End of Magic Training.

Soon, a week left with the training. They did nothing but waking up early in the morning and training.

Sometimes they would get brake in between, but mostly their schedule consisted of training only.

Noah was sitting beside Tanya as he was overseeing everyone's training. Tanya had a lazy expression on her face. Her body was leaning on Noah as she looked at them with a bored expression.

If one looks closely, then he might be able to tell the difference in everyone before the start of their training. They looked younger and refreshed. Their skin also became smoother than before. Which highly surprised the girls and made them happy. They never thought that learning magic would come with such a perk.

A minute later, Saeko opened her eyes. She exhaled white smoke. Examining her body, she looked up towards Noah and Tanya.

Noah looked at her and nodded, "Wait for others to complete their training."

Saeko nodded. She stood up and sat beside him, waiting for others.

A couple of minutes later, now everyone stood in front of him except Shizuka and Alice.

Noah looked at Takashi, Kohta, Saeko, Saya, and Rei. "Well, today marks the end of your second phase. As for the last phase," He looked towards everyone, one by one, and said, "You all are going to fight me!"

Saeko raised her brows as she grips her sword. She has been waiting for this moment.

Seeing the excited expression on Saeko's face, Noah smirked, "You guys do not have to worry\;, I will try my best to not kill you."

They gulped hard, hearing him.

"Let's go then," Noah said and stood in the center of everyone.

Takashi, Kohta stood at his left and right with Saeko at the front, Rei and Saya at his back.

Everyone stood silently as they fully focused on Noah, who was smiling lightly in the center. Though he looked like a child compare to them, no one was underestimating him.

Everyone knew that this child was strong enough to wipe their assess on the floor.

Takashi was the first one to make a move. He focused his energy on his legs, propelling himself towards Noah at a fast speed, which was normally impossible.

The ground was destroyed under him as he reached Noah in no time.

Raising his bat above his head, he smashed it towards Noah.

Noah raised his hand and caught the bat in his right hand. Pulling the bat in front of him, he kicked Takashi in the guts, launching him backward, destroying the walls in the process.

Noah tilted his head to the right – a little – as a projectile passed from his previous position. He looked towards Kohta, who was pointing his fingers towards him.

"Interesting. So you learned how to release magic projectiles? Though it is quite crude, still a great achievement for you, I suppose." Noah stated, observing Kohta's magic.

Saeko seeing that he was distracted, slashed her sword at him that Noah dodged by jumping backward.

Saeko's sword destroyed the floor, creating a big gully.

Noah, who jumped backward, felt the temperature rising behind him. He looked back and found Saya with a big fireball above her.

He raised a brow. He was quite surprised that Saya was able to use elemental attacks already, but… pointing his finger towards the fireball – a small strand of energy left his finger, destroying the fireball from the inside.

"Kya!" Saya screamed when the fire fell on her.

Opening his palm, wooden sword forms in it. Noah grasped it and spun. His sword colloid with Saeko as a blast occurred with them as the center.

Both were pushed backward. Since Noah was in the air, he was pushed a little further than Saeko.

Just as her feet touched the ground, she vanished and appeared in front of Noah.

She was the most nibble and deft among the group since she was a swordswoman. And now, with the help of magic, she becomes defter.

She slashes her sword at Noah, horizontally. Noah flipped sideways and thrusts his sword at her.

Saeko nimbly dodged by spinning and countering with her own sword thrust.

Takashi, Kohta, and Saya were looking at them with wide eyes. They wanted to enter the fight, but both – Saeko and Noah – were too fast to be caught by normal eyes.

With their enhanced senses, they could barely see theirs after images.

Tanya was looking at the fight with an interesting expression. She was quite surprised by the display of Saeko. Tanya thought that Saeko was natural and was born at the wrong time. If she was born in a warring era, then she would have definitely had made a name for herself.

Noah and Saeko kept exchanging blows after blows with each other. Their surroundings were filled with different gullies at this point since both had coated their swords with spiritual energies.

Of course, even if Saeko was a genius when it came to the sword, it was impossible to beat the veteran who has fought many wars and stood before the army of millions with only his sword.

Noah had a crazy grin on his face that almost reached his ears. He never thought that he would enjoy a fight with Saeko this much.

"Come, Come, Come! Show me more Saeko!" Noah yelled with excitement as his swords shone in deep crimson color.

He waved his sword towards her. Vertical crimson sword energy released from it and traveled in her direction, creating a large crevice on its way.

Saeko, who was using magic instinctively, also released a sword slash towards the incoming sword energy.

