Chen Xia and Eliza's eyes widened in surprise upon hearing Leo's explanation about the unknown creature. 

"I've never come across such a creature before." 

Eliza concurred with Wald's statement, "Yes, there are no Wyvern-type creatures." 

Leo then provided his insight, "It's a demon beast - a creature that was eradicated by Legendary heroes during the age of disaster. I'm unsure why it surfaced in this era."

Roarrrrrr-!

Fafnir exhaled a burst of flames that Leo effortlessly evaded, before he remarked, "And Rio doesn't seem to be in his right mind, does he?"

"It appears so, resembling the side effects of a contract," Eliza responded, while thoughtfully stroking her chin.

"In that case, we need to come up with a plan. I happen to have the most knowledge about summoning," declared Eliza, puffing out her chest.

"Are you trying to give us orders?" asked Wald.

"That wasn't my intention, but it's similar," replied Eliza, trying to diffuse the situation.

"Haha, that's amusing," sneered Wald as he charged towards the demon beast alone.

Fwoosh! Quaang-!

An intense spirit explosion attack erupted, and upon witnessing the spectacle, Eliza clicked her tongue in annoyance.

"As expected, that guy doesn't listen to reason. At least two of you should follow my orders," she commanded.

Chen Xia scratched her cheek, contemplating the situation. "I agree that Eliza has more expertise in summoning, but Leo also seems knowledgeable about the phantom beast. I think it's best to follow his orders," she reasoned.

"Hmph, even if this person knows about the phantom beast, I'm more suited to give the right orders," 

"What good are orders when we can't even land a proper attack in this state?"

Leo grabbed hold of the griffon's reins and spoke up. "Just follow my lead."

Fwooosh-!

"Wait a minute! Are you saying you'll recklessly charge in? I can't trust you to give orders! As the direct descendant of the Hergen family..." Eliza protested, but was cut off as Leo charged toward Fafnir.

Chen Xia followed suit with an apologetic smile, leaving Eliza alone.

Feeling left out, Eliza's shoulders trembled with anger. "I'm the direct descendant of the Hergen family! Don't ignore what I'm saying!" she yelled, charging towards Fafnir as well.

Roarrr! Quaang!

Fafnir was hit by a powerful explosion fueled by spirit energy, but to everyone's surprise, it emerged unscathed. 

"Haha...ha ha ha ha ha! Incredible! My phantom beast is unbeatable!" 

Rio, who had previously looked pale, burst into laughter, brimming with excitement. "This is it! With this, I can be the best at summoning...no! I can even surpass the grade representative! Yes! I'm the best! I've always been the best! No one can beat me!"

Watching Rio's outburst, Wald bit his tongue in frustration. "Looks like he's lost it," he muttered.

"You seem to be struggling," remarked Leo, flying past Wald.

WURRRRRRR

Suddenly, a massive piece of soil began to clump together behind Wald, and Leo's eyes widened in shock. 

'Golem magic spell?'

It was a gigantic golem created entirely out of spirit magic using earth spirit. 

'This guy is a monster too.'

Leo was in awe of Wald's creation, but Rio's face turned pale as he watched the towering earth golem.

BOOOM!

With a deafening sound that sliced through the air, the earth golem swung its arm menacingly.

"Hiiiiii, avoid it! Quickly!" Rio ordered, his face drained of color.

WOOOOOOOOO

But Fafnir ignored Rio's plea and let out a fierce roar. The golem's arms disintegrated before they could make contact with Fafnir, crashing to the ground in a cloud of dust. Wald's eyes widened in surprise.

Leo muttered under his breath, "Fear?"

It was a technique that disrupted the mana flow by emitting intense vibrations, causing fear in its victims.

For a brief moment, even the griffons quivered with fear.

"That damn Fafnir! Fear is a skill that only adult beasts can use!" Leo grumbled.

He furrowed his brow, deep in thought. ‘Rio's abilities seem to be ineffective. It's unlikely that he can awaken the beast’s latent powers with his summoning skills. What's really going on here?’

Biip! Biip!

Fiora, who was nestled in Leo's inner pocket, let out an angry cry at that moment. 

Wurrrrrrrr

Fafnir's murderous gaze shifted toward Leo, and it charged toward him with its mouth wide open.

WOOORRRRRRRR

Leo soothed the frightened griffon and flew up into the sky.

BANG BANG

Meanwhile, Wald set off a spirit explosion that hit Fafnir directly. However, it did not divert its attention from Leo, continuing to pursue him with unwavering determination.

Leo pondered, wondering if Fafnir had sensed the energy of the Phoenix. The Phoenix and the demon beast were known to possess opposing properties, leading Fafnir to display intense hostility towards Leo.

"Leo Flove, get ready!" Rio shouted, and Leo realized that the contractor's thoughts also influenced the situation.

Fafnir was rapidly closing in on Leo, who looked back and observed the beast's movements. "If it's just me that it's targeting, then I should be able to take it down easily," he thought to himself, glancing down at Fiora, who was still chirping in his pocket and tightening his grip on the griffon's reins.

Flutter-!

Kaaaahhhhhh!

Leo’s griffon let out a powerful cry and accelerated.

Waaaaaaagh!

Fafnir screamed and chased after Leo.

"Wait, young master Leo! It's too dangerous to go alone!" 

"What kind of devil's blessing did you receive? Why are you going alone? Even if we fight together, it won't be enough!" exclaimed Chen Xia and Eliza, taken aback by Leo's actions.

At an astonishing speed, Leo and Rio vanished from their sight, leaving them behind in a cloud of dust.

⏩ ⏩ ⏩ ⏩ ⏩ ⏩ 

"How did this happen? Player Rio suddenly broke the rules!" exclaimed commentator Runba, in a flustered state.

