Ryuu Kusari no Ori -Kokoro no Uchi no “Kokoro”-

Chapter 5 Part 2

Irisdina and the others parted ways at the school gate.

After the morning assembly, Nozomu and Mars came to the training ground for the morning class.

The contents of the third year's lesson began with the formation of parties for the mock battle they were about to do. Now, the students who came to the training grounds swung their swords and talked to their own party members, wasting their time until the lesson started.

"Nozomu, do you have a little time?"

"? What's wrong, Mars?"

Nozomu was checking his preparations, but he was approached by Mars from the side.

"I have something to try in today's mock battle."

"? What are you going to try?"

"...I learned quite a bit of magic from Tima, so I want to see the results in today's mock battle."

"...Then?"

According to his story, it looks like Mars wants to try what he has trained with Tima in this mock battle.

Nozomu also knew that Mars had been studying magic with Tima recently, so he chose to listen to what he had to say for now.

"... Well, even if I say I've learned it, honestly, it's still a long way to go. I can't do it as well as Irisdina. That's why I want to try it in a one-on-one situation as much as possible. "

"... In other words. You want me to attract the other members, right?"

It seemed like Mars wanted to try using his magic, but he wasn't very confident.

"... Yea, honestly, it'll just put a burden on you, but if I can't use it properly in such a mock battle, it won't be useful in actual ones.... So, can I ask you to help me?"

"Well, I'll try ... I don't know how long I can attract them. I can't use magic, and I can't use Qi techniques because they're dangerous to use."

"It's fine for just a little bit. I think it'll be alright if it's you. On the contrary, can't you just beat them? "

"... Maybe I can do it in close-quarters combat. But, I want to ask you something, why did you decide to use it in mock battle? From your story, I think it's better to learn a little more..."

"No... well, that......... I thought it would be easier to remember because, for me, it's easier to memorize it by swinging my sword than to mess around on my desk."

Nozomu tilted his head at Mars's unusually poor reply, but he could understand what he was saying.

Considering Mars' personality, swinging a sword was more suitable than holding on to a desk. Everyone has their own way of remembering things.

Nozomu thought that if there was a method that seemed suitable for Mars, it would be a good idea to give it a try.

And this is just a mock battle. This is a place to practice and learn various things.

"... I understand, I'll give it a try."

Nozomu couldn't use Qi techniques to attack, so he had to take it into close-quarters combat to defeat his opponent, but Nozomu was growing as well. He could still compete with his opponent, so he wouldn't lose right away.

"Then I'll come forward first. Mars will follow after me and use the magic you want to use."

"I'll leave it to you"

"Oka~y. Everyone, please gather ~~. Let's start the lesson ~~"

Nozomu tells Mars to move as he like because Nozomu will be backing him up. After Mars thanked him, Anri-sensei's voice echoed in the training ground.

The students who had prepared gathered at once.

Nozomu and Mars nodded to each other and started walking towards Anri-sensei like the other students.

"So, they are our opponents ..."

Mars muttered and looked at the opponent he was about to face in the mock battle.

His opponent was mid-rank or slightly lower in 10th class and was the opponent he fought when Nozomu first teamed up with him before. However, unlike before, the number of their opponents was five.

There were two male students holding longswords. They are the vanguard. Their names are Jin and Tommy. There is also a student holding a spear, his name is Deck.

In the rearguard, there is a dagger-wielding female student named Cami, she can also use magic, and in addition, a new girl who is a mage, Hamria, has just been added.

On the other hand, Nozomu's party still only consisted of Nozomu and Mars.

"Then, let's begin!"

The mock battle begins with Anri-sensei's clear voice.

" !! "

"Wha !?"

With the signal for the start of the battle, Nozomu used his feet to move towards Jin and close the gap instantly.

In every mock battle so far, Nozomu always followed after Mars.

This time, the opponent thought that Mars would take the lead, so they were surprised that Nozomu rushed to take the lead, but the opponent was also a human who had studied at Solminati Academy despite being only in 10th class. Jin immediately raised his longsword to parry Nozomu's slash.

However, it was already predicted by Nozomu. Just as Nozomu's katana was about to be parried by the opponent, he circulated the Qi inside of his katana and let it flow into his body. Using the momentum of the slashing attack, his body made one full turn and released a roundhouse kick.

Nozomu's roundhouse kick was caught by Jin's longsword, but Nozomu had sent Qi to his feet in advance and released the compressed Qi the moment the roundhouse kick hit. Jin was blown away along with the longsword he was holding due to the explosive momentum at such a close range, and he lost his posture greatly.

