Editor : Amethyst00



“Ha ha! Serves him right!”

“What class rep? What southern honor student? He can’t even take off—he’s guaranteed dead last!”

The summoning-arts students who had ganged up on him snickered with glee.

“Hey, how’s that, Eliza? Refreshing, isn’t it?”

The ringleader, a male student from Class 3 named Liu, chuckled as he called to Eliza flying ahead.

These were among the highest-ranking first-year summoning students, the front-runner group in the race.

At Liu’s words, Eliza—flying at the very front—answered.

“I don’t like it.”

“What?”

“Someone like Leo Plov? I can beat him easily. Same with Walden Thaiden.”

Eliza cast a scornful look over the students.

“Interfering as a group like this will only make Leo Plov and Walden Thaiden stand out more. And what do you think people will think of the summoning department after this?”

“Haha, b-but at least those guys will be humiliated—”

“Next time you try something, try thinking first. And we’re in the middle of an exam. Focus.”

With an icy tone, Eliza snapped her head forward and soared higher into the sky.

Watching her back, Liu scowled.

‘Stuck-up girl! Acting all high and mighty just because she was born to a good family!’

Cursing her inwardly, Liu gave a mocking snort.

‘With this kind of lead, that Walden punk can’t catch up. Other than Eliza, I’m the best at handling flying familiars! I can comfortably take second. And I contracted a new familiar for this exam, didn’t I?’

He flared his nostrils.

Just before the test, he’d managed to buy a summoning catalyst in Lumeria City by pure luck.

‘All thanks to some idiot merchant who didn’t know its value! I can’t control it yet, but… if I summon it at the end and even take Eliza down… first place will be mine! Let’s see if you can still act classy then, Eliza!’

“Huh? Liu, someone’s coming up from behind!”

A female summoning student frowned in puzzlement.

They’d thought they had an overwhelming lead, yet someone was closing in.

“What? Who… huh? Chen Xia?”

Chen Xia was streaking toward them at incredible speed.

But her posture on the griffon was odd.

She was crouched, both feet planted on the saddle.

“What the heck? What’s that stance?”

“She followed us like that? She somehow managed to catch up.”

“We must’ve slowed down—that’s the only reason she closed in. If we speed up, she won’t keep up.”

For summoners, spiritual power wasn’t only the power to control familiars—it also strengthened them.

Because Chen Xia had used energy to enhance her griffon, once she boosted its speed the summoning students shouldn’t have been able to match her.

"No, you never know what variable she might pull out."

Liu grinned sharply.

“Let’s just eliminate her altogether.”

In a familiar race, alliances were allowed.

That meant they could gang up on a strong rival.

Up ahead, Eliza glanced back with half-lidded eyes.

“Hm. Instead of taking the easy escape, she’s choosing the hard road.”

Her lips curled as she watched like a spectator.

“What’s so great about this eastern honor student? Annoying.”

One of the female summoning students smiled viciously and summoned an elemental.

“Let’s make sure she can’t even finish and humiliate her! Go!”

A wind elemental shot forward like a bullet toward Chen Xia, who was precariously balanced on the saddle.

Sensing it, Chen Xia crouched even lower.

Whoosh!

Her griffon suddenly soared upward.

While the summoning students were thrown into confusion, Chen Xia’s griffon flipped so the saddle faced the ground.

Dangling upside-down, Chen Xia kicked off the saddle and released the reins.

“W-w-what?!”

The girl who had attacked her was horrified.

She had never imagined the rider would come to attack directly.

Using a wind elemental to adjust her trajectory in midair, Chen Xia smiled brightly and launched a kick.

Before the girl could react, Chen Xia’s foot struck and sent her screaming down to the ground.

“Kyaaaaaah! T-that’s cheating!”

“I didn’t even use aura, though.”

Wearing her signature friendly smile, Chen Xia grabbed the reins of the riderless, panicked griffon and calmed it.

“Grr! Chen Xia! You—”

“Hello, Liu.”

“Not bad, but look at you now! You’ve made the wrong choice!”

