Advancing carefully the group made sure to keep their guard up since they didn't know what was waiting for them on this new floor, luckily for them the monsters were manageable thanks to their constant practice on the first floor. The combat links were also a big help in that regard because unlike at the start of the schoolyear, the members of class VII were now fully adapted on using them, they even managed to change links swiftly in the middle of combat which gave them even more of an edge against their unprepared opponents. Sometime later the students decided to take a quick break near a stream of flowing water, like at the first floor Rean tried his hand at fishing just to find out that this water too contained the same types of fish like the ones at the river in Trista, this discovery just strengthened his theory that the water was flowing in from outside which meant that maybe somewhere around Trista was an opening that lead inside the underground floors and if the newly discovered elevator was anything to go by, there were at least four more floors to explore.
(Maybe I can talk with the principal to see if he can send someone to search for this opening…. No, better not who knows if there are any dangers involved with this, besides the water could also come from the same source as the river which means it could be underground.) Done with his musings Rean took a bite out from his sandwich, just to notice that the others were looking at him with curiosity in their eyes, "Is something the matter, guys?" Putting the warp paper from his sandwich away, Gaius answered the question, "You were quiet for a while there Rean, so we were wondering what was going on inside your head."
"Oh, sorry. I was just thinking about this new floor here, I think I speak for everyone when I say, that I wasn't expecting this to happened," he waved his hand around their surroundings, "Or the fact that we now have a somewhat modern elevator here in this apparently centuries old building or that there are six of these new floors here." Smiling at his description Laura couldn't help but nod her head, "True, no one was expecting this, but it does make for a good training ground and since we have new monsters here to fight, we can try out new types of training with them, especially that Claydoll monster. There aren't that many monsters who can take multiple hits from my sword and still fight back."
Rolling her eyes at Laura's face that was full of anticipation, Alisa grumbled, "Does being a swordsman means that you must be a training junkie? I swear between you and Rean, I don't know who trains more. I am sure that if we didn't have homework or classes the two of you would be training from dawn to sunset." That remark caused the rest of the group besides the sword duo who were looking a bit embarrassed to laugh, grinning at the blond archer, Elliot teased her, "I don't think you have any right to say that Alisa, since we came back from the field study, you have done the same amount of training as Rean, every day." Having been called on her increased training schedule, Alisa tried to defend herself, "Hey, if I didn't keep an eye on this guy here, who knows what kind of crazy training he would do without someone there to keep him from overdoing it."
Once again laughter rang out from the group, nearly drowning the Reans protest, "Hey, I am not that bad." Already used to his friend's eyerolls of disbelief, he went back to eating his sandwich, knowing that further protests would be either ignored or dismissed outright. Laura having finished eating looked at Alisa with a pensive look on her face, "You know, compared to the first time I saw you fighting and even in our field study, I can tell that you have improved greatly, especially your reaction time and your precision. Before you were already able to hit your targets without much difficulty but now, I can see that you are able to aim better at their weak spots which in turn give us an opening for a follow up attack. It seems like training with Rean has helped you greatly which makes me wonder what kind of practice the two of you are doing."
Looking at the blue haired girl curious look that was soon joined with the same looks from Elliot and Gaius, Alisa glanced at Rean who just shrugged at her in return leaving the explanation to her, "Well, it is mostly just basic training with the bow that I already did before, the only difference is that I am using a live target instead of just a practice dummy. Rean here said that while I have a lot of practice, I lack experience in using that practice which makes sense given that I very rarely went out of Roer to hunt for monsters." Nodding his head, Gaius recalled his own training back home, "Yeah, I experienced that myself when I started training, I remember how I was able to use every technique that I was taught without much difficulty when I was training on my own but in my first real fight against a monster made me realise that fighting and practice are two completely different things."
"So does that mean that you are using the monsters here and outside the town as targets then, Alisa?" The archer took a moment to consider Elliot question before shooting a mock glare at Rean, "Sometimes yes, but my most used live target would be Rean over here." She let that information sink in, just to see the surprise in her classmates' eyes before continuing with her explanation, "He insisted that it would be good training for both of us, though he wanted me to use real arrows instead of arrows with blunt points. Let's just say that I managed to convince him otherwise and leave it at that, shall we."
Sounds of suppressed snorts of amusement could be heard at that statement, "I do have to admit though that the idea of using real arrows against him, has become, as of late, a lot more tempting though." Now that just confused them, before Laura realised why, "Let me guess, from the lack of stiff movements from Rean here, I take it that you haven't been able to hit him much."
"Make that not even once since we started training the amount of hits that I managed to score against him are zero and believe me it wasn't because of lack of trying."
"Alisa, I already told you that are making progress, just because you didn't manage to hit me doesn't mean that you aren't improving. Compared to the beginning you are already a lot better, you will manage to hit me soon, if you can keep up this rate of improvement." Looking at the conversation before him, Elliot couldn't help but lean towards Laura and Gaius and whisper, "Well, it seems like it is a good thing that Alisa is training with him, if he thinks that being shot at with sharp pointed arrows is a good idea." Both gave him a nod, "Still her improvement is remarkable, makes me wonder what kind of training they do besides that."
Rean may have been talking with Alisa, that didn't mean that he wasn't paying attention to his surroundings and given the fact that the whispering trio wasn't sitting that far from him, he heard Laura's question, "Like Alisa said it is just basic training, the only difference is that she trying to learn to anticipate her targets movements before shooting." That answer just got him more questioning looks in return, so he explained in further details, "To be a good archer, there are several qualifications that a person must have but I was told that there are four important points that stand above the rest. Good eyesight, accuracy, hand coordination and the ability to anticipate the next movements of your target. The first three are enough if one is just interested in being good in competitions where you shoot at an unmoving object or a target with a fixed movement range, but if you want to use a bow and arrows in a real fight then the fourth point is indispensable. Because no matter how good you are with your bow, if you can't hit your opponent then it is useless. By the way this skill is also a good choice to train in for every martial artist not just as an archer, sometimes true masters don't even have to fight to determine a winner just their ability to predict their opponents next move and counter them can reveal the result of their fight."
This got both Laura and Gaius attentions, so they asked what was to best way train their skill in predicting their opponents moves, "Practice, lots of practice. Observe your opponent and try to predict what he is going to do next, normally it is easier to do with a human than with a monster. So, start there before trying against monsters, Alisa can try to do it against them because she fights from a distance and she has enough time to react if she makes a mistake but for fighters that fight in close range or mid-range that could prove to be dangerous, here are some tips on what you must pay attention to…."
The next few minutes was spent on Rean explaining things to them both while Elliot showed some interest in it too after a while, Alisa who had already heard this before continued eating and waited patiently for them to finish. Done with that the group stood up to continuing with their exploration of the floor.
Two hours or so later they arrived in a room that was identical to the one on the first floor with a big door and an unactive teleporter, Gaius looked around and stated what the rest were thinking, "Well, seems like we have reached the end and just like last time there seems to be a powerful monster just behind that door just waiting for us. "Closing his eyes Rean tried to get a better read on what was waiting for them, "Actually I would say that perhaps this time we have more than one monster to deal with, maybe three if I am sensing this right."
"Oh, that is just wonderful, so instead of dealing with just one we have three. Last time, was already a pretty close call but now we have even more to deal with." Trying to ease the redheads worries, Rean patted him on the shoulder, "True but last time we were only three people, this time we have Alisa and Laura with us, and we have all improved since then. Besides thanks to our training, we are far better in using the Combat links and we can even switch them smoothly in battle. I would say that we have a good chance in defeating whatever is behind that door and in case that we can't, I am sure that we can at least retreat safely from the fight and then we can call the instructors for help."
"Rean is right, Elliot. We can at least try and see what we are dealing with though I, for one, am confident that whatever is behind that door is no match for us." The confident that Rean and Laura showed him, lessened his worries somewhat, he took a deep breath and gave them a determined look in return. Seeing this Rean gave him grin before turning to the rest of them, "Ok, guys. Like I said I can sense more than one presence in there, if only just one monster appears then we can't let our guard down no matter what, to prevent that they don't get to ambush us and compared to the guy from the first floor, I get the feeling that these are stronger but not so much that we can't overcome them. Still safety is the priority in this case, we will take a thirty-minute break here so that we can prepare ourselves for the fight and yes Alisa I know the drill, not acting reckless or fighting blind or staying behind while the four of you escape, though no promises on the last one, we already discussed this at length that I am the best choice to keep the monsters occupied." Having already predicted that this conversation was going to start again, Rean already shut it down before Alisa could open her mouth, which resulted in her glaring at him and him giving her a smirk in return.
