In the early morning, when dews are still glistering on blades of grass, Kairos stood facing Calculus in a courtyard far from the main academy compound.

Only a few students would pass by here even during midday, at this wee hour, only the elements accompanied the two.

“Let’s begin before class starts,” Kairos muttered.

“Hah. Why? So that you can avoid being shamed in front of the others?” Calculus said confidently, causing a frown on Kairos’ face.

He has no idea where Calculus’ confidence come from, but at Kairos’ level, there aren't many people in the academy that could threaten him.

“No. It’s so that I can quickly head to class,” He replied. It wouldn’t do for Kairos to be late on his first day of class, and the subject he is attending is the Runes Weaving Class.

A core subject that is helpful for him in many usages.

“You! Do you think I am a pushover? Are you looking down on me just because you are a rank above I am? I will make you understand…”

“Can we start yet? Kairos asked, taking out his student badge.

Just by striking badges with another student, a barrier will form around them and initiate the competition.

Calculus’ words were stuck in his throat from Kairos’ curt reply. With a furious glare, he took out his own badge, strode over and smashed it against Kairos’ student badge in hand.

The two badges resonated, forming a sheening force field, and isolating them in an area as large as the field they are on.

“Kairos Astroire, you have irked me since the first time we met…” Calculus began.

But before he could continue ranting, Kairos lost patience and attacked with his Swallow.

The double-bladed polearm swiftly slashed across the air, causing Calculus to dodge to the side urgently.

“Damnit, let me talk!”

“I’m not interested,” Kairos laconically replied as he turns towards his target and charges forward.

The range of his weapon caused him to be a fearsome opponent to fight against, allowing no time for Calculus to even breath.

In a blink of an eye, Kairos has already reached Calculus’ throat with his weapon. The young noble hastily flipped backwards at an awkward angle to dodge the sharp blade.

“What is this? There is an odd aura undulating from it. Hold on… Is his weapon immortal rank?!”

Even as heir to a prestigious house, he did not have a personal weapon of such tier. Many Immortal ranked items are treated as national treasures and are nearly impossible to find one.

“Heed my call, Spiral Blades!” Calculus roared furiously in mid-turn.

Kairos suddenly felt danger approaching his back from his blindspot, and without hesitation, he concentrated his Eternal Empyrean to guard his rear.

A great number of Ki swords flew right into Kairos’ back, striking him with formidable force, but the powerful defensive technique taught by Aisa taught easily rendered the attacks harmless.

But at this moment, Calculus timely appeared at his blind spot and viciously struck downwards with his blade.

Kairos’ eyes widened in surprise and quickly turned to receive it, but the force was enough to push him backwards, leaving two trails of smoke in his wake.

He rotated his wrist that had became numb from the impact, then readied the Swallow at Calculus again.

But instead of charging forward, his opponent said, “I thought you would be able to guard against that. I’ve no idea what treasures you have on your person, but to be able to receive my Ki blades without flinching, you are indeed…”

“Can you move your hands and feet more than your lips?” Kairos rolled his eyes.

“You!”

This battle against Calculus is much harder than Kairos expected, though not for the reason that his opponent is stronger than he thought.

To prepare himself against more powerful foes in the future, Kairos had sealed a few of his own abilities since school started.

Not only had he stopped himself from using his Origin and Mana Infusion techniques, but he had also sealed his Soul Perception. Without it, Calculus was able to get close enough to strike at his blind stop.

Kairos quickly notice the disadvantage he is in, or, more accurately put, the dependency he had developed.

He had hoped that with practice, he would be able to fight against foes that are capable of concealing themselves.

The bats in the Black Forest, for example, were a kind of enemy that none of the boys could detect, and because of that, they had a gruelling fight.

The boys have learned first-hand how dangerous it could get when fighting blind.

During their mission to save Jones, there wasn’t any opportunity for them to practice, but now in the safety of the academy, it is the perfect opportunity.

He quickly realises the irony that he is far more inexperienced in combat than Calculus. The minor twisting of heel to avoid attacks, the angle of the blade to receive blows and multiple feints that Calculus did were all educational for Kairos.

These are all techniques that the group had not the chance to learn before, nor did they needed with the help of Soul Perception giving them an ability to predict their opponents’ next move. Kairos made a note to himself to ensure his team seal their Soul Perception abilities during this period.

His thoughts ran a million miles a second, taking in all the details that are occurring without letting anything escape his eyes.

With his mental capacity, even if his bloodline is awful, his learning speed is not too slow even when compared to a combat genius like Jones.

When learning techniques, the understanding phase is always easy for him, but he requires a lot of practice before it would become second nature.

Regardless, Kairos has ample time to train later. For now, handling a foe like Calculus is still a simple task.

Very soon, the young noble realised that Kairos had been toying with him, and in an ego-induced rage, he attacked with fury.

Entwining his fingers together, Calculus formed several odd-looking hand seals while muttering under his breathe. Kairos noticed a whirlwind of energy spiralling around Calculus, and quickly moved backwards.

But before he could get to a safe distance, Calculus struck.

He clapped his hands together and cried out, “Sealing Art 02, Movement Break!”

Kairos who was in mid-leap found his feet paralysed, as though invisible twines bound him causing him to land awkwardly.

Then, in a single breath, Calculus formed another series of hand seals and slammed onto the ground, “Sealing Art 08, Armour Break!”

Kairos’ eyes widened as he felt something foreign seemed to crawl up from the ground, all over his skin. Intuitively he knows that these new ‘energy’ that wrapped itself around him can eat his Ki.

He tested it slightly, sending a strand of internal energy to the surface of his skin, and immediately he found it consumed by the invisible strands.

