The Academy’s Strongest Tournament.
As the name suggests, it was a tournament to determine the strongest.
It was a tournament that solely measured ‘combat strength’, separate from the Academy’s grades, making it an event more important than grades for some cadets.
In territories where battles and wars were frequent, there were places that valued the results of this tournament more than the Academy’s grades.
Scouts from various territories even came personally just to watch this tournament.
Faced with such a tournament, Kail fell into despair.
“Ugh─ I want to participate. I want to join and crush everyone.”
Gawein didn’t accept his application because he knew Kail was an Aura Master. In fact, Kail himself knew it too. He understood that this kind of tournament was purely an event for the cadets.
He knew that mutants like him shouldn’t interfere and cause trouble. Intellectually, he understood perfectly.
However, humans can’t always act rationally.
‘I want to go out there.’
At the very least, he wanted to get some of the prizes. Gawein had said the prizes weren’t much for a Master, but his curiosity couldn’t be suppressed.
Kail, who had been holding his head in frustration, suddenly jumped up as if struck by a brilliant idea.
Right, if I can’t go out there myself─ I’ll have someone else compete on my behalf. And conveniently, there was a girl who had absorbed enough of his teachings.
Kail immediately went to find her.
* * *
“……You want me to enter the tournament?”
“Yes.”
“But, I’m still just an Aura User, and my swordsmanship isn’t that great.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll teach you.”
Arthur looked at me awkwardly while scratching her cheek. It was understandable that she couldn’t quite grasp why I suddenly offered to teach her or why I was telling her to enter the tournament.
However, after hearing what I said next, she seemed to understand why I was making this proposal.
“And we’ll split the prize.”
“Ah…… So that was your goal from the beginning?”
“Of course.”
“Hahaha, no. Okay. Sure, I’m fine with that.”
She didn’t refuse my offer to teach her. Thankfully, it wasn’t easy to find someone like her—overflowing with potential and eager to enter the tournament.
As a commoner, she needed to make a name for herself in events like the tournament, and she had the skills to do so. Well, it wasn’t exactly skill……
‘The Dragon’s Heart.’
That thing embedded in Arthur’s chest. A power source that allowed permanent magic effects on someone like me who couldn’t use magic at all.
The reason I chose Arthur, who was only an Aura User.
The reason I was confident she could crush all the other Expert-level cadets and win.
“─Then let’s start by learning how to infuse objects with Aura.”
“What? But, didn’t you just say that’s impossible……?”
“No, it’s possible.”
I stared at Arthur with sparkling eyes.
From now on, nothing is impossible here.
“Ace! No objections! No thinking! Just do as I say!”
“Ka, Kail?”
“All answers are ‘Yes!’”
“A, Yes!”
“Good. Let’s go.”
Making Arthur the champion. That was my sole focus.
* * *
Aura is an energy source akin to the user’s blood.
It’s natural for blood to flow through one’s body. Anyone can do it easily.
But what about transferring that blood into another object in your hand, or even extracting it outside your body? Extremely difficult. Only a tiny fraction of people can do it, and almost everyone says it’s impossible.
But here─ there are people who’ve dedicated their lives to successfully extracting their Aura outside their bodies.
People call them Aura Masters.
“The misunderstanding people have is believing that training their Aura will allow them to extract it outside their bodies.”
“……Isn’t that true?”
“No. Aura is a secondary element; it’s not the main factor.”
Of course, to properly control Aura, recognizing its presence is crucial. You need to recognize the Aura flowing within your body and practice controlling it.
But to reach a higher level? Simply training Aura alone isn’t enough. You must learn and train with the sword, spear, bow, and martial arts.
As you do so, you naturally gain the ability to channel Aura outside your body. This is the Expert level, and surpassing it allows you to fully extract Aura outside your body, which is why they’re called Masters.
“This, however, is the story of ordinary people. Arthur, you’re different.”
This is the story of ordinary people, not Arthur, who has the Dragon’s Heart embedded in her chest. She’s like a car with an engine as large as her own massive frame. Give her wings, and she could fly with that huge engine.
There’s no need to teach such a being how to run on the ground like everyone else.
“You handle Aura itself. Swordsmanship? You don’t need to learn that. With Aura alone, you’ll smash everything.”
“But…… Is that really okay?”
“For you, it’s okay. Because of this.”
