The bald man with a decently long beard was sat next to Rai. The Headmaster was somehow in the sparring room, but Rai had neither the care nor wonder to think about why or how he ended up there.

“A pity. You performed excellently, yet you feel like you’ve lost. Forgive me for coming across as insensitive, but I don’t understand why that is.” His voice held nothing but curiousity.

Rai’s voice weakly limped out of his mouth, since he’d been quietly sobbing the whole time. “I won... I wanted to win...” He shuddered. Then whispered, “I really wanted to fight...”

Rodrick chuckled lightly, “I see. You don’t feel like you lost, but you feel like you won too easily. So easily, in fact, that it felt like you lost.” His tone shifted slightly, “Rai. This isn’t enough of a reason for you to have broken down like this, are you sure there’s nothing else that’s been weighing you down?”

Rai’s head shuffled up and down against the ground, in a nodding motion.

Rodrick knew the boy wasn’t being truthful to his own feelings, but he wouldn't be helping Rai’s emotional development by pointing it out. Rai had to figure it out for himself. “In that case, it’s very simple. Stand up. We’re going on a trip.”

Rai slowly got to his feet. He muttered under his breath, “I don’t want to keep Sin waiting too long.”

Rodrick snapped his fingers, letting off a spark of purple energy. “Don’t worry, it won’t take longer than an hour.” A portal that looked like it lead to the Academy formed. “I hope that will be fine?”

Rai nodded.

They both stepped through.

Rai’s gloomy mood shifted slightly at the sight outside of the room they entered through the portal.

There were students in black uniforms fighting and sparring amongst themselves.

Rodrick tapped Rai on the shoulder, “This is the society for adventurer trainees. They gather after school hours every day and spar with each other. There’s tournaments and other types of competitions that are designed to improve the strength of their members. They’re officially called the adventurer’s society”

Rai simply nodded in acknowledgement of his words. He registered the information, but didn’t understand why Rodrick brought him here. He felt a gentle nudge pushing him towards the group of people, who were currently gathered listening to someone who he couldn’t quite see.

After walking out of the room, Rai's view became much brighter. He saw that it was Joey, the vice principal.

Joey was talking about how important this year was for the society, “Since this is your second and final year at Aether Academy, your growth must not plateau. Take care to push each other to grow.” He noticed Rai and Rodrick at the back of the group, unnoticed by the others as of yet. “As part of expediting your growth, the Headmaster has brought someone who will be able to help all of you.” He indicated Rai and Rodrick at the back of the training hall.

Rai was too bogged down in his own feelings to even react to the spotlight being thrown onto him. The eyes of everyone in the group turned to him and Rodrick. There were some murmurs in the group of second years, since this person alongside the Headmaster wasn’t even wearing a uniform. One student was about to raise his concerns before the Headmaster acted.

Rodrick waved at the group, “Dear second years. Your second and final year is about to become hell.” He smirked with a wicked expression in his eyes, “This is Rai. He’s a first year, and he’s about to fight all of you. One at a time.”

Silence.

Joey covered his ears.

The group of second years yelled out in an uproar. Most of them were peeved that they had to fight a first year who’d only just started at the Academy. But a small handful of them were even more mad that he had no noble family name.

Rodrick simply held his smile. Rai looked up at him with his gloomy expression, “Are you sure about this? You know I won’t lose to them, right?”

Rodrick laughed, silencing the group’s outrage. He snapped his fingers again, with a flair of purple fire. In an instant, everyone was teleported to different locations. The majority of the group were now sat in the bleachers, with Rai and one of the members of the group in the middle of the hall. They each had a selection of blunt metal weapons in front of them.

Joey yelled from beside both of them, “This is a royal rumble style spar. You’ll both continue to fight until no one from the group is left standing. The order the rest of you will enter begins from the right-most person on the bottom row, going left. Once that row has all fought, the next row up will begin from the right again, and so on. Understood?”

