Chapter 56: I'm Finally Getting Somewhere!

(Clank!)

Robbie's battle cry is swiftly replaced by the sound of metal colliding. Gram falls backwards, onto the ground as Saiba stands in front of him, sword up and blocking the attack. Robbie shouts,

"Stay out of this, wannabe! This shrimp dented my armor! He needs to pay!"

Saiba mutters,

"You were gonna hurt him for real, weren't you..."

Robbie replies,

"Of course I was! What's the point of fighting if no-one's getting hurt?"

Saiba responds,

"You're stuck-up, you like showing-off, you like picking on people weaker than you, and you're pretty witty too... You really do remind me of Aldrich..."

Robbie shouts,

"I don't care! Just get out of my way or I'll make you get out of my way!"

Saiba mutters,

"You know what else you have in common?.. Neither of you know when to back off..."

In a blink of an eye, Saiba flicks his sword up, disarming Robbie and flinging his sword over the iron fence. Next, Saiba takes his fist and thrusts it straight towards Robbie's stomach.

Robbie gets launched back as the students move out of the way and he collides with the fence. Robbie drops to the ground, dizzy, and an even bigger dent is left in his shining armor.

The students cheer for the Hero's victory. Saiba turns around as Gram asks,

"H-How did you do that?.."

Saiba reaches his hand out and answers,

"I told you! I'm the legendary hero!"

With the help of Saiba, Gram gets back up and brushes the dust off of him. Isabelle shouts,

"The winner is Gram! Now, someone bring Robbie to the Infirmary!"

She runs over to Robbie, passing Saiba and whispering,

"That's too far, Mr. Hero!"

Saiba chuckles awkwardly while scratching the back of his head. Following her, two kids carry out a dazed Robbie back inside the building. Suddenly, A fellow student pats Saiba on the back with a big smile while saying,

"Hey! Maybe you're not as lame as we thought!"

With a disappointed look, Saiba mumbles,

"I'm not lame... R-Right..?"

Excitedly, Gram shouts,

"Of course not, Hero!"

Isabelle interrupts them and announces,

"We'll continue with the duels! Next, Marissa and Yuel!"

They continue the battles until everyone has fought an opponent. That is, everyone except for Saiba. Saiba slowly steps toward Isabelle and mutters,

"What about me..?"

With her hands on her hips and an annoyed tone, she replies,

"You already had your turn, didn't you, Hero?"

Disappointed, Saiba mumbles,

"Yes ma'am..."

They head back in the main building as Isabelle seems to stray away from them. Saiba asks one of the students,

"Where is she going?"

She answers,

"Oh, Ms. Isabelle doesn't teach this class, but I wish she did..."

Saiba thinks,

"What class could it be now? They're not skipping or running away, so they care about this one... Actually, it looks like they're more scared than excited... What class could this be?..."

Class 1-B all head toward their next class as Saiba lazily follows behind.

They all walk through the door and a familiar lady is standing at the front. Her silver hair and lavender eyes glimmer from the sunlight coming through the window as she announces,

"Welcome students! This is Skills 101! Just take a spot against the wall and await my commands!"

Saiba finally steps in and sees that the classroom is nothing like he expected. It is very spacious, in contrast to its exterior appearance. It seems as though the interior has been altered somehow with magic.

Nevertheless, Saiba pays little mind to it and leans against the wall, similar to his fellow classmates. His classmates stand upright and very tense. Some of them even seem to be shivering. Saiba thinks,

"Is she really that scary? She doesn't seem that bad..."

Alizandria heads to the middle of the room and grabs her weapon off of her back. It's cylindrical, metal, and quite large. Saiba thinks,

"That's a bazooka, isn't it? If I remember correctly, there was one back in the castle too. I wonder how they came up with the idea of bazookas in this world.. Actually, I wonder what ammo she's gonna use. It doesn't look like she has anything to load it with."

Alizandria holds her finger on the trigger and slowly applies pressure, while steam starts shooting out of the weapon. She completely activates it as a puffy, white disc comes out and attaches itself to the wall. She instructs the students,

"Everyone listen closely! When I call your name, you are allowed to make use of any Skill you have on this disc! We're going to gauge your power levels and your growth from the start of the year. I don't want to see any failures in this class, you hear me!?"

Her final line sends shivers up the whole class' spine. Saiba thinks,

"She's not only scary, she's mean too!"

Saiba starts to hear whispers like,

"Nothing's gonna change..."

"She's just gonna be first like last time..."

Saiba becomes curious as to who this mysterious girl is.

Alizandria begins calling names as the students release their skills upon the cloud disc. The cloud disc manages to absorb each attack, growing grayer each time.

Finally, she calls out,

"Okumura Saiba!"

Saiba walks out, quite confidently and cracking his knuckles. He lifts his sword, but before he can swing, Alizandria corrects herself by saying,

"My mistake. Milliana Rose!"

Saiba watches as a girl with short scarlet hair and a bright green robe walks out from the group. He takes a step back to let the lady take her turn.

In her hand, she holds a wooden polearm weapon. Gripping it with both hands, Rose leaps towards the cloud disc while mumbling,

"Plant Magic: 1000-Piercing Thorns."

In an instant, a multitude of spikes grow out of her pole as they fade from the wooden brown into a grassy green. As if they had a mind of their own, they lock-on to the target and lodge themselves inside.

Finally, she thrusts her weapon into the center as it cracks and shatters onto the ground. Alizandria praises her saying,

"Wonderful. I expect nothing less from the top student."

The students whisper,

"It still takes me by surprise everytime I see it..."

"She really is the top student of our class..."

Saiba thinks,

"So she's the girl they were talking about... I gotta give it to her. That was pretty cool, but now it's my turn to show what I'm made of!"

From behind, another cloud disc shoots out and sticks to the wall as, once again, Alizandria calls out,

"Okumura Saiba!"

Finally, Saiba arms himself with his trusty blade and slashes forward as a normal-sized [Crimson Flash] comes flying out, towards the target. It makes contact, but instead of fading out, the wave slices through the cloud and dents the wall.

The class wears expressions of shock as they cheer for Saiba. They shout,

"Woah! What was that!"

"That's insane! This guy's crazy!"

"Rose broke the disc, but he broke through the disc AND the wall!"

Saiba looks around and observes the barrage of praise being sent at him. He poses and thinks,

"This is it! I'm finally getting somewhere!"