[Vance Kaze - POV]
Ok, so for now I have started to accept the fact that why only me. Why the whole community of THE CREEPERS was saying that only I could do this job.
But I know everything clearly: an E-ranker who is impatient, hyperenergetic, and with great potential; an S-rank who has only a soft corner for one person - yes, it is Pearl; and at the very last...
The person marked as S-rank but with even greater potential - Arashi Ushimoto. I must say Arashi is already stronger than most of the senseis out there, but currently not even dust in front of them.
"I don't know what you are even thinking for so long. But can you tell me when I will get my answer of 'When'?" It was Arashi with the same authoritative tone.
"Don't you know how to talk to your sensei, scumbag?" It was Pearl, but the tone wasn't soft as with Zorian; it was filled with hatred.
"Pearl, what is it?" It was the same fearless voice of Zorian.
My eyes went towards Arashi's seat; his face was rock solid as if he wasn't even breathing, but then he said,
"If you want to know how big of a scumbag I am," he took a pause and then drew his katana just barely enough to lift the hilt from its cover.
"Bring it on..."
With his words, the room became dead silent, but then...
"If you are going that way," Pearl said and pulled out two needles which were the size of a knife and were connected with a thin thread.
"No, no, what 'bring it on', just stop it, you guys!" Same fearless, but filled with fear, voice of Zorian.
Before they could clash or Arashi drew his katana out, I finally stepped in.
But this time, I released my flux without any restriction from my own body.
All three froze; the colourful world lost its colour, the only colour remaining was purple.
Zorian was pinned on the ground like an ant, Pearl was terrified and couldn't breathe. I didn't look at Arashi and said, "Lesson one is kill your teacher, and for you three, I am the teacher." I turned to see him after speaking, and he was... He was SMILING.
"If you are interested in being a part of this team and my student, would you mind telling us what you are smiling at??" I said with a cold face, knowing that he couldn't talk under this pressure.
Suddenly, a golden colour cut through my pressure, only a small area of his mouth. He wasn't able to talk then also, but still, he was better than any other student in the academy of the first year.
"I am least interested in it, but I must tell you, I was smiling because of the thought of seeing you headless." He said it with a smile and the same confidence on his face like before.
"Very well then." I released the pressure.
"We will start tomorrow morning, don't be late," I said and left the room before they could react.
[Zorian Sterling - POV]
We all saw as the dragon hunter, now our sensei, left the room and disappeared in the shadows. Before I could say anything...
"Ahh, finally. These 15 mins were the worst since I was born." It was Pearl who broke the silence and closed the distance between us.
"You know the room no. we 3 are staying in for the next 6 years??" I asked the question to Pearl.
"Don't think so far ahead in the future, Zorian. You don't know what will happen the next second." It was Arashi with no emotion on his face nor in his tone.
"Hey, you ar—" I was interrupted.
"Should he consider this as a threat, or should we both?" It was Pearl who became protective instantly.
"Take it as whatever you want, but if you will become so excited to fight every time, you might lose your head." He narrowed his eyes. "And yes, this is a threat," he said and grabbed the hilt of his sword.
Pearl again took out the needles with the string and started to take a stance.
"Waaittttttt!" I shouted.
"I am very hungry, Pearl. Please, let's go to the room and then to the mess, and also I want to talk to you," I said all this in one breath.
"If you want, then definitely." She smiled, pulled the needles back in, and turned her back to Arashi.
It took us half an hour to find our room, which was pretty small with three beds, a classic floor, ceiling, and overall room design, with not even basic facilities if compared to my mansion, but ok.
We weren't allowed to bring a lot of things, but still, it was a lot. For the next few hours, we were constantly working and organising our space.
Pearl did it quickly and then did most of my work also. I took the first bed which was at the entrance, Pearl took the middle one, and Arashi got the last bed near the window.
"All set. Now could we go and grab dinner, as the night has fallen already?" she said with joy on her face.
"We can't, as the time for dinner has passed, and also in a few minutes the lights will be out too," I said with sadness.
"Oh no, so what will we do now??" she said with the same level of sadness as me.
"Should we clean Arashi's side too, as it looks like it is not part of our room?" I said with no emotion, just what I thought.
"No!" her voice became scary. "Just go to sleep," she ordered.
She didn't wait for my response, pushed me, and pulled the blanket to my face, and the lights went out at the exact moment.
I didn't fight nor react, and as I was too tired, I fell asleep without realising Pearl went out.
[Arashi Ushimoto - POV]
997... 998... 999... 1000.
1000 sword slashes completed before midnight. The rate I am training is still insufficient for what I felt and saw in the class.
