"What just happened?" Odile asked her little sister.


    "I don''t know, everything happened so fast."


    Both sisters couldn''t see what Orion and Aurora did because of how fast their attack was.


    Even Tengen and his wife couldn''t keep up with the speed of Orion''s attack. The same went for the gargoyles as well.


    A few minutes ago, the gargoyles had seen Orion and his phoenix hovering in front of them, but before they could blink, Orion and his phoenix had vanished, and the next thing they knew, they were feeling tiny sparks of electricity coursing through their bodies and shutting down their hearts.


    The attack had been so fast that they barely had any time to react or protect themselves before their hearts shut down.


    Odile and Odetta didn''t know what Orion did exactly, but they were d to see that he had sessfully progressed to the next round of the tournament.


    On the screen, they could see him meeting up with some of the other students who had sessfullypleted the first round of the tournament.


    Odetta expected the second round to begin immediately since Orion had finally joined the other students. But to her surprise, nothing was happening, and all the other contestants just stood in one ce.


    Looking closely, it seemed like they were waiting for someone else, but who could it be?


    Wasn''t it the prince?


    The prince had joined them already, so the contestants shouldn''t have any reason to remain in their current location, they should be progressing to the next stage of thepetition.


    This was what Odetta was thinking, but because she didn''t want to think about it too much, she decided to ask Tengen instead.


    "Papa, why hasn''t the second round started?"


    Tengen was about to say something, but before he could say anything, Odile opened her mouth to speak. "That is because only thirty students are allowed to progress to the next stage, and right now, there are only twenty of them."


    Odetta nodded her head at her sister''s words. She easily understood what her sister was talking about, so she remained calm and watched as Orion and a few other studentsmunicated with each other.


    On the screen, they could see the names of the top ten contestants that had the highest number of points so far.


    Of course, the contestants could see this as well and not everyone was happy to see their rankings.


    ====


    #1:- Lilith {299}


    #2:- Orion  {299}


    #3:- An {200}


    #4:- Luna {167}


    #5:- William {166}


    #8:- Arthur {151}


    #9:- Adrian {150}


    ====


    "Ugh, how the fuck am I ranked eighth? I was the first to get here," Arthur voiced out his thoughts.


    "I don''t think they''re ranking us based on who got here first," An patted his back gently to try and console him. "You might have thought you won the race but you didn''t think of the possibility that the Academy might be grading us mainly on the skills we have as beast tamers and not on how fast we got here."


    "Yeah, I guess you''re right. Thanks, man." Chapter Read:


    An patted Arthur''s back once again, but this time around, he had an evil grin on his face."You''re wee, number eight. It''s always a pleasure to help you."


    "I really hate it when you call me by my rank."


    "I know, but it''s pretty fun to see the way you react to it."


    Unlike when they first met, An was no longer bothered by what Arthur''s opinion was whenever he referred to him by his rank rather than his name.


    "Sadist," Arthur mumbled to himself but An cackled loudly while patting his back.


    The moment An stopped patting Arthur''s back, Arthur directed his gaze towards Orion.


    He noticed Orion walking towards Adrian, who was staring at the screen and he hung his arm around Adrian''s shoulder. "How does it feel to prove yourself among the best?"


    "It feels nice, actually."


    "You''re not worried about the second and third rounds?"


    "I am, but only a little."


    "You''ll be fine," Orion patted Adrian on the back. "Just keep doing what you''re doing."


    "I will," Adrian nodded in response and he returned his gaze back to the screen, recalling how things used to be when he started training with both An and Arthur.


    Whenever Adrian trained together with Arthur and An, he used to feel inferior to them, and he usually felt this way whenever he trained with Orion as well.


    At first, it was difficult for him to train alongside powerful individuals like An and Arthur, but he quickly got used to it because it wasn''t the first time he was training with someone strong.


    After training and sparring with Orion a countless number of times, Adrian hade to the realization that Orion was simply a monster.


    His strength was not only frightening, but it was also out of this world.


    "I really like your phoenix," An''s voice emerged from behind Orion.


    "Me too, but I think the prince''s phoenix bird is just as strong as Princess Lilith''s Shadow Panther," Arthur added.


    "Yeah, they''re both in the same rank," Orion replied with a shrug. He was acting as though it wasn''t that difficult to tame a phoenix, but everyone knew that it was quite difficult to tame a beast like Aurora.


    "I heard the phoenix bird is really fast, is this true?" Arthur asked.


    "Yes, it is."


    "Fuck, I wish it was me." Arthur cussed but Orion smiled after hearing this.


    "How does it feel to tame a phoenix bird?"


    "Amazing," Orion replied and noticed that the beasts Adrian, Arthur, and An tamed were all higher than a rank nine beast.


    Adrian tamed a wyrmling, Arthur tamed a winged seahorse, and Adrian tamed a griffin.


    Although all three magical beasts were transcendent magical beasts like Aurora, none of them were as strong as her.


    A few minutester, the remaining contestants had arrived, and now, there were thirty of them in total. Robin-chan had also been waiting for them.


    Noticing that they wereplete, Robin began to exin everything they needed to know.


    "Congrattions on being the lucky few to make it to the second round. As you already know, the second round will be divided into five different elemental zones, starting with the inferno zone and ending with the dark zone."


    He continued. "The inferno zone is just as the name suggests. It''s a vast, burning wastnd filled with dangerous obstacles for you to ovee.


    Just like the first round, the materials you might need are already in the item box you have with you. Your objective is simple, all you have to do is go through the portal behind me, y monsters, and find the next portal," She exined, and a magical portal appeared out of thin air.


    The magical portal was like a huge standing mirror, with the surface of the mirror, glowing with a bright white light.


    Robin was about to exin a few more things, but she noticed a student raising his hand.


    She nodded her head and permitted him to speak. "Do we get points based on how many monsters we kill?"


    "Yes, but remember, only sixteen of you will be able to qualify for the final round, so this round is not just about killing monsters, it''s also about making use of your time wisely."


    The students nodded their heads in understanding and Robin exined a few more things that she believed they needed to know.


    "Okay, everyone, that will be all. Goodbye and good luck," She informed the students, and everyone mounted their beasts.


    One after the other, they all entered the portal.


    Orion and Aurora went into the portal as well and the first thing they noticed was the vast wastnd filled with burningva pits, explosive geysers, and rivers of moltenva.


    Orion looked around and noticed that he was the only one in this zone. There was no other student nearby. But because he didn''t want to waste any more time, Orion swiftly took a look at his map to determine exactly where the next portal would be...


    In less than a minute, he had located the portal on the map, and he swiftly held the reins of his phoenix.


    Aurora pped her wings and lifted her body from the floor with Orion bncing himself on the saddle.


    In front of them, Orion and Aurora could see a sea of mes, but this was not all, as they could also see a couple of ming caves,va bridges, and magma fall.


    The magma fall was like a waterfall, but instead of water, there was magma in it.


    However, since they were not here for sightseeing, Orion and Aurora continued to aim for their primary target which happened to be the portal.


    The portal was currently about four hundred meters away from them, but after flying for a couple of minutes, they finally noticed a nest ofva wyrms in front of them.


    ===


    A/N:- Thank you so much for the super gift and golden tickets.