"This isn't a joking matter Rean. We have items to cure every ailment that we know of this time and we can cover each other in case we have to apply them, so there isn't any need to pull of any your usual reckless stunts and we discussed that one of us will stay behind with you to help you." With the usual warning concerning Rean out of the way Class VII took a break to inspect their weapons and discuss their strategy for the upcoming fight, the mood was a bit tense but nothing that would hinder them from performing at their best. Done with that the group stood before the door each one ready to fight and with their weapons already out, slowly pushing the door open, they found a room that was like the one on the first floor. Immediately after entering, there appeared out of nowhere their opponents right in the middle of the room, the best way to describe them would be monsters that had fused with a door that possessed stonelike skins.
Not giving them any time to react Rean, Laura and Gaius dashed forward to keep each monster occupied while being supported by arrows from Alisa and Elliot's support arts, done with casting his arts, Elliot switched to analyse their adversaries. After the first strike the front-line trio concluded that while physical attacks could hurt them, they didn't do much damage and while they apparently could only attack with light rays from the jewels on their head, these attacks were so fast, that they couldn't let their guard down even for a moment.
(Their defences seem pretty high which should mean that they are weak against some type of element. Good thing that we have every element covered, Elliot has water and earth, and Alisa has fire and wind but even if we can exploit their weakness, the only wind and earth arts that they can use are some low-level ones. Let's hope that they are weak against fire and water, if not this is going to be a long-drawn fight unless we take a risk and try to take them out at once with my Flame Slash and Laura's Blade Dance but for now let's see what Elliot's analyse results will be.) Side stepping a ray Rean used his craft Autumn Leaf Cutter as a counterattack, luckily it managed to throw it off balance and a Link Attack soon followed from Alisa.
Thanks to their skilful use of switching Combat Links between each other, Alisa was able to follow up with a Link attack every time one of the front-line fighters succeeded in throwing their foes off balance. A few moments later, Elliot finished his survey of the monsters, "I am done, their greatest weakness lies in Earth arts, followed by Water and Wind and they are somewhat resistant against Fire. Physically only Strike attacks are the best option, and the rest won't do much against them."
Mulling over this information Rean tried to formulate a plan that they could use, he shouted out to his friends, "Everyone we have two possible options, the first is that we keep this stalemate up, so that Alisa and Elliot can focus their Arts against one to kill it and switch to another one when they are done, this means that we, the front line, must keep their focus on us the entire time. This one may sound the safest, but it also gives them the opportunity to turn this situation around in case they get one of us." As if to prove his point, the monster that Gaius was dealing with suddenly changed his method of attack and performed a body slam instead of the usual light ray, caught off guard Gaius only option was to block with his spear which resulted in being thrown back through the air. He managed to break his fall with a roll and quickly stood up and ran towards the monster that was making its way towards Laura, raising his spear above his head Gaius started spinning it as fast as he could while gathering his Ki in his spear.
A moment later he lashed down with it which unleashed a small tornado like attack that intercepted his foe before it could reach Laura, taking advantage of its momentary stop, Gaius closed the distance between them and drove the monster away from his classmate. "Sorry, for this everyone but as you all saw they can use their bodies for attacks, so be careful of it. Rean, what is the other option?" Not a moment later a Teara healed any damage that Gaius had sustained, giving Elliot a quick grateful smile, he resumed fighting.
Feeling relief that his friend was alright, Rean continued with his suggestions, "The second is that we group them together in one place and use our strongest attack to take them out." Using an overhead swing to drive her foe away, Laura asked what everyone was thinking, "If we use the second one how will we get them in one place and to stay there?"
"Leave that part to me, I will take care of it as long we can get them a bit closer after that it will depend on you four to take them out though. So shall we try the second plan or go with the first one?"
"That will depend on how exactly you are going to get them together?" After firing a Flamberge at one of the monsters, Alisa yelled her question at the black-haired swordsman, hearing the unvoiced question in that yell Rean answered her, "Seeing is believing in this case here, but you don't have to worry about me. I won't be in more danger than I already am, it will be just a bit exhausting nothing more." For a moment nothing besides the sound of fighting could be heard, "Fine, we will try the second plan, but don't you dare try being reckless or I swear Rean that you will regret it."
Try as he may Rean couldn't suppress the chuckle that escaped him, "Alright, don't worry about me, Alisa. This is what we are going to do then, Gaius, Laura the two of you get them as close as you can and then start preparing to use your strongest attack. Gaius that attack of yours from before, the more Ki you gather the stronger it gets, correct?"
"Yes, but there is a limit at how much I can gather before I lose control over it."
"Don't worry about, just try to get as much as you can and then attack first, Alisa you attack immediately after him with the Fire Art Flame Tongue, I know that you can't control it fully yet and that just one attack will empty your Arcus but in this case it doesn't matter just try to get the temperature of the flames as high as you can, the same to you Elliot but in your case use Hydro Cannon as soon as you see that the flames are dying out and try to get the water to be as cold as possible. Laura after Elliot is done is your turn to use your Blade Dance at full power."
Hearing his plan, Alisa immediately realised what he was trying to do, (Using Gaius wind with my flames will raise their temperature even further and the monster's stonelike skin will get heated up, despite their resistance against fire damage and immediately afterwards it will be cooled down using Elliot's Water Art while it may be not enough to crack the skin open or even do any real damage, the rapid temperature changes should soften them enough so that Laura can smashed them apart with her blade. Geez not even five minutes in this fight and he already came up with a plan of using our strengths as best as possible to defeat these monsters, make me wonder what goes inside that head of his to come up with something like this.)
After Gaius and Laura managed to get their opponents close enough to each other in the centre of the room, it was now Reans turn to do his part, (Ok, Schwarzer concentrate. The goal here is not defeat them but to get them close enough together so that the others can get them in one shot and keep the monsters from moving from that spot while Alisa and the others gather their energy and focus to unleash their attacks. For that I will have to be fast enough so that they don't have any opportunity to react and keep knocking them back.) Finished with gathering his thoughts, Rean used his entire Ki to strengthen his body and sword as much as possible, this resulted in a somewhat orange aura surrounding him, "Eight Leaves One Blade School, Second Form: Gale!"
Like the wind Rean disappeared as he dashed forward to strike against the first monster, done with that he disappeared again just to appear again to the side of the second monster and repeat the same thing as before a strike, disappear and appear again at the side of another opponent. Through the continued use of the Second Form each strike managed to knock each one back a bit and he was fast enough that the monsters couldn't react before being struck again and again.
"So that is the Second Form of the Eight Leaves One Blade School which the famous Divine Blade of Wind mastered, Gale! What a marvellous use of it, and while he isn't doing enough damage to kill them thanks to his speed, he is able to knock them back with each strike. The question is, will his stamina and body hold out long enough to get them close enough for us to strike?" Hearing Laura statement, Alisa couldn't be bothered to consider who or what that Divine Blade that she was talking about was, "Knowing Rean, he will do it even if he is completely exhausted afterwards, what we need to do now is to get ready. Gaius link up with me and start gathering your Craft Points so that as soon they are close enough, we can attack. Laura, you link up with Elliot and as soon as he finished with his Art it will be your turn. We got just one shot at this so let's make it count."
Finished speaking she started her Arcus up and concentrated on trying to get the flames as hot as possible, the others followed suit Gaius spinning his spear above his head, Eliot doing the same as Alisa and Laura gathering her Ki to her blade. For some moments besides the pained cries of the monsters and Rean strikes it was quiet in the room, but the moment the monsters were enough close Rean unleashed everything that he had in a final Gale, resulting in managing to get the three foes to knock against each other as they meet in the middle of the room.
A panting Rean appeared far from them on one knee gasping for breath, using that opening Gaius unleashed his Craft Turbulence which was followed with the Art Flame Tongue who burned as hot as possible, their timing was perfect thanks to the Combat Links. The moment they hit their targets the two combined to form a Flame Tornado that rose so high up that it managed to hit the ceiling of the room, suddenly the temperature inside the underground room rose higher and higher while screams of pain could be heard from the middle of it but it didn't take long for the tornado to begin to die down.
