*Twirl* *Swing* *Thrust*

The woman with her spear began swinging her spear about as a demonstration of her technique, the two guys who were watching her didn’t say anything and waited for her to finish, all of them with varied length spears.

“[Pillar of miracle… Burn brightly]!” The scrawny mage chanted as

*Sizz*

A pillar of fire is erected, is not exactly the most complicated of spells so I don’t see the need for such a long chant, then again maybe not all of them are as confident of their ability without the chant, or maybe they just don’t know that they aren’t as mandatory as it might seem? Regardless at least he was putting on a show.

*Swing* Block* *Swing* *Block* *Spin* *Block* *Kick* *Punch*

The one in a samurai grab was actively training the two who chose her to be her pupils. Sparring with Kioshi, easily blocking every blow with clear analysis of her opponent’s movement and moving in to block them, not countering most of them to not completely punish Kioshi’s attempt at taking an offensive approach. He’s ultimately kicked and punched in after trying to change to a kick. Despite looking like a very precise and powerful attack it’s easy to tell that the counterattack was strangely sluggish, it’s intentional and to make sure the power gap between them doesn’t cause an accident when coming in contact.

“Ugh…” Kioshi groaned in pain as he slowly backed off after taking two clean hits from someone way stronger than her.

“Jeez, how am I supposed to get on that level?” Sarah muttered seeing the match before her. I honestly feels like I could keep up with her at least, there’s something telling me she’s at least on the same level as the Hero, and I don’t see myself on the same level of physical output at least, but if it comes to just analyzing her and able to read her movements I should be able to do so… but why is that the case? I don’t really know.

“You’ll get it eventually… maybe in like hundred of years” I sarcastically commented as I walked over to them.

“Oh? Is there something you need? As far as I know there’s no need for you to be here, at least nothing is required at the moment” The raven haired woman asked, noticing me walking here.

“Well I do believe observing these guys to make sure everyone is fine is very important. They’re otherworlders after all, no way they wouldn’t be at least slightly discomfort, I want to make sure they’re fine and all that, then maybe I can go elsewhere” I answered the weirdly dismissive question.

“I see. Well there’s nothing wrong with that so carry on” She said as now she’s eying on the girl who is standing along with us. Sarah takes notice of the stare and looks back.

“W-What is it?” She asked slightly nervously with a practice sword by her side.

“Well I did just spar with this guy here, but not with you just yet so…” She explained a bit playfully trailing off at the end, perhaps I should back off and give them some space.

…I walked to a rather isolated area of the training ground and noticed the teacher. Rubbing his chin and observing the training that ensues

“Hmm…” He let out a sound of thought.

“What is it?” I asked, feeling a bit curious at the subject of the man’s glare, the ponytail woman who seemed a bit out of place. I don’t think even the otherworlders are blind enough to the aesthetic she was putting on, perhaps they’re not willing to speak out what could possibly be an escalating topic. I don’t want to bring it up as well, at least not now.

“It’s nothing, it’s just that that woman is… there’s something about her that bothered me slightly” He answered sounding a bit hesitant. Something bothersome from someone like her? Who could’ve guessed it?

“Like what exactly?” I asked, feeling a bit curious.

“She was actually here not too long ago, she was training a group of students back then and was noted to be rather… nightmarish” He answered, it doesn’t seem like he’s lying but that makes the whole thing rather curious if it’s true.

“Really? She doesn’t act that way at all here is she?” I commented looking at him slightly dubiously.

“That’s one thing that is bothering me somewhat, it’s rather strange how her behavior changes. Of course what I told you I have simply been hearing, I can’t be certain with the word of mouth” He replied. That is rather strange, but I’d rather not bother her over something I don’t even take part in.

“I see… well whatever I guess, I’m just going to go elsewhere now” I walked away saying so.

Now I have been observing for a while and so far nothing in particular has happened, so I could just go and leave right now… Should I go right now and wait here a bit more? Maybe I should talk to that woman again.

*Parry* *Parry* *Block*

Sarah’s attacks have no effect at all as the woman blocked it and parried it with zero effort.

