"Name!"

"Shin Yen Ron!"

"Weapon type!"

"Greatsword!"

"Material!"

"Plasma!"

"Generation!"

"Third!"

"Status!"

"Unevolved!"

"Would you like to bestow a name to it?"

"Yes, um… White Lightning!"

It was finally revealed! The transfer student Shin had a third generation weapon! The silent room filled with both rejoice and frustration.

"Heh! Looks like it's my win! Hand it over!"

"Tch! Fine, okay! I'll give it once we're done with all this. I left my wallet in the locker."

"Kekek! You better not run away!"

After a few more students, it was Yukio's turn. With his armbands strapped on, he stood in front of the instructor with a salute. The instructor nodded and gestured to his assistant who called for a certain person.

Yukio was a defensive fighter, so that could mean only one thing if a person was just called.

"Looks like we meet again, hehe!" Yukio grinned.

"Can't wait to see how you surprise me this time, Yukio," a weary face said, smiling.

"The rules are simple!" the instructor announced. "If your back or knees touch the floor, you lose! If you forfeit, you lose! If you deal a fatal injury, you're disqualified and will be penalized! Begin!"

The rematch had begun! For some reason, even if Vicky's face was still tired and weary, underneath it, he seemed happy and somewhat refreshed. He clearly enjoyed his previous bout with Yukio.

Yukio was excited too. Even if he won last time, he too was looking forward to a rematch. He knew he could fight an enjoyable match with Vicky. And now with his weapons, he could add further techniques and unpredictability.

At first, things were normal. Both of them were testing each other's general improvements. Vicky assessed Yukio and determined how much he had grown accustomed to using Natura as a natural extension of his body as he cleanly added it in his movements. Slightly impressed, he smiled again.

Yukio understood this. He knew quite well that Vicky was capable of more than what he showed. Hence he was trying his best to make him unleash his full power.

A series of hard blows were exchanged by them. From the outside, it looked like a martial arts fight. Even in this fast paced bout, their moves seemed well calculated to the keenest of eyes, unlike the instinctive freestyle fighting methods.

Once the warmups were done, they stood about two meters apart taking a few breaths. Both of them were sizing each other up until Yukio broke the silence. "I'm guessing this much is fine, right?"

And almost immediately, water from the buckets in the corner rose up and approached him. They enveloped his arms up till his elbows and the excess liquid floated about as an extension; kind of like movements of fire, but much slower and shapelier.

"It has come at last, huh. Your Material Natura." Vicky smiled. "But I'll have to apologize beforehand, Hitoshi. I'm going to have to disappoint you."

"Eh?"

"To be honest, I enjoy fighting with you. It's quite fun. If I was allowed to, I'd go a step—no, two steps further and use my Variant Raze on you. But my contract forbids such use against students. Hopefully, if we get the chance once I'm out of here, we could have a proper do over," saying so, he enveloped his body with Natura.

Two 1-star levels fighting. Usually, the students would be terrified, due to the commonplace being Hannah vs Claude, but seeing these two enjoying themselves, they couldn't help but smile as well. Their atmosphere was different.

"Ah, I see. That's quite unfortunate. Then let us meet again in better circumstances, Vicky!" Yukio announced as he commenced his attacks.

The armbands seemed to give Yukio better control on the liquid, especially in his arm area. Unlike drops of water floating about, the collection around his arms was able to take on more complicated shapes before striking the foe. But how much was the true limit? Vicky continued to observe.

Vicky made sure he didn't land a hit on the armbands themselves. Even if they looked like armbands, they were similar to gauntlets. Meaning, they would be a hard surface to punch on. Besides, the water around it would absorb the shock anyway, so there's no point.

Thus, Vicky tried his very best to quickly end it. He focused on Yukio's legs and tried to make him trip. It was the only area that seemed most vulnerable.

On the other hand, Yukio had already predicted this. If Vicky was truly restricted to only using Pure Natura, then his options were incredibly limited. For him to win, he would have to strike his legs. That was the only logical conclusion, right?

In reality, Vicky was not a calculative fighter like Yukio. For him, it was simply his experience that allowed him to take measures in such odds. Yukio's lower half being the widest area to attack, the match had basically turned into a cat and mouse chase for his legs. That was until Vicky slipped on the floor.

"What? The floor is wet? Just when did he?!"

Thinking so, Vicky sharply glanced at the floor as he fell. It was then that he noticed the area around him to be covered with a light sheen, as if it was very recently wiped with a wet mop, or as if it was sprayed with droplets of water with a brush.