As soon as Elliot saw the silhouettes inside the tornado, he cast his Art Hydro Cannon, steam appeared from the bodies as the water hit them and knocked the monsters even further back, seeing this opening Laura didn't hesitate to do her part of this strategy. Unleashing her blade which had grown bigger and sharper thanks to her energy, she slashed and smashed their foes to pieces not even giving them a chance to scream, Laura made one final attack that erased them from existence.
Done with this the group took a moment or two to rest before making their way to Rean who had already got his breathing under control and stood up. An out of breath Elliot approached him first, "Well, that was a tough fight for sure, I am glad that it is over. Do you need any healing, Rean?" Shaking his head as an answer, though he assured his friends when he saw that they were sceptical and were looking at him with raised eyebrows, "I am not hurt, just a bit tired from constantly using the Second Form this much at once. Still, I am surprised that it worked that well, guess we should investigate the possibilities of combining different element arts together to see if we when can expand our repertoire with them."
Sighing heavily at his remark, Alisa stepped forward to face Rean, "I thought we had agreed on you not overdoing it in a fight." Shooting the archer a smile Rean quipped, "No, we agreed on me not doing anything reckless, we never talked about me overdoing it." The smile disappeared quickly, as he saw that she wasn't amused at all, "Really Alisa, I am not injured at all, just a bit tired after that. Besides we didn't have the opportunity to discuss this during the fight, so I just went ahead and did it."
"I still think that it was reckless of you to do that alone but like you said, you don't seem hurt, so I will let it slide this time." The glaring at the end of that sentence, implied the unsaid words 'but not next time', Laura seeing an opening to ask the questions that she had been holding back since seeing the famous Second Form, she spoke quickly before Rean could say anything that would perhaps earn him another scolding, "That was a fine display of the famous Gale form, Rean. I always wanted to see the signature technique of the Divine Blade of Wind myself, but since you never seemed to use it and I didn't want to put you on the spot in case that you weren't willing to show it, so I refrained from asking."
"No need for that Laura, you can always ask about something like that though I can't guarantee about my skill with it, but at the very least I can show you of the basics of the form." Seeing the way Laura eyes light about that, everyone looked at each other and exchanged fond eyerolls at seeing the normally calm swordswoman being excited about something like that. Though Gaius himself couldn't hold back his curiosity after seeing that display, "I didn't know that you had a form like that, Rean. What did you call it, Gale? From what I saw it has truly earned that name, you were as fast and struck like the wind. How come you never used it before today and I am also curious about that person Laura mentioned the Divine Blade of Wind?"
A bit of curiosity could also be seen on Elliot's and Alisa's faces, as they waited for his answer, "The reason why I haven't used the Second Form before was because its best use is against a group of enemies and since lately, I have always been training with somebody and we shared the monsters I didn't see the need to use it. Though it still can be used against a single opponent don't get me wrong, it just depends on the use of it. Let's take the Divine Blade of Wind for example, that person's name is Arios MacLaine, he too is also a disciple of the Eight Leaves but unlike me he has already achieved mastery in one of the eight Forms, in this case the Second Form Gale. I have never seen him fight but it said that he can move as fast as the wind itself and like the wind he can't be hit."
From that point Rean told them some other tales of Arios that he had heard from rumours and from his Master, the stories were a welcome entertainment since the group was tired after the fight and took this as an chance to rest before leaving the old schoolhouse. Done with telling the stories, they made their way out of the room, "I hope that there aren't many monsters on the way back to the surface, I am still tired after all this."
"I have a hunch that we won't need to fight or even walk back, Elliot." Ignoring the confused looks from the rest, Rean opened the door to find that his hunch was correct, outside he could see that the teleporter was showing the same light as the one on the first floor, "Seems like when we defeat the boss of the floor, the device at the beginning and at the end of the floor get activated." The group went towards it to see if they could activate it, a moment later they found themselves back at the entrance leading to the room with the elevator inside, after testing to see if perhaps they could go down to the third floor which unfortunately wasn't possible the students returned to back to the surface floor.
"Should we call the instructor and the principal, so that they can come here to see the elevator and the new floors, or should we just go report back first and then have them come over here?" Mulling over Reans question, the rest decided that in this case it was seeing is believing, so Rean called Sara on her Arcus.
"Well, hello there Rean. Done with the exploration of the old schoolhouse? So, what did you find this time? A hidden portal to another world or perhaps a book written by Aidios herself or perhaps some decades old vintage liquor that just gets better with age or even better a whole room full of beer barrels?" Sara was using a joking tone when she said all that, but she wasn't expecting to hear Reans deadpan answer, "Nothing like that this time, just a complete renovation of the room with a somewhat modern elevator right in the middle of it and five new floors from which we can, for now, just enter the first two and with each one housing different types of monsters."
"…..Hahaha, I am surprised Rean. You are always so serious; it is good to see that you can make also can make hilarious jokes like that."
"….."
"Oh, come on! Please tell me that you are joking, yesterday when I was inside the old building everything was still the same as before and now you are telling me that it changed again?!"
"While I can understand how you are feeling about this, it doesn't change reality. If possible, could you and the principal come over so that you can see it for yourselves, please?"
"As much as I would like to, I am still stuck in a meeting with the principal and the vice principal for at least another twenty minutes so that visit will have to wait for now and giving the glare Vice principal Heinrich is sending my way, it doesn't look like I will be able to skip the rest of the meeting."
"Oh, that is not a problem, I can wait for…. Wait, how is Instructor Heinrich glaring at you if you stepped outside the room to take my call?"
"Who said that I stepped outside?" Suddenly feeling very tired, Rean tried to keep a bit of hope alive that his homeroom teacher had at least that much common sense to not take a call right in the middle of a meeting with her two bosses, "Instructor Sara, are you telling me that since the beginning of this conversation the Principal and the Vice Principal haven been listening to you talking to me instead of participating in the meeting?" That spark of hope was ruthlessly squashed as Sara replied with the kind of jovial tone that implied, she knew exactly what she was doing but just didn't care about it, "Yep."
Closing his eyes, Rean prayed to Aidios for patience but continued, "Alright Instructor, I will wait here for the two of you." Not even giving her a chance to speak, he just ended the call before she could waste even more time, turning around Rean found the same looks of exasperation, that he surely was wearing right now, on his classmates faces, "Looks like Instructor Sara will take a while before she can come here and since all of us don't need to wait for her to give our report, how about you guys go to Kirsches and get yourselves some dinner? My treat, tell Fred that I will be by later to pay for it."
Silence followed that statement, until it was broken by Alisa snorting, "Yeah, right. We should just leave you here, all alone, in this weird old building that can apparently change its entire interior. There is no chance of that happening, Rean. Especially after that stunt you pulled at the beginning."
"Alisa is right, we are also curious about what the Principal and Instructor are going to say about these new developments here and besides since we have this chance, I would like to ask you for a favour, Rean." Not having expected that or that Laura would ask for something at this moment, Rean put his offer for dinner aside for now and told Laura, "Sure, if it is something that I can help you with."
"Thank you. It is actually quite an easy favour, and it should help us pass the time while we wait, though let me ask you this first. How is your body holding up? We may have rested a bit, but I don't think it was enough to recover completely from the strain of that fight."
"I am not completely at one hundred percent after that fight, but it should be enough for helping you out." Scrutinizing the black-haired swordsman closely, Laura saw that he should have recovered enough for what she had in mind, "Alright, I will take your word for it, besides I am also not at my peak at this moment, so it should be somewhat even. Rean, would it be possible for us to spar while we wait for the instructor to arrive?" Not having expected that, sounds of surprise could be heard from the others while Rean just raised his eyebrows as an reaction, "Of course, I don't want a duel or anything like that just a simple practice fight, since I saw you use that technique against that giant ape in Lunar Park, I have been itching for this but shortly after returning we got even more training here in the old schoolhouse, then our classes got harder and you always seemed so busy with your training and helping the student council out, that I didn't want to brother you with this. So, an opportunity for a spar seemed always to slip through my fingers but after seeing you displaying the Second Form in that fight, I don't think I can wait anymore, so what do you think?"
For a while no one said anything, before Rean burst out laughing, "Laura, if all you wanted was to spar with me you don't have to sound so serious about it, just simply ask. Just because I am a bit busy doesn't mean that I can spare time for my friends, besides I still make time for me to hang out with Alisa, Elliot and Gaius from time to time." Before he could speak further, he heard Alisa speak up, "Well, she is right with the fact that you always seem to be busy, either with training, studying or helping. Ever heard of taking a break?"
