Chapter 108: 108. “It’s a really comfortable place.”

For the second round, the following day, Arima’s class encountered a new opponent and it was without saying that they won the same way as they did the first time around.

Although within the opposite class, there were some students that attended Arima's class the first month and who were quite talented, in the end, they were still not a match for those who had been picked and personally taught by Arima.

One important thing to note was that Arima had sparred with his entire class for two weeks straight. During those two weeks, while in the middle of the fight, Arima would start talking about one's weaknesses as if the countless magics coming at him didn’t exist.

The other things the students nurtured whilst confronting Arima were determination, mental fortitude, and experience. They mastered these three through challenging an individual so strong that they seriously wondered if he actually was human.

"Wait, there are only two rounds in this local tournament, right?" Raal asked after the end of the second round.

"Yes, after this, it's just a showcase between the representants of the winning classes. Though it's Lanya who will participate in my stead," Arima answered him.

"Damn this fu-" Raal started cursing under his breath but Karia put her hand above his mouth to stop him.

He was mad because the second class also surrendered at the final test. Ultimately, he didn’t get the chance to supervise even once. He couldn't do the job he was supposed to do as a judge and he was mad for it. On top of that, his curiosity for Arima’s students only grew bigger.

"Why don't you just go supervise the main tournament? If you request to the king, I'm sure you can be a jury there," Arima said. Raal mused and Karia lowered her hand once she was sure he wouldn’t start spouting curses again.

"…That's not a bad idea," He said and the Elf Priestess nodded.

"I'll go as well. I'm really interested in seeing your class in action," She stated and Arima shrugged.

"Do what you want I guess," He responded and went toward his class. When he came over, the students stood respectfully and pridefully in front of him.

"I have only one thing to say; it was easy," Arima uttered and his students were stunned.

"The two rounds you participated in today and yesterday were easy. You know it as well as I do. But, don't get too prideful. Velvet's class also won with no trouble. I actually don't know how strong her students are but I know she’s a better teacher than me at least.”

“I'm confident in making you strong, of course. But at the end of the day, I’m not a teacher at all. It’s likely that Velvet taught her students better than me since it’s her profession. Her courses should be well balanced, effective and orthodox. On the other hand, I merely gave you some tips and physically hammered it into you. I didn't really educate you."

"I just made you learn things by practicing and experiencing," Arima proclaimed and everyone realized that it was true.

Arima imparted them some knowledge to deepen their wisdom at first. Then afterward, he just sparred with them. That's all. He gave them techniques to work with but never taught them how to use it. When he pointed out their weaknesses, he never told them how to get rid of them.

In the end, you could say they had learned many things, obviously. But it was mainly their own effort and talent that were being pushed by Arima.

In a way, Arima literally had taught them the ‘way of fighting’ while Velvet’s approach was closer to ‘how to fight’.

"The only thing I gave you was a way to get stronger. The only thing I taught you was how to adapt," Arima smiled. "From now on, you will win by adapting yourself to the opponent. Don't forget, my contract with the academy was to teach you how to fight. I did my job. The most valuable quirk in a fight, after one's mentality, is adaptability."

The entire class attentively listened.

"Now, your job is to win this tournament," Arima concluded and his students nodded solemnly.

Night snickered and Arima turned toward him. "Where’s Lanya?"

"Hm? Oh… she should be with Karma if I’m not wrong.”

"Right," Arima remembered and sent a telepathic message to Karma.

Five minutes later, Karma and Lanya arrived together. They seemed to have spent quite a lot of energy.

Arima frowned. You were training?"

"Yes, I wanted to familiarize with my rapier," Lanya responded with a broad smile. She was quite enthusiastic at the moment since she knew that after this showcase, Arima would tell her the way to break through to the Earthen Realm.

"I see. Well, it was indeed a good initiative," Arima remarked and waved his hand. Lanya and Karma both recovered the entirety of their energy within a second.

"Be careful. You'll need slightly more than luck to beat her," Arima gazed at Lanya and pointed behind him with his thumb. Toward where he was pointing, Velvet and her class were going through the portal.

"Don't underestimate her. She's at the Tenth Level like you. You may have an inheritance but Night noticed the presence of a soul beast within her and quite a strong one as well," Arima added.

Lanya was a bit surprised but she wasn’t envisaging to underestimate her opponent in the first place. This was one of the things Night had told her first when she trained under him after they met.

"The showcase between the two winning classes will begin in five minutes. The students are allowed to stop any activity to watch through a nearby crystal," The announcer’s voice resounded across the entire academy and even within the confined space of the arena.

Arima nodded toward Lanya and went to sit on the benches with Night and Lanya. His students followed him.

Lanya jumped and lightly landed in the center of the arena and so did Velvet.

The two stared at each other for a minute.

"I am Velvet Venu," Velvet introduced herself first. Lanya then politely bowed.

"I am Lanya Leona, nice to meet you," She said whilst summoning her rapier.

Velvet smiled and unsheathed an elegant double-edged sword. Then, out of nowhere, a blazing whirlpool appeared next to her and formed the body of a fiery fox.

"Natsu," The fox spoke and Lanya smiled at him.

Meanwhile, the academy’s principal arrived from a portal and immediately walked toward Arima.

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"What is wrong, principal?"

