Divine Magus: Awakening

Aaron's blade sizzled in the air as it approached Logan. The latter instinctively jumped to avoid the attack, dropping the sheath of his tachi in the process.

"Wrong. You are meant to fight me with your sword." Aaron reprimanded Logan, who was confused by what was happening.

Aaron jumped in the air and swung his blade down at Logan. This time, Logan did an overhead swing with his sword and the two blades collided letting out sparks.

"Better, now…" Aaron commented before he put some space between them.

He waved his blade and a coat of dark red flames covered it.

"The whole point of carrying an enchanted weapon is its ability to augment your otherwise weak spells." He revealed as he swung his blade sending a wave of flames to Logan.

Logan's body blurred as he ran to the incoming wave and jumped over it using his momentum.

He flipped in the air to control and ensure his landing on the ground.

He kicked off the ground and swung his tachi at Aaron.

The latter appeared to be slow in his perception until he wasn't. Aaron's slow movements suddenly picked up speed until they became even greater than Logan's.

Aaron's blade struck Logan's with a loud metallic clang, knocking it aside.

Aaron spun around with his right heel planted firmly into the ground and kicked Logan on his chest sending him flying.

Logan fell on the ground and stayed there for a few seconds before getting up.

His breath was slow and heavy. First the snake and now Aaron had hit him on his chest.

Logan cast a spell before dashing to Aaron, he swung the blade to meet Aaron and the latter lazily moved his blade to intercept it.

A wisp of darkness left Logan and touched his blade causing it to vanish and Aaron's blade to go over Logan's empty hand.

Without wasting an ounce of time, space twisted around Logan's left hand, and the blade appeared - heading for Aaron.

The latter jumped back for the first time during the battle.

"Why don't we pick up the speed?" Aaron laughed as his body became blurry.

Logan's eyes widened in surprise but he was sure that Aaron wasn't using Dark Flash, he must've been using a different spell.

Logan leaned forward and with a thought dashed into Aaron while the latter mirrored his movement.

They seemingly vanished and appeared. Each time they became visible, sparks of metal colliding with its kind accompanied them.

They moved from place to place- close to the bank of the lake, the edge of the forest, and sometimes even in the air.

Logan thrust his blade at Aaron and the latter used his blade to change the direction of Logan's thrust.

But as Logan wanted to counter, a pulse of pain swept over him.

He staggered and came to a stop, Aaron's blade beside his neck.

The pulses resumed and Logan was forced to his knees. His mana core was empty.

"Mana abuse. I'd watch out for those if I were you." Aaron spoke as he put his blade away and Logan sat on the ground.

His figure appeared untouched as though he hadn't been fighting Logan mere moments ago.

"I forgot that you were merely an E-rank mage. Sigh, such a shame and I was starting to have some fun." Aaron sighed as he stared at Logan.

The latter appeared extremely disheveled with rough hair, bloodshot eyes, and tears in his clothes.

Logan studied his condition and gritted his teeth in self-reproach.

He had no wound from their fight and while most would feel proud, Logan knew better.

It was much harder to keep someone alive than to kill them likewise it was more difficult not to give someone you're fighting an injury.

The fact that Aaron hadn't given him one was a clear indication of the total control he had over the battle.

What this meant was that spell-wise or even weapon-wise Logan would lose a direct battle with Aaron.

"Our battle took only about two minutes. You still have eight more to rest." Aaron spoke with his eyes buried in a tablet.

"Ah yes, before I forget…" He took a pause and placed his tablet into his pocket before he burst into a mass of black flames and vanished.

Logan stared at the charred ground where he had been.

He was about to move when the same mass of flames appeared and turned into Aaron.

He had a dead gorilla in his hand, he looked at Logan before throwing it at him.

"Your second E-rank beast." He turned into the forest, "See you next class kid." And with that, he vanished.

Despite his calm expression, Logan could feel his heart pounding in his chest.

After resting for a while, at least until his mana core stopped pulsing in pain, he grabbed the gorilla with sword in hand and dragged it back in the direction of the academy.

He stood just behind the forest line and let out a sigh.

He used the small mana he had to keep the blade in his dark space before progressing.

He stepped out of the forest line and saw some students already out with their beasts and amongst them was Aaron.

He ignored them and went to where he had kept his bird and dropped the gorilla there.

Following this was the sound of the siren resounding throughout the academy.

"Out of the sixty-eight students who chose the combat class, only forty-two are qualified." Aaron spoke aloud before waving a dismissive hand at the students around him.

"You can go rest. I'll handle the students personally." He said right before he vanished in a mass of flames.

Logan ignored the look Aaron gave him as he said what he did.

Instead, he went to the dormitories and laid face first on his bed.

He thought back to their battle. Aaron seemed to be so fluid in his movement.

Each move was calculated, it was a unique mixture of foresight and battle IQ.

Logan was so focused on reviewing the battle that he only noticed the passage of time when a knock resounded on his door and a letter slid underneath.

He opened the door and looked at the opposite ends of the hall but saw no one.

He warily picked up the letter and read its content.

Sleep with one eye open. We are coming for you.