Part 9 — Reason

In the end, it’s decided that Ran will have a day of rest. With that settled, the four girls from the Tempera Village are asked to conduct a demonstration in exchange for their room and board. The demonstration takes place in the Academy’s trusty old arena. I feel like we should just go ahead and call it the Coliseum.

“Today, we have FOUR wielders of exotic Rare Arts, ones that even I’ve never heard of!”

The Regent was extremely enthusiastic. I suppose as a researcher and an educator, it must be exciting to see new, hitherto unknown fields of development. Even in my case, I prefer to fight an opponent who’s put in the effort to develop their own fighting style than a genius who’s still developing.

“Bursting Venom Style, which uses Seeping Blood; Drunken Fist Style, which uses Inebriated Blood; Four Vessels Style, which uses Orb Blood; and Mist Shadow Style, which uses Illusion Blood. That’s the four, right?”

“Yes, that’s correct. They are the ones my wielder fought two thousand years ago. Given that we thoroughly decimated them during that time, I’m surprised that their styles persisted.”

My master’s former partner, Eckesachs, serves as her assistant. Given that they’re opponents she actually faced and defeated, there’s no doubt that explaining it is right in her wheelhouse.

As for the berserker, Ran, she’s sitting to my side. Of course, we’re in the VIP section, so Lady Douve is with us, as well. Even if I’m supposed to subdue her if she gets violent, is it wise to have her sitting with Lady Douve? As a bodyguard, I have my doubts, but it seems she’s decided it’s safest to be near me.

“Okay, then. Eckesachs, can you explain their fighting styles?”

“Very well. Master, as I will be explaining the Seeping Blood’s Bursting Venom Style and the Orb Blood’s Four Vessels Style, please use me to create a wall,” she says, immediately making a weird request.

Pretty sure everyone in the academy is surprised by that request. Saiga, in particular, seems unsure if he should proceed.

“Hurry up. They’ll just be attacking the wall.”

“O-Okay... Maximum Bright Wall!”

What she intended was simple: create a wall of light and have them attack it. Even if they fail, they’ll only suffer light injuries at the worst.

“So we need to attack this wall?”

“Never expected to see a fighting style like this...”

Two of the girls drop into a stance in front of the wall. What they have in common is that they have nothing on their hands and feet. Of course, having nothing on their hands makes sense, but they’re also shoeless. They may as well be shouting that there’s something in their styles involving their feet at the top of their lungs.

Further, there are no notable scars on their hands. It’s not that they’re not scarred at all, but for fighting bare-handed, they’re a little too clean. More than anything, their auras are unique, full of a power other than magic.

“Bursting Venom Style... Siege Fist: Battering Ram!”

With a soft plop, the Bursting Venom Style girl presses her palm to the wall, at which point her Seeping Blood steadily flows from her into the light barrier. The wall’s color changes enough that it’s immediately obvious to everyone.

“Burst!”

She removes her hand, takes a few steps back, and lets out a shout, at which point the wall of light explodes, shattering as though from within. This kingdom’s people are the ones who best understand what this means. The Magyan siblings are only mildly surprised, but for this kingdom this isn’t a regular shock. A wall of light, which can only be pierced by heat or lightning magic, has just been utterly destroyed.

“My style is the Bursting Venom Style, only wielded by those with the Seeping Blood! No other style is as suited for killing as ours!”

“...So slow. It seems she’s less practiced than I thought,” Eckesachs coolly interjects her own commentary as the girl boasts to the assembled crowd. The Bursting Venom Style girl’s expression goes from proud to frozen in embarrassment. I guess she’s pretty weak from the standards of her style.

“The Bursting Venom Style fills the target with the Seeping Blood, then makes it explode. It requires contact with the palm or the sole of the foot, but the effects are as you saw. The nature of the techniques mean that the longer the wielder touches the target, the more powerful the effect. However, it’s one thing if you’re destroying a wall or gate, but against a human, the longer the contact, the greater the danger. As such, the more skilled the wielder, the quicker they fill the target with Seeping Blood.”

