<strong>Estrya harbor;</strong>
Six Grade-8 students and their homeroom teacher are waiting for the remaining people to return.
Gideon was staring at the volcano in worry.
Looking at his expression, their homeroom teacher Rubin, patted his shoulder, and said, "There's no need to worry about Azrael. He's a lot stronger than you imagine. Unless the King made its move, I'm confident that he will be alright. Moreover, Teacher Uphiar left in search of Azzy. He'll bring him back."
Even after hearing his explanation, Gideon's expression didn't change. He wouldn't be worried about his friend even if the platinum-grade beast went on a rampage.
However, this is a natural disaster.
When a natural disaster occurs, unless one is at least rank-5, they wouldn't be able to resist and get out unharmed, no matter, how much potential, they have.
Soon, the rest of the students also arrived at the place.
Following the volcanic eruption and the commotion raised by the beasts that are from the lava lake and the nearby surroundings, the City Mayor ordered the guardians to take care of the situation as well as to check upon the Volcanus King.
However, before they even arrived at the lake, Azzy killed it, thereby causing a chain reaction, making all the beasts present on the island, go into a frenzy.
Having no other choice, the Mayor issued an emergency.
Following the order, the guardians arrived at the island and evacuated every one else while closing off the island temporarily.
Due to the sudden situation, the ninth and tenth graders were also forced to return to the harbor.
While the other visitors are leaving, the students stayed at the harbor, waiting for Azzy and Uphiar.
Soon, they were the only outsiders left on the island.
"What are you doing here? The island was temporarily closed…" A guardian said to the students and the two teachers. "Please leave…"
In response, Gideon spoke, "our friend hasn't returned yet."
The homeroom teacher supported his statement, "our colleague went to look for him. Give us five minutes."
However, the guardian was adamant about his decision. "Provide us the details and his photo. We will contact you when we find him. For now, please leave the island."
"Not necessary." A voice was heard from above them. Everyone raised their heads.
Uphiar and Azzy were standing on some kind of carpet.
"Azrael, you are finally here." The homeroom teacher sighed in relief, upon seeing the arrival of him.
Due to the commotion caused by the monsters and the fellow visitors, he wasn't able to track down Azzy and only brought back the remaining ones. Like Gideon, he was also worried, inside.
It's not like he was worried about Azzy's life. Once a person becomes a rank-4 and broke the first shackles of mortality, they can take their decisions on their own.
It's more like he was worried about his neck.
As Azzy is his responsibility, he feared the wrath of the principal if the boy were to get harmed in the process.
It's not only him. The other teachers also feared the same. That's the reason why Uphiar volunteered to search for him, instead of simply reporting to the authorities.
But soon, their expressions changed from being relieved to shock. Even the guardian was perplexed at the moment.
The carpet landed on the ground and Azzy stepped forward.
"Sorry for the trouble," Uphiar said to the guardian while folding the carpet. "We are leaving, right away."
"Ah, Yes." The rank-5 Guardian stared at Azzy for a few seconds before giving them a nod and left the place.
"Where did you go?" Gideon asked as Azzy stood beside him.
"Here and there… busy with fighting the monsters," Azzy replied vaguely.
Everyone thought he was probably stuck with the monsters that went on a rampage. The teachers also thought the same, thinking that it made sense, considering his current level that they were sensing.
"Congratulations, junior Azrael." All of a sudden, The Galarian beast that is in the disguise of Leonard, spoke to him.
The students around him turned their heads in confusion.
Bay Passel, who was standing behind the prince, frowned deeply. He clearly knew the reason behind Leo's words.
Looking at the confused students, Leo smiled, "welcome to the rank-5 club."
Feeling his potential, the Galarian beast wanted to befriend him, so that, when its life gets in danger, Azzy will be forced to help it out.
After all, it knew that Leo's relationship with Azzy isn't good. Since there are no witnesses either, it can easily claim that Azzy was the one that killed Leo and threatened it to take his place.
With their bad relationship, the Royal family will believe its lie and they would enough reason to kill Azzy.
