Dignitas was surprised. A contract to join Ad Mortem. 

"I underestimated the major guilds' information-obtaining prowess. While the reward ceremony was streamed live on television, I'm pretty sure none of my party members attended it." Dignitas cursed in his head.

There were of course a multitude of pros and cons that would come up from joining Ad Mortem.

For one, it meant he would be associated with one of the top major powers in the world. 

In doing so, he would surely be able to have a smooth road towards getting stronger. Curie's guild was known for being particularly good at training its members. 

This was just one of the benefits. Just from this alone, most students would feel ecstatic at the prospect of being able to join a guild. Especially one as well known as Ad Mortem. 

But what most cadets didn't know was how much the cons outweighed the pros. 

Being associated with a guild meant you would be working for them. And while that sounded normal on paper, it really wasn't. 

You would be forced to join expeditions, maybe even participate in guild wars. 

Worse of all, your entire life would be in the hands of the guild. At any given moment, they could sever the threads connecting you to them. If they deemed you unfit for the organization, they could pull a "Kruos" on you. 

Meaning, they'd send assassins after you. 

"I was told that they were willing to pay higher than the expected rate for your skills." Curie added, probably trying to convince him. 

Unfortunately for her, Dignitas never even thought of joining a guild once. 

In regards to organizations, he had other plans in mind. 

"I appreciate the offer, but I'm not really looking to join a guild at the moment." Dignitas gave his answer. 

"I… see. Even so, I'd still like to give you my thanks for saving John." 

"Hmm. I didn't think she'd relent that easily. Her father probably put her up to this." He thought.

Dignitas knew Curie's character. She was not the type of person to force people to do things, unlike her father. 

Nodding in response, Curie then sent a look towards John. 

Managing to catch sight of it, he too nodded with a smile. Then, he dug his hand into his hoodie's back pocket. 

John then pulled his hand out to reveal a small black card. The front of the card had the words "V.I.P" written in cursive. He handed it to Dignitas.

"This is a V.I.P card. If you ever come across any of our stores in the district, you can show them this, and it'll allow you to access the part of the stores we only show to our most esteemed guests. And as an extra, I… already notified all our branches to give you a special discount on any of our products you buy."

"Wow… this is honestly too much." Dignitas stared at the beautiful card in his hands. 

"It's the least I can do." Curie replied. 

Dignitas knew of the wealth the Mortem family held, but to think they'd just hand out something this important to him. 

And while he would've liked the items to be free, he wasn't one to ignore the massive help Curie had bestowed to him just from giving the card.

"Your food, esteemed customers."

Just as Dignitas was about to thank her again, he was stopped by the voice of a waiter. 

Turns out Curie had already ordered their food while they were talking. 

But he still wasn't prepared to see the sight of so much food. Tens of different types of dishes had been laid out on the table, from simple grilled skewers to even the unfertilized egg of a Lochjeal, an A rank monster that lived in the ocean. 

"Huh. Looks like I'll be getting back home with a full stomach." Dignitas remarked as he gazed upon the various foods. 

"Please, eat. It's my treat." Curie assured. 

***

"Goddamn, that was one hell of a dinner. I don't think I'll be eating like that again anytime soon."

Dignitas sat down on his bed. He had just recently returned from the restaurant after saying goodbye to Curie and John. 

Well, it wasn't the last time he'd be seeing John today, anyway. They still had a duel scheduled later on. 

John had already messaged Dignitas to go on ahead; he would be taking Curie back home first. 

And as such, Dignitas found it suitable to rest for a bit to let his stomach digest all the food he had eaten. 

"A few practice swings should help to get the process going. Time to head to the training hall."

Once he was adequately rested, Dignitas made his way to his personal training hall, which could be accessed via a portal that was always active in one of his dorm rooms. 

Walking through the portal, Dignitas was greeted by the shine of bright lights assaulting his eyes. 

The entire room, from what he could tell, was painted in a subtle sky-blue wallpaper. And while it did look somewhat pleasing, it did reflect an obnoxious amount of light onto him. 

"Welcome to your Personal Training Hall, Student IB-401."

A monotone, bored voice suddenly started speaking. Dignitas recognized this as the artificial intelligence that watched over his assigned hall.

"Yeah, for starters, could you lower the brightness of the room? It's kinda hurting my eyes."

What was nice about this was that he could give orders to the A.I. 

