A few days had passed since the second mock battle with Mars.
Today, Master had told me to come to the hut right after classes ended, so I hurried back to the dorm after school and headed straight there.
Actually, the end-of-year exams were approaching—just two days left.
Even with my abilities having improved a little, the Solminati Academy exams were notoriously difficult. The year-end ones were even tougher.
Especially since I had barely scraped by on written tests before, honestly, I wanted to focus on studying.
Normally, I would hold off on training right before exams to concentrate, but for some reason this time, Master had insisted firmly that I come today no matter what.
"'Absolutely come,' huh… What's up with Master?"
Unlike usual, she had said it with a serious face—"Listen. You absolutely must come!"—and it made me a little uneasy.
When I arrived at the hut, she was casually drinking tea inside like nothing was wrong.
"Oh～ oh～, Nozomu's here."
Her completely unchanged demeanor made me slump in exhaustion.
"Master, what's going on today? Exams are really close, so if I don't cram now, I'm seriously screwed."
It was a genuine, pressing problem. Sure, my physical abilities had gone up a bit, and techniques I couldn't use in real fights before were now viable, widening my options in battle—but it was still tough.
"Come on, don't be like that. Just keep me company today. An invitation from a beauty like me—if you don't accept, you're no man～."
...What is this person even saying...
"...Master. Are you drinking in the middle of the day or something?"
"Of course not! Shouldn't you show more respect to your master?"
"I do respect you. As long as you don't say scammy fraudster-like things."
"Who're you calling a fraudster! When did I ever say that!!!"
Master, that's exactly what all fraudsters say.
"The 'beauty' part is obviously a lie! At best, you're a former beauty!!"
"...Sit down right there."
Master's face twisted into a demonic glare as she reached for her sword. Visible killing intent rose from her body. The wild birds around the hut all took flight at once, desperately flapping to get away.
...Terrifying. Master's hair was standing on end—she looked exactly like an ogre… or given her homeland, maybe a yasha.
But I couldn't back down either. She always beat me senseless over little jokes, and even her comebacks were high-rank techniques.
She could control whether to kill or not, but she had zero ability to adjust force to the situation (or so it seemed).
It was about time someone taught this person—who kept violating the law of equivalent exchange—the meaning of holding back.
...Otherwise I'd never escape the idiotic state of constantly fainting in daily life!!!
"I-I'm not gonna let this unreasonable '(Clang!) DID YOU SAY SOMETHING?' NO I DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING, MASTER YOU LOOK BEAUTIFUL AS ALWAYS—"
...I failed.
...Master, please stop pressing your sword to my neck along with the killing intent...
After that, Master started talking about random things. About her home country. Her family. What happened after she came to this continent.
She also wanted to hear about me, so I told her everything. About my home village. My parents. Lisa. Things at the academy, meeting Master, the hellish training afterward.
Some of it she already knew, but she still wanted to hear it.
Even things I'd told her before, she nodded to again and again, listening happily.
...As if carving every word into herself so she would never forget.
As we talked, the scenery turned red. Somehow, it had become evening.
Master glanced at the view and murmured.
"Well then, shall we begin the final training?"
Just exchanging ordinary words with Nozomu. Where are you from. How's your family. What do you like.
Such completely normal conversation. We hadn't really had much of that before. What I taught was the sword; what I spoke of was the sword.
Sword, sword, sword.
That was all I had ever taught, and it was what suited me best.
So now, hearing him talk about such ordinary things felt incredibly fresh, and watching his expressions change as he listened to me was pure joy.
I had thought I would never exchange words with another person like this again.
...No, I had probably been deliberately avoiding it. Just as Nozomu unconsciously ran from the fact that his lover dumped him, I too had run from the fact that my family betrayed me—avoiding people, standing still.
...What a fool I am.
I have no right to criticize my disciple like this...
And yet this hopeless master was cherished by him. He complained with his mouth, but I could clearly feel that he trusted and believed in me.
If I had been born a few decades later... surely I would have wished to live together with you.
But the bond between us is not that of lovers—it is master and disciple. That's a little regrettable, but still, there is something I can leave in your heart at the end.
That's enough for me. That's plenty. The place beside you... I'll leave to the one who can walk with you.
"Well then. Shall we begin the final training?"
Master said it as casually as if suggesting a walk.
"U-Um, Master. 'Final' means..."
"Just as I said. This is the last training I can give you."
Master's demeanor hadn't changed. The usual carefree Master. And yet the next words she spoke were...
"S-So! What do you mean by 'final'—'The final training is... to fight me to the death for real.'"
"...Huh?"
I couldn't comprehend what Master was saying.
Fight to the death? Me? With Master?
"W-What are you talking about! What do you mean!!"
Master stepped into the yard and took a stance with her sheathed sword. She was already fully prepared for battle.
"Master!! Answer m—'I have nothing to say. Or do you think there's any meaning in asking the reason from someone truly trying to kill you?' Master!!!!"
The color in Master's eyes changed. A heavy, dominating aura emanated from her body. This was clearly the real deal.
