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

guys planning on using your strongest techniques?

Monica's eyes lit

—Swoosh! —Swoosh!

see if you

air as if showing off,

"Ready?"

"Never been readier…"

became especially empowering, Kevin looked at me. Looking back

"Let's go…"

muttered as he slashed

VUUUUAM!

A powerful energy could be felt from the sword beam as a thick scar traced the path of the

thought, ‘Slashing down with both hands on the sword, so he's already reached

could now perform the fifteenth movement of

"Still…"

movement of the [Keiki

after finally charging up, I took a stance. Moments after, the world around me turned dark and

"Huh?"

Monica who for a second didn't know what to do. Taking advantage of

quickly able

"Not bad…"

my and Kevin's attack, Monica smiled and

—Sha!

the side, to my

her sword down and

—Craka!

made out of paper, Kevin's sword

"Haa…haaa…this is so unfair"

the other side of the room, Kevin slumped down

‘Damn it'

[S] rank was huge, I didn't think it would be

us like children. She made it seems as though our most powerful attacks were nothing but

"I'm impressed"

scar left behind by Kevin's sword beam,

were this strong. You guys were almost as good as me back

to Monica's shameless boast,

be more

designed Monica to be this way. If I had to

"Here, take this"

direction, Monica casually threw

"This…"

I didn't think too much at first, but my eyes soon shot

through its contents, my

===

[★★★✰ Quick-slash style]

focused on speed. With one quick draw, the user gains the ability to kill an opponent without them noticing anything had happened. Created to replicate the Keiki style. After years of research, this sword art was the

===

"Is this for me?"

trembling hands, I looked at

sword art, I decided to give you a little gift. The sword art is three and a half stars, but given the criteria, this was the best I

away, Monica

"You don't like it?"

course, I like it. There's no

shook

not like this?

the idea of someone trying

were many sword arts similar to the Keiki style in circulation at the moment, but after a quick skim through, I would

call them imitations was already a compliment. They were not even close to

This, however, was different.

it wasn't. Meaning that the techniques looked exactly like

‘That's right…'

I could now use the Keiki style whenever I

me to the basic movements, this made things much easier

to

your instructor I'll naturally take

I could see Monica's ears

forgot she

and shameless appeared to be, Monica was in fact extremely

one compliment was enough to

I must do my best to make you guys stronger for

trying her best to hide her embarrassment, in a

one actually knows

inside of my heart. Of course, only in my heart. Had I actually said it out loud, given Monica's

looking forward to