BETA CLASS-2

"Begin." Ragnar screamed than rushed at Sally with full force. His objective was simple. He rushed at her while infusing his sword with mana.

Sally felt the incoming blow and knew that holding back was not a viable option. She too infused her sword with energy and rushed and guarded against the attack.

The two attacks clashed with each other and the two figures were pushed back.

"Again" Ragnar screamed and clashed with her once again and she did the same. Once again, a fight started. Sally was using Steel-Hearts Sword Art and so was Ragnar. He was screaming instructions while fighting with her, to help cover up for the mistakes she was making or to improve her controls. At the same time, Ragnar was also using her superior physique combined with her energy which was greater than his to temper his own body and exhaust it.

As expected, he was still not up to the mark of someone who was at the top of alpha class and specialized in sword arts like her. He was the one to exhaust himself and was unable to continue in the fight.

"Good one." Ragnar took in a deep breath and sat on the floor. Sally followed his steps and sat down as well. Even though she had energy and stamina remaining, she had never worked so hard. She had never been pushed like this to almost the extreme extent.

Another reason for her amazement was the fact that Ragnar was not the same as yesterday. His skills were above her for sure and he helped her correct the form of swordsmanship and also help in improving her overall from. The difference appeared in strength and endurance.

Ragnar looked like he would die anytime. His entire body was drenched in sweat. The case was ame as yesterday where he didn't stop till his entire stamina was spent and he was almost out of mana. His mana capacity and stamina seemed to have improved and although Sally couldn't prove it immediately, she could feel his strength to have grown.

"Why do you force youself like this?" Sally asked.

"Because forcing yourself is the only way to breakthrough the wall that holds you back. Without it you wouldn't be able to surpass the natural order of things. Remeber, nature decides everything to be average. If you want to become strong, you will have to work for it, make sacrifices for it, risk your life for it and so on." Ragnar said while lying down. His body was shaking but he was forcing himself to get up.

Sally looked at the struggling figure and understood just how tenacious he truly was.

"We can stop here?" Sally said.

"Not yet. For now, meditate and recover your mana. We will go for another round after half an hour." Ragnar said.

Ragnar sat down and immediately began to use the Troll's Breathing method. Sally saw this and she began to focus as well. As soon as she closed her eyes a distant memory seemed to have re-surfaced.

....

"Brother, what are you doing here at this time?" A young Sally could be seen running through the dark night towards a corner of their mansion where the training hall were. She could see her brother punching the sand bags with his sword lying beside him, on the ground.

"What are you doing here at this time?" The boy in front of her spoke in a kind manner. His expression turned for the better as soon as he saw her.

She could remeber his kind eyes and how good he was to her.

"What are you doing?"

"Training. I need to complete multiple repetitions of my moves and perform set after set. It will take some time for me to go back to sleep." The young man said.

"But why in the middle of the night. Whether I catch you, I find you training. You have no time to play with me." Sally said.

"I will play with you tomorrow." The boy said. " I have to do training. Without pushing myself to the cliff end, I would never be able.to breakthrough my boundaries." The young man said.

"But brother, can't you do that by training normally like you usually do." Sally said after giving off a pouting expresison.

"I can, but that would be difficult to get result from and take a lot of time. Time stops for no one and you need to tow up father than anyone if you want to be at the top fo the world. If you want to reduce time you have to push yourself ,work more and harder and risk it." The young man said.

"Ok brother" Sally eyes suddenly shone with a bright light.

The scene changed.

Fire and blood is everywhere with a young Sally kneeling on the ground, holding a broken sword. The world around her appeared red and broken, and she felt helpless and alone. She felt scared, agitated and wanted to run away, but there was Balck ess everywhere and no path visible.

"Sally"

"Sally"

"Sally"

She could hear her name being called out, but she couldn't see where it was coming from.

.....

"Sally."

"Sally."

"Sally."

Ragnar suddenly lifted his hands and smacked her so hard on the cheek that her face bent sideways with a dark red colour patch appearing on it.

She suddenly opened her eyes, all amazed and hurt due to the last attack.

"What were you thinking about?" Ragnar asked.

"What?" Sally didn't understand the reason behind the question.

"Your mana was going Berserk and if hadn't pulled you out, your circulation would have been reversed or blocked and your body would have bursted into pieces." Ragnar said.

Sally looked at her body and she could see veins popping all around it, slowly burying back into the skin.

"Are you ok now?" Ragnar asked.

"Yes I am." Sally said.

"What were you thinking about?" Ragnar asked.

"A very bad memory." Sally said.

"I am pretty sure it was a bad memory after looking at the reaction..Take my word for it, if you want to do well in the Steel-Heart Swordsmanship, the first requirement is that you have a full control over you emotions. Let me tell you once again, Steel-Hearts needs a strong heart."

"That is the source of its name. Without a heart strong enough, you wouldn't be able to develop upon the sword art any more than you have at the moment. So get a grip over yourself." Ragnar said.

"I will." Sally said in an irritated tone. It was visible that the memory which recapped in front of her eyes soured her mood.

"Let us stop here. We will continue from tommorow." Sally had alredy given the puch for today so he turned around. " Make sure to prepare real swords for the next confrontation."

"But we aren't supposed to handle real swords at our level." Sally said.

"Let me decided what goes and what not. For your information you are practicing the Steel-Heart Sword style. It has another term in its name. Remeber it. I will help you understand why this was chosen as its name. Just arrange for two swords." Ragnar said as he left the gym.

He was about to exit the academy, when a voice was heard.

"Stop right there." The voice said.

Ragnar turned around to face a figure which seemed to be running at him. It was the same man who was sitting in the principal office the last time he went to visit.