Chapter 29

This was the origin of the one who would later be called the “Flash” Knight. Joheim himself still had no idea that the ideal he searched for—the way to kill astral mages, in other words, his ultimate first strike, would inevitably converge… …with Iska the Black Steel’s Successor’s method of battle. The two would only find this out many years later. 3 The training to kill an astral mage… It didn’t matter how many years it had taken. I found out for myself how much someone could change after being subjected to so much carnage in such a short time. This would be my third attempt. I had the feeling this would be the final time I’d try out for the astral corps selection process. “…” “Hm?! I remember your face! You’re ba—” This was the third time I had seen the instructor. As he tried to say something to me, I knocked him down with my fist. “Volunteer number 0009, Joheim Leo Armadel.” The crowd stirred. The volunteers who surrounded me, as well as the current members of the corps who watched from afar, appeared shocked that I’d taken down the instructor. That was what I wanted. Look at me. Watch what I’m about to do. “Who’s the most powerful one here? I want to knock him out and pass the selection.” I took the lethal weapon I carried on my back into my hand and readied myself. I had a large sword wrapped in a scrap of cloth. It wasn’t anything expensive. It was a rusted scrap of iron with no sharp edge, but it worked well enough for my purposes. “Well, someone—” In that moment, I sensed something catching fire. Fifty yards behind me. I heard the atmosphere flare up. This was Flame astral power. I leaped to the side. I wasn’t even given the time to turn around as a crimson vortex grazed my side. A fireball that could fit in my arms burst against the ground far off and scattered sparks into the air. “You know what I want…” I suppressed the laugh welling within me and turned around. I saw a man from the astral corps—he was the one who had thrown flames from my blind spot. “You dodged that?!” “You didn’t think I’d sense that? But that’s right. You’ve judged correctly.” He could never hit me directly. He probably could feel it in his bones. That was why he resorted to attacking me mercilessly from behind. Those instincts were indispensable for a warrior. However… I was already beyond that way of fighting. “Try attacking me from all directions,” I spat out, then leaped off the ground. I’d trained my gait. Because I’d pushed the limits of my muscles and trained my sense of equilibrium, I could wield even a large sword without slowing down in the slightest. Though surrounded, I left my position. “If you can’t hit me, then I’ll cut you down.” “Huh?!” As they sensed my animosity, the dozen or so volunteers all readied themselves to engage. A fireball, a lightning bolt, and a blade made of wind. They focused a barrage of their assortment of astral attacks on me. The lightning bolt stopped short before it could so much as touch me. I evaded the invisible wind blade by twisting my body, and the fireball I slammed down with my sword. “Wha?!” “Impossible!” Everyone other than me had changed their tune. They couldn’t attack me directly, but they likely hadn’t expected me to evade the attacks. “Keep it going. Attack more.” None of it was a coincidence. I could feel the path each astral attack would take in my skin, just as though lines were being painted in the air. I wasn’t using my senses of sight, hearing, or touch, and naturally, my taste and smell had nothing to do with this either. I’d developed an infallible ability to sense astral powers. It was because of my astral power deficiency. I was a being that conflicted with the astral powers. To me, astral power was a foreign substance, so it seemed I was slightly more sensitive to it than others. ……The difference is laughably slight. I’m just slightly sensitive to astral powers, that’s all. ……That’s the only thing I have going for me. So I’d gambled on that. By offering everything I had to training, I’d elevated it into a sixth sense. “Isn’t this wonderful? You have the most powerful volunteer in your history.” I turned to all the volunteers and astral corps members around me, motioning for all of them to join in. “My selection will be done in a flash.” Then it was over too soon. I knocked out the first, the second, the third and fourth…then, there was no fifth. Neither the volunteers nor the astral corps members would face me. Then a week passed. I was given notice that I’d failed the third try. “…” A rejection?