Mereoleona then took off with Ryoto in her fire paw. When they got to the door of the castle, Mereoleona let go of Ryoto and took the cloth from his mouth.

"What was all that about?" Asked Ryoto

"My mother and father want to see you." Said Mereoleona plainly "but before we do, I have a few questions."

"More?" Exhaled Ryoto "go ahead."

"Do you have any idea as to why I'm so much younger?" Asked Mereoleona

"I can't really explain it. Your body has gotten younger, meaning that you are around the age of nineteen. However your conscience did not alter. Meaning that your memory is probably fine but that your body has regressed to a younger form." Explained Ryoto "other than that, there will probably be some side effects. Things such as an increase in certain hormones, mild to severe headaches, and sometimes you might have the feeling of wanting to vomit."

"I see. So being in a younger body isn't all that good." Said Mereoleona

"It's not all so bad either." Said Ryoto "You'll have an increase in physical capabilities, a better immune system, and a lot more energy. And on top of that I'll stop calling you ol-"

"Shut up!" Yelled Mereoleona smacking him on the top of his head

'Again I don't understand half of what you said.' Thought Mereoleona

"Do you have any idea as to why your parents want to see me?" Asked Ryoto rubbing his head

"I don't really know." Said Mereoleona

"I just hope your mom doesn't try to kill me again." Said Ryoto with a nervous chuckle

"I took care of that already." Said Mereoleona

As the two opened the door to the room, Mereoleona's mother ran towards Ryoto. Thinking she would hit him, Ryoto got ready for a punch. Instead Hina hugged Ryoto and welcomed him.

"Hello Ryoto!" Said Izumi with a cheeky smile "or should I say son?"

"Father!" Said Mereoleona

"I'm sorry. I'm just so excited to know more about your friend." Said Izumi "Ryoto, do you know what's happened to my daughter?"

"Right well...your daughter...Mereoleona...she isn't...she isn't old anymore!" Yelled Ryoto getting hit across the face by Mereoleona

Ryoto recovered from the punch and then explained to them what had most likely happened to Mereoleona.

"She was most likely used in a kind of experiment." Said Ryoto "nothing like this has ever been done before. Yes you may be able to revert the body to a certain age, however in order to do that you'd need an immense amount of mana or a kind of storage for the accumulation of mana. Specifically time magic. I don't think that the Wizard dude or whatever has any reason for doing this. So we are likely looking at someone else who has time magic."

"Why didn't you just say that before?" Asked Mereoleona

"I couldn't. If people found out that someone else had the power of time magic there'd be panic. Let me remind you that someone like this has the power to reverse someone's life span. Basically this person can turn a person's body so far back that they could pop them out of existence." Said Ryoto "luckily, everyone seems to think that she just LOOKS younger."

"How'd they even get into the castle without being detected?" Asked Hina

"Well this person probably also has the ability to go undetected. The person that did this is obviously skilled." Said Ryoto putting two fingers on his brow "this is just..."

"Come on Ryoto, you must be tired. I'll show you to a room." Said Izumi

"I wouldn't want to be a bother." Said Ryoto putting his hands up "it's fine!"

"Nonsense! I insist." Said Izumi

"Thank you so much sir!" Said Ryoto with a smile

"Just call me father!" Laughed Izumi

"Haha...wait what?" Said Ryoto

"What's going on?" Asked Mereoleona crossing her arms

"What are you talking about?" Asked Hina

"You are never this nice to anyone." Said Leopold from behind the corner "I will admit it is a bit suspicious."

"I don't have a choice do I?" Said Hina sighing "he might have ties to your grandfather."

"Grandfather?" Asked Leopold

"Lionheart Vermillion. He is said to be one of the most if not the most powerful in the family tree. He was also known for being the strongest fire magic user." Said Fuegoleon "he was powerful because on top of having a large amount of mana, he learned different ways to use his magic. He supposedly died a while ago but no body was ever really found."

"Good job. Little Fuego!" Said Hina "someone's been looking through the family journals!"

"Mother! Please don't call me that!" Said Fuegoleon

"Watch your tone." Said Hina grabbing Fuegoleons cheek "no matter how old you get I'm still your mother."

"Are you saying that grandfather could still be alive?" Asked Mereoleona

"Yes. It is a possibility." Said Hina

"That's why you wanted me to bring you Ryoto?" Asked Mereoleona

"Well that was a part of the plan." Said Hina with a smile "However, your father has something else in mind."

The siblings looked perplexed for a moment until Leopold understood.

"Oh...You want him to marry someone from the Vermillion family right?" Said Leopold

"That is correct." Said Hina

'Marry?!' Thought Mereoleona with wide eyes

"Why? We barely know him." Said Fuegoleon

"We thought about that but if he does have connections to Lionheart then that would mean that he's the most likely candidate. He's strong, would technically be picked by someone in the family, and above all of that he's amazing at using fire magic!" Said Hina "Just imagine the kind of power the child could have!"

