"Ughhh...can someone turn off that bright light?"
Haruto groaned into consciousness, as the light emitted from the lantern over his head was mercifully switched off.
Miyuko, on the bed next to him, smiled.
"Ha, onii-chan, now you're in the same position as me!"
A large white cloth was wrapped around her torso, allowing her wound to heal.
Luckily, the injury was not immediately fatal and the school nurse had time to stabilise Miyuko, and she would make a full recovery.
"I can't believe what happened! Kensei Zenka is here! At our school! And he talked to you? You're soooo lucky!"
"Even when you're hurt, you're still enthusaistic as ever..."
Haruto sighed resignedly as Miyuko yapped about the great accomplishments of the legendary Kensei Zenka, the time he slayed a dragon, layed a dragon, slaughtered half a kingdom...etc. etc.
Suddenly, Kensei himself burst through the infirmary door, the protesting nurse trailing behind.
"M'boy! Glad to see you're healing up well! Is this your sister? My, how lovely! Very glad to meet you!"
"...Haaa...Haaa... *inhale* AHHHHHHH! Mr.Kensei?!? I'm a HUGE FAN, could you please give me an autograph? As a favour for my brother?"
"Of course young lady, this young man here, Haruto, shows some remarkable potential! He's certainly amazing and I can clearly see it's a family trait!"
What a slick charmer...
Kensei cheerfully signed a notepad, while Miyuko squealing in delight.
"So, Haruto. I would like to talk to you for a moment, if you're feeling up to it champ!"
Haruto groaned and stood up, crossing to the other side of the room where Kensei was beckoning.
"In that arena, what was that power? Tsubasa said none of her attacks worked, and she was in her realm, no less! It takes some serious skill to that! She also told me you pretty much got mana realm in one go!"
"Uh...I don't really know...I blacked out, and the next thing I knoew I did some crazy stuff and I'm waking up in here..."
Haruto decided lying was his best course of action.
He couldn't very well tell the pinnacle of manablades that he had some sort of demon posessing his body when he was near death, right?
"Right, well, I think it might be a little more than that. Did you experience any...out of body experiences? Maybe you experienced some sort of inner calm, yet a sense of wrongness?"
"Uh...can't say I have?"
How did he know? Did he have previous experience?
"It's all right, m'boy, you can trust me, and if you're not ready yet, I totally understand!"
Suddenly, the windows caved in, sending tinkling glass scattering over the floor.
Multiple men dressed fully in black, carried longswords, hurtled into the room, instantly surrounding Kensei and Haruto in a circle, cornering them against the wall.
"On the behalf of the Black Dragon clan, we will take your head Kensei Zenka! Today is the day you die!"
One of the black masked intruders yelled, before being instantly decapitated by a single slice of Kensei's sword.
He didn't even realise his sword was drawn before it was already at the necks of another assassin, sending him careening into the far wall.
"Students, hide behind me. I'll keep you safe."
Miyuko and the nurse quickly ducked behind a bed, but Haruto struggled upright, trying to find a weapon.
"Kid, your sword broke when you attacked Tsubasa, don't you remember? You don't have anything to fight with. Leave this to me."
The assassins closed in again, using a multitude of skills.
Haruto dismissed the cascading notifications in his mind, swiping a sword from a nearby corpse.
[Skill: Dazzling Blades]
Three mana blades shot out, skewering another assassin who was unprepared for a flank attack.
Kensei's movement flowed into each other like a stream, a deadly wave of flying body parts and spraying blood.
The ground shook, sending cracks running through the floor. Kensei leapt up, bringing his sword down.
[Skill: Dragon's Descent]
A holographic image of a massive dragon appeared over his sword, scaled head and massive fangs bearing down on the poor assassin.
The blade hit, carving a massive slice of mana through the room. The place shook, and everyone struggled to keep their balance.
When the sawdust cleared, the man was reduced to bloody strips of meat, and Kensei was already on to his next victim, carving their limbs from their body.
[Skill: Wyvern's Claw]
A invisible, three pronged attack seperated the room into three parts, along with seperating every other remaining assassin into three.
The ceiling slid diagonally, crashing into the garden beyond with a resounding boom.
By now, many faculty and students had gathered, eager for a chance to witness what havoc Kensei had unleashed on the assassins. They never stood a chance.
"Well, I guess we now know the Black Dragon house are still nurturing their grudge!"
Haruto stood there, stunned. He had witnessed Kensei absolutely demolish an entire squad of trained professionals without breaking a sweat or being serious.
