Kiyotaka POV:
Two years later
Two years have passed since the incident. Rudeus started behaving weirdly around me, it's quite understandable as a Japanese person isn't used to this kind of violence.
The Bores family showed me their gratitude and offered me a reward which I couldn't decline because of how persistent they were.
For my reward I requested to keep the dagger the assassin used.
Why you may ask?
The double dagger was a splendid work of art. The hilt was carved in what we commonly called pistol-grip form made of nephrite jade, a relatively common mineral. But don't let the appearance deceive you, the point of the dagger was even sharper than the katana I used.
I can perform the White room technique perfectly with both weapons but I personally preferred the dagger more.
Right now I had 5 weapons that I could use.
The pair of swords Paul has given me which I rarely use in real combat as I cannot fully use the technique I was taught in the white room. However, I started working on creating a martial art that can be used with the sword. The martial art contained a combination of the three sword styles of this world and some martial arts from my world, it wasn't fully developed but I had high hopes for it.
The second item was the staff Roxy gifted me on my fifth birthday which was the most useless out of all 4 items as I can cast magic without the need of a staff. The staff indeed amplified my mana capacity by 1.2x, however I consider this amount insignificant compared to my brother's staff (Aqua Heartia) , an expensive gift he received on his tenth birthday.
The Katana I picked up from the Bores family's armour, which I used the most mainly on my training with Matsushita.
The 4th Item was a gift I received on my 10th birthday. It was an expensive sword.
Finally the dagger which I always kept on me.
You may wonder how I equip myself with all this item, I don't. I only have my expensive sword and dagger on me while the other items are stored in my space magic.
Right now I was walking to a small hill outside the Fortress City Roa, I was accompanied by Ghislaine, Rudeus ,Matsushita and Eris. Rudeus has promised Ghislaine to show her a Saint-ranked water magic. Eris decided to go with them since she is always hanging around Rudeus. Their relationship has improved massively since Rudeus' birthday.
Well why am I here? I asked myself well knowingly that Matsushita wanted to see the saint-ranked magic too, claiming that if she saw it twice she would be able to cast it. I didn't really mind since it will help with her progress.
In the last two years Matsushita has devoted herself to her magic lesson and she was improving but not as fast as she was improving with the sword. She would struggle to master Saintly and Kingly but it didn't mean her magic reached her limit as her mana pool was enormous since I was training her everyday in magic for the last three years.
When we reached our destination Rudeus took out his wand and started experimenting on it. It's indeed impressive that he managed to improve all the spells he casted massively, I might use some of the money I stole from bandits to get me a similar item.
"Alright, sorry for making everyone wait. Rudeus Greyrat will show you my strongest ultimate Ougi move."
Eris happily clapped
Ghislaine seems interested too.
Me and Matsushita were a little behind as I don't want her to be hit by an uncontrolled lightning stroke.
We observed Rudeus as he chanted and suddenly..
The sky's colour is changing into absurd colours. It seems to be mixed with grey and purple. Ghislaine was the first to react as took off her eye-patch, showing her demon eye.
"Ghislaine, do you know what this is?" I asked
"I do not know. That mana is extremely powerful!" This isn't supposed to happen, it seems something dangerous is about to happen.
Maybe an ambush by a powerful being?
"In any case, let's go back to the mansion." Sensing danger, Matsushita recommended returning home.
"Even though I don't know what this unusual premonition means, we should find a place to hide before something happens."
"No, the mana gathering near the city is even stronger, it's best to leave here." Ghislaine was the only one who could see the mana flow so no one decided to object to leaving the city.
"Shouldn't we warn them?"
"Then I'll go back.....Rudeus! Down!"
Rudeus crouched on sheer reflex, and I immediately took my sword out of its sheath.
"Long sword of light." Me and Ghislaine in unison performed the same technique on the fast approaching figure that attacked Rudeus.
However the attacker dodged both of our attacks simply by disappearing into thin air. This made me come to the conclusion that our opponent is moving at the speed of light.
Against an opponent like this I will only hold Ghislaine back as I cannot follow his movement.
And Without using physical enhancement, I won't be able to keep up with his speed.
"Ghislaine I don't think I will be much of a help here."
The man halted as I said that, his hair was golden, and he was wearing a white coloured student's uniform, buttoned shirt and long pants.
He was wearing a mask that was based on a motif of a fox or a related animal.
His right hand was holding on to a dagger. The same one that nearly took Rudeus' life.