"But which part of the family tree? Our side or Mimosas?" Asked Leopold

"Well when it comes to that there's another problem. Since he's also good at using water magic then we'd want him on our side before the Silvas get to him." Said Hina "so far we were thinking and we thought about—"

Suddenly Ryoto came crashing through the wall with three of his fingers already broken. Kicking him through the wall was none other than Mereoleona's father, Izumi.

Ryoto crashed into the wall. He side jumped and flicked his finger at Izumi making a powerful shockwave. That made him break another one of his fingers.

The shockwave threw Izumi back and crashed him into the wall. Ryoto then ran in zigzags and launched forwards by kicking off the ground. Izumi grabbed his arm and swung him into the wall. Ryoto put his hands down on the wall and pushed himself off. He flipped and landed with a hand on the ground in front of him.

"Mother, what did I tell you?" Said Mereoleona

"That you'd be angry if I attacked him again." Said Hina "well I'M not. Your father is."

"Come on Ryoto, show me your flames!" Said Izumi

"Damn It." Said Ryoto

Ryoto put two fingers up and blew out of his mouth. He blew waves of fire towards Izumi and then made clones to jump into the flame. They hit Izumi and threw him into a wall, sending him crashing. Izumi got up and started to throw a flurry of flame punches at Ryoto and his clones.

'How did he do that?' Thought Izumi as he punched the clones 'impressive! But you'll have to do better than that to defeat me!'

Izumi then surrounded himself in blue flames. He punched Ryoto into the ground and picked him up throwing him into the wall. However behind the wall there was a weapons room full of antiques.

"Oh shit." Said Izumi as he saw Ryoto

Ryoto had been impaled through the stomach by several wooden spears. His wounds were bleeding profusely. Blood was also coming out of his mouth. Ryoto looked at the weapons piercing him, grabbing them before his whole body went limp.

"Ryoto!" Said Izumi looking at Ryoto's limp body "hey! Come on! Damn it."

"I win." Said Ryoto weakly from behind Izumi

It had impaled a clone. The clone then turned to water dropping to the ground. Ryoto held a rotating orb of water and flame behind Izumi.

"I still got hit but not as badly as that." Said Ryoto holding his side

Ryoto had a stab in his side. He had been stabbed by a sword that fell from the wall. It had fallen and stabbed through Ryoto.

"Good." Said Izumi with a smile "now I know that you are."

"That I'm what?" Ryoto said before falling over and getting caught by Mereoleona

'A student of my fathers.' Thought Izumi

"What the hell?" Yelled Mereoleona "The one thing I told you not to do!"

"S-Sorry!" Said Izumi waving his hands "your mother made me do it! Honestly!"

"Izumi!" Yelled Hina grabbing him by the collar

"Why do you care so much?" Asked Leopold to Mereoleona

"Think back for a second." Said Mereoleona "every time he comes into contact with me, in some way or another, he always gets hurt. Not to mention last time he came here, he broke both of his arms and multiple fingers."

"Yeah but didn't he break brother's ribs?" Said Leopold

"Really?" Said Mereoleona "he healed them shortly after even when no one else could. He's also helped an entire town. I feel guilty. Every time I'm close to him I end up hurting him in one way or another."

"I see." Said Hina feeling guilty "well for now we should probably get him somewhere to rest."

"I'll take him." Said Mereoleona shooting them a glare "might as well try and protect him from you all."

"She's in a mood." Said Hina

"I heard that." Said Mereoleona

As Mereoleona laid him down on the bed she couldn't help but be bothered by something. The kiss from earlier. The more she tried to not think about it, the more it popped into her mind.

'Maybe if I just...' Thought Mereoleona as she leaned down inches away from Ryoto before she suddenly pulled back 'W-What am I thinking?!'

As she looked at him closer, she noticed how soft his lips looked. His peaceful face as he slept. His strong body. Even how soft his hair looked. She thought back to her past experiences with him so far. He was annoying but amazing at the same time.

Mereoleona then blushed as she sat down next to Ryoto and held his hand. His wound had already healed but his hands hadn't.

'Hmm...this is strange. Last time he healed himself completely while he was asleep. Maybe I should ask Mimosa to heal him.' Thought Mereoleona

After a few hours, Ryoto then opened his eyes jolting upwards. He put his hands on the bed only to wince in pain.

"Hey take it easy." Said Mereoleona

"Er-What happened?" Asked Ryoto looking around

"You got knocked out." Said Mereoleona

"Oh yeah, that's right." Said Ryoto hopping out of the bed "all right! I should get going."

"Get going?" Said Mereoleona "no way. You think I'm gonna let you go when you have broken fingers and got attacked by my father? Besides, look outside. It's already night out."

"Oh." Said Ryoto laying back down "I guess it is."