Both energy colloid with each other and burst open, forming different gaps/crevices on the ground.

Takashi, Kohta, and Saya were already standing behind Tanya, who has created a barrier in front of her to save herself from their aftermath.

"Good!" Noah said and propelled towards her at a blinding speed. He appeared in front of her and slashed at her vertically downwards.

Saeko, who saw this, send her own slash to counter it. But when Noah was mid-way, he left his sword and landed on the ground. Spinning, he throws a punch directly in her guts.

Saliva left her mouth as Saeko was arched backward. She destroyed the house behind her.

"Saeko!" Takashi and co shouted worriedly.

(A/N: I forgot about Rei. Tehee~!)

Saeko was injured all over her body, but with adrenaline rushing towards her head, she tried to stand up.

She stopped when she felt Noah's wooden sword on her neck. "You've lost. Saeko-chan."

His words entered her mind. She sighed as her body lost all its energy. Like a doll whose strings were cut off, Saeko fell on the ground and starts to breathe heavily.

She cannot remember when was the last time she felt such fulfilled. Even though she does not want to admit it, but she was a sadist.

She liked to torture others. But to her dismay, everyone was weak. Everyone around her was too weak that she got bored.

But she could do nothing, they were living in a world with laws and morals that did not allow people with her tendency to exist. She could do nothing but to live her bland life in school.

When zombies attacked, unlike other people, her thoughts were about how she could finally bring some color to her life. She knew her thinking was wrong, but that was the truth. She could finally be herself.

No society would judge her for being what she was. She could completely use these hollow bodies as targets for her fun. But then she met Noah.

She never thought that this seemingly little cute kid would have the power to kill everything within his path.

Normally when one thinks about a kid of his age, they would think that he should be playing with his friend in a park or something. But Noah was different. He was so empathetic towards the concept of death that even Saeko felt chill when she looked at his emotionless eyes when he killed someone.

It was like life was just a candle in his eyes that he could blow at any moment without any emotions or thoughts.

Yet, strangely, that excited her. She thought, maybe, but maybe… Noah was like her?

Today, when he said that the third phase would be fighting with him, she was excited beyond belief.

Finally, finally, I can have a chance to show him my swordsmanship. A chance to show someone, who may be like her, that she can be more than a normal swordswoman. She was a warrior!

And just as she thought, she never had such a fulfilling fight before. She was sure that after Noah left, she would never have such a fight again.

She did not know but the thought of it left her filled with sorrow and grief. She did not want to go back to the same bland days where she would spend her whole day sitting and just keep swinging her sword, over and over.

She finally found someone who would not deny her. Who would not frown at her? Yet she knew that Noah would leave one day.

Unconscious to her, tears started to fell from her eyes. She did not know what to do. She felt hollow inside her heart when she thought that she would go back to the days of her bland life.

Suddenly, she felt something cold touching her cheek. She looked towards the kid that has, without her knowing, become an indispensable part of her life.

She looked towards him, who was crouching beside her with the sun behind him, smiling gently at her. "What happened? I did not know that you were this weak-willed that you would start to cry after one defeat."

'Cry?' Saeko thought and touched her face. Feeling the wet sensation on her face – she hurriedly cleaned it. She did not want others to see her in such a situation.

Touching her cheek with the can, Noah said, "Here, drink this. This will help you with gaining your energy back faster."

Saeko looked at Noah for some time – grabbing the can, she started to gulp it down through her throat.

"Why were you crying?" Noah asked.

Saeko becomes quiet. She looked towards Takashi and co, who were sitting beside Tanya and were talking with each other.

"Will you leave?"

"Hm?"

"I asked, will you leave us one day?"

Nodding, Noah said, "I will. Tanya and I do not belong to this world. We will leave one day."

As he said before, he did not mind telling them that he was not from this world, but that he was too lazy to do that.

Saeko was surprised to hear him; she looked towards him and asked, "Not from this world?"

"What? Do you not believe me?"

Saeko shook her head as the grip around the can she was holding tightens, "Just that I was surprised knowing that there are other worlds besides this one."

Noah silently looked at her. He could tell that Saeko wanted to say something, but she could not. He was not a medaling type of person, so he did not force her to tell.

If she wanted to tell him, then she would herself.

"You should take a rest now. Tomorrow, we will be leaving for Saya's parents. Since they are the closest from here, according to her."

Noah said as he stood up and started to walk towards Tanya.

Saeko looked at his back as he started to bicker with Tanya. She gripped her can tightly as it deformed. She looked towards him with conviction. No one knew what she was thinking.