In the opposite cla.s.s, there were some students that attended Arima's cla.s.s the first month, but in the end, it wasn't a match for those who had been taught by Arima directly.

One thing important to remember was that Arima sparred with his entire cla.s.s for two weeks. In those two weeks, in the middle of the spar, he would start talking about one's weaknesses.

The other things the students learned while fighting Arima was determination, mental fort.i.tude, and experience. They mastered those three while going against an individual so strong that they seriously wondered if he really was human.

But even after, they still weren't aware of how strong Arima was, if they were to realize it, they would surely not even be able to understand how strong he could actually be.

"Wait, there are only two rounds in the local tournament, right?" Raal asked after the end of the second round.

"Yes, after this, it's just a showcase between the representants of the winning cla.s.ses. Though it's Lanya who will partic.i.p.ate in my stead" Arima answered him.

"… f.u.c.kin-d.a.m.n-this freaking" Raal started cursing under his breath. He was mad because the second cla.s.s also surrendered at the last test. In the end, he wasn't able to supervise once, although it was only two times where he could have done it, he couldn't do the job he was supposed to do as a judge and he was mad for that.

"Why don't you just go supervise the main tournament, if you ask the king, I'm sure you can be a jury there" Arima said and Raal mused.

"…That's not a bad idea" He said and Karia also heard that and came over.

"I'll go with you then. I'm really curious to see your cla.s.s in action" She declared and Arima shrugged.

"Do what you want" He responded and went toward his cla.s.s. When he came over, the students respectfully stood in front of him.

"I have only one thing to say. It was easy, I know" Arima said and his students were surprised "The two rounds you partic.i.p.ated today and yesterday were easy. But don't get too prideful, Velvet's cla.s.s also won easily. I actually don't know how strong her students are. But I know that I'm am not a teacher. I'm confident in making you strong, but maybe Velvet taught her students better than me. I just gave you some tips and magic. I didn't really teach you anything actually"

"I just made you learn things by practicing and experiencing" Arima declared and everyone realized that it was true. Arima just taught them general things at first, then he sparred with them, but that's all. He also just gave them techniques to work with but never taught them how to use it. When he pointed out their weaknesses, he could give some hints, but he never told them how to get rid of them.

"The only thing I gave you was a way to get stronger and the only thing that I taught you was how to adapt" Arima smiled and said "From now on, you'll win by adapting yourself to the opponent. Don't forget, my contract with the academy was to teach you how to fight. The most important thing in a fight after one's mentality is adaptability"

The entire cla.s.s attentively listened "Now, your job is to win this tournament by making use of that ability" Arima concluded and his students nodded seriously.

Night snickered and Arima looked at him "Where is Lanya?" He asked.

"Mh? Aah" Night exclaimed "She is with Karma, you should be able to find her from that" He said.

"Oh, yeah" Arima remembered and just sent a telepathic message to Karma. Saying that the compet.i.tion's showcase will start and he wanted Lanya to come.

Five minutes later, Karma and Lanya arrived together. They seemed to have spent quite a bit of energy "You were training together?" Arima frowned and asked.

"Yes, I wanted to train to get used to my rapier" Lanya answered with a smile. She was quite happy at the moment since she knew that after this showcase, Arima would give her the way to enter the earthen realm.

"I see. Well, it was a good choice" Arima said and waved his hand. Lanya and Karma both recovered the entirety of their energy "Because you'll need more than luck to beat her" Arima pointed behind him with his thumb. At the end of the line, Velvet and her cla.s.s were pa.s.sing through the portal.

"Don't underestimate her, she's at the tenth level like you, you may have an inheritance but Night noticed the presence of a soul beast within her and quite a strong one" Arima declared.

Lanya was a bit surprised but she didn't even envisage underestimating her opponent in the first place, that was something Night had taught her first when he was training her after they met.

"The showcase between the two winning cla.s.ses will begin in five minutes. The students are allowed to stop any activity and watch through the crystals" The voice resounded across the entire academy and even in the confined s.p.a.ce.

Arima nodded toward Lanya and went to sit on the benches with Night and Lanya. His students also followed him. Lanya went on the arena in the middle and so did Velvet.

The two stared at each other for a minute and smiled "I am Velvet Venu" She presented herself first. Lanya then bowed slightly.

"I am Lanya Leona, nice to meet you" She said while taking out her rapier. Velvet smiled and unsheathed an elegant double-edged sword and a fox appeared in flames beside her at the same time.

"My name is Natsu" The fox spoke and Lanya smiled to him. Meanwhile, the princ.i.p.al arrived in the arena and directly went toward Arima.

"Mm? What is it?" The latter asked.

