Chapter 92: Five seconds and twelve milliseconds
Eiros stood at the designated field line. His gaze locked onto the machine ahead of him, positioned nearly two hundred meters away. The academy’s field was massive, far larger than an actual soccer field.
Not surprising, considering they’d carved the field straight out of the forest to build it.
Ignoring everything around him, Eiros settled into position for a moment.
’I wonder how fast I can clear this training.’
Eiros was well aware he’d grown stronger since first arriving in this world. But he’d never actually measured just how strong he really was compared to the other academy students now.
That was exactly why he was curious.
His eyes met Professor Erick’s, who held a stopwatch in hand.
"Ready?"
Eiros nodded. The air around him shifted, growing cold and heavy, red lightning sparking wildly to life. A greatsword the size of his own body materialized out of thin air.
Crackle—!
Professor Erick’s gaze swept over him for a moment, evaluating, then he gave a nod and pressed a button on the stopwatch.
"Begin!"
Whizz! Whizz! Whizzing!!
Eiros wasn’t given a single second. The moment Professor Erick spoke, he immediately felt the projectiles firing from the machine. Their terrifying speed pulled a nervous smile onto his face.
Even so, Eiros could faintly sense their trajectories, gauging them.
He raised his sword, a fierce gust of wind cutting through the air directly in front of him, about to slam into his body just as he swung his blade.
Clang—!
Crackle!!
Slash!
Two of the fired orbs dropped straight to the ground, Eiros’s pupils locked in tight focus on the machine ahead. Since there was no cooldown between shots whatsoever, Eiros had no intention of wasting time either, and he surged forward.
His feet struck the ground, using it as a springboard, tearing straight through the wind. More orbs fired, while Eiros kept swinging his sword as though he could predict exactly where each one would land.
Every slash he threw left behind a faint trail of red lightning. But of course, since the machine was firing at speeds approaching Luminous Tier level, there was no way Eiros could dodge everything completely.
Impact!
Eiros felt roughly three orbs slam directly into his body. But it didn’t matter. If anything, it was better this way. His ability would activate more strongly the more wounds he took, the heavier the damage.
Along with that, his instincts sharpened, his speed and strength climbing on their own.
A small smile crossed Eiros’s face as he shifted slightly, grazing an incoming orb with the flat of his blade and redirecting its path.
Next, he ducked his head, feeling a powerful gust of wind rush right past him. And in the next instant, Eiros swung in a clean arc through the air, took one final step, his speed surging dramatically, and closed the distance to the machine in an instant, reaching out to touch it.
Buzz!
The machine hummed faintly, a low whirring sound trailing off before it powered down on its own.
"Five seconds and twelve milliseconds."
Professor Erick stopped the timer, staring at Eiros with disbelief written plainly across his face. It was obvious his progress had far exceeded anything the professor had expected.
Eiros, completely unaware of any of that, simply wiped away his sweat, standing there as though this wasn’t anything worth being proud of. His stigmata’s manifestation dissolved into the air, leaving behind faint flickers of red lightning.
And at that moment, Eiros had no idea that nearly every student had been watching him the entire time. Each of them had grown a certain curiosity about exactly how strong Eiros really was.
Today, he’d shown them, and every last one of them immediately thought the exact same thing: this was completely unfair!
***
By the time the break bell rang, the day had already grown bright and hot. Eiros walked through the academy corridor, the atmosphere around him lively, packed with students.
Nearly all of them were first-years, while second- and third-years appeared far less often since they occupied a different building entirely.
’Is it here?’
Eiros arrived at the building where the support-type classes were held. For a few reasons, he’d decided to follow Renessa’s suggestion, that the two of them should occasionally go out and have lunch together.
So Eiros had come here to call for her.
He reached the support class building, and after a moment of hesitation, stopped a student from the support class to ask.
"Can I ask you something?" he said to a girl walking out with her friend. They both looked startled for a moment, then seemed to register who exactly Eiros was.
"No."
"Eh?"
"Not after you made fun of me back then."
Eiros blinked, then an awkward, forced smile crept onto his face. Clearly, she’d been one of Eiros’s victims during the early-semester exam.
The girl stared at him in silence for a moment, then broke into a wide grin.
"Just kidding~" she said, then coughed lightly and added,
"Besides, you did save us back then. So yeah, even though I’m a little annoyed, I won’t say anything about it."
