Combat Arts [1]

"The fuck!!"

Zephyr cursed as soon as his eyes landed on the supposed weapon the acadmy had chosen for him–Randomly.

"I didn't even knew that something like this is even considered a functional weapon nowadays"

He looked at Lucas questioningly as Lucas only shrugged.

"Don't look at me like that, i don't have anything to do with this, it's your fault for not choosing a weapon when you had the chance."

"The hell!! Y-you didn't didn't you—" 

Lucas only turned around before walking away, "ah just so you know–you will not be exempted from the regular training, though it will probably be a breeze for you", Lucas said as his voice faded.

Zephyr was left alone infront of the vault gate with an opened case in his hands which had–a gun more specifically an AMR short for anti material Sniper rifle , "This thing could be considered an ancient relic at this point", Zephyr couldn't help but chuckle at his own predicament.

But truth be told it looked pretty badass, a sleek black body, and the words "Vidhwansak" carved onto it, it was currently disassembled as its barrel, body and magazine along with the scope were stored on top of a velvet casing securely.

"Is this my punishment for not choosing a sword, huh Lucas", Zephyr looked at the ceiling with a blank expression as he was lost for words, but soon a grin appeared on his face as he closed the black suitcase.

But then a thought crossed hus mind.

Although guns can be used with mana bullets–but they are hella expensive, and embuding mana in the bullets while using the weapon was only possible for the most skilled and also only for those who had a high affinity for an element–but for Zephyr he didn't have an affinity at all weather it be low or high.

"Haa, the most i can do is strengthen the bullet and the barrel or even the hammer but i cannot change the contents of the bullet or its attributes, at most i can use–anti magic, but it ain't all that powerful"

Zephyr lamented, "Although not having any psyons caused Zephyr to only have an affinity for anti magic, at his level he could only dispel arrays and spells casted by a tier 3 or lower grade mage."

"Aah what a pain, wait!! You bastard, come back here I need the dammed bullets, at least give me that….."

***

15 minutes later...

"Ha….Haa….Haaa"

Everyone was breathing heavily, in the name of warm up Lucas had made them run 5 laps of the whole field which was approximately a kilometre in diameter.

Well everyone except the main characters were huffing and puffing as they tried to catch their breaths, and there was one more Zephyr who had been away all this and only came back now.

Riley who had been leaning on a tree moved her head to look at Zephyr and then at the case he was holding, "Hmm, just what kind of a weapon did the academy choose for that guy?"

Suddenly a head popped out from her side, it was Charlotte she was also looking at Zephyr as he made his way towards the field.

"Dunno, not interested"

Even Henry joined the conversation but contrary to what he was saying, he definitely was interested in knowing what weapon he got.

Clap!

Clap!

Suddenly Lucas who had been watching from the side lines clapped his hands gathering everyone's attention on him, once everyone was looking at him he nodded in satisfaction before saying.

"That's good enough warm up, it's time to see what you have got, everyone will be randomly paired with one another, you aren't allowed to use any weapons, only your body is your weapon, Do your best!"

Ding!

Everyone's smartwatches suddenly vibrated in unison and like they all were being controlled everyone looked at their smartwatches all at once—well except for Zephyr…..he wasn't wearing one.

Cough..

Some people again turned their head to look at Zephyr but they soon averted their gazes.

'Well this is awkward….'

Zephyr only stayed rooted at his spot like a lost child.

Tap! 

Suddenly someone tapped on his shoulders, with a wry smile Zephyr turned to look at who it was and almost like he had seen a ghost his smile froze as the person standing in front of him was–Charlotte.

"Hiya! We got paired, you are ranked 70…."

Everything she said just went to a deaf ear as he just nodded mindlessly.

'Why? Why does my luck has to be so rotten, why do I have to interact with the main characters from the very start'

"Well ok then let's get started", out of nowhere Charlotte jumped back creating distance between them as she took a lowered stance, she looked composed. It was a basic but stable stance.

