Chapter 45: Ch45: A New Instructor (4)

Shiori was in anti-mana chains. In only a few years, she managed to grant some modicum of relief to some of the starving population by providing food, water, and shelter, but her actions earned the ire of the emperor. Sayaka watched with an emotionless expression. She cared greatly for Shiori, but Shiori told her to act neutral in case such a trial ever happened. The chancellor is serving as adjudicator. This is really bad.

“Henceforth, your status shall be reduced to that of a commoner. The Sakaguchi family shall be dismantled, and your estate shall be confiscated by the imperial court.”

“Why? Why go so far? Do the people mean nothing to you?!” She ignored the man reading her sentence and addressed the emperor. “Shiro! You could have been the greatest emperor in history! You started off so well! The previous emperor peacefully passed, you became the emperor, and Yamato prospered. But in ten years, the people have fallen into despair! Use what I’ve done to regain the people’s faith! You need only say I acted with your blessing, and they will-”

“Silence, wrench!” The chancellor ordered. “His Majesty is the greatest emperor in the history of Yamato. We will not stand for a traitor’s blasphemous cries!”

I hate this. Shiro, why are you doing this?! On the outside, Sayaka maintained a blank expression the same as the other retainers, but on the inside, she was upset.

“Master, are we going to-”

“No, Kaede. Shiori wanted to make sure we were not implicated. We can’t act carelessly.”

“Understood.”

Shiori laughed hysterically. “You are so wrong, it’s hilarious. You pitiful brainwashed fool!” Suddenly, aether burst from Shiori, breaking the anti-mana chains and throwing the chancellor and nearby guards through the stone walls. The guards rushed her, but even without a weapon Shiori was easily able to handle them. Only when she rushed the emperor did the elites, the Imperial Guard Knights standing near the throne, take action. Shiori weaved through them, and almost reached the emperor, but one guard was able to land a kick on her and another knocked her back.

She landed next to Sayaka, who barely maintained her outward emotionless expression, along with the other retainers. Shiori stood up and yelled, “Shiro. Whatever it takes, I will return. Your tyrannical rule will not be tolerated! When I return, you will either abdicate your throne or you will die.”

Shiori turned to flee, but the emperor did not let her simply leave. He unleashed an incredible blast of mana, forcing the retainers and guards to leap out of the way. Sensing the impending danger, Shiori turned to block the attack, but she knew it was too much. The emperor’s mana was abnormally strong. Even with aether, she knew she wouldn’t survive it. She had no chance to dodge, so she tried to block it, vain as the attempt might be. As her barrier began to fail, Sayaka jumped in and added her own barrier. Together, they blocked the attack. Shiori was overjoyed to see her brown-haired friend come to her rescue. Sayaka smiled at her before addressing the emperor.

“Shiro, please reconsider!” Sayaka pleaded. “Shiori is only eighteen! She is young and naïve! She truly did not mean any harm to your image!”

“So, you are a traitor as well, then?”

“What? No! I am no traitor! And neither is she! Shiori only wanted to help the people!”

“Enough.”

“Guards, seize them. Before I change my mind about launching another Mana Wave. The next one will be much more powerful.”

“At once, Your Majesty!” The guards rushed the duo, and an intense exchange of blows began. Sayaka, with her katana, and Shiori, with a katana she took from one of the weaker guards, defended an onslaught of strikes from the dozen knights surrounding them. The Imperial Guard Knights numbered thirteen, with a captain and twelve knights. They were the strongest force in the Yamato Empire. Alone, none of them could take on the likes of Shiori or Sayaka, but together with their teamwork is where they shined. It was enough that Sayaka resorted to using her real weapon.

She quickly summoned Kaede and shouted, “Kaeshi, awaken!” An enormous burst of pink aether knocked the Imperial Guard Knights back. Sayaka’s hair turned the same pink as her aura.

What? That’s... soul aether! She’s like me?”

Sayaka unleashed her aether around her and Shiori in all directions and pinned the knights to the wall before facing the emperor. “I hoped it wouldn’t come to this, but you’ve forced my hand. You have betrayed your people. You are no emperor. You are nothing more than a tyrant, and your time will come.” The emperor didn’t respond, only glared at them. Sayaka smiled and poured aether into her blade as she sheathed it. “Tenken!” She drew her blade and unleashed a massive blast of aether.

The emperor raised a barrier to block the attack. The force behind the attack was so massive that he had to put everything he had into it. The barrier cracked under the pressure but held up just long enough to survive the attack. When the blast of aether was gone, so were Shiori and Sayaka.

*****

“Those people...” Tears streamed from Elliot’s eyes.

“Do you understand now?”

“That was undeniably my lord. But... how could he? He has only ever preached justice... that he did nothing but care for the masses! That you are a danger to everyone!”

“Now you know what he was like then, and what he’s done in this life,” Alethea said. “You saw how he tried to kill the very woman who sought to save the people. I had hoped even at the very end that he would prove himself, yet instead of commending her... he condemned her. After that, we fought a long war that ultimately ended in Shiori killing Shiro. The world healed after that. The starving people were given relief and a proper civilization was born. We worked tirelessly to ensure the people wanted for nothing, but even we were not without faults.”