"Oh?" Eiros looked a little surprised, but quickly seized the opening.
"In that case, thank you, and I’m sorry about that."
The girl nodded. "All right. You’re here about Erness, right?"
Eiros nodded.
The girl seemed to have already guessed as much.
"She’ll be back soon, she just went to the bathroom."
Hearing that, Eiros thanked her once more, then decided to lean against the corridor wall and wait for Renessa to return.
He’d barely been waiting a moment when he heard a familiar voice.
"Um... Eiros...?" It was Viena’s voice, having just stepped out of the support class, wearing the standard academy uniform, her face looking noticeably brighter than usual.
"What are you doing here?" she said, then remembered Eiros had a girlfriend and immediately understood.
"Ah, you’re waiting for your girlfriend."
Seeing Viena looking so normal, Eiros smiled, a little surprised.
"Oh, glad to see you’re doing well, Lady Saintess. I was a bit worried when I heard you never left your room."
Viena coughed at that, ducking her head slightly, smiling with a hint of bitterness.
"Well, that’s because... um... well, because I received enlightenment from the goddess, so, well..."
She didn’t finish the sentence, but her stammering was enough to make Eiros understand this wasn’t a topic Viena wanted to dwell on. So he let it go.
"Anyway, I’m glad to see you’re doing okay."
Viena let out a relieved breath, then seemed to hesitate before lowering her head slightly.
"I’m sorry for never coming to see you... um, and I’m so, so grateful for your help. I’ll definitely repay you someday, or if there’s ever anything you need from me, you can come to me."
Her voice sounded sincere, a little hoarse.
"Of course, don’t think too much of it, Lady Saintess. I only did what I said I would, I helped however I could."
Viena went quiet for a moment, then flashed a bright, sweet smile. In that instant, she genuinely looked like some pure, adorable angel.
"Um... well... I’m really grateful. I’m sorry for causing you trouble, but from now on, I’ll try my best not to get in your way, or anyone else’s."
That innocent smile shifted into something sharper. Of course, it was still a sweet smile, but something about it sent a chill down Eiros’s spine.
Yeah, it had to just be his imagination. Eiros refused to accept that Viena, smiling like that, could actually give him such an unsettling feeling.
Luckily, he didn’t need to answer any of it. That was because he felt a figure closing in on him fast, running with small, nearly silent footsteps, before wrapping her slender arms around him from behind.
"Soorryyy, did I make you wait?"
With that scent of winter arriving, Eiros immediately knew Renessa had shown up, hugging him from behind as naturally as ever.
"Oh?" Renessa’s gaze landed on Eiros for a moment, but quickly shifted toward Viena, who stood there looking a little awkward.
The next second, Renessa turned to Eiros with a sharp, dark stare.
"Darling..." Her cold tone made Eiros freeze. Given how Renessa usually acted, he half expected her to have misunderstood things, thinking he had something going on with Viena.
"Have you started flirting with other girls again? Why the Saintess of all people?" But unlike what Eiros had assumed, Renessa seemed to be questioning his taste itself, as though out of every girl in existence, why Viena specifically?
I mean...
"Is it because you saved the Saintess, so now you’ve decided to use that heroic little act to pressure her into becoming your mistress?"
".....?"
’What is she even talking about?’ Eiros genuinely had no idea. Why would he possibly cheat with the Saintess of all people?
And was his relationship with Renessa really supposed to run this deep?
Yeah, okay, fine, Renessa was sometimes a little unhinged. But after thinking about it for a second, Eiros thought he understood the actual issue.
Renessa was acting somewhat irrationally, sure, but part of the problem also traced back to Eiros himself.
The fact that the old Eiros really had been a playboy, right?
I mean, he really had made a habit of flirting with a ton of innocent girls, dating them, then dropping them the moment he got bored.
So Renessa’s reaction was probably rooted in exactly that.
"...Erness, you’ve got it wrong, that’s not what happened, calm down, okay?"
Viena spoke up just then, making Eiros, thoroughly confused, let out a relieved breath. At the same moment, Renessa turned her gaze to Viena.
"You can be honest, Lady Saintess, I know my darling can be a bit of a troublemaker. But I’m right here, so don’t worry, you don’t have to lie."
But it seemed Renessa was still firmly locked into her own opinion. This was going to take a while...
***