Giving the sword a short, swift practice swing, he found the motion unfamiliar, yet he could perfectly visualize in his mind how it was supposed to be used—as if a dotted line showed the path the sword should follow. Never before had he noticed this illusory guidance. It must be Rei's trait.
Looking at Rei, who held the practice sword loosely at her side in one hand as if she saw no threat in him, she calmly waited, raising a hand and beckoning him to come at her by opening and closing it. Toyota found this ridiculous. With her Divine Protections, she couldn't be hit—his sword would just deflect off the air or fly out of his hand. Unless she had a way to deactivate them…
Rei, noticing his hesitation, looked visibly impatient.
"I promise to evaluate your basic ability without relying on my Divine Protections. I am not here to beat you for my own amusement."
Despite her words, she did harbor a dark desire to see him with a defeated expression, herself standing over him. She shook her head to clear the unchivalrous thoughts.
"Am I allowed to use my magic to fight?" His question was hesitant.
Hmm. If he was just going to use basic mana enhancement, then it should be fine.
"I will allow you to use mana enhancement, but to start, I merely want to examine if you have any martial potential. Is there any weapon you've used before other than the sword?"
"Mana enhancement?" he echoed, almost as a question. "Well… I'm also able to use a whip."
A whip—while weak—had a longer range and could bind an opponent. She found the idea fascinating. She, of course, could wield any weapon to its maximum potential with her Divine Protection of the Martial God, but she had never attempted to use a whip.
Toyota walked closer, stopping around ten feet away. The sandy arena's size was similar to a basketball court—if the court was an oval. He took a weak stance, holding the sword in a two-handed grip. The sun was still rising in the sky. Because of this, Toyota angled himself with the sun at his back, hoping to use its brightness to his advantage. Unknown to him, however, she had a Divine Protection shielding her eyes from all forms of light.
In that moment, dashing forward, he swung his sword horizontally, aiming at Rei's waist. But to his utter shock, he felt a vibrating response—like striking a brick wall—to the point he nearly dropped the sword from the jarring impact. Rei was casually standing there, one hand on the sword, blocking his strike with a perfectly vertical guard. He could have sworn the corner of her lips lifted in a smirk. He felt annoyance, as though she were mocking him.
Time to increase the speed.
He quickly disengaged before aiming a flashy strike at her eyes. His goal was to make her block or flinch. His blade then changed trajectory, aiming for her ankles—it was a simple feint. But his thought process was misguided. Rei, whose reaction time was among the fastest in existence, never felt the need to flinch or block early. She simply waited to block the strike the moment the wooden blade came close enough. Once again, wood hit wood.
Toyota felt disheartened as he realized the trait he acquired—without the physical ability—was useless against anyone above superhuman.
Rei, noticing his disappointed and frustrated expression, felt a pang of pity. Should she have let him land the strike? It wasn't like she would feel anything… but wasn't this to make her lord stronger? He needed the determination to improve. She gritted her teeth.
"You can use mana enhancement if you like."
Mana enhancement… Is that different from spells? Whatever. This is an assessment, so I'll use whatever I can.
He let his mana flow into his practice blade—and even into Rei's blade since the two were still in contact. Then he disengaged the swords, taking a step backward. He poured all his mana into repulsion through his left foot, pushing off the ground and rocketing sideways to the right. He then channeled mana into repulsion at his back. Since there was no solid area to push off from, the effect was weakened but still enough to give him a boost toward Rei, who quickly turned to meet him.
Her face was tranquil but showed a hint of excitement as her eyes followed him. Using the momentum from the push forward, he channeled all of his power into an overhead strike. He directed his force downward toward Rei's head—but she only seemed to watch calmly, as if in slow motion. She raised her sword to block the strike.
Seeing this, a mischievous grin spread across Toyota's face.
Rei's eyes widened slightly as her arm dipped for a moment. Toyota's sword came down, and he activated increased gravity through the mana channeled into the blade. As his sword neared the still-surprised Rei, she smiled. If I block it the same way as before, my sword will snap in half. He really is a combat genius.
The reason her arm dipped momentarily was because he had remotely increased her sword's weight. With her constitution, it only took a moment for the leftover mana he had injected in the previous strike to be absorbed—but that brief moment, in a real battle, would have been deadly.
Angling the blade at the oncoming strike, she expertly guided his sword with minimal force to brush past her head. She immediately noticed the difference in power from the previous impact. Not only that, but the way he had used the sun earlier… He was a prodigy.
However, she couldn't sense any mana reinforcing his body.
So, how did he dash sideways like that? And how did he remotely increase her sword's weight without chanting a spell? It would be possible for high-tier mages, but for someone so young to use chantless magic was unheard of.
This time, she would test his defense. Restraining herself to obviously weak strikes, her sword moved clearly, telegraphing its next target. She started a barrage, bringing the sword toward him back and forth in a rhythm. To her surprise, he expertly blocked, deflected, and used the momentum to attempt counterattacks.
If his speed and strength were on par with hers, she might have to rely on her Divine Protections to best him. He was so talented that watching him filled her with pride. Still, it was hard to ignore how the longer the exchange lasted, the more labored and ragged his breathing became. His muscles strained from the effort, and his speed in deflecting was decreasing—yet he still saw through every feint.
His swordsmanship was near perfection, as if he had experienced many duels before. It was only his physical ability that disappointed her.
