"Senpai, this feels very not grain related!" As soon as those words leave my mouth I have to block another slash, this one aimed at my right thigh.

Sure Ciel is using a wooden sword, but her hits are still incredibly powerful... It's definitely a different experience from sparring with a normal kendo practitioner.

Ciel has a serious face, it's weird looking at her when she's not wearing glasses. "Sorry Yuta, but this is for your own good. Trust me I know what I'm doing." Well, you certainly give the vibes of someone who does.

Ciel aims at all my weak spots, mercilessly beating me down, but I can occasionally defend myself. To be honest this feels super unfair! She's actually using her super speed to fight me!

But that's fine, in the end I'm sure I will fight a lot of people who are faster and stronger than me. It's a good thing she's training me like this, because that way I can get used to fighting monsters.

Suddenly Ciel steps back. "Okay Yuta, this is the final blow! Block it and your Senpai will give you a compliment!" Then she blushes. "Well, even if you don't block it I will still give you a compliment, since it would be mean to not do so!"

I grin, shifting into a defensive stance. "You're far too kind Senpai, but I will Indeed accept any compliments you send my way." Specially if they're about my swordsmanship.

I would like to say I'm the superior swordsman, but I'm not. I think Ciel would win even without her super human physique, so getting a compliment from her is like getting a compliment from Vlov.

Ciel smirks. "Okay then! Here it comes, the most pain in the ass part about dealing with speedsters!" And then she starts moving sideways.

Ah, I see what she's doing, and it's completely insane... Right now I'm seeing three Ciel's, she's so fast that she can basically clone herself.

So she has been holding back in our match. I guess I should have realized that the moment that she didn't break our swords on hit, or my bones. Still, this is completely insane, just how fast do you need to be to do this!?

This means two things, first of all I have to read her... like a fighting game, there are certain things humans just can't react towards, so I'll need to predict what she does.

And secondly, I can't let my sword take the hit head on, it will most certainly shatter if I do. So I have to do my best to redirect the force of her blow with a parry... I really fell like I'm playing a fighting game right now.

Except the stage is just an empty place in the park where Ciel put some 'bounded fields', I don't know what they are, but they will conceal our fight.

To be honest, I don't know how I'm going to block this, in fact I think it's impossible. Going back to fighting game terms, right now I have no bar or special gimmicks to rely on, and my health points are close to zero, so I can't even take chip damage.

That's because we have been training for a while already, it's even close to nighttime. So now I'm tired and sweaty all over, this specially bad, because even in peak condition I don't think I could do this.

Ciel finally moves, or should I say the Ciel's? It doesn't matter, because the real one will definitely attack me from the left. I have no idea how I know this, but my instincts are screaming at me.

She's going to aim at my legs too, it's a low sweep, so basically I have to block low. I should just jump over it and then defend myself from the next.

In flash she's already where I predicted she would be, my feet left the ground before she had even moved. Her sword never even connects, missing me by point one second.

Contrary to my expectations she doesn't go for a second blow, instead she just unceremoniously drops her sword on the ground.

Ciel gets up from her crouching position with a smile, she takes her glasses from her pockets and put them on again. Suddenly it's like she's back into absurdly cute mode... Glasses girls are dangerous.

While I'm trying to regain my breath she gives me a thumbs up. "That was seriously impressive Yuta! Noel couldn't have dodged that in a millions years." I see you're taking another shot at her!

Ciel nods to herself. "To be honest your swordsmanship is insane. I can see why Vlov praised you... I feel like you're going to surpass me soon, so I don't have a lot to teach you." I don't know about surpassing you, but I appreciate the sentiment.

I smile. "You definitely have a lot to teach me Senpai, so don't worry. My only fights before this were with normal people, so sparring with someone like you is amazing."

Ciel sighs. "Honestly the fact that you got this good while only training with normal people is the truly crazy part... I guess it's the Sigurd in you! You have the blood of a master swordsman."

I raise an eyebrow. "Sigurd huh? Siegfried sounds lamer, so that's a better name." I don't know anything about him, except for the fact that he killed a dragon.

Ciel waves me off. "Yuta, Siegfried and Sigurd were different people... You are an descendant to both of course." Fuck off.

She continues. "Dodging my last blow was really impressive, I thought you would try to defend your back for sure... That's normally how people deal with speedsters and teleporters."

I shrug. "It's just pure instinct to be honest... Sometimes I just get a feeling about what I should do, you know?" I assume she experiences something similar, since we're both fighters.

It's the so called fighter's intuition. Something a person naturally develops with experience... I think, I just kinda have it. It's useful though, and it has helped me a lot, and I can't forget that the time I chose to ignore it was when Vlov kicked my ass.

