Three days were left until Yaku sparred with Sunder to show his improvement. He was practicing his swordplay at the training grounds. The wooden sword was getting worn out from how much Yaku was training.
Hitting the wooden practice dolls that always regenerated, he struck the neck, then dropped to his knees, slashing the bottom of the wooden doll. Immediately, he pushed himself to the side with his foot, springing back on his feet and assuming a defensive pose.
Sunder was watching from his window and decided to go down to talk a little with Yaku. That day was the weekend, and most students had gone out of the academy to roam around, so the academy was practically empty.
As Yaku was hitting the wooden doll, he noticed Sunder standing to the side, watching him. He stopped immediately and walked toward him. His forehead was dripping with sweat, his biceps and shoulders pumped up from all the sword swinging.
They stood facing each other, as if their mana was colliding, but it was clear that Sunder's presence was leagues above Yaku's. It was like a shallow puddle next to a river.
Yaku grew nervous.
"Is this what I'm gonna fight in three days…?" he thought to himself in worry.
"I see that you're training your swordsmanship, but will that help you against me? Shouldn't you focus on your mana as much as possible?" Sunder asked.
"I need a break from mana training. Also, I need my body as nimble as possible for our fight, haha," Yaku responded.
Sunder smiled, then turned around. His cape flew to the side, following his sudden movement, and he started walking back.
"Uh, Mr. Sunder, just one question. Why are you the only teacher here, and why are there fewer than twenty students in this academy?" Yaku asked.
He stopped walking and answered:
"Doth the Executioner sends anyone with big talent to the Grand Archives, out of fear of being challenged and dethroned. He is only required to keep one teacher in this academy, and that's me."
He continued walking after answering, leaving Yaku in a world of thought.
As Yaku continued his sword training, he kept thinking about Doth. He thought about Crill the slave, and everyone in the outer circle of the city. He thought that this injustice needed to end one day. His frustration carried into his swings, giving them weight.
Then a beautiful, warm smile appeared in his head—it was Emilia. When he thought of her, his swings changed style. They became softer and smoother, flowing like water.
"I really want to see her. That's the first thing I'll do after my spar. I want to see her smile again…" Yaku thought to himself as he continued training.
One day before the spar, Yaku was browsing the books of the library, looking for any spells that could help his reinforcement magic. He needed something he could learn fast, just like the acceleration spell he had learned.
It was hard finding anything useful—maybe because reinforcement magic wasn't popular among mages, or maybe because Doth had gotten rid of any advanced books. Yaku kept looking and eventually found a basic manual about reinforcement magic.
As he started reading, he realized the way he did it was completely different. It was his own style, different from normal theory. One of the tips he found in the book was to only reinforce the outer blade of the sword or the surface of hammer-type weapons.
This technique conserved mana but required high levels of mana control, which luckily Yaku possessed.
"I've definitely done something similar to what this book is saying… but not to this degree of accuracy," he thought.
The day of the fight.
They both stood ten meters apart, while all eighteen students surrounded them, waiting eagerly to see what would happen. Geo and Narbo stood next to each other, betting on how long Yaku would last. Narbo bet four minutes maximum, while Geo gave a more conservative two minutes.
Teacher Sunder, who was wearing a hood over his face, unhooded himself, showing seriousness and tension. Yaku gulped as sweat rolled down his face. He couldn't even blink, waiting for Sunder's first move. He held tightly onto a sword he had borrowed from the academy, ready for any small movement.
Sunder stomped his foot on the floor, immediately summoning a water pillar from under Yaku's feet. Yaku reacted instantly, using his reinforcement magic on his legs to dodge.
As he jumped back a couple of meters, more water pillars spawned beneath him, almost making him lose balance. He recovered quickly and decided it was time to attack. He sprinted as fast as he could, dodging pillars as he closed the distance.
Reaching slashing distance, he shifted his reinforcement to his sword, preparing to accelerate his mana as soon as it collided with Sunder. Their eyes met. For Yaku, the split second it took to cast those spells felt like an eternity.
Then, Sunder formed his mouth into a circle and blew what looked like a bubble. It engulfed Yaku and his sword immediately, dropping him to the ground right at Sunder's feet.
The bubble was no ordinary bubble. It was heavy and slimy, completely immobilizing him, as if a thousand pounds were pressing on his back.
The water mage of Bagio pointed at Yaku with his finger. A small water bullet formed at the fingertip, spinning so fast it created a vacuum around it.
Yaku barely lifted his head, staring at that pointed finger. He knew if he didn't act now, he'd be badly hurt. Sunder fired—
but Yaku disappeared, dodging at the last second.
He reinforced both his arms and legs, accelerating his mana the moment he pushed off the ground, making him leap high into the air.
Sunder looked left and right but couldn't locate him. Then, he realized. Looking up, he saw Yaku spinning extremely fast in the air, turning himself into a human saw with his reinforced sword.
The spinning human saw came down at incredible speed, landing an attack that sent dust flying everywhere.
The students tried to see through the dust. Did he actually land a hit on Sunder?
As the dust cleared, it was revealed that Sunder had tanked the attack with a slimy-looking shield, absorbing the entire impact.
Sunder immediately threw Yaku aside, his sword stuck in the slime shield. Yaku rolled, trying to stabilize himself, and managed to dig his sword into the ground to stop his inertia.
He stood five meters to Sunder's left, breathing heavily, while Sunder remained completely calm—like a still lake.
"Is this all you managed to achieve? I thought you had talent. Looks like I was mistaken," Sunder said in disappointment.
Yaku gritted his teeth, pulled his sword free, and immediately vanished from Sunder's sight.
Sunder looked around and up, but in that split second, Yaku appeared behind him, slashing without reinforcing his weapon.
At that point, Yaku was using one hundred percent of his mana to reinforce his speed. On top of that, he accelerated by an extra thirty percent every time he stepped on the ground.
Sunder kept trying to block, but Yaku disappeared and reappeared from all directions, making him dizzy and confused. Every time he raised his slime shield, Yaku struck from another angle.
Sunder grew increasingly angry, pushed onto the back foot.
"ENOUGH!" Sunder shouted, widening his eyes and spreading his arms wide.
"WATER PUSH!"
Mana erupted from every part of his body, blasting everything back twenty meters in a dome-shaped shockwave. Yaku was slammed into a wall, cracking it. The push even knocked down the students watching.
Yaku leaned on his sword just to stand up. His whole body was in pain, but he wasn't ready to give up—until a massive explosion echoed from the city outside the academy.
Everyone looked startled, even Sunder.
Yaku felt something was wrong.
"Emilia…" he whispered in worry.
"S… sorry, teacher, I think this is important. I have to go see what happened," he said, then started running toward the explosion.
Almost mana-depleted and injured, Yaku went head-on. Geo and Narbo immediately followed behind him, fearing he would do something stupid.