“What the hell have you done to my students?” Jonathan asked, staring at the smiling second year S-Class students with mild horror in his voice, looking at the parents of one of said students…

The Kazuya Pair looked a bit awkward, Izuki scratching the back of his head and Miya pointedly not looking at Jonathan.

That was because when Jonathan arrived at Elem, he found them in the training area, nothing wrong with that, it was a day before the Inter-Class Tournament so practice was important…

The issue was that all of them had Armaments now. Including Vince, whose Armament, as far as Jonathan could see, was a pair of guns.

Guns when no one else had ever gained guns as an Armament.

Tony had some weapons Jonathan vaguely remembered from dealing with one of the King of Earth’s followers, another oddity but not a train smash...

Another issue, beyond the Armaments thing, was that somehow, the rankings of the class had changed by quite a bit.

Liza and the hero brat were both still first and second respectively, not that Jonathan doubted it, though he suspected Hiiro only kept his spot as second because he used his spear during his fight against Edward instead of using the bow like he should have been.

No doubt Edward would have won their ranking fight if Hiiro was using a bow, let alone a katana.

But then the upsets began… instead of Edward… Vince was ranked third.

Vince. The kind of lazy clown of the class.

Jonathan was still staring at the boy wondering how the hell that had happened, but then attributed it to those impossible weapons in his hands and Edward likely being surprised.

So Edward was understandably knocked down to rank four. Edward, who by all rights should have been a contender for second place by the time they graduated, was now rank four.

And Tony, shy, shy, Tony, was rank five.

Leah and Jade had both been defeated by him thanks to his new weapons during the Inner Class Battles.

So with the exception of the immovable rank one and two, all the other students swapped, with Tony and Vince rising and the other three all lowering in rank by at least one…

“You three are getting extra training.” Leah, Jade and Edward dropped to their knees as fat crocodile tears flowed down their faces…

Jonathan was maybe four fifths certain that Leah was using her Water Element to do it, but he never knew with these odd children…

“Oh don’t complain you three; Jonathan’s a nicer teacher than my parents.” Hiiro muttered in annoyance, and Jonathan determined that the boy would also be getting more training.

Can’t be accused of going soft if even the students who liked him complained, right?

“Well, our work here is done, we’re going to go do a mission far, far away from Berlin! It’s hard being around broody Hiiro all the time after all. Bye son!” Izuki waved, carrying his wife in a bridal carry, Miya waving from Izuki’s arms before Izuki vanished, running away.

“…That just happened.” Edward noted to Hiiro… Kazuya, with look, Kazuya just shrugging in return to Edward’s leading glance.

“We care for each other, but everyone needs a bit of space sometime.” Hiiro said, not caring that he’d be at home alone for probably a month or two…

His parents wouldn’t leave without making sure Hiiro could live, and if there wasn’t enough money he’d just go on a mission with his Class, they’d agree if they knew why.

“Nicely said. Now I know the Inter Class Tournament is happening tomorrow, and I’ve been away for quite a while, so let’s see your ability… you’ll all be facing me.” Jonathan said, shedding his suit jacket, prompting the students to realize that Jonathan was actually dressed impeccably…

They were so used to ignoring whatever weird clothing Jonathan was wearing that they subconsciously blocked out even the normal clothes.

They didn’t have much time to focus on the clothing as a blade appeared in Jonathan’s hand, his other arm gaining a gauntlet with a shield strapped to it, and an eyeless eel floating about the room in its creepy splendour.

“Now come on then.” Jonathan said, his face showing his boredom, that expression provoking the students as their Armaments were held at the ready…

It was a shame, really…

They were all three Star Sages, even if Liza was almost four Stars, they were still three Stars…

And feeling the power exuding from Jonathan all of a sudden, the students widened their eyes and paled… because that power of Jonathan’s that they were so used to… it felt like it doubled.

And the only time a Sage’s power doubled, was after progressing to the next rank.

Jonathan wasn’t a five Star Sage anymore; he was a six Star Sage.

Knowing this, feeling the power Jonathan was giving off, Edward, Tony and Liza rushed forward, Kazuya and Jade stepping between those three and Leah and Vince, getting an appreciative glance from Jonathan…

They were all in their ideal ranges, Liza, Edward and Tony were primarily close range fighters, even if Tony’s new weapons could be used at range, Tony fought best up close.

