Chapter 10 - Weapon creation

A few hours pass, as the time for the magic training comes. Grace is in charge of this session, so she explains everything to the students. They'll learn to increase their magic energy output and how much they can hold at once.

Akio, though doesn't understand a thing. "Why.. do we have to do this training? Don't we have enough of a mastery over our magic energy?" With this question, Akio had struck Grace's nerve.

"Do you.. remember what happened a few hours prior?"

Akio is silenced, as Grace continues. She asks the six to raise their power to the maximum, but to also be careful. Akio's output is the biggest one, but for the third time, they notice a glimpse of his Phoenix magic.

The second biggest output is Kurayami's, however, she runs out fast. Not even Grace knew that this'd happen, since she had never asked Kurayami to do this. Eldric, Aurora and Apollo continue outputting their own energy, as Akio laughs at them.

The three, being annoyed, stare daggers at Akio, who once again silences himself. Grace tells them to stop, asking Kurayami if she's okay, to which the teen confirms. Grace decides to continue their training.

"Okay, everyone. Now, I want you to contain all of your magic energy inside you. Try to have nothing spill out."

Everyone follows. Akio subconsciously activates Burning Sense while doing so, and he tries to deactivate it, but fails. He looks at Kurayami, whom he is worried the most about, and she appears to struggle a bit, though she can do it. The others are also successful, and Grace tells them to make a ball of magic in their dominant hand, and also to try and charge it up with as much magic energy as they can.

The first one to do it is Eldric, who makes a decently-sized ball. Akio follows, but Burning Sense is still activates for some reason, though that doesn't matter for him right now. He sees a precognition of the very near future, and he's worried.

"Miss Grace, I'd like to ask that Kurayami be exempted from this task." He asked of Grace, who gives him a serious glare, asking why. He replies that he has a bad feeling about this, and Alex tells her to do it, as Akio is not one to be ignored in times like these, and so she does.

Kurayami does not take part in this activity, as the others continue making balls. Almost everyone is done, with Apollo and Aurora having made balls that are quite big, Eldric and Blaze being tied in second place with bigger balls, but Akio is still not done, and his ball is far bigger than the others'. Grace, Alex and the others start to get worried, since it shouldn't be possible for Akio, being young as he is, to make such a big ball.

They start to calm down soon after, though, as it becomes smaller, around the size of Aurora's and Apollo's balls. Once again, though, they become more worried, as the ball itself is enveloped in a strong flaming aura, reminiscent of a fireball. The students can't sense it, but the teachers can. This ball's magic energy is far stronger than any one they've seen before, and it far too dangerous.

Alex goes to Akio and takes his ball, running outside and throwing it through the forest near the building, as it obliterates whatever was beyond there, with Alex hoping that there was no one residing in that area.

He returns and announces that Akio is not to take part in this activity again, as that was far too dangerous. Akio sighs, nodding. Grace, however, is not done with her training session. She asks the six to make weapons from magic.

Akio makes a sword out of magic. Aurora makes a staff, while Eldric makes a spear. Apollo makes a bow, Blaze makes a battle axe, and Kurayami.. makes a scythe? This alarms Alex, Grace and Chase a bit, since that could mean quite a few bad things, though they dismiss it.

Grace then asks them to pour in magic energy to their weapons. The students, not knowing why, do as they're told. Surprisingly enough, their weapons take a physical form. Akio's sword resembles Durandal, while Aurora's staff resembles Lucid. Apollo's bow takes the same appearance as Dionysus' bow, Blaze's battle axe becomes Crimson, and Kurayami's scythe now makes the teachers know that it is far too dangerous.

The form that her scythe took.. was.. the Reaper's scythe. The Reaper is said to be a god on equal standing with the Olympian Gods, as a part of Hades himself. Naturally, Kurayami recalls her magic energy, deforming the weapon, knowing very well what it was for some reason.

Alex tells Grace to keep an eye on her student, as she nods to him and turns back to them. She informs them that the form their weapons took were the weapons that they were connected with, and the students nod to Grace, now understanding. In the corner of her eye, Grace notices Kurayami slightly trembling. It isn't clear, but it's happening.

Knowing what she has to do, Grace calls off the training session prematurely, asking Kurayami to stay here. Everyone leaves, as Kurayami stays alongside Grace, who asks her what's wrong. Kurayami replies that she doesn't feel well, and that it's most likely due to her shadow magic.

