Chapter 88: -- Their mana

A few minutes once they and especially Carla got their rests, Arthur and Louise's Father has now gotten back his memories and was now ready to teach them what he meant to teach them.

"ms. Brewsworth? I don't recall seeing you here before?."

She was nervous, her sweat were falling like flies as she was hesitant on what to reply.

"Ummm I just got here.." She replied with a smile.

Not believing her words he looked towards Louise with a terrifying expression and made her answer,

"I don't know what to say Father.. but she's telling the truth."

Carla lets out a sigh of relief right before he was gonna continue Arthur raised his hand and asked,

"Can I call my teammates for this Father? we could really benefit from this."

"Uhh sure why not.. but I hope we aren't disturbing them since the match is tomorrow." Franklin said.

After a few minutes later, Patrisha, Gray and Saya managed to join them however Zack was nowhere to be found in the school campus nor his room.

"Is this everyone?... okay.. Have any of you heard about Mana skin?."

Saya raised her hand and replied,

"I guess Mana skin can be considered as another layer of our skin.. am I right?."

"That's one way to put it.. but do you know how to channel that mana? to give it the shape you want it to?."

They were all silent as they didn't know what to answer, it was a first for them to hear about this "Mana skin." usually lessons about how to do Mana skin were still to be taught until they reached their third years but they're still first years.

"I've seen your first match with the Rainbow Academy live and I can at least say you're strong, but that won't be enough to face your next opponents."

"Father, what did you do?." Louise asked.

"Nothing. I just know that the school your next opponents are from.. were trained for a year in a Volcano, at the top of a Mountain and the middle of the ocean."

"SK Academy." Arthur says to himself.

"Hang on a minute.. if what you're saying is true.. then the students from SK Academy have conquered the challenges in---." Saya said as she was cut up by Arthur's Father.

"Yes.. they've conquered the three regions where the mana is very unstable.. basically at this point they've honed their skills in mana skin and have developed or upgraded even more abilities from that."

Gray was shaking from all over while Saya was fascinated from that fact, Carla was hyped up while Arthur and Dorothy were nervous.

"But don't worry.. this is why I'll at least teach you how to conjure up your own mana skins, at least giving you a fighting chance for tomorrow."

"But.. is it possible to learn this power in a day?." Gray asked.

"Of course, from my training, you guys will."

Arthur's Father let out a smile as Louise then stands up from the group and says,

"That's it I'm leaving."

"Oh no you aren't Louise.. you're learning this too."

"UHHHHHH Fine."

Once they were at their places Arthur's Father and Louise were at the front while they were watching.

"Alright I'll show you what Mana skin can do when using it, I'll let Louise here hit me with everything she's got."

At the time Arthur's Father was asleep he managed to get back the mana he used from using it to support his legs before loosing his memory, and now he's using the same method from before, concentrating parts of his mana into his legs.

Louise swung her sword unto his neck and at the nick of time, he managed to activate his mana skin and the sword couldn't pierce it.

"See? Using Mana skin can be beneficial, when it comes to defense and offense."

"Offense? How would that work?." Gray asked.

"Oh right! you can also transfer your Mana skin into your weapons.. to add another layer to it, you can also increase your weapon's length by applying this method."

His sword then lit up a glow as he transferred and coated his mana into the sword.

"Alright! I wanna learn how to do that!!." Gray yelled out and raised his fists into the air.

"Me too!!." Arthur did the same.

"Don't forget about us now." Patrisha said as she grabs Dorothy.

Moments later Arthur's Father was now supervising them as they do their best to learn how to do Mana skin.

"Don't just think it.. you have to feel it.. feel the mana within you and imagine another layer for your skin."

They were doing their best on trying to do their Mana skins, Gray was starting to give up while the others were still doing their best.

"Command your mana to form around you, show them who's the boss."

"Umm who are we showing who's boss?." Gray asked.

"Forgive him, My Father is bad at teaching but at the same time it really works if you put your mind into it." Louise replied.

Put your feelings into it, using a mana skin is like breathing itself, it's natural."

Patrisha managed to do hers and was happy she did it.

"How did you do it Patrisha? can you teach me how you did it?." Dorothy asked.

As Gray was watching breathless from seeing Patrisha able to pull it off with his teachings.

"See? told ya." Louise said.

Arthur was still concentrating on his on Mana skin while Gray hyped himself up and tried his best to learn how to activate it.

[These kids.. they're learning from just a matter of seconds.. even I had to go to one of these regions in order to learn mine.] He thought to himself.

He chuckles to himself as he remembers his pasts when he was trying to learn his very own Mana skin.

[I'm thankful I'm not my Master.. otherwise they'd all be crying right now.]

A few minutes later Saya managed to learn hers and she even learned how to transfer parts of her mana into her scythe.

[These kids... they're all fast learners]

"It's the first time for me to see a cyborg do Mana skin.. thank you for this experience."

"No thank you Sir. Ackerman.. with this we might be able to win tomorrow's match." Saya replied.

"And now since we have two people here who've learned Mana skin, I'll let you two fight it off to see how durable your mana skins are."

Louise grabbed Anna's hand and went to the benches immediately as he said it out loud, moments later Arthur, Dorothy, Carla and Gray were already at the benches while Saya and Patrisha were at the middle of the field while Arthur's Father was there as their coach.

"I want this to be a fair fight alright.. now go!!."

Patrisha then launched herself towards Saya without hesitation, she readied her blades and spun herself like a chainsaw Saya withdrew her scythe at the moment and activated her mana skin to take Patrisha's attack head on.

The two were clashed, Saya's defenses were strong and managed to hold out against Patrisha's spinning attack.

After failing to hit her target Patrisha backs far away enough and draws her bow and fired three arrows coated with her mana.

