Delta knew instantly that his opponent was no pushover as he was quickly put on the defensive by his opponent's sheer speed and power.

Dull clangs sounded as the wood clashed over and over, creating a symphony of sounds that only a swordsman could truly appreciate.

Delta had never really taken professional training with the longsword, but he had experience with weapons like it, so he could hold his own.

His opponent, however, seemed quite skilled with the weapon, waving a much larger, two-handed sword with relative ease, striking out at Delta in a smooth rhythm.

At first, Delta was completely on the back foot, losing ground slowly as he was forced into a corner, but as the fight went on, Delta improved, making up for his lack of training with his years of combat experience.

Even still, however, it wasn't enough to beat the onslaught of attacks coming at him, and every once in a while, one would slip through and bruise him.

If a professional had been watching the fight, they'd have been shocked to see what Delta had done, for not a single scratch had hit him that would be even potentially fatal, instead of grazing his arms and legs.

As the fight went on, the pair slowly manoeuvred around the arena, interrupting or even completely stopping the other fights going on and increasing the spectators slowly.

Whilst fighting, Delta realised he was outclassed in skill, so the only way to win would be to have higher stats than his opponent.

Biting his lip to focus himself, Delta slowly began to bring his Pact Energy's frequency to the level he and Major had synergised at before, focusing on minimising the damage he took until then.

He didn't plan on revealing the markings that came from the synergising, but rather to make a final, powerful attack to end the fight.

The battle raged on as the weapons clashed, again and again, striking up sparks as the fighters contested in a battle of force.

"I'll admit, you're an impressive fighter," the boy said as he traded blows, his eyes flashing around searching for openings.

"You're pretty good yourself," Delta replied. He could feel his blood pumping and his temperature rising as he fought, and the feeling made him exhilarated.

Slowly but surely, Delta and Major synergised, causing strength to slowly flood into Delta and give him the boost he needed.

Major's stat increase wasn't enough to be truly game-changing, but it was unexpected enough to give Delta a final chance.

Taking that chance, Delta blocked the sword stroke of the attacking senior and lashed out like a whip, striking the blade out towards the senior's chest in an attempt to stun him and end the fight.

But the attack never landed. Within the fragment of a second that it had taken for Delta to lash out, the senior had read the movement, sidestepping the attack and leaving Delta to run forwards due to his momentum, leaving his back exposed.

Seeing the opportunity, the senior struck out, landing the hilt of the sword forcefully onto Delta's back whilst putting a foot in front of him, knocking him to the ground.

To confirm his victory, the senior then pointed the point of the wooden sword to the back of Delta's throat, saying "I win".

A round of applause erupted from the side of the arena, and stepping into the attention of the other students, a man dressed in all black clothing with black cloth covering his eyes stepped out, clapping gently as he walked.

"An impressive fight. I applaud you both, especially you, young man."

The senior who beat Delta walked over to the man, then bowed and said, "Greetings to Sword King Caleb", responded to by the man named Caleb bowing back.

"Gilroy, welcome back. I assume you've tested the new batch of students?"

'Ah, so he's Gilroy…'

"Yes, Sword King, I have."

"Any that pique your interest?"

"This boy here, Sword King", gesturing to Delta as he spoke.

"Very good. Very good. Have the students form lines."

"Yes, Sword King."

Under the firm control of Gilroy, the students stood in lines, looking ahead at the imposing figure of their Senior.

Delta stood at the far right of the line, having just got up from his defeat.

The fight had been eye-opening to him since he had been unsure as to how useful his training as a mercenary would be in this new world.

He had spent most of his time practising the usage of rifles and handguns, being a force to be reckoned with using nearly every gun there was. He'd have to find out if there were guns in this world later on.

Delta toyed with the idea of asking Athena, but she seemed to have been slightly more distant lately.

'She's probably caught with research or something,' Delta figured.

Commanding the students with his presence, Gilroy said, "Students. Stand in lines and shut your mouths. You will not speak to unless spoken to. Understood?"

An unsynchronised assortment of yesses was said in response, so Gilroy said, "Unless the Sword King requests that you speak, you will only reply with 'Yes, Sword King' before speaking. When responding to me, you will only say 'Yes, Sir'. Is that understood?"

"Yes, Sir!" The students replied with more energy this time.

"Good. My name is Gilroy, and I am in the 4th year at this Academy, so this will likely be my final year. The Sword King asked me to tell you about the School's year group system, so listen up because I'm only saying this once. In case you didn't know, moving up a year isn't based on your age, but rather based on your achievements. For the first year, you just have to awaken and perform simple magical manipulation. You'll also need to be able to manifest your Attribute. In the 4th year, however, you'll need to graduate from the Academy first, and to do that, you must form your first Mage Core and become a 1st Level Mage."

This explained a lot for Delta, as he had seen students in their late teens around the campus, even though the academy started at 12 and should technically end at 16.

"We 4th Years are also required to help out the teaching faculty in teaching lessons, so I will be assisting Sword King in your close combat training. You will later be able to choose any weapon you'd prefer but to begin with, you will each take your swords and swing 500 times."

The students groaned hearing this.

"I will say it again. You will each take your swords and swing 500 times."

"Yes, Sir!"

Slightly fearful towards Gilroy, the students quickly and silently collected their weapons and rearranged themselves, giving themselves a little more space to swing their weapons.

Delta found this quite amusing, but remained focused on his training, standing with his feet together before stepping forwards, planting his front foot forwards and forcefully bringing the weapon downwards.

After continuing to do this for about 30 repetitions, Delta suddenly heard a voice behind him. It took every bit of willpower he had to not strike out in reflex, choosing to stay still instead.

"Your form is alright, boy, but it's stiff and rigid. If you truly wish to follow the path of the sword, you must be fluid like water. Move only what is necessary. Unneeded movements will only hinder you."

"May I see an example, Sword King?" Delta asked.

Silently, the Sword King moved in front of Delta, moving so quietly Delta couldn't hear even the slightest peep from him.

Standing calmly, the Sword King stood with his sword out in front of him, seeming entirely one with the elements around him as he slashed down incredibly quickly, leaving a large vertical slash in the ground.

Delta was impressed, but his memory seemed to have flicked back to the dream he had had, where the old man back on Earth had swung with a scythe. Comparing the two scenes in his head, Delta realised there was an incredible difference between the two strikes. The Sword King seemed to be one with the elements, but the old man had seemed to exceed them entirely as if his strikes were a decree of fate, something beyond mortal reach.

There was clearly a fundamental difference between the two of them, and Delta decided to make it his own goal to figure out what that was. To do that, however, he'd have to find the old man, and the best place to start would be finding Athena.

Putting his mind back to his training, Delta continued to swing the rest of the 500 swings, but in his head, he kept replaying the moment he had seen in that dream. The refined skill of the slash. The speed and focus of the attack, and the pure domineering force behind it.

About an hour later, many of the students had finished their sword strokes. A few had dropped out after falling exhausted, and a few had simply fainted. After all, the weapons offered were quite heavy, and swinging them even once required quite a lot of energy from the stronger students, let alone someone who had been slacking off on their physical training.

"Oh? This is more than I expected. It appears this year is slightly better than I had initially thought," the Sword King said, and for the first time in the lesson, he grinned.

'This is going to be interesting.'