I had no doubt that the one who pulled the strings to have me promoted to C Rank was none other than that Man who was supposedly my father .
And the reason was why it was a problematic situation was mostly due to fact that i till this moment was unaware of what kind of power or Ancestral Arts i have, not to mention fighting Metaphysical, i'm not confident that i will survive a normal fight against a veteran Savior .
That was the reason why the principal asked me to come here today, she wanted to tell me of the dangers of being promoted to the C Rank in this manner, or so i thought, but she then continued to say :
I am somehow aware of your special circumstances, but it was for that fundamental reason i wanted to discuss with you about your future, it is dangerous to be promoted so abruptly, but it also an opportunity for you to take control of your life to some extent, but all under the premise that you have the will and strength to do so .
I'm here asking whether you wanted to accept the promotion or you can refuse it at the moment and wait for until you are ready to take such a step .
She was offering to revoke my promotion to C Rank, this will most likely put her in a difficult situation herself, but won't really have much an impact on me, she was willing to help me without wanting anything on return and she will have to shoulder a heavy responsibility in doing this .
It was an easy decision, but it was that sincerity of her that kept gnawing on my conscience, making this easy decision the most difficult one to take, this was also due to the things at stake here .
If i accepted the promotion, i might get deployed directly to fight Metaphysicals, a case that my chances of surviving without some miracle happening was zero, but if i refused the principal will shield me from the burn, but she might set herself on fire as a result .
Just as i was wrecking my brain up to find a solution out of this problematic situation, the scene in front of me shifted, i looked around me and saw that i was surrounded by black like fog, then just like what happened on the vision i had before at the hospital, my eyes were suddenly filled with glyphs swirling in them, but it was a bit comprehensible for me this time .
I was able to see more this time, the glyphs in my eyes formed a line of words, one that was surprisingly clear to me, but after that one line of words was finished, more lines began to appear one after another, the total lines written were 16 lines, but the moment the lines were presumedly completed, my vision once again returned to normal .
The expression on my face surprised all the people present, but as if this was somewhat common around here, they simply nodded at me and dropped inquiring more about it, even though there was a third-party that didn't share the same thoughts as the two adults in front me, i felt the curious gaze of the little girl staring intently at my back to the point of almost piercing through my skin .
But soon the gaze receded thankfully, i felt a bit more energized than i was a second before, my heart had also calmed down a bit and remembering a certain someone in my mind helped to calm me down completely, i was now seeing things from another point of view, as the principle said it was an opportunity nonetheless, i might as well ask about what the promotion will give me, before i made up my mind .
" Thank you for your consideration, principal, but do you mind telling me about the benefits of becoming a C Rank Savior .
She released a sigh and began telling me about the benefits, due to the secrecy nature of our jobs, my social status won't increase much by my promotion, but i will be able to gain a handsome some of money for my troubles and the amount will even increase in accordance to the amount of missions i do and the numbers of Metaphysicals i have slain, those contributions will help me in ranking up in the order .
At her mentioning this, i was able to finally understand what she meant when she said to take control of my life, with enough money and enough influence and strength, we can completely get rid of that Man intervening in our lives once and for all, this will give my mom and i a chance of living a blessed life .
No matter what will you choose to do, know that you will have my full support .
I once again bowed down to her and thanked her for the kind gesture and i was truly grateful for her care and told her that i had made up my mind and accepted the promotion not giving the consequences of doing so any piece of my mind .
Seeing my determination, she didn't say anything else to persuade me, she just gave me a warm smile and nodded at me, but seeing that my expression was still aghast, she said :
Don't worry, it isn't like you will be fighting all alone against Metaphysicals or something, you will be joining as a reserve member of the Strikers first .
" Strikers, who are they exactly ? .
Didn't Isuragi-kun informed you about them , how careless of him ? .
Isuragi Jin spoke for the first time since we entered into the office, he said in a bit aggravated tone :
I already explained everything that needed to be explained on our way here, but he had other things on his mind at that time, he completely disregarded of my explanation .
He finished saying this and glared with a look that seem to say " look what you did " .
I once again bowed and apologized to him and he seeing me like this smiled faintly and offered me his hand while saying :
I will introduce everything to you one last time, starting with myself .
I took his hand and we handshaked then he began telling me about what i didn't pay attention to before .
I was able to know who were the Strikers, Strikers were an elite team of students in Akane Academy, which consists of Saviors of Rank C or higher and were led by the current guy in front me, Jin Isurugi .
His explanation also told me about all i need to know about the Strikers, the Combat Corps that i will be joining, even only as a reserve member for now .
I thanked him, but saw him looking intently at the principal as he asked her a question about me :
Under what category should we register him, he had no clue about what kind of arts did he used in his past lives and from the video you have shared with us, we all believe that he was a Kuroma, but this still isn't confirmed, so if you had an opinion on this please share it with us .
The principal put her hand on her chin and seemed to be contemplating on how to reply, but then as if she came to have some sort of epiphany, she looked at me and said :
What do you think, Ryuu-kun, i believe you should have some sort answer to that kind of question, isn't that right ? .
Isuragi looked to be a bit taken aback, but he regained his composure soon after and asked me to stop wasting time and say it already .
" I believe that i'm a Dark Arts user .
