Vol 8 Chapter 4 (1/2)
Diamond Passion
To Layfon Alseif, Nina Antalk was someone who held many secrets
In the Academy City of Zuellni, as a Military Artist elite, she was allowed to enter a platoon as only a 3rd year, irl At the same time, she was a person as involved with the dile so for the city
But where did this passion coht be able to understand her feelings coht never be able to understand
”Is it really okay?” Nina asked Layfon in an unsettled manner
”It's okay”
A completely spiritless Layfon nodded his head
They were in a training area that was especially reserved for the 17th platoon of Zuellni Soundproof and shockproof e space, and in it, stood the Captain of the seventeenth squad, Nina and her platoon htingarea was extremely spacious And in a situation like today when there were only two people, it felt even more spacious
It was also an unavoidable reality
Today was a rest day with lessons only before lunch, soby dusk Even if the sounds of training ca walls, it would be probably be so by hily, as she confirmed the sensation of the two restored Dites she held in each of her hands The whips that she wielded eapons designed to emphasize offensive capabilities
”Anyti
”I can't say how this'll turn out”
Facing Layfon's attitude, Nina felt a little annoyed She felt that she was being underestith, that would be understandable as well The proble a Dite in his hands, and not only that, he had loosened his sword strap as hile still standing around with a complacent look on his face, which nity
She wouldn't ask hiot her internal-type Kei flowing Using the internal-type Kei generated from within her to reinforce her entire body, she immediately cut down the distance between herself and Layfon
Following up on her charge, she brought out her right-hand metal whip
Nina locked onto Layfon's left shoulder
Layfon was in the center of her vision as she charged at hiht Nina's strike just like that
The force in that strike was h to rend flesh; to sh the strike was that powerful, it was as if it had fallen upon a steel wall, and her wrist received a jarring ih she didn't let go of the steel whip, Nina was caught couard, and kept her distance from Layfon
”Do it more seriously”
Layfon turned to face Nina, whose wrist racked with pain and spoke to her in a criticallike Senpai's usual attacks You have to attack even more seriously, and make it so that I'm forced to evade it If you can't do that, then there's noto show you next”
She's been training with Layfon for a long ti sessions, but also with hi their rest days, but she had never seen Layfon like this before
”What's wrong?”
She didn't ask him like that
A part of it was because she kneasn't the ti like that, but she knew the real reason was her curiosity for what Layfon was going to show her next
Nina quietly increased the density of her Internal type Kei Being able to do this in a blink of an eye was thanks to Layfon's training as well The unique breathingInternal type Kei was also the result of taking Layfon's advice He told her to keep her breath the saed to master Internal type Kei
When she first started, she would get exhausted very quickly It felt like she couldn't properly control the Kei which burned within her, but now she could stabilize her Kei easily
She could feel herbeneath her skin It wasn't just herwith Kei,up and gathering energy, and then releasing it all
The target that she had locked on to hadn't changed; it was still the left shoulder
She brought her arh
She released all her Kei at the ain, her wrist sent out a signal of pain as Nina looked at an unperturbed Layfon
This ti his left shoulder, he punched her with the other hand in the stomach The Kei which he released fro wall
Her back raround with a crash
”What the hell's going on”
Layfon didn't hold back with his strike at all Nina stood up quickly
Layfon stood there showing no signs of being injured, completely still
”Do you understand what I just did?”
”No, other than filling your whole body up with Kei, I have no idea what you did” replied Nina, shaking her head
It was true; that's all she had figured out fro It was the evidence that all the power in her strike had been deflected back easily If she hadn't loosened her grip at the reater
Layfon carried the first aid kit over, deftly treating Nina's wrist
”Ah, I'm sorry”
”It's ok”
He sprayed her wrist with a cooling e to wrap it up and secure it Nina concentrated her Internal-type Kei near her wrist Even though she didn't expect any real results, at least it would speed up her recovery
”What was that you did back there?”