“Yes,” Kye continued. “I...” She sighed. “Suffice it to say that we created a monster of our own, lost our lives to stop it, and now have the opportunity to make good on that mistake.”

“Do you see the difference between him and us? He has created monsters in this world while we are seeking the opposite.”

Elliot looked away. “I... need time to think. This is a lot to take in. My lord... he’s...”

“Take all the time you need, Elliot. However, you shall be confined to the academy and monitored at all times. Is that acceptable?

“I accept.”

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*****

“When you unleashed Kaeshi?”

I never asked, but I always wondered what she thought in that moment. When I unleashed Kaeshi that day to protect her. We were not yet dating, but I was in love. She was only fifteen when she made the declaration to help the people. At the time I thought she spoke out of childish ambition, but she knew what to do to back it up and lead the effort herself. I was five years older in that life. At twenty, I didn’t view a fifteen-year-old as a potential love interest. Yet, over the few years after she declared to improve the people’s standard of living... my view changed. Before she was arrested, I viewed her more than as simply a potential love interest. I was in love.

“I was shocked. When you leaped in to save me with your own barrier, I was happy to think that you weren’t just acting the part of a friend until then. When you unleashed Kaeshi, I knew that you were an ally. I knew you were like me. I instantly felt safer.” Kye smiled warmly. “It was... nice knowing that for the first time, another one of us was there.”

“Then what happened?” Michelle asked, making the hand motions of eating imaginary popcorn. Both raised their eyebrows at her. She looked around the table and saw that even Doran, Yami, and Zen were making the face. From the next table over, Danielle had buried her head in her hands. “What?”

“The popcorn shtick again?” said Zen.

“Oh, you all are disappointed that I’m doing that?” Michelle continued eating her imaginary popcorn without the slightest concern. She even held her hand out as if offering some to the only one that spoke up. “Want some?”

“You completely ruined the moment!” Danielle scolded. “The look in Kye’s eyes and the hope on Alethea’s face... long lost lovers finally reunited after some untold billions of years are reminiscing of an important moment of their building love and... you’re pretending to eat popcorn...”

Kye and Alethea stood up and teleported away together. Doran sighed and returned his and their trays to the food court shop they were eating at. He looked back at Michelle, sighed again, and left. Everyone else left one by one, leaving Michelle sitting in the food court alone.

“I’m sorry!”

*****

The next day, Kye dragged the class out to the training grounds. “Greetings class. Today, we’re going to go over using mana efficiently in live combat. Alethea will assist in the demonstration.” She glanced over at her pink-haired partner, who nodded and stepped forward. “What do I mean when I say efficiently?”

Alethea smiled and said, “Using no more mana than is necessary.”

“Correct.” Kye formed her aethersteel weapon into a simple stick, as did Alethea. “But what do you mean by more than is necessary?” Kye fetched a bracelet-like device from a box and tossed it to Alethea before grabbing one of her own.

“The most basic principle of efficiency can be simplified to this: when you attack or are attacked, use enough mana to ensure it works. If you use more than that, you’ll tire yourself out in a long-drawn-out fight.

After equipping the bracelet, a display appeared for the entire class through their NeuraPhone’s augmented reality. On the left was Kye’s name with a number below her named reading 0, and on the right was Alethea’s with the same.

“What is this?” asked Isabel.

“A new toy my mother invented. It allows-”

“That your mother invented with your help,” Alethea interjected.

“Ah, yes. It reads your mana output like the testing orbs.”

“That sounds incredible!” said a classmate. “Why not use them for testing?”

Kye held up her hand and channeled a significant amount of mana. The reading showed 1000M. “You should see 1000M.”

“Yes.”

“I’m outputting ten times that.”

“Oh.”

“These devices are new technology and need more development time, but they will do fine for our purposes today.” Kye turned back to Alethea. “Start off small.”

Alethea nodded and began channeling mana. The device displayed 1000. Kye also began channeling, but her reading displayed 5000.

“As you can see, I am channeling five times more mana than Alethea. If she attacked me right now,” and Alethea did as Kye spoke. Kye blocked her attack, and the displays showed an additional number. “The second number is the difference. That is how much extra mana I am channeling that is not being used.”

Alethea jumped back and began channeling more mana, increasing her reading to 6000. She attacked again, and Kye was pushed back when she blocked. Alethea’s device read 1000 for excess and Kye’s read -1000. After the demonstration, both returned their weapons to bracelet form on the arm without the device.

“The more significant the difference, the more significant the effect. We’ve covered this topic in class in previous years, so I won’t linger on the basics. TLDR, you usually do not want to channel more mana than is necessary to block an attack or to ensure your attack succeeds, which only Alethea did just now. I blocked her first attack with far more than was needed, and I failed to properly block her second attack. Blah blah blah, anyway, now that we’ve reviewed the basics, we can move on.” Alethea removed her device and tossed it back to Kye, who placed it back in the box. Kye turned back to the class and continued, “Efficiency is great, but how do you know how much mana to channel? You need to read mana around you. That is the primary topic I will be working with you on this term.”

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