*Swing* *Evade*

The woman swings at Sarah in a very predictable manner, which allows Sarah to avoid it.

“Haaah!” Sarah hyped herself up with a good yell.

*Swing* *Block*

That doesn’t make it any better and she got blocked again, pushing back by her own momentum and staggered back.

“Try a bit better than that” The woman said as she held her training sword nonchalantly swinging it around seeing Sarah backing off.

“Tch!” Sarah clicked her tongue.

*Dash* *Swing* *Block* *Block*

She continued to swing her sword at the woman, who blocked it with no issue whatsoever despite Sarah putting a great deal of effort in her swings.

*Spin*

She spun her body to attack the woman’s side and-

*Block*

Got easily blocked as well. Not once has she got in a clean hit. It’s as if she’s going against a wall that cannot be surpassed, something human beings can’t just brute force through, even with more than just brute force there isn’t much she can do, it’ll be hard to go against someone who is both stronger and more skilled than you in every way.

*Swing* *Crack*

…

Just a swing from a practice sword causes the earth to rupture, the ground of this place that gets in the way almost cracked in two from the power geyser made.

*Clank*

Some saw this and their jaw dropped, some also dropped their weapon as well.

*Crack*

“Isn’t that a bit excessive for an attack?” I snarked at the attack, the sword cracked and broke into pieces. Yeah the training sword, a sword meant to be extremely durable yet dull to be able to be used for many rounds of battle and practice, just basically breaks into so many shards on the ground.

“Perhaps, but considering the Demon Lord most likely can do something like this more than a few times over, if they caved from just one of them it would be impossible for them to even go against her. I mean at least a performance of a possible feat of the Demon Lord should be presented is it not?” She explained herself, a bit of a stretch of an explanation honestly but I’m not too hung up over that.

“I see. A bit strange of a way to do so, but whatever, you all heard that right? That’s the least you all have to go against” I chuckled lightly at first and turned to look at the otherworlders looking at the commotion, by the way Sarah has already fallen down from being overwhelmed by the sheer might presented before her.

“You yourself sure isn’t phased at all, then again you go against the real deal and survive so that much is expected” She added. 

“Yeah, this kind of feat isn’t normal where I came from by any means, but it sure as hell isn’t the first I have seen” I replied dismissively.

“Rather experienced aren’t you?” She said with a slight smirk, she sure has been trying to inquire about me for a while since she got here, with little I’ve seen of her outside of this is when we first came here and she is… yeah she was with the Hero, her companion and all that. Still the fact that the companion of the person is also acting slightly suspicious… In fact it’s crystal clear to me this person has a hard to understand motive that I’m not sure if I can tolerate or not, how harmful would her actions be? And who is she really?

[Appraisal]

...

<Appraisal Blocked>

 

This again… There’s definitely more to this than just two sides fighting, and those painted as the heroes might not even be so, how troubling, at least there’s no inner fighting just yet, might’ve gotten everyone in harm’s way if that ended up happening.

“You’re looking at me a bit oppressively there chief” She commented slightly jokingly meeting my gaze. So she noticed that huh.

“Apologies, guess I feel like you’re being a bit proactive there” I replied, perhaps using a bit of provoking wording.

“Ah… Well sorry for trying out a new approach, was I perhaps not doing something according to your taste?” She snarked back.

“It was far from the most distasteful but perhaps it was a bit too sudden of a change of approach” I retorted.

“Oh? There wasn’t really any established approach in the first place anyway” She retorted back.

“That’s your fault, you’re the one organizing this whole thing in the first place, where is the professionalism that existed to train them well?” I retorted back.

…

We just stared at each other not moving at all. 

…

“Umm… what’s with this cat fight?” Sarah suddenly interjected which breaks the silence, and what a way to describe it.

““This is no cat fight”” Strangely both of us replied so calmly.

“Sure… Can you two please stop so we can continue?” Sarah asked, being very sensible here.