That goes without saying. It’s one thing if you’re assassinating someone, but in hand to hand combat, you only get a short window to touch your opponent. Then again, if you can destroy a part of the body, it seems like it’d be fine to have it restricted to a small effective area, but even then, the shorter the better.

“Now, make another wall.”

“S-Sure.”

To create walls, just to destroy them... It’s a form of destruction testing.

“Four Vessels Style... Right Arm Lance: Piercing Lunge!”

The Four Vessels Style wielder lunges with her open hand like a spear. She coats her hand with an aura — that is, her Orb Blood — and drives her hand into the wall. With that, her otherwise extremely fragile human fingers penetrate deeply into the wall of light.

“M-My style...is a style wielded by those with the Orb Blood...and is a fighting style that turns the body’s four limbs into weapons.”

“...How weak. My wielder from two thousand years ago was able to put a chip in my Ki-reinforced blade.”

Wait, my master couldn’t cut through it?!

Just how strong were the Four Vessels wielders from two thousand years ago?

That’s harsh... To be described as weak despite being able to penetrate a reinforced mystical wall.

“Well, it’s easy to see the results. It’s a style that is perhaps the natural enemy of a combat-focused mystic. It’s an attack-focused martial art that, if it hits, can even destroy a Sacred Treasure. Its weakness is...well, the short range,” says Eckesachs, back in her human form, praising the style.

Since the Mystic Arts are used by humans, I suppose it’s not surprising that there’s another human Art that can destroy its constructs. It’s hard to imagine just what my master felt at the time, after having Eckesachs suffer a chip on her blade.

“So, the reason the Bursting Venom Style artists keep their feet barefoot is to be able to make the ground explode. Even if they can’t attack their opponent directly, if they can soak the ground below them in Seeping Blood, they can restrict their movements. While it substantially lowers the impact, and would probably make it defensible with mystic barriers, it’s still more than enough to fight an ordinary human opponent,” Eckesachs says, casually explaining the style’s special techniques.

The two girls look a bit upset, having had the secrets of their techniques from their hidden village laid bare to the world. Alas, poor girls. But this, too, stems from their lack of training.

“Illusion Blood’s Mist Shadow Style is also quite impressive to look at. Give us a show.”

“Huh? O-Oh, yes...”

The Mist Shadow Style artist is wearing loose fitting clothing. No doubt in actual combat the clothing would hide hidden weapons. It might just be for show at the moment, though.

“Mist Shadow Style! Eight Reflections!”

Eight duplicates burst forth from her body. Seeing this, the students and teachers in the Coliseum...

Well, they barely react. Compared to the earlier two demonstrations, there’s even a sense of anticlimax.

“Umm?! What’s with your reaction?!”

The other two caught the audience by surprise, but they seem unfazed this time. That fact clearly upsets her.

“Illusion Blood can create illusions. It’s fundamentally different from Shadow Presence, which creates duplicates.”

Yes, it probably doesn’t look that different from Shadow Summoning. But, in reality, the duplicates she created are just illusions. They have no actual mass, and can’t attack or defend.

“While Shadow Summoning duplicates have a presence and require precise control, the fact that the Illusion Blood only creates illusions means that they can be moved rather more broadly. In fact, they can even be deployed into the air.”

“D-Don’t make it sound so easy! This is actually pretty hard, you know!”

“Of course. Certainly. Unlike Shadow Summoning, which creates duplicates of the summoner, the illusions crafted through the Mist Shadow Style can be changed at will. To put it another way, the wielder must craft the illusions in their own mind.”

I don’t want to put it this way, but who actually thought making this into a martial art was a good idea? I mean, the other two require fighting bare-handed, and they’re probably stronger that way. But for this one, I don’t understand why it needs to be a bare-handed fighting style.

