Chapter 6

"All right that's enough."

The observer suddenly called out. Rylo and Aaron, in the middle of charging, fall flat on their faces.

""What kind of timing is that!""

The two of them shouted at the observer, both having the feeling of being left on a cliff hanger only got their expectations to be betrayed in a cheep way.

"What did you expect? You guys aren't the only class. We've got hundreds of students and everyone has to do multiple rounds. Now then if the both of you would please sit in the waiting area while the rest of your class to finish up."

Dejectedly Rylo and Aaron made their way over to the waiting area for their class. Shortly after the rest of the class followed. The Ians were wearing worried looks on their faces as they came over.

"How did you two do?"

Aaron asked them with a puzzled look.

"Well, we got paired up with each other the first time around, so It's kind of hard to tell how we did."

Aaron nodded as the problem made sense, unlike most of their problems. Eventually everyone in the class finished up and they all got sent to their new matches.

Aaron's new sparring partner was a girl with black hair. She appeared to be very annoyed about something. Aaron could catch bits of her grumbling.

"Always caught up studying ….. he could at least pay more attention to us ….. It's so annoying."

From the sound of it she was madly in love with a guy who is to dense to realize her feelings. Aaron silently offered his condolences to the girl and hoped that she would be successful in her romantic pursuit.

"Why is Rylo so dense, it's not like I'm being subtle about it."

Aaron offered her more condolences as her romantic pursuit seemed to be getting further and further away.

"Now then, on my mark the spar will begin."

Aaron hoisted his staff and stared at the girl across from him. She was barehanded but took up a stance indicating that she was skilled in combat. Aaron squinted his eyes slightly as he analyzed his opponent's stance. It was rather odd as it was quite unusual. The stance seemed offensive, but it didn't seem to center around her fists or legs.

"Begin!"

Aaron and the girl rushed at each other. As they approached each other the air around the girl's hand began to buzz and glow. Aaron narrowed his eyes since there was no chant, indicating that she was a fractured.

"Reinforce 2, strengthen 2."

Aaron quickly chanted as the girl swung her hand at his waist. As her hand got closer the glow began to converge into a light, which took the shape of a sword. The light sword quickly manifested as a real sword.

Aaron swung his staff to defend against the sword. As the two weapons clashed a second sword appeared in her other hand, aiming for Aaron's back.

"Weapon creation, that's a real nice ability you got there."

Aaron muttered to himself as he whipped his sword around to deal with the second one. The two clashed several times in a short few seconds before Aaron backed off suddenly. The break in pacing caught the girl slightly and an opening presented itself. Aaron rushed back and swung his staff like a bat.

"Reinforce 3, strengthen 3."

Aaron muttered a chant as the veins of light on his body increased. The girl dropped her swords and hastily created a shield to block the blow.

*Bang*

The sound of Aaron's staff hitting the shield rang out as she was knocked back towards the edge of the area.

The girl glared at him as she created a metallic whip that she swung at Aaron. The whip lengthened as it approached Aaron. It struck Aaron's staff, cooling around the staff. The girl smiled as she yanked on the whip to throw Aaron off balance.

"Please, like that would work."

Aaron grinned as he pulled on his staff while he leapt towards the girl, borrowing her pull to increase his momentum. Abandoning her whip, the girl created two daggers as she leapt at Aaron to get within the swing of his staff.

The two of them clashed their weapons, stuck in a lock waiting for an opening.

"You've got some skill, but you really need more experience."

Breaking the lock Aaron called out as he fixed his stance. The girl also fixed her stance as she smiled and called back.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that if I were you."

Finishing her retort, she lunged at Aaron with her daggers. While she was still out of range her daggers suddenly began to grow and he blades lengthened straight at Aaron.

"Please, like you're the first person to try that tactic. Although you are the first weapon creator I've met, there are plenty of extending weapons in the world."

While pointing out her misconception Aaron deflected her blades before striking at the girl. Barely shortening her blades fast enough to block his blow the girl was knocked back again while her daggers began to crack from the force.

"Alright, that's enough, you two can make your way back I've to the waiting area."

The observer called out ending the spar. The girl pouted as she reluctantly made her way over to the waiting area. Aaron shrugged his shoulders as he followed suit.

After the rest of the students finished up Aaron was looking around when he saw Rylo and the girl he was fighting. There was a second girl who looked the same as the one he fought.

"Normally it'd be hard to distinguish them, but their personalities are so different, probably why they fractured. Well, based on her comments, I can guess why they fractured."

As Aaron sat there, his suspicions seemed to be confirmed. The one he fought was complaining about how Rylo wasn't paying enough attention to them, the other one was trying to defend Rylo saying that he had things he needed to do for his future, while Rylo just sat there with a confused look on his face.

"So, the one I fought is Tsu, the other one is Dana, and Rylo is completely oblivious to their feelings. This situation is so cliché it's almost like something out of a light novel. Wait, if the last two have been from their group, then wouldn't the last one be Dana? No, it's all random. The chances are to small, things like this only happen in cliché anime scenes."

As Aaron muttered to himself the new sparring areas were assigned. While he made his way over Aaron had a feeling in his gut that he already knew who his next partner was. And to splendidly answer his expectations, it was Dana.

"Okay, now the world is just screwing with me."

Aaron grumbled to himself as Dana nervously introduced herself to Aaron.

"H-hello, my name is Claire, but you can call me Dana, since I'm a fractured, names get a bit confusing, you know."