"He was too powerful," I whispered so low only I could hear it, but...
"Indeed he was, but you can't get to his level in one day." It was the same competitive voice of Pearl, filled with hatred.
"Here for a spar or finding death?" I said with coldness.
"In my view, a friendly spar in which you are gonna die," she said with a teasing smirk.
"Then what are you waiting for?? My order?" I said without turning my head.
"No, but actually I am waiting for you to unleash your god—" She was interrupted.
"If you are interested, then on the behalf of Arashi Senpai, Pearl-san, I will have a spar with you." It was a quiet yet very authoritative tone.
"June Mizu, an unclassified grade arcanist with a grade-S weapon, Soul Scythe, not pleased to meet you." I remained as I was before, even though her irresistible charm was constantly attracting me.
"I will deal with you later, Senpai." She smiled, turned, and pulled out her scythe.
"Come on, Pearl-san." She took a stance as Pearl took her stance and smiled.
[Cut - Blackout]
[Next day - 4 am Zorian Sterling - POV]
I woke up and saw that both Pearl and Arashi were ready. I was late; I was feeling guilty and about to apologize, but...
"Are you up?? There is still time, Zorian, get up and get ready." It was the same soft voice of Pearl.
"Right away," I said, ran towards the restroom, and came out in my formal clothes I used in my house.
"I take my words back, Zorian, you are dumb as hell. This weirdo put your uniform in the front so you could spot it, she even made special changes in your uniform, and you still couldn't find it. Leave it." He said, insulting both me and Pearl.
"What did you say?" It was Pearl who was very furious, which her tone was telling.
"Please!" I shouted, "It was my mistake, I am sorry. I will be back in a minute. Pearl, please calm down for me, and thank you for the special treatment in making my uniform." I didn't wait for her reply and went to change my clothes to my uniform.
It had special changes which only I had; no one else's uniform had it, not even Arashi's.
After this, we first went to eat because I was going with Pearl, and Arashi can't start training alone, so he was forced.
After this, we finally went to our class. My PTSD of yesterday's sensei power flex was making me sit straight and quiet, same goes for Pearl; I can't say about Arashi.
1 hour, 2 hours, 3 hours.
He was 3 hours late on the first day. As Pearl was sleeping with open eyes and a smile, Arashi was doing pushups after the first hour had passed, and he is doing pushups since then without stopping.
I whistled for calling Kyris; he sprinted out from my pocket and returned his size to original. Even on day one, we had great chemistry.
"Kyris, I don't know if you could do this, but can you please go and search for Vance Sensei?" Without another word, Vyrm vanished to find Vance Sensei.
We waited another 40 mins, but when I was about to lose control, I saw Arashi. He was sweating so bad that the floor near him was wet.
His muscles and bones were making a sound that was a warning that they might break anytime, but he wasn't stopping.
I was about to speak, but the door opened very harshly; it was Vance Sensei with a guilty smile and Kyris on his shoulder.
"We are already very late. I think we should start the training right away," he said. Pearl woke up and stood up, I stood up straight, and following both of us, Arashi also stood up and adjusted his sword.
But suddenly, a circle around all 4 of us started spinning wildly, and taking the shape of a cutter, it started spinning wildly.
I was amazed, Pearl was shocked. Arashi, he had no reaction; all of his focus was on Vance Sensei.
"It is air manipulation, kids. My name is Vance Kaze, and let's finally begin our first lesson:
KILL THE TEACHER."
In no time, we were standing in an open arena.
"There is no rule, no time limitation, nothing, just one task: kill me. All of you, show what you have got." He said this, and Arashi sprinted towards the left and Pearl to the right.
In this chaos, I alone was the one who was barehanded and helpless. Suddenly, the whole area went dark; Pearl stopped.
Vance Sensei smiled, and then a single source of light went straight to cut Sensei from the middle. Only one voice came:
VOID - SUNDER STYLE... GRAVE ECLIPSE.
It was like time stopped; Sensei was one cm away from getting sliced. I saw Arashi's sword fully drawn for the first time; it was golden and beautiful, but to my shock, Sensei dodged it with a smile.
Arashi's face went from overconfidence to dull in a second, but another voice came:
Thread Art: Silent Stitch.
In a second, both of Pearl's hands moved with amazing speed, but as I could see, Sensei was intact. He had stopped all attacks and had grabbed both the hands of Pearl with one hand and said,
"POWER GETS YOU CLOSE, TIMING DECIDES EVERYTHING, BUT GREED RUINS BOTH, but remember, training has just started."