"Understood. Decreasing Training Hall light intensity."

Instantly, the entire room darkened to about half its original brightness. This allowed Dignitas to be able to see properly.

"Great. Nice to meet you too, A.I. I'd like to get started on my training, please."

"Keyword: training. Initiating restructuring of the environment. Student IB-401, please state your preferred location of training, and I will attempt to create a copy of it."

"...alright, sure. How about… the Colosseum arena?"

"The Colosseum arena is in my database. Commencing restructuring. Please shield your view, as the entire process might cause some slight discomfort in your eyes."

Following what the A.I said, Dignitas covered his eyes by hiding it in the crook of his arm. 

He could hear some weird futuristic sounds echoing in the background for a few seconds, until it suddenly stopped. 

"Restructuring of the environment has been completed. Welcome to the Hero Academy's Colosseum."

"Whoa…" 

Dignitas opened his eyes. He felt as if he had been transported to the actual Colosseum arena. 

The skies were as blue as the day of the entrance exam, but the seats of the Colosseum were empty.

The wind blowing on his hair and even the feeling of his feet touching the ground… felt so real. 

"So that's what Reality magic does." Dignitas nodded in approval. 

And just in time, Dignitas had received a message on his phone. John had notified him that he was already on his way to his dorm. 

"John's coming… so I guess I should start with my warmups. Need to be in perfect condition for this fight."

***

Not even half an hour later, John entered the training hall. The hoodie that he had been wearing earlier was now tied around his waist, revealing the simple shirt he wore underneath. 

"Oh, you're here. Welcome. Did you get Curie home?"

"I did. We talked for a bit before I sent her on her way, so I'm sorry if I took a bit, haha…" John apologized. 

"No, that's fine. But onto why we're here. Do you need to warm yourself up before we duel, by the way?"

"No, I should be fine. I've been aching to have a match with you ever since the entrance exam, Dignitas. I must say, though! This is an interesting place you chose for our training." 

"I figured we'd need to fight somewhere nice. Now draw your sword, John." 

At the same time, both Dignitas and John brandished their swords. 

Dainsleif's red blade seemed to glow brighter today. It looked excited to clash against another sword of similar power.

On the other hand, John's sword was different. Unlike the normal blades he would use most of the time, this one felt odd. 

It had this strangely high amount of holy mana emanating from it. 

"Could it be… Excalibur? But John shouldn't have it yet." Dignitas thought.

"No, it's probably just a sword that looks like it. The mana coming from it, while strong, is nothing compared to the true sword of light John wields later on in the story." He continued. 

Both Dignitas and John got into their battle stances. Even if there wasn't anyone around to count them down (besides the A.I, but Dignitas had already forgotten about it) they both somehow heard a voice in their heads counting.

Three, two… one. 

Both cadets charged forward. Two mirages had been left in their original locations, showing just how much they were taking this seriously. 

But despite the two of them moving at almost the exact same time, John was the first to reach Dignitas. 

With his hand on his sword, he swung downwards at lightning speed. Whoosh! The air split as the holy sword seemed to tear reality with its very blade.

Dignitas met the attack head on with his own upward slash. Dainsleif's red blade met the golden glow of John's sword. 

"You're oddly fast, John. Taking this seriously?" Dignitas poked at him.

"I could say the same to you, Dignitas! That was a great defense from you." John grinned. 

The metals pushing against each other weren't any more than a second. Pulling back his weapon, John kicked at his opponent and used the momentum to launch himself backwards. 

Already predicting this with Death's Vision, Dignitas ignored John's open body and instead rushed for the spot he believed he would land.

As he was in midair, John most likely wouldn't be able to maneuver himself out of the way fast enough. 

How wrong he was. 

Much to Dignitas' surprise, John had landed in a completely different spot than what Death's Vision had shown. 

He didn't travel in a parabola like most objects did. Somehow, John had been able to steer himself out of the way. 

While Dignitas saw him move, he wasn't actually able to see how John had gotten to a different location. 

There was no movement, no spells that he saw that helped push him. 

While Dignitas thought of this with a blank face, John had landed. His back turned to him, he smiled and said, 

"This is the first time I've used this. The interface had just shown me it, so I figured I'd try it…"

It was then that Dignitas had realized. The reason he didn't see John's body move towards where he was now. There was no travel time, it looked like he had just teleported there. 

John's innate affinity was Time!