A/N: Shout out to CPT Ratchet and Aonte for PRing the story. I'd like to thank all you readers for reading this story. I can't believe I've already written over 20 chps for this story...Time sure does fly. Well once, if you enjoy the story please leave a comment or review! Hope you enjoy the chp!

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“Winner! Zer Aiur!!”

With the announcement, the crowd went into a fury. Without even a glance to the male that had been knocked out cold on the floor, Zer left the stage and headed toward the exit. At that moment, the two commenters began to review the match.

“That was quite a match wasn’t it Rialesta?”

“Indeed it was Kevin. Even though both are King ranked in earth element, the difference in strength and skills was clear as day. Not only was Zer more talented in swordsmanship than Robin Wissmein, he showed the large difference in their proficiency and battle experience as he forced Robin to go at his own pace the whole match.”

“He sure does live up to the expectation as Rhostaz Kingdom’s heralded prodigy, doesn’t he?”

“Why yes he does. The ease at which he was able to mix his spells in with his excellent swordsmanship was very beautiful, but just as deadly too. I believe Azrael Celeste and Zer Aiur have risen to the forefront as the strongest contenders to become a representative alongside with last year’s representatives.”

As the commentator’s voice trailed behind him, Zer entered the corridor to the sight of his two best friends. Seeing the large grins on their face, he couldn’t help but also smile. When he had almost reached them Azrael raised his right hand straight above his head, which Zer responded to by raising his own and slapping Azrael’s.

“Good job out there Zer.”

“Bah, it was too easy. Robin has never been outstanding in the intermediate earth element course. I didn’t even have to use the steel element. “

Zer had a bitter expression on his face. Azrael couldn’t help but secretly agree with him. For the both of them, this had been their first official battle.For their first battles to be so easy… well to call it a disappointment was an understatement.

“Haaa…. It must be nice for you two~”

Winston, on the other hand, let out a big sigh and had a gloomy look on his face. Even though he had won his match earlier, it truly hadn’t been easy. Since Winston specialized in defensive earth spells, he didn’t have much offensive prowess except for his swordsmanship. As much as he had improved in the past four months, it was still too short of a time for someone who had just started to train to become proficient after all.

The female he went against was only a knight ranked water user, so she did not have enough power to go through his defense. It took him a long time, but in the end Winston had won through his sheer defense. When he came back into the corridor and saw Azrael and Zer, he had lowered his head in shame. After that, it took Azrael and Zer a long time to console him back to normal.

“Anyway, now that we’re done we should go eat dinner and relax. We’ll practice tomorrow morning instead of tonight since Winston and I had our matches today.We don’t have school tomorrow after all.”

All sixty four matches of the first round had been held during the weekend. While Azrael had fought on the first day, the other two had their matches the next day. Since all three of them had advanced to the next round, they did not have to attend classes and could go practice on their own.

The trio quickly finished eating dinner inside the cafeteria and headed back to their dorms. Azrael and Zer had decided that instead of just the usual sparring, the three would also practice their magic the next day as well.

“Alright I’m exhausted so I’m going to head off to bed first Az. Good night”

When Winston and Azrael had arrived to their room, Winston had immediately went to his bed and plopped down. Not even a minute after, Azrael could hear soft inhales from across the room. Shaking his head in amazement, he went to his own bed and began meditating. Even though he spent so much time training with Zer and Winston at night, Azrael had never forgotten to purify his mana at night or run early in the morning.

“Huu…”

After two hours of sitting still, Azrael finally let out a large breath and opened his eyes. His green aura was slowly reaching the peak condition. Once he reached emperor rank, his aura would change into a misty purple color.

‘Hm…. I feel restless… It must be because I haven’t really trained today… I should go practice and release some energy from my body to sleep tonight..’

At that thought, he rose from his bed and left the room quietly with his spear as he did not want to disturb Winston who was deep in slumber. After he had closed the door gently, Azrael left the dorm and headed toward the forest. When he reached the clearing, Azrael couldn’t help but let out a smile before he positioned himself and began to train.

For one hour, Azrael went through numerous strikes while simultaneously using magic at the same time. He threw up a wall of water for defense, then attacked like the first battle. He made numerous fireballs and released them toward the enemy to inflict panic. In his mind, there was always an image of an opponent who was stronger than him.

Azrael had found out in his previous life that he had improved the most when he had faced someone who had been stronger than him and threatened his life. Even though it was better to train with someone, Azrael had learned that he could also improve at a fast pace if he shadow trained. After he had died for the hundredth times, he finally stopped and sprawled out on the ground. With deep inhales, he recovered the oxygen that had been lost while he was training.

“That was quite impressive Azrael.”

At the intrusion of a foreign sound in his surrounding, Azrael immediately stood up and turned toward the source in a crouched position so that he could make quick movements at a notice. As he saw the unexpected visitor, however, he relaxed.

“How did you find me here princess?”

The person who had appeared was none other than Han Byul. With a smile on her face, she tilted her head and answered.

“Sorry Azrael. I was just walking in the area when I noticed a bright light in the forest. When I went to investigate it, I saw you training here.”

