"How?" Arimane asked Moria, a bit anxious.
"Well, obviously…" Moria walked to a closet in the dojo and took out something before swiftly throwing it to Arimane. The latter reacted quickly and nimbly caught it. That simple action got the attention of the entire squad. That kind of reaction speed wasn't something to scoff at.
Arimane looked at what was in his hand, confused. It was just a dummy knife of which the edge had been smeared with red paint. He looked up at Moria with a look full of questions.
"You will first spar with your seniors, then we'll give you a small test. If you do well in those two, you can join the squad with no problem," Moria explained to him what he was going to do.
Arimane mused. He wasn't that surprised since it was a military facility. He looked at the other people for a moment then sighed. "(Can I win…? They probably are more trained than everyone else on the orphanage. But… if I rely a bit on my body, maybe I stand a chance.)"
He wasn't being conceited. He was just aware that there really was a difference in physical ability. Although he was only ten, he could muster the strength of a fully trained grown man who had no Nanomachines.
While pondering, Arimane started playing with his knife. He made it spin and revolve around his hand, then he changed his grip in less than a second without staining his clothes or hands with the paint that was on it. He did all of that in one go, without fail.
The squad and Moria looked at him in surprise. It wasn't that difficult to do tricks like that with their knives but a lot of familiarity and practice was required.
"High reaction speed and high dexterity, huh?" Moria muttered and smiled. "This kid is suited to be an assassin," He remarked without letting the person in question hear it.
When Arimane was ready, he went to the middle of the dojo and a 16 years old guy went with him. He took a regular stance with the knife pointed at his opponent.
Arimane bitterly smiled as he looked at him. He tried to imitate the stance at first but discarded the idea when he felt that it was too uncomfortable. He eyed his knife and changed the grip to a reverse one. The squad watched him with a jeering smile when he did this but what happened after closed their mouths.
Arima brought the knife higher and pointed the edge of the blade toward his opponent. His left hand was placed just in front of his chest and his left foot placed a bit behind.
Moria raised an eyebrow when he saw this. "(Did he take that stance on instinct alone?)"
Arimane's stance seemed to be fancy at first. Many were those who liked to use a reverse grip. But at the moment, the blade in his right hand covered his throat, his left hand was ready to counter or protect, and his balance was good as well. Of course, there were some places to arrange. But for a first try, it was very impressive.
"Kile Walker," The member of the squad opened his mouth.
"Arimane."
Moria looked at the two and clapped his hands. That sound was explicit enough to announce the start. Kile moved first, he was swift and his footwork steady. Arimane was instantly shaken, he didn't even know people could move like that.
But, when Kile's blade was about to reach him, Arimane instinctively moved and wielded his knife to counter the opposite side's. Within a second, the two opponents had entangled their knives.
Kile was taken off guard by the accuracy Arimane showed in that clash. It wasn't an easy matter to parry a knife coming at you at high speed without prior training.
Kile tried to step back to take a bit of distance. He predicted that Arimane wasn't really experienced and would definitely show openings if he were to retreat slightly before attacking from a dead angle.
But as he thought that, a hand abruptly grasped his shoulder. His eyes narrowed and he slightly panicked. Arimane pulled him back and managed to press his knife against his throat before he could react.
Kile's movements froze. He couldn't believe it. His opponent's strength was a lot higher than he thought. In the end, his defeat was partially due to him underestimating his opponent and also because he simply never imagined a ten-year-old could possibly overpower him through raw strength.
The other members of the squad were very surprised by this rapid result. Moria snickered. "It's Arimane's win," He announced. Actually, even he didn't expect Kile to lose. But considering the next test, it was the perfect situation.
Arimane sighed. On the outside, he seemed to be relatively calm, but in his head, he was so stressed that he thought he was going to collapse on the ground.
"You're a natural it seems," Moria praised and Arimane smiled wryly. "But this is not over," He added and glanced at Erin. The latter walked to the center of the dojo after picking a knife.
He arrived in front of Arimane and faintly nodded. "Erin Walker."
Most of the orphans here had 'Walker' as their family name since it was the name of the facility. There were only cases like Arimane, where they would refuse to inherit the name.
Arimane nodded at Erin and repeated his name by politesse. After that, Erin took his own stance. He was facing his opponent sideways. He positioned his hand holding the knife just in front of his chest and covered his throat with his other arm.
At that moment, Arimane felt extremely pressured. He not only couldn't find any sort of evident openings the glare he was receiving and the unbreakable concentration he sensed made him feel extremely small. He was sure that Erin was completely different from Kile. He felt like he may lose without even knowing how. In the end, even before Moria could give the signal, Arima loosened his grip.
"I concede defeat," He said and Erin's eyes widened in surprise. "I'm not rash enough to try fighting someone stronger than me."
Moria laughed and Erin smiled wryly before shrugging. He put his knife down and approached Arima. He then extended his hand toward him. Arimane blinked with a blank expression and looked at the hand that seemed to be asking for a handshake.
"I recognize your abilities and talent," Erin said with a smile.
"Huh? Wasn't there the last test?" Arimane tilted his head.