They’d been caught off guard once, but now that they knew her attack method, they could respond.

“True, I’m at a disadvantage in aerial combat. But I’m not the only enemy you have.”

“What?”

“There’s someone else whose mood soured because of your little prank.”

Chen Xia smiled sweetly and pointed behind them.

BOOM!

A massive explosion erupted at the rear.

“W-what is that?!”

BOOM! BOOM!

Explosions chained one after another.

Far behind, students could be seen plummeting.

“It seems Walden is the type to repay an insult in full.”

With those words, Chen Xia waved lightly and leapt off the griffon without hesitation.

Her waiting griffon swooped in to catch her as she fell and carried her upward.

“Grr! Catch her and—”

Kyaaaaaaak!

As Liu shouted in panic, a griffon’s scream echoed from afar.

He flinched and turned his head to see Walden’s griffon racing toward them at terrifying speed.

In an instant Walden caught up to the lead group, grinning.

“Thanks for the gift, trash.”

Fwoooosh!

Massive flames swirled around him.

“Here’s my return gift.”

“Scatter!”

KABOOM!

Liu’s frantic shout was swallowed by a gigantic explosion.

bl

Far behind, dead-last Leo vaulted over a fence.

He approached the last remaining griffon.

Grrr—

The griffon eyed him warily, and Leo frowned.

‘These griffons for the race should all be ones managed by Lumene, right?’

Familiars raised by humans normally didn’t show hostility toward human.

Then he noticed the griffon was limping its wing.

‘Is it injured?’

Examining the wing carefully, Leo scowled.

‘That’s no wound from a fight with another griffon. Someone deliberately hurt it.’

Clicking his tongue at the memory of the group sabotage before the start, Leo muttered,

“Looks like someone’s playing dirty.”

He gave a faint laugh and stepped closer.

Kyaaaak!

The griffon reacted violently, but Leo didn’t retreat.

Kyaaaaak!

"Ah! Leo is approaching recklessly! Even a low-grade griffon can be hard to tame if you rush in while it’s this wary. He’s risking a serious mistake!"

From the stands, Celia stamped her feet in frustration.

“Geez! Why’s that guy pushing it like that?”

Watching her anxious expression, Rhys stroked his chin.

“He must have a plan.”

Kyaaaak! Kyaaaaak!

The excited griffon thrashed as Leo seized the reins.

Kyaaaaaaak!

Finally it lost its temper and slashed at him with its talons.

Just as everyone panicked at the sudden attack—

Snap!

Leo yanked the reins hard and fixed the beast with a piercing gaze.

“Kneel.”

Power laced his voice. The griffon flinched.

It slowly lowered the raised talon and crouched, watching him cautiously.

As if submitting, it offered its back. Leo smiled in satisfaction and climbed into the saddle.

“Good boy.”

He stroked its neck; the griffon trembled.

"Uh… what’s happening? The griffon is yielding on its own! Leo’s taming time is the fastest yet!"

The announcer Runeba spoke in astonishment.

Indeed, Leo had tamed and mounted his griffon in record time.

Yura, watching, clicked her tongue.

‘He overpowered it with sheer presence? Is there anything this guy *can’t do?’*

The assumption that he’d be weak in real combat was completely wrong.

‘If Walden has overwhelming power, Leo has overwhelming skill.’

Yura’s eyes gleamed.

‘This race might turn out more interesting than I thought.’

Kyaaaaak!

When Leo tugged the reins, the griffon roared and took to the sky.

But with its injured wing flapping awkwardly, it couldn’t gain much speed.

"Ah! Leo’s griffon has a damaged wing! He finally got airborne, but what terrible luck. It looks certain he’ll stay in last place!"

The commentator sounded regretful.

Leo gently patted the struggling griffon’s neck and focused his energy.

“In the name of the pact-bearer, I command you—show yourself.”

Whoosh!

Flames swirled around Leo, hiding him within a sphere of fire.

“What’s that?”

“Looks like he’s summoning a fire-type familiar?”

“Didn’t they say he hadn’t contracted any familiar or elemental yet?”

