The Academy’s Hard-Headed Swordmaster

'Sling-' 

Kenneth stiffened at the sight of Kyle drawing his sword, raising both hands.

"Where did you hear such nonsense…?"

Kenneth, continuing his sentence casually,  was flung backward with a 'whoosh-' at a moment he could never have imagined.

Kyle had dashed forward the instant Kenneth flinched, but strangely, the distance between them didn't close.

Looking closely, Kenneth was retreating as if gliding across the ground.  

How such a thing was possible, Kyle didn't know.  

Wasn't Aura something that manifested differently depending on the user?

Perhaps this was the kind of thing one could do if they became a Master with a Bow instead of a Sword.

So, Kyle employed the privilege unique to a youthful body in its teens: boundless stamina.  

He spared no energy, pounding the ground explosively as he propelled himself forward.

"Hold it right—!"

"Like a wild animal."

A surprisingly swift chase, yet childish in its essence, ensued briefly.

Kenneth, reaching into his pocket, pulled out his Bow, which had been miniaturized by magic.

The moment his Aura flowed into the Bow, the embedded magic activated, completing a Bow nearly half the size of the one he usually used.

A short bow, the kind used for shooting while riding or on the move, was gripped in his hand.  Twisting his upper body mid-glide, Kenneth fired.

'Ptwing—!'

"Ugh—!?"

Kyle, intending to deflect the rather slow arrow with ease, felt an immense pressure overwhelm him the moment his Aura Blade clashed with the Aura imbued in the arrow.

His arm was flung back, and his forward momentum abruptly halted.

As Kyle slowed, Kenneth pressed his advantage, firing arrows relentlessly.  

The distance, which had been almost negligible, began to widen significantly as soon as the gap opened.

Having retreated to a distance Kyle could no longer close by running, Kenneth leisurely stopped and tucked his Bow back into his pocket.

"—A swordsman challenging an archer? Thoughtless."

"You damn ranged attacker…"

"Lack of experience, boy. If you knew who I was, you should have called for backup instead of attacking alone."

Kenneth shrugged, implying that Kyle's excessive confidence had ruined everything.  

Although impossible, what if Kyle had brought the Academy principal? Kenneth wouldn't have been able to escape so easily.

"Anyway, consider the offer withdrawn."

"—Sigh."

"Well then, I'll—"

As Kenneth turned to leave, he realized something had sliced off his arm.

Looking down at his severed arm with a 'thud', he cautiously turned his head to see Kyle in a posture suggesting he had thrown something.

Kyle, having thrown his sword, grinned at the one-armed Kenneth.

"Strike."

"You… damn brat…!"

"You're not the only one who can attack from a distance."

"Crazy bastard! How do you plan to block my attacks now without a sword?"

Kenneth said, pulling out his Bow again. Kyle, wondering how he could shoot with a severed arm, saw that no blood flowed from the wound.

Though beads of blood were visible, they didn't drip.  

Wondering how this was possible, Kyle soon understood as he saw Aura emanating from the severed limb.

'What is that?'

Kenneth had recreated his severed left arm using Aura.  

The process sealed the wound, so while blood beaded, it didn't flow.

Kenneth, having created an Aura hand, gripped the bowstring with his left hand.  

Aura flowing from his fingertips coalesced into a sharp arrow.

"Die."

Heavenly Bow

Watching the Aura-condensed arrow fly towards him, Kyle felt the world slow down.

It was like the phenomenon of life flashing before one's eyes at death's door.

He instinctively knew that if this arrow hit, he would die. But he couldn't block or dodge it.  

He needed his sword to use the all-severing Aura Blade, but he had thrown it far away.

He couldn't dodge the purely Aura-based arrow either. Even if he threw himself out of the way, the Aura connected to Kenneth would change direction according to his will.

'Damn it, I shouldn't have thrown my sword.'

It was the price of thoughtless action. In this infinitely stretched world, Kyle could either live eternally or accept death and return to the normal flow of time.