[She's an Archer class? There's something I don't see everyday and she even coated her arrows with her mana.. that takes a lot of the user's mana.. she's using a risky technique.. but..] Arthur's Father thought.

Saya then drew her scythe and rushed towards the arrows, she transfers her mana into the scythe and fully coats it to counter the arrows.

[The only way to counter coated weapons or spells.. is to coat either yourself or your weapons.. I never even taught them that and yet they're learning on their own.. pretty impressive for a bunch of kids.]

Saya manages to block the arrows from left to right and then slices the third arrow in half only to see Patrisha gone.

"From behin---!!!."

"Too slow!!."

Patrisha was already close but Saya managed to block Patrisha's blade at a matter of seconds.

"Alright everyone! I'm pretty impressed how you two used your mana skin like that, Good job."

Patrisha and Saya both exchanged smiles at each other as a matter of respect for one another.

Dorothy's eyes shone bright as she saw how they used their mana skins and how it affected the battles and the users.

Because of that she was excited to learn hers even more, the possibilities she thought of on how she could use Mana skin were endless, the spells she could boosts were extremely high.

A few minutes later Saya and Patrisha continued sparring at each other while trying out new ways on using their mana skins while the others were busy still learning how to do theirs.

Arthur noticed Louise looking at her clock as he then asks,

"Something up?."

"Well I gotta go get Father's wheelchair.. it's been three hours since he used his mana to support his legs.. it's about time he should rest."

"Good point.. I'll go with you." Arthur said.

As the two left the field and went towards the room to fetch their Father's wheelchair Anna was playing by herself in the bed of flowers trying to catch a butterfly.

"She's adorable you know." She utters.

"Huh?."

"Your daughter."

"Yeah she is.."

"So if you ever make her cry I'll make you pay brother!."

She aimed her sword at his throat, threatening him while he simply raises his hands in the air as if he had been cornered.

Once she lowered her sword she laughed and reminisced of the old days how her brother used to protect her from kids in their neighborhood.

"So are you really gonna transfer here next year?." Arthur asked.

"Yes. I have to.. I won't stay in the house forever and Father knows that.. besides our maid will be there with him.. I'm just hoping he'll get along with her before I leave."

"I'm sure they will HAHAHAHA."

He laughs out loud thinking how their Father would make that happen when he clearly avoids her almost every time.

Once Arthur and Louise got their Father's wheelchair they then proceeded back towards the field.

"Hey how's Mother doing?." Arthur asked.

She was shaking for a bit upon hearing it and was silent, she gave him no reply.

"She's... She's fine..she's doing well... on the other hand how are you doing over here?." Louise asks.

"I'm doing fine, the food is great, the people are nice.. It's pretty great."

"Good to know that, since I'll be transferring here next year."

They arrived at the field and everyone was confused on why they were bringing a wheelchair with them.

"What's that for Arthur?." Gray asked.

"Father, it's about time." Louise said.

Everyone in the area turned their shocked and confused gazes to Arthur's Father who willingly went towards the wheelchair but before taking his seat he turned and faced towards everyone and said,

"You wanna hear something shocking? your teacher can't walk.."

He disables his mana skin and sits down on the wheelchair.

As everyone yelled "WWWWWHHHHHHAAAAATTTTT!?!!??!!?!?!?."

"Either way just continue on with what you got.. I'm still going to be supervising you all.. by the way Arthur while you were gone, Gray and Carla managed to successfully use their Mana skins."

Arthur was dumbfounded by the fact that even Gray has already done his.

"What about Louise?." Arthur asked.

"I already learned mine a few months ago." She lets out her tongue and teases Arthur as she pushes her Father towards the bench.

"The only ones left who haven't done theirs is you and Dorothy."

Once they were at the middle of the field Dorothy then says,

"I was waiting for you, you know."

"You shouldn't have.. I don't want you feeling left out."

"Well I should be telling you that." She replies.

The two concentrated on their mana, they imagined their own personal reality as if they're their own gods creating their own things.

[Feel it.. feel the mana flowing through my body] Arthur thought to himself.

[I can do this.. I can do this.. Imagine.. my own personal layer..]

It lasted for a few minutes and they concentrated as hard as they could to finally be able to use their mana skins.

"Is it hard to do what they're doing?." Anna asked.

"Yes.. it's very hard."

"mhm I'm sure Mama and Papa will be able to do it too." She said as she sets her confidence high for them and smiles while staring at them.

"I know they will." She smiles and does the same thing.

Arthur and Dorothy were still going at it, they were still giving their all just to activate their mana skin.

[I'm going to do this.. for my teammates.. for my future... for Dorothy!!.]

In a matter of seconds Arthur managed to pull it through and has finally achieved Mana skin, his version was oddly different from the others..

They wouldn't notice it but his Father did, shortly after Dorothy learned how to do hers and was able to do it finely.

"Arthur I did it!! I did it!!."

"That's good to know Dorothy!! I'm so proud of you!!."

They were both thrilled with joy as they both managed to do their mana skins at the same time.

"Alright now that you both finally have done your Mana skins.. It's time to see how much you two can hone it by having a duel."

"We'll give you the best fight ever."

"Yeahh." Dorothy replied.

"I can't wait to see that!." Gray said.

"I know right!." Saya said.

"I want to see who's stronger, my brother or Dorothy." Louise said as she winks at them.

Arthur notices this and thoughts,

[What's that about Louise.]

"Fine, I also wanna see how much we've grown in this year." Artur declared.

"I accept, you better not come crying to me Arthur." Dorothy said with a confident look on her eyes.

"I could say the same to you."

The two faced each other, preparing to see who's more superior among the two of them.

Inside Arthur's conscience was his Dragon servant simply watching over the situation.

[This will be fun...]

End of Chapter 88: -- their mana