Compared to the pain in her wrist, she cared about thatto show Nina
Even if it was like that, she couldn't understand it at all
”It didn't feel like striking a person at all, it felt as if I was hitting so very hard”
”That was the Heaven's Blade Successor Reverse's move”
”It was a Heaven's Blade Successor's move?”
The Heaven's Blade Successors of Lance Shelled City Grendan were really powerful Military Artists who could single-handedly take on Filth Monsters
And standing in front of her, Layfon was also a Heaven's Blade Successor before he came to Zuellni
”This technique is the only reason Reverse became a Heaven's Blade Successor, and it's no surprise”
”Is it really that powerful of a technique?”
No doubt it was; deflecting Nina's technique so easily
But relying on just that technique to beco
Layfon is very strong
He warded off two attacks on Zuellni fro those battles, Nina was standing aside and watching
That stunning scene hting that mature form Filth Monster, Layfon performed moves which were impossible for Nina
But e existence, he didn't show any signs of fear
To be able to do all that by hi
And that's why Nina started harboring thoughts of not being able to do anything by herself
”Kongoukei(Diaainst all attacks and then causes theest shi+eld And then there is the strongest Guan Dao (halberd) wielded by Cauntia, which can cut through anything This pair's coe numbers of Filth monsters”
”So that's why”
She understood that reasoning A teaenius level in their offense and defense, would surely be a formidable coht of this explanation
”There's Cauntia who only attacks and coards defense, and there's Reverse, who only defends and never bothers with offense Think about it carefully, and iine the situation”
”With that body, she takes on the relentless attacks of the filth monsters with such concentration that she barely blinks Can you iine that, Captain?”
Nina didn't reply and was frozen on the spot
When they were battling the mature form of filth monster, Nina acted as the bait
At that ti her, and Nina was so scared that she couldn'tto be the same as a battle, so she didn't think that there would be any probleht be torn into shreds by those gigantic teeth
She decided that she would iine herself in such a situation more often
What kind of people would be there
”The basic idea of Kongoukei is to use Internal type Kei to reinforce your body and simultaneously follow the Kei of an attack and reflect it It's actually very siht and to always be staring at the opponent with a persistent glare, and to do that you have to have a very strong will You have to do those two things”
As he said 'To always be staring at the opponent with a persistent glare' she already thought that it was possible for her to master this technique
But, if it was as he said, then it shouldn't be that easy to learn After all the training, Nina finally understood this from her experience
◇
”O”
Nina woke up to excruciating pain in herhad it been?
Even before, she hadn't ever been like this before
Now she thought about it, recently every tiotten her restraint and pushed herself toothatalone all the ti hospitalized ended up as the catalyst for Layfon to start training her, providing Nina with very valuable training sessions
Ignoring the pain, she sat up with that blank look of having just woken up, adjusting her Kei breathing This was her latest daily routine she had to go through
Her ulti even when she was sleeping, but right now, she still couldn't do it
It wasn't actually to flood her lungs with Kei, but it was to stabilize the flow of Kei co fro
As she proceeded with her Kei breathing, she unconsciously looked around her roo at her bed, her study desk, and her wardrobe, you could i space The toilet, the showers, and the kitchen were all shared
Nina lived in the girl's doro as practice for the Architecture Students for their graduation The designer had called it a work of art, and you could see this clearly fro It was built in an archaic wooden house style, and on the inside, everywhere you looked you could see carefully designed ornaments The three shared roo people who lived in other apart was, that place wasn't very popular
The main reason was that it was too far away from school
And another reason was the noise pollution
Originally, the land nearby was prepared for Architecture Students to undergo training, so they would build s The reason that the girl's dorm that Nina lived in hadn't been knocked doas that the person who designed this returned to his hon, so they kept this building as ain it would quickly fall into disrepair, so they turned it into a so-called girl's dorot dark, the lack of people felt creepy to many residents, so there were very few people who lived in that dorm
