Chapter 27: Year 6 Begins P3
~27.3~
*****
"Uh..."
"Your real power!" said one boy.
"Your creator power!"
"Oh..." she half-smiled and glanced at Sanae, as if asking for help.
"You're the one that spilled the beans, Aneue."
She sighed. "Okay."
Kaylie and Laila smirked at each other, then at their mother, which didn't go unnoticed. Kye gave them a quick glare that said, "Shut up."
After shaking her head, Kye raised a hand toward the sky. Her voice echoed and boomed as she slowly spoke, "Hear me, Elysium. I am King. By my command, let there be a rainbow across the sky for one minute." As she channeled aether to supply the system with the cost, the usual white aura appeared, and her eyes glowed white. Unlike before, even her white hair glowed, as if it were luminescent.
Just as she commanded, a rainbow appeared in the sky. Joey, noticing the unusual part of the performance, spoke to her telepathically using their soul-bond, "Why is your hair glowing, too? That's not normal."
"I think it's because I'm directly supplying the energy to execute the command. But, I'm not certain. I tested a command like this once already and it glowed then, too."
"I see. I'll be sure to examine everything closely next time. Please be sure to summon me, mother."
"Okay."
"Me as well, of course," Sanae added.
Once the rainbow faded away, another student asked, "Instructor Kye, is your younger sister as talented as your other siblings?"
Kye chuckled and glanced at her. "Well, Sanae? What say you to that question?"
She smirked and formed an odachi with her aethersteel weapon. "Why not give them a demonstration, eh?"
Kye formed an odachi as well and both readied themselves. Joey stepped up and raised her arm for a moment, then brought it down. The moment her arm stopped moving, the two vanished. Sanae wielded Mana Burst at two thousand times.
In her one month of mortal life, she had already trained her body to withstand her output up to fifty million, and with a two thousand times boost, she could attack with a force equaling one hundred billion, and she used aether. She was already powerful enough to best Yami and Zen, and only a handful of older students could compete with her. That is, unless she wielded Hikarimaru. Sanae could include herself in any soul-bonding that Kye had. If Sanae wielded Hikarimaru, she could contend with Elder Royals, and fought Ginchiyo Tachibana and Alexandra Romanov to a standstill only a couple of days before the term began.
The students watching the duel were in awe at how well Sanae kept up with Kye. The instructor could easily overwhelm Sanae, but refused to do any more than match her output. The two exchanged a flurry of blows for about sixty seconds, then stopped. Each smirked at the students, saying nothing.
*****
The next class was with Yami. When they arrived at the training grounds, Yami stood proudly next to her now white-haired sister.
Kye raised an eyebrow. "Yami?"
"Lookie, lookie," she said. Yami conjured a small mirror out of water. "We look like twins now!"
"We've always looked like twins, you're just old enough now to look the same at the same time."
"Yeah, but now you have white hair, too!" Yami grinned, unable to hide her excitement.
"Heh." Kye lightly smacked Yami's back to push her toward the class. "Go on, it's time to learn things."
Yami stopped short, earning a light glare from Kye. "Hey, hold on! I wanted to ask about something."
"Something that can't wait until later?"
"Kinda, yeah."
"What is it?"
"When you stopped taking afternoon classes, what was the process? I'm not saying I think I should do the same, I just wonder if I can."
"Elaborate."
"I've regained my memories as Chloe. I remember everything I learned in that life, and I'm already much stronger for it now."
Kye was surprised, and her face didn't hide it. "How in the world? I only started telling you and Zen that story last year!"
Yami shrugged. "I don't know. It just all came back to me at once last night."
Kye held a hand to her chin. "Hmm. Louise has regained her memories, too. I didn't include a protocol in the system for this. Perhaps it's..." Kye's eyes widened. "Oh..."
"I can virtually see the light bulb."
"I think... the system is responding to my subconscious desires. I wanted everyone to remember, and sure enough... one by one, all of you are. Huh. Alright, let's talk more later. Dinner tonight?"
Yami nodded and rejoined the class.
Kye clapped her hands to get everyone's attention and began, "Okay! You've had a year with me so far, let's see how far you've come. I'll be giving you all a test I took in a past life. She channeled mana into her hand and created a small portal. She reached in and pulled out a thick metal staff. "This test will be individually tailored. Those of you who have advanced since the end of last term should be able to pass. Passing is inflicting even the smallest amount of damage to this. You may use any means. No questions! We're diving right in!"
She gave the test, most students could chip the metal, but some could put deep cuts into it. Kye repaired it with magic after each test. When it was Yami's turn, Kye smirked. Yami knew immediately to expect a tough test. Anticipating a ridiculously high bar, Yami channeled an enormous amount of aether through her katana. She raised it up above her head, as if announcing what she was doing.
But what she did wasn't a simple aether-imbued swing.
"<<Severance>>!"
Kye quickly raised a barrier of white aether around them as the crescent-shaped wave of space aether rushed toward her. Yami's technique cut through the staff and collided with the barrier behind. It didn't damage the barrier at all, but Kye had put enough power into the barrier to take Yami's attack a hundred-fold.
The instructor held the sliced staff up and whistled as she dispersed the barrier. "Well done, little sister. I think I'll have you attend my class for mana from now on."
"Your class?"
"Yes, Sixth-Year Class S."
Yami was shocked. She only meant to pass her sister's test with flying colors. "Really?"
"Yeah. You're at their level based on that technique. So you've been studying with Allison? Severance is no simple technique to learn, considering it requires void magic. Hmm..."
"No, I didn't learn it from her."
"Oh?"
Yami shook her head. "No, I learned it on my own."
"Haha," Kye laughed. "I'm pleasantly surprised. You've certainly retained Chloe's skill." Kye burst out laughing, a scene that took the entire class aback.
"Uh... Aneue?"
"Alright, Yami, let's see you put it all together."
*****
Revision: 2024-9-1