There were some murmurs from the group in the bleachers. A blonde elf girl whispered to her friend loudly enough for everyone to hear, “That boy, Rai or whatever, he’ll probably lose instantly, and we’ll all have a chance at the rumble!” Everyone around her agreed with her sentiment.

Joey cleared his throat to get everyone’s attention again, “The weapons in front of you have good enough mana conductivity to last the entire battle. If it needs replacing between battles, we have enough replacements to last a lifetime. Go wild.” He smirked.

Rai picked a sword that looked close to a katana, then he was attacked by a spear from a distance. He didn’t have time to react.

Rai deflected the strikes, but he couldn’t figure out how to get out from this position. The spear had length, and its user was skilfully locking him in, not allowing him to use his sword to its limit.

The spear started generating a volatile wind current around it. It meant that whenever Rai deflected, he had to bet on which direction the current was flowing, otherwise he would be pushed off balance.

Rodrick watched as Rai continued to limit himself. He listened to the students around him cheer for the second year. Only a few of them recognised that Rai was just about holding on, even without magic.

Rai’s sword started shaking in his hand. It was as if the rotational force that Rai had to counteract had left his grip strained.

Constantly pushed into a corner, Rai continued to limit himself. He'd lock his techniques away in a proverbial box. His heart grew tighter and tighter.

Rai was lost.

The onslaught of spear strikes didn’t stop. In fact, they became faster, and it was all that Rai could do to keep up with them. Some of them got past his blade, leaving shallow cuts in his sides and arms.

A whispering echo reached Rai’s ears.

“Let... Go...”

He surrendered himself to the words of the voice. A sneaking sensation of joy began welling up within him.

Rai entered Stormflow.

He immediately shifted into the Sword Dance. Rai dashed backwards out of range of the spear, then fluttered across the ground.

There were afterimages of Rai wherever he stepped, the second year combatant thought. It was impossible to know where Rai was coming from.

The second year felt a very slight gust of wind come from his right. He pivoted, stabbing his spear multiple times in that direction. There was no feedback from the spear. Thud. The second year fell to the ground. There was a crackling sound near his head as he heard Rai step near him. He felt a blunt, cold, sensation on his exposed neck.

Rai’d flown across and around the field like a butterfly. He used the stance that he believed to be the hardest to deal with if you were fighting against it with long range. Using his tricky and unpredictable movements Rai was able to fool the second year into thinking that he would come from his right.

In reality, Rai simply tricked the boy’s senses by manipulating wind through his movement. Rai went for a leg sweep instead of a blade strike. If he struck with his blade, he would leave himself open for a counterattack from the butt end of the spear. The sweep allowed him to follow up with a potential killing blow, ending the fight without putting himself in unnecessary danger.

The group of second years were silent. In fact, they’d been silent for a while, since Rai entered Stormflow.

Rai smiled a genuine smile. He’d have to thank Rodrick for the encouragement after this. Rai assumed it was Rodrick who sent the whispering echo of a message.

Joey’s voice yelled out, “Victor: Rai! Please can the next contestant make their way down to the field!” He snapped his fingers, teleporting the fallen second year combatant to the bleachers behind him, separate from the other second years.

The second years were no longer silently fuming. They had enough self-respect to want to prove themselves now. This first year came to their society and just toyed with one of their own before wiping him out. Many of them made declarations to win against Rai, not realising that they insinuated that the people who would fight before them would all lose.

Rai was ready for the onslaught he was about to face. He felt incredibly pumped up, excitement was practically pouring out of him. Rai’s realisation from this fight was that he actually loved fighting. He loved the sensation of learning, of improving, of becoming more powerful. He loved testing himself against strong fighters. Rai didn’t want to limit himself for no reason anymore. He wouldn’t hide his techniques or weapons if he didn’t have to. He would give every fight his all, and enjoy himself while doing so.

Rai let out a crackling chuckle. The second years seethed at his laugh, they thought it was an affront to their honour and pride.

Rai looked directly at all of the second years, then stabbed his sword into the ground. His voice boomed throughout the room like thunder, “Bring it on.”

Rodrick smiled.