The Author's POV

June flew by and July was nearing. Summer had already approached and the temperatures were starting to rise.

Inside of a training ground.

—Clank! —Clank!

The heavy sound of metal resounded across the room.

"Ren, cover me!"

Shouted Kevin as he quickly moved right of me. As his foot tapped on the ground, his body suddenly shot upwards.

"Huup—!"

—Swoosh!

Right as Kevin's foot touched the ground, I drew a circle in the air and pointed my finger towards a certain spot in the distance. In the same direction, Kevin was headed.

"Thanks!"

Twisted his body, Kevin quickly arrived before my ring. Putting his foot on the ring, he propelled his body towards the center of the room where a young girl leisurely stood.

"Haaa—!"

Arriving before Monica, Kevin let out a shout and slashed his sword down.

"Hmm, not bad…"

—Clank!

Lifting her sword with one hand, Monica easily blocked Kevin's attack.

"…but still not good enough"

BAAAM—!

"Guuuh—!"

"Khhuu!"

Casually swinging her sword and parrying Kevin's attack, Kevin was instantly pushed in my direction.

Because of how fast he was going, I wasn't able to stop him in time and we soon both crashed against a wall.

"Kuegh…this is so unfair"

I muttered as I laid down on the ground. My back hurt like hell.

"I agree…"

Supporting his body with one arm, Kevin weakly stood up. Raising his sword, he glared in Monica's direction.

"Oh, you're not done? I like your fighting spirit"

"Ren, stand up. It's not over yet"

"Ugh…"

Lifting my head, I let out a groan.

‘Damn it, I just want to lay down on the ground for another minute. I'm the one who took the brunt of the attack, not you!'

Why couldn't he let me rest?

Putting my hand on my knee, I stood up and stretched my neck. My eyes soon interlocked with Kevin's.

"Seriously?"

Without him even telling me what he wanted to do, I understood what he meant.

"Alright…"

"Good"

Nodding my head, I placed my hand on the grip of my sword. Kevin on the other hand raised his sword with both hands.

"Huuu…"

Taking a deep breath, I channeled all the mana inside of my body. A white hue shrouded my body.

Kracka! Kracka!

hue were blue bolts of lightning that repeatedly crackled in the air. By my side, an empowering red hue expanded from Kevin's body. He

guys planning on using your strongest techniques? Good, good, I want to

front, Monica's eyes

—Swoosh! —Swoosh!

you guys are

new sword in the air as

"Ready?"

"Never been readier…"

empowering, Kevin looked at me. Looking back at him, I nodded my

"Let's go…"

as he

VUUUUAM!

A powerful energy could be felt from the sword beam as

with both hands on the sword, so he's already reached

movement of

"Still…"

the [Keiki

finally charging up, I took a stance. Moments after, the

"Huh?"

do. Taking advantage of the opening I created, I

was quickly able to recover from

"Not bad…"

Kevin's attack, Monica

—Sha!

to my horror, Monica

Monica casually swung her sword down and a small orange beam shot towards Kevin's sword

—Craka!

of paper, Kevin's

"Haa…haaa…this is so unfair"

other side of the room, Kevin slumped down on the ground and supported his

‘Damn it'

and an [S] rank was huge, I didn't think

as though Monica was treating us like children. She made it seems as though our most powerful attacks were

"I'm impressed"

left

guys were almost as good as me back when I

to Monica's shameless boast, my mouth

you be

had designed Monica to be this way. If I had to complain, I could only complain

"Here, take this"

direction, Monica casually threw a book in my

"This…"

too much at first, but my

its contents, my

===

[★★★✰ Quick-slash style]

without them noticing anything had happened. Created to replicate the Keiki style. After years of research, this sword art

===

"Is this for me?"

hands, I

need to hide your sword art, I decided to give you a little gift. The sword art is three

away, Monica nodded

"You don't like it?"

no, of course, I like it. There's no

quickly shook

can I not like this? It's

popular Grandmaster Keiki was, the idea of someone trying to imitate

in circulation at the moment, but after a quick skim through, I would just

already a compliment. They were not even close to their real

This, however, was different.

was still far off from the Keiki style, visually it wasn't.

‘That's right…'

could now use the Keiki

basic movements, this made things

what to

I am your instructor I'll naturally

Monica looked away. From the side, I could see Monica's ears turning red. She was trying

forgot she

how boastful and shameless appeared to be, Monica was in fact extremely weak

one compliment was enough

perform badly, I'm going to look bad so I must do my best to make you guys stronger

best to hide her embarrassment, in a

no one actually knows you're coaching

said it out loud, given Monica's personality, I would be in

looking forward