I mean, sure, it’s strong in that it can be used for feints and to overwhelm the opponent’s line of sight, but if anything, this is better suited for ambushes than hand to hand combat.

“To add another item, while the duplicates summoned with Shadow Summoning block the summoner’s line of sight, the illusions created by Illusion Blood are transparent to the wielder. I hear it’s quite tiring, but they can literally cover an entire area with mist.”

“...That’s our ultimate technique.”

I feel bad saying this about their ultimate technique, but my master and I can read people’s presences, so it probably didn’t actually work on him.

“The Inebriated Blood’s Drunken Fist Style... This is the style that gave us the most trouble, two thousand years ago. It creates a field around the wielder that throws off the sense of balance of all within it, and the martial art takes advantage of that to attack with throwing moves and grapples. The more skilled the wielder, the wider and more powerful the field. My master tried quite stubbornly to beat them with his sword, but when they came at him together, he gave up and beat them by throwing rocks at them... Such memories,” Eckesachs says, wistfully, reminiscing about her time with my master.

“She just described my entire style without me even demonstrating it...”

Meanwhile, the Drunken Fist Style girl, having had everything about her style explained, including how to deal with it, looks at a loss for how to respond.

Still, to have made my master give up, that’s actually quite impressive...

“Say, Sansui, how did you deal with them?”

“First, I approached Ran using Flash Step and took her down with a Ki Wave to her head. I then took down the Four Vessels Style and Bursting Venom Style wielders with my Ki Blade, knocked out the Mist Shadow Style user the same way, and finally used my Feather Step to throw the unconscious four at the Drunken Fist Style wielder.”

At Lady Douve’s question, I answer with a complete account of what I did yesterday morning. The martial arts of the four girls were quite sloppy, and it was easy enough to hit them with my wooden blade. Even if they can harden their hands or make things they touch explode, if I can just attack them by avoiding their hands and feet, they’re no threat.

The Drunken Fist Style alone I could do nothing about in melee combat, because I couldn’t really approach her, but I just had to avoid getting into her field, so that wasn’t much of a problem. It’s important to be able to see the big picture, and being overconfident in one’s abilities is a sign of immaturity. In that sense, I suppose my master still had much further to go, given that he was fixated on winning in close combat.

“You really are dull...”

“I’m afraid so...”

If my master was throwing rocks, it probably would have shattered the opponent’s skull...

And even if they tried to block them, the rocks probably would have broken their arms, so that must have been frustrating, from their point of view. However, defending against stone throwing is pretty much one of the basics, so if you’re actually fighting instead of sparring, it’s worth learning.

The only conclusion that remains...a lack of training. Yes, training is important. I mean, more than anything, if they can use a technique that makes an opponent collapse when they approach, then it’s natural to look to attack from long range. If they can’t deal with that, then it’s not a fully polished technique.

“Well, in this case, it’s probably best to experience it themselves. Those that wish to experience it should step up and volunteer.”

“What a lovely idea! Very well, then, let’s all try experiencing it!”

At Eckesachs’s suggestion, a large number of students and teachers go down into the arena. Well, I suppose it’s worthwhile to experience it at least once. I mean, this is still a class.

“...I have a question for you,” Ran says, grumpily. This is probably the first time in her life that she’s been this quiet. “You’re the strongest swordsman in this kingdom, right?”

“Yes, I suppose. At least, to the extent that I’m confident I won’t lose to anyone but my master.”

I’m sure that there are actually opponents who I can’t beat. Even then, though, I don’t intend to go out of my way to find them. Shouzo is one example, but thinking further, there’s really no end to it.

And if I actually went through with that search, the only thing waiting for me is despair, like my master experienced. It’s simply not worth it. And I mean, further, I’m still at a stage where I enjoy training.

“Which is probably why...”

“Why, what?”

“The reason you’re still alive.”

Because I’m here, because I didn’t kill her, she’s still alive. There’s a part of me that regrets not killing her. I really need more training.