Neither outcome was particularly desirable.

He didn't want to be trapped in his mind forever to avoid death, nor did he want to accept death.

Then he had to solve the problem in a way an ordinary person couldn't conceive. After a moment of thought, Kyle realized that the answer to every problem lies within the problem itself.

'Aha.'

At this moment, the problem was the Aura arrow flying towards him.

Looking at the arrow, Kyle realized the answer.

He closed his eyes.

He grasped the Aura flowing within his body.

Without a sword, he couldn't draw out the Aura Blade.  

That common sense and convention controlled his subconscious.

Hadn't Kenneth just proven otherwise?

'Draw it out’

He pictured a sword growing in his mind.

 It was impossible for an ordinary person to draw a sword from their mind, but not for an Aura Master.

They had ample material to paint something imagined into reality.

So, he drew it. Kyle smiled with satisfaction, looking at the Aura Blade gripped in his hand.

In the next instant, he sliced through the arrow aimed at him.

Both were concentrations of Aura, but the sword attached to his body was more densely condensed than the arrow detached from Kenneth's.

'Kwaaang—!'

A clash of Aura against Aura.

Watching the Aura arrow explode with a powerful roar, Kyle belatedly exhaled.

As he blankly inhaled and exhaled repeatedly, he suddenly remembered he was chasing Kenneth and abruptly looked up.

Kenneth had already escaped, retrieving his left arm.

***

'Crazy, what is that monster?'

Fleeing frantically after retrieving his severed left arm, Kenneth recalled the sight he had just witnessed.

The swordsman, having lost his sword, creating one from Aura to sever his arrow.

He hadn't been arrogant enough to think he was the only one capable of creating and shooting bows and arrows with Aura.

If he could do it, so could someone else.

However, he couldn't believe a swordsman, a mere boy who had just become a Master, could do such a thing.

Even "Sword" from his own organization couldn't do that.

'Should I nip it in the bud now?'

Kenneth knew very well how talented monsters grew if left unchecked.

They grew at an astonishing rate with every blink of an eye.

He couldn't even fathom how much stronger Kyle would be when they next met if he let him be.

'…I'll have to suggest it as soon as I return.'

Fortunately, the organization was full of madmen who wanted to crush such budding talents.  

If the fruit hadn't ripened, they might have waited, but once the fruit of Master had been borne, they would pluck it, ripe or not.

Thinking he would return with them, Kenneth quickly left the Academy grounds.

***

After the fight, I walked in the direction I had thrown my sword to retrieve it.

After confirming where the sword was embedded, my face hardened.

'Oh, this is bad.'

The sword was deeply embedded in the principal's office window.

Considering that the principal had personally placed a Barrier around his office after the last theft incident, it meant my sword had shattered the principal's Barrier before lodging itself there.

Imagining the principal stroking his beard as he cooled down, I felt a chill run down my spine and cautiously went up to the principal's office.

As I expected, the principal was sipping his tea with a disgruntled expression.

"Student Kyle Meyer."

"Yes, Principal."

"Did you receive orders to assassinate me?"

"No, it's not like that."

"Then explain why a sword saturated with Aura flew into my office window."

"Well, you see—"

I did my best to make excuses.  

I said a terrorist had infiltrated the Academy, and I had attacked him, then thrown my sword because I thought I was about to lose him.

I had seen the thrown sword sever an arm, but I hadn't expected it to fly this far.

After listening to my explanation, the principal looked at me incredulously and asked,

"Shouldn't you have informed an adult, like myself or Sir Gawain, first if such a thing happened?"

"Yes, that's right…?"

"If you had, we could have apprehended him without incident."

"Yes, you're right."

"Then, this incident is entirely your fault, Student Kyle."

"Yes, it is…"

"Punishment. Clean the faculty restrooms for a week. Any objections?"

"None…"

Fortunately, the principal was lenient.