Depressed

To say that Leus was absolutely devastated is, at best, an understatement ...

Leus wanted it to be a fair mock battle, but it wasn't, and he got the first shot, still, things ended up in this way ...

'I never expected to win, but to lose in such a way, that's just .....'

'I didn't even have a chance from the beginning'

'It's not even that I didn't have a chance to win ... no ... I didn't have a chance to land a hit'

At first, Leus didn't accept it, but after a couple of minutes of staying on the floor, he became angry, then his anger turned into frustration

Blaze noticed his expression and took a couple of steps back

'He'll come to terms with it, it's just a matter of time'

Blaze knew what was going on in Leus' mind, he himself experienced it many times before

'I had to go through similar tough times; a tough time to accept my limits, to try to become stronger, to accept my Bottleneck, and eventually, to stop trying to get stronger.'

'It might feel hopeless at first, but he'll learn and grow'

After some time, Leus got up and handed the wooden sword to Blaze

"I want to stop here today"

Blaze took the sword without saying anything ... And Leus just went back inside and locked himself in his room ...

Inside, Viorica was studying for Amethyst and Merlin ...

Very quickly, she noticed Leus' strange behavior

'He never locks himself in the room, at least not too early in the day like this'

So she went to Blaze with an angry look on her face

"What did you do to him?"

Blaze replied nonchalantly

"Nothing at all. He didn't know how powerful he really was, so I helped him understand it"

" ... And how did you do that?"

"It's a method we use in the Military to train newly evolved Knights who are full of themselves"

" ... And what is that method?"

Blaze scratched the back of his neck

"Ahaha, we completely crush them in the first mock battle"

Viorica just stared at Blaze with a blank look on her face ...

She didn't know what to feel about that

At first, she was sure that Blaze knew what he was doing

But after hearing this ...

'Not so much'

Noticing the changes in her expression, Blaze quickly elaborated

"That's for his good, you know? To raise a strong-willed warrior, he needs to go through some tough time"

Naturally, she wasn't happy or pleased with Blaze's methods, so she kept glaring at him ...

After an uncomfortable amount of time passed, and under Viorica's angry gaze, Blaze gave in to the pressure and decided to go a little easier on Leus

"Fine ... Just leave him alone for some time, then go to his room and comfort him a bit.

He's a smart kid, he'll get over it soon"

Viorica wasn't completely satisfied with the answer but

'It's better than nothing'

So she returned to studying for Amethyst and Merlin for some more time

'I'll go to Leus' room with something sweet later'

In the meantime inside Leus' room ...

Leus was lying down on the bed and contemplating his choices so far

'What exactly has gone wrong?'

He couldn't focus; his thoughts were all over the place.

So first, he tried to calm himself down

'Okay, first, why am I upset?'

'.....'

'There are many reasons' He thought with a sigh

' ... Because after all this time, I've not improved'

'Because I feel like Magic is useless even though I put so much effort into it'

'Because after all these months, I was not able to move even a single step forward in front of Father'

'And the worst of it all, he didn't really do anything!!!!'

Clearly, Leus was very upset

'It's not like I lost because of his amazing sheer power or his speed or his techniques in an Epic Battle or something'

'He just moved forward, dashed, and stood in front of me'

'Not a single attack ... it wasn't even a fight!'

The more Leus thought about it, the more annoyed he became.

'I'm supposed to be in an advantageous situation with all the information Sal has given me ... and yet, I'm failing like this'

'And it's surely not because I'm not trying hard enough'

'Am I just incompetent?'

After lamenting for a while, Leus finally calmed himself down ...

He took a deep, cold breath ...

'I don't really think I've made any mistake ... '

'Perhaps I just expected too much of myself'

'Perhaps even at this stage, expecting to land a single hit is too much'

' ... Maybe I just need to try harder'

This idea was very depressing ...

'How many months has it been? And I still need to try harder?'

' ... Why is it so difficult'

'Maybe I need to take different approaches'

'I guess I need to start with learning the sword'

'Maybe that's why Dad gave me the sword in the first place'

Trying to accept his situation made Leus feel very bitter

'I feel like I want to cry ...'

'So many spells and so many ideas ...'

"Ughhhhhhhhh!"

'I increased my Mana Pool for months! And I couldn't even land a single attack ... uhhh'

Suddenly, the door knocked, interrupting Leus' frustrated groans ...

"Come in" He said in a low, depressed voice

Quickly, Viorica entered the room and spoke in a cheerful voice

"Leus!"

She looked at him with a beaming smile

"Why are you alone here, my little genius?"

"Hey, Mom"

When Viorica saw his sad face and heard his depressed tone, she forgot everything about raising a warrior and whatnot

"Blaze went overboard! How can he be so hard on you!"

She gripped his hand and was about to take him outside

"This is unacceptable! Come!"

However ... Leus stopped her

"No, Mom, wait"

"What? Don't be afraid of him, I'm with you"

Leus genuinely smiled

'She's so cute and innocent'

"Thank you, Mom. But it's not like that. It was just a hard lesson ... I didn't know that after all that it'd be like this"

Viorica didn't understand what Leus meant by "this and that", but she had a rough idea ...

Regardless, it didn't really matter to her exactly what happened, she just hugged Leus

"Don't be hard on yourself! You'll become very very strong! Just give it time"

"Thanks, Mom. It means a lot to me, I'm okay now"

Hearing that he was okay now made Viorica smile.

She kissed him on his cheeks, and gripped his hand again, but this time gently

"Come out, let's eat"

"Sure"

And so, Leus followed her to the lobby ...

When she saw Blaze on the couch, she glared daggers at him, making him quickly avert his gaze ...

Leus chuckled when saw that ...

The family sat at the table and started eating, and slowly, Leus' mood started getting better ...

Noticing that, Blaze asked in a teasing tone

"Not depressed anymore?"

"No. Now I have some plans in mind"

"Really now?"

"Yes. After we eat, let's go outside again"

Blaze looked at the window

"It's evening; we have some time before it's dark. Why not."

After they finished eating, the two went outside ...