The next day, 

In the training grounds, Luca was facing off against Madeline.

"Ready whenever you are, Luca", She said as she pointed her blade at him. 

Luca opened his hands and clashed two magic circles together, spreading mist everywhere. 

Madeline saw several shadows in the mist.

"Hmm, nice trick, but-", she said as she slashed at one of them. She could briefly see Luca who barely dodged her.

"Your moves are too predictable"

She suddenly saw several rocks thrown at her

"Pebbles won't hurt-", she said as those pebbles exploded, getting some of the dust in her eye. 

"Agh." She rubbed her eyes. 

With the opening, Luca propelled himself with "Gust" and prepared a strengthened punch. 

Madeline's ear twitched and she dodged. She then grabbed his arm and slammed him to the ground

"Agh!"

"Let's end it here for now", She said as she casted water magic to clear her eyes.

They both sat on the bench.

"Your tricks are neat Luca, but they won't get you far, combining magic needs a lot of concentration and-"

"I know, they also don't have consistent effects, but I-"

"Yeah, you're just used to it right?" 

Luca smiled. 

"Considering you're gonna fight the Headmaster's granddaughter, I can teach you some more enhancement magic, but I don't think that will help you much" 

"At this point, I'll take anything I can get honestly"

"Well, let's continue then, shall we?", she said as she extended her hand.

"Kay", he accepted. 

They then trained throughout break time.

After school, Luca went to the hideout. As per usual, he would spar with all of the three delinquents and they all would exhaust themselves till their eyes could see the stars. 

[Why are you working so hard, human?]

[Hmm? what's with the sudden question]

[You know you don't need to beat her, right?]

[Yeah]

[So, why are you using most of your time to train like there's no tomorrow]

[Yeah, no matter how much I train now, I can never even get close to her level...but-]

[Hmm?]

[I just feel like, I should try my best at least]