Ciel makes a thinking pose. "An instinct huh? I do have one, but it only goes so far... Can you describe it in a bit more detail?"

I shrug. "I don't know how to be honest, it just helps me do stuff, I move my body before my opponent does... Ah, there was a time Vlov shot fireballs at me, but I started moving my sword way before he fired them."

Ciel makes a surprised face. "That sounds more like pre cognition..." Suddenly her eyes light up. "Instinct! You have supernatural instinct!"

I raise an eyebrow. "That sounds... Like a reach." What does supernatural instinct even mean? "Let me make something clear Senpai, I cannot see the future."

She nods. "Maybe not your mind, but certainly your body." That sounds stupid as hell. "It probably something you got from your hero lineage, they have some stuff that's stupid as hell." Ah! Eugenics strikes again.

She continues. "It's an ability to challenge fate instead... You might even be able to dodge sure-hit attacks." There's a big smile on her face. "It will certainly be useful against some opponents in the future."

I look at my fist. "Dodging sure-hits huh? What would that even be?" Though I now understand what my instinct is. Essentially I am like Shiki.

While he gets horny around monsters and jumps into action, my body get scared around everything with strength, and tells me how to survive.

An ability forged from the desperate battles of many heroes across the ages. It's fucking awesome as hell! Thank you my stupid ancestors!

Why did I just imagine someone dressed in white screaming about stupid star bomb skills? Maybe Ciel hit me a bit too hard.

Ciel puts her finger up. "Sure-hit means an attack that's guaranteed to hit." Wow, do people die when they're killed too? "There are some methods of achieving it, like reversing cause and effect."

She continues. "Of course, those are absurdly complex and way above my level... But some unknown dead apostle could have it."

She crosses her arms. "My point is that not every fight is a straightforward context of power and skill, remember that."

There was no need to tell me that in the first place, because I've already learned it in a real fight. I got too focused on taking down Vlov in the normal way, and didn't think about other win conditions.

I nod. "Thanks Senpai, I'll keep it mind... Still, reversing cause and effect? How would something like that even work?"

My teacher explains it immediately, proving she's better than Sensei... Sorry, don't kick me! "It's essentially tricking the world in some way, for example let's say I have some form of attack that slashes you before I move my blade."

She continues. "To achieve that, you would either have to trick the world into thinking that you already had moved your blade, or that moving the blade was the consequence of the slash, and not the reverse."

She pushes her glasses up, looking like a very cute nerd. "Remember that most impressive magecraft is about exploiting 'glitches' in the world... My regeneration is one of those as well, though it's too complicated to explain right now."

Exploiting glitches huh? So strong people are just a bunch of cheaters... That's kind of cool, I wonder where I would rank in this cheating competition.

I nod. "Okay Senpai, I mostly understood that... Now teach me magic please!" That's what I'm here for after all.

Ciel smiles. "Yeah, I guess you're tired enough! If you're wondering why that's good, it's because doing this while you're exhausted is easier."

She continues. "Something about a defense mechanism... Well, normally mage families just stick their kid in a basement for a week or something." Truly amazing.

I sigh. "Well, I guess I prefer this over the basement treatment... But are you sure this will go well? I don't have any magic circuits so maybe the process should be different for me."

She hesitantly nods. "That's true, but we have to try the normal way first... Anyways, I'm gonna put some of my mana inside of you! Not the creepy way though." The creepy way?

She continues. "Try to feel that foreign agent, because your grain will naturally destroy it. Once you get a handle to how your grain moves it we can begin some actual training."

I chuckle. "So you admit me being beat up wasn't actual training huh? That's my amazing Senpai for you."

She blushes. "Don't tease the girl that's about to put mana inside of you! Do you go taunting chefs as well?"

I smile. "Right, sorry Senpai. Please don't put a piece of hair inside of the soup I call my body." Though I even wonder if she could do anything at all with that mana... Apparently my grain will automatically destroy it after all.

She pushes her glasses up. "I'm glad you understand, now..." She puts her hand on my chest. "I'm so happy I learned how to do this... Even if it's slower than normal."

I raise an eyebrow. "This is... Hey Senpai, aren't you gonna burn your hand again if you do this?"

She shakes her head. "It's fine Yuta, last time it happened by accident, I made contact with your grain. This time I'll just shoot my mana inside of you."

I nod. "I see, so this is the non-creepy way huh? What's the creepy version like?" It's hard to imagine Senpai being creepy, even when she's in fighting mode.

She blushes. "It's the exchange of fluids... Like blood or..." She looks down, at my... crotch? "Semen." Ah! Mages are perverted!

I grin of course. "Then I guess I wouldn't mind being a mana charger for someone, I truly was made to support others." I wonder if Sensei has mana troubles? Please have mana troubles...

