The four walked towards a certain spot in the training ground which had runes inscribed on the floor.


    The runes had the ability to amplify the strength of those who coated their bodies in mana or aura.


    Orion was currently standing at the center, surrounded by the trio, who were determined to win the fight.


    Adrian wielded a wooden sword, while An and Arthur wielded a wooden ax and spear, respectively.


    The swords orbiting around Orion were also wooden swords.


    There was no way the academy would leave real weapons for the students to use during practice unless a professor or instructor is monitoring the students nearby. Adrian and An, tightened their grip on the weapons in their hands while Arthur cast a spell, causing the air around him to turn into water.


    The water merged with him and seeped into his body easily, allowing Arthur''s body to slowly expand and grow bigger. A huge fin popped out of his back, and huge gills appeared on either side of his neck like huge bear w marks.


    His teeth grew bigger and sharper as well, causing Arthur to look like a walking shark with a muscr build.


    He tightened his grip on his spear before alternating his gaze between An and Adrian.


    The three nodded their heads in unison, signaling to themselves to attack now.


    Orion noticed that the three of them were ready tounch their attack and he watched as the trio suddenly disappeared from where they were standing a few seconds ago before reappearing before Orion and surrounding him from three different spots.


    An had appeared in front of him while Arthur and Adrian had appeared on either side of Orion.


    The three attacked simultaneously, trying to make it difficult for Orion to decide which person''s attack he wanted to defend against or who he wanted to attack first.


    However, Orion could handle this amount of threat.


    He defended against their attacks simultaneously and immediately began attacking, catching all three opponents by surprise.


    The first he fought against was An.


    An had charged forward with a powerful roar and his arms raised above his head. His wooden ax began to descend on Orion, but one of Orion''s swords swiftly leaped to defend the elf prince by parrying An''s attack.


    This didn''t stop An from attacking a second and third time, though. He swung his arms again, but Orion''s sword swiftly deflected An''s crushing blows, causing An to stumble back, surprised to see how fast the sword was deflecting his attacks; it almost felt like Orion''s sword had a mind of its own, but the sword didn''t relent in its attack.


    With lightning-fast strikes, the hilt of Orion''s sword struck An''s stomach, chest, and abdomen ten times in rapid session.


    The repetitive hits were unexpected and An''s eyes widened in shock. A pained gasp escaped his lips and in that moment, a spray of saliva escaped from his mouth as he struggled to regain hisposure.


    However, the force of the blows sent rippling shockwaves throughout An''s body. His limbs faltered as a numbness spread through his arms and legs, causing his axe to slip from his grasp, and ttered to the ground. The mighty lion prince stumbled to the ground, temporarily paralyzed from top to bottom.


    But while one of Orion''s swords had sessfully defeated An, another one of his swords was currently preupied with Adrian.


    Adrian, fueled by a strong determination tond a hit on Orion, continued to swing his wooden sword in a flurry of strikes.


    He had seen how Orion had sessfully defeated the lion prince, but he wasn''t going to give up that easily, so he continued to swing his arms sessively.


    His sword was coated in aura just like Orion, and each of his blows was aimed straight at Orion, but Orion''s sword kept intercepting every strike he made.


    Still, Adrian didn''t allow this to affect his determination to win.


    He kept swinging his sword, but Orion''s sword kept intercepting his attacks, and this caused Adrian to grow frustrated with each passing second.


    The sword''s constant intervention kept Adrian at bay, preventing him from closing the distance between them. His face contorted into a snarl and his limbs strained with exertion.


    Orion used this to his benefit and just like An, hemanded the swords to attack Adrian in a simr way.


    The hilt of the sword swiftly struck Adrian on his arms, stomach, and legs, making his body seize up, just like An.


    With two out of the way, it was time to face Arthur.


    Arthur unleashed a flurry of precise spear strikes, but Orion''s third sword effortlessly blocked each thrust.


    With a swift counter, the hilt of Orion''s sword mmed straight into Arthur''s sr plexus, and the shark-man crumpled to his knees, and his face contorted with shock and fear when he suddenly realized where Orion had hit him.


    "Ah, no…not the family jewels!!"


    "You hit me in the balls!"


    "My sha."


    "My ding ding dong!!!"


    "It''s gone!!!!!" Arthur continued to groan, scream, and roll on the floor.


    He had transformed back to his original blue-skinned humanoid form, but he kept crying out in pain while clutching onto his balls, even though Orion hadn''t aimed towards that spot.


    Meanwhile, Orion simply rolled his eyes with a smile on his face and An kept smiling at himself.


    He began tough out loud while groaning in pain and staring at the sky.


    He had experienced what it would feel to fight against a rank ten mage and he learnt quite a valuable lesson.


    The difference between a mortal and a transcendent being was so ring and he couldn''t wait to spar against Orion in the future.


    Now, An could see why his father kept calling the Elf queen his rival. The elf royal family was truly strong and he could envision Orion bing as strong as his mother or maybe even stronger than her in the future.


    Anyway, this wasn''t going to stop An from working hard to be the strongest King in the Beastmen kingdom.


    =====


    A/N:-  Thank you so much for the kind words, everyone. I''ve seen everyone''sments, advice, gifts, and golden tickets, and I am really grateful to everyone for the contributions they made to lift my mood.