"Hey, you idiot! Is this the time for commentary?" Yura scolded him, swiftly taking the microphone from his grasp.

"Summoning students, prepare for flight summons immediately! This is an emergency! Stop the match!" she commanded, her voice ringing out.

As the students began to buzz with confusion, the professors gathered around Yura, seeking an explanation.

"What's going on, Yura?" Sedzen inquired, his brow furrowed with concern.

"I'm not entirely sure, but it seems that Sean Rio has formed a contract with an unknown beast!" she declared, revealing a crystal from her pocket.

The spectator magic screen had been turned off, but Yura had managed to access the video feed on her crystal ball. "Don't you think it's strange? Sean Rio is not the kind of student to cause an accident like this," she added, the professors' faces contorting with worry.

In response to Yura's revelation, the homeroom teacher of Class 3 spoke in a serious tone, "While it's true that he displayed signs of an inferiority complex as the semester went on, many other students also experienced similar feelings. Therefore, the situation wasn't particularly severe.” 

At the start of the semester, most freshmen at Lumeln tend to experience feelings of inferiority. They may have grown up believing they were the best, but at Lumeln, they are faced with other students who are the cream of the crop.

There are various types of students, some acknowledge and make efforts while others deny and go against it. Rio belonged to the latter category. 

However, as Yura said, he was not the kind of student who would cause such an accident.

"But Rio's behavior, such as anger management disorder and irrational conduct, is typical of someone who has made a contract with a monster beast," added another professor, causing the group to become even more concerned.

"If it's a monster beast that can have such a profound impact on the summoner, it must be a high-ranking monster," Hallind deduced.

Yura, who had been intently staring at the screen, spoke cautiously, "Isn't the wyvern that student Rio is riding a demon beast?"

“......”

“......”

The professors' faces paled in shock. "Could it be...?"

"Is it possible that it's an unknown species of demon?" another professor asked, voicing their concerns.

"The most important thing right now is to stop Rio," Yura interjected urgently.

Just then, they saw Rio chasing after Leo on the screen. Yura panicked, shouting out, "Wait! Leo, it's too dangerous to go alone! Quickly turn the screen around!" as she watched him disappear at a tremendous speed.

The professor of the magic major received the crystal ball from Yura with a perplexed expression and began manipulating it.

"It appears that they have gone to an area beyond the reach of magic!" he announced.

"Seriously?!" Yura exclaimed in alarm, summoning her Black Wyvern with heightened spirit power.

"Assistant professors, let's go! We need to locate Leo and Rio immediately!" she urged, with determination etched on her face.

"Yes!" the other assistant professors responded, ready to set off on their search.

⏩ ⏩ ⏩ ⏩ ⏩ ⏩ 

At an astonishing speed, Leo flew through the air, honing his senses to the maximum.

"It's out of range of the video magic," he noted to himself.

But this was no coincidence - Leo had intentionally flown out of the magic's influence.

"Fiora," he whispered, pulling out his contract beast from his pocket and increasing his aura and spirit power simultaneously.

As Fiora's feathers began to burn, Leo spoke again, "It's time to act."

Fiora's feathers quivered, and she spread her wings, growing larger with each passing moment. 

Soon, she had swelled to the size of Leo's torso, her feathers burning more brightly than ever before.

"Now, you look like a phoenix," Leo observed, as Fiora perched elegantly on his forearm, transforming into a stunningly beautiful phoenix.

Though not yet an adult, she radiated a powerful aura that far exceeded her previous form.

Even Fafnir, who had been intent on killing, seemed taken aback by the transformation.

"Fly!" Leo commanded, and Fiora soared high into the sky, leaving behind a trail of flames.

BIIP BIIP

Chirping happily, Fiora seemed pleased with her dramatically altered appearance.

"She still sounds like a chick," Leo chuckled.

As Fiora descended from the sky, an even more intense flame enveloped her body.

Summoners had the ability to unlock the latent abilities of their summoned beasts, but Leo possessed an additional, special ability: the power to enhance his phantom beasts with his aura.

Phantom beasts were creatures of spirit power and could not normally accept auras. 

However, Kyle had managed to achieve this feat.

Though he had not excelled in any one field, Kyle had managed to fuse aura and mana, mana and spirit power, and spirit power and aura to create a unique, similar power.

Many had dismissed this as impossible, but after countless attempts, Kyle had succeeded, ultimately rising to the rank of a Legendary hero alongside his friends and saving the world from disaster.

Guuuuuu-!

An aura formed on Fiora's wings as she opened her eyes wide and flapped even harder in exhilaration.

"What is this bird?" Rio exclaimed in annoyance, ordering Fafnir to take care of it.

Wooooorrrrrr

Fafnir roared in response, but Fiora headbutted the demon beast, sending it crashing to the ground. Rio also seemed to lose consciousness upon impact and fell with his eyes turned upside down.

Leo stared in astonishment at Fiora's display of strength, wondering why she was so powerful. He had used his spirit power to unlock her potential and strengthen her with his aura, but the power Fiora had shown far exceeded his expectations.

As he looked at his palm, Leo realized that the aura he had learned was the Gerdinger family's, derived from the phoenix. His eyes lit up as he thought, "What if the flames of the phoenix fused together to enhance their power?"

This was an effect that even Leo had not considered before. 

‘Was there still room for refinement and further strengthening?’

Leo's mouth curled up in excitement as he contemplated this possibility.

Flash-!

Suddenly, Fafnir's eyes flickered, and the demon beast, carrying Rio on its back, flew towards Leo. 

Locking eyes with Fafnir, Leo's face hardened as he demanded, "Who are you?"

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