Nozomu further held both his hands on his hips, sent Qi and compressed it, and fired a Qi technique *Cannon* at his opponent.

Jin was blown away by the burst of energy released at such a close range again, and involved Cami who was chanting a spell behind him.

Nozomu activated his Instant Move again. His aim was Hamria, who was chanting at the back.

"E~!?"

Hamria, who was chanting, made a perplexed voice because Nozomu had broken through the vanguard in just a few seconds, but regardless, Nozomu still swung his katana.

"Chi~!"

However, the slash was blocked by Tommy's longsword, another male student had interrupted him in the meantime.

"Fu~!"

However, Nozomu still swung his sword regardless of it and hit Tommy with a series of attacks.

Originally, Nozomu's purpose was to attract most of the opponents so that Mars could move freely.

In fact, Mars was in a one-on-one situation with Deck.

"Take this !!"

"Damn!!"

Mars pushed Deck so far. It's natural if we consider Mars' physical abilities, but it seems his movements are crude, the reason is that he has already used the magic.

If others looked closely, they could see a faint magical glow on Mars' greatsword, hidden behind the *Dust Blade* that enveloped the blade.

Perhaps the blade of the greatsword itself had magical power.

However, as far as Nozomu could see, the technique was incomplete, and he couldn't feel the power that Mars originally had.

"This guy!"

"Uwa !!"

Tommy, who had exchanged blows with Nozomu, was aiming for the opportunity as Nozomu shifted his consciousness to Mars, and pushed back forcefully.

Pushed by that force, Nozomu backed away slightly, and this time Jin, who had been blown away by *Cannon*, regained his posture and launched a slash from the other side.

"Ee~e~ei!"

Nozomu dodged the longsword that was swung within a hair's breadth and tried to keep the distance with his Instant Move, but this time Cami turned in the direction of Nozomu's movement.

"Haa !!"

The daggers in both of Cami's hands were swung, aiming at Nozomu's nape and torso respectively.

Nozomu thrust in without killing the momentum of his legs and twisted his body while parrying the dagger that was swung with his katana and scabbard. His body flowed sideways with the driving force, and he passed through her. Nozomu made one rotation with his feet as the axis and went around to her back.

"Eh?"

Just when Cami thought she had managed to hit Nozomu with her dagger, Nozomu slipped behind her before she knew it. She made a surprised voice, but Nozomu wouldn't miss this opportunity.

Nozomu fired a Qi technique *Cannon* at her back. Her delicate body was blown like a leaf blown by the wind.

At that time, there was Tommy trying to close the distance with Nozomu. Tommy was at the destination where Cami blew away, so this time Tommy was involved with her.

"Au ~~~"

Cami is lighter than Jin, so she was easily losing her consciousness by the impact of the two collisions.

"Wha !?"

"Damn!!"

Jin and Tomi became impatient. They were surprised that they were defeated by an opponent they thought was lower in rank.

Two people try to hit Nozomu with their weapons, but Nozomu moves and avoids being pinched by the two and manages to fend off their attacks with his katana and scabbard.

However, the reason why Nozomu was moving around was that if he received their attacks head-on, Nozomu couldn't fully deal with them, as he had inferior power.

Meanwhile, Nozomu looked at Hamria, who was staring at him and was about to cast a spell.

Perhaps she also felt impatient with the unexpected events, she couldn't concentrate on her chanting.

After all, if the pursuit of the two vanguards loosened up a bit, Nozomu would immediately try to run towards her with his Instant Move.

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Moreover, her companions were in close-quarters combat with Mars and Nozomu, so she couldn't shoot her magic due to the fear of involving her companions.

(... Well, if I want to earn time for Mars, this seems to be enough... I don't need to use *Phantom* or "that"...)

Due to this morning dream. Nozomu, who was afraid his power would go wild, chose a method that didn't use Tiamat's power as much as possible and chose to devote himself to gaining time with the abilities he had developed over the years.

For Nozomu, Mars played a major role in this mock battle, he only recognized himself as something extra.

"O, oi. What does this mean..."

"N, no. How would I know..."

However, from the point of view of others who didn't know Nozomu's true abilities, it was a sight that made them doubt their eyes.

A student they thought was inferior to themselves was fighting well against multiple opponents, even though he was the same student from the same 10th class and at the bottom of their grade.

On top of that, Nozomu's expression shows he has composure when handling opponents swinging their swords at him.