Ignoring that remark Rean continued speaking since this wasn't the first time they had this discussion, "So if you want to spar, you just have to ask and nothing more. We can even make it a weekly thing if you want." Seeing the two swordmen trying to figure out a day where both had time for a practice bout, the other three whispered to each other, "I don't know if Laura just said that so that we can wait here with him or if she really wanted to spar with him."
"I would say it is a bit of both, Elliot. Though I take it, that you and Rean have already talked about his never-ending busy schedule? Me and Elliot did notice that he didn't seem to ever take a break, but we didn't want to say anything since it could be as simple as that his took his rest somewhere in Trista where we couldn't see him." Crossing her arms, Alisa released a sigh, "Nope, I once asked him about it since I thought the same thing as you two, but his answer was that he didn't need a break since he his schedule wasn't that packed. I think you can imagine what my response to that was."
A bit of chuckling could be heard from the two boys as an answer, "I think the only time he is resting, is when he is sleeping and the only time, I ever saw him truly take a break was during our first week at the academy. He was fishing on that pier near the bridge, but he hasn't done that since our dear homeroom teacher roped him in to be a gopher for the Student Council." The conversation was cut short when the two swordmen decided that they would spare at least twice a week, they invited the rest to join too if they were interested, only Gaius agreed to it, Elliot and Alisa weren't sure about it but would try to be there even if it was just to be a spectator.
The two swordsmen stood facing each other in the middle of the room, "So the time limit is until the instructor and the principal arrive or when one of us land more than two hits on the other. Are we in agreement, Rean?" Nodding his head which served as a sign to get in their stances, the two swordmen stared at each for some moments until the stare down was broken by Laura charging forward and use that momentum to jump in the air while raising her sword to slash down at Reans head, against her expectations he didn't try to dodge but instead raised his tachi in a horizontal position with one hand holding the hilt and the other against the end of the blade.
As soon Laura weapon touched his tachi, Rean dipped it to one side so that the great sword would slide of it, the moment her feet touched the ground, he used his hand that was against the blade to push the sword further away, so that Laura would be completely unbalanced. To his surprise Laura used that momentum to spin on the spot while using her weapons weight to spin faster, getting a bad feeling Rean tried to jump away to create some distance between them but to his surprise he was instead drawn closer to her, he noticed a vortex of light being formed with Laura at the centre. Making a snap decision he decided to charge towards his opponent instead of widening their distance, Rean even used the pulling of Laura Craft to get even faster which surprised her for a moment.
Making use of that short opening, he unleashed Gale to land a hit against her though he barely touched her clothes, it still counted as a hit in their eyes. "Well done, Rean! You did say that the second form could be used against just a single adversary instead of a group, how nice of you to show me an example of it." A bit annoyed that he managed to score a hit against her so fast, Laura took a deep breath and adopted her usual stance, but this time didn't charge forward like usual but chose instead to observe him and apply the tips he had shared earlier to try and predict his next move.
"I just got lucky there and used the fact that you haven't mastered that technique to my advantage though I get the feeling next time you use that move against me, I won't have a good time at all." Looking at her, Rean found that she now had barely an opening that he could use, (So, if there isn't one, I can just create one.) Sheathing his tachi he took a drawing stance, and quickly he used the sixth form to launch an energy attack against her, reacting as if she had already expected this, she infused her blade with her Ki and swung it against the oncoming attack.
Using that short opening Rean once again sheathed his sword and ran towards her, not even two arge away from his opponent he noticed that she was looking at him directly with a slight smile on her face. After destroying the energy attack, Laura quickly changed her stance to unleash an overhead attack and timed it perfectly as Rean stepped into her range though what she didn't expect was that before she was able to bring down her sword on him, Rean took out his tachi to blocked it but instead of locking their swords together, he somehow managed once again to divert her attack sideways making her feel as if her sword had landed on cotton and used that force to quickly appear at her side ready to strike at her. Learning from her previous experience she didn't use her Craft Brilliant Spin but used the momentum to dodge sideways which resulted in Reans follow up attack after his defence to miss by a hairs breadth. Surprised that she had reacted that quickly, he missed his chance to attack again before she regained her footing, "I knew that you were a fast learner, but I am really surprised that you were able to predict my attack and reactions just like that."
"Well, thanks to the time we spent linked together, I would think that it is far easier for me to read you or a member of Class VII than it is a completely stranger. Though you were still able to dodge my attack and that was the only opportunity I had to catch you off guard by predicting your moves." Grinning at her, Rean just got into his stance during this sparring session the two swordmen focus were on each other and so they ignored the stunned looks of their spectators, "Wow, can either of you follow their moves? I thought I was barely able to follow their speed when we are linked up but seeing it from the outside….."
Squinting her eyes Alisa was able to follow them, though it was just barely, "Don't feel bad about this Elliot, the first time I faced off against Rean the only thing I managed to see was just a blur and he told me that it was just a matter of getting used to his speed." Glancing at the archer from the corner of his eyes, though his focus was on the spar before him, Gaius asked, "Does that mean you are now capable of following this?" Hesitating for a moment, Alisa shook her head as an answer, "Not really, I am barely able to able to see what they are doing but that is all, I wouldn't have any time to react at all if they got too close to me. How about you?"
"To be honest, I think that would be able to exchange some moves with them but in the end, they would overwhelm me. I guess that I too should start training more if I don't want to be left too far behind. Though is it just me or does Rean fighting style seems a little bit different than usual?" Looking back at the spar before him, Elliot tried to see if he could spot what Gaius meant but just like before, he couldn't keep up with their speed, "Sorry, I can't follow their speed at all. So, what is he doing different?"
"Normally, Rean tries to dodge his opponents attacks and he just blocks them with his sword when there isn't another way but here besides some few attacks from Laura he actively tries to block her attacks….wait!" Gaius stopped talking and concentrated on the spar before just in time to see that Rean once again blocked the attacking greatsword but unlike before he noticed what his friend was doing, "He isn't blocking at all but deflecting Laura's strikes, I didn't even know that it was possible." This left the two other spectators confused, "What do you mean by that? I mean it isn't like I see people fighting all the time, but I don't think that diverting attacks is that rare. I mean I saw you and Jusis do that one or two times while we were clearing the first floor in Instructor Saras class."
"True, if one is skilled enough, you can try to do it too, but I wasn't referring to that. I am amazed that he can do that with Laura as his opponent," Seeing his classmates still confused faces he explained further, "You two do remember what happens to the monsters that suffer from Laura's attacks, right?" That invoked the image from their last field study where they saw the blue haired swordswoman use her sword to slice apart a group of wolves, chuckling at the looks they were now wearing, Gaius went on as he continued watching the fight, "From our class Laura has the strongest physical attacking power, so you can imagine my surprise when I see Rean deflecting her attacks like that, though I have no idea why he is doing that instead of dodging and counterattacking."
This time it was Alisa's turn to explain, "He is doing it so that he can disturb her momentum, Rean explained once to me that you can sort the various type of fighters into certain categories and Laura falls in the category of an Power-type and the most important thing to watch out for that type is to not let them gain their momentum because the more they gain, the stronger their attacks get and the less room you have for making a mistake since just one hit can mean the difference between winning or losing." Before the two boys could ask for more information, the door opened and the Principal and Sara entered the building, for a moment the two adults were stunned at seeing the fight before them unfold but made their way to the rest of Class VII where they got an explanation on what was going on and decided to just watch the swordsmen fight before they got down to business.
With barely enough time Rean managed to once again defend himself against Laura onslaught and got her to put distance between them, releasing the breath that he had been holding Rean got into his stance and observed his opponent and surroundings, (Seems like time is up, normally I would just stop here since the principal and the instructor have arrived and we both got two hit each but it has been a while since I could fight in a spar like this and from the looks of it Laura doesn't plan to end it like this either. So, let's decided this with the next strike.)
Exchanging looks the two came to the same conclusion, taking a drawing stance Rean leaned forward deciding that it would be better if he used a different technique than his Flame slash since that technique wasn't polished enough to be used against Laura Blade Dance, for a few moments no one moved but as if they had planned this beforehand the two swordmen dashed forward at the same time and unleashed their attacks, "Enlightened Domination! / Radiant Blade Dance!" in a flash they passed by each other and where now standing with their backs to each other.
