"Urgh…!

"

Xeonith was slowly scrambling back at his feet while shaking his head.

He barely registered what happened, not even in his wildest fantasies did he dare to imagine that the first prince – whom Xeonith always thought about as a stuck up overconfident sheltered snob – would just straight-up attack him without actually challenging him for a duel!

By doing so the gold-haired boy was doing breaking the exact same rule that got his younger brother expelled…!

To make the situation even more dire – at least for Xeonith – if the brown-haired boy didn't manage to scramble up the stone armor spell – a defensive spell that provided a certain amount of defense with a single cast, unlike the cumulative spells like a water bubble, or Zoemi's shadow enchantments – on top of his earth enchantments, he would have been straight-up dead.

Not even severely wounded.

DEAD.

He was extremely lucky – if not for teacher Auequas telling him at the beginning of the year to really focus on learning to cast his spells without incantations, he wouldn't be alive anymore…

"…

"

While trying to calm down enough for his hands to start shaking, Xeonith started looking around.

The light spell sent him crashing through the window right into the back of the academy where some third- and second-year students were practicing for the next day's mandatory duels, and his rather sudden appearance caused all of them to stop their own activities and look at him.

"Lord Derizno…?

"

"Xeoni?! What the…?

"

Xeonith flinched when he heard a few voices – in particular one that belonged to the annoying blabbermouth, Reo Serentii Moyena, the green-haired guy who for whatever reason liked to annoy the brown-haired boy whenever the two of them would see each other and had the gull to call himself as Xeonith's friend.

|Ugh… can't you see for yourself you bumbling fools…?!|

Furious Xeonith thought to himself while trying to get rid of this annoying ringing in his ears.

But before he could actually respond to the worried voices the new students' supervisor saw the first prince jumping out of the broken window.

And the first prince's expression clearly suggested that he wasn't coming towards Xeonith to apologize.

"Tsk. I knew that I should have used a stronger spell, light burst has a wide range but at the cost of power.

"

Horeo clicked his tongue and scoffed, glaring down at the shaken-up pride of the earth magicians.

"You got to be kidding me! I'm a students supervisor! You're going to…!

"

Xeonith got red from anger and shouted at the first prince.

"Continue our duel – thank you for allowing me the first move – did I surprise you with the speed of my spells? If you get rid of the incantation, a well-aimed light spell is basically impossible to dodge.

"

But Horeo didn't let him finish his sentence and instead waved his hand dismissively and walked up to Xeonith with a mocking smile, speaking up loud and clear.

"A duel…?!

"

"Ah! That makes sense – you see, Xeoni always wanted to…

"

"!!!!

"

Xeonith was about to ask the first prince what was he on about – but he was too late – the students around him all started nodding their heads…

…funnily enough, the one person most eager to tell everyone around him that Xeonith always wanted to duel the first prince to compare their strength, was none other than Xeonith's self-proclaimed friend.

||Damn Reo, that worthless idiot…!|

The brown-haired boy gritted his teeth and straightened his back to face the approaching gold-haired prince.

Young lord Derizno ended up literally stuck between the rock and the hard place – if he backed off now and claim that the prince was lying everyone would think that he simply chickened out and tried to get out of the duel through dishonorable means and overusing his new position…

The public image was anything, and with just a few words the first prince had gained an upper hand.

…on the other hand, the brown-haired boy would get the duel that he always wanted, but…

|…that spell wasn't his strongest…?|

Xeonith felt a chill of fear spreading through his stomach recalling Horeo's words from a moment earlier.

"Sir Derizno. Are you ready to continue?

"

"…!

"

Horeo asked with an indifferent expression and immediately nine golden orbs appeared out of his head and started circling around him like some sort of oversized halo.

Xeonith became pale as a ghost in an instant – it was clear that the prince wasn't going to stop either way!

"Shit…! Stone armor!

"

He shouted the incantation of his strongest defensive spell and his body became clad in a thick stone armor that made him look like a ten-foot-tall rock golem.

"What a reaction, as expected of the contender for the title of the undefeated duelist of the year.

"

But the gold-haired prince didn't start attacking immediately and nodded his head in a mockery of a prise.

"You seem to be serious… so I should respond in kind, shouldn't I?

"

The mocking smile grew into a cruel grin and six more halos composed of nine orbs each appeared at both sides of the first prince.

"!!!

"

The sight was enough to petrify the stone-clad transcended magician.

As someone who considered himself the prince's rival, Xeonith watched Horeo's performance during his magic examination.

"I…!

"

*BOOOOOOM*

Xeonith opened his mouth but at the same moment all seven halos started spinning at rapid speed and each orb unleashed a volley of fire right into his armor.

"!!!!!!

"

"Heavens…!

"

"What is that spell?!

"

The shocked gasps filled the air as the uniform stone armor broke apart and started crumbling apart.

Xeonith thought that his spell would be able to withstand everything that the first prince could throw at him, their mana levels were supposed to be almost the same after all – but just a single second under the focused fire displayed the clear difference between him and the first prince.

And the attack wasn't stopping either…

Chunks of stone were flying everywhere each shoot was digging deeper and deeper into the stone armor as if it was clay.

"Earth barrier!

"

Xeonith screamed and his voice was dyed with panic.

A three-foot thick wall grew from the ground between the two students but Horeo did not have a need to cast any additional spells, to deal with it.

His light rapid-fire volley ended up shredding through the barrier and continued on destroying Xeonith's armor as if nothing happened.

"Earth barrier! Earth barrier! Earth barrier! Earth barrier! Earth barrier! Earth barrier! Earth barrier! Earth barrier! Earth barrier! Earth barrier! Earth barrier…!

"

Xeonith wasn't even screaming now, he was wailing in desperation like a beaten dog.

As someone who boasted of his absolute defense, this was a nightmare.

Because he just witnessed that his defense was far from absolute.

In front of the first prince, it couldn't be described as anything but pathetic.

No matter a dozen or a hundred, unless the brown-haired boy would be capable of raising the barriers all at once and not one at a time, there was no point to them as each and every stone wall melted before the next one managed to form.

"This is truly pitiful. It seems that all the nonsense spouted by the old guys really got to your thick skull, huh?

"

Horeo sighed and slowly shook his head to the sides in disappointment.

All orbs from the seven halos stopped in place, ceasing the rain of fire, and in the next moments, three slightly bigger golden orbs appeared and started slowly orbiting the first prince's body – each one at a different height.