Kazuya and Jade, while up-front fighters, were capable of fighting from longer distances, Kazuya using his spear and Element control to strike from a distance, Jade using her Metal to create dead-zones in a fighting area, and using Light to pick off enemies over a distance… not to mention she was getting tougher, harder to hurt.

Probably due to having her spar with Edward, Kazuya and Liza so much, they were enemies who Jade couldn’t dodge constantly as she usually did, her resistance to pain and general blows were increasing, and she was finally learning to use her Metal Element defensively…

Now if only she’d learn how to use her Light defensively as well.

Then in the back and final row were Vince and Leah, the Spell-caster and long range attacker.

If Jonathan was being honest, those two could really change the flow of battle by a huge amount the longer they were left alone. There was a good reason those in the back were targeted first by intelligent enemies, it was because those in the back had the time to do stronger attacks that couldn’t be stopped, only dodged.

If Jonathan was a long-range specialist himself, he would pick them off first, but he was restraining himself to four Star power right now, lest he kill his students in one blow.

Tony reached Jonathan first, the shy boy being the fastest in the class, Jonathan raising his blade and slamming it into one of Tony’s boomerangs, bouncing the weapon back, the other one trying to bite into a perceived opening in Jonathan’s guard, only for Jonathan to punch the weapon with his gauntlet covered arm, surprising the boy.

Right, the shield blocked most of the vision of his enemies, and Jonathan took advantage of this a lot to use his gauntlet in such a way.

Tony hadn’t even had the chance to restore his stance of move out of the way before Jonathan spun, slamming the face of his shield into Tony’s skull, sending the student spiralling away…

Luckily Jonathan had held back on that attack, it probably would have broken Tony’s neck if Jonathan had just put a bit more power into his blow.

Edward and Liza arrived at the same time, worried but ignoring Tony flying away knowing that they had to hold Jonathan in place, otherwise Jonathan would cut a path through each of their other classmates…

Besides, someone would see to Jonathan, probably Vince or Jade as they were capable of healing, even if not as well as Leah… Leah was busy boosting their durability and speed, knowing that they couldn’t defeat Jonathan, Leah was instead trying to prolong the fight.

Jonathan could tell, recognizing a few Spells in there as ones that he knew as well, though he didn’t have the time to be drawing out the Runes right now.

Liza swept her staff downwards, Edward punching forward with circles of Fire surrounding his Gauntlet, drawing Jonathan’s interest.

For Liza’s staff, Jonathan raised a foot, slamming it down onto the weapon in a move that wouldn’t work on those of the same strength, and for Edward’s punch Jonathan raised his shield into the path of the attack…

When Jonathan saw Edward’s smirk, Jonathan realized that those circles of Fire were probably a bad thing, and when the punch hit the shield, a resounding boom rang out.

Jonathan slid out of the cloud of smoke, twisting his arm for a moment, looking straight into the cloud.

That, whatever Edward just did, was interesting… and Jonathan felt like he had seen something similar to that just a week or two ago.

When he watched Drake, the Shield of the Empire, sparring against Grigori, Drake had done a similar, if much more powerful move.

Jonathan would talk to Edward after the fight, instead he watched Edward rush through the smoke to attack him, Liza not exiting the smoke while Kazuya and Liza stepped forward.

Jonathan was about to send an attack to Edward, instead having to tilt his head as a beam of Light blasted past his face, reminding Jonathan that yes, Vince was still around, even if he wasn’t attacking much.

That split second of distraction was enough for Edward to try and send a vicious body blow into Jonathan’s side, but Jonathan just smiled, his eyes narrowed in an evil gaze.

“Angui.” Edward’s eyes widened almost comically as he aborted his blow, pulling his arm into his side and spinning away from the gaping maw of the eyeless eel that just entered the space Edward was at but a moment ago…

It was funny to Jonathan, how people could ignore Angui’s presence with his own there…

Angui retreated to the air, staying away from the floor where the majority of the battle was, and Jonathan snapped his Gauntlet clad fingers.

The loud noise drew a twitch from Angui, the beast tilting its head towards Jonathan for a moment before hissing and ‘diving’ towards Vince and Leah…

That should keep them busy… Angui wasn’t easily defeated, even if, like Jonathan, Angui was weaker than normal.