Even so, I kept questioning her.
"Of course I do! What do you mean 'final'!! And fighting to the death... What are you thinking!!!"
"......"
She said nothing. Instead, she showed it with her actions.
Master's body blurred for an instant, then ferocious killing intent slammed into me.
In the next moment she was already right in front of me. From an iaijutsu stance, her sheathed sword was drawn toward my neck.
I rolled across the ground to escape the killing intent. Master's blade swept just above me, but she immediately followed with a spinning kick.
I instinctively raised my right arm to block, but the ki-reinforced kick was far too heavy—I was blown away and crashed into a tree.
"Guhah..."
I grimaced in pain, but training had ingrained the movements into me. I immediately stood up, reset my stance, drew my sword on instinct, and prepared for the next attack.
"Master! What the hell do you want!!"
Master said nothing, simply pointing her sword at me.
Her eyes declared "I have no intention of explaining."
...Master is always like this. During other training sessions too, she never allowed questions—just unilaterally declared things, and if I spoke up she'd double the training or some absurd nonsense.
Apparently I won't get any answers unless I fight.
But this time, Master was clearly off.
In past training and mock battles, she would do things that "could kill me" but never "tried to kill me."
Yet right now, dense killing intent pierced me, and that earlier iaijutsu had clearly aimed for my neck. She was seriously coming to kill me.
Master's figure blurred again. Killing intent came from the side.
I hurriedly reinforced my body with ki and raised my sword. By some miracle it blocked her slash, but she immediately unleashed a barrage.
Diagonal downward, left sweep, right upward cut, left upward cut—a flowing, waste-free storm of precise slashes poured down.
I met them while stepping back slightly. Knees, hips, arms—all linked without waste, parrying Master's blade.
Even so, I was overwhelmed. Same school of swordsmanship, but in skill, physical ability, experience—Master was superior in every way!
Unable to take it, I used Instant Step to disengage, but Master instantly closed in and pressed the attack.
We clashed while moving at high speed.
Twilight had faded; darkness enveloped the surroundings. Only the moonlit trails of our blades showed where the two of us were.
Our movements weren't the straight-line Instant Step—they curved, circling and entwining around each other.
Ki Technique "Instant Step – Curved Dance –"
An advanced form of Instant Step. Coordinating knee movement, center-of-gravity shifts, core, and shoulders to allow complex curved paths in a technique originally limited to straight lines.
Easy to describe, but in practice it demands legs sturdy enough to fully control Instant Step's momentum without collapsing, plus delicate full-body coordination.
Without sturdy legs you'd lose balance and slam into the ground; without coordination you'd collapse anyway.
It's an extremely high-difficulty advanced technique requiring both toughness and finesse.
In the Curved Dance exchange, Master was still superior. While it's an evolution of Instant Step, movement speed depends on the user's ability.
Master's Curved Dance clearly outpaced mine. I was gradually forced onto the defensive, and finally she cut off my path and stopped me.
"Damn it!!"
We clashed again standing still, but the situation hadn't changed—I was still being overwhelmed.
And Master's attacks weren't just with the sword.
"Guh!!"
After parrying a slash, Master swung her scabbard one-handed. The ki-reinforced scabbard could easily shatter human bone.
At some point she had switched to dual-wielding sword and scabbard. Power dropped slightly, but the attacks became even denser, threatening to devour me whole.
Her fighting style wasn't just swordsmanship—it wove in scabbard strikes and taijutsu: comprehensive combat. This was our school's true way of fighting.
I too switched to dual-wielding with scabbard. I dealt with Master's now even fiercer attacks.
But the gap in base ability and skill pressed me back. Eventually I couldn't intercept in time, and a scabbard strike caught me.
"Guaah!!"
A dull thud rang out as Master's scabbard struck my upper right arm. Luckily the bone didn't break; I still held the scabbard.
She didn't miss the momentary slowdown. Her other sword flashed.
I couldn't block with my sword in time and twisted my body to evade, but another kick came flying.
Judging I couldn't avoid it completely, I leaped backward to kill the force.
Being sent flying opened the distance greatly.
It felt like a repeat of our earlier clashes, but it wasn't. While flying back, I whipped my aching arm, sheathed my sword, and poured ki into it—extreme compression.
Half-baked techniques wouldn't work on Master. My ki reserves limited how many times I could use it, but I bet everything on my most trusted move!
Ki Technique "Genmu" (Illusory Nothingness)
The ultra-compressed ki blade flew at high speed. It should have struck Master in the blink of an eye… but reality surpassed that.
"Wha—!!"
A sudden explosion sounded exactly midway between us. The compressed ki dispersed and scattered outward.
I looked at Master—she had also drawn and swung in an iaijutsu stance. I was stunned at the unbelievable sight. Master wouldn't miss that opening.
She charged with Instant Step. I hurriedly tried to intercept, but it was clearly too late. I thrust my scabbard into her blade's path on reflex, but she ignored it and completed the swing.
Ki Technique "Genmu – Regression –"
Tracing the reverse path of the earlier draw, it sliced diagonally across my body.