“I see. Why didn’t you say anything when you saw me then?”

“You looked so focused that I felt hesitant to disturb you.”

“Hmmm….. I see. Thank you for waiting princess. Ah! Where are my manners? Would you like to come sit? I doubt you would have waited for me to stop training if you didn’t have something to say.”

After she nodded her head, Han Byul came forward and took a seat in the grass beside Azrael. At first, she didn’t say and gazed at the bright stars in the night sky with amazement. Azrael, however, only looked upon Han Byul’s face as her face filled with wonder, dazzling him more than any star could.

They stayed like this for a while until Han Byul reluctantly looked away and toward Azrael. For a moment, the two just looked at the other as they had thoughts only known to themselves. Han Byul then broke the silence as she lowered her head in apology.

“I want to apologize for last weekend Azrael”

“Eh?”

Azrael couldn’t help but let out a surprised voice at Han Byul’s lowered head and sudden apology. Without allowing Azrael to recover, she continued on.

“I shouldn’t have asked you to tell us about Crystal. I made you open an old wound.”

When Azrael heard what the cause of her apology was, he couldn’t help but to chuckle. Han Byul looked at him with a confused face.

‘She really is pure just like before, isn’t she? Being remorseful at something like this…’

Azrael looked upon her with a caring gaze as he spoke.

“You don’t have to be so sorry princess. It was my decision to speak about it after all. You didn’t force me to do it. Talking about her to you three actually had a healing effect on me. That might have been exactly what I needed. I should be the one thanking you.”

As she heard Azrael, she couldn’t help but be surprised. She had expected him to be colder toward her because of what happened since she had brought up such a sour topic. To instead be thanked, she didn’t know what to do and just stared at him with shock for a moment before she regained control and laughed.

“Hehe, is that so? Anyways, you were very impressive in your first match. The way you…”

They began to speak about the tournament and their thoughts on it. Azrael couldn’t help but smile as he saw how excited Han Byul was. It was a first for Azrael to see her so animated. After they had spoken for over an hour, the two decide that it was time to call it a night and head to bed.

Azrael was overjoyed over the unexpected encounter. The two took their time to walk through the forest as they continued chatting. As they were about to exit the forest, however, he received an urgent warning.

‘Master! Watch out!’

Without any hesitation Azrael jumped toward Han Byul and pushed her down. While they fell, he felt the air over him distort as an projectile passed where the two had been. As Azrael looked at the direction from which the projectile came, he saw a shadow move.

‘Shit. Why the hell would someone attack us here?!’

‘Watch out master. This person is most likely an Emperor ranked darkness mage.’

Azrael faced paled at Samjoko’s assessment. Even though there was only one a one rank difference between him and the assailant, that gap was still large. As one rose in rank, the gap between ranks grew exponentially.

‘Shit, where is that bastard?!’

Due to the shadows the trees provided, it was difficult to discern where the assailant was. If Azrael had been alone he would have felt more confident as he could also use the darkness element to assist him in hiding his presence to escape. The problem, however, was that If he were to do that Han Byul would be in a lot more danger and he wouldn’t allow it.

At that moment, the assailant decided to attack. Without trying to hide himself, he made a beeline toward Azrael. As Azrael saw this, he got into a stance and stood in front of Han Byul, ready to defend her with his life.

When the attacker was only ten yards away, Azrael casted a fireball spell right in front of their eyes. Using the time gained from when they stopped, an ice formed in the shape of a spear came into existence above his head and ferociously impaled itself into the attacker's torso.

‘...If Samjoko was correct in his assessment, and this assailant is an Emperor rank, there is no way it should be this easy..’

As the impaled assailant flew backward due to the impact, the body began to become disfigured and slowly fell to the floor. As Azrael figured out he had been tricked, he tried to turn, but it was a moment too late. An intense pain ran through his body from his left waist as he was thrown forward by a large impact. As he flew through the air, he heard a deep baritone voice.

“Dark Impalement”

“GAAAH!”

A dark mass began forming in the assailant’s right arm. As the mass took the shape of a spear, he threw it toward Azrael and accurately hit him in his left chest. Spitting out the blood that quickly rose through his throat, Azrael then made contact with the earth and bounced a few times before he laid on his back. Turning his head toward his right, he saw the crying figure of Han Byul rushing toward him as darkness took over his vision.

“AZRAEL!!!”

With horror and fear on her face, Han Byul rushed toward the lying figure of Azrael. When she saw blood profusely rushing out of his body from the large wound in his left chest and waist, her face paled.

Just then, she felt a large hand touch grip her shoulder. In a panic, she turned her body and struck the elbow of the arm that had grabbed her, surprising the man causing him to lose his group. As she broke away, gravity grabbed her body and forced her to fall right beside Azrael’s body.

With tears profusely falling down her face, she grabbed hold of Azrael and looked at the approaching figure with deep hatred. She didn’t even flinch as the assailant slowly raised his right arm with a dagger gripped in his hand.

At that time, however, neither noticed the black smoke being emitted from Azrael’s body. Slowly the smoke gathered and began to take a solid form. From the smoke, a loud cry rang out.

“Caw! Caw!”