19 Unknown limits (2)

Silence reigned over them, with only the sound of the rainwater crashing on the ground...

"6 minutes... This should be enough." Ryujin said as he swiftly jumped in the air and from there, he exerted energy on his feet, creating an invisible foothold which he then used in mid-air and lunged from there.

"That's dangerous," Ryo whispered as they all jumped out of there and landed quite a distance away from him. Ryujin slashed downward violently, leaving a crater on the ground he hit. He looked up and swiftly dashed towards them.

Ryo feels a little taken aback, He puts his hand on the ground, using one of his spells, he made the ground slightly tremble, which slightly off-balances Ryujin, forcing him to lose his momentum, then, With little distance between them, He took this chance and launched a ball of fire, momentarily blurring his vision by the smoke caused by the impact and therefore, giving them a chance to either counter or flee away.

But they chose to stay, watching as the fire goes out fast, watching as the smoke ceases. Ryo is expecting something like he still can stand up on his two feet and can lunge at them at any second.

Hence, he took another cautious stance, a stance, where he can instinctively lunge one time and land a brutal attack. Not long after, Ryujin jumps out of the smoke, above, he throws his dagger down at full force and just stood still in mid-air.

Ryo was fortunately prepared, with the stance he did, he was able to stop the dagger in its tracks using his sword.

Kyouko sees that Ryujin is wide open and weaponless, she nonetheless heads for him. She puts some energy on her feet and made her way up by making invisible footholds for her to step in and jump from.

"Burn down..." Then, she summoned a bunch of white cubes around him, at her signal, all those cubes unleashed strong energy of lightning, combined with the pouring rain, which only not strengthens the damage of the lightning, but also widens its range.

The lightning shakes violently, and at that time, Ryo was able to parry the sword and pushed it down to the ground.

"Now then... Airi."

"I know!"

She floated in the air along with her book, then she pointed her palms towards Ryujin, her eyes full of focus as if she's trying to manifest something completely outside her comfort zone. She's struggling, pain shooting inside her body, indicating that she is pushing herself too much. But, she ignored it.

After a short delay, she was able to completely summon a spell above her skill limit.

"F-Freeze!"

She closed her fist and at the moment she does that, Ryujin was frozen in the middle of the raging bolts of lightning.

"D-Did that do it?" She asked in a shaky voice.

"I think that did it," Ryo said,

But... much to their horror, they heard the usual sound of water splashing behind Airi,

"Come forth, unleash." Ryujin's voice said, Then, a huge wave of water came towards them. A wave, so huge it took every tree down coming on its way, It's like a catastrophic tsunami, gradually devouring everything that is in its path.

"Let's go," Ryo said as he crouched down and offered Airi his back, non-vocally telling her to hop on his back.

"Get out here, you two, go somewhere far from here. I'll take care of this." Kyouko said as she summoned flashes of lightning around her as if she wants to face him head-on. But Ryo deep inside him doesn't agree with this. He knows how to completely defeat him, based on how he moved, even though they only changed their blades minimally, he read enough.

"Idiot, get out of here, stop trying to be tough," Ryo said, trying to provoke Kyouko,

"What is that supposed to mean?!"

"Exactly what it means, you yourself know you can't win this. Get out."

"Tsk," She uttered before reluctantly getting out of the scene. Although his cold words hurt her, she believes that he was right. She's still weak compared to Ryujin. She's still the weakest of out all the council members, they are daredevils, people whose strength in this school is comparable to gods, and in that lineup of that daredevils, she's nothing but a little wimp, at least that's what she thinks.

And even though she is a part of the council, the test must be fair. Therefore, there's no one exempted from getting expelled regardless of one's position.

Nevertheless, she turned around and fled.

"We don't have all day, hop on, Airi," He nonchalantly said.

"O-Okay..." Although she felt uneasy, she hopped on.

As the tide was slowly approaching towards them, Ryo was about to jump when the telepathy in their head suddenly spoke.

"W-W-Where are you, Ryo, Airi??!" It was Arata, speaking frantically.

Before Ryo responded, He jumped high in the sky and into the opposite direction from the wave. He jumped over trees while Airi spoke,

"SouthEast from Ryujin-Senpai's position!!" She said as she looked at the map in her badge.

"Arata, is your location far away from Ryujin-senpai?" Ryo asked,

"Q-Quite far, why do you ask?"

"Using your telepathy, tell them your location and tell them to go there,"

"S-Sure."

"If you want, wait for me there, I have some business to take care of."

"What business?" Arata asked on the other end,

"Don't mind that. Just do what I say,"

"O-Okay!"

He hung up. The tsunami behind them are still roaring,

"Airi, take care of yourself. For now, find others and reunite with them."

"S-Sure... What about you?"

"Don't ask. Just do it." With those words, he released Airi and turned around without looking back. He ran towards the crashing wave coming towards his way.

