blueteamnovel Chapter 176 : Chapter 176
Chapter 176 : Chapter 176
176
"You want to cut curses?"
"Precisely...... I want to cut all magic."
"Ehhh. Someone who already possesses the Anti-Magic Fantasy being this greedy~"
Berlith laughed upon hearing my words.
"You say you want to use magic with a sword...... How about becoming my magic teaching assistant while you are at it?"
If that meant being Berlith's teaching assistant, she was probably talking about ending up looking like Bonnie.
I would have to decline.
My dignity is a bit...... I was not keen on wearing outfits like that café-server getup either.
Perhaps understanding my unease, Berlith let out a soft hu hu laugh.
"Since you say you need my expertise, I shall teach you~ And someday, when you come to strike me down with the Holy Sword......"
"That will never happen."
Harming a fellow teacher, of all people.
There was no way I would do something so insane.
Berlith smiled brightly at me.
"Curses~ are about imagination."
"Imagination?"
"Yes. The most magic-like magic. That is what black magic is~"
It was an interpretation I had never heard before.
"When we create spells, we organize them into a system of 1st-circle, 2nd-circle, and so on, correct~? That is called common magic."
Common magic.
It referred to the basic magic that anyone beginning their study of magic first encounters.
Foundational spells organized into systems like Fireball, Magic Arrow, and Haste.
Those entering the field of magic used these spells to learn what effects mana produces when arranged according to certain formulas.
"And building one's own magical system upon that foundation is what the 4th-circle is about~"
"Yes."
"But some mages harbored doubts about this very system~"
Arranging mana according to a formula could produce fire.
Changing the formula again could summon wind, or light.
To ordinary people, these too were miraculous powers.
But these mages rejected the natural elements — fire, light, wind, ice, lightning, and so on.
"Because all of those are nothing more than imitations of what already exists in nature~ What they wanted was something far more unusual."
"For example?"
"Creating phenomena we could not possibly comprehend. Powers we have never witnessed. Twisting the order of the world to summon beings from outside our reality......"
Listening to her explanation, I felt a strange sensation.
That description.
Was she not, in some way, describing the existence of demons?
"Hu hu. Which is why the Holy Kingdom and the mages hypothesize that demons did not naturally cross over — but rather were summoned by someone~"
"I understand."
"Which is why it makes no sense to attempt to understand such magic in order to cut it~ It would be absurd to sense and react in an instant to something we do not even comprehend."
"Then what should I do?"
"What you already do well~"
Berlith winked and smiled again.
"Cut it at the abstract level."
"The abstract level......"
"For black magic and curses at that level, the caster is almost certainly watching you, Teacher Cassian — knowingly or unknowingly. So do not cut the magic itself. Cut the negative intent directed at you~"
It was a vague explanation, but I had a rough idea of what she meant.
So in the end, I needed to maximize my senses using mana and feel the opponent.
Cutting intent rather than magic......
Which meant — the reason I had been able to cut through Ban's scheme back then was because I had been pushing my senses to the extreme while facing the knight from the Lionheart Knights.
Throughout that process, I had been keeping Ban in mind, so even without knowing what he did, a single sense of "something was done" had been enough for me to cut through it.
"Can you show me once?"
"Certainly. Would you draw your sword for me~?"
I stepped a short distance away from Teacher Berlith and drew my sword.
She then raised her bone-only arm and swung her staff with a playful yoi-yoi sound.
At that moment.
'This?'
An unpleasant, skin-crawling sensation of something meaning me harm tickled my skin.
I hurriedly swung my sword, and the sensation vanished in an instant.
Berlith's thin, narrow eyes deepened.
"That is exactly it. See? Pretty easy, right~?"
It was an irresponsible way to put it.
"Indeed."
But as she said.
It was pretty easy.
***
The special class had been organized and I had learned the knack for cutting magic, but that did not mean my life had dramatically changed.
If anything, my life slowly returned to the most basic domain — teaching students.
"One by one, step forward."
The new students came forward with hesitant steps.
Just a few years ago, incoming students would have been infected with strange notions from their seniors and barely made eye contact with me.
No matter how many classes I taught, the feeling I had when facing students never fully faded.
"It has not been long since you started learning the sword."
"Huh! I-I have not even swung a sword yet — how can you tell?"
"The calluses on your hands, your standing posture, and so on. Is the sword enjoyable?"
"Y-yes......!"
"From the positioning of your muscles, it looks like you used to carry a spear, not a sword?"
"?!"
"We have the world's finest spearsman at our Academy right now. The spear is also a fine weapon."
I tailored the sword to match each student's traits.
"B-but I like the sword."
"I see. Then let us make the sword you have learned more like a spear."
"Th-the sword like a spear?"
"The sword becomes the spearhead, and your arm becomes the spear shaft. Can you do that?"
"U-uh......"
"Shasha. A small sword — a shortsword size — among the wooden swords, please."
I handed the shortsword Shasha brought over to the student.
The student, who had been holding a midsized sword, seemed unfamiliar with the suddenly smaller and lighter blade.
