Chapter 13

  Leon’s training sword should have broken a dozen times over by now, but the flawlessly woven mana that reinforced the blade from the inside out kept it stable.

  Cutting Flame goes beyond mere mana reinforcement however, otherwise any silver-class mage could do this. Leon’s bloodline Gift would take in heat from an area and condense it down to a focused point; in this case, that point was the 'edge' of the sword. And the heat was being drawn from the fire mana Leon was generating.

  Combine this with the aura that let him push his body to superhuman levels, and Leon had become a dancing blaze on the battlefield.

  Axel had long since given up trying to block these attacks with his bare hands, and the radial heat of the blade forced him to take wide evasive maneuvers. Each time he dodged, it would make the next attack more difficult to get away from.

  At this rate, every fourth slash from Leon was meeting its mark, and like a laser, the blade precisely scorched Axel’s flesh. When he tried to trade blows with Leon, the flame of the blade would flare up and burst out like an explosion, forcing him back instead. All Leon had to do to achieve this effect was to momentarily release Cutting Flame and allow the flames to move as they wished.

  He continued pressuring Axel, pushing him further and further back. Axel’s expression had, for the first time during this fight, turned serious as he analyzed each strike and weighed his options.

  But his eyes settled on something behind Leon, and his expression changed to a smirk.

  “Finally…”

  He muttered under his breath.

  Leon didn’t look to see what was behind him. With his current reinforced body and honed spatial awareness, he was confident he could evade any attacks from behind.

  He pressed on with a mighty swing, capitalising on the latest gap in Axel’s movements

  But no attack came from behind, and the blade could not find Axel’s body.

  Instead, it stopped an inch from him, as if an invisible force field was protecting him.

  “Looks like our allies have settled things. Do you know what that means?”

  Axel chuckled, his eyes lit up with electricity.

  “It means I don’t need to play around anymore.”

  Lightning engulfed all of Axel’s body, forming a protective armour around him. The 'gauntlets' were larger than the rest of the buzzing armour, a punch from that was known to go cleanly through a fully armoured soldier.

  This was the Lightning Armour technique Axel was most well-known for. It was considered inefficient to most because it was a self-buffing ability that used mana instead of aura. It was incredibly strong, but the mana capacity and control required were ludicrous.

  Axel shot forward, the sound of thunder accompanied his movement and his fist met Leon’s blade once again.

  Crack!

  The wooden sword splintered, and the mana within trembled under the weight of his fist.

  Schwiiiing

  The blazing sword retaliated, but Axel no longer needed to dodge such weak attacks, and it bounced harmlessly off him.

  BOOM...thud...

  The force of Axel’s strike sent Leon flying before he hit the ground. If not for aura’s reinforcement, Leon would have no doubt been knocked out.

  But he stood up and faced him again, determined to break through that armour.

  The air went cold as Cutting Flame sucked in the heat around them. Leon discarded his sword and focused instead on his arm, creating a blade of fire that formed from his fingertips.

  This would be far more powerful with a Goldbrand blade, but Leon would have to make do with what he had instead.

  “Woah, woah, what are you doing? That’s definitely a lethal attack.”

  Rex’s voice went ignored. Leon was solely focused on Axel now.

  They both ran forward with the intention of letting their powers collide. Fist met blade for the last time, lightning and fire exploded in every direction, and Leon could feel the bones in his sword-arm break.

  Silence descended. Leon’s mana had not only been exhausted, but the flow of mana itself had been totally disrupted in the collision. It would be days before he could regulate mana again.

  “...I surrender.”

  But he wouldn’t let himself be embarrassed any further.

  Axel’s Lightning Armour was totally unscathed, and he was barely winded despite all the exertion from their battle.

  Leon admitted defeat and bowed to Axel before leaving the field.

  ***

  After the fight, we all went our separate ways. Chamite class just needed to kill time for another three and a half hours before the end-of-day homeroom dismissal.

  Axel, saying he had worked up an appetite, left the campus to eat at a restaurant. I wondered whether he would sneak out like me or just stroll through the front gate without a care in the world.

  As for me, I had some research to do in the library.