“Hmmm, looks like it is designed to counter Ki barriers,” Kairos analysed.

“Go!” Calculus called out, summoning several swords made of Ki hurl towards Kairos with high-speed.

“Eternal Empyrean,” Kairos spoke purposefully for Calculus to hear, as the multiple blades harmlessly bounced off his skin.

“What?! T…that’s impossible,” his attack which drilled a hole into the testing block caused no damage to Kairos even with the sealing technique. It only means that his target had a physique that is far tougher than his attack; a power equalled to Mid B rank in strength!

Kairos only shrugged it off as nothing, then smiled at him. A smile which made him feel helpless, and will eventually become something that he regularly has nightmares about.

Just before despair settled in his heart, Calculus finally took a difficult decision, and he spoke hesitatingly, “I’ve been keeping this a secret, but you forced my hand. Come Ancestor Dragon!”

The expression on Kairos’ face changed, as a great buffeting wind surrounded Calculus, then a large dragonlings appeared on his arm.

“T..this…” He found himself speechless, looking at the golden scaled dragon that appeared on Calculus’ arm.

A Five-clawed Golden Dragon contract beast!

The dragon turned its heavy-set head towards Kairos and looked at him with its piercing gaze.

As it lay eyes upon Kairos, it widened its glowing eyes in surprise.

“Roarrrr!?”

The dragon seemed to recognise him, but he was unable to tell what it is trying to say until Aisa’s voice entered his mind.

Kairos~ It’s calling you its master~ Oh no, it’s saying that it was captured and has been bound by contract with this boy.

With a glance, Kairos recognised this fire dragonling was created from his Ki and infused into a weapon sold by him. Somehow, the Devilheart family managed to capture one.

“As expected of a family famous for Sealing Arts. They could capture even a celestial beast.”

Just as Kairos had guessed, the Devilheart family has placed a large amount of seals around their manor for protection, and his dragonling was caught by a trap when it accidentally flew too close. The newly born celestial beast could not free itself from the seals, and its superior speed useless when it was chained up.

The Devilheart family were overjoyed when they found this dragonling tangled by their sealing traps, and they spent a copious amount of resources to make it into Calculus’ contract beast. The wealthy noble family spared nothing grooming it after they found it to be a legendary beast of old. The Ancestor Dragon.

They did not expect that such beings still exist in their lands when even its descendants, the True Dragons, were gone.

His father, Calculate, assumed that this is a sign from the heavens, blessing their house. This dragonling must have hatched recently from a crystal egg, and decided to show favour to them, and their cause.

If he knew that over a hundred of such dragonlings are living in Kairos’ basement, he might have died from a heart attack.

The dragon that is on the young noble’s arm begun to struggle against invisible bindings, as though it wished to leave Calculus and fly to Kairos’ side.

It wailed mournfully, surprising Calculus who looked at his Contract Beast then turned and looked at Kairos. He had thought that with the arrival of an Ancestor Dragon, Kairos would become frightened, but somehow it was his beast that is behaving erratically instead and did not portray the powerful presence it ought to possess.

Calculus glared angrily at the dragon and smacked it over its head.

“Be quiet fool!”

The dragon snarled at Calculus in return, but having contracted by the boy, their Beast-and-Tamer bond caused severe pain to burst forth in its head when it tried to rebel.

It shook away the hurt, then looked at its contract master with spite.

“Aisa, is it possible to remove a contract?” Kairos who noticed the exchange asked in genuine concern.

Sure~ should we do it now? I can easily destroy such weak links without being found out. HEHE.

Kairos heard the impish laughter from Aisa in his head and had to stop himself from being influenced. Then on a more serious note, he told her, “Aisa, I will allow you to make this dragonling your pet. You said you could communicate with your pets no matter where they are, correct?”

Yep~! Hehe, Aisa is allowed another pet?

“Haha. Yes, but only if you treat it well,” He could not stop a warm smile appearing on his face.

Sure, I’ll treat it as well as Wyrmy!

“Gah! I seemed to have done something terrible…”

Aisa ignored Kairos and sent an invisible strand of energy towards the dragonling, which landed on its face and transformed into a whisker.

Now I can detect it, and talk to it no matter where it is~ Just like horsey, birdy, wofie and batsy!

“W..wait… If horsey is the Dragon Horse… then could the rest be… the Shadow Crows, the Grey Wolves and … the Hellbringer Bats? When did you enslave them all?”

Kairos did a quick calculation. It seems that only the red pythons that slithered away stealthily were the only one spared, within the Black Forest.

Oh, and snakey too… They almost slipped off Aisa’s mind because they are so quiet.

Kairos rolled his eyes in response. Then he told her, “Tell the dragonling not to resist Calculus. Grow up big and strong, and one day I will come for it, but for today, fight me without reserve.”

Aisa passed the message over, and the dragonling that was struggling ceased at once.

It looked at Kairos with a mixture of hurt and disquiet on its face but did not rebuke the order.

Dragons are sturdy beasts but cost too much for Kairos to raise them properly. With the Devilheart family supporting its growth, he does not have to worry feeding the dragon like its siblings that are living in the basement.

The dragonling, however, is concerned about fighting its creator. To make it raise its hand against Kairos let it have tremendous burden weighing on its heart.

“It’s fine,” Kairos assured it through Aisa, “Little dragonling, show me your strength!”

The dragon immediately flared its nostrils and its scales raised like a wave, on its back as it prepared for combat.

Steam rolled out of its maw, while its eyes, like rubies, glowed a brilliant red.

“That’s it! Good job boy, let’s take down Kairos together,” Calculus exclaimed excitedly.