"Right. Earth magicians aren't proficient at ranged combat – I am sure you wouldn't be satisfied with me finishing it off from afar…

"

Horeo raised his hand and his body shone with the golden light that made everyone watching the scene think of the sun itself.

"Stone armor…!

"

Xeonith used a momentary breather and yelped while using his strongest spell again to change himself into a fortress, but it was truly a useless effort.

***ASH*

"GHAAAAAAARGHHH…!

"

The very next second Horeo was already right by him – with a single kick he shattered the stone legs and when the main part his the ground, Horeo dug his hand into it and excavated Xeonith's body like some sort of fossil, making the brown-haired boy shout in pain.

Even with his enchantments activated Xeonith could feel his body breaking.

"If you ever try to mess with my Zoemi, I will rip off your head.

"

"!!!!

"

Horeo brought Xeonith's beaten-up body and whispered into his ear with an indifferent expression.

This wasn't a threat since the first prince would never lower himself to such a puny level.

That was a piece of information about the inevitable result of messing with the wrong people.

"Do you admit defeat?

"

Horeo asked in his normal voice, making sure that everyone present would hear him.

"…

"

Xeonith flinched – even in his state he still had enough will in him to refuse to give up, which was probably the only admirable thing about him.

But that didn't help anything.

Horeo asked looking down on him and lifting him a bit closer to his face again.

"Let me get things straight. You might have been told that the two of us have a similar amount of mana, with you being a transcended magician with as much mana as an average light magician – which the latter is indeed correct…

"

Horeo pointed at himself and then at Xeonith with his other hand.

"But the thing is… The only reason why I am not called a transcended light magician is because the light magicians are already considered to be at the very top of the strength chart. I cannot skip levels when there are no levels above me. Don't fool yourself you **-stain, in front of me you are just a pile of moist manure on the side of the road. You are so insignificant that you don't even enter my vision.

"

The first prince snorted at the comparison he made himslef.

"Lisen up, and listen well now…

"

Horeo tilted his head and the smile disappeared from his face, leaving only the cold eyes that made the unfortunate students' supervisor shiver uncontrollably.

"If you don't want a repeat of today, don't you dare to accuse my fiance or my friend ever again. When you'll be passing any of us in the hallway, do yourself a favor and just look the other way, you weakling.

"

The gold-haired prince scoffed and…

***ASH*

"…?

"

Just as Horeo was about to let go of the barely conscious opponent, a stone missile aimed at his back exploded on the light barrier timely created by one of the orbs still orbiting his body.

The attack dealt no damage whatsoever as the protection provided by the spell the first prince thought up together with his best friends, but the problem didn't lie in that.

…who in their right mind would dare to attack the first prince…?

"Stop this madness this instant! Student Bellcephora, how dare you attack a student's supervisor unprovoked?!

"

"…

"

Horeo silently turned around and saw an elderly brown-haired woman with her hand still outstretched from the attack.

*thump*

"Ugh…!

"

The gold-haired prince released the brown-haired boy and casually walked over towards the woman.

"A teacher attacking a student during a duel is considered a major breach of rules of the Aspakeony Academy according to the rulebook, not to mention the cowardly sneak attack with the lethal force could be taken as an assassination attempt on me – a royalty – which is an offense punishable by death without trial. Is that why you are trying to make it seem like I am in the wrong here?

"

"…!

"

Horeo aked coldly walking close enough to the elderly teacher that she could literally touch his chest with her hand if she flinched.

And she did flinch and backed off immediately, clenching her teeth.

| Someone acted without coming up with an excuse.|

The first prince thought with disgust, staring down at the teacher.

"That's nonsense – lord Derizno would never start a fight on his own!

"

The woman regained her composure and lowered her hand, which she then clenched into a fist.

"It wasn't a fight, it was a duel – which sir Derizno splendidly lost after being unable to correctly gauge the difference in power between the two of us. As an elder, you should be wise enough to not make the same mistake. I am not killing you on the spot only because you are a grandmother of my dear friend, teacher Auequas.

"

Horeo spoke in a cold voice and the orbs orbiting his body shone threateningly as if they were backing up his words.

"Nonsense, student Bellcephora, do not try to flaunt your status in the Aspakeony Academy, I merely reacted to a student getting bullied. Not to mention, you never met any of my true grandchildren.

"

The elderly woman furrowed her brows and stood her ground even against the overwhelming aura surrounding the silently furious first prince.

"…is that so…? Unfortunate choice. Anyway – you are such a nice person then, using this opportunity, let me ask you – what are you doing in order to put a stop to bullying that the commoner girl from my class is facing?

"

Horeo furrowed his brows and asked calmly, making the older woman frown in a held-back fury.

"Why would I…?

"

The teacher scoffed – but the first prince didn't really let her finish her sentence.

"Ah, that's right – the Auequas family banished their only good member because he dared to adopt a child. Excuse my silly question – of course, you aren't doing anything to help someone weaker – The difference between you and the son you denounced is that Mizoe is striving to be the best person he can be while you are too busy sucking up to people feeding you scraps from their table, like a pitiful dog that doesn't know a different life and isn't willing to change a thing.

"

Horeo made a bitter expression and sighed – looking at the reddening face of the woman who Zoemi should call grandmother – if not for the little fact that the woman refused to even acknowledge the black-haired boy's existence.

"You there, you're from this kid's class, right? Help him up and get the student Burushi to heal him up, that girl's a treasure, with her help this kid will be up and running in minutes. Now, as for the two of you… What is the meaning of all of this?

"

"…

"

"…

"

An elderly light-magician, Kros Rul Shuze, exited the Academy and instantly ordered Reo to take care of the beaten-up Xeonith, and walked over to the first prince and the other teacher.

"Teacher Kros, it's good to see you in good health – nothing much, just explaining to teacher Auequas that she misunderstood the situation – would you believe that she thought that my duel with sir Derizno wasn't a duel? My only guess is that she has seen too much battle in her time in the army.

"

Horeo Smiled brightly at the elderly light magician and shrugged his shoulders, explaining things in a cheerful voice.

"Oh, really? We shall see. I will have both of you come with me to the headmaster's office, I reckon neither of you minds that?

"

Kros raised his brow and looked between the perfectly calm prince and now stoic elderly earth magician.

"Of course, there's no problem, teacher.

"

The blond prince smiled refreshingly and the orbs of light simply disappeared into the thin air.

"Yes, that would be the wisest thing to do, teacher Shuze.

"

Teacher Auequas stepped back and relaxed her shoulders and fists.

Both of them ended up nodding in agreement to the light magician's words.

"Good. Now, everyone, get back to your own business! As you just saw, a duel is not just a walk in the park – be careful and don't overestimate yourselves tomorrow!

"

Kros looked over at the students who gathered to watch the fight – or rather the one-sided beatdown – and declared in a tired tone before leaving back to the building together with his colleague and the first prince.