First Day (3)

The sound of clashing metal echoes throughout the large training facility as each student spars with a partner using a blade of their own choice. 

Prior to the lesson, Samantha had Lila create a bunch of different variations of steel blades for sparring, allowing each student to pick their preferred blade. She then randomly paired each person together. Although the pairs were random, I could tell that both plot and my luck definitely had an effect on the pairings.

Every student was paired with someone that would perfectly compliment their style. For example, Reginald and Sylvia, who's styles of fighting are perfect for helping each other grow. The combination of someone who is constantly trying to tire out their opponent and someone with near limitless stamina has the possibility of creating some of the best fighting conditions.

I have been paired with Lyra, an outcome I could tell that she was quite fond of. Samantha had told everyone beforehand our partners would be permanent throughout our full six years of academy life, a revelation that made me just a little bit happy. 

For some reason, I get a strange feeling of comfort when I am beside Lyra. It feels almost like I could trust her with anything. 

As Samantha speaks about the pairs, I steal a momentary glance at the small grin that has taken shape on Lyra's face. My heart temporarily set a flutter at the sight.

For a moment, only a single moment, the question 'why' pops into my head.

I grip the dagger I selected firmly and get into my combat stance, a blend of what I learned from this world and my previous one. 

Both of my legs are spread wide, my left in front, and my weight comfortably balanced on my rear. I hold the dagger in a reverse grip in my left hand in front of my chest. I cup my right hand and hold it beside the hilt of the dagger and lower my posture.

I watch Lyra as gets into her stance, holding a long, curved one-sided blade, somewhat reminiscent to katana. 

Lyra holds the hilt of the blade directly in front of her chest, facing the tip of the blade forward. She has a more bladed posture than I, her shoulders and feet facing forward, and the lead foot slightly lifted. She has relaxed shoulders, straight forward hips, and her spine is parallel to the floor.

Her stance… it feels very familiar to me, but I can't quite place my finger on why. 

As we're getting ready, Samantha begins speaking one last time, "Oh right, I almost forgot! Use of any form of magic other than body enhancement magic is forbidden during sparring." 

She takes a look at the nodding heads of the students before announcing the start of training, "Alright, feel free to start now!"

I inhale sharply as I begin channeling mana throughout my body. Bodily enhancement, although a staple of light magic wielders, is the most basic form of magic taught to magicians and swordsmen at a very young age. Being able to make yourself or another even just a bit faster or a bit stronger could mean the difference between life and death on the battlefield. 

Luckily for me, my mother is perhaps one of the greatest light magicians in this world's history. She was known to be capable of blessing entire armies, buffing their strength, speed, and even their recovery nearly tenfold. Thanks to the overflowing talent I received from my mother, I was able to reach the second rank in magic by age ten.

No one in this world should know I can use time magic, so it wouldn't be wise for me to use it in front of people as skilled in detecting magic as Samantha and Lila. 

Although, recently, I have been using time magic to increase my speed, it could always just appear like I'm using simple speed enhancement or teleportation magic.

I slowly begin infusing mana into my legs and arms. 

I attempt to analyze Lyra's posture thoroughly with "Eye of Absolute Certainty" to find an opening, however, I can't see a proper route to victory. I try to use future sight instead, unfortunately, it simply shows her standing still, awaiting movement from me.

I defeatedly deactivate future sight and decide to switch up my approach. I shift in my posture slightly and begin waiting for her to make a move instead.

I, once again, look for any possible openings in Lyra's posture. It feels as if the more I try to find an opening, the more distant the opening gets. 

It stays this way for what feels like an eternity. Together, we stand adjacent to each other in silence, carefully observing each other for the slightest possible mistake.

"Do you plan on making a move, Lyra?" Boredom finally strikes, so I decide to break the ice.

"That depends," she responds quickly, eyes firmly locked on target, "you first, mkay?"

"Well then," I exhale sharply as I prepare to dash, "I guess I can't just stand here all day."

An explosion of mana erupts from beneath my feet as I take a step forward. The force from the explosion launches me forward and, almost instantly, I'm positioned in front of Lyra. 

I flip the hilt of the dagger and thrust the tip toward the neck of Lyra, however, my strike is sent veering off course by an almost imperceivable force. 

I react quickly, creating just enough distance between Lyra and I before she could retaliate. Lyra, with blinding speed, returns to her original posture. 

I noticed her sending mana toward both her arms and legs before, that must have been how she reacted so quickly. 

I watch as her position begins to shift, as she raises both arms above her head, the tip of her sword now looking up at the ceiling. She then begins leaning forward and I can tell that she is readying herself for a strike.

"Heh," Lyra lets a giggle and stares at me, "that was a nice try Raine, but let me show you real technique."

Lyra bends down, takes a slight step forward and, without even a hint of a warning, disappears from my view. Not even a second later, I sense her presence right behind me, almost as if she teleported. No, to be more precise, she moved so fast that she was nigh unperceivable by the naked eye, but I could see Lyra's movements clearly. 

However, seeing Lyra's movements did very little for making sense out of them. She had appeared to simply move straight through me. Through me! No other movements whatsoever. 

I feel kinda violated.

Her posture had remained the same as she moved forward, the only thing changed was her footing as she stepped forward.

Around me, I can see almost a dozen physical manifestations of sword slashes rushing toward me at an unimaginable speed. They move so fast that it appears to completely ignore the flow of space time as they move toward me. I hastily focus a majority of my enhancement magic into increasing my processing speed. The rest of the magic was spread evenly throughout my body in order to react accurately according to my processing speed. 

My perception of the world slows as I watch the slashes rain down upon me. The first slash is coming down at an angle from my right, so I stepped backwards. I lean my body to the right to avoid two more and manage to weave under another coming from the opposite direction. I then flip to the left to avoid both a vertical and a horizontal slash that were moving to intersect each other. I manage to weave and flip through the rest of the slashes gracefully before finally getting back into my original position.

As I gradually relax my focus, my vision returns to normal, viewing the flow of time regularly. The air around me becomes thick, almost as if a large wave of pressure had just pushed down on the surrounding area. Dust is kicked up and scattered around me and Lyra is just standing still behind, almost as if she were waiting for something.

"Uhh," I turn around and stare at Lyra, who is as still as a statue, "was something supposed to happen?"

"Eh?" Lyra turns back with a bewildered expression, "Wait, what happened? You should be all cut up right now!"

I hold in my laughter and feign ignorance, "I don't know what you're talking about in the slightest."

Lyra gives me an inquisitive look, as if she's judging my statement to be either true or not. I can tell her confidence had been damaged a bit from her sudden shift in body language. I feel a bit bad when I see the change, but when she turns back to me, the look of disappointment is completely wiped from her face. 

"Whatever, maybe I just didn't do it right," She shrugs and gets into a different position, "guess I'll just try something different."

I quickly activate my future sight and prepare for her attack, "Please go easy on me this time."