Arima formed a dimensional link and brought Arister inside. They picked a plain area to practice their abilities.

 

"This is what you did last time at the academy, huh?" Arister commented after looking around.

 

"Yep," Arima nodded. "So? What is your inheritance?"

 

"[Reside in my Soul and Body, Ares]," Arister chanted and a light pillar fell on him from the sky, completely shrouding his figure. Lanya, with Night in her embrace, quietly retreated while Arima observed with a casual smile on his face.

 

"Ares, one of the twelve Olympians. Son of Zeus, and Athena's brother. Overwhelming, insatiable, destructive, and man-slaughtering. That's how he was described in most occasions. The embodiment of war," he narrated what he remembered about Greek mythology.

 

When the pillar of energy burst apart and vanished, Arister emerged in full body armor exhibiting the colors of red and gold. He had a spear with a red blade, and large round shield, planted on the ground near his feet.

 

Arima smiled at the sight. "A spartan armor," he commented and summoned Karma. "Hey, Arister, you wanted to learn from me, right?"

 

Karma glowed and its form slowly changed. The handle became longer and the blade shorter. Ultimately, Arima ended up with a spear similar to Arister’s in his hands.

 

He popped his neck a bit and wielded Karma like a whirlwind before taking a stance. He waved his fingers at Arister. "Come."

 

Arister grabbed the spear and the shield next to him. "Fine by me…" He paused and took a stance too. He smirked under his helmet. "Teacher." He kicked the ground and charged at Arima. He waved his spear at him in the same motion.

 

Arima made his spear spin and met Arister's blade. That simple clash resulted in the destruction of the entire meadow around them although they were just fighting with their physical strength.

 

Night looked at the fight blankly. "A pair of battle junkies."

 

"Um…" Lanya tilted her head. "Is it okay for me to be here?"

 

Night shook his head. "Don't worry, those two are only using their weapons. Not an ounce of mana or magic. You won't be affected. But we should still take our distance. Even if they're only fighting with their physical strength, this place won't be saved from destruction."

 

Lanya smiled wryly and nodded. She immediately teleported away. Meanwhile, Arima and Arister were displaying a marvelous mastery of the spear, cutting off every verdure they passed by and deforesting if they stumbled upon a small forest.

 

Arister's style was mostly about blocking strikes with the shield and piercing with his spear while Arima's style was very unorthodox, and maybe a bit flashy. He often whirled his spear, not to show off, but to quickly place the blade of the spear where he wanted it to be. He also used the shaft a lot to deviate strikes coming at him.

 

Using this kind of style was extremely dangerous because a single error would lead to the loss of the weapon. It’s also true that unless the weapon you use is resistant enough, it’s useless to even try.

 

So, it could be considered ill-advised. But to Arima, it was the best style. Since a long time ago, he had always been a 'trickster'. He never really learned any proper martial art except kendo. He wasn't the kind to gently learn under someone else in the first place.

 

Instead, when he took a weapon in hand, he always trained alone. He simply learned how to use the weapon. With time, he created his own style. Always working with any blade possible.

 

When he holds a weapon, he doesn't need rules dictating how he should swing it. He just moves in a way that is the most logical and comfortable for him. Combined with his inhuman reaction speed, he's almost unconquerable in close combat.

 

At some point in the fight, Arima perpendicularly planted the spear on the ground and crouched at the same time. Arister's spear thrust hit the shaft of Karma and the latter was dug out because of the force.

 

Arister’s eyes widened. He had just helped Arima to place Karma in a very threatening way. The spear was pointing at him while in mid-air.

 

Arima kicked the ground and grabbed it while dodging Arister's shield. He drove Karma with a simple piercing motion this time and brought the blade to Arister's neck, just below his helmet.

 

At that instant, the shock waves finally caught back with the two fighters’ speed and the dust around them was dispersed. Arister dropped his weapons and raised his hands. "It's my loss…"

 

Arima smiled and shouldered Karma. "Your armor, shield, and spear… they’re fascinating. Your weapons are something comparable to a soul weapon. But your armor is truly the most interesting thing. Most likely, even with Karma, I wouldn’t be able to cut through it easily. It feels like it’s fused with your skin, no, with your flesh."

 

Arister opened his helmet's visor and smiled. His eyes had turned golden and his hair was now red. But the thing to look at was his skin that had changed color and was now ash gray.

 

"You're correct. Ares's inheritance transforms my body into a weapon. In this form, I can keep fighting without rest required whatsoever. It also boosts my regeneration."

 

"That's a useful constitution. But you don't make enough use out of it. Also, your spear technique is too orthodox. Perhaps you directly received it from Ares but it has too many flaws because you're not used to it, and also because it doesn't suit you."

 

"Yeah, I know that. But to be honest, Ares's spear technique is the strongest I've ever seen," Arister shrugged. "And although it isn't as flexible as yours, it's still as strong"

 

Arima smiled and gripped Karma before wielding it again. "Fine. Show me that technique as much as you can. I will tell you what is wrong and try to adjust it for you."

 

Arister grabbed his shield and spear. "My pleasure."

 

The two of them rushed at each other and started again.

 

***

 

"Lanya, your main magic is light, right?" At some other place, Night asked in his dragon form.

 

"Yes," Lanya nodded and invoked her rapier.

 

"Then you should have gained some insights thanks to Arima," Night affirmed and suppressed his aura to the tenth level before releasing it. "Show it to me."

