"Hey, you, you're Shu, right? The one who beat Arthur"
A girl with red hair said as she pointed a rapier at Shu, who was chuckling like a little kid while running from the other participants
"Uh—yeah I guess"
Shu replied, suddenly stopping, causing everyone behind him to trip over their legs, piling up on each other as Shu simply stood there, holding the pile of bodies with his back while an innocent expression covered his face
"So If I beat you, I'll be automatically stronger than Arthur right?"
The girl questioned as her green eyes shone with encouragement while her rapier carefully swayed around
"Uh, I wouldn't say automatically considering I didn't really beat him, not to mention a month has passed, so he probably got stronger"
Shu replied with innocency as he scratched the back of his head, waiting for the girl to answer
"But you still won against the Arthur from the past which means I'll be considered as strong as he once was"
The girl replied, while intensity flew from her figure, she seemed encouraged, enough to fight anyone who faced her.
"Yeah but——I got stronger too"
Said Shu as he pointed at himself with that same look of innocence
"w-well if that's the case then, if I beat you, I'll be considered the strongest student in the academy"
The girl said, with somewhat of hesitant tone, her rapier now swaying with a shake
"Is that so?"
Was all the girl could hear as her senses betrayed her, not alerting her of the current danger. In front of her was Shu, the once innocent-looking Shu, with a serious look on his face and the eyes of a seasoned killer
"H-how did he get so close to me? But I'm almost as fast as my older sister, how couldn't I react, also, why didn't my rapier stab him, I'm pretty sure he dashed forward, or..did he move my Rapier to a side? But that shouldn't be possible, I would have noticed..."
The red-haired girl thought as she looked straight into Shu's serious eyes, feeling inferior while the killing intent that Shu was releasing made her sweat
"This guy..."
"Is strong"
Was all she could think about before dashing backward, holding her rapier to her side, she took the stance of that of a Rapier wielder. Her right leg forward, and her left leg still
"Oooh. I sense a lot of Sanctuary Energy from you. Not anything close to me or Ean though, but, it can be nurtured"
Shu said with a smile on his face, as the girl began to tremble, shaking as she held her Rapier
"Wh-what are you talking about? You can sense it?"
"Huh? Oh-uh yeah, as long as someone is around my radius, I can sense how much Sanctuary Energy they currently posses, I can also sort of sense what kind of potential they have, and from you, I sense a lot"
Shu whispered as he once again appeared in front of her, with not much effort, with no sound, and without any difficulty
"Stop talking nonsense!"
The girl exclaimed as she swung he rapier, causing Shu to take a few steps back, to avoid it
"I, Alice Evania!, will defeat you, and achieve the title of Academy's strongest!"
The girl now known as Alice exclaimed, jumping back and taking her stance once more
"I like you"
Shu whispered as he patted his chest as if cleaning off some dirt
"I like you a lot!"
Shu screamed as he suddenly dashed toward Alice, swinging his leg in the air in an attempt to kick her in the neck, but she dodged, moving backward with elegancy before moving forward, thrusting the tip of her Rapier in the same direction attempting to stab the now seemly unbalanced Shu, but to her surprise, his leg would quickly move down, so fast her green eyes couldn't follow, so fast that her rapier couldn't counter-attack, and before she knew it.
The tip of her rapier was now sunk on the ground
"N-no, I got nervous and used all of my speed on a regular attack, I'm screwed now"
Alice thought, before closing her eyes, waiting for a never-coming attack. Realizing no attack had reached her, she would open her eyes, seeing Shu pulling out the tip of the rapier from the ground
"H-hey, what do you think you're doing?"
Alice questioned as Shu simply stared at her, smiling as he cleaned his hands right after
"Well I helped you pull out your weapon, it isn't fair if you fight handicapped"
Shu replied before placing his hands on his hips, waiting for her to attack with the same smile as before
"Handicapped? You're the only handicapped one here, you don't even have a sword"
She retaliated, pointing at him with her other hand
"But, my body is my weapon, I don't like using swords either, Weapons are cool but, punching and kicking is where the action is at"
Shu replied, giving her a thumbs-up, as that innocent look once more ruled over his expression
"Th-this guy, he's...he's a Master Martial Artist!"
Alice thought to herself, as her eyes turned bright, resembling that of an excited child as Shu's eyebrow simply moved up, confused as to why her sudden change in expression
"H-hey, Shu right?"
"Uh, yeah?"
"Can you please train me!"
Alice said, blurting out those unexpected words in front of the other participants, who looked like they admired her
"A-a high ranking noble is asking a commoner to train her?"
One of the participants questioned, as every other one began to do the same, questioning what the great Alice Evania had just asked for
"Wait, Alice is strong, stronger than all of us, so the fact that she asked for him to train must mean, that guy..that guy's a monster"
Another participant said, pointing out something that should have been obvious to everyone from the start, but in doing so, everyone's image of Shu changed, in front of them was no longer an arrogant boy making fun of them, but rather a giant, a giant with eyes engulfed in fire.
While that was happening, shu's innocent smile would disappear and in turn, would be exchanged by a sincere one
"Sure, I'll train you"