"Not bad, not bad at all you two. So, do we have a winner?" Slowly clapping Sara made her towards her students with the rest in tow, sighing Laura put her sword away and turned to Sara, "Well, this victory belongs to Rean." Raising her arms, Laura showed them a small tear on her uniform that was present on each arm, before anyone could say anything Rean spoke up, "Actually, I think this one is a draw, Laura." While talking he pointed at the long shallow cut that was on the front of his uniform, the cut went from his right shoulder to his left hip, "We did say that the first one to get three hits in would win and since we both got three hits, this is a draw." Narrowing her eyes at the black-haired boy before her, "Yes, but you actually got four hits instead of three like me, so the victory goes to you!"
"We could also argue that you got the more significant hit which would mean that this was your victory, since if this had been a real fight, I would have been cut down with your last strike, unlike the small injuries I would have inflicted on your arms."
Sensing that this argument could go on for hours, Sara coughed out loud to draw their attention, "While I wouldn't mind watching the two of arguing about this, with some beer and snacks of course, me and the principal came here to see the new changes in the old schoolhouse. So, please settle this later." A bit embarrassed that they had forgotten about their audience, the swordsmen with the rest of their classmates went back into the room with the elevator and started reporting on the changes that they had seen on the second floor. After some groaning and complaining about why this didn't happen yesterday (from Sara), the two adults tried the elevator and the new teleportation device and asked some additional questions, before long the entire group went to the principal office to discuss things further.
"In all the years that I have been here at this academy, this is the first time I have seen or even heard of any additional floors whatsoever. Up until last month, the floor we used for your orienteering exercise is all we have ever known. Makes me wonder what other surprises the schoolhouse is still hiding?"
"So, what we explored today didn't even exist until today and easy access to these new floors presented itself in the form of a convenient elevator, no less. I have heard that many of the ruins from the Dark Ages were fraught with mysteries, but this is almost inconceivable."
"You are right about the ruins from Dark Ages, Laura. But as far Instructor Thomas and I can tell the old schoolhouse was built after the Dark Ages, thanks to the new books the instructor was able procure we estimate that it was built around four hundred to five hundred years ago. But by whom and why is something that we haven't been able to find out and we still have no idea what caused these new areas to show themselves, you wouldn't happen to have any idea, Sir?" Gathering his thoughts, Vandyck proceed to tell the students what knew, "Thanks to the changes from last month, I started to ask the older instructors that had already retired from the academy, if they knew something about this. They were just as surprised as we are with these new changes but one of them had heard of a rumour when they were a student here, concerning Emperor Dreichels and Saint Sandlot. Apparently, Emperor Dreichels had passed down a strict order that the old schoolhouse was to be persevered until the 'Promised Day' arrived and that order has some connection with his brave companion, the Lance Maiden Lianne Sandlot but what type of connection that was is a mystery."
The new information caused no small amount of surprise among the rest of the group since it involved two of the most famous figures of the War of Lions. "That just gives us more questions than answers, Sir. Still, there are many legends and mysteries regarding the Lance Maidens life and death, although I can't imagine what kind of connection there could be between her and an old building. Is there a possibility that you can check if Emperor Dreichels did pass that kind of order down and if maybe there exist other information regarding this, Sir?" Nodding at Reans inquiry, the principal answered, "Tomorrow I was supposed to report on your investigation results concerning the old schoolhouse to his Majesty the Emperor, I can ask him if such an order was really passed down or not and if maybe he can give us more information regarding these new developments."
After some more discussions, the principal praised and thanked the students for their exploration of the schoolhouse, done with that the group of five left the principal's office while the two adults stayed behind to discuss some more regarding the new discoveries of the day. Outside of the building, the group split with Eliot and Gaius going back to the dorm to rest for a bit, Laura and Alisa going to George to unlock some more slots in the Arcus and Rean went back inside to see if someone needed help with a last-minute request, but not before insisting that he paid for dinner at Kirches as thanks and as reward for their help in the old schoolhouse.
Seeing that they couldn't change his mind, they accepted and arranged to meet later at the inn with that done they went their separate ways. On the way to the engineering club, Alisa noticed that Laura seemed troubled with something, thinking back on what that could be, she arrived at the conclusion that it could only be about the result from her sparring with Rean, "Are you still thinking about that draw with Rean?" That caused Laura to raise an eyebrow before chuckling, "Was I that obvious about it?" Seeing the archer giving her a small nod as an answer, made her sigh, "I can't deny that I am not too happy with it but…." Seeing Laura struggling to find the right words, Alisa remained silent to give her enough time to find them, "Do you remember back in Celdic when I talked with him regarding his swordsmanship?"
"Yes, you asked him why he was holding back. Wait; is that what this is about? You are angry that he held back when he was fighting you?"
"No, I am not. I fought alongside him long enough to know that he isn't the kind of person that would hold back against his opponent just because he thinks that he is better than them. What I don't understand is what exactly is holding him back? For me the path of the sword is straightforward, there is no need to hold back just give it your all, no matter what you do."
"Well, I don't really understand all about that stuff but like you said Rean isn't that type of person. Now that I think about it, I can't even imagine him acting arrogant, can you?" That just invoked an image that made both girls laugh, "No I can't, though it would be somewhat funny to see that." A sigh escaped her when the conversation turned back to the original topic, "This one ended in a draw and that was him not fighting at full strength and that makes me wonder what it would be like to fight against him when he isn't holding himself back. "Now that brought some curiosity into the archer eyes, "Oh? Then how strong do you think he would be?"
"I can't say exactly how strong he would be because I don't know exactly how much he is holding back but let me put it this way, for the moment I am above him in skill, but he has enough experience that he can keep up with me in a fight and can fight me to a draw. Now imagine him with equal skill to me or even better than me and add to that his experience, how do you think then that a fight between me and Rean would end?" Laura couldn't help but add another sentence to that question, "Though I don't have any intention how losing even if he is far stronger than I am."
The fighting spirit in that statement made Alisa roll her eyes fondly at the eager swordswoman, the rest of the way was spent on the two girls talking about the training the archer had been doing with their black-haired classmate and some of their homework and classes. Inside the Engineering Building they gave George their Arcus and their newly acquired sepith which was enough to open two more slots which put them on the same level as Rean and the others in terms of opened slots, happy that he was able to study their Arcus Unit some more, he started immediately with his work while Alisa went to a separate table to do some maintenance and try to upgrade her Orbalbow. In the meantime, Laura sat down on a chair and went through the spar in her head to see what she could have done better or different. Half an hour later George was done with upgrading their Arcus and gave them back to their owners, he also pointed out that their master quartz were growing faster than he had expected, "Laura's master quartz has also already reached level two and Alisa is just one step away from level three, with Eliot and Gaius the four of you are the only ones in your class to be at this level until now."
"Wait, the only ones? What about Rean? Shouldn't he have also reached the same level as we, he has fought the same number of monsters as we have, if not more." Giving Laura a nod, George answered her question, "Rean has already reached level three the last time I saw his master quartz which to be honest is already a speed that no one was expecting, especially since after levelling up once the difficulty and the amount of experience needed increases by a lot. As far as I know, the foundation had foreseen that you all would need at least two months to reach the second level, six months to reach the third and a year to reach the fourth level. They didn't expect that you five would achieve this level so fast, some people at the Epstein foundation and Reinford company are pretty excited that perhaps some of your class will reach even the fifth level of the master quartz that they had no expectation of achieving before your graduation but then again no one had thought that the old schoolhouse would provide Class VII with such a good training ground with lots of monsters to practice on."
Nodding her head in confirmation, Laura remarked, "To be honest, I didn't pay much attention to these master quartz before but even I must admit that after reaching level two the fights against monsters were easier than before and this is just the second one, makes me look forward to the next levels."
"True, combine that with the Combat links from the Arcus Unit and I can see why they were pushing for people to test them out even if the people testing them, are just students." Shaking her head to clear the thoughts of the person who was probably behind these tests, Alisa went on, "Anyway, we discovered something in the old building today that may interest you and if possible, I would like your take on it." Seeing the curiosity in George eyes she didn't let him wait any longer and gave him a short description of today's events putting heavy emphasis on the newly discovered elevator, the rest that followed were questions concerning it and the girls attempts to dissuade the excited engineer to wait until tomorrow to go into the schoolhouse to research the elevator. After managing to calm him down, Alisa gave him a list of orbal components that she needed to upgrade her bow and asked him if he could order them from the Institute in Roer, leaving him with enough mira to cover the cost and some extra as thanks for his help. Done with that the two girls left the building and made their way towards the inn where they were to meet with the rest of their group.