Because of all the terrible conditions, the rent was low, so Nina decided to live here
”Hoo”
Nina had finished adjusting her Kei breathing, and now fully awake, she used her Internal type Kei to ease the pain in her muscles This level of muscle soreness only needed some sort of Kei to be one by around noon
Internal type Kei, or Katsukei, could be used to reinforce the body and reency one fully released all their Internal type Kei and continually reinforced their body, afterward there would be very scary side consequences waiting for the user Nina had experienced this period of aftershock herself However, if it was used appropriately, one could achieve accelerated recovery
Feeling a lot more comfortable, Nina placed a panda plushi+e that she had been hugging all that ti sill beside her bed The plushi+e had been ave an overall appearance of being very old and worn
That plushi+e was one of the few things that Nina had brought here frorandfather when she was little, and she wouldn't be able to sleep peacefully if she wasn't hugging it
Wearing a set of light pink paja to wash her face
As soon as she walked into the hallway thesmell of melted butter assaulted her
Nina hurriedly looked at the clock hanging on the wall beside the stairs It was an ancient clock that had to be wound, telling Nina that breakfast was about to start Nina quickly walked towards the washi+ng basin, washed her face, and then returned to her roo
The clock sounded out with a ring and si~~~~” At the sa sound reverberated with the other noises around the dor
Put sipeople off wasn't excessive at all No alar as this
”Woah!”
After a while, she heard the ringing again Norot up well before the sound went off, but she had overexerted herself in yesterday's training session, so she slept in a little
Even if she lived this irregular life, the only schedule she strictly folloas her irls dor at the top of her lungs from her rooirl beside the stairs was holding a soup spoon and was beating a pan The noise this ned to wake people up in the
”Hehee Nina you lazy sloth”
As she said this, she stopped hitting the frying pan and pulled out her earplugs
”HaaI' that the noise had stopped, Nina apologized in a relieved irl's name was Selina Vin She was a fourth year Alcheer
The reason that she was the dorer was because of all the people who lived here, she was the only one who could cook People who could control food were the greatest people in the world, as decreed by the last dorraduated last year
”But it's been a long ti pan like this, so I' this, Selina went downstairs first
Nina helplessly chased after her
All of the people who lived in the dor roo, Leu”
The person who called out to Nina was another person who lived in this dor, Nina also took her place at the table
Today's breakfast was toast fried in butter and dipped inwith salad and tea
On a table which could seat ten people, there was only enough food for three
That is to say, these three people were all of the people who lived in this all girls dor time since I've heard that sound she uses to wake people up”
”Yeah, sorry about that”
Selina also put on a expression which said 'can't help it' and sighed
”The others who used to live here have all graduated, so now it really feels a little lonely”
”No, that's not it Only two people graduated from here” said Nina calmly as she spread honey across the toast
”But it's because nobody new came to live here”
”Anyway, it's not a probleo”into the distance
”Part of it's also because of the way Selina wakes people up; it leaves most of the new people here traumatized and they all leave this dorm”
”But isn't that because it was really hard to wake that girl up?”
Looking at Selina frowning with displeasure, Nina shook her head helplessly
”Welleven if she wasn't scared away, there would only be four people In this dorm for ten people there isn't even half that”
At least she had to reassure her first
”But isn't having only three people e dorm too much work? We can't clean the empty rooms up properly, and we can't clean up the lawn outside properly and recently there's been uys think it'd be better if we called in so, Leu cut in ”I don't think thehere, but there have been so”
”Eh?”
Nina htly, and her toes touched so that was quite hard
”That's why I have a proposal Ah, you can't reject this proposal No er Ahe to Selina who had probably puffed up her chest, Nina looked under the table
”That's why I want to increase the number of people in this dor to do that, and we all knoe can't just increase the number of people so easily just because anted to”
”That'll never happen, yeah?”
”This dorm has a pretty unfortunate environ to co to listen to what Leu and Selina were saying, Nina had put all her attention into looking for the so?)
