Time passed very fast as the Royal Academy engrossed itself in the preparations for the upcoming tournament.
Even though it was all because of a tragic incident that the tournament was canceled King Cedric was too distressed because now he had to find a new and secure place for the tournament coupled with the various responsibilities to ensure the Kingdom’s wellbeing he wasn’t even able to rest properly.
That’s why he called Ratric, Geroge, and a few trusted subordinates and dumped all the matters regarding the tournament on their shoulders. The group of old men was stunned for a few seconds but before they could voice their opinions King Cedric disappeared from the room.
Ratric shook his head and returned to the Academy. The preparations went on until the day of the tournament arrived.
The top ten students from each year stood proudly in front of the Principal with their heads held high. This time to ensure everyone’s safety Ratric and George stayed vigilant as they took care of everything regarding the Teleportation Array.
Ratric gazed at the students and nodded his head with a smile. His eyes passed at the one of the girls standing with the first-year students and a sigh escaped from his lips. After George and Han didn’t find Kyle, he ordered two capable Professors to look around the elf’s forest for that kid but a whole month passed and they all returned with zero clue. That’s why he had no choice but to remove Kyle’s name from the tournament.
Of course, Alec and a few students voiced against his decision as they firmly believed Kyle would return soon but even after a month, there was no news regarding Kyle which is why they had no choice but to agree to his decision.
So to fill the last spot a new 1vs1 battle Arena was opened in the first-year training ground and the one who won Kyle’s spot was none other than Lily.
Professor Aliza and Liam stood behind the students with some more Professors and the Principal himself checked the Teleportation Array that would teleport them to the place where the tournament was held.
The first person to step into the Array was Ratric. After him, Professor Oliver and Liam stepped inside. At last, Aliza waved her hand to gather the student’s attention.
“Alright Kids, I hope you all do your best. Now step in the Array.”
Unlike her usual cold demeanor, her voice was gentle when she wished them luck. As she knew a lot of students wouldn’t be returning to the academy any time soon.
With one last loud beaming shout, the students stepped into the Array.
Standing behind Alec, Nine wore a nonchalant expression. He just wanted to be done with all this as soon as possible. However, the thing he didn’t know was after the tournament those who won would be dragged around by the principal and some old foggies so the kids could train for the ‘Ancient Lumbra Relam’.
Among the few excited, calm, and nonchalant students. Bia was sitting on Mia’s shoulder. Her round eyes were no longer purely crimson, just in a month they got a deep shade of blue within them. Moreover, the edges of her feathers were turning light blue.
She looked even more adorable than before with the combination of a few golden and blue feathers between her entirely red body.
Her gaze was fixed at a distance because she still wasn’t able to communicate and accurately sense Kyle’s presence. However, their tiny thread-like connection remained intact.
She would have loved to look around for him because just in a month she had grown a lot stronger due to the Principal and a few strong individuals from the Academy showering her with many rare things. Heck, even the students would come and give her a lot of precious things.
Bia laughed at their actions and accepted everything with glee because it was very profitable. Anyway, after gobbling up everything she never even spared them a glance.
According to her observation, now that Kyle was out of the picture those students and Professors were all hoping to make a bond with her because in their opinion Kyle was dead and now Bia was free to form a new bond with someone else.
Bia clicked her tongue with annoyance. Who do they think they are? Anyway, she mostly stayed with Mia. Also, the Principal set some rules after seeing Bia’s reluctance to get close to anyone else. That’s why those idiots could do nothing but tempt her with rare things.
-‘Tsk, Tsk, even if they dare to do something more I will grill them all. Shhh, I don’t want to taint my precious eyes with such a bad image so I will ask Kyle to punch them once or twice for me.’
Her thoughts wandered around as she carefully ran her beak along her feathers, smoothing them out and removing any dirt or debris.
-‘I know Kyle is fine and seeing the change happening in my body I think he going through the awakening phase. It’s taking so much time I wonder how strong is his bloodline. One thing for sure it’s far stronger than mine because it can influence me so much just because we are bonded.’
She mused, at first she was worried sick about Kyle because after he disappeared their connection was weak like a thread but after two weeks she felt strangely calm and knew he was fine.
Her thoughts were disturbed when one of the professors went to activate the Array.
A few murmurs echoed in her ears. She gazed at the excited students with a sigh.
-‘It’s no fun without Kyle, even though he is very annoying… I kind of like his presence.’
While saying the last sentence Bia’s mood turned sour. She would never accept this fact in front of Kyle!
Moreover, the tournament didn’t forbid students to participate alongside their bonded beasts that’s why she was a little regretful because together with Kyle they would have easily grabbed the first spot.
-‘Tsk, all those amazing rewards would have been mine. What a pity. Now I can only fight alongside Mia. Let’s just wish I get something useful from this tournament.’
Bia grumbled inwardly and closed her eyes when the Array emitted a bright light and everyone standing on the Array disappeared with a flash.