 

Lanya gripped her rapier. "[Bless my Soul with your Scales, Chronepsis]," she chanted and a silver light enveloped her. When it subsided, Lanya appeared with silvery scales on her arms and neck, a pair of wings on her back, and a tail on her lower body. She kicked the ground and thrust her rapier to strike Night.

 

He met that strike with a great sword he created. The blade was the same as Karma, but it was just a copy of the latter made from Arima's and Night's connected soul.

 

When Lanya's rapier clashed with it, a blinding light instantly burst. Even Night was surprised by that, although he had told her to use her magic, he wasn't expecting that in the first attack.

 

She didn't stop there. Each time their weapons touched each other, a light would erupt and perturb Night’s senses. Of course, he was only a bit annoyed and it wasn't enough to shock or confuse him.

 

The scene of a silver-haired girl fighting in close combat against an ebony dragon lasted for a few bouts. Night smirked. "Let's start for real now," he declared and his body was ignited in dark flames.

 

Those flames spread until the fake Karma he was holding and pushed back the rapier. Lanya smiled and a bright aura exploded around her. Spheres of light formed above her and started shooting at Night with lasers.

 

She also started conjuring rays of light that assaulted Night every time she struck with her rapier. After that, it turned into an orthodox fight of swords and magic. Fire and light were flashing everywhere, burning and demolishing the landscape.

 

Night seemed to be enjoying the fight and Lanya had a serious expression all along. The dragon grinned and waved his weapon in a strong motion. Lanya couldn't take it head-on and had to retreat. At that moment, Night raised his palm toward the sky.

 

"[Adolebitque visus est omne in cinere] (Burn everything in my sight to ashes)," he chanted and a huge fireball formed above him.

 

Lanya changed the grip on her rapier and started using it as a sort of brush to write on thin air.

 

"[Gather and vaporize everything under your brilliance]," she chanted and a large sphere of light was formed at the tip of her sword.

 

"[Fifth Blue Art, Inferno] (Hell)," Night chanted and threw the fireball at Lanya.

 

"[Enduring Grace]," Lanya followed and the light at the tip of her blade was propelled toward the fire as a white beam.

 

When the two magics collided, an explosion instantaneously ravaged the surroundings. The first shock wave crushed the ground for miles. The fire and light brought afterward dug out the earth and carved a crater.

 

But in the end, the fire ultimately won against the light and the last shock wave was sent back to Lanya in its fullest. She grunted and jumped back whilst flapping her wings.

 

She landed and fissured the ground as she went against the momentum. "…Why?" She raised her voice when she recovered her balance. "The magics we sent were of the same magnitude. Why did I lose so violently?" She asked, her current expression was a lot fiercer and colder than usual.

 

Night smiled wryly. "'Fifth Blue Art'. That's the magic I used."

 

Lanya scowled. "What is it?"

 

"The Kind Demon's Arts. Arima is currently in the process of creating twenty-five arts separated into five categories; blue arts, red arts, white arts, black arts, and destruction arts. This is one of the theories he invented; a set of magics. Since they were imagined in a really precise way and are bound by specific rules and chants, they are more powerful than most magics of the same magnitude.”

 

“Each magic is basically a very intricate equation that can be used by anyone as long as they can understand it. They even have peculiar quirks and boundless potential of growth," Night explained. “This is actually one of the reasons he accepted to be a teacher here. He needed some time to make it.”

 

"The Kind Demon's Arts?" Lanya quoted and almost burst out laughing. "Did Arima really call it like that?"

 

Night snickered. "Of course, I forced him a bit. But he accepted in the end. Though he said that he agreed only because it was a good idea for the magic theory."

 

"Each category has five magics going from the fifth art to the first art. Of course, it's stronger as you go up. What I will teach you today are the fifth arts of each category. I think it's a good place to start. The other advantage of that set is that the requirements of element affinities are not really important."

 

Night smirked. "I will teach them to you while we fight. Bring it on, you improved greatly since the first time I sparred with you, we have to continue on that way."

 

Lanya inhaled and assembled light around her. Her rapier shined and her body blurred as she reappeared right in front of Night. Her eyes flashed as she swung her weapon.

 

***

 

A few hours later, Arima and Arister's spar was meeting its end.

 

When the two of them were around fifty meters apart from each other, Arima took a throwing stance and hurled Karma like a javelin.

 

Arister used his shield to block the thrown spear but the unseen impetus behind it surprised him and he was pushed back by around ten steps.

 

When he moved his shield that was obstructing his view, his eyes narrowed and locked onto Arima who was already just next to him.

 

"[Terminus Confractus, C] (Limit Break, 100)."

 

Before he could react, Arima rotated and kicked him in the liver area. That single kick was so heavy that Arister coughed some blood before turning into a human cannonball.

 

When he crashed on the ground and created a new cavity, Arima caught Karma falling from the sky without looking and pointed it at him.

 

Arister slightly lifted his head while lying on the ground, then completely relaxed his body while groaning. "Okay, it's my complete loss…" He muttered and his armor and weapons dematerialized.

 

Arima smiled and gave him a hand to stand up. "That was your last lesson. If you see an occasion, you can discard your weapon temporarily and use your body instead."

 

Arister chuckled and stretched his sore limbs. "Sure, teacher," he sarcastically replied.

 

"Well, let's leave now. I’m sleepy," Arima nonchalantly said and teleported away with Arister following behind.