-Is this the ending you wished for?
The surroundings are completely engulfed in flames.
Corpses with familiar faces are rolling around.
A boundless sense of despair tightens around me.
-Didn't you have the power to change it?
If it was you, couldn't you have twisted the predestined ending?
Sorry, I'm sorry.
I wanted to change it too.
-Will you face the predestined ending, or will you smash the ending to pieces?
The surrounding scenery all burned to ash and disappeared.
In the void where only futility remained, a clear voice rang out.
-Protect it, at all costs.
***
Mmm.
5 AM.
This damn wake-up time never goes astray.
My physical condition is at its peak.
However, a sensation as if something is broken dominates my entire body.
It feels like someone is gripping my neck and suppressing me strongly.
Is it because of the dream I can't remember?
I try to remember it every time, but what am I supposed to do about memories that vanish when I wake up?
I tried to sleep again, thinking it might get better if I slept a little more, but my mind only became sharper, and I felt rather anxious.
As usual in Kailon Hall, I even tried my daily training, but nothing changed.
It was a method that always worked, but it doesn't work now.
What is it.
What on earth is this emptiness.
What is this pressure stemming from.
"Professor, you have arrived."
"Right."
Even after arriving at my office, which I hadn't visited in a long time, this pressure did not subside.
Rather, it felt like it was getting worse.
"Professor, is something wrong?"
"You look unwell."
"It is nothing."
"Please speak comfortably. Is there anything I can do to help?"
Right.
If it is Rit, who possesses mental abilities.
If it is her, couldn't she alleviate this pain a little bit right now?
Couldn't she produce an effect like the medicine I took before I was dragged here?
...No.
"It is fine, so do not mind it."
I thought about it for a moment, but soon shook my head.
Medicine only avoids the situation for a moment.
If the root cause is not removed, it will rather become worse.
Receiving Rit's help would likely be similar.
It was a conclusion reached based on long experience.
"You made the lecture announcement properly, right?"
"Yes... But Professor, your complexion is really bad. Even if you rest for just a moment.... Enough. By the way, did you absorb Levi's magic stone properly?"
"Ah, not yet...."
"Class is starting soon. Show progress by the time class ends."
"Yees...."
It has been a long class cancellation.
Even without that, I proceeded with a cancellation once due to the incident in Kailon Hall, but because I got entangled in Bert, the unplanned break became even longer.
My students are all elites gathered to learn something from me.
I am just sorry for the long break.
Clack-
As I opened the door, the faces of the students I hadn't seen in a long time came into view.
Standing on the podium, I examined each of their faces.
'The faces are... good.'
These brats.
"The break was long."
You played around during that time, didn't you?
"Prove that you did not play around during that time."
Question spreads among the students.
They were flustered and troubled.
"...I will conduct a simple test. This will replace the missed lectures."
At that moment-
The pressure that was crushing my whole body.
Became a little more comfortable.
***
"Showcase the best technique you know, and prove it. I will evaluate you."
It meant he would check if there was any progress during the break, or if there was rather a regression.
It was truly a place to prove.
"I will... prove it first."
The first one to step forward was Deyan.
Since he didn't skip training even while acting as a liaison between Aeroc and Lucas, he was confident.
"The only swordsmanship I know is the Roch Sword. I will showcase all of it."
Like a knight loyal to Aeroc, Deyan showcased the Roch Sword, which could be called the very basis of Aeroc knights.
From the draw to the Roch Sword's mystery, Infinity Slash.
As he perfectly realized the orthodox Aeroc sword form, cheers erupted from the students.
'What is with that guy?'
'I thought he had the least presence until now, but turns out he was a hidden talent? At that level, isn't he better than Jesse?'
Since the image of the strongest in the school, which had solidified as Jesse Athlon, was shifting towards Deyan.
"B-."
"...."
However, Lucas's evaluation was stingy.
"The draw was good without superfluity. However, the Infinity Slash you showed at the end had its power halved because the center of gravity was not properly distributed. If you had concentrated on the tip of the sword, you would have been able to show the essence of the endlessly continuing sword strikes- the Infinity Slash."
"...That is correct."
Lucas's point was accurate.
The weight distribution shifting at the end is a lack of training.
Deyan himself knows that too well.
There is no room for any excuses.
"If I only looked at the draw, giving an A would not have been insufficient. I clearly said to showcase the best technique you know, and since you included what was not the best, I deducted points. Go in."
Deyan accepted the evaluation, bowed deeply to Lucas, and turned around.
"Next-"
The simple test continued.
***
'Th, that is a B-?'
Ruina felt like a fire had fallen on her foot.
In her view, the Roch Sword Deyan unfolded was close to perfection.
Of course, there might have been a plus factor since she viewed it with a mage's gaze, but even setting that aside, Deyan's Roch Sword was excellent.
-To wield the Roch Sword so accurately like that, is he someone with connections to the royal family?
-Ey, no way, he doesn't have a surname.
-Perhaps a banished Royal Guard or something....
Just looking at the surrounding reactions right now, hasn't Deyan emerged as a new topic?
That's how strong the impact Deyan gave was.
Lucas pointed something out, but it was something Ruina couldn't understand.
The surroundings reacted with understanding like As expected....
'Just how well do you have to do to satisfy Professor Lucas?'
"It is a C."
"D-. I believe I told you to showcase your best skill."
