Special Classes

Following their meeting with the dean, Arte was granted the special privilege of personalized training with Valeria. After finishing classes for the day, they head to the dean’s special training ground under the school. There, the floors were made up of stone, and the walls were made of brick. Well-maintained weapons lined the walls, on a wooden rack, and an arena tile lay at the center of the room. A cloud of smoke erupted as Arte went through it and onto the stone ground.

“Again!” Valeria shouted. “You need to be able to use it under pressure! If you crumble under pressure such as this, you’ll never be able to use it in real combat!”
Arte pulled herself onto her knees and caught her breath.

“Yes!” She exclaims.

“The two main problems you suffer from are speed of activation, and your output fluctuates each time you use it, meaning your purifying flame is inconsistent. It was a stroke of luck you managed to purify Trent the other day.”

Arte walked over to the arena tiles and held her sword with both hands.

“That’s not to mention the fact that you haven’t figured out how to use it without using regular fire first,” Valeria explained. “The Dean said Rosso was able to use it without even thinking about it, so it’s possible. One hint I can give you is that it's more about timing. Attempting to activate it the moment you get the thought and learning the timing.”

“I’ll give it another go!” Arte replied.

“Good.” Valeria smiled. “Here I come!”

Valeria charged in toward Arte. She swung her body with a horizontal slash. Arte ducked under it, flames swirled around her blade for a second, but they did not remain. Valeria threw a kick at Arte. Arte used her hand and placed it on her thigh, using the force from her kick to carry herself into the air many feet. Arte took this chance to try again, and only small flames circled the blade once more.

Valeria launches herself into the air after Arte, grabs her by her shirt, and launches her toward the ground.

Boom.

Arte was violently spinning as she crashed into the ground went rolled across the tiles. barely stumbling to her feet and retreating. She appeared dazed, but held her sword tightly while staring at Valeria.

“I like that spirit of yours!” Valeria shouted as she came spinning toward her with her blade. Arte dodged to the left to avoid the blow as Valeria came down like a saw blade. It was only a glimpse, but Arte could see her blade changing element with each spin from fire, ice, earth, and wind. The gap between them is growing wider and wider as Valeria crashes into the ground. A cloud of dust covers the field. Arte activates ignition again, the moment the visual appears in her head. The white flames surge and cover the sword. Arte almost cheers.

Valeria comes flying through the cloud and clashes swords with Arte.

“Looks like you did it,” Valeria states.

Despite having accomplished it, it did nothing to narrow the gap between her and Valeria. Arte was squinting as she struggled to hold back her blade, even with the first stage of blood for blood active, her physical strength was greatly eclipsed by Valeria. Arte grunted as their blades sparked against one another.

“Raw power is not to its strength. Remember the element’s nature, and adapt your blade to it.” Valeria states.

“Watching the hero use Rosso… My Dad’s ability, he was always using it roughly, with heavy slashes, but maybe it wasn’t meant to be used that way?” She thought. “But with my class, boosting pure strength, it doesn’t seem like a good match… How can I synergize the two?”

Arte lowers her strength toward the sword and is being pushed back. She tilts the sword to the side, causing Valeria’s blade to slip off. Valeria jumps back, observing Arte as the strong, willful look in her eyes was now calm and almost serene. Valeria looked at her with a hand on her chin and grinned.

“Looks like you’re on the verge of having a breakthrough.” She says.

Valeria rushed in excitedly with a horizontal sword swing, and Arte raised her blade to block the blow. The resulting force sent her careening into the nearby wall.
“Whoops. I kinda got a little too excited there.” Valeria apologized.

“Breakthrough my ass…” She groaned as she fell to the floor. “The only thing I’m gonna end up breaking through is this wall…”

“Let's stop here for today. Your homework for next time will be to figure out how to best utilize your purifying flame.” Valeria says. “Good work. I’m gonna turn in now, I’ve got classes tomorrow.”

“Thanks… For the guidance…” Arte says.

Arte got up from the ground, rubbing her back, and walked over to her canteen near the arena tiles. She took a sip as she watched Leo standing off to the side with his eyes closed. He desperately moved his body, attempting to catch the very air itself. From his perspective, he could see hundreds of white lights behind his eyelids, each one flittering in a different path to escape his grasp. Leo quickly throws a sharp turn to try and catch one of the escaping flies. Leo tripped, and despite tripping, he felt no pain. All he felt was a warmth enveloping his body. He opened his eyes to see Arte directly face to face with him.

They fell on the floor together with Leo lying on top of her. There was only silence between them as he looked at her flushed expression ,and him trapped in her longing gaze. Leo used his arms to lift himself upward, but Arte stopped him by wrapping her arms around his back.

“Arte…” He mutters.

“Don’t run.” She says. “I… Wasn’t exactly planning for this… But… You’re better at reading people than I am. So you have to know… How I feel, right?”

“From where I’m standing, there’s been a lot of… mixed signals.” He says.

“Then how's this for a signal?” She asks.

She wraps her legs around him as well.

“Be honest with me.” She states. “How do you feel… About me?”

Leo’s body tensed up as he was faced with the full force of Arte’s will.

“I…” He began.