Manifestations added a whole new dimension to a fight, and Jonathan was aware that the students had never faced a Sage who was also using his Manifestation at the same time…

Heck, Yusuf and Bobby hadn’t even used their Manifestations during the School Wide Tourney, saving the creatures for their fights at the International Juniors.

Then again, Jonathan was aware that his son’s Manifestation was… vile. And Bobby’s Manifestation was huge.

Yusuf had only won his fight against Bobby during the International Juniors because of how evil his Manifestation was, Bobby’s own bear unable to stop it from weakening Bobby to the point that Yusuf could win.

Poisonous Manifestations were almost unfair.

Jonathan charged forward, flicking his wrist as he extended his arm, his blade clashing against Edward’s gauntlets with small flaming sparks, Jonathan focusing on what Angui was ‘seeing’…

And Jonathan realized something was off.

Liza was gone, so was Kazuya, meaning that above ground there was only Vince, Leah, Jade, the recovered and approaching Tony, and finally Edward…

So below ground.

Just as Jonathan realized this, Liza popped out the ground, swinging her Khakkara at Jonathan’s neck, the teacher ducking his head, raising his shield to cover his face because of Edward trying to drive a right straight into his skull.

Kazuya chose this moment to jump from the ground to Jonathan’s left, the side with the shield, the shield currently being preoccupied by Edward’s attack.

Jonathan smiled behind his shield, acknowledging that if he had been a normal human, this would have been the part where he lost…

But they were all Sages, and their limbs and weapons weren’t their only ways of fighting.

Kazuya’s Monochrome Spear sunk into a wall of Darkness, surprising the boy, trying to remove his weapon but instead finding the Darkness crawling up the weapon, prompting Kazuya to take one hand off of his weapon, his hand forming Light to drive back the tendrils before they grabbed Kazuya himself.

Edward’s fist impacted on the shield, and Jonathan, instead of stopping it, let the explosive force roll over him and push him back, his back slamming into Liza and sending them both flying…

She got hurt more than Jonathan did from that attack though, and Jonathan dug his sword into the ground to halt his momentum, Liza still flying backwards before spinning, landing on her feet before falling to her knees.

Tony took this chance to attack, one boomerang flying out for Jonathan’s neck, Jonathan slashing at the weapon with a wave of Wind, sending it flying back at Tony who caught it.

Right, Jonathan recalled that these weapons were strange… but Tony wasn’t the only one who could use his weapon at mid or close range.

Jonathan felt the chain wrapped around his arm extend, and then swung horizontally, his sword flying from his hand while the chain kept it under his control, leaving tony to slide under the blade.

A good move, if he had tried to block, the chain would have wrapped around him since the blade wasn’t aimed at Tony, it was aimed behind him.

Edward, on the other hand, had to block the blade, hitting it with his Gauntlet, and that drew a smirk from Jonathan…

He needed that impact, the blade halting for a moment in its revolution, letting Jonathan pull it back to him, the blade going to dig into Tony’s back unless Tony caught on…

Of course, Jonathan was blunting the edge of his Armament with Darkness so it wouldn’t kill the boy, but he had to realize he was ‘out’ if he got hit with this.

Tony, even if he couldn’t see the blade, saw Jonathan pulling back, and knowing how his own weapons worked, he rolled to the side, throwing his boomerang just before he did.

Jonathan saw the weapon go past him, and while he knew it wouldn’t hit him, even if it came back, Jonathan kept his attention split between Tony and the weapon, knowing that any Sage would not do something in battle without purpose…

Well, unless the one doing so was absurdly stronger, before the loss of her legs, Rabia would dance, sing, and prank Jonathan in the middle of their spars just because she had that leeway.

Nonetheless, Jonathan didn’t catch his blade, instead letting it fly past him, Liza who was trying to catch him by surprise forced to block with her Gauntlet, her progress stopped by the burst of Wind from the tip of the blade, stopping her and sending the blade back at Jonathan.

The reason why Jonathan’s blade and chain were so dangerous was because Jonathan could use his control over Wind and Darkness to either increase the strength of his attacks or to send his blade flying unpredictably.

Jonathan turned his head, Kazuya approaching with Lightning sparking from his feet, an imitation of Tony’s Blitz ability, his spear lashing out for Jonathan’s legs…

A smart attack, it was harder to defend your legs after all, and Jonathan was forced to jump backwards, his blade shooting past where Jonathan just was and forcing Kazuya to slide under the blade, jumping from his slide into a thrusting strike for his throat.