When both of the time comes, it can blackmail the boy, making such a point. It was clearly thinking that Azzy was just a kid and can be manipulated easily, not knowing its secret was already exposed to him.
Following its plan, Leo put forth his hand for a handshake. It was also a gesture to others that he was willing to put aside their differences, from now onwards.
However, Azzy didn't take his hand and simply nodded in response.
Leo's face darkened at first, but then, thinking that isn't that easy for the kid to forget the ambush incident, he calmly placed his hand down.
Right then, Exea, who was standing silently behind the grade-9 students, opened her mouth, "Student Azrael might be the youngest student from our academy to reach rank-5, right?"
She also congratulates Rubin for acquiring such a genius.
He can't help but forcefully smile. After all, Azzy was his student, only in name. Every teacher knows of it.
Meanwhile, the remaining students now realized the reason behind Leo's changed behavior.
Reaching rank-5 at such age means he will likely become rank-6 before his graduation.
Such a person will not be protected by the academy, but also the government.
With sufficient support, Azzy's future will be limitless. And with such a person, even the Royal family can't lay their hands on them.
So, enmity with Azzy isn't worth the risk to Leonard over such petty arguments.
That's what grade-9 students thought. As for the others from grade-10, they believed that Leo was just putting a false pretense since they knew his character very well.
If it was the real Leo, they would have been right. However, the reality is much different. They didn't know that Leo was dead and was replaced by a beast.
At the same time, they also felt embarrassed by getting surpassed by a junior. Moreover, he isn't a mere junior by one year either. Their age gap is also quite big.
Hearing that a 12-year-old student achieved such a result, while the rest of them are still at peak-level, rank-4 stage, they didn't know how to react to it.
If it was someone else, sure, they would have felt happy that their fellow student is a genius, however, Azzy was someone they outcasted from the beginning.
Even though they felt embarrassed, one after the other, the rest of the students congratulated Azzy, who responded with nothing but a plain nod.
"Okay, let's aboard the ship." Uphiar clapped to get attention and explained that they had to return to the academy, now that they can no longer continue with the trip.
The students were indeed disappointed. Except for Azzy, no one, on the day, was able to make a breakthrough.
With the monthly tournament is near, the students encouraged themselves to work hard during the next week.
One after the other, the students got on to the ship.
As the ship started to sail towards the city, Azzy sat in the corner, sitting alone. Gideon sat with him.
As for the remaining, no one went near.
Previously, no one bothered to talk with him but now, those people that expressed their willingness to ignore Azzy didn't even dare to go near him.
Looking at the murderous gaze on Bay, Gideon whispered to Azzy, "Did you know that you will be going to tournament finals directly?"
"Hmm?" Azzy looked at him.
Gideon continued, "Those who reach rank-5 won't need to participate in preliminary rounds."
"But, I heard that the student's soul power will be restricted to the same level as his opponent with a lower level." Azzy wondered why he would go to finals, directly, if the rankings of their soul don't matter.
Gideon explained, "It's because, excluding yourself, only Leo, Bay, and another two students of grade-10, stood at rank-5. So, naturally, the academy gives a privilege to all of you."
"I see…" Azzy nodded and looked at the front, again.
***
<strong>City hall, Estrya city;</strong>
Sapphire, on her griffin, reached the city hall to meet the Mayor, upon receiving the news about her sister.
Going into the mayor's office, she saw two guardians were standing before the Mayor.
"Are these the guys that teleported her to Central city?" Sapphire asked the Mayor without wasting her time on greetings.
The Mayor nodded and pushed one of them forward, "tell her what you saw without leaving any information."
Upon hearing everything, Sapphire was stunned. "You sure, she was alone?"
She asked him again to confirm his statement, not believing her ears.
As both of the guardians, replied with a yes, Sapphire asked, "after she teleported to Central city, who else went there?"
Due to Mayor's warning, they already prepared the list, beforehand and handed it out to her.
She looked at the names.
There are a lot of names on the list. However, she pointed the first five names on the list that went after her within 15 minutes.
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