“Why not? Just a small pet peeve anyway” I said taking the initiative, which actually made the samurai looking woman taken aback somewhat and slightly irritated.

“Fine fine. Let’s all do something more productive than arguing around” She said condescendingly. Now she’s just provoking me.

“Please stop” Mitsuka walked toward us talking and arguing, sounding so tired of whatever we just talked about.

“Wouldn’t this be bad for you, the outsider?” The archer woman asked, walking over as well. I mean I think this is just a petty squabble at most.

“Eh, it’s just a small argument” The one I was squabbling with said so. She is somewhat of an important figure now that I think about it, I just thought that she probably wouldn’t abuse her status or whatever for a small squabble that doesn’t really contribute to anything.

“Yeah, I mean would you go complain or something? We’re not that petty” I added as well.

“Weren’t you two arguing just now? Whatever, we’ll proceed as usual then” The archer woman muttered then went back to her station.

“And can we continue here as well?” Sarah asked, looking slightly impatient and nervous.

“Well I’ll be going since it’s not like… Wait actually, I don’t even know who you actually are. What’s your name and all that. I’m Reiza… yeah” I almost forgot why I even came here in the first place.

“Oh right, I haven’t introduced myself at all, others for that matter. I’m Maova” She casually introduced herself. What an odd name. In fact it is strangely specific and very coincidental. Ma-o. Maou. Demon Lord. The first part of the name means Demon Lord in Japanese. Kioshi even reacted mildly to her name.

“Hey… you know how otherworlders have their own language right?” I said trying not to gather attention from other people, using my gaze to shoo away Kioshi and Sarah, who quietly replied.

“Yeah? What are you getting at?” She sounds a bit concerned and nervous but it’s clear she’s aware of it.

“Ma-o… Meaning Demon Lord in one of the languages I’m aware of from there. How odd” I said so ominously. She slowly backed away, hearing looking like she’s about to swear from being so nervous.

“What a strange… fact I have encountered today… please don’t say so to anybody else, I really don’t want to be associated with one who is meant to be my enemy” She replied sounding much very concerned at how unfortunate her name is. It is a genuine concern she’s putting up but… I don’t feel like it’s simply because her name has that unfortunate meaning she doesn’t want others to find out specifically. What could that have been?

Her eyes shift from that of a concerned fellow to that of a rather interrogative person, as if reading my thoughts.

“Oi, you’re not thinking I’m hiding any ill intention just because of my name do you? In fact it feels like you’ve been trying to dig stuff up regardless of how necessary it is” She asked, deflecting hard at me. Her glare is very much as if to look into my soul, it’s slightly uncomfortable to be honest, it’s rather frightening even. It was as if her eyes had turned blood crimson and used the eyes of evil beings to curse me. It doesn’t actually happen but it certainly feels like something of that level happened, true ancestor’s eyes also turn blood crimson when using their signature ability, so eyes shifting color along with a powerful ‘spell’ being cast could actually happen, but it really doesn’t… then again it’s nearly impossible for a vampire to be distinguished from humans or other humanoids, so I wouldn’t be surprised if the person before me might actually be a true ancestor, maybe if I saw her fangs and slightly pointed ears I could ascertain if that’s the case, but I’m just mentally rambling at this point, I think I need to retort before anything else.

“Perhaps, this is a different world altogether, I am admittedly a little paranoid, after all who knows what could be lurking ready to take you out for being an outsider, say someone with ill intent, or a being similar to human who is infiltrating a place where the otherworlders gathered” The second part of my response almost cause a strong reaction in her but she keeps her lips sealed. I hit a bullseye it seems, the fact that she is conscious of the system and therefore can block me out, purposefully blocking me out, means that she’s somewhat aware that her actual race might be exposed by otherworlders, and why she’s here in the first place.

Still if she truly meant any harm she would’ve been a lot more brutal, just like that teacher said regarding her past behavior. Something just doesn’t add up, her behavior isn’t really suspicious on its own nor is her tone of voice, it’s only when things outside of that like the system or the strange feeling I’ve been had about her every time I saw her that I’ve gotten suspicious at all, her incredible power notwithstanding.