"Water droplets? Wait, how small were they that I couldn't detect them?! More importantly, just how many was he controlling all this time?! That too while fighting me! So he's basically advanced so much since then!"

With no time to waste, Vicky pressed his palms on the slippery floor and flipped over to regain balance. During the motion, Yukio didn't decide to give him time to rest and rushed in.

"That's careless, Hitoshi!"

Internally smirking, Vicky was deciding on launching a kick from that moment. Yukio was wide open, so it would be perfect! But then he was cruelly reminded about the slippery floor.

His body, which was already in the motion of flipping backwards had to jerk itself forward, all while maintaining balance on two slippery palms. This was clearly not going to end well. But he only noticed that when his fingers slightly slipped and Yukio smirked.

He tried to jerk his body back again, but it was too much. His hands slipped and his arms bent, leaving him balancing himself using his entire forearm. Amidst that, he legs were shot even faster forward.

Bam!

The kick landed on Yukio's wrist. But of course, as predicted, the extra boost was no good due to the liquid absorbing the shock. Vicky sighed in disappointment at his blunder and tried to yank his legs back as soon as the kick landed.

But it was no good.

Since his foot was enveloped in water, it was not just hard to hit him, but it was also hard to yank his foot back. But the main problem was something else.

"What the?! What's with this grip force?!"

Vicky gave a second look again. Did Yukio really grab his foot after that? So quickly?!

But nope. When he looked, it was the same scene present barely a second ago. His foot was enveloped in Yukio's water. This meant only one thing.

Yukio smirked and Vicky's chest thumped.

"Let's do this again sometime, 'kay?" Yukio said and whipped Vicky's entire body to the ground, just like Diavolo had done to Claude.

Although it was not as hard as he had done, Vicky landed back first onto the ground, with a bang. This brought back memories to the students who witnessed the battle in the parking garage before, at the same time it made everybody stand up from their seats.

"Uwwooohhh! He did it!" the crowd cheered.

Yukio had actually beaten Vicky! Twice! This Vicky was the strongest he could be against a second year student, and Yukio had defeated him! This definitely called for a celebration!

The instructor nodded while smiling, displaying his approval.

"Well done! Congratulations!"

"Thank you, sir!" Yukio replied while helping Vicky up.

"Now… Do you wish to increase the difficulty?"

"Eh?" The previous sentence surfaced a confused expression in both Vicky and Yukio. "But wasn't this Vicky's allowed limit?" so he asked.

The instructor tilted his head. "There's always an exception, right?" And winked.

Vicky and Yukio looked at each other. As soon as their eyes met, they knew immediately in their hearts what the answer would be.

"I'll do it!" he declared with a clear voice.

The crowd's eyes opened wide. He was seriously going for it?! There's no way he would win this time!

"I won't fight," Vicky said with the same smiling face.

"Eh?! Why?! Weren't we thinking the same thing?!" Yukio cried.

"Sorry, Hitoshi. Instructor, I feel this wouldn't be fair. I already know his tricks, so making me go and stepping it up a notch wouldn't be good."

"W-who told you I was all out of tricks?"

Vicky giggled wearily. "You don't have to force yourself. Even prodigies have limits. This isn't our last encounter, so I'm pretty sure you can wait. Let's do this again when you're stronger okay?"

Yukio sighed. It was true. He wasn't an instinctive fighter. He wouldn't be able to adapt as quickly as his friends if he fought an even stronger Vicky. Plus, since his cards were already displayed, it was already a losing game. Backing out for now was a logical choice.

"Fine…"

"Sorry, again!" he patted his shoulder and walked to the side.

"If you're done, then I'll conclude your match. Answer the following details!"

"Yes sir!"

"Name!"

"Yukio Hitoshi!"

"Weapon type!"

"Armbands!"

"Material!"

"Liquid!"

"Generation!"

"First!"

The instructor froze for a moment. But quickly, he pretended to be unfazed and continued, "Statu—!"

"EEEEHHHHHHHHH????!!!!!!" the crowd slipped out.

"W-wait a minute! Did I hear that right?!"

"Was he serious right now?!"

"He can't be meaning it, right?"

"Hey, Hitoshi. Say something!"

Yukio didn't say anything and simply gave them an awkward smile and scratched his cheek. The crowd had already got their answer.

"You've got to be kidding me…"

"Psst! Hey! You know what this means, right? I win!"

