As soon as Cassia said 1, two floating rocks were hurled towards both of them.

 

One for each of them. Not thinking much of it the two of them quickly slashed at the floating rocks.

 

When they slashed at the rocks, they exploded and turned into lots of dust particles.

 

Seeing this, Reno turned even more wary. “Is she trying to gain distance? Trying to get a sneak attack?”

 

‘I should’ve talked about a plan with Grania before the spar, too late for that now though, gotta stay focused’

 

After taking a few breaths to calm himself down, Reno noticed that the dust was subsiding. 

 

Before Reno could get complacent, however, he heard sounds as if something was traveling quickly through the air. 

 

‘For now, let’s meet up back with Grania and then rush together against Cassia’s stone bullets’

 

Seeing the stone projectiles after him, Reno decided to test out one of his new skills.

 

[Quickstep] 

 

After quick stepping, Reno rolled on the ground and avoided the other projectiles that were aimed at him. 

 

“Reno! Where are you?”

 

Hearing Grania’s voice, Reno ran in the direction of where it came from.

 

Grania knew that even if Cassia’s hearing was good, it would be difficult to pinpoint exactly where she was if she kept moving until she regrouped with Reno.

 

After around 20 more seconds, the two managed to regroup and as soon as Reno was behind her, Grania swung her great axe hard and dispersed as much dust as she could, allowing them to see again.

 

Seeing that the two were together, Cassia slightly smiled and then used some of her energy to disperse the rest of the dust.

 

‘Not bad, at least they managed to regroup quickly. They didn’t have time to make a plan so they must be winging it, let’s see how long they can last’

 

Wrapping up her thoughts, Cassia began to swirl the stone projectiles as if they were in a tornado and then started throwing groups of them at Grania and Reno.

 

She then put her hand on her chin, observing what they would do next.

 

“Grania, it seems like she’s just testing us”

 

Grania smiled. “Then let’s pass with flying colors!”

 

Reno smiled. ‘I wish I could have her level of optimism right now. When I used a quick step to dodge a stone projectile, It cracked the ground.’

 

‘While the ground repairs by itself over time, its defense is higher than mine, if I get hit once then I’ll be knocked out at best and heavily injured at worst.’

 

As the stones were coming in, Grania, whose weapon was coated in a green light, was slicing them apart as if it were cardboard, while Reno was behind her observing the situation.

 

After some seconds of Grania slicing the rocks apart, Reno made up a plan. 

 

“To land a hit on Cassia we need to close the distance, We need to get closer to her”

 

“Both of us should make a run for it, I’ll block what comes our way and then when we’re close enough, you attack her, sounds feasible?”

 

Grania was only half paying attention due to slicing up rocks with her great axe and blocking the rest with her body so she just nodded.

 

After saying this, Reno slapped Grania on her back and then started running. Grania then sped off and began to run as fast as she could to Cassia, easily surpassing Reno.

 

Cassia was just observing all of this. ‘Are they just charging in without any plan, is Reno not going to use any sword arts?’

 

Cassia then stopped shooting the rock projectiles at Grania and Reno.

 

‘If you two won’t show me anything when I’m attacking from long range then I guess close range will have to do”

 

In front of Reno and Grania’s eyes, the rock projectiles seemed to merge and turn into a rusty and large sword although most of the blade was missing.

 

Cassia then picked up the sword and started running at Grania and Reno.

 

Grania and Reno were both shocked. ‘Is it normal for psychic types to be both close and long-range?’

 

Cassia picked up the blade and reached Reno and Grania didn’t even take a full 3 seconds, even though they were still some distance away from Cassia originally.

 

Cassia then slashed her blade horizontally to the right at the both of them. Reno was the closest to the incoming blade.

 

‘Damn it, I didn’t sign up for this, getting my ass beat by the normally shy Cassia’

 

“I’ll tank this blow Grania! Make sure you take her down!”