Jonathan countered by shortening the chain of his weapon, the blade being pulled into his hand and giving Jonathan the chance to twist his blade into striking the shaft of the spear, bouncing the second-ranked student back.

Surrounded by Tony, Kazuya, Liza and Edward, Jonathan was certain this was going to take a while.

With the other three members of the group, Vince, Jade and Leah were reminded why they thought Jonathan’s Manifestation was disturbing…

Watching something glide through air, slimy and without eyes, opening its mouth and revealing many razor sharp, needle-like fangs, was just all kinds of unsettling…

And that was before the thing had the ability to leave a shadowy trail behind it, and blast them with compressed blasts of air, or flicking them with its tail.

Angui’s movement was also erratic, slow at one moment and then fast the next, the creature making full use of its appearance to freak its enemies out…

Just like how Jonathan would drop his enemy’s guards with his odd clothes from time to time… it was hard to take someone wearing fuzzy slippers, wire antennas, star shaped glasses, a giant fuzzy coat and shorts seriously.

Jonathan loved his wife, really, but her outfit choices were absurd, and the only reason he didn’t argue against them were because he could see the benefits to wearing them.

That, and she’d force him into those clothes.

So like its master, Angui used its appearance to its advantage, creeping out the three Sages.

“I’m going to have nightmares for a weak.” Jade bluntly stated, watching as Angui burst out one of the shadow trails left behind it, aiming to bite at Leah who screamed in fear…

Luckily, she had a shield up. Also luckily, Jade was there to stab the creature, her Armament (unimaginably named Lumiere by Liza) digging into Angui, getting a roar from the creature as it wiggled, shaking off Jade.

“We all are. This thing is terrifying.” Vince complained, in agreement with Jade as Angui was a bad opponent for the three.

It was fast, created hiding spots for itself just by moving, and could even attack from said hiding spots without leaving them…

It chose to leave its hiding spots only to wear on them mentally, Vince knew this, and he would swear that thing grinned at him when it whacked him with its tail.

Leah was already crying and breathing heavily from fear, looking at any of the ink-like vapours in the air as if they held all the world’s evils, Jade’s expression was neutral but her off hand kept twitching as if she was holding an imaginary throwing knife…

And Vince? Every time he heard anything, anything, he shot it.

Leah and Jade were just lucky they could block his shots.

“Why, why can’t we just erase those black spots?” Jade shouted, stabbing Lumiere at the darkness, the weapon covered in Light and indeed punching holes into the darkness…

But even though Jade tried, the holes were being filled in by even more smoke, the hiss of the eel ringing out around them as if laughing at them for even trying to stop it from creating its own hunting grounds.

“We aren’t using enough Light… I have an idea, Leah, I need you and Jade to guard me while I do the prep work.” Vince said, looking at his guns for a moment before focusing…

Having two guns, was admittedly nice, but he needed more power for this next move… so slowly, carefully, pulling his power from one of the guns, it reverted back into its base form, Vince storing the Light-Element pistol and holding his Wood-Element one, pointing the muzzle at the ground as he kneeled.

“Whatever he’s doing, he better do it quick.” Jade complained, summoning knives into her off hand and flinging them outwards before clenching her fists, each of the knives exploding into balls of Light, briefly revealing Angui, the eel hissing and wriggling in mid-air before spinning, a wave of wind erupting from its location.

Jade barely thought about it as she waved her arm, a curved wall of metal appearing in front of the three Sages, the wave of wind bursting over the wall and bypassing the group.

Acting quickly, Jade stabbed the wall with her sabre, and then swung, the entire wall liquefying and then stretching out to slash at where Angui was just a moment ago.

The eel slipped into the dark spots, vanishing as the metal was pulled back to Jade, floating around her in a ring, Leah taking the chance to create a turbulent water shield around Vince’s spot.

Vince finally opened his eyes after two more encounters with Angui, the eel blasting the shield surrounding him only once, the other time the eel was repelled by Jade, as he fired into the ground.

“Jade, back off, I need you to focus as much Light into this seed as you can!” Vince shouted, Leah taking away the shield and letting Jade run over, confused but then remembering the cliché plant Vince used against Edward.

