When the bright light receded, Lux and Iris stared at the aftermath of Eiko's and Astra's final clash.
The training grounds were in a mess, with bits of equipment scattered all over. However, there was no damage in the Training Ground itself. It was obvious that the facility was made to endure strong attacks. It could probably only be destroyed by blows that came from High-Rankers.
Vera approached her grandchildren while holding a small puddle of goo in her hands. The small blue puddle was none other than Eiko who had used up all her energy in her last attack. The baby slime didn't even have any strength left to retain her usual form, which worried Lux and Iris.
However, after Iris checked Eiko's condition, she was relieved to find out that aside from exhaustion, her baby slime was fine and had simply fell into hibernation mode to regain her strength.
Astra, on the other hand, stood arrogantly in the training ground. The moment the lightning that covered its body disappeared, several bruises could be found on its pristine white skin. Clearly, it suffered minor injuries during his last clash with Eiko.
Vera had stood in front of Eiko to block the explosion and protected the awakened slime from getting injured. Because of this, the baby slime was unscathed by the aftermath, and was now being cared for by Iris, who was pouring regeneration potions on Eiko's puddle-like-body.
"This is your victory, Astra," Lux said as he approached the Unicorn who was looking at the baby slime in Iris' hands from a distance. "Thank you for taking it easy on my daughter. However, if you slack on your training, Eiko will surely catch up to you. She may not beat you in your next rematch, or your rematch after that. But, I'm sure that a year from now, you'll no longer be able to take it easy."
Astra glanced at Lux and let out a snort before walking away. The Unicorn was about to return to its personal residence when Iris blocked his path.
"Thank you, Astra, for holding back," Iris said with a smile. She then opened a regeneration potion and offered it to Astra, which the latter took without even a slight hint of hesitation.
The young beauty then opened another potion and poured its contents on Astra's bruised body. A few seconds later, all of his injuries were healed. Aside from the dirt that was stuck on its body, the Unicorn had mostly recovered.
Just like what Iris said, Astra had held back in the end. If it wished, it could've blasted through Eiko's Moon Blast and pushed the attack back to the baby slime, which might have resulted in a critical injury.
Astra didn't reply and simply nudged his head on Iris cheek, telling her that it was not a big deal to him. After a while, the Unicorn walked away before teleporting towards his residence.
His battle with Eiko had made him realize that Lux was right. If he slacked on his training, Eiko would definitely catch up to him, which was something he wouldn't want to happen.
It wasn't only Astra who felt this way. All of Iris' Guardians who witnessed the battle felt a fire light up inside their chest. More than anything else, they didn't want to lose to the baby slime the most. The battle had shown them that even a baby like her could threaten their lives if they weren't careful.
Vera looked in amusement as she held the puddle of blue goo in her hands. According to her estimate, it would take Eiko a few hours or a whole day before she finally regained her consciousness.
She had seen many slimes in the past, and for some reason, Eiko reminded her of that one slime she had once encountered in one of the High-Ranking areas in Elysium. Vera didn't know if Eiko would grow up to become similar to that slime she had met, but if the baby slime did, then her current impression of her adopted slime granddaughter would have to be revised.
After all, that Slime Queen had taken over an entire kingdom by itself and was now considered as one of the Overlords in Elysium.
It was an existence that even High-Rankers didn't dare to offend.
Iris had taken Eiko back to her room to do a full body examination. She was very curious about Eiko's current form since she had never taken care of a slime before.
Lux felt that it would be a bad idea to follow Iris back to her room, so he decided to stroll around Barbatos Academy with Vera, while waiting for Alicia to finish the preparation for his registration as well as the paperwork she had to complete to become his guarantor in the tournament.
When the two appeared in the training grounds of the students, Vera pointed at one of the teenagers that were standing in the arena. The teenager had short blonde hair and blue eyes and he was quite handsome.
The blonde teenager stood as straight as a sword and his mere presence made Lux feel that he was looking at an expert.
"He is one of the people that you should look out for in the tournament, Lux," Vera said softly. "That young man is the Second Prince of the Kingdom of Azov, Rupert Evans Vi Azov. Have you heard of the 'Four Kings, and the Five Overlords'?"
Lux nodded. "They are considered as the strongest members of the young generation among the Six Kingdoms."
"That's right. That person is one of the Four Kings and the younger generation refer to him as the Sword King."
"What a domineering title. So, he's a genius in swordsmanship?"
Vera chuckled as she shook her head. "Calling him a genius is belittling him. Even my son hadn't reached his level of proficiency with the sword when he was of the same age. Also, he has a very unique body constitution that is very resistant against magical attacks. This makes him a very dangerous opponent for magic users."
Lux nodded his head in understanding. "Looks like he got all of his bases covered. If Nero were to match up against him, who would win?"
Vera paused as she pondered the answer to this question.
"I say that Nero has a forty percent chance to win against him," Vera replied. "Although Prince Rupert might be strong, he is not invincible. Just remember Lux that there are many strong people that will be joining the tournament. You should never let your guard down."
Lux knew that his Grandma was only concerned about his well-being, so she decided to show him one of the possible opponents that he could be facing in the tournament.
As if sensing Lux's gaze, Prince Rupert glanced in his direction and gave him a brief nod before walking down from the arena. His opponent had conceded even before their mock battle started, which the spectators who were hoping to gain an insight to his abilities, sigh in disappointment.
"Grandma, are the members of the Four Kings and Five Overlords also here in Barbatos Academy?" Lux inquired.
"Two of the Four Kings, and two of the Five Overlords reside here," Vera answered. "The others like Nero spend most of their days in Elysium. They only return to Solais to give their reports, so it's hard to get a hold of them."
"Heh, I've seen that Mofo two times already," Lux said. "He's not that hard to find."
Vera could only shake her head helplessly at her grandson's comment. Clearly, Lux and Nero had bad blood between them. But, as a responsible adult, she didn't plan to interfere. This was a conflict between the younger generation, so this must be settled by the two of them.
Besides, she didn't dislike Nero being Lux's rival. This kind of relationship would only encourage her grandson to work harder. Aside from that, she was sure that Lux would settle their differences in the tournament, so she didn't have to do anything about it.