Ciel shakes her head, though she's still blushing. "Don't even joke about that, there are some people who would probably kidnap you for this... Though there are mages who sell their fluids for money."

She continues. "You might genuinely be able to become a millionaire with yours." Her face suddenly becomes serious. "A warning though, don't pass around your fluids right now. I need to do some tests first."

My grin has not yet disappeared. "Oh? You want to conduct experiments with my fluids?" Jokes aside, it makes sense. I run on alien juice apparently, so Senpai is probably worried I have alien AIDS or something.

She sighs. "This is serious Yuta! You could hurt someone with your fluids you know? Even your semen... Imagine if you made love with a girl and she died?"

My eyes widen in surprise. "Okay, that does sound like super bad news, actually it sounds even worse than bad news, it sounds like a nightmare." I wouldn't know how to tell Shiki that I killed his sister with my cum.

I continue. "But why though? Is there something wrong with me?" Do I really have alien AIDS!?

She shakes her head. "There's nothing wrong in particular with you, but mana will always leave with your fluids. Even minuscule amounts, but you have to remember that grain is poisonous to humans..."

I can't help it, a gasp escapes my lips. "Shit! That does sound super bad!" So I have Spider-Man's radioactive cum!? How was I supposed to prepare for this bad ending!?

Ciel nods. "It is... That said, I think you adapted to not destroying everything around you by instinct." I make a confused face, so she elaborates. "I mean, your sweat isn't like melting the air around you, right?"

She continues. "And then there's Rika, if my theory is right she has a shell made of ether. I think that was you naturally protecting your environment."

I sigh in relief. "Man, I feel like my life could have become a horror story super easily." One where I killed my surroundings just by existing.

Ciel nods. "Yes, but we don't exactly know if I'm right and that's why..." She blushes. "I will need a bit of your blood later and your sweat too. So I can analyze it."

She looks down, even her ears are red now. "And I will be needing your semen as well... Sorry about this."

My grin has returned mightier than ever. "You can have my semen anytime Senpai... In a cup. Sorry I realized I shouldn't make this more awkward than it already is."

Senpai is going to a lot of trouble to help me, so I should treat this as something completely non-sexual out of respect for her. She's already embarrassed enough as it is, so there's no reason to make cum jokes.

Ciel nods. "I'm glad you developed a conscience in the middle of your dialogue. I was about to hit you with all my might." That's understandable.

Her hands start to glow. "But enough talk, please concentrate and move your grain around... Or at least try to see it naturally moving around."

She continues. "If you need something to remember the feeling of it, try thinking of something shocking and a word associated to it."

Mana continues pouring out of her hands. "It will become your trigger... it's self hypnosis essentially. Now close your eyes and find the foreign agent invading your body."

I do so... For a moment I don't see anything, but soon enough I can see a tiny green spark. It's minuscule, I'm guessing that's Senpai's mana, and it's being devoured by an endless wave of pink. That's my grain probably.

I move it around, it isn't too hard. But just in case I think of a trigger, something to remind me of this sensation.

I remember Rika getting hit by a truck. "Give me everything." I instinctively whisper, that's my trigger now. The thing that will always remind me of the endless wave of pink.

Senpai cuts off her mana. "So did you see anything? Don't worry if you didn't, it's not uncommon for someone to spend months without learning it."

That sounds like it would suck, but I guess there are always people with bad luck out there. Thankfully I got it on my first try, I needed to, if I want to beat Vlov at least.

I shake my head. "It's fine Senpai, I managed... I even made a trigger word... Well a trigger phrase, it was that embarrassing thing I whispered."

Her eyes are open wide. "Y-you already got it!? That's really amazing!" It really isn't, it's not like I worked super hard for it after all. It's probably just my cheats in action.

Still, I accept her compliment with a smile. "Thanks Senpai, so what's next on our agenda?" Hopefully something that makes me physically stronger.

She sighs. "You already want to move to the next part of the training?" She shakes her head. "Sorry, but no. For now let's go back to my home and sleep."

She continues. "You're now going to begin following a strict time schedule, we're going to train in the morning, then we go to school... And then we hunt."

Ciel smiles. "And don't worry about starting your training in the morning, you won't get too tired, since you have so much mana."

I nod. "Don't worry, I'm fine with anything. Now let's go sleep, I want to see what embarrassing stuff you keep in your room." I'm immediately greeted by her blush.

To be honest I thought about objecting to her decision of ending our training for today, but Senpai is the expert here. If she's says the training is over, then it's over.

Besides, it doesn't matter much, Vlov's days are counted one way or another... That's because I have that DAWG in me. Grain edition of course.

That is if Arcueid doesn't get to him first... I hope she's doing well.

AN: Today I discovered Nasu married Ciel in real life. It appears the Mushroom has good taste.