"I wanted to ask for a favor," The principal smiled and sat down. "I’m sure you’re aware that a confrontation between two Tenth Levels is something very destructive. Usually, we use the particularities of this secluded space and multiple mages to nullify the shocks. But it takes a lot of effort from us. And sometimes, it puts us at risk too. I know it's a bit selfish, but, if it's fine with you, I wanted to request your assistance."

"I see," Arima nodded. "No problem. I also wish to give Lanya the best conditions possible," He said and his sigil started spinning extremely fast. A silver mist came out of his irises filled the air.

Velvet and Lanya noticed the blue mist slowly filling the air and stopped staring at each other to see what was going on. Both of them looked up and saw a magnificent gate that looked like a sculpted piece of art.

The gate made an unlocking sound and slowly opened.

"[Prohibere Vultus Ad Eam Ab Fenestras] (Stop looking at it from the windows)," Everyone heard Arima's incantation and felt a strange force pulling them from all sides.

"[Anima Est Ante Portam] (Soul's Front Gate)," Arima intoned and everyone present turned into a beam of light that flew inside the gate before it closed with a ground-shaking force.

The teachers and students watching from the recording crystals were shocked. They panicked a bit before the image changed strangely as if it had been hacked. It then displayed a totally different scenery that made the viewers gasp.

***

Velvet looked around in awe. There were tall and green plants anywhere the eye could see.

When she looked at the sky, she was even more thunderstruck to discover an entire ocean upside down. The more you looked at it, the dizzier you would be. But it was equally grandiose.

Filling the air around her, some firefly-like dots illuminated this wonderland with a bunch of different colors. The plants and the air were moist, giving it a melancholic and beautiful impression.

She and Lanya were standing in the middle of a stage made out of glowing bluestone. A few miles away from that stage, the two classes, Arima, Chulainn, Night, Karma, and multiple judges including Raal and Karia were now sitting on carved wood benches.

This scenery, all of those who were using a crystal could see it because Arima personally connected the images. Most of them were speechless and others wondered if what they were looking at was real.

"This is your soul manifestation, huh?" Chulainn commented as he admired the ‘sky’. He jumped off Arima's shoulder and started floating in mid-air. "I have to say, it's a really comfortable place," He admitted and Arister agreed.

Night seemed to be a bit uncomfortable though. But he quickly calmed himself down when he remembered he wasn't alone. The main reason Night always refused to go inside Arima’s soul was because it felt too wide, magnificent, calm, and intensely melancholic.

The atmosphere of this place also always made him feel sad and alone. But now that there were people together with him, he once again assessed this place and couldn't help to agree with Chulainn. Karma closed her eyes and appreciated the environment.

Then there was Lanya. She wasn’t as much surprised as everyone else. In fact, she actually took it very naturally. She didn’t know why, but she felt like she was at home all of a sudden and it made her feel extremely calm.

Arima snapped his fingers and a voice resounded in within the soul manifestation.

"Eh? Does it work? Oh, sorry, what?" The announcer seemed to be confused about something.

"…I understand," The voice mumbled and coughed. "The showcase will now take place in the arena Sir Arima prepared. We will begin in ten seconds. I will now initiate the countdown. Miss Velvet, Miss Lanya, ready yourselves."

Arima had instructed the announcer through telepathy to clear the current situation for everyone watching.

Immediately after that, Velvet's figure was shrouded by orange flames made from the fox's body.

"[Resonance]" She chanted and a pillar of fire emerged imposingly.

At the same time, Lanya became enveloped in bright silver light that raised upward as a pillar opposing Velvet's fire.

Their combined auras made the plants around to sway a bit, but none of them were actually destroyed or even damaged. If you looked at the sky though, you would be able to see some ripples forming on the water’s surface.

Strangely, the aura didn't reach the audience at all. Raal whistled at the phenomenon.

"This place is impressive," He praised and Karia nodded in agreement.

"I like it as well to be honest," Arima chuckled. He waved his hand and the plants around moved to point toward him. The 'fireflies' also grouped around him to create a light show

"This place is entirely under my control. As long as someone is weaker than me, I can do anything to him within this place. I can imprison him for eternity or do things like this," Arima declared and snapped his fingers.

Everyone around him felt their life force vanish. They all, without any exception, were now at the first level of the Mortal Realm.

Raal gawked at Arima wide-eyed. No matter how he inspected his soul and body, his entire being really had been completely reverted to the first level.

Arima smiled and snapped his fingers again. Everyone sighed in relief when they saw their strength returning to them.

"I can control your body at will here. I can put you under an illusion, steal your life force, invade your mind and memories, and a lot of others things," Arima listed and the people listening just felt really bad knowing that Arima was basically a god-like existence in this place.

"Incidentally, any of those plants decorating this ‘garden’ are something that you can't even cut without using your full power. And the blue stone on which the girls are standing is something that can't be broken unless you're at least two levels higher than the tenth," Arima added and Raal could only smile bitterly. He realized that this guy had become a lot stronger than when he had fought with him.

Back in the arena, the two girls had finished their transformation.

Lanya’s arms, legs, and vital areas were now covered with silver scales and she had also grown an elegant pair of wings along with a silver tail. Her pupils narrowed to a slit as she stared at her opponent.

Meanwhile, some whiskers grew around Velvet’s nose and a pair of fox ears sprung from her hair. There were also nine fox tails wagging behind her. Her fangs grew longer and orange flames were ignited around her.

Both combatants lifted their weapon at the same time and kicked the ground.

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