What to Call the Way of Gripping the Sword
The grip on the sword felt strange. Entirely new.
I'd always had Insight and the Heavenly Martial Body, plus sensory enhancement through mana... but.
It's like the world I see is completely different?
The world felt perceptible through a new sense that transcended the five senses. Unlike mages who grasped phenomena abstractly, this was the intuitive perception of a warrior beholding the world. Things I'd only vaguely sensed before now registered with crystal clarity.
Yeah. Take, for instance, the aura right in front of my eyes belonging to Reinholt.
"Judging by your aura, it looks like you've successfully completed your aura training."
"Thanks to my excellent master."
"No need for flattery. It's because you're talented."
Reinholt said this with a satisfied smile, his signature grin. Well, I had no intention of denying his exceptional talent, but what I said wasn't wrong either. The harmony of outstanding talent and an outstanding teacher. No matter how talented I was, if he'd taught me incorrectly, what I learned could have been incomplete.
"Right. So now you can wield aura too."
Where mages had mana, warriors had aura.
Unlike the abstract mana, this just feels strong and powerful.
If mana turned imagination into reality, aura simply made one's power surge and body lighten. It was only natural, since aura represented the primal force of the body.
"Yeah. I can even do this."
He closed his eyes and slowly gripped the wooden sword. Steadying his breath, he swung it through the air.
—Fwooooong!!!!!!!!!
Reinholt's Overlapping Scale Slash, previously imperfect, unfolded before my eyes without a single millimeter of error. Its power couldn't yet match his, but that wasn't the point.
The completion of the technique. And that completion had somehow approached perfection.
"Stealing my aura training method too? You're ridiculous."
"Stealing? ..."
He called me his disciple earlier. Wasn't calling it stealing a bit much?
"It's amazing all over again, Master."
"Amazing how?"
"From what I know, aura forms a core like circles do, but you've already..."
"Ah."
Lilia's words, as she watched vacantly from the side, made it click for me.
Mages had circles. Aura users had cores.
And right now, I had...
Five cores, no different from circles.
In other words, my aura cores and mana circles were resonating perfectly.
"Um, sir."
"Hm?"
"Do cores normally form all at once like this, several of them?"
"Of course not. Cores have always increased only after crossing countless brushes with death."
"Then, could you take a proper look at my body for a moment?"
At his sole disciple's request, Reinholt placed his palm against my heart with an exasperated expression.
"Don't tell me your aura training went wrong or some—Huh? What is this?"
"...It seems like I have five cores."
".........What?"
Reinholt stared at me in disbelief. He seemed flustered, but I wasn't much better off. I'd planned to focus mainly on magic and learn swordsmanship slowly... but after suddenly training in aura, I'd ended up with five cores? Even as a transmigrator, this was hard to process immediately. It defied common sense, even to me.
"Th-this can't be possible...?"
"Right? That's what I think too."
".............."
Reinholt froze with a more stunned expression than mine, but only for a moment. Soon, he uttered words utterly unbecoming of the Sword Demon.
"Descend the mountain."
".........Pardon?"
"I've already taught you everything I can..."
The basics of swordsmanship. Reinholt's Dragon-Slaying Style and aura training method. I'd learned it all, literally everything he could teach.
And my cores numbered five from the very start.
"What is this...? I'm scared."
In other words, just two days after beginning to learn swordsmanship,
I'd become a five-core aura user who had earned the Sword Demon's recognition.
There was a word in the world for the inexplicable. Something utterly incomprehensible.
And it seemed to apply perfectly to my talents.
"Lilia. What do you think?"
"Huh? Master's talent?"
"Yeah. I wondered if a demon might see it differently than a human."
"...It's amazing to me too. Even in the demon realm, there was no one like you, Master."
"Right?"
It was growth beyond the bounds of understanding. Being a 5th Circle mage in the first year at the academy was already off the charts, and now five cores on top? Did this even make sense?
If conditions aligned, I could rival even Dorothy in specs.
Well, using mana and aura together still feels a bit awkward.
Mana itself was natural, but aura was the issue. No problem handling it, but it felt sensorily off. Having skipped the normal growth process and jumped straight here amplified the awkwardness.
I wanted to focus solely on aura for a while, excluding magic...
"What? You're here by yourself?"
"Ah, Belloa. What? We haven't even started official activities yet."
The club room officially assigned after the festival ended. As I sat in the vice president's seat, pondering idly, Belloa showed up.
I'd never told her the location. How did she find it?
"Just curious what our top student was up to, so I came looking."
"What else? Pondering combat as the Combat Intensive Club vice president."
"Oh? Did you develop some new magic?"
"Not exactly."
Hm... What to do.
The club had Luel, an aura user anyway, so having high cores myself wasn't bad.
"Ah, perfect timing. You came at just the right moment."
"Huh? Suddenly?"
"Want to do some early club activities together?"
Until now, I'd lived as a mage. Used magic, fought as a mage.
And right now, in front of me was a mage on my level.
No better opponent to start anew as a swordsman rather than a mage.
A perfect training partner to properly internalize aura over mana stood before me.
"A spar?"
"Yeah, how'd you know?"
"It's the Combat Intensive Club... What else could it be but a duel?"
As expected of the vice-top. Smart.
"But won't I lose? I joined to learn combat from you as a mage."
Hm. True, as mages fighting mages, her odds were near zero. Back then maybe, but now with equal circles, the gap between us was vast.
But that didn't matter now.
"It's fine. I won't use magic."
"..............Huh?"
Belloa couldn't comprehend a word Dante was saying right in front of her.
A mage saying he wouldn't use magic against her?
I know you're strong. I do... but.
That was only as a mage. Dante wasn't bound by elements and nullified most magic with his unique calculations.
His seasoned, exceptional combat sense? Belloa acknowledged that too.
But forgoing magic entirely to face her? It bordered on looking down on her.
"...You're serious?"
"Yeah. I recently learned the sword."
Belloa recalled the recent rumor.
Right. I heard he recently trained under that Sword Demon.
He'd trained his body unusually for a mage and had the sense, so it wasn't incomprehensible.
Of course, knowing his magical talent, wasting time on swordsmanship seemed foolish.
Dante suits magic over sword no matter how you look... Just curiosity, maybe?
But from what she knew, he'd started learning the sword just two days ago. Challenging a 5th Circle mage like her with it after two days?
Belloa couldn't understand.
"Practice, right?"
"Don't go easy. I'll give it my all too."
"I planned to anyway. Careful now? Vice President."
Of course, since her opponent had just picked up the sword, she wouldn't go full throttle.
But she wouldn't hold back either.
I lost before, so I'll win this time.
It might be her only chance to beat Dante.
She decided to go all out. Enough not to injure him, but to ensure he never challenged her with a sword over magic again.
"Come at me. I won't let you get hurt."
"Haha. Feels like our first bout."
Dante smirked, raising the wooden sword in his hand.
Five circles drew behind Belloa's back.
The smiles vanished from both their faces in that instant.
.........Huh?
Belloa could only let out a dumbfounded sound inwardly.
The boy before her, despite being a mage holding a sword,
radiated an intimidating pressure that even made a 5th Circle mage like her shrink back.
"Eek...!"
Dante's unique intimidation. It wasn't about magic or sword.
It was the aura of human transcendence he exuded.
"No way I'll lose to you without magic!?"
Five minutes after charging in boldly.
She sat on the floor, tears welling in her eyes like a child.
"G-go eaaasy... pleaaaseee."