"How can you so casually do that while your hands are like that?" Said Mereoleona

"I don't know. I think it's just because I've been hurt way worse than this before. I'll just wrap it in bandages and it'll be fine." Said Ryoto

"Why do that? We can just ask Mimosa to heal you." Said Mereoleona "Besides, I thought you could heal yourself."

"I can't heal everything. When I do it drains me of energy." Said Ryoto "I'm too weak right now to heal the rest."

"Hmm...I see." Said Mereoleona "just rest for now. In the morning I'll get Mimosa."

"Well okay then." Said Ryoto sitting up and giving her a smile "Thank you Mereoleona!"

"Yeah...no problem." Said Mereoleona standing up and walking towards the door. "Before I go, I wanna ask..did you like it when Dorothy kissed you?"

"I mean I guess...I don't really know. I've never really done it before so I can't say that I did or didn't like it." Said Ryoto "even so, it was pretty weird."

"I see." Said Mereoleona, opening the door "well I'll be on my way then."

"Yeah, okay thanks for letting me stay." Said Ryoto as she closed the door

'What did I just do?! Why did I want to do that!' Thought Mereoleona

'Hehehe!' Said Candy 'you would've liked it. I bet he would've too. It seems he's grown to like you.'

'S-Shut it!'

'There's two possibilities though.'

'And what are those possibilities?'

'Well one, is that since you reverted back to your younger self, the thing called puberty occurs where hormones go like totally crazy! The other is that you-'

'Nope nope not happening!'

In the morning Ryoto was found in his room doing a one handed handstand push-up. He was sweating heavily, with drops of sweat dropping from his nose.

"Three thousand nine hundred ninety one, Three thousand nine hundred ninety two, Three thousand nine hundred ninety three..." continued Ryoto as he went up and down

"Hey we're going to get you healed now." Said Leopold

"Four thousand!" Said Ryoto as he then flipped and got on his feet "it's all fine! Look at my hands!"

Ryoto waved his hands in the air showing that his hands were completely healed.

"I'll be going now!" Said Ryoto passing by Leopold

'That's who beat us at the volcano? That's who beat Asta AND Luck?!' Thought Leopold

"Hey." Said Leopold "did you really defeat Asta?"

"I mean I guess." Said Ryoto from down the hall "I don't think he was at full power though so I can't say for sure. I also beat your brother, your father, the captain of the Black Bulls, multiple magic knights, and some others in my time of being here."

'Turns out that the old man was a bit wrong about this place having super strong, cool people.' Thought Ryoto with his eyebrow twitching 'these people use magic that's used for simple tasks as attacks! I bet they haven't even learned Alchemy yet!'

"I see." Yelled Leopold "I'll pay you back some day for that punch you gave me on top of the volcano!"

"I'm looking forward to it!" Said Ryoto walking down the hall "you can fight me anytime!"

"Then how about now?" Said Leopold with a grin

"Huh?" Said Ryoto as he saw Leopold attack him

Ryoto caught Leopold's punch in his hand. It burned. He felt a slight burning sensation in the palm of his hand. Ryoto grabbed Leopold's wrist and threw him outside into the lawn. He ran towards Leopold as he got up and punched him in the gut.

'So this is your power?!' Thought Leopold as he was launched into the air

As Leopold was about to land on the ground Ryoto flicked his finger, launching him into the wall.

"You had enough yet?" Asked Ryoto

'Now I see why my sister has taken an interest in you.' Thought Leopold 'you can keep up with her.'

"You are powerful!" Yelled Leopold "but can you handle this?!"

Leopold then used Crimson Eruption making a magic circle around Ryoto and engulfing him in flames. Ryoto was gone when Leopold looked at the ground. All that was left were ashes on the ground.

'OH NO!' Thought Leopold nervously 'SIS IS GOING TO KILL ME!'

'Seriously...? That's a gardening tool!' Thought Ryoto

A loud sound was then heard from behind Leopold. Ryoto was in the air without his shirt. He held a strong orb of constantly rotating compressed air and water. Leopoldo turned around in time to see Ryoto's attack hit his stomach. The result was a medium sized explosion that launched Leopold through the wall.

'He burned his shirt on purpose so that I'd be distracted looking at the ashes.' Thought Leopold 'he's interesting.'

"Well if that's all, I'll be on my way." Said Ryoto leaving

Leopold smiled and laughed, laying on the ground, as he had just made a new rival.

A day earlier at night

A figure appeared in the window of Mereoleona's room. The figure then stepped down into the room without a sound. His body was surrounded in a shroud of darkness with the only thing visible being the figures yellow eyes.

'So this is her?' Thought the figure 'she has an immense amount of mana. She'll do just fine.'

The figure then put a hand over the sleeping Lioness. A sudden magic circle appeared on the ground. It glowed blue, with a clock in the middle. The figure moved his hands counterclockwise making the clock's hands tick backwards.

'Are you sure about this?' Said a spirit that appeared from his cloak 'Kisho?'