Grace, hearing this, is confused, as this only usually happens when magic evolves, but Kurayami shouldn't be ready for such things yet. She tells her (Kurayami) that she won't be partaking in the magic training sessions for now, atleast not until they can stabilize her condition.

Kurayami nods, and she is allowed to leave. As she exits, though, she sees Akio waiting there. He turns to her. "You're dangerous too, huh?" He asked her, as she asks him what does he mean. Akio tells her that Alex also talked to him, telling him that he should limit his magic energy, since it would be dangerous.

Not understanding, Kurayami tells Akio that she wasn't kept there for that, but he informs her that should she need help, she can ask him whenever. She nods and leaves swiftly, as Akio goes back to his dorm.

He lays in his bed, thinking about Kurayami, as he gradually worries more about his vision, her, and the power she possesses. A few minutes later, he dismisses his thoughts and goes to bed. He goes to sleep, thinking that nothing irregular with happen, but he could not be farther than the truth.

Akio sees a vision. Looking in front of him, he sees two shadowy figures. One shoots a strong beam at the other, who tries to cover, but fails. Subconsciously, Akio screams something that he couldn't make out and reaches out his hand, as the vision stops.

Everything goes black, as he enters another vision. He's apparently grabbing something and now squeezing it with all his might and power, breaking it, as he feels a rush of energy through his whole body, with flames around the nearby area. In front of him stands another figure, though he once again cannot make out who it is.

Shortly after, the vision stops, and he is in what seemingly is another vision. However, nothing is going on in that vision, it's just some random place. As he walks around, though, he sees flashes of something. After a few flashes, he realizes that it's that very place, but destroyed.

Akio fails to understand why he sees them, but he randomly kneels. The scenery around him changes to what he saw in his flashes. Destruction, blood, corpses. Those three were most of what he could see around him. He looks down, seeing that his body is filled with wounds.

Looking back up, he sees a shadowy figure laughing as they raise their sword at him and swing it down, though Akio doesn't realize what it means. Before the vision is cut off, though, he raises his hand, and that was the last thing that he saw.

Waking up, he feels pain in the same spots he saw the wounds in the vision, and he goes to his bathroom's mirror, taking off his shirt, only to see that somehow, only scars remain. Akio continues not to understand anything, as he hears a knock on his door and a voice coming out from behind it.

That voice was none other than Kurayami's. He does not manage to reply fast enough though, and Kurayami starts to get worried, as she unlocks the door using her magic and opens it. Akio reaches out his hand to her, who turns at him and blushes heavily, apologizing without coming in unannounced, as Akio had yet to put on his shirt.

He tells her that she can come in and that it's fine. Kurayami, in turn, comes in and sits on his bed, having lowered her head, still blushing. Akio, on the other hand, decides that he is too bored to put on his shirt and sits opposite to her, asking her what's going on.

Kurayami tells him that today, they're going on test missions, and that the two are paired. Furthermore, she tells him that he was late to get up, so she got worried and came. Akio tells her that he sees, and apologizes for the prior incident as well, telling her that it was his fault for not reacting fast enough.

She once again blushes and tells Akio that it's alright, but notices his scars, asking him why are they there. Akio, being unable to think of an excuse, explains to her that he randomly gets visions, though usually he sees them while sleeping. Some of them, such as his most recent one, somehow affect him physically in real time.

Akio remembers of the vision he had while he was still in the hospital, and mentions that some of his organs were destroyed due to one of his visions, so that's that. Kurayami is amazed and somewhat worried, asking him why nothing happened now, though.

"That's a good question." Akio says, not knowing why he only has scars this time around, as he should've had the injuries as well. He dismisses it, though, telling Kurayami that they'll be late for their mission at this pace.

He remembers that he has his watch and presses on the "Equip" button, as he automatically changes into his battle suit, calling Durandal to him. Kurayami asks him what was that, since she doesn't know much about the recent technology.

He tells her that this is a watch for The Shining Generals and their successors and affiliates, and it has various uses, such as equipping clothing, communicating with fellow Generals/successors and most recently, teleporting.

Kurayami is amazed, to say the least. She wants to ask Akio for more information regarding it, but she digresses, as they leave to head to their mission. Akio asks her what their task is, and she says that it has something to do with a province or something, though she couldn't understand much.

While in thought, Akio asks her where they're going, since it may be the only information they need, and Kurayami tells him that it's not far from here, telling him where it is and the directions. Akio tells her that he understands and they go.

The sight, however, is quite unpleasant...