"The arm holding the sword becomes the support for extending the blade outward. And you brace that arm with your other hand."
I adjusted his stance to fit the new sword.
His legs so that he could extend forward using their elasticity.
The sword not to slash, but to pierce through the opponent in a single motion.
His entire body to transmit that force from the ground all the way to the tip of his arm.
'The Spear God's spear is not fearsome because of its thrust. The trajectory of the entire body itself must become the weapon.'
For that, an attack could not end with a single killing blow.
Use elasticity, but within the range where the student could control his body.
As I slowly guided him, the student's expression gradually began to shift into a look of bewilderment.
Not because he could not understand the teaching.
"Ah, ah...... It feels strange. I-is this right? Is it supposed to feel like this?"
"Why?"
"It is so fast, somehow, and awkward, and strenuous — but it does not feel uncomfortable."
This was something students had said countless times before.
Feeling awkward and strenuous was only natural.
Because he was using muscles he had never used before.
The reason it did not feel uncomfortable was because this was the body in the direction his own will wanted to move.
It was a concept similar to light exercise like running or mountain climbing.
When our bodies decide to do something, the body carries it through — even when it is uncomfortable, difficult, and painful.
All I was doing was translating what the student's body was saying.
"Oooh...... As expected of Teacher Cassian."
"This is unbelievable. A sword like a spear. He is creating a brand-new form of swordsmanship right over there. Not just a sword style, but an entire new breed of sword that overturns the very concept itself."
"Is this your first time auditing? This is the fifth such invention he has pulled off in just this one session."
"......How am I supposed to process this? They call someone who creates a single swordsmanship a Grand Master, but he is single-handedly birthing countless breeds of swords."
"And the swordsmanships he creates are genuinely...... super-high-dimensional Advanced Swordsmanship. That is unreasonable."
"A god of the sword. Or a monster. Something like that."
The fuss the auditors were making beside me drifted into my ears.
It was such excessive flattery that I let it pass without taking it to heart.
Because words like those would have intoxicated me.
I deliberately turned my thoughts elsewhere to avoid being swayed by such talk.
As it happened, I had a topic.
'If this student were to use Aura, and if he were to climb all the way to Expert — what should he dream of and aim for?'
This student was a single spear.
Then how would "the world" wield this spear?
What characteristics would this student's mana take on?
Once I posed the question, my thoughts began to slowly unfurl, one leading into the next.
'His body will grow. Then he will be able to support the sword with one arm.'
The left arm supporting his right arm would later be repositioned for balance or defense, or for the flow of mana.
In preparation for that time.
I slightly corrected his stance.
'What if instead of blocking or dodging the opponent's attacks, he thinks of moving along their trajectories? Let us have him wield not one sword but twin swords. And after piercing the opponent, pivot on the foot as an axis and rotate the body — creating a spear technique of endless flow.'
I slightly corrected his stance again.
I asked Shasha to bring over another sword.
Since the student did not seem to be struggling, I had him hold a sword in each hand and corrected his stance once more.
"Why? Why is this? W-wait, was his swordsmanship just now not already perfect? Then why......"
"Hah......"
"Damn it, seriously...... this is ridiculous. What on earth have all the years I have spent swinging a sword even been for......"
People's voices slowly grew distant.
I kept watching the boy's sword.
I adjusted his stance a little further.
I was not satisfied. It felt like he could go further.
I looked at the student's expression.
His eyes slowly sank inward.
It was the look of someone on the verge of grasping some deep insight.
Those eyes, that expression.
They seemed to tell me where this student's will was meant to go.
"Thrust!"
At my command, the startled student launched forward in the exact posture he had been preparing.
I slipped my hand into the path of his sword and adjusted his blade.
The road he had wanted to travel.
And the most perfect, ideal form of trajectory was drawn.
"Ah......"
Along that trajectory, the shortswords shimmered with a very faint ripple of mana.
This student, too, had probably felt the mana that passed through his body.
"Good. Now the sword has become a little better at listening to what you want to say. You have made it usable."
"Usable......?"
"Let us keep having lessons going forward and correct what is lacking."
With this student's body, this was the limit.
But with each year of growth at the Academy and continued correction of his technique, it would improve.
I patted his shoulder with satisfaction, and the student, face flushed, hugged his two shortswords tightly and returned to his seat.
Now the next student...... huh.
"......"
The students' eyes were shining, and the auditors looked as though they had seen a ghost.
What was this? Had something happened while I was focused on this student?
I glanced back just in case, but there was nothing behind me.
Ah — was it because I had been too absorbed in instructing one student in front of so many people, and the mood had sunk?
"Now then. You saw what I instructed, correct? I believe you students also watched that process and understood it."
"......?"
"From the way the student walked in, his prior habits were clear. The muscles in his arms and legs, in particular, were telling us many things."
"......?"
"As I said at the start of class, the process of adjusting the body to match its own intent is what matters. Observing what the body's muscles are saying......"
As I continued the lesson, the auditors' expressions only rotted further.
"This is truly insufferable."
"I agree."
Why? Why?!
I felt somehow saddened, but diligently carried on with the lesson.