As for Airi, she was quite worried about what he did. "Be okay." She hoped,

...

The rain unexpectedly stopped as Ryo was making his way.

He jumped above in the high air and used an invisible foothold to stand up. He looked around looking for Ryujin. He knows that he wants to fight him, that Ryujin wants him out of that school, for true reasons unknown.

With 3 minutes left, he found him, slowly emerging from the sea of water, using his own amplitude for levitating.

"Where are the others?" Ryujin asked,

"They're gone."

"I see. What could possibly trigger this change in the decision of yours?"

"You... do you want something from me?"

"From you? Why would I want something from you?"

"I don't know... It felt like you seek something from me,"

"Me? Want something from you? I don't get why would I want something from you... you never had any of my desires,"

"I see..."

"But... If I can be so bold... I want you to show me... How you fight..."

"Wish granted..."

He set his blade ablaze and swiftly lunged at Ryujin, executing an upward slash, which slightly sets Ryujin's balance off, but, given his skills, he parried the attack smoothly, as if he knew it was coming. He pushed Ryo's sword out with ease and followed up by another slash, this time from the side, manifesting a shockwave which caused Ryo to recoil backward.

"Splash." Again, neither short nor long chant... Then, the water underneath them began exploding from below, which caused several wild splashes. The splashes acted as smoke to somehow lessen Ryo's vision of the area, therefore giving Ryujin an upper hand.

He deals several successive slashes, very strong ones at that, and each time Ryo blocks it, his body recoils over the strong impacts.

"If you can't switch to offense, you'll never win!!" Ryujin said followed by a strong strike, which threw Ryo's weapon out of his hands. Ryujin thinks he already won since his opponent has no weapon and even if he has a weapon, he can barely defend himself.

"Art of fire..." Ryo said, then, as if the time came back, the sword spun and traveled back to his hands. He now has his sword in his hand. As soon as his palms touch the hilt, he quickly came rushing forward his opponent and strike.

This somehow threw Ryujin off, but as one would expect from the council, he was able to block its strike.

"Whirling blaze..." Ryo chanted, before strengthens the grip on his sword and spun around along with it, forming a ring of fire around him. This spell increased the force on his sword, which pushed Ryujin backward, setting his stance off.

"1st Art..." Then, he lowered his back and pointed the tip of his blazing blade to Ryujin's chest, and executes a plunge attack, which he dodged by moving to the side.

"2nd Art..." He followed the first attack by now using his open hand and plunging a fireball towards Ryujin, followed by swinging his sword in unison towards him.

"Isn't your attacks too simple?! I can block them anytime!" Ryujin said in confidence as he pushed both attacks using his water amplitude with ease. But, almost immediately, as the water touches the fire, it vaporized.

Ryujin was utterly disturbed and surprised by this, the confidence slightly disappeared from his eyes.

"3rd Art..." His arm was extended forward, with his other arm just below. Now, he quickly changes into a new stance. He held his sword with both of his hands and raised them high in the air ever-so hastily. Then, he swung his flaming sword vertically, which caused all the water splashes from around him to vaporize.

"Not bad, Not bad!!!" Ryujin parried that huge slash with full force from his body.

"clang!"

The sound echoed throughout the whole forest as they clanged their blades. It also released a huge huge shockwave and strong gusts of wind around them, so strong it swept almost all the water in their vicinity.

But... the contact doesn't last long... soon enough, every hydro energy from Ryujin's blade vaporizes, weakening the force on his blade and causing him to be pushed back and losing his balance, causing him to weaken the energy on his foot, making him fall from the air and into

"Wha?!" Ryujin cried out in surprise,

"4th Art." He jumped down and summoned a foothold in the same level as Ryujin. Then, He held his sword with both of his hands and put them on his side very swiftly., with the groove of the blade touching the back of his neck, then, he swung his flaming sword in a huge fan-shaped area in front of him, specifically where Ryujin is.

"Damn it!!" Ryujin exclaimed as he rolled over to the side, avoiding the slash at the skin of his teeth. But, he doesn't let him breathe. Ryo flipped his sword and swiftly lunged at him.

"5th art, blade dance." With such precision, he slammed his flaming sword down to Ryujin, the blazing fire shines from his blade. Ryujin was astonished, he saw a reflection behind Ryo, someone very familiar to him, important. With 2 seconds on the clock, he didn't dare move.

He smiled,

Just then,

"Times up!"

The announcer said. Ryo quickly adjusted his posture and instead landed on the ground on his feet.

In the end, Ryo's badge was safe, same goes for the other's. Ryujin also took all the flood water he dispersed back on his palms. It turns out, the whole forest was flooded, there was no visible ground. All the students alive are found on top of trees that didn't surprisingly fall, despite the strong waves crashing onto them, perhaps it was embedded with magic but no one truly knows.