Until now, they had thought that Nozomu's abilities were inferior to their own, but if they looked at this situation, they could understand the difference in strength between him and themselves. But, it's a matter of whether they accept it or not.

On the contrary, Mars was struggling when Nozomu was showing some of his abilities.

=====================================

Mars' POV

"Damn!"

I bit my lip, I was frustrated with myself for not being able to attack properly. Even if it's just one on one.

My greatsword was enveloped with magical power and Qi technique *Dust Blade*, but I couldn't handle it as I wanted.

The power and sharpness of the greatsword that was enveloped in the *Dust Blade* and enhanced by strengthening magic certainly made my sword stronger than ever.

However, the simultaneous use of techniques from completely different systems, namely Qi and magic, required a control technique that was incomparable to conventional practice using only Qi or magic alone. I simply wasn't able to master this heterogeneous technique.

Besides, I was too busy focusing on controlling my technique and couldn't concentrate on the opponent in front of me.

My slash that normally blew away a giant demon beast was parried by the opponent's spear, and instead, the opponent's spear was thrust into my neck.

"Ku~ !!"

I flicked the opponent's spear with the back of my hand, but because of that, one hand was occupied and allowed the opponent to pursue further.

The opponent's spearman's name is Deck……. He launched a series of thrusts, but I blocked it with the back of my hand. If I aim at one of the series of attacks and stop it forcefully then launch a slash with my greatsword, it would be parried with his spear. It's because I can't swing my greatsword properly with just one hand.

"This guy!!"

"Guuuuuu!"

Deck and I were fighting head-to-head, and we fight each other at close range, but I can't push him away at all.

The cause was that all the techniques I used were half-finished due to the simultaneous use of magic and Qi.

The wind-enveloped blade of the *Dust Blade* is so weak that I can't think it's the same technique I've used so far, and I haven't been able to strengthen my body with Qi properly.

My own body movements were dulled because I was distracted by the technique's control.

Nozomu's figure is reflected in my field of view.

He held Hamria back who sometimes tried to chant while holding two people at once, Jin and Tommy. He had the usual good judgment skills and a wide field of vision.

What's more, he rarely used attacking Qi techniques. He never used his *Phantom*. The only thing he used was the Qi *Cannon* technique which blew his opponent away with a burst of energy.

"Damn~ !!"

Compared to Nozomu, who tosses his opponent around with precise and delicate movements, my current movements are dull like a slow turtle, and it's almost incomparable.

That seems to tell me the difference between us, and it makes me irritated and impatient.

At the end of the second year, when I saw his true abilities, I immediately thought that he was a great person.

Despite the shackles of Ability Suppression, even I knew that the effort to obtain that ability was far greater than I expected, and when I think about it, I was feeling terribly pathetic that I only made it difficult for him.

For some reason, we started training together, and at that moment, when I saw his Qi technique, *Phantom*.

His katana was drawn out in an instant. A flying slash passed in front of me at that moment. An extremely compressed flying slash that had been sharpened to the extent that it can easily bisect the rock.

To be honest... I was fascinated by it.

Secretly, I tried to see if I could do it too, but maybe because I had a rough personality, the Qi I sent into my sword just burst. I just couldn't use a delicate technique like him.

It was at that time. I wanted a technique that was comparable to his.

Honestly, I know it was childish, but I couldn't help but want something like that.

After that, I met Irisdina and the others and came up with the idea of using magic and Qi at the same time, but it was too difficult to control after all.

Even when I read old textbooks and spellbooks, I couldn't understand it at all because I usually skipped studying that kind of thing.

Had Tima not taught me anything, I would still be groaning with a textbook in my hand. However, the magic that could be used in conjunction with Qi was only weapon strengthening magic.

Besides, the success rate is low, and it's still less than 10% even after I practiced it until now. It was quite strange that I could use it today.

His back feels so far away.

It was when Nozomu fought Rugato that I felt the difference between us.

While fighting against one of the strongest men on the continent called rank S, neither I nor Irisdina have any way of dealing with it.

We had no advantage, Somia was held hostage, and we were easily beaten. It was a completely out of our league opponent.

Possesses advanced techniques with incredible magical power and simultaneously uses 10 magics.

Even Irisdina was defeated by the difference in strength between them.

And Nozomu defeated such a powerful person, Rugato.

When he released his Ability Suppression, he was far beyond my expectations, therefore the impatience within my chest continued to grow, making my crude swordsmanship even worse.

(Don't rush it!)

No matter how much I tried to calm myself down, the impatience did not disappear, and my swordsmanship remained crude until the time of the battle was over.