Athra over the following hours finished healing Thalia, as Uria stood guard. After all, he did not fully trust that no one else would try their luck in entering the place. Seeing the delicate features of her beautiful face change from the pained expression she had while her mana circuits were still damaged to that of someone sleeping peacefully, Athra couldn't help but admire them. As he was resting and gathering back his mana to work on Ledros, he kept finding his gaze being drawn to the sleeping beauty. This was the first time he was actually looking at her with eyes different from that of an instructor, beforehand the only times he had seen her were when they were training as a team and then the hunt, simply put at those times his mind wasn't in a place to appreciate her differently from Thalon or Tyrian.

This was the first time Athra was practically alone in a room with a member of the opposite sex around his own age, an age in which one sometimes couldn't always keep their wits about and intrusive thoughts would frequently invade the mind. The fact that the thin quilt was hugging her curves, which the nightgown underneath did not do a particularly great job hiding either, was not helpful one bit. Still, Athra did not let his mind wander too far, he after all had another patient that needed attention.

After about an hour gathering back his strength, Athra got to work on Ledros. Just as he did with Thalia, he did a through and careful job. Reconstructing and in places creating new mana circuits all through his senior's body. It was overall an easier job than it was with Thalia due to the difference between their birth talents, but, it still took him a few hours to finish. When he was done, he gazed out the window and looked at the moonlit night sky, no other light source apart from the fairly large moon could be seen as was the case with every night. Staring at the full moon adorning the sky, Athra could feel the mental and physical exhaustion from using his mana in such a focused manner the entire day. He dismissed Uria and silently left his teammates alone to recover, and took his leave from the infirmary and headed to his own room.

Athra woke up from his slumber, he had fully recovered from the last day's work. Looking out his window, he could see that it was still early enough for him to be on time for the first lecture. After practically not doing any training for the week, he was actually looking forward to the upcoming sword practice. Quickly he left his room as soon as he was done dressing up, with an uncharacteristically fast pace he made his way to the training hall. 

Inside the training hall, people were already staring at Thalia, who appeared as if she were never injured in the first place. Thalon most of all people was the most shocked one, as even though he had confidence the prince would make sure his sister would recover, he did not expect for her to be already ready to train with others.

Thalia was feeling more rejuvenated than ever, truly a far cry from the state of going in out of unconsciousness while in agonizing pain. Not only, she felt as if she was never in that state, her spirits were also high due to finding out who had helped her. Especially after hearing about the absolute contract, she had become overjoyed.

Soon, Athra made his entrance into the hall, drawing the gazes of other students as he made his way towards his team. Much like the first time he had entered the hall almost a decade ago, there were also murmurs about him now too. However, this time none of it was about his supposed cowardice or weakness, now it was all about his unmatched talent and newly acquired title of dragon slayer.

"I apologize for leading you into such a dangerous situation." Said Athra the moment he reached his team, as he slightly bowed his head, creating a shocking for the onlookers and his teammates alike. This was the first time anyone present had seen a D'lora lower their head.

"Please stop doing that, your highness, it's unbecoming for someone of your station." Thalia said, unable to mask the shock in her voice. She also didn't want to see him like that, not after spending the entire day fixing her when her own blood couldn't do better than to keep her barely still in possession of her mana reserves and circuits.

Athra lifted his head back up, his usual proud look was slowly returning and replacing the gaze full of regret he was looking at them with.

"I see that after a week we are once again a full class, good. I am glad to see you both have recovered" The voice of their teacher echoed within the hall. 

"Today we'll be switching from just swordplay to spellsword sparring in preparation for the tournament and promotion exams which will both take place at the end of this century" She proclaimed as the students' attention switched from Athra and his team to her.

The excitement on the young Ira's faces were easy to see, many of them dreamed of promoting as fast as possible, and now their teacher was telling them they would have a shot within this century, unlike the usual five it took from enrollment. 

Athra's lips curled into a smile, he could tell that his mother was rushing things for him to graduate and return home as soon as possible in order to keep him under her watchful eyes now that he had become a tool with potential. His smile soon went from a faint, bothered one to the same predatory smile he had when his brother told them to hunt to their hearts' content. Spellsword training meant he could make sure his teammates improved a lot more as unlike previously he wouldn't need to teach them spells through theory only, he had to make sure the rest of his team could join him after all.

"Every team will spar among each other as we have already been doing prior, with the only difference being that the spars will happen within an arena only I can see into." The woman said, ending the announcement.

As soon as she was done, every team stepped into different portals as the system spell of the academy teleported each of the teams to different arenas only observable by the teacher.

The moment they entered the arena and the open green grass field replaced the stone ceiling and wooden floor of the training hall, Athra's teammates felt a chill run through their spines as if they were being eyed by a predator. Turning to face their leader, they each saw the familiar look on his face. He was intending to train them without holding back, and this time they were truly in his playing field. While Thalon and Thalia had confidence in their mana output, they had witnessed the monstrous power of their leader first hand. Tyrian, unlike the twins, had no such confidence to begin with. He couldn't even cast spells effectively enough to be considered a spellsword candidate not long ago, he had only gotten better with Athra's help and the strange potion the prince had given him.

"Come at me, all three of you at once." Athra ordered, wasting no time. An immense amount of pressure descended upon the trio, the feeling of overwhelming magic power encased the entire arena as Athra drew his practice sword and cast 'haste' and 'foresight' on himself.

The trio each drew their weapons of choice, exchanging glances they quickly came up with a plan to take down the monster in front of them. The decade they had spent training together, allowing them to synch up seamlessly. Thalon would support Tyrian with magic, trying to negate some of Athra's magic, while Tyrian crossed blades with Athra. Thalia would try to get hits in while the men distracted the prince, a strategy they had devised beforehand in case they ever had to train like this.

Wasting no time, Tyrian rushed forward, his speed assisted by the 'haste' spell Thalon had cast on him. Athra could see the arc of the slashing long sword before Tyrian had even swung. He quickly dodged out of the way, swinging his own sword towards his opponent's neck. Dual blades stopped his swing as fast as it had begun. His gaze turned towards Thalia, whose eyes shone with the light indicative of 'foresight' spell. Athra tried to cast blink to create distance. Thalon countered. Blink wasn't a spell of high mana cost, so he had deemed it worth countering. The long sword swing Athra had foreseen now was becoming reality, he rolled away. Thalia chased, her agility and speed boosted by 'haste' surpassed Athra's. She caught up to him while he was still crouched. One of the scimitars slashed vertically down. Athra raised his bastard sword and caught it. The second one slashed horizontally towards his neck. Trapped between two scimitars he couldn't dodge, his predatory smile grew larger. He raised his hand and conjured a shield of mana, halting the blade. He quickly glanced at the swiftly approaching Tyrian and then far away Thalon. Athra opened a portal underneath himself and Thalon before the latter could react. In the blink of an eye, the two had changed places. Luckily due to 'foresight' Thalia reacted fast enough to withdraw her blades.

Athra gazed upon the trio once again with a satisfied smile on his face. He could tell the improvements in Thalia's circuits were being utilized fairly well, and the teamwork between the three was commendable. He let go of his restraints and the mana within him burst forth, coating his very being.

"Let's pick up the pace of this dance, shall we?" Athra's voice resonated within the ears of the trio as his predatory smile and eyes now became fully visible to them.