As Kail spoke, he poked Arthur’s chest. Startled, Arthur belatedly realized she was currently in male form and glanced at Kail.
Kail simply tilted his head, as if asking if there was any issue, and Arthur shook her head, indicating there wasn’t.
“So—how am I supposed to win without learning swordsmanship?”
“Secret Techniques.”
“……Secret Techniques?”
“Yes, Secret Techniques.”
“But, I don’t know any Secret Techniques.”
Kail grinned as he looked at Arthur. Seeing his smile, Arthur’s eyes widened as if she roughly understood what he meant.
“─If you don’t have them, we’ll just make some.”
A Master and a girl with the Dragon’s Heart.
With these two combined, the concept of impossibility ceases to exist.
* * *
After training Arthur and heading back to the dormitory, Kail ran into Hundred blocking his path. Even when trying to slip past, Hundred stubbornly continued to block Kail’s way.
“What is it?”
“Kail Meyer.”
Blocking Kail’s path, Hundred glared down at him with blazing eyes.
“This tournament, it’s a match.”
“I’m not participating in this tournament.”
“……What? Why!?”
“Aah, because I’m too strong— I shouldn’t interfere in the kids’ fights, right?”
Though Kail merely repeated what Gawein had told him, Hundred thought Kail was mocking him and suddenly raised his voice.
“Ha, hahaha— So you’re scared? Afraid to fight me, huh?”
“It’s true.”
“If you think I’d fall for such a ridiculous excuse, think again. You coward.”
“No, why would I be afraid of you? —You’re weak.”
“—You bastard!”
Whoosh— Hundred hesitated as he remembered the last time he reached out to grab someone by the collar and got countered.
If he had come just a little closer, Kail would have subdued him. Watching Hundred stop just shy of that critical point, Kail smirked.
“Scared?”
“S, Scared? Who’s……”
“I’m not entering the tournament— but I have someone else entering in my place.”
As Kail spoke, he mentioned Arthur’s name. Hearing her name, Hundred looked at Kail with disbelief.
“……So you’re really not entering?”
“I told you, I’m too strong to enter.”
“What does that……”
“Anyway, that’s how it is. If you beat Arthur, I’ll consider it as beating me.”
“—Ha, Arthur? Isn’t he just an Aura User? Do you really think he can beat me?”
Hundred believed that no matter how strong Kail was, teaching others was a completely different matter. The talent required for a knight to grow strong and the talent needed to teach others were entirely different things.
Though Hundred acknowledged Kail as a genius, he couldn’t accept that Kail was also excellent at teaching and snorted derisively.
“Then— if I beat him, I can claim that I’ve beaten you, right?”
“Oh, if I win, the rumor will spread that you lost without even lifting a finger. Are you okay with that?”
“That won’t happen— do you really think I’d lose to an Aura User?”
With those words, he swiftly disappeared somewhere. Watching Hundred’s retreating figure, Kail turned back towards the training grounds instead of heading to the dormitory.
He had thought of a technique to teach her.
* * *
On the day of the tournament.
The day when countless spectators and scouts from various territories gathered.
Whether by luck or misfortune, Arthur faced Hundred in the first round.
Hundred smirked as he looked at Arthur.
“There’s a reason I can’t lose today.”
“Hmm?”
“Look over there. It’s the mercenary group I belonged to before entering the Academy. They came to celebrate my victory.”
“Eh, eh?”
“And most importantly, I made a bet with Kail Meyer himself, who trained you. There’s a 0% chance I’ll lose.”
Hearing his words, Arthur scratched her cheek and asked again.
“……Could it be— you’re planning to make me lose out of pity?”
“What? What nonsense.”
“Oh, I see. Okay. Got it. You’re similar to Kail in some ways.”
Relieved, Arthur gripped the sword hilt and waited for the signal to start the match. Moments later, the gong sounded, and Arthur faced Hundred charging towards her.
‘Arthur, don’t move from your spot. Your opponent will come to you anyway.’
Kail’s teachings echoed in her mind. Following the next instruction, her body moved instinctively.
Meyer Style Reform
Lightning
KABOOM─!
Arthur’s sword swung like lightning, shattering the arena and knocking Hundred out of bounds with a single strike.
For a moment, silence descended upon the arena.
“Th, the winner— Arthur!”
Only after the referee’s shout did cheers flood over Arthur.