Meanwhile Rean too was making his way towards the inn while thinking what he had just witnessed in the library, (I knew that people were talking about Jusis, but I wasn't expecting that kind of scrutiny from the other students, wondering what kind of people were qualified enough to be friends with a son of one the four great Houses. I am beginning to understand why he prefers to be alone most of the time if that are the kind of looks, he and anyone else gets when he is with somebody. Still, he did try to cheer me up in a way afterwards, neither he nor Machias are bad people, now I just have to find a way to let them understand that about each other.)
His thoughts were interrupted when heard a bell ringing in his surroundings, looking around he found the source of that sound, it was a black cat with a blue ribbon attached on its tail and that was walking towards him. Rean started bending down to stroke her fur for a bit, but he suddenly narrowed his eyes at the cat, (Weird, what is this feeling? It looks like a cat but why do I get the feeling that it isn't one? Even my sensing ability isn't making any sense, I sense that it is a cat and at the same time is not?) Putting his guard up, he still bends down to pet her, besides the satisfied purring from the cat nothing happened so he put these thoughts aside and continued petting and talking to it, that was until he questioned if the cat was a male or female that got him some claws attempting to scratch him.
If not for his quick reflexes it would have got him, done with that she left him behind and disappeared behind some bushes. A bit surprised at the cat actions, Rean shrugged it off and resumed his walk towards the inn where his friends were already waiting for him, except for Gaius who should already be on his way too, saying hello to the staff he went to join his friends at their table and sat down besides Alisa leaving the chair on his left for Gaius.
Sometime later their missing friend appeared and joined them too, after ordering their food and drinks Gaius turned around to look at his friend, "Rean, did you know about Vivi's prank?" That question left him confused since he didn't know any Vivi or about any prank and that confusion cloud be seen clearly on his face, "Seems like not. So, I guess not everyone in Empire knows about the meaning behind the grand rose." Chuckling to himself when he remembered what had just happened a little while ago in the Arts room, the others at table were still confused about what was going on, so Rean asked what was on everybody minds, "You lost us, Gaius. Perhaps you could start at the beginning with what prank, who this Vivi is or what the deal with a grand rose is?"
The last part of that question got him looks from the other three students at the table that seemed to say 'Seriously?' ignoring these looks he waited for Gaius to explain. "Well, let's start at the beginning then, I was going back to the academy because I forgot my textbook in the arts room, on the way there I ran into you Rean while you were doing a favour for Linde, right?"
"Yes, I helped Nicolas with moving some boxes into the kitchen and passed by your club to see if you were there. Linde seemed to have forgotten that she had placed an order for some white lilies at the flower shop, so I volunteered to help her out." Ignoring the sigh of expirations coming from a certain archer and the shaking heads of the rest, he continued with his story, "At the gate Linde caught up to me and asked me if could buy an extra flower called the grand rose and gave me the money for it and on the way back, I ran into you, Gaius. You noticed the flowers and asked me who they were for, long story short since you were going back to the arts room anyway you insisted that you would help me out with the delivery and that I should go just relax a bit."
"And did you?" Now it was his turn to roll his eyes, "Yes, I went to the library to read up on some material Instructor Makarov gave us yesterday, I ran into Jusis there and spent some time with him before coming here."
"Not exactly what I had in mind but at least you tried. Back to my story after parting ways with you, I went to the arts room and gave Linde the flowers perhaps it would have turned out different if I had given her the lilies first and the rose second, but I gave her the rose first and hearing your gasps I don't think I have to explain further what happened." Still confused what was going on he looked at his friends, Elliot and Alisa looking a bit amused, Laura frowning while Gaius sipped his drink. "Okay I still don't understand what is going on what is wrong with giving her the rose first?"
Just to see his friends give him that look again, this time it was Elliot who explained things, "Rean, a grand rose is a symbol of passion, love and confession. When a man tries to confess his love to a woman, they normally buy her a grand rose to show her how he feels about her. Actually, I am more astounded that you don't know that I thought it was common sense here in the empire." Crossing his arms, Rean thought long and hard if he had ever heard something like that, "Nope, first time I am hearing about this." Laura stopped frowning and gave him an amused look, "Even I heard about this custom, Rean. Though it was the girls in my town who told me about this, anyway I can't understand Linde's surprise about you giving her a grand rose since she was expecting one, the misunderstanding should have been cleared up quite quickly no?"
"Actually, no. Linde was quite flustered for some time about it and since I didn't know about the meaning behind the flower, I didn't quite understand what was going on."
"Wait, it was Linde who asked me for the flower, so why was she so flustered about it?"
"It turns out that it wasn't Linde who asked for the grand rose but her younger twin sister Vivi. She got the idea when she saw you talking with Linde about the lilies, so she approached you at the gate to start her prank and waited until you returned to see how her sister would react to it. She was a bit surprised that it was me that showed up but in her words that was even better than you Rean giving her sister the rose. Afterwards Linde realised what was going on and called her sister out, she apologised for the misunderstanding but in hindsight it was just a harmless prank, so I told her I didn't mind her sisters' actions."
With that explanation done the group began to eat their food who had arrived at the same time, the rest of the dinner went by with some mild teasing from Eliot and Alisa for Gaius and some talks about the old schoolhouse until Alisa remembered something that she had noticed when they were giving their report to the principal, "Rean is there a reason why you didn't mention that presence that you felt when we entered the old building to the instructor and the principal?"
That caused the others to stop eating to look at Rean as they now noticed the same thing, "Simple, I didn't have any proof about it and since I didn't want to worry them without cause, I didn't mention it besides it could have been just my imagination." Snorting Alisa didn't believe that for one second, "Yeah, right. In Celdic I have seen you 'sense' the monsters that were hiding from us without missing a single one, so you want me to believe that you just imagined that presence? Not happening, Mister Schwarzer."
"I may be able to sense my surroundings a bit, but it doesn't mean that it is failproof, I can make a mistake with that and like I said there is no proof to it, so it isn't like the academy can just go on a goose chase just because of something that I sensed." Alisa could accept that explanation since it did make sense but there was some feeling that told her it, that Rean was hiding something about that presence but since she didn't have any leads, she could just put it aside for the moment and make sure that from now on she would pay extra attention to him when they entered the old schoolhouse.
Done with their food Rean paid for it ignoring the protests of his friends that they should split the bill and the group went back their dormitory to prepare for the next week where they would have their practical exam. In Reans case that meant training the eight forms of his style with afterwards brushing up his knowledge to prepare for his midterm exams next month while listening in to the Radio Show Abendtime, hearing Misty's soothing voice managed to get him into the right mindset to concentrate on his studies.
The next days passed by until it was time for the practical exam on Wednesday, on the field the entire Class VII was assembled while waiting for the instructor to start, "Welcome to this month's exam. I don't believe that you need a refresher on how this works, so let's get right into it. Rean, Alisa, Eliot and Laura your group is the first, so step right up please." Without wasting any more words Sara snapped her fingers and like they had anticipated the weird machine from last time appeared right out of thin air though the class noticed the differences from the previous model but before anyone could ask Sara went ahead and explained the reason for the changes, "Fiddling with the settings not only makes the machine stronger but it even changes its appearance and while I don't know how it works in the end it doesn't' matter. So, let's begin."
Already used to their instructor methods the group of four drew their weapons and went into formation with Rean and Laura at the front while the other two provided support from the rear, firing their combat links up they started their offence first with Alisa unleashing her Flamberge arrows right at the machine giving the sword duo enough time to sprint forward and add their attacks to it. Laura and Ream both used an overhead strike on its arms leaving it wide open so that Alisa arrows could hit it right in the middle again which gave Rean another opening for a Link Attack.
The front fighter shared a glance and jumped back at the right time since their opponent unleashed a field of electricity around it which would have stunned them for a moment so for the next minute the group continued attacking and dodging the electricity until Eliot was done analysing it for weaknesses, like its predecessor it didn't have any weakness or advantages in the elemental department, so physical attacks remained their best option. Besides its enhanced strength and defences, it had also gained the ability to cast arts, seeing this Rean didn't give it any chance to use its new function because every time it showed signs of preparing to use arts, he interrupted it with his fourth form Autumn Leaf Cutter. Without any suspense the group of four continued to use their combat links to the best of their abilities to overwhelm their opponent until it finally stopped moving which earned them top marks from their instructor.
