"...does everyone in the group of exchange students from the land of mana confirms the identity of this person...?"

That's why Marcus swallowed his pride, his anger, and his fear, and instead straightened his back and asked trying to make it seem as if he was someone following his own sense of justice.

"Of course!"

Noex cheered out, pumping his fist.

"My lord! Look this way, please!"

Some other magicians waved their hands and called out like a bunch of excited fans.

"In such case... lord Zoemi Benevi Banemor, please accept my deepest apologies for an outrageous claim under your name. The threat of the dark sects is ever present in this land and as a member of the sect that is heavily invested in their complete eradication I have evidently grown too hasty in my judgment."

The vice principal lowered his head towards the indifferent black-haired man – more so to hide his face with a hateful expression plastered all over it than in genuine apology, but that was something that no one else was aware of.

"I acknowledge that you apologized but it doesn't change the fact that being in such a rush to kill the dark sect members cost the lives of your sect members dying by my hand, not to mention all the innocent marital artist who wasn't strong enough to defend themselves before the Heavenly Archer's sect rushed judgment."

"...!"

Zoemi scoffed, raising his head and glaring down at the exposed neck of the vice principal who flinched and bit his lips so hard he drew blood.

"Hold on! You...! You are the guy who beat up the members of my sect!"

Someone from the audience called out, pointing at Zoemi.

The person calling turned out to be Roger Hooves, Reo's opponent from the first duel.

"You defeated all of them easily but they didn't actually receive any serious damage! And now that I think about it... weren't you the one that the sect leader's son, Seth, told us to not mess with if we ever encounter you...?"

Roger added, furrowing his brows and lowering his hand in mild confusion.

"Seth is the son of the Raging Bull sect's leader?! He never said anything about it!"

Zoemi turned right around to face the marital artist and gasped in shock as he never pictured the man in charge of the small village in the middle of the sea of trees to be someone so important.

"So it IS you! Senior, this junior is giving you his respect!"

"We're giving you our respect!"

Roger straightened his back just to put his hands in front of him and bow towards the black-haired man and the other students from the Raging Bull sect followed his example.

"In case there are some doubts still, the Raging Bull sect is vouching for senior Zoemi's not being involved with dark sects!"

After he straightened his back, Roger turned towards the area where all the teachers were seated and declared in a confident voice.

"Pfft... and here I thought that Seth hated me, but look at that. What a tsundere~"

Zoemi raised his head to his face to hide a smirk as he snorted in a hushed voice.

"Like this brave, handsome, and undoubtedly powerful young man from the amazing Raging Bull sext has said, the only people that suffer deadly consequences of fighting me are the ones with the clear intention of killing me or anyone under my protection."

Zoemi cleared his throat and announced, being overly affectionate towards the marital artist who supported him.

"That said, I know where the misunderstanding of me being a member of the dark sect came from."

"You do...?"

The black-haired man added, which made the vice principal flinch and became even more pale – which did not escape Zoemi's or Devios's attention.

"Some time ago I became acquainted with a member of the Great Ram sect who was unlucky enough to become a target for a Great Ram sect's traitor who was indeed a member of a dark sect. I believe that it is because of that traitor's ploy that the boy who later asked for my help became wronged and slandered. The traitor was originally a gifted student from the Great Ram sect named Zoey – with my first name being Zoemi I understand how the information got twisted and the very unfortunate misconception was born."

"..."

Zoemi

revealed, observing curiously how the vice principal's face was regaining some color as if his worst fear did not come to fruition which was rather... thought-provoking...

"I... I see. That does make sense. If I may ask, lord Banemor, what happened to that traitor?"

Marcus took a deep breath, doing his best to act as if the whole thing was already a closed case and he was merely interested in tying up the loose end.

"Died hen a seventh star level law of Scorpius rebound onto him and melted off his flesh."

Zoemi answered without any need for altering or hiding the truth.

"Hmph. Serves him right – a fitting end for a dark sect scum."

The vice principal scoffed angrily and nodded his head to show off his deep hatred towards the villains of the continent.

"Good thing that we got everything cleared out because the boy from the Great Ram sect is about to arrive too."

Zoemi also nodded, before announcing and looking up expectantly.

Following his action, almost everyone else did the same, raising their heads towards the sky to...

"KYUGRAOOORGH!"

"!!!"

Be startled by the sight of a dark-green dragon with outrageously large wings descending towards the ground and announcing its presence with a high-pitched growl that sounded almost like a bird's chirp.

"Little Kaaraal! It's okay to land!"

"?!?!?!"

Zoemi raised his hand to his mouth and called out while waving his other arm to get the massive beast's attention – completely shocking speechless everyone witnessing the scene.

*thump*

"Geez, took you long enough, Unbreakable."

The dark-green dragon landed shockingly softly in the very center of the arena and folded its humongous wings which actually made it look at least six times smaller, before scoffing at the black-haired man and causing a small gust of wind to caress his curly hair.