"I wanted to ask for a favor" The princ.i.p.al smiled and sat down "You perfectly know that a fight between two tenth levels is something very destructive. Usually, we use the particularities of this secluded s.p.a.ce and multiple mages to nullify the shocks. But it takes a lot of effort from us. I know it's a bit selfish but if it's okay, I wanted to ask if Sir Arima could help us with that"

"Ooh, I see" Arima nodded "Fine, I want to give the best conditions for Lanya as well" He said and his sigil started glowing and spinning really strongly. A silver mist escaped his iris' as it spread around the place.

Velvet and Lanya noticed the blue mist slowly filling the air and stopped staring at each other to actually look at the sky. What they saw there was a magnificent gate which looked like a sculpted piece of art.

The gate made an unlocking sound and opened slowly "[Prohibere vultus ad eam ab fenestras] (Stop looking at it from the windows)" Everyone heard Arima's incantation and they felt a strange force pulling them from all sides.

"[Anima est ante portam] (Soul's front Gate)" Arima finished chanting and everyone present became a beam of light that flew to the gate before it closed with a powerful sound.

The teachers and students looking with the crystals were shocked and panicked a bit before the image changed strangely to show a totally different scenery that made them gasp.

Velvet looked around in awe. There were tall and green plants everywhere. When she looked at the sky, she was even more shocked to discover an entire ocean upside down.

Around her, everywhere, some firefly-like lights were illuminating this place with a bunch of different colors. The plants and the air were moist, giving it a melancholic and beautiful impression.

They were standing in the middle of a stage made out of bluestone which was glowing with a pleasant light. A few miles away from that stage, the two cla.s.ses, Arima, Chulainn, Night, Karma, and multiple judges including Raal and Karia were now sitting on carved wood benches.

That scenery, everyone who was looking at the crystal earlier could see it because Arima connected an image. Most of them were speechless while admiring it while others were just shocked.

"That's your soul manifestation, huh?" Chulainn commented while looking at the sky. He jumped out of Arima's shoulder and floated a bit in mid-air "I have to say, it's a really comfortable place" He said and Arister nodded.

Night was a bit uncomfortable though but he soon brushed it off when he remembered he wasn't alone anymore. The main reason Night always refused to be in here was because it felt too wide, magnificent, calm and particularly melancholic.

Night was closer to Arima than anyone else; when he was in this place, he felt the melancholy too much and the mana and aura in this place also always made him feel sad and alone. Now that he was here with people around him, he one more time a.s.sessed this place and couldn't help to agree with Chulainn. Karma just closed her eyes and appreciated the environment.

Arima snapped his fingers and the voice from before that announced the compet.i.tion's sate even resounded in this place "Eh? It works? Oh, sorry, what?" The person behind the voice seemed confused about something and Arima's sigil was glowing a bit.

"…I understand" The voice murmured and coughed "The showcase will now take place in the arena Sir Arima created. It will start in ten seconds, I will start the countdown. Miss Velvet, Miss Lanya, prepare yourselves"

Arima had actually transmitted all the information necessary to the person saying this with telepathy. With that said, Velvet's figure became shrouded with orange flames made from the fox's body "[Resonance]" She chanted and a pillar of fire raised.

At the same time, Lanya became enveloped in bright silver light that raised upward as a pillar opposing Velvet's fire. Their aura combined made the plants around to sway a bit, but none of them were destroyed or damaged. If you looked at the sky, you could also see some ripples forming on the water.

Strangely, the aura didn't reach the audience at all, Raal whistled at the phenomenon "This place is impressive" He praised and Karia nodded.

"I like it too to be honest" Arima chuckled and responded. He waved his hand and the plants around moved to point at him, the 'fireflies' also gathered around him to create a light show "This place is totally under my control. And as long as someone is weaker than me, I can do anything to him within this place, I can lock him here for eternity or do things like this" Arima declared and snapped his fingers.

Everyone around him felt their life force disappear. They all, without any exception, were now at the first level of the mortal realm.

Raal looked at Arima wide-eyed, no matter how he checked his soul and body, he really had returned to the first level. Arima smiled and snapped his fingers one more time and everyone sighed in relief when they saw their strength coming back.

"I can control your body here, I can put you under an illusion, steal your life force, invade your mind and memories and a lot of others things" Arima listed and the people listening just felt really bad knowing that Arima was basically a G.o.d-like existence in this place "Also, any of those plants are something that you can't even cut without using your full power" Arima added.

"The blue stone on which the girls are standing is something that can't be broken unless you're at least two levels higher than the tenth" Arima said and Raal could only wryly smile, he realized that this guy had become a lot stronger than when he fought with him.

Back on the arena, the two girls finished their transformation. Lanya became covered in silver scales and she grew an elegant pair of wings along with a silver tail. Her pupils changed to a slit and she stared at her opponent with them.

On the other side, Velvet had grown some whiskers and there was now a pair of fox ears on her head. She also grew nine fox tails that that were waving behind her. She grew some fangs and orange flames were ignited around her.

They both raised their weapon at the same time and kicked the ground.