You are a Kuroma then it's decided, but allow me to ask do you remember the Dark Art you used in the video to defeat that Metaphysical .
I shook my head and said :
" Sorry, i don't remember what happened after i passed out, i like all of you was surprised to see those scenes unfolding .
Seeing that both of them were both a bit disappointed to hear that, i tried to cheer them up by saying :
" I do remember one line of a Dark Art i should have used in my past life .
I said and began to inscribe the glyphs i saw in the air in front of me, but no words seem to appear in front of me, i turned towards the principal for advice a bit embarrassingly .
She first released a tender smile at seeing me like this, then told me that i need to infuse Mana in my glyphs or else the whole Writing process will be completely futile .
I then got taught how to feel and channel the Mana inside me, the first time i felt my Mana i sensed that it was cold, but as if it was began to become open to me, it surprisingly became warm, the operation of Mana was quite easy and as i was about to try and write again, the principal stopped me .
She then told us that if i were to try and use a Dark Art here it might turn out to be quite dangerous, so we need to head to the Training Arena, Isuragi-senpai approved as well and told me that it was also the time to meet the other members and do a little assessment of my strength .
" Huh, an assessment ? .
You didn't expect me and the other members to just accept you using the backdoor to join, did you, sorry but this isn't happening and let me make it clear for you, i don't care about what your circumstances, if you seemed to have no value to the team, i will cut you off .
His casual tone from before had completely vanished, his tone now carry a tint of tyranny and a little bit of pride in them, there was a bit of scorn to it too .
Mind waiting outside for a bit, Isuragi-kun .
He was told so by the principal and he complied, but asked both of us not to take much time, after all the other members of the Strikers were waiting for him .
I wasn't feeling bad about the words he said, if anything i completely agreed with his logic, after all i remembered the scene displayed the Saviors fighting that sea monster from earlier, so i simply stayed silent, but my silence was misunderstood as an indication of being aggravated, so the principal said in a comforting tone :
He isn't targeting you on purpose or anything like that, in fact he is doing this for your sake and for the sake of the other members of his team, he is a good guy and a good leader, so don't feel bad about it .
" I'm not feeling bad about it, principal, if anything i feel that i'm quite lucky to have such a man as a leader, i also hope to learn a lot from him .
Oh, you have quite a mature line of thought, that's a relief, you can go ahead then, tell Isuragi-kun that we will come shortly after dealing with some unfinished business here, right Maya ? .
After she finished saying this, i was wondering why she said we, but i was reminded once again of the little girl from before that was still in the room, what said after was quite surprising, i was only reminded of her presence after she said :
Right, oneesamaa- desuu .
So she was related to the principal, could she possibly be a Savior too, at this stage it won't be much of a shock, really .
I nodded my head at the principal and went out of the room waiving at the little girl, which she replied to by simply nodding at me, as i reached for the handle of the door, the clear voice of the principal came from behind me, saying :
Thank you for your understanding .
I turned my head in realization of what she was thanking me for, but so she turned the back of the chair towards me, leaving me unable to see her face, i looked at the little girl, but she just shook her petite head at me .
I just left the matter at that and once again said goodbye and directly left the office .
You finished your business here .
In the same formal tone, i was greeted by the stern face of the captain, i nodded my head and he began leading me to somewhere .
I was led to the huge facility called Training Arena, we were heading to a room with the number 4 engraved on top of its door, the whole facility structure seemed to come out of a fantasy book, we were walking towards the entrance of the room, when i suddenly felt my eyes getting sleepy, but even the sensation came and go in almost a fleeing manner, i felt a little disoriented at it .
Seeing my reaction, the guy walking in front of me turned his head and explained that what i just felt was due the entanglement of the the new dimension that the Training Arena had .
The reason to both the principal asking us to come here and also the reason we Saviors able to train here to our heart content was all due to the existence of this special dimension .
The training arena is located in a special dimension that have some few special characteristics that are suitable for us Saviors to train in .
All the damage we might deal to each other during training or the feeling of exhaustion or injuries, will all be swept away the moment we come out of the special dimension, this was the only suitable place for Saviors like us to let loose without caring much about the consequences of doing so .
I was a bit numb to all of these new surprises at this point, so i kept nodding my head at his words and continued going forward, after a few minutes of walking, we finally arrived at the entrance of the training room number 4 .
As i entered the room, i saw that the training room was actually spacious enough to be called a building of its own, the architecture of the room was like the Roman colosseum, the moment i stepped inside what came to my view and attention was the battle training that was being conducted currently .
Flashes of light were flickering on the battlefield in front of me and i heard the clashing of swords against each other, then without a warning a fireball like those seen in games was coming towards me, completely catching me off guard, but that wasn't the case for the guy next to me .
He suddenly had appeared in front of me looking completely different than before and even the clothes he wore were different than before, he had a sword in hand and he slashed in front of him with it .
I was a bit skeptical on why he slashed in front of him, even though the fireball was still a bit far in distance, but a second later i was shocked to see that a strong breath of wind came out from the slash of his sword and vanquished the incoming fireball almost instantly, then a voice sounded from the back end of the training ground that was ring like in shape, berating the one launched the attack sarcastically, saying :
Kamekichi, you really need to stop trying to catch the captain off guard like this .