There was a normal plate placed there
On the plate, there were the dishes leftover fro as plates were made for dishes to be placed on them There wasn't any proble on the floor? And next to the plate, there was a chipped soup boith some milk inside Why was this
”Then, I'll introduce it to everyone”
”Introduce?” Asked Leu in surprise The talk across the table was still continuing
”Is there already soht~~~Steven-chan, welcome~~~” As Selina held extended her 'welcome' there was a creepy noise ”Shu~~~”
”What is this?”
Leu looked at the thing that flew out from under the table with a surprised expression It must have been ordered to stay under the table until this moment Under the table, there were ht She obviously heard Selina's introduction, but that was a completely inadequate explanation of the phenomenon in front of her
”Steven-chan”
”No, that's not what imy friend froinally they bought a squirrel-type egg which was meant to exterot a pet instead”
”Haha, and you can't return stuff you bought from other cities as well”
”Yeah, but it's a bit too cruel to just throw this thing out, so they looked for people illing to keep hi to live here from now on?”
”Yeah, he's really cute, isn't he?”
”Well, I don't really hate pets I'et a pet, we should have just gotten a guard dog to look after the house”
”Arah, there's no point in keeping a guard dog We don't have any criminals or delinquents in this area”
”I think the fact that a person like you who has no sense of urgency ed to live peacefully up till today is the real mysteryIf it can't catch anyit as an extra member of the dorm He isn't even a person”
”Eh~~~~~? I can't?”
”Well, I guess you can, but have you figured out a solution for his litter?”
”No problem”
”Really Then it's up to Nina then? Is it ok?”
As for Selina's question, Nina couldn't answer it
She was drenched in cold sweat, and it wasn't stopping
Below her feet, there was a terrifying creature
It was a creature she could grab with one hand, eating the leftovers in the dish like a wild beast It looked like it was pretty hungry
Aah, it's slender body gave out a feeling of i claws in order to run around the ground more easily
In itsat the leftover food
It was a ferret
”Aaah! Waaah!!!!”
”Nina?”
That creature lifted its head and licked itits face before it stood up, looking about at its surroundings
Looking at Nina
Those glossy, round eyes were filled with curiosity
”Shu~”
It was a very weak sound
”Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!”
Nina let out a deafening cry and ju?”
The two of the on the table
The ferret was frightened by Nina's cry and hugged Selina's leg, hiding behind it
”Nina, do you hate animals?”
”No, it's only those that I can't stand”
”Arah”
Seeing Nina holding her head and shrinking away, the two looked at each other
In the end, they took Steven the ferret back to Selina's rooht that Nina would be afraid of ferrets”
”It's pretty surprising”
”If you tant to laugh, then laugh”
Seeing her shoulders still quivering slightly, the two couldn't help not laughing but didn'tto calmly eat breakfast But her veins near her te
”But why is it that you're only afraid of ferrets? I mean, in the inter-city matches, you've met far scarier people than that little creature”
”Is it a physiological reason?”
In response to Leu's question, Nina said definitely ”It was that thing's fault in the first place”
”It's faultNina, what exactly did the ferret do?”
”Aah, just thinking about it scares me It hen I was five Because my uncle loved animals, he kept a lot of pets and livestock at his house At that time, I often went to that uncle's house to play”
”Uhhif it's like that, why are you afraid of ferrets?”
”On my fifth birthday, everyone in my extended family came to wish me a happy birthday My uncle also ca for h I wanted to see what it was immediately, he told me to wait until the birthday party was over So I had no choice but to be patient and wait”
Nina shi+vered as she recalled it
”Wellwhat happened?”
”Yeah, what next?”
”My uncle prepared a ferret for inally, it was e, I don't know if it had so broken, but soe”
”So that's why you're afraid of ferrets?”
”If would be great if that were all That thingmy precious plushi+e”
”Plushi+e? Youthe scene, Nina continued to quiver
What the young Nina sahen she returned to her roo a hole in Mitessha's sto thin strands
”Aiya”