"Stop. That's enough. You can breathe."
Hearing this, he dramatically fell backward, landing on his butt, then lay back to stare up at the clouds.
To his surprise, she walked up to him and laid down in the sand right next to him, angling herself to face him on the ground. She silently stared at his face. Finally feeling uncomfortable, he managed to muster a question.
"Is there something you want to say?"
"Where have you learned swordsmanship from? Your technique is near perfection."
"Near?"
"Yes. The only thing hindering your skill is your physical ability. Your sword doesn't have the speed or power needed to be utilized to its full potential… Do you not know how to use mana enhancement?"
"No. I'm guessing that's different from spells?"
"It is often referred to as the flow method. By circulating mana in your blood, you can greatly enhance your physical strength and durability. It's a basic technique, but few are able to use it efficiently… If you didn't use that technique, how did you dash to the side so quickly? There was no mana in your feet, so how did you—"
He grinned, feeling excited that she noticed his technique.
"Do you know about the gravity spell, Vita?"
"The one that increases it?"
"Yeah. If I expel the mana and use the spell, I can create my own momentum on any part of my body."
"...Any?"
"I think so."
She turned her face away, her expression hidden. After a long silence, she sat up before she smiled.
"If you are able to use that ability in tandem with mana enhancement and your swordsmanship, your strength could easily surpass a knight."
Hearing this, his eye twitched.
Haven't I already passed a knight in strength? Well, I can't use Rei as any type of measurement, she's the pinnacle.
"Well, I haven't used everything yet. I still have some spells I can try against you."
Suddenly, a female servant—a middle-aged woman—ran out of the mansion quite frantically and approached them, stopping to catch her breath for a moment before swallowing.
"Young miss, your father has returned."
Rei's entire face turned emotionless before she stood up. There was a quiet tension building, Rei bowed to Toyota before apologizing.
"I'm sorry, but an urgent matter has come up."
Toyota had an unsettling feeling in his chest, as if something was going to go wrong.
"Do you want me to come with you?"
Her face, seeing his expression, softened for a moment before she came out of her stupor.
"You may do as you wish. However, you may have to be prepared for an unsightly scene."
At her words, he was instantly reminded of the relationship with Rei's father. As her friend, he couldn't allow anything to happen. In the story, Rei always acted so passive toward her father—even when he insulted her to her face. He was a disgrace of a father. He carried a bottle of alcohol wherever he went, his appearance was scruffy to say the least—he looked like the definition of a wife-beater. He was Heinkel, the deputy commander of the royal knights. How did such an incompetent, drunk man even achieve that position? Just thinking about him, Toyota could feel his blood boil.
Looking at Rei's back intently, his anger subsided into curiosity. How come she never stood up to her dad? Why did she even take it? From what he could remember, she was treated like utter garbage—yet she always showed him respect.
As he trailed behind her figure, the two of them made their way toward a large open waiting room where a middle-aged red-haired man wearing leather armor sat on a couch with a bottle of alcohol firmly in one hand and a disgusting sneer on his face, which was flushed bright red, clearly he was drunk Rei walked forward, a stiff expression plastered on her face.
"Hello, Father. I can see you've already made yourself comfortable."
"Yeaah, whatsss it to you, huh? What, are you trying to say that I can't sit down?"
Hearing the slurred words immediately coming from this man's mouth felt comical—to the point where there was a hint of relief that there was nothing unexpected happening.
Rei didn't respond to the jab. She simply stood there, her arms at her sides, her expression unreadable.
Toyota, meanwhile, stood near the doorway, watching silently. He could feel the tension in the room. Heinkel didn't even acknowledge his presence—probably too drunk to notice.
"So," Heinkel said, leaning forward slightly, the bottle sloshing in his hand, "you bring some boy into my house and don't even introduce him? Where are your manners, girl?"
Rei's lips twitched, almost like she wanted to frown, but she kept her tone level. "This is my lord, whom I have sworn to serve. He's a candidate."
"A candidate?" Heinkel let out a harsh laugh, rubbing his forehead. "Why would a candidate want a monster like you serving them? What, did you forget what a monstrous freak you are?"
Toyota's fists clenched, eyes blazing. Above his head, a red and black smoke rose. His thoughts were full of hatred toward this man who treated his only friend so cruelly.
You disgusting, horrible father… how could you treat your own daughter like that? My friend. My… my… mine.
His eyes flashed toward Rei, who didn't flinch, didn't speak. She just stood there, enduring.
"Don't act like a saint after what you did," Heinkel muttered, pointing the bottle at her as if it were a weapon. "You killed your own grandmother…"
His voice dropped into a quiet sob. "My mom…" He sniffed, then growled through gritted teeth. "So stop acting like you're better than me."
His eyes shifted to Toyota. "And you. What are you? Why are you male? You can't be in the prophecy if you're a male. Did she pick you up to feel important?"
(AN: The cover art was drawn by my cousin; she's an amazing artist. I can feel my writing quality diminish a bit, so I'm going to take a little break to regain my mojo. At most, it will be a week, I promise I will return soon.
I've set an official release schedule: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, Although when I get bored, I add extra.
Bonus chapters will drop on Saturdays if my demands are met. 🔫
Trade deal:
You give me 70 power stones, and I give you a bonus chapter.
Sounds fair, right?)