The next fight was with rest of the class but it was the complete opposite compared to the first fight, instead of working together they hindered each other movements though to be fair the reason behind this was Jusis and Machias inability to work together when Jusis went to attack the machine with his blade he was in Machias direct line for shooting and when they both used their arts to attack the Earth Needle collided with the Air Strike cancelling each other out. The group of five needed nearly three times the amount of time the first group used to bring the machine down while they had achieved victory it did leave a bitter taste in each member when they compared their performances, "I knew this was going to be a struggle, but I wasn't expecting it to be…. this bad." Looking at the group Sara paused at the reason for this debacle, "I hope the two of you in particular think long and hard what you did wrong here. This outcome is largely your fault after all."
Leaning his head in Alisa direction Rean whispered to her, "Wow, this is the first time I have ever seen her speak so harshly. I didn't think I would ever say this, but she seems almost like a teacher."
"Well, considering the situation it's no wonder that she is so frustrated. Still did you notice that during the entire fight Jusis and Machias didn't form a combat link with each other, it was always with the others."
"From what Gaius told me of their last field study they didn't form one either the entire time they were there and I think that every time the instructor pairs them up during combat lessons in the old schoolhouse they each went their separate ways to fulfil the assignments on their own." Frustration appeared on her eyes when she heard that, "You can't be serious after what happened last time, they still aren't ashamed enough to put their difference aside so that they at least don't drag their classmates down, I just hope that Instructor Sara doesn't put this two together in one group again because I can only see that ending in a disaster."
Giving her a nod Rean returned his attention back to their instructor who had just finished ripping these two a new one, sheathing their weapons the rest joined Rean groups though it didn't escape anyone notice that Jusis and Machias choose to stand as far away from each as possible. Annoyance flashed in Sara face when she saw that but suppressed it down, "Next, I will announce the details of the upcoming fields study. Each one of you step forward to take one of these." Holding some papers in her hands she handed them out, on the papers were the locations of their next field study and the members if each group.
'Field Study: May
Group A Location: Bareahard, the Verdant City.
Group A Members: Rean, Emma, Machias, Jusis, Fie,
Group B Location: Saint-Ark, the old Capital.
Group B Members: Alisa, Laura, Eliot, Gaius'
By the time Rean had finished reading the assignments, he could already foresee the reaction of two members of Class VII, thus he wasn't that surprised when Machias suddenly yelled, "IS THIS SUPPOSE TO BE SOME SICK JOCKE?!" Taking a deep breath Machias continued without yelling this time but still with a voice filled with anger, "Instructor Valestein, do you have some sort of personal vendetta against us?!" Crossing his arms Jusis looked at Sara too with a face filled with anger, "For once, I agree with him. This is ridiculous, I refuse to accept these groups allocations. Change them at once!"
Not caring for the anger these two were directing at her, Sara just shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know from where I am standing these seem like the perfect line-up. Jusis, you are from Bareahard so putting you in Group A was no-brainer." Before she could go on Machias interrupted her, "Then put me in Group B! I am not thrilled to go to Saint-Ark either, but it is far better than to be forced to go into HIS hometown. Besides everyone knows that Bareahard is like the breeding ground for nobles and their outdated ideas, the place is crawling with them."
"Well, I can't deny that because that is especially that reason why I put you in Group A in the first place!" Looking at the two young boys that were still unsatisfied, she decided to give them small chance, "I am no army officer, so I am not about to tell you all, that my orders are absolute and such, that is too much military like for my taste. But I am your instructor, and it is my duty to look out for your best interests. That is why I feel that these allocations are exactly what you need right now. So, if you have any objections, then how about the two of you try to make me listen by force. A single bout of combat if you can win, I will change the group like you two want but if I win the groups stay the same and the two of you will have cleaning duty for the dorm for a full month after the field study. So how about it, are you two in or out?"
Machias and Jusis shared a short glance with each other, and both stepped forward while unsheathing their weapons as an answer, looking at this caused a smirk to appear on Sara face, "Ah, male pride, so predictable. I knew you couldn't turn down an offer like this and I wouldn't have it any other way." Done speaking Sara showed the class her weapons for the first time, it was a combination of a terrifying-looking sword and orbal gun, looking at these two weapons caused some fear to appear on the challengers faces but they suppressed it down and went to stand on the opposite of Sara. Looking at them gave them a small nod of approval, "That's the spirit, just to spice things up a little how about….." Glancing at the rest of her students, she settled on a certain one, "Rean how about you give them hand? I will take all three of you on so that they are no doubts when this is done."
Surprised at the sudden request, he didn't know what to do but one look at Jusis and Machias told him that he couldn't back out of this, resigning himself to this he joined them to face their instructor. Though after Sara started to unleash her aura, he knew that their chances of winning this fight were almost zero, still that didn't stop him or the others from trying to win. (Let's see, judging from her aura alone, she is very strong and the fact that she uses both a gun and a sword probably means that she is proficient in both close and midrange combat. Our best chance would be to use orbal arts from long range while someone keeps her occupied in close combat, lucky both Jusis and Machias are good at casting arts if these two can work together with me, we should have a chance no matter how small to win this fight.)
Before Rean could suggest his plan to his companions, they started without him, and the worst was they hadn't even formed a combat link. Jusis used his agile court fencing to attack but each attack landed on air, Sara used minimal movements to dodge and still managed to keep Jusis between her and Machias so that his shotgun couldn't be used at all. Before Rean could try to help them out, Jusis was sent flying with a single swing from Saras sword in the direction of Machias, the two crashed into each other and fell on the ground in a mess of tangled limbs. Seeing this Rean sprinted forward to protect them, just in time since Sara used her gun to shoot at them, using the fifth form Morning Moon to cut the incoming bullets down, he told them, "You two, if you are serious about winning this we must work together and not separately… "
He stopped speaking as he saw that they both were paralysed with arcs of purple lightning around their bodies, (How did she do this? I didn't see her using any arts or crafts.) That is when he noticed for the first time the glowing wind quartz attached to her sword handle, (I see she used Jusis body as a cover for charging her sword with lightning and used the right amount to send him flying and when he collided with Machias the lightning spread to him resulting in this.)
Thinking quickly Rean took two Relaxant out of his pouch and sprinkled them on his classmates, "Like I said if you want to win this then we must work together, as soon as you are able to move start using your arts to attack her while I try to keep her from interrupting you. When you are ready to unleash your arts link with me so that we can work together, once you are done the other links with me and so on until we have won." Not waiting for a response, Rean used his Arc Slash to attack and charged forward to keep Sara occupied, she evaded the slash by simply pivoting around it and charged forward to meet her student in the middle, the two started to exchange blows with each.
Rean didn't use any of his forms, he kept his attacks as simple as possible so that his opponent couldn't find any opening to counter and keep her from charging her sword with lightning again. During the exchange Rean soon noticed that Instructor Sara wasn't taking this seriously at all, she kept a light smile on her face the entire time and still managed to raise the speed of her attacks steadily so that Rean was starting to be pushed back, the two others were still on the ground paralysed so there was no support on the way and if nothing changed, they would lose soon. (How much lightning did she put in her strike that they still can't move?! Doesn't matter she still isn't taking this serious at all and still she is getting faster and faster, if this goes on, I won't be able to keep up. No choice but to use that technique even if Master Ka-Fai doesn't like me using it at all.)
Using a small opening he managed to push Sara away giving him enough time to use the third form, raising his sword with both hands up, flames gathered around it, done with that part he slashed down. This caused Sara to jump back further to evade the blow but before she could try to use her gun to shoot, she stopped when she saw Reans eyes that were looking straight at her, the lilac-coloured eyes that were normally vibrant and full of kindness were now as cold as ice. The contrast was so jarring that for a moment Sara didn't know what was going on, giving Rean an opening to attack but compared to his speed from before he seemed even faster and his attacks were far sharper, not understanding what was going on caused Sara to remain on the defensive.
(I knew that he was always holding back out of fear, so what changed? No, wait!) Calming herself down, she started to analyse his attacks, that is when she noticed that his speed and strength hadn't changed at all, he was just using his speed more efficiently making less wasted movements. (I see, but what changed? He wasn't like this before; the only difference was that he seems way colder than normal.) That was the moment that she recalled hearing of something similar, about a young bracer from another country that had shut down his feelings so that he could become stronger and do what he had set out to do. (Ah carp, don't tell me that I forced him to do this just that he could win this fight.)