  Artifacts A-Z

  Legendary Blades of Soleo

  A History of Lost Artifacts

  The Verdant Divide: A History

  I had collected any book I could find that at least tangentially seemed like it could be related to Blightblade. Or at least tell me what it was.

  While browsing, I thought back to the duel and what I had learned.

  Leon was more competent than I expected, and his graceful exit after surrendering had made him look like some sort of lone hero facing insurmountable odds. This painted our team as villains in the eyes of a lot of the onlookers, but I didn’t really care about that.

  Lily’s control of magic was remarkable, and being able to hide remote magical attacks in shadows made her a terrifying opponent.

  Paris’s speed and physical strength were already noteworthy on their own, but her skill at targeting vital points without hesitation was her real strength.

  Guy was there too.

  But Axel gave me the information I wanted the most.

  That magic he used seemed impenetrable, and I’m sure Leon must have thought the same. After all, if he had noticed what I did, he would have fought differently and won.

  I grabbed another potentially helpful book titled Interactions Between Mana Elements.

  I settled in and read quietly in a corner…

  This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

  “...Haha… thought it would be helpful… you ok?”

  “O-oh… very much… -trice of Darrowby.”

  I continue reading, ignoring the two people chatting somewhere behind a bookshelf.

  “... recommend me?”

  “I think… -of the southern lands… great hero.”

  Their chatter was becoming clearer, but I kept quiet.

  “I’ll read it for sure! I’m Lloyd, Lloyd of Redwater.”

  The couple emerged from behind the shelves. Lloyd was with a petite, meek-looking girl with light blue hair. Judging by the odd hair colour, she was probably particularly gifted with mana.

  “Oh, hey, Rex!”

  “Shh.”

  I responded curtly.

  “Haha, sorry! I don’t usually come to places like this but--”

  He continued to ramble about things I don’t care about. I was trying to tell him to go away with my body language, but he wasn’t taking the hint.

  “I’d like to read my books in peace.”

  I contained my annoyance with the clueless idiot.

  “Oh! My bad, do you mind if I sit with you?”

  I had specifically chosen my spot because there was only one seat here. Anyone with a brain would understand I wasn’t welcoming a gathering here.

  “Um… Lloyd, maybe we should sit somewhere else?”

  The quiet girl spoke sense.

  “Don’t worry, Rex and I are old fr— I mean, we’re dorm mates.”

  He winked at me as if he didn’t just admit he still suspects I’m the Rex he knew as a child. Also, we were never friends, you idiot. You’re annoying.

  “You.”

  A stern-faced librarian woman approached us and glared at Lloyd.

  “You are too loud. This is your only warning. And leave others alone when they are studying.”

  “Oh, sorry haha… I’ll just… yeah.”

  He scratched his cheek and smiled nervously before leaving the building.

  “L-Lloyd, wait a moment.”

  “Stop.”

  The librarian stopped the meek girl with a word.

  “You have not finished sorting the fiction section.”

  “Oh, s-sorry Mrs. Schwartz… I’ll just go do… I’ll just go.”

  She went back to the shelf I first saw her emerge from.

  The librarian —Mrs. Schwartz I gathered— looked at me. Her expression went from mildly angry to neutral.

  I nodded at her.

  She nodded back and returned to the front counter.

  I made a mental note to get her something nice the next time I visited.

  ***

  After flipping through my books and finding no mention of any sword or artifact called Blightblade, I returned everything to its correct place and borrowed Interactions Between Mana Elements for more in-depth reading later.

  I made it back to homeroom with time to spare and took a seat in the second row from the front.

  Due to our small class size, there was always ample space for seating, but we tended to spread out anyway.

  “Why did you fight like that?’”

  The exception to this rule, Fleur, had taken a seat right next to me.

  “What do you mean?”

  “In the duel. You only attacked the weak or those who could not defend themselves. Why?”

  Because my body hurt so bad it was painful to exist, so I went for the easy wins.

  “Because in a team fight, eliminating your foes quickly and securing the numbers advantage is the surest way to win.”

  My thoughts and my words were at odds, but she seemed to accept my logic.

  “I see. In our tribe, we also favour victory over meaningless honour. But we do not speak such wicked words at our enemies while we fight.”

  “Attacking your enemy mentally can often make it easier to overwhelm them physically.”

  This time I could speak the truth.

