"Hm? It is possible.... Would you like to fight now?" The instructor asked with a frown, feeling the insolent young man was underestimating his prowess and insulting his battle experience.
"Yes." Ken nonchalantly affirmed.
"Very well."
At the sight of the instructor preparing to fight, the rest of the fights halted as all the examinees and examiners focused on Ken and the instructor named George.
"Are you ready?" George asked as he seethed in unhidden rage.
SHHH...
With an ominous sound of sword sliding out of its sheath;
Ken stood straight with his double edged sword aiming straight at George, who felt a chill run down his spine, while the sword's sheath was gripped in Ken's left hand.
Mana swirled around George as strong gusts of winds breezed past Ken's face, forcing his blindfold's extended scarf to flutter violently.
Though he was currently fighting, George didn't forget his job as an instructor, an examiner, the one who was supposed to test the examinees, not teach them their place; he was a teacher, he couldn't be blinded by rage, that to against the one whom he was supposed to teach, even worse of the facts was that that the young man he was going to fight against was a blind young man, who hadn't even been lucky enough to see the world.
"Whoooo...."
'I can't lose my cool....'
"BEGIN!" Screamed the examiner, and;
BOOM-!
"!!!!"
A dreadful intent to kill descended upon the entire training hall, silencing the entire hall up to a point that nothing except for the gasping breathes of the spectators sounded in the silence shrouded hall.
And by the next instance; when everybody felt as if they had a grim reaper behind their backs with his scythe placed at their necks, the dreadful aura decreased considerably until they were able to glance at the source of the aura.
All they found was a blind man with his blood red blindfold's extra extended scarf fluttering violently behind his back, while his long-black hair which had come loose and off of his bun was seen similarly fluttering, highlighting his charm by levels off the charts.
In front of him, on the other side of the parted area, was George, whose forehead was covered in cold sweat.
Elfrida and Fleta gulped audibly.
"I'll be coming then," Ken muttered and blurred for a split second before arriving right in front of George, who felt the changes in the mana he had deliberately let out as a preparation and shrugged off the uneasy feeling and the fear which was trying to settle in the depths of his heart and reacted to Ken's appearance accordingly.
[Air burst] George casted.
Mana tainted in George's mana signature swirled next to Ken's left ear as he got ready to swing his sword, but that pocket of concentrated air made him retreat by a step, before
BOOM-!
A violent shockwave busted in the spot Ken's face had been previously.
WHISTLE~
"That was quite a good reaction speed you've got there." Ken muttered, making George frown in displeasure and disbelief.
'I'm the examiner here....' He thought as he saw Ken's simple yet meaningful manoeuvres.
[Pressure] George casted his spell which would cause the air around the target to densify heavily or thin out until it becomes a vacuum of space. In Ken's case, the air densified heavily making his movements stuffy.
[Wind Slash] George casted a follow up spell without giving Ken enough time to get out of the pressure.
When Ken felt the wind blade approaching him while he was under the dense pressure caused by the air around him, he grinned ominously and disappeared from the spot where his after image lingered for a split second after a tap sound resounded throughout the training hall before
TWACK-!
THUD-!
And what they saw after the tap was the figure of the fallen instructor. He was fallen unconscious on the ground with blood and teeth dyeing a small patch in front of his mouth while a bluish rectangular bruise marred his left jaw, which seemed to have dislocated.
SSSHHHH.....
TAK-!
Sheathing his vainly unsheathed sword, Ken walked out of the parted area, towards Fleta and "Guide me to our seats, Fleta." He said, and Fleta, who was dazed due to the overwhelming display of power, unconsciously grabbed his left forearm and dragged him to the seats; while their footsteps resounded throughout the silent training hall.
*
In an invisible room that was floating above the training hall;
Silhouetted lecturers and the chairman of the academy were seen seated, gazing at the six illusive screens in front of them that displayed the matches happening on the hall beneath them in great detail.
"Did that kid just...." A lecturer muttered in disbelief marring his voice.
His, including the others faces weren't really visible because the room was intentionally darkened so that the illusive screens would be visible clearly, while those screens themselves became the only source of, though dim, light in the room.
"Isn't this fascinating...."
"A 18 year old young man using the [Tier 4: Spell Break]...."
'That was a great swordsmanship....' Thought a lecturer, who was a swordsmanship instructor.
The golden eyed man's eyes peered at the screen that had George laying on the ground, unconscious. He was the chairman of the [Dreams Academy] and also one of the strongest man alive, hence he saw what others couldn't see.
Of course, he wasn't undermining the strengths of the lecturers of his academy, he could even proudly announce that his academy had the best of the best lecturers; but, he knew that there was nothing the academy could teach that young man when it came to mana usage and swordsmanship.
'If it came to pure swordsmanship, maybe even I would lose, of course, only under the conditions of me fighting him at his own level.....' He thought.
From what he could see, Marken channelled his mana onto the tip of his sheath, tapped it on the minuet and the weakest link, which was the pinpoint spot where the spell's core was present, and the small burst of mana concentrated on the tip of the sword's sheath destroyed the spell's core, leading to the 'tap' sound.
Before, the young man lunged himself towards George who would have been beheaded if Marken used his unsheathed sword instead of his sword's sheath to knock George unconscious.
"That young man was in control of the match from the beginning till the end...." The chairman commented and the whispers filled room turned silent.
"..... It was George who was being tested, not the other way around....." He then said something that made him girt his teeth.
'So you want to test what the academy can offer you, huh....' He mumbled inwardly as he grinned, grinding his teeth.
"What an amusing young man." Mumbled the chairman as his gaze peered through the room and gazed down at Marken, who snapped his head at the direction where mana seemed to be trembling.
'..... Seems like exciting things are going to happen....'
*
'What was that? It felt like somebody was just looking at me....' Ken thought.
"Oh!? Marken?!" Fleta exclaimed abruptly.
"Mark is fine."
"Ok then! Mark, you are strong!" Fleta exclaimed as her eyes dilated while her lips curler up into a grin.
"Fight me!" Fleta exclaimed instantly as her knuckles cracked when her tense fingers wiggled, together with her whip-like tail.
"Alright."
"Let's go!"
"Wait, wait! Not now, after we actually enrol into the academy. We'll be in the same class, so we'll "spar" a few times." Mark explained.
"Alright!" Fleta exclaimed and sat eagerly as if she was going to enrol in a matter of seconds and fight him.
'Such a simple and naive girl.....' Mark thought and shook his head.
"Do you know what happened in my match!? I was standing there anxiously while the words you said were resounding in my mind, me and my opponent simply stood while I pondered over your words and it was after waiting for one whole minute which passed by like a flash that my opponent moved, he threw himself at me, and I, not knowing what to do forgot your words in anxiousness, but right when my opponent's punch was about to land on me, your words flashed in my mind and I, unknowingly moved and punched his chin, making him fly to the spot he had previously stood in!! Aren't I amazing!!? Hm? Hm? Hm!?" Fleta asked, exclaiming.
'Wow..... She really spoke in a single breath....'
"You are." Mark said as he put his left hand near her neck, tickling and making her giggle in process, as he grabbled on her face before he found her head and patted her head, ruffling her soft but bouncy hair.
"Hehehe~"