Suddenly her instincts warned her of danger so acting a pure reflex she used her gun to shoot the two incoming arts down without even looking while blocking Reans tachi with her sword and thus locking him into a stalemate with her. Taking a short glance around she saw that both Jusis and Machias were up again, preparing to cast their arts again. Deciding that this had gone long enough and a bit worried about what was going with Rean, Sara decided to stop holding back. Releasing her aura to the next level she managed to send Rean flying backwards but without being able to send her lightning into his body like with Jusis before. Charging her sword with as much lightning as she could while making sure that her students wouldn't be hurt too badly, she jumped up in the air and landed in the middle of her opponents stabbing her sword into the earth and unleashing the lightning in it paralysing them.
Well, two of them at least Rean jumped up into the air the moment she released the energy inside her sword but that made him an easy target when she jumped back and aimed her gun at him but what no one expected was that he had managed once again to cut her bullets down even in mid-air. The moment he landed on the ground he sprinted towards her to use the Autumn Leaf Cutter on her, but she manged to block it and use that movement to unleash a ring of purple lighting towards him, she expected that he would try to cut or block it which would have given her an opening to end this fight, but he once again managed to surprise her by evading her attack by sliding right under it.
That put him right before her so he used a horizontal slash to attack her midsection, she tried to block his attack with her blade that had been charged again with lightning expecting that he would be stunned the moment his tachi touched but it seemed that today was the day that Rean Schwarzer was determined to surprise her at every turn. He didn't follow through with his attack but let go of his tachi the moment it touched her blade and used the unarmed form to try to throw her onto the ground with a shoulder throw, what Rean didn't expect what that in a split-second Sara had dislocated her shoulder to get out of his grip and landed her feet while putting her gun to his head, ending this fight at that moment. Releasing a sigh, he stood up while holding his hands up as a form of surrender.
Nodding at him she put her gun in her holster and used that hand to put her shoulder back in place while the rest of the class ran towards them, Elliot and Emma went to the paralysed duo on the ground and started treating them with their arts. The rest made their way towards the other two when Alisa was close enough, she noticed the difference with Rean, opening her mouth to speak with him she was silenced with a look from her instructor, noticing that exchange it was Rean that spoke first, "I am alright, I just need a few minutes to shake this off. Let's see how the other two are feeling." Not knowing what else to do in this situation Sara nodded while ignoring the reproachful glare being sent her way by Alisa, thanks to arts being far better than simple items by the time the rest made their way over the two had already completely recovered, the only thing that was still hurt was their pride.
"Seems like Group A and B will remain as planned and make their way towards their planned destination this weekend. I want you all to prepare as best as you can and with this the class is dismissed, enjoy the rest of the day. Rean, please stay behind we need to talk." The rest of the class wanted to stay behind too since they could see that something was wrong him, sensing their concern towards him he gave them a nod to indicate that he was alright and even managed a bit of a smile. Knowing that it would be a while before the effects of this particular technique wore off that was the best he could do at the moment, Alisa still tried to remain behind but one look from Sara told her otherwise.
Narrowing her eyes at that she tried to argue but feeling Reans hand on her shoulder and the pleading look on his face she grumbled but left the academy field with the others, stopping at the top of the chairs while looking back at the two remaining people on the field and waiting for Rean with Elliot, Gaius, Emma and Laura at her side. Jusis and Machias left them alone and went their separate way while looking a bit worried and ashamed that their actions could have possibly hurt a classmate and Fie seemed to have disappeared somewhere.
"There is no need for you to be that worried Instructor Sara, I just used a certain technique during our fight and now I have just to wait for the side effects to disappear, there is no danger at all." That seemed to alleviate her worries a bit, but she couldn't help but noticed that his speech was still a bit stiff, "Can you explain to me than what technique you used that caused this?" Nodding at her question, he began to explain, "This technique is called 'Frozen Heart' it helps the practitioner to remain calm during a fight no matter what and makes their fighting strength rise by making their moves far more efficient than normal, the drawbacks are that the emotions of the user are suppressed to the point where they are practically non-existent during the fight, so that they don't affects the users judgement, but it is not for a long time give me around twenty minutes and I should be back to normal."
Feeling relieved with that, Sara nerves relaxed, "Geez, that is good to know, Rean. I was seriously worried for a moment there and is there a reason why you decided to use that technique during this fight? Did you want to win that much?" Shaking his head at that question, Rean answered it "No, even if I used this technique to its fullest, I still wouldn't have been able to win against you Instructor Sara, the reason that I used this was twofold. First it was the only way to keep the fight going after that horrible start since Jusis and Machias wouldn't have been convinced by their defeat if it had ended too quickly and the second was that I wanted to land at least a couple of hits against you, Instructor. Since you seem to think that you can just throw your problems onto to me without even asking for my opinion."
Seeing the surprised look on her face, he went on with his explanation, "No matter how good the Arcus, the combat links or the master quartz are there is no way that they can help shorten the difference between your students and yourself, Instructor Sara. No matter if it was the whole class fighting against you, the result wouldn't have changed, perhaps after some more months of training we will be able to stand against you but certainly not now. So, the only reason why you even proposed this match was to make them both accept this group assignment while using their pride against them."
Sighing out loud Sara couldn't help but pout at her student as he saw right through her, "Rean, even if you know my intentions that is no reason to laid them out like that and besides what makes you think that I have been dropping my problems onto you?" Even Sara with her thick skin couldn't help but avert her eyes and feel her face become hot when she saw Reans look that seemed to say, 'Are seriously asking me that?' He raised his fingers and started counting the problems that she had given him since the start of the year it went on until he reached the last one.
"You only exchanged me with Gaius, the rest of the groups stayed the same, so accordingly to your previous pattern you want me to make them play nice with each other." Not looking at him at all, Sara started to draw lines on the ground with her feet, "You do have to admit that you are in a unique position to help them out, you are the only one in the class that can listen and relate to both commoners and nobles. Besides you can use this opportunity to make up with Machias no?" Resigning himself to what was going to probably be a stressful field study, he just told her, "Fine, I can't make any promises, but I will try my best to live up to your expectations." Hearing this caused Sara to light up and give him a big thump up, "That's the spirit, Rean! Then go forth my young student and fulfil my request." Already used to her childish acts, he left the field shaking his head while glancing at a bush before making his way to the rest of his classmates who were still waiting for him, he could already see their worried faces, so he prepared himself to explain to them what had happened and that he was alright, though he got the feeling that he was in for a lecture from a certain someone.
Sara watched how Rean joined with his friends and left together with them, looking at the same bush that Rean had glanced at, she called out, "Alright Fie, I think that is enough sneaking around, you can come out now both me and Rean noticed you back there." Having been discovered the silver haired girl just walked out and joined Sara, "Seems like I underestimated him a little if he was able to spot me like that. I must admit when I joined this class, I wasn't expecting much in terms of combat strength or experience but he, Laura and Gaius seem like they have some at the very least."
"To be honest, I was of the same opinion when I saw them names for this class, the only ones I thought would have some real skill would have been Laura and you. I was actually looking forward to seeing which one of you was the stronger one, but then we have a practitioner of the Eight Leaves thrown into the mix and now it is a three-way fight for that title." Hearing that caused Fie to narrow her eyes a bit, "In an honest one versus one fight between me and Laura I don't know who would come out on top but if it was during the night and I was allowed to use all my crafts, I am sure that I would win. But do you honestly think that someone that is constantly holding himself back in a fight would win against me or Laura?"
"Last Sunday these two had a sparring match and while neither weren't at 100 precent, it still ended in a draw." That caused Fies eyes to open wide in surprise at that information, feeling a bit smug inside to have caused the always stoic girl to react like that, Sara went on, "Skill aside, I thought that in the entire class you would be the one with the most real combat experience but after seeing him fight for the last month and in this fight, I have to admit that I underestimated him in that regard, he at the very least has as much as you or even more. Though I did hear that he had travelled around the eastern part of the continent for a few years when he was younger."
Having recovered from her surprise from before Fie assumed her normal stoic look and left Sara standing alone while mumbling something like "Perhaps this field study won't be as dull as the last one." Watching her youngest charge leave caused Sara to think of the other part she hadn't told her (Rean didn't only take your place as the one with the most experience but he also took the number one spot as Class VII problem child. Geez, here I was thinking that Fie would be the most troublesome one but compared to him she seems almost normal and the worst part is that his mindset is rather worrying. How come the Sword Hermit didn't do anything about that?) Shaking her head at that line of thought Sara finally left the field too while hoping that this field study wouldn't end in a disaster and that her kids would finally learn to work together.