 

[Parry]

 

Using his new parry skill, Reno took Cassia’s strike head-on, due to his skill effect, he slightly made Cassia’s strike go into the air, not hitting his body or Grania’s own.

 

Due to the amount of strength behind the blade, however, he slid back around 10 meters.

 

Seeing that she had a chance, Grania charged at Cassia while activating a skill of her own.

 

Desperate Beast’s Charge, Proficiency : [III] EXP : (340/750)

 

    (Needs Energy to be activated)

 

   {When a cornered beast needs to fight back, they’re ready to stake everything on the line. Increases user’s speed/strength/vitality by 25%. It will be weakened for 5 minutes or less, depending on the user's proficiency in this skill after use.} (Rarity: C+ [Above Average]) [Cooldown time: 10 minutes]

 

She originally wanted to hit Cassia into the wall but didn’t expect that she wouldn’t even be able to touch her as Cassia broke down the large sword into stone pieces which then formed a shield right as Grania was about to hit her.

 

Cassia ended up sliding back by some centimeters but seemed not to be harmed or tired in the least.

 

“Ain’t no way, you have got to be kidding me”

 

Grania’s base strength was a level above Reno's even when he still had his vital core and with the skill he increased her strength to around the E+ level.

 

This was by no means bad for a second-year student and some would even call it good but Cassia took a head-on hit with only a thin layer of extra defense and didn’t even seem to be phased.

 

Grania and Cassia were getting ready to go again when they heard some noises in the distance.

 

They saw Reno spitting out a great deal of blood.

 

Seeing this, both of them stopped what they were doing and rushed over to him as soon as they could.

 

Reno was blacking out. “Fuck! This is reminding me of when I just reached here again”

 

‘Even with around 10% of the damage negated, I’m still seriously injured.”

 

As soon as Grania and Cassia arrived, Cassia gave Reno the health potion and his complexion started to get better.

 

Grania was worried. “Are you alright Reno? Do you need to go to the academy infirmary? Was the potion not enough”

 

Cassia was the same way. “S-Sorry Reno! I didn’t think I’d go too far in the match but I ended up hurting you so badly”

Cassia even started to cry a bit. 

 

Reno got up and brushed himself off. “You guys are worrying too much, just a little bit of damage”

 

Even Reno was cringing at himself but he just didn’t want the situation to become any more than what it was, especially because it only happened due to how weak he was.

 

Grania and Cassia were still worried but Grania just let the situation go while Cassia wiped her tears still feeling a bit guilty from the whole ordeal

 

“Forget me, what happened to you during the sparring match Cassia, it was as if you were a whole different person”

 

Hearing Reno ask this question, Grania paid attention as well. In the sparring match, from the way that Cassia operated, she didn’t feel like she stood a chance, especially at the end.

 

Cassia was ready to answer Reno’s question as she didn’t think it was a big deal.

 

“My uncle said that even he thought that it was weird but that’s just the way I get when I fight.”

 

“It feels like I’m solving a puzzle and I have to strip my opponents bare for me to see. I’m very good at telling if others are holding back in a fight too.”

 

“I know it’s kind of unique but that’s just how I am. I hope that it isn’t too weird, is it?”

 

Reno and Grania looked at each other and knew they had the same thought. ‘It’s weird, but not in a bad way’

 

Reno just shrugged. “Don’t worry, it’s nothing that I or Grania will hate you for”

 

When Cassia heard this, she was happy and even smiled a bit. “Mhmm” 

 

After confirming everything, Reno, Grania, and Cassia were going to go change and get ready to leave but someone called out to them which made them stop in their tracks.

 

“That was a great sparring match! May I have the pleasure of knowing you three?”

 

Reno looked behind him and saw that it was a violet-haired guy with sunglasses and an extremely tidy school uniform on.

 

Considering that they were in a training room, where people mostly wore tank tops and sweatpants, this guy could be considered pretty out of place.

 

Not to mention his sunglasses which had no use in a place with artificial lighting that caused no damage to anyone, especially people with vital cores.