In the next instant his face releases a tremendous amount of light that washes the view completely white.
"GAAA!"
Ghislaine roared as the metallic sword collided together.
They clashed about 7 times in less than 5 seconds.
I cannot just let Ghislaine die here.
"Physical enhancement." Mana from the surrounding area began to flow toward me in curves.
Finally a coat of mana surrounded my body. Physical enhancement was one of my trump cards that could gather mana from the surroundings and implement them into me.
I can now see the full fight.
I immediately launched myself toward the man with an enormous speed. As the distance between us closed, I raised my sword in a manner to split the man into two halves.
However he blocked it.
The man took his distance and he was now face to face with me and Ghislaine.
"What an interesting technique you got there, gathering mana to enhance your physical power, very impressive." Ghislaine looked at me then looked angrily at the man.
"You bastard. Who are you? Are you an enemy of the Greyrat's family!"
"Arumanfi of the Bright. This is my name." I heard of the name before he is the one who governs the light of spirits and one of Perugius' twelve servants.
Was he ordered to attack us?
"Arumanfi?"
"I have come for this unusual phenomenon. This is the order of Lord Perugius." My suspicion was correct: the man standing in front of me is working on Perugius orders.
"Ghislaine, be careful, It's said in the book that he moves as fast as light." Rudeus warned
Ghislaine.
"Arthur and Rudeus, retreat with both Lady Eris and Lady Elina." Armunanfi can move at the speed of light so even if we retreat we won't be able to make it out alive, If he decides to chase us. The best course of action is to stay and fight. Me and Ghislaine would be sufficient enough to take him down.
"Women. Step aside. If I kill this boy perhaps the phenomenon will stop." He said as he pointed his dagger toward Rudeus.
I see, he thinks Rudeus is the one responsible for what is happening here.
"I'm the Sword king Ghislaine Deforudia, That has nothing to do with us, leave us!"
"Why should I believe that? Show me proof."
"Look! This one of the sword's god's 7 swords Pillar of peace "Hiramune" The sword king and this sword is right here, do you still not believe me!" Ghislaine extends the sword in her hand, and shows Arumanfi it.
Hiramune huh the kanji can be read as Pillar of peace but it can be read as flat chest which definitely didn't suit Ghislaine.
Back to Armunanfi the man wasn't simply going to believe her just because she is a sword king.
"Swear upon your master and tribe." he requested.
"I swear upon my teacher Gull Farion and my tribe's name Dedorudia!" Gull Farion and interesting name he was the only Sword God I heard off till this moment.
"Very well. If you are not innocent, Lord Perugius will sentence you in the future."
"Go ahead."
Arumanfi puts his dagger away, it seems the swearing using someone's name can be easily trusted.
"If it's not you, then forget it."
"Are you not going to apologise for attacking us all of a sudden?"
"You are to be blamed for appearing in a place like this." Arumanfi said as he prepared to leave.
I did the same as I placed my sword back into its sheath and walked back toward Matsushita.
Right at this moment.
My eyes captured this moment.
The sky painted white from the beam of the light firing at the ground. The moment the white light touches the ground, it devours everything like a tidal wave.
The mansion disappears.
The city disappears.
The walls disappear.
In the instant where every single flower and plant got devoured and the light approached us.
Arumanfi turns his head and sees it. In the next moment he turns into a golden light and escapes.
Gyslaine runs toward Rudeus and Eris after seeing it, but disappears amongst the white light rushing towards us.
"Rudeus come here!" I shouted however he was running toward the light, to be specific toward Eris who wasn't moving in blank amazement after seeing this.
He then kneels down and hugs her and after a second or two the light devoured both of them.
"Space magic." Calmly I took Matsushita's hand who was frozen in her place just like Eris and used space magic to teleporte us away.
We managed to teleport close to a forest that falls in the Asura kingdom territories.
Immediately took my sword out as I looked at the group of what seemed like 13 or 14 people.
In the middle there was an old man who had gleaming silver hair, his eyes were golden pupils and an aura of nobility radiated from his entire body.
On his left I found a rather familiar man, the man who just attacked us , Armunanfi the bright.
It seems the man with silver hair is Perugius himself and the crowd surrounding him is none other than his twelve servants. What seemed more interesting was the knocked out Japanese teenage girl with long black hair.
Sensing my presence the crowd immediately pulled out their weapons and took a fighting stance.