“That’s your plan?” Jade asked with an incredulous look, only to be met with a nod from Vince, the girl sighing as she held out a hand to the hole in the ground, concentrating as much Light as she could and sending it within.

Vince had summoned his Light-pistol, making it part of his Armoury once more.

In case the capitalization wasn’t a hint, Vince’s Armament was named ‘Hunter’s Armoury’.

Vince aimed his guns at the seed, blasting them as quickly as he could when he heard the hissing coming from close behind him.

Turning to look over his shoulder, seeing the blind beast’s open maw closing in, Vince was proud to say that he might have only peed himself a little.

Luckily for them, Vince could feel the seed beginning to crack, prompting both Jade and Vince to roll out of the way, letting the eel move above the seed…

And then get knocked upwards as a massive sunflower grew from the seed, making the eel hiss loudly in anger as it was burnt by the Light radiating from the flower before it managed to roll off, tiredly moving towards one of its ink-like hiding places…

Vince smirked at the sight of Angui trying to run away before he snapped his fingers, the massive flower stopping its growth at his command before it ‘faced’ downwards.

“I’ve always wanted to say this… let there be light!” Vince shouted, causing the giant flower to glow for a moment as Jade palmed her face, Leah giggling at their side when the flower practically burst into Light.

With Jonathan and the other four members of the second year S-Class on the other side of the huge room, they were still trying to actually hit Jonathan, so far unable to do anything beyond knock him around, the actual damage being done to him being next to nothing, none of their attacks actually hitting him.

Jonathan was instead blocking and deflecting all their attacks with his sword, chain, shield and gauntlet, occasionally using the Darkness or Wind to bat them around.

It was when Edward tried to send a wave of stone at Jonathan, Jonathan instead using his sword as a grappling hook to pull himself above and onto the wave. At that moment, Vince said that phrase, and as he stated, there was Light.

Blinding Light, as Jonathan’s eyes went shut, his left hand coming up to use his shield to block some of the brightness, the students not really faring any better than Jonathan…

Well, most of them…

Tony, on the other hand, still had one of his boomerangs zipping around the room, and seeing the massive sunflower on the other side of the room, he had immediately focused some Darkness Element to his eyes, protecting his eyes from the intense light, and letting him see during this.

And seeing Jonathan being vulnerable, Tony mentally ordered the Dark Bolt to stop, the boomerang spinning in place and enlarging into a portal, Tony falling back into the dark shadow he was creating due to the intense brightness.

Popping out of the portal which was barely a metre away from Jonathan, Tony lashed out at Jonathan’s chest.

At the same time, with Vince, Jade and Leah, the ink was gone, Jade and Vince able to see easily even as Leah was forced to keep her eyes closed, she could still feel the air around her…

Angui was being burnt by the light, Vince and Jade having focused on ‘attack enemies, heal allies’ meaning that there was no friendly fire to the attack based on their thoughts.

The benefit of being a Light Element user in that regard was that the Element was quick to follow the thoughts of the user, to the letter usually.

“Get it before the light ends!” Vince shouted, and Leah gave a small smile, raising her wand upwards.

“Time to try.” Leah whispered to herself, focusing her power…

Angui was in too much pain to notice as the air around it shifted imperceptibly…

Jonathan was still keeping his eyes closed as the crackle of Lightning was heard…

“Atmospheric Lock!” Leah shouted.

“Thunder Clap.” Tony whispered under his breath.

A few hours later, Donovan sat, chuckling at the person seated across from him, ignoring the glare sent his way.

“It’s not that funny.” Jonathan said, and Donovan would have thought the man was pouting almost.

“It is kind of funny. How did it go again? Oh yes, you were fighting all of your students yes, restricting yourself to four Star strength, and after a bit, they managed to land a hit on both you and your Manifestation while Angui was injured and you were blinded.” Donovan started, and Jonathan looked away with a scowl, having explained this part to the man…

Having it repeated back to you didn’t make it less annoying… the opposite in fact.

“And then you hit back instinctively, and your Manifestation used your Diversity to restore itself before you knocked out all of your students with your full power… so what basically happened was that you had your pride stepped on and you threw a tantrum.” Donovan was actually laughing loudly now at this point while Jonathan sighed in front of him.

“I really hadn’t meant to react as quickly as I did, but being blinded would make anyone panic… they’re all pretty strong now, though they have room for improvement.” Jonathan admitted, thinking to after he healed all of the students and then started the one on one fights.

