Chereads / The Void Above / Chapter 15 - The Void Above - Chapter 14

Chapter 15 - The Void Above - Chapter 14

Taking their respective pills, each one of the members of the class started to feel much better.

"Sigh, that's much better~"

Gray rubbed his stomach as he started to feel his health coming back to him.

'I still don't feel like I really need this, so I'll save it for later.'

Kichirou pocketed the small pill, just in case he found a use for it later on. Pocketing the pill, Kichirou took a survey of his surroundings, spotting a familiar face in the process.

'... Amy?'

The stirring of the massive suitcase as it spun around and moved slightly to match her movements was enough to draw his attention. Amy must've had some sort of sixth sense, as the second his eyes landed on her, her eyes landed on him.

"Kichirou."

The girl walked over to him confidently as the box-weapon followed behind her.

"So, we really are in the same combat training. I look forward to our time together."

The girl spoke in a flirtatious manner once again before walking away, leaving Kichirou confused yet again.

'Can't she just take anything seriously…? It's a whole combat class and here she is doing this. I can't help but wonder, though. Why is she doing this?'

Kichirou couldn't help but wonder what made Amy act in the way that she did, but he didn't have the time to ponder it just yet.

"Alrighty class, everyone's ready? Get ya butts over here n' take a look at this!"

The class all gathered around the instructor as she began her speech.

"Ya can call me instructor Caroline, I'll be ya ranged combat teacher for tha year."

Her accent clearly denoted her as a Southern girl.

"Now, for the sake of my job, I'll clean up my speech."

Suddenly, her image in Kichirou's eyes was completely changed. Her striking beauty and the now gentle yet confident posture she took, combined with the sudden change in demeanor, made her seem like a completely different person.

"Alright, kids. Today, We'll start getting used to the weapons you'll be shooting with. Yes, there's an acclimation class, but, you'll need to get used to these before ya shoot 'em."

Her accent slipped out at the very end.

'She really just can't control it, can she?'

Kichirou's eyes wandered to the weapon she was holding in her left hand. As she thrust her hand forward, the weapon entered it's fully extended form, and the strange yellow energy began to flow out of what looked to be a core. 

"These are the kind's of weapons you'll be using in the fight against all those other galaxies. As you can see, it's a lot different from what you may be used to, but I assure ya, they're just as good as the good ol' guns yer used to!"

The class exchanged confused glances with one another before murmuring to each other about the strange energy emitted by whatever it was the instructor was holding.

"Is that a chainsaw?"

"How are we gonna use anything ranged with that?"

"What is that stuff anyway?"

Kichirou's eyes drifted back to the large sphere of bright yellow light.

'I wonder what that is…? It can't just be some light for show, or else it wouldn't have coated the teeth of the chainsaw like I saw before. It must be something different, something special…'

"Alright, alright, settle down yall. I'll show you in just a second, just calm down. Here, I'll do a demonstration…"

Instructor Caroline closed her eyes and began to concentrate heavily.

"Haaah…"

With a deep breath, she reopened her eyes.

Fwoosh!

The core of energy in Caroline's contractable chainsaw began to glow even brighter, and it seemed to expand even more as a giant swirl of wind emanating from Caroline began to whip around her hair and the hair of everyone on the field.

"What's going on!"

Kichirou heard the mixed cries and expressions of awe from all the other students in the room.

'I've been in that spot before, but damn…it's a lot cooler from the outside looking in.'

As Kichirou looked onward at Instructor Caroline's display, he saw her raise the chainsaw in the air, it's teeth rapidly rotating around the bar.

"Haa!"

With a grunt, Instructor Caroline slashed the chainsaw downward. Simultaneously, releasing all of the energy she'd built up, causing a massive amount of the energy to fly down the field. It took a crescent shape, and flew through the air at a blinding speed, eventually colliding with a wooden target all the way at the other end of the 100 yard field, causing it to immediately shatter into millions of little pieces.

'Woah…'

Kichirou couldn't believe his eyes and, apparently, neither could his classmates.

"Wow.."

"No way…"

"I wanna do something like that!"

At the strange yet childishly cute outburst, Kichirou turned his head to see Angelina Abbas, the shielder who'd faced Gray in the first rounds of the examinations. 

'It looks like her unique fighting style got her pretty far.'

Her brown skin and dark brown, wavy hair were characteristic of her arabic heritage. She was wearing a shirt that looked to Kichirou like the poster for a new shoujo anime, with countless ikemen surrounding a singular, innocent looking girl. She wore ripped jeans that appeared to hug her legs, and white and black striped shoes that came just up above her ankles. She was adorned with countless bracelets on both arms, signifying a very bright personality that couldn't be shaken.

"Let me try!"

She called out to the teacher, her arms outstretched and her palms facing the sky.

"Alright, I'll let you give it a try."

Instructor Caroline reached into her back pocket, pulling out a small hollow sphere made out of several rings put together. You could easily see through the gaps in the rings, into the center and out the other side. Placing it in Angelina's hand, it filled up her entire palm, being the size of about an apple.

"Okay, try focusing on gathering some sort of energy first."

"Alright…"

Angelina closed her eyes, and began to envision what conjuring the energy could be like.

'Alright, energy… isn't it, like, really hot? Let's see what happens if I try gathering the heat…'

As she began to imagine just that, it began to get extremely hot in the room, enough to cause everyone to take a step back, even the Instructor. However, Angelina seemed to be unphased by the sudden change in temperature. Murmurs began to fill the room.

"Be quiet, everyone!"

Instructor Caroline shushed everyone's comments, in an attempt to preserve Angelina's concentration.

"Hoooh…"

Just then, a small, bright orange piece of energy formed above the sphere in Angelina's hand, which Angelina would take note of as she opened her eyes.

"Holy shit! I did it!"

"Wait, you're not done yet!"

Instructor Carolline encouraged Angelina to take the final step, and Angelina quickly obliged.

'I've gotta shoot it out somehow… I've got it!'

Angelina stepped back a bit, before taking a large step forward with her left foot, and mimicking an extremely exaggerated punching motion with her right fist with the sphere in it, punching the orange ball of energy she'd made.

Boom!

The orange ball of energy exploded into a large ball of fire and smoke, with the girl at the very center.

"Angelina!"

Gray cried out from the sidelines, worried for Angelina's safety.

'I hope she's alright, but… I don't know if anyone can survive being at the epicenter of an explosion and walk away fine after…'

Despite Kichirou's suspicions, as the smoke cleared, it became clear that Angelina was okay. Not only that, but, upon further notice, Kichirou realized there were five orange streaks of energy soaring down the field.

"Come on!"

Angelina was clutching her fists in anticipation, however…

"Awww, dammit!"

Before the streaks of energy could reach the targets, they dissipated into thin air.

"Aww, too bad, girl!"

The instructor walked over to Angelina, patting her on the head before continuing in front of the class.

"I'm sure you have a much better idea of what we're going to be doing in this class now, don't you?"

The field was filled with mumbled expressions of affirmation.

"I'll take that as a yes. Well, our time in this class is coming to a close, so I'll be seeing you all tomorrow. We'll be picking out weaponry for all of you in class tomorrow, so get excited!"

The class filled with roars of excitement and anticipation.

'I do wanna try something like that, if only once…'

Kichirou, for once in his life, was excited for class the next day.