This truly was the power of the strongest man alive right now.
"So, m'boy, as I was saying efore we were so rudely interrupted, I'm sure you know of the manablade apprenticeship program, I was thinking, since you harbour so much potential, you should train under me! I can draw out your fullest power then. Doesn't that sound fantastic?"
The gathered students gasped with a mix of surprise, envy and amazement. Sure, they had witnessed Haruto was strong, but a personal invitation for an apprenticeship under Kensei himself?
That was priceless.
While Kensei did have an established 'school' of sorts where he trained numerous apprentices, those under his wing were only the best of the best, the creme de la creme, and once they graduated, they almost certainly lead a succesful life.
An apprenticeship under Kensei was esentially a guarantee for a comfortable future, if one worked hard.
Haruto was overjoyed. Yet, a small part of him remained doubtful. Sure, this was a great honor, but he had no doubt Kensei was only interested in him based on his secret 'power', and nothing else.
He probably saw S-Ranks, who were 1 in a million, every other day, and they would be nothing special to him.
Only people like Tsubasa, with her terrifying capacity and the ability to form the 'Arcane Realm' would be of interest to him.
"I-I would be honored to...sir?"
Haruto ultimately decided on accepting. After all, what sane person would reject an offer made by Kensei himself?
"But the thing is, m'boy, you can only start apprenticeships once you reach your third year! And for you, you're only a measly first year. So don't get too excited, there's still a long road ahead. And once you reach there, I'll be waiting. Toodles!"
Kensei leapt out of the now wrecked infirmary, jumping over the garden walls to vanish from sight.
A familiar pink haired visage came into Haruto's view, and Tsubasa appeared in front of him.
"I'm sorry Haruto! I really didn't mean to harm, it was just that...master wanted me to try your hardest, and I couldn't think of any other way. I really am sorry..."
"I...I guess it's ok, now one really got hurt in the end...just don't do that again."
"Yeah! Sure! Thank you, Haruto, you're a great friend!"
"Eh? Friend? I wasn't aware we were...friends?"
"Well," Tsubasa pouted, "we're at least fellow apprentices under Master Kensei, right?"
"I guess so...oh! Also, could you teach me that 'Arcane Realm' thing you used against me? It looks really interesting!"
Haruto ventured forward. If he could learnt his game changing move, it would make him much more powerful by leaps and bounds.
"Oh...sure thing! I'm not really that sure how to do it myself, it's more instinctual after Master Kensei awakened it for me, but I can try!"
Haruto deflated a little bit. Maybe he had gotten his hopes too high. But he would certainly take advice where he could get it.
"I'll take you up on that..."
"Hey! Onii-chaan, aren't you forgetting about your poor sister here?"
Sigh..."I guess you can come too..."
"Great! You're the best! Haha!"
Miyuko clutched his arm, laughing giddily.
Haruto was still slightly shell-shocked. An apprenticeship under Kensei was potentially life changing, but it was certainly dangerous as well.
Kensei was frequently sent on urgent missions against enemy states, to quell rebellions, act as an intimidation factor, or retrieve items of utmost importance.
During these missions, Kensei would usually bring apprentices along with him, and these missions would happen deep within enemy territory, where the consequences of being discovered were deadly.
Yet Haruto was strangely excited. Even though he still had to go through another school year, he wondered what new opportunities his apprenticeship would bring.
Just before falling asleep right there from exhaustion, Haruto mustered up the strength to take a final look at his brain library.
[S-Tier Affinity: Heavenly]
[Affinity Rank: B+]
[Your mana channels the purity of the celestial realm, granting you its power in your blade. Your mana is effective against undead type beasts or chaos type affinities such as poison or shadow.]
[Current skills]
--Passive skill: Heavenly Judgement: Depending on the relative 'evil' of the opponent, all stats could be boosted by up to 500%, but depending on the relative 'goodness' of the opponent, stats could be reduced by up to 50%.
--Active skill: Dazzling Blade: This skill summons 3 ethereal blades made of pure heavenly mana to pierce the opponent.
--Passive skill: Blessed Aura: Dispel any curse, poison, or negative status ailment that have a lesser affinity rank than your own.
--Active skill: Celestial Enshacklement: Bind enemies with a golden chain, restricting movements and disrupting enemy mana flow. Much less effective against opponent with higher affinity rank than you.
--Active skill: Seraphic Wings: Grants a pair of heavenly wings, allowing you to fly for 10 seconds. Skill will deactivate when timer is over, regardless of current altitude.