“Of course they do, they’re just children. You could also improve yourself you know?” Donovan said with a pointed look, Jonathan leaning back in his chair with his arms crossed and a scowl across his face.

“Of course I know that. My Reinforcement isn’t anywhere close to what it could be, I can’t Pure Cast unless it’s a tier one or two Spell, my Armament and Clad aren’t mastered either and I still struggle to combine Darkness and Wind.” Donovan blinked, and then gave a sad smile at that blurting of information…

Jonathan was very well aware of his own weaknesses…

His students didn’t know, but Donovan did, Donovan knew that Jonathan was even harsher on himself than he was with his students…

“How were the other Kings?” Donovan asked, the mood dropping as he realized that he had inadvertently opened a can of worms with Jonathan criticizing himself.

“Other than Rabia I don’t really have much to compare them to. The King of Darkness was being a money-grabber as usual, the King of Water was trying to get everyone to work together, the King of Wood kept trying to play pranks and Rabia just giggled at it all.” That sounded par for the course for those four, Donovan nodded, knowing that this was normal.

“As for the others, the King of Light, Earth, and Lightning aren’t there yet for their own reasons… the King of Ice refused to leave Valour Academy yet, even though it was close. In the end the other four Kings invaded the Academy to pester him two weeks ago, and left him alone since then.” Donovan chuckled awkwardly, hiding his face behind his hand…

Of course Yule was being so antisocial… the man believed that anything that took effort was pointless to do until the last second.

Basically, the King of Ice was lazy until spurred into action.

Not that it was a bad thing, Yule’s Diversity actively made him stronger the lazier he was so Donovan didn’t blame the man for being that way, his own power enforced it.

“As for the King of Fire… I’m sorry to say he passed on in his sleep. Old age.” Donovan’s eyes widened at that, placing his hands over each other as they shook slightly.

“I… I see… that’s a shame… I’m going to miss Old Man Fire.” The nickname for Uther was a joke among the Kings, the kind old man telling them all to call him that, the only one who didn’t was Clara… at least, to his face, she always called him Uther.

“All the other Kings expressed their condolences… they plan to train another King of Fire, Drake Valzard.” Donovan blinked at that, raising an eyebrow.

“The Shield of the Empire? I knew he was a nine Star Sage, but is he really that close?” Donovan asked Jonathan, just to be certain.

“According to the King’s, he’s likely a decade or two away from being able to call himself a King.” Donovan was surprised at that…

Every King had a list… Donovan disliked looking at his own, but every King had one.

A list of potential successors for their titles. An ‘in case I die, look for this person’ type of thing.

Generally speaking, the list was filled with nine and eight Star Sages who showed talent…

But even at best, most of the people on that list would need maybe half a century to be able to reach the tenth Star, and that amount of time was factoring in one-on-one training with the current Kings.

“That really is impressive… my King Candidate is almost a century away.” Donovan complained, thinking about the Machinist.

Though she was really a horrible choice to be King, she truly was the only Metal Sage Donovan could see surpassing himself.

“I’m not sure about that King Candidate list myself… I hate that my wife had to make one.” Jonathan also hated that her list almost had to be put to use during the incident that took her legs.

“It’s not exactly something we Kings like to talk about, to be sure… but being a part of such a list can be considered an honour, an honour you might not necessarily know about.” Donovan pointed out, none of the King Candidates actually knew who they were after all.

“Understandable, knowing that you were expected by the Kings to join their ranks would put a lot of pressure on you, and might give someone too much arrogance.” Jonathan pointed out with a nod, and Donovan just looked at the man for a moment…

If it weren’t for the limitation on multi-Element Sages… multi-Element Sages couldn’t go beyond seven Stars for some reason, but if it weren’t for that, Donovan knew for a fact that Jonathan would be on the lists for both Clara and Rabia.

Jonathan was just that skilled for his power level. Despite being a new six Star Sage, Donovan knew Jonathan could probably defeat almost every other six Star Sage.

Almost, because there were outliers such as him…

“Some of the Sages on the list are even Rogue Sages… I know Clara had that Apostle guy on her list.” Donovan pointed out, remembering that she crossed out his name with a frown once she killed him…

Then he apparently came back, according to Everburn at least.

