The Shadows (3) - 39

The excitement from the other students was infectious.

We all wanted to rush to the glass cases immediately to pick our weapons, but because Ms. Krenshaw was here, we held back.

'Let's see if the weapons they pick are the same.'

First, she asked swordsmen to come and line up behind the glass case with the sword in it. Then, each of them went to the panal under the case and each chose a sword to borrow.

Of course, the ones that got there first were able to choose better swords, meaning that the students who's ranks were higher than the others probably got there first, getting the better swords.

Surprisingly, Marabelle was able to get the third place in line.

'It looks like she hid her strength during the admissions exams, but it's so cliche though, for the "protagonist" to hide their strength.'

I mean, I was now seriously considering whether she was actually the author that had been transmigrated into her own novel.

'Ahh, no, it can't be, it's probably just my delusions.'

I continued to watch as Ryker chose a double edged sword and Marabelle chose a katana.

I had expected both of these outcomes because Ryker had chosen the same in the novel and the manual that Marabelle had gotton in the cave before me was one for a katana.

Next were the wands and staffs for the wizards, Wilhelm already had his own family staff whilst Primrose had chosen the only elderwood wand, as she was the first in the line.

Then, there were the daggers, which Rohan was the first in line, and then the bows, which Adelaide was the second in line for.

Both Elvira and Octavia didn't choose weapons, but that was because their choice weapons were too specialized for the school to be able to provide them.

Marabelle and Primrose both stared at me when they saw that I hadn't chosen a weapon either, but, as it also attracted the attention of other people, they were quickly disinterested.

Finally, after everyone was done choosing their weapons, Ms. Krenshaw started organizing spars, so that each student could get a feel for their weapons.

But, as I had joined the class, there was now an odd number, and because nobody wanted to pair with Ryker, as he was Rank 2, he was eventually left without a partner to spar.

Seeing this, Ms. Krenshaw sighed before motioning for Ryker to come to her.

'Yep, it's the same as in the novel, although originally, it was just because there was an odd number in the class, but with the adition of Marabelle and then me, it still creates the same situation.'

Some random guy had come asking me for a spar, I think he was Rank 21 or something?

Well, we waited for the other spars to take place first, so that, as Ms. Krenshaw said, "We could learn from their mistakes."

Of course, I just fiddled with my deck of cards, doing tricks with it until my match was called.

Activating dueling mode with our watches, we waited for the start.

"3, 2, 1... START!"

And not even a second later, right after the "START" was heard, the match ended.

"Ding!"

"The match has ended, winner... Error! Can not find information."

'Oh, looks like Xion's protecting me, but that's probably just because he's bored and is interested in what I'll do.'

Everyone, including Ms. Krenshaw, stared in amazement, as red lights dimmed over my opponent.

"W-what did you do?" Asked my opponent.

"I won."

I walked out of the sparring area and took my place in the winners area.

As everyone was still stunned by what happened, because it looked like I hadn't even moved an inch, it wasn't until a minute had passed before the flustered Ms. Krenshaw anounced the start of the next match.

Again, I didn't really pay attention to the remaining matches until it was time for the match between Ryker and Ms. Krenshaw.

Stepping up to the stage, Ms. Krenshaw, an (A+) ranked hero, supressed her power to only (E+) rank, matching Ryker's. She also chose a sword after seeing his preffered weapon, so that the match could be as close as possible.

Then, the match started.

Ryker actually started off pretty well, keeping pace with Ms. Krenshaw, but after a few minutes, he started falling behind, just because of the huge disparity between the mastery of their techniques, and the slight nuances between their mana control and such.

Finally, after surviving for 10 minutes, the computer announced that the last move that Ms. Krenshaw had made was fatal against Ryker, ending the match.

Whilst trying to hide her impressed expression, that everyone could see, Ms. Krenshaw congratulated Ryker before telling him that he still, unfortunately, had to move to the loser section.

Then, the next round of spars between the winners began.

Again, I just waited for my round by doing tricks with my cards.

When I was called up, I, once again, stunned everybody by defeating my opponent in less than the blink of an eye.

This time, Ms. Krenshaw payed close attention to what I was doing, but it seemed like she still couldn't figure it out, as she, once again, was flustered after the match.

Once the third round of matches between the second round winners started, I announced my resignation before leaving the class.

And, as I wasn't formally enrolled in Class 1: Weapons, Ms. Krenshaw couldn't do anything to stop me.

'So everything went just like I expected. All I need to do is find out if the winner is the same from Marabelle and Primrose.'

Coming back to my room, I washed up and changed into silk pajamas before going to sleep.

<Ms. Krenshaw's POV>

Today was a day that I would never forget for the rest of my life.

First, there was Rank 2.

Although all the students had masks on when they stepped up for the admissions ceremony, his features and build were just so unique that I could recognize him immediately on the first day of class, and so could everybody else.

So today, I had actually looked forward to our fight against each other in the sparring arena.

And, the result, I was extrememly impressed.

Just the techniques and battle sense that he showed far surpassed his peers, which had led him to be able to withstand fighting toe-to-toe with me for the whole 10 minutes.

'Honestly, he's definitely at least a (S) rank talent.'

'But then, there's the other kid, the monster.'

He was some random guy that had showed up in class only one time prior, where he made a name for himself by summoning a random crow for his spiritual beast, even though it looked like he was already proficient in inscribing the circles.

So today, I really hadn't expected that much from him, but boy was I wrong.

His attacks were too quick for even me, an (A+) rank superhuman to see.

So, when I had gotton back to my room, I had quickly pulled up the videos on his fights.

But, lo and behold, even when I slowed the video down to its minimum speed, which was one-thousandth of the original speed, all the video showed was a slight flash in that time period in which he had won.

So, I decided to go frame by frame, finally getting the answers I was looking for.

On the 1027th frame of the video, you could see his hand flick up at the wrist whilst it was still by his side, but at this point, the hand was still blocking the projectile.

On the 1028th frame, all you could see were two projectiles approaching the head and heart of the opponent, respectively.

I zoomed in as far as I could on the two projectiles before cleaning up the bluriness with the AI's advanced software.

'No fucking way!'

What I saw on the screen almost made me choke.

On the screen were two playing cards, two jokers to be exact.

'He's been playing with those every time he's been in my class, but who'd've thought that they were actually his weapons?'

'But, does that mean that he hid his strength during the entrance ceremony, no, there's a much more suitable explanation.'

'He must be, Rank 1, Ashen, the 13 year old abomination of a mixed blood.'