"The second fight was the test. Anyone can be a sore loser but it takes talent to be able to say 'I give up'. You passed the second test. Well, it's not like you needed to concede before even starting to spar, but let's say you got a full mark," Moria answered.
Arimane felt enlightened and grinned as he shook Erin's hand. "I'm in your care from now on I guess."
"Welcome to the squad," Erin's attitude became a lot friendlier in an instant.
********************************************
Back to the present.
Arima teleported his class to a vast plain and pointed at Night. "You will supervise twenty of them," He instructed then turned toward. "Karma, for you…" He paused. "Oh well, you take care of another twenty. I'll train the students I picked along with Lanya," He declared and disappeared with his students without letting Night and Karma say anything.
The former's expression was kind of distorted and his mouth kept twitching. Karma looked at him and chuckled.
"Hey, all of you, make groups based on your affinities. If you specialize in non-elemental magic, say it to us beforehand," She spoke loud enough for the forty students to hear her.
Night observed her in surprise. "(She is unexpectedly good… no, shockingly good.)"
"Okay, I want you to experiment your magic on that murky guy over there," Karma abruptly said. "Then he will rate it based on what he felt. Understood?" She inquired and the students nodded in understanding while shooting glances at Night.
"…what?"
*******************************************
"Alright," Arima said when they stepped foot in the middle of a desert. He looked at his students who were stunned by the drastic change of environment. "This training session will be special."
Arima closed his eyes and his aura exploded for a second before waning. Arima exhaled. "While I'm restrained at the tenth level, I want you all to attack me together," He declared and the listeners exclaimed in shock.
"At the same time, I'll point out your errors," Arima added and conjured a katana made out of magic. That sword looked incredibly real. The blade even shined with a metallic luster.
Arima cracked his neck and pointed his students with it. "Come at me, with all your might. It will end when one of you manages to injure me, even if it's a simple scratch. Lanya, you're allowed to participate."
Lanya's eyes flashed and silver scales covered her body. Arister laughed, he was also suppressed to the tenth level to make things fair. He was still supposed to be under the guise of a student after all. He summoned Ares's spear and rushed first, followed by Lanya. The students were still a bit stunned and only Ofia and Lena moved.
Arima deflected Arister's spear with just two moves. He barely moved his feet and simply rotated his wrist. "You still messed up your range cognition," He corrected him while receiving Lanya's following blows. Arister snickered and swung his spear one more time.
Arima entangled his katana with Lanya's rapier thanks to the guard then made a step backward to dodge a light beam aimed at him. At the same time, the wind blew and small typhoon was formed, trying to unbalance him. That combo was performed by the princess-duo as they tried to support Lanya and Arister.
For them, it was obvious that Arister and Lanya would be the crucial key to injure Arima.
Arima leaped and 'rode' the wind flow. Lanya grasped the opportunity and pointed her rapier at him.
"[Illuminance]," She intoned and her sword glowed. A white sphere appeared right in front of Arima. The latter waved his hand and erected a wall of darkness just before the sphere detonated with a blinding light.
A second before that, Arister whirled his spear and planted it in the ground. "[Sub finibus tuis positi] (Under your territory)," He started chanting at a high speed.
"[Quod interitus cadunt] (Destruction will fall)"
"[Crescere pulchra flores sanguinis] (Grow beautiful flowers of blood)"
"[Fifth Destruction Art, Spatium Horti]," He finished his incantation in two seconds, exactly at the moment where Arima protected himself from the light.
A black sphere instantly trapped him. Red flowers bloomed on it and a red hue surrounded it.
After a few seconds, the sphere dispersed into minuscule fragments. Arimane's figure crossing its arms arose. There was a blue light surrounding him and he was completely unharmed.
"Ares (Arister), your magic wasn't that bad but your timing could have been a little faster. Lanya, as always, you slash too much and forget to stab more, also, the light magic you used should have covered a bigger area, preferably, all around me," He remarked. "Lena, Ofia, your actions were well calculated, coordinated, and swift. Continue like that."
Arister shook his head and wryly smiled. He grabbed his spear back before flying toward Arima. Lanya unfolded her wings and flew off as well.
Lena soared and prepared to give support while Ofia deployed her cockatrice wings and joined the aerial fight. At that point already, the sand had been dug out from everywhere, creating a giant sand screen around the area. The other students started to emerge from it. It finally became a one vs twenty-three.
Arima smirked. "This will be fun," He uttered and thunder roared. The sky darkened and purple lightning sparked around him; sometimes attacking, sometimes defending, and occasionally destroying magic projectiles. It was a deadly storm where you'd risk to be struck by a lightning at every step.
*****************************************
Meanwhile, in a very dark and cold underground bastion, Karaskan was sitting at a desk, scrutinizing some projected data. He appeared to be deciphering a sort of map.
At some point, he abruptly raised his head and closed one eye. "…Someone is opening a gate to hell?" He muttered in surprise. "Is it the Life Hunter?" He wondered. "No, even him wouldn't do something so bold all of a sudden. A human who wants to go to hell…?"
The more he kept thinking, the more puzzled he became. "Wait," Then he exclaimed as he recalled something. "There was an incident about a certain Hell's prisoner… What was his name again?" He frowned then shook his head before resuming his decrypting.