"But… who are you?"
So I answered:
"I am your savior, and you are the hostage. But if you speak of my name, it is Henray Kamatsu."
Hearing my name, the young girl immediately fell to her knees, terrified by my status. So I reassured her, explaining that despite my position, I was just like her—human—and that status does not define humanity. Surprised, she thanked me as she stood back up, though still a little embarrassed by what I had said. Then, I went to help Aruna stand, and I healed her with the light spell [Instant Heal]. After that, Aruna and I escorted the young girl, whose name turned out to be Emilia.
When we arrived at her house, we knocked at the door. Her father opened it. He was a man with brown hair, around thirty years old. After we explained what had happened, he thanked us deeply for our act. Then everyone went back home, since it was already late. It's true, we had lost time and missed a meeting, but the important thing was that we had saved a life.
As soon as I entered the manor, I prepared to sleep immediately, since it was late and, besides, I had to wake up early tomorrow for my studies.
The next day, I put on my uniform and rushed to the academy. Classes started at nine. Today, we began with theoretical magic lessons, focusing on the use of cosmic magic to enhance abilities. The second lesson was geography, especially about the Demonic Continent, where the infamous Hell's Pit lies. This pit holds forbidden books, as well as souls and bodies used for scientific and magical experiments. After that came the practical magic lesson. We had to create blocks of ice. It sounds simple, but in reality, to create ice you must first learn levitation magic—which is elemental, not ecliptic.
After class, some students left the academy, while others stayed in the library. This time, I went to the library to read. I was searching for a book about ecliptic magic, especially the spells of creation. These spells are extremely powerful—they can create anything, or even bring forth something from another world.
After a few minutes, I finally found the book. Its title was "Ecliptic Magic: Creation." It was rather long, but its pages contained mostly images with very little text. After reading it, I understood that creation magic doesn't use mana at all. Instead, it draws on our creativity and mental energy (there is physical energy, which is Ki, then mana, and finally mental energy, which is like intelligence). But beyond that, there was nothing new that I didn't already know. Perhaps the scholars had focused only on the essentials, ignoring the extraordinary.
As I returned the book, I ran into Aruna's brother, Saru. He, too, was in the special class—not because of nobility, but because of talent. It's true that he was weaker than Aruna, but he was still gifted. Politely, I greeted him. But he refused, saying:
"I don't need to greet a former commoner who is weak in magic. If you want to prove your worth, let's duel! If you win, I'll respect you. But if you lose, you'll kneel before me and call me 'My Lord' for our entire time here."
I replied calmly:"But I have nothing to gain. Your respect means nothing, since you only respect your own. To make this duel fair, if I win, you will be my servant for the whole year."
"Fine, deal. I'm sure I'll win anyway, so it's a guaranteed loss for you," he added proudly.
To begin the duel, we headed to the combat hall where every match was held. We chose our weapons. For me, it was always the katana, but this time I used a special one that could extend at will thanks to mana flow. A few moments later, the duel began.
As I expected, he struck first. He had chosen an axe. The problem with axes is that they almost always attack horizontally or vertically, rarely diagonally. That gave me the chance to extend my katana and strike his elbow. (The blade of my katana was self-created, so I could change its material in a fraction of a second—right now it was foam, and the same applied to his axe.)
To counter my move, Saru dodged and launched a fireball. I answered with water magic, then used wind to push him closer so I could strike with my sword. Instinctively, he defended by crossing his arms over his chest. That was exactly what I wanted, because within a single second I could grab his legs and throw him to the ground. But he understood my plan, so he used levitation to dodge the katana—quite clever.
However, he forgot about the existence of:
[Light Elemental Magic: Hypnotization]
I immobilized him and grabbed his legs, forcing him to the ground. Then I placed my foot on his chest and used physical enhancement to make it heavier. And then—KO.
With a strange smile on my face, I said:"Want some more?"