The sudden summoning stirred a buzz among the spectators.

“What is that flame?”

Celia’s eyes went wide.

Rhys’s eyes twitched.

‘Zerdinger’s Flame? No… not aura fire. Then what is it?’

Within the flames, a summoning circle glowed in Leo’s palm.

The circle spewed out a small bird.

Cheep-cheep.

“…You looks like a chick no matter when I see it.”

At Leo’s remark, the baby phoenix Fiora pecked his thumb.

“Oh? You understand me now?”

From Leo’s hand, Fiora spread her wings gracefully and tilted her chin up, as if to display the dignity of a phoenix.

Of course, to Leo’s eyes—

‘Nothing but a chick.’

“Since we can communicate, this is easy. Fiora, could you grant this griffon your blessing?”

Blessing—

One of a phoenix’s unique abilities, allowing it to bestow a portion of its power on a target.

This ability was one reason a phoenix summoner was called the strongest of summoners.

Fiora nodded, hopped from Leo’s palm, and landed atop the griffon’s head.

The griffon, already intimidated by Leo, trembled harder.

Its instincts recognized the supreme-class familiar, the phoenix.

Fiora elegantly stretched her neck and gave the griffon a gentle peck on the head.

Hoooom—

The griffon’s feathers bristled.

Strength began to fill its strained wings.

Its white coat flushed with red, and its yellow eyes shifted to orange.

Leo grinned and set Fiora on his shoulder.

Whoosh!

The surrounding flames scattered outward.

Kyaaaaaak!

The griffon let out a powerful roar.

“Let’s go!”

With a tug on the reins, the griffon shot skyward at tremendous speed.

“What?! That’s insanely fast!”

“A first-year can reinforce a familiar to that level?”

Gasps erupted from the stands.

High in the air, Leo spotted the rear group far ahead, narrowed his eyes, and went into a dive.

Screams burst from the spectators.

“Wait! That’s way too fast!”

“At that speed, how’s he going to dodge the obstacles?”

A pillar of light appeared in his descent path.

Created by magic, the pillar fired red mana bullets in all directions without pause.

It was the basic trap of the familiar race!

A single hit could deal enough physical force to knock a contestant out.

Naturally, the faster you flew, the harder it was to avoid.

But the pattern wasn’t random.

‘Up–down–down–left–left–right–up–left.’

Leo’s eyes instantly tracked the firing pattern.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Without slowing even slightly, he wove through the mana bullets at blinding speed.

As if he and the griffon were a single body, his control was breathtaking, drawing cheers from the crowd.

"Oooh! Leo’s familiar-control skill is incredible!"

The commentator shouted in excitement.

Clearing the obstacle in a flash, Leo pulled the reins.

Because he’d limited speed to account for dodging, he still had room to accelerate.

Breaking out of the starting area, Leo sped across the sky.

Along the way he spotted other students wobbling through the air.

‘That Walden guy… looks like he smashed everything in sight on his way through.’

They weren’t all eliminated, but most were badly hit and couldn’t fly properly.

Thanks to that, Leo quickly caught up to the rear group.

“Wha—Le, Leo Plov?!”

“You got through that elemental trap? No, more importantly—how did you catch up so fast?”

The summoning students gasped as Leo closed in from behind.

“Leo!”

Laura from Class 5 of the summoning department lit up with relief.

Seeing her being harassed by other students, Leo tugged his griffon’s reins.

“Looks like Walden already hit you, but…”

His griffon’s front claws seized the neck of the boy harassing Laura.

“Y-you bastard!”

“I also have a temperament that likes to pay people back.”

Leo flashed a bright smile.

Before the boy could react, Leo’s griffon shot upward.

The boy flailed helplessly, clutched in its grip.

Then Leo steered his mount and hurled the struggling student straight into another.

“Uwaaah!”

“Wh-what do we do if they crash into us—?!”

Thud!

They collided and plummeted together.

The students still in the rear group stared in panic.

Flap! Flap!

From above, Leo looked down on them with a cold smile.

“Well then—are you all ready for what’s coming?”