  “I see…”

  She continued to stare at me.

  “...Is there something else?”

  “...No.”

  She quickly turned to face ahead, just in time to see Professor Kuhn entering.

  “I trust you all had an enlightening first day at the IMA.”

  He addressed us all.

  “Professor!”

  “Yes, Bridgit?”

  “Why were we not given a task? The headmaster ignored us completely.”

  It didn’t take long for the main issue to be addressed, and we all looked at the Professor in expectation.

  “She did that? To think she would be so petty…”

  He removed his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose.

  “My apologies. Headmaster Stern and I have a rivalry of sorts. At least, she seems to believe so. Personally, I find her attempts to compete with me childish. I did not think she would direct her annoyance with me at the whole class.”

  He put his glasses back on and straightened his back.

  “Very well, I will just have to enlighten you myself.”

  He cleaned up the chalkboard and began writing the conditions of our test.

  "Unlike the other classes, instead of working on a project for a month, you will be administered a trial of sorts at the end of the month. You will be told exactly what to expect, and can use the time before then to prepare.”

  “So we get four hours of free time every day? Sweet.”

  Axel commented with a grin.

  “If you wish, yes.”

  Professor Kuhn’s response surprised me.

  “That is, of course, if you don’t think you need to better yourself at all.”

  His eyes shone blue, and a ring of magical runes appeared over his left eye. This was what Eyes of Discernment looked like once activated.

  “...Hmm…”

  Professor Kuhn only hummed to himself while sweeping his gaze across each of us.

  “...You will be performing your trial in groups of three. I will be determining these teams personally. And this will be a direct competition between you all.”

  He began writing our names on the board:

  Team 1: Lily of Ashenport, Bridgit Sol Proudmane, Meztili Nekrotica

  Team 2: Axel Lionheart, Guy Vespertille, Paris Vipera

  Team 3: Rex Jaeger, Fleur Sylvain, Oliver of Bradbrooke

  “These will be your teams. I suggest you start working together sooner rather than later.”

  Fleur and I exchanged looks, then met Oliver’s nervous glances from in front of us.

  “Your trial will take place within the Verdant Divide. Three tribes in that forest have been locked in a feud for three months now, and it has begun to affect both the Kingdom and the Leafwhisper commune. As such, it has been requested that the IMA, which is closest to where these tribes are based, assist in solving the conflict.”

  Professor Kuhn drew three simplistic pictures. Each resembled a different monster.

  “These tribes consist of the Blood Thunderer goblins, the Rockbiter kobolds, and a rogue flock of imps with no particular title.”

  “So it’s a culling? Does each team need to wipe out a faction?”

  Bridgit enquired.

  “No, the tribes do serve a purpose in the ecosystem of the Verdant Divide, it’s their fighting that is causing problems. They lose resources in a raid, so they attack people on the road and rob them. They need food, so they raid smaller communities.”

  Professor Kuhn drew out a crude map and circled the areas these groups had been attacking. Most were concentrated on the road merchants took from Soleo to Borderton.

  “Worst case scenario, we send a punitive force and eradicate them all. But ideally, we want them to coexist, or at the very least, to have just one of them in control. That would make negotiations with them easier for us, too.”

  I raise my hand.

  “Yes, Rex?”

  “Can we choose who we support?”

  “I was going to leave it to chance, but if you can all agree on it, I suppose there is no issue letting you choose for yourselves.”

  “I want the goblins.”

  Everybody looked at me in surprise, and, as I hoped, nobody objected.

  “If you’re certain… You are familiar with them, correct?”

  Oliver was looking at me like I had kicked his dog, and Fleur had an expression of pure disgust.

  “I know them well. How are we to be graded?”

  I move the topic along before anyone can change their mind and take my goblins from me.

  “You will be graded based on your contributions and the end result. Even if you obtain the best result, if your team did nothing of value, you will be evaluated poorly.”

  “What if our chosen tribes fight each other?”

  Axel asked this time.

  “It’s up to you. You are permitted to fight against each other; just be aware that we will always be watching.”

  Who is "we"?

  I wondered quietly.

  “That should cover everything. Class dismissed. Axel, stay a moment if you would.”

  I gestured for Oliver and Fleur to follow me, and we all headed out to town.