Recalling the unique creature that was Everburn, Donovan gave Jonathan a confused look.

“Actually… what about the twins? The Prince and Princess of Fire? Why weren’t they considered for the role of King? I’m sure Old Man Fire had them in his own list.” Donovan pointed out and Jonathan frowned at that.

“Actually, the King of Fire didn’t… he didn’t want them to be on his list, he left a note about it actually.” Jonathan said, pulling out a piece of paper and handing it to Donovan…

It was clearly a copy, written in Jonathan’s own handwriting, but the message was clear.

“He wants them to be left to do as they please… even if they reach ten Stars, it will be up to the two of them to decide what to do with their lives.” Donovan said, smiling at the note…

He could sympathize. Liza… Liza might not have been Donovan’s child by blood, but she was his treasure… he never wanted her hurt.

Donovan and Uther had another commonality there, they both trained their children, helped them grow in strength, but not because they wanted their children to fight… but for them to be able to stand on their own.

“On the King of Fire’s list, the very first name was Drake’s actually, which helped considering the other Kings were considering him as well… further down the list was even Gregory Valzard, though the King of Fire admitted that it was a bit of favouritism that got Gregory onto that list.” Jonathan admitted and Donovan shrugged in understanding.

Nepotism was normal, no matter what anyone said, no one could truly be impartial to people they loved.

If Liza was a Metal Sage, Donovan might have been tempted to put her name down… though, like the King of Fire, he would probably refuse.

“Still… when are you planning on going to the Empire?” Jonathan asked, and Donovan smiled, knowing that Jonathan probably wanted to be near Rabia once more.

Rabia and Jonathan were really adorable, even if the Kings joked about her being a cradle snatcher…

Think about it. Donovan was considered a freak for being able to become a King in just over a century. Elior had done so just slightly faster in comparison…

Majority of the Kings were at the very least three centuries old.

Jonathan was in his late fifties.

Rabia was around two hundred and fifty years older than Jonathan… the only reason there was nothing wrong with this was that Rabia didn’t exactly look like she was older than Jonathan.

“At the end of September, a week after the School Wide Tourney. Get one of your students amongst the top eight, and of course you’ll be brought along to the International Juniors.” Donovan was just saying that to motivate Jonathan honestly.

Even if none of the second year S-Class got in, Jonathan would be invited, they’d just get the Kazuya pair in again.

“Speaking of your students, they’ve gotten even more interesting since you’ve been gone eh? I almost spat out my tea when I saw the Makarov boy using guns as his Armament.” Donovan said with a smirk, Jonathan breathing deeply and palming his face.

“Please stop mentioning that impossibility… I didn’t… I didn’t outright say it was impossible. I would have even tried to help him.” Jonathan said, but Donovan caught what Jonathan was leading to and smiled.

“But you wouldn’t have believed.” Donovan said simply, and Jonathan sighed, and Donovan smiled at the sight…

No one would blame Jonathan for his disbelief, heck, every single King, if shown Vince and told what his Armament was, would probably deny it until proven wrong.

But clearly, someone believed in him, if not himself.

Donovan also caught that Jonathan was feeling a bit ashamed for his lack of belief…

As a teacher, one must always try to build up their student’s confidence, and break it down when it gets too brittle.

Overconfidence is to be punished, and a lack of confidence is to be compensated for.

“Jonathan, don’t worry about it. You’re the best teacher I have on board.” Donovan wasn’t even lying. Jonathan was probably a better teacher than Donovan in quite a few subjects…

Granted, Donovan was the leading expert on fighting without a weapon and minimal Element use, and Donovan could probably teach university level chemistry without a problem… but he didn’t have the sheer breadth of knowledge Jonathan had.

“My students seem to agree with you. But that’s no reason to stop progressing. That old adage of the teaching being a two way street is truer than I realized before taking this position.” Jonathan admitted while standing up from his seat, walking out.

No doubt, to start training… Donovan had the sneaking suspicion that Jonathan was going to perfect a way to never be blinded again even by surprise.

Jonathan could be vindictive like that.

Donovan just chuckled, packing up his own desk and getting ready to go home to where Liza was probably waiting for food…

Of course she was… tomorrow was a big day after all…

The Inter Class Tournament was happening, and she was finally going to fight amongst her peers, she was sure to be excited.

Poor, innocent victims-ahem, students.