"Shut up! Ron had a third generation so it cancels out! Don't get ahead of yourself!"

"But still, to think he really did have a first generation. Will he be alright? You know… the curse…"

"Heeheeheee! All you ignorant fools have no idea about his brilliance!"

"W-what?! What are you trying to say, you nerd! Don't get near me!"

"Call me what you want, but a fool will be a fool. You people have simply known the first generation to be called cursed weapons, but have no idea why. If these weapons really were so dangerous, the instructor would've taken action by now. But instead, he decided to continue just now!"

"D-don't make fun of me! Spit it out! What's the real reason!"

"I don't know~. Maybe if you showed some respect to me, I could bother explaining it to you."

"Why you!"

"S-s-stop! Let's not get violent! I'll explain! Sheesh!

While it's true that the first generations are cursed, they aren't 'forbidden'. Which means that there is a special property that makes them appear cursed.

Second and third gens are manufactured and manmade. With every iteration and upgrade they are improving and becoming either more versatile or specialized. But the first gens, they don't need such a thing."

"You're really testing my patience…"

"What I'm trying to say is that… the first gens aren't man-made. They are alive. They hold some sort of beast inside them."

"…What?"

"I'm serious! Unlike the latter two, the first gens don't fancy sync rates and stuff. It's all how much the weapon likes you! If it accepts you, it will be willing to lend its power to you. If it doesn't, you can consider yourself unlucky. But if you force it, let's just say things don't end up well."

"In other words?"

"In other words… Hitoshi right over there, has been accepted by a fearsome legendary beast! He is not just some prodigy, but a chosen one!"

"No way! You're kidding!"

"The first generations were such a thing?! Now I'm so jealous!"

"Holy shit! Hitoshi was such an awesome guy!"

The entire gymnasium was in an uproar. There was no corner in the crowd left silent from the voices of people. Once again, a transfer student had taken a huge spotlight! And it was Yukio again! People really began to question why he didn't stand out at first. Was he simply trying to stay undercover? Was this some sort of order by the Rose?

"SILENCE!" the instructor roared and immediately all the chatter vanished.

"As I was saying… Status!"

"U-unevolved!"

"Do you wish to name it?"

At first, Yukio did plan on naming it, since both his friends had decided on doing so too. But for some reason, it felt like the weapons themselves were telling him they'd rather not be named. And besides, other than personal satisfaction, there really was no merit in naming a weapon. Yukio would never voluntarily do so himself. He simply wished to get closer to his friends by doing so. But since his armbands gave off the feeling of rejection…

"No. It's okay, I'll pass."

And that was how Yukio's test was concluded. Even though the crowd cheering stopped, it was still very clear that he had etched a huge impression into their hearts. He was now the star of the stage. Who else could possibly overthrow him right now?

But after a few more students, it was Diavolo's turn.

He stood in the center with a stern expression. His face did not seem very confident, similar to Shin. Was it that neither of these two had improved much?

The truth was that Diavolo still could not tap into that burst of power he felt and nobody could help. After all, it was only Suzume who had actually witnessed his power up in both cases and saw his eyes redden. If anybody could help, it would be her. However, she was feigning ignorance. Thus, his only route till now was to improve as Yukio has.

The instructor nodded. Once again, he gestured something to be brought and unsurprisingly, it was the same set of wooden objects that were presented to Shin.

Diavolo stood in front of the materials lined up beside each other. He gripped his sword in his right hand and held it out horizontally in front of himself. Using his left hand, he traced along the blade's side from base to the tip. Following the caressing lines, was the emission of bright yellow and orange flames that gave off a gurgling hum. The fast warming of the air around the sword caused an outward breeze that made his hair flutter as he exhaled a slow, long breath.

"He looks so calm," a student whispered. "Is he the same Signore that gave off that fierce pillar?"

The following scene made the answer clear. Diavolo gripped the handle strongly with both hands and pulled it over his right shoulder. He then closed his eyes and knitted his eyebrows.

"Wait… where is he aiming?"

This question arose from the fact that as Diavolo pulled his sword back, he also extended his right leg in such a way that he was standing between the thickest and the medium wood. Before him, was simply the gap between those two objects.

Diavolo shot his eyes open.

Voom!

The flames that were gently curling and twisting around the sword now turned super dense and focused. Rather than appearing like the sword was lit on fire, it appeared as though intense fire was being ejected out from the guard by some sort of propulsion system.

And then