"Here I come! Hup"

And with a heads up she launched herself from the ground, shooting towards Zephyr like an arrow–but before she could reach him–The world turned upside down as she stared at the floor….

"Huh?!"

And thereafter her vision turned black, in her groggy consciousness she saw the figure of a black haired boy with deep black eyes which were as deep as the abyss.

"Lotte…. Charlotte.... Charlotte"

Charlotte felt as though someone was shaking her upon opening her eyes she saw the figure of Riley with a panicked expression as she laid in her lap.

"Aah thank God….Guys she's okay"

Charlotte moved her head to gaze at the direction where Riley was looking only to see Henry, Olivia, Julius and Noah standing there with worried and relieved expressions on their faces.

"Uhm–what happened to me"

"Ah about that I don't know how should I tell you this–"

Riley stuttered as she tried to explain but cutting her off Henry chimed in.

"You tripped and fell unconscious, teehee~", he said with a cheeky smile.

Suddenly everyone's expressions froze, "That's probably not how I would have said it", said Riley, as black lines appeared on her face.

Charlotte was shocked, "Tripped, really? That's how I lost my first battle??"

Right now she wanted nothing more than to curl up into a ball and hide in a hole.

While this was going on Zephyr was talking with Lucas, "I saw that Zephyr, that wasn't nice…", Lucas reprimanded Zephyr as he was probably the only person who saw what actually happened.

"You used mana to to strengthen your body and increase your speed to an inhumane level before grabbing her head and slamming it on the ground, just a minor miscalculation and you would have burst open her head, sigh"

Lucas accounted with an exasperated sigh, while Zephyr only stood there Menacingly.

"Yeah Yeah you said to do your best and so i did"

Lucas looked at Zephyr as his expression said, 'The hell, you are blaming it on me?!'

Zephyr only shrugged as he walked off into the distance.

***

"From today onwards I will be your weapon art instructor, You lot can call me Tear, I am an high intermediate rank Military official, I have fought in numerous battles and have mastered almost all weapons weather it be a sword, spear, long range weapons like bows and crossbows and even–Guns"

Tear the bulky weapon arts instructor said the last part while giving me a sidelong glance.

I was standing at the very corner of the training room holding a long black suitcase, the training room itself was divided into different parts with some designated for close ranged combat while others for mid ranged and long ranged combat, there were mechanical practice dummies, virtual shooting range and even shadow fighting consoles.

But for some reason instead of paying attention to all that cool stuff~everyone was looking at me with pitiful gazes.

'What's wrong with them now?'

Casually walking towards the long range practice area I ignored everyone's gazes, and among the few gazes i felt a unique sensation, turning my head i say-Riley? 

'What's wrong with her now? Well whatever.'

Zephyr just walked away as everyone started to disperse, Riley also walked towards the close range practice area, 'Just what was that?'

As it turns out Lucas wasn't the only one paying attention to Zephyr's actions but there was one more person and it was none other than Riley–although not at Zephyr she was looking out for Charlotte, the two of them have been close ever since their childhood, Riley's father and Charlotte's father have engaged in business deals and because of which these two met, ever since then they both hung out together.

As a matter of fact Riley's father thought of their children's friendship as a good thing and so made Riley go to the same middle school and high school as Charlotte–and thus they became friends.

But what Riley saw today shocked her, 'His movements, that boy–he's hiding something'.

Riley was born with a special innate gift–innate gifts are something extremely rare and coveted, not everyone has one and one's born with innate gifts are a step above the most, and Riley's innate gift is–Eyes of the Cosmos, weather it be truth or lie, falsehood or deception, false facade or invisibility, a veil or even a barrier or a wall, she could see through everything….

And not only that she could even see the movement of Psyons, one's mana and life essence and something about that boy was very different–how should she say this, "He felt lost…", che couldn't explain the feeling but that was not the main concern–his movement which even she could barely keep up with when he defeated Charlotte…yes defeated Charlotte didn't trip she was utterly crushed.

"He's strong", Riley unconsciously muttered as she gripped her broadsword tightly.