“Yeah… That does make sense. Sorry for what I said back then” She replied with a small hint of disingenuousness in her reply. She knows full well she can’t really retort against that even if she’s correct, I did try to dig a bit more than needed, I am a bit of a free spirit finding out new things and breaching places after all, but she really can’t call me out as I would try to expose her, or at least that’s probably how she imagined it’ll go, if at least things escalating and perhaps would involved other people. Just what is truly the deal with her? Still not enough clue to figure out.

“Regardless of your motive or mine, let us not cross paths” I said to her which seems to intimidate her slightly, if not enough for her to panic.

“Same here. We all have our own reasons after all” She calmly replied then looking at the two who were shooed. Kioshi and Sarah who both noticed the look and walked over.

“So are you two done?” Kioshi asked just to be certain.

“Yeah, we solved our differences, let’s go back to our training shall we?” She replied casually with a clear sense of friendliness. That’s the one thing that makes her action all the more hard to figure out, but I think it should only be tackled when I eventually have to cross it. Now would be a good time to go elsewhere, to do my own thing and have my little story.

“Exactly, I have something else to do as well, see you all later” I said while waving them goodbye, walking out of the training ground and out of this academy.

 

#####

 

“Haaah…” I let out a deep sigh as I walked out of the academy and onto the long road at hand, it would certainly take a long time to walk from here to the guild building if I were to simply walk along the road laid before me, but I’m not about to do something so simple.

*Dash*

I’ll just run through the empty roads at extremely high speed.

…There’s no carriage or any other people in sight so I could continue to run along for now…

…

There’s some buildings now.

*Leap* *Land*

I jumped a great height and distance to the roof of one of the buildings, so far this isn’t near the center of the capital city just yet, but a few good jumps should probably do it.

*Leap* *Leap* *Leap*

So far it doesn’t seem like anybody would see it, not a lot of normal people would usually look at anywhere far from their eye level, which I’m far above. 

*Leap* *Leap*

Where I am right now is a little bit crowded, it’s near the center if that’s the case.

*Leap* *Leap* 

A few more high distance jumping continues.

*Leap* *Leap*

Now I’m at the edge of the city square, I should be able to drop down in an alley unnoticed.

*Land* 

Like so, now time to-

“Whoa, look at this nice bitch falling out of heaven to play with us… Oh-”

*Slice* 

I cut them all down with no hesitation, I was having a moment and these thugs ruined it, in fact I’ll just ruin all of them if that’s the case. The world would be better off without them.

“W-What are you!?” One of them demanded, panicking and painting his own pants. This is just unsightly and gross, even as a slave no one would dare to use them.

“[Absolute… Freeze Zone]” I said as coldly as the alleyway will be in the next moment.

*Freeze*

Everything freezed, the men who dared to approach me all were now nothing but ice statues.

*Swing* *Crack*

I swung my fist at one of them and caused it to shatter. 

*Kick* *Crack*

I kicked at another and shattered it as well. These are the worst of all humans and I’m doing everyone a favor here. I’ll make sure they’re nothing but shards.

 

#####

 

Okay, I got that out of my systems, I think a few people saw that to be honest but I couldn’t be completely certain. Let’s just go to the guild building and meet up with the attractive one.

 

#####

 

I walked into the guild building, rather full of commotion just like yesterday, with one person in particular sitting down at a table all alone. Her minty hair reflected the light of the building and her eyes solemn yet still serene.

“Floria. I’m here” I said to her with a smile walking over to her. She noticed my greeting and seemed a bit taken back.

“Yes, I’m glad you are… here” She replied, sounding a bit shy, regardless I’m glad she’s so welcome of me. 

“Thanks, let’s all bond here and be together shall we? I’ll make sure to train you well and help you with your problem” I said sitting down next to her. With a reassuring smile to her which softened her expression slightly, but only slightly for now. There probably won’t be much going on with us just sticking together for now, but I’ll make sure it’s at least some good for her moving forward.