"Little Girl, don't think highly of yourself. When you were still drinking milk, I have roamed the wildlands and killed various rank-7 beasts with these hands…" The old man was really displeased with Syllia's actions.
Even if she's born in the royalty of the kingdom of Triastal; even if she's the daughter of heaven, reaching high-rank-7 in just 50 years, he doesn't care.
The short old man named Epicydes who was just a step away from rank-8 was one of the Elders at Maple Academy. He was specially deployed by the Academy to deal with situations like these where instructors from other Academies run amok.
Now that Syllia, who is the representative of a rival academy from theirs, is trying to provoke them, the old man decided to teach a lesson to her.
Upon hearing his words, Syllia raised her hand. As her soul card continued to hover around her, a shining heavy sword that looks a bit similar to that of Claire's appeared in her hands.
However, there are only two differences between the two of them. One is a gold grade spirit and the other is a platinum grade. The other difference is that Claire's sword is of pure light attribute and this one has lightning sparks dancing all over the blade.
Pointing the blade at the old man, almost touching his nose, Syllia challenged him, "Anyone with a mouth can speak, old man. If you have the guts, c'mon, then. Prove it to me."
"You brat dare to challenge me…" Epicydes instantly became furious, excluding his aura. Carmella immediately stood before her niece to shield her while the remaining rank-7s were trying to resist the pressure.
The spectators just stared at the scene, not intending to move away as two rank-7s were arguing. Some are worried that a battle is about to take place while some are excited to witness the full prowess of a rank-7.
Almost everyone forgot about Azzy who was calmly standing like a statue. There was a faint dark aura around him that was shielding him from the pressure of an external aura.
***
Meanwhile, Claire who was watching it from far away became worried for her sister. She knew that Syllia has these mood swings. No one ever knows when she gets angry and when she's excited.
Now that she's angry, she hoped someone to stop her sister from starting the battle, or else, she was sure that this Arena would be destroyed.
As if someone heard her prayers, suddenly, a giant seal appeared in the sky.
"Hmm?" The rank-7s raised their heads. A few spectators also did the same.
All of a sudden, two beams of light descended from the seal. Before Syllia and Epicydes even make a move, they were struck at the same time like lightning, leaving behind two energy chains around their bodies to restrict their movements.
The four of them fell silent as they stared at the sky.
Followed by the disappearance of the seal, Barton slowly descended with his hands back.
The spectators were awed to see this old man that managed to calm the situation.
As for the students of Aclein Academy, they felt proud to see how their principal stopped these overbearing foreigners with just one move.
Landing on the ground, he said, "I won't let anyone make a mess in my academy. So, please refrain from yourselves and maintain the dignity of being a guest, as long as you are here. I request the two of you to stand down."
Even though he managed to restrict them, Barton knew that at least Epicydes can break the seal if he really tries hard enough.
He doesn't want to fight with him and make the authorities change the venue. So, he asked them politely while removing the chains.
"In respect to Mr. Everglade, I'll forgive her." Epicydes shrugged his shoulders and turned around to walk away.
Syllia doesn't fear a low-rank-8 Arcana master. A while ago, she even killed a mid-rank-8 expert of a dark organization in a one-on-one duel.
However, remembering that this old man is Azzy's master, Syllia dismissed her sword and the soul card before forcing herself to calm down. "Greetings, Mr. Everglade.
She placed her right palm on her chest while crossing her right leg behind the left, and gave a graceful bow. "I'm Syllia Lefeuvre, the representative instructor from the Sun Academy."
As Barton returned the greetings, and then, further greeted Jordon and Carmella one by one.
He glanced briefly at Azzy before focusing on Syllia, "You have the same surname as Claire. By chance, are you two related to each other?"
The moment Azzy released his aura, Barton has sensed it from his office. He already realized that there's going to be trouble. By the time he reached the place, the battle was already over but another argument took place between the Elites of the top academies.
To make sure there's no trouble, he decided to intervene and exposed his soul power so that these top academies will take him seriously.
Just like he thought, Jordon no longer put on airs like before, with the presence of a rank-8 expert in the academy. It doesn't matter whether Barton used connections or not. In the current situation, Jordon felt like he can only keep quiet like a tamed lion.
Barton and Syllia continued to chat.
"Yeah, it's true." Nodding to Barton's question, Syllia explained, "Now that I have seen his necromancy skills with my own eyes, I'm strongly recommending him to join our academy.
Unlike other academies, our Sun Academy has the necromancy division where they can be trained on how to use dark power for the sake of good. You know that we only recruit 15 students each year. So, each spot is very precious… The rest is your wish."
Before Barton gives his reply, with a surprised look on her face, Carmella opened her mouth while pointing a finger towards the shield behind Syllia, "Syllia, dispel that shield before you embarrass yourself…"
"Huh!" Syllia first looked at Carmella with a frown, then, turned around to look at what is this rival of hers is pointing at.
She was bewildered to see the golden shield that was shining brightly had lost its luster and was filled with cracks.
She spotted strands of dark energy are moving like a snake in every direction. Their pace is extremely slow.
However, wherever they passed, not only did the place lose the shine but also seemed to slowly get corrupted by the foreign energy while developing cracks.
Syllia understood what Carmella was hinting at. She quickly dismissed the shield and then, looked at Azzy who was standing in a daze.
The frown was replaced by an exciting look as she turned towards Barton, "I promise that your disciple will get the best terms he can get. And the Sun Academy will be also regarded as an ally to your Academy. What do you say?"
Carmella scoffed inside, "look at this bi**h trying to poach him away without showing any sincerity. Do you think the other academies will sit by and do nothing after your earlier display of arrogance?"
***
After a while, the aura around Azzy was dismissed by the Reaper and the boy returned to reality.
"Huh!" Azzy was taken aback to see himself standing on a flying card with his Master as it is slowly ascending into the sky.
Floyd and the proctor were nowhere to be seen. The spectators were starting to leave one after another.
He then saw the back of Jordon that was flying towards the stands. Azzy was indeed surprised to see such a giant human of a different race.
"Azrael, you are back." A familiar cheerful sound from behind made him turn around to see Claire and another lady that have similar features as Claire's.
"What happened to the battle?" He asked Claire.
"Eh?" Claire was surprised. "You don't know?"
"So, you were possessed by your Arcana Spirit before you unleashed that dark spear?" Syllia chipped in. She remembered how Azzy simply nodded when she introduced herself.
Azzy nodded. Well, even though it isn't the truth, it isn't also a lie according to Azzy. After all, he was possessed by the Protos energy, rather than his Arcana spirit.
Meanwhile, at the stands, Vann was staring at the flying card, "Twin Arcana spirits, Huh!"
"Third Senior brother, now that you have seen it with your own eyes, do you think he's qualified to join our academy?"
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