However, seeing the procession of consecutive Cs and Ds from behind, it was compared anew how great a score B- was.
But his scoring method was falling into an even more unknown labyrinth.
Because a student who unfolded a sword form that felt messy even to Ruina received a C+.
When she saw such people, hope sprouted up in Ruina's heart.
"Next is... Ailon, is it you."
Ironically, Ailon, who is receiving the most expectation in this Combat Department.
It must be because the performance he showed at the orientation remained strongly in the mind.
Ruina especially had high expectations for Ailon.
Magic engineering and magic.
She was feeling a strange sense of kinship with Ailon in this place swarming with knights.
Also, there was an expectation that the level of magic engineering he showed might flatten Professor Lucas's nose.
"I upgraded the existing D-Log to mk.2. The best technique I know is naturally magic engineering! "
I would like the Professor to check it once.
Whirrr-
Clack, clank!
His wheelchair disassembled and reassembled, then stuck to Ailon's body like armor.
That appearance was just like a knight wearing full plate armor.
-Here I go, Professor!
Whirrr-!
Both mechanical arms clasped together and soared high.
At the same time, tremendous mana condensed!
Wouldn't a meteor seen only in literature possess such energy?
The direction that monstrous thing was heading was-
It was Lucas.
'Th, that crazy bastard....'
Ruina hoped Ailon would flatten Lucas's nose, she didn't hope for him to flatten Lucas himself.
'Someone stop him-!'
Ruina shouted inwardly, but no one in the surroundings showed signs of moving.
Rather, they looked like they were urging someone on inwardly just like her.
"It has certainly been upgraded. A-."
'No, Professor, this isn't the time to leisurely be grading scores!'
That thing containing the momentum of a meteor flew towards Lucas, and.
Whoosh-
Thud.
'Eh?'
Along with a quite anticlimactic sound, it landed in a spot very slightly away from Lucas.
"However, the pilot's understanding of operating the D-Log is terrible. That is why it is destroyed so easily like this. That is the D-Log being strong, it cannot be said that you are strong."
***
Astonishment covered the lecture hall.
'What is it, why, what!'
It seems there was something only visible to knights, which only she didn't know.
"Now, last. Ruina Elaim."
Before she could even resolve her questions, her turn approached.
However, she doesn't have a strongest technique.
She thought about using magic, but she wondered if that strict Professor Lucas would acknowledge it.
'Th, then....'
Ruina recalled the terrible technique she saw a little while ago.
Since that received a C+, perhaps there might be hope for her too.
"The best technique I know is...."
Ruina raised the wooden sword high into the sky.
The strongest technique that was the most intense, and beautiful, and at the same time seemed like she could copy it, as far as she knew.
"It is the Downward Slash."
Recalling what Professor Lucas had shown, she slowly brought the sword down just like that.
'Done.'
Considering it was her first time, it seemed she showcased it properly.
Inwardly satisfied, she looked at Professor Lucas, and faint astonishment was on his expression.
'W, what. Did I actually have talent beyond what I thought?'
It's not a terrible expression, but positive astonishment.
Around the time hope sprung up in Ruina's heart, Professor Lucas wore a smile.
That smile, just like a piece of art, made Ruina's consciousness distant for a moment.
"Th, that smile is a foul."
Subsequently, Lucas's voice, which made her doubt her ears, was heard.
'...retty.'
***
'I really almost died.'
As expected, Ailon's D-Log is a terrifying weapon.
If it weren't for Conference Head Alan's Deflection, I might have become a flattened dried filefish and bid farewell to this world.
Anyway, that psycho bastard.
However, if that attack is not directed at me, but used for my safety.
There would be nothing as reassuring as that.
Of course, there is still room for further improvement.
Even without that, I just happened to bring a gift to give to the guy from Bert.
'I can just give it roughly, calling it a top student gift... Ah, one was remaining.'
Ruina Elaim.
The only woman in this lecture hall.
Ruina is also a possessor of tremendous talent.
She is originally a mage.
However, her real talent lies in the sword.
I look forward to it.
"The best technique I know is...."
She pulled out the wooden sword and raised it high into the sky.
That posture is....
"...It is the Downward Slash."
Certainly, the posture is flawless.
I know she hasn't handled the sword properly until now, but should I say the form is alive?
But crucially, it is clumsy.
It is a failure.
You will be learning the sword intensively as much as you are lacking.
The moment I was about to convey this result-
[A new notification has arrived.]
[Buffet has donated 100G.] x 11
[DoshinMentor has donated 1,000G.]
[n8753_ysg8456611 has donated 100G.]
[Senior has donated 100G.]
[Herad has donated 300G.]
[kmjo has donated 100G.]
[Killnyang has donated 1,000G.]
[BlueJay has donated 30,000G.]
[BlueJay has donated 100,000G.]
At first, I thought I saw it wrong.
Even looking at it again seriously, the amount did not change.
One ten hundred thousand ten thousand hundred thousand.
Five zeros.
As I realized it was reality, a faint smile formed.
Beyond the notification window, I see Ruina with a blank expression.
Ah, right, I must tell you your result.
"...F."
My pronunciation leaked a bit.
It is because I was too happy.
"Ah, th, th, still, to say it is pr, pretty is too sud, sudden...."
Because of the leaked pronunciation, Ruina is making an extreme misunderstanding.
"I said F."
I kindly corrected her.