Now off with you. There is less than half an hour before your fight starts."
Zeke nodded and left the room with a spring in his step. The moment the door closed behind him, Victor spoke up.
"Are you actually going to consider this?" the Wind Mage asked. Maximilian shook his head.
"No, I'm not considering it. I'm definitely going to give the boy a chance. That's the least I should do," he responded.
"Then why did you tell your boy Ezekiel to fight without Magic," Victor asked with a confused expression. "There is no reason for him to risk his victory like that."
"You can consider it a test. But for that, I need him to fight with everything he's got," Maximilian said as he got up and made his way to the door as well.
"I see. But where are you going?" Victor asked.
"Zeke might be fighting with everything he's got, but that doesn't mean that his opponent will," Maximilian explained.
"And how are you going to motivate his opponent?" Victor asked with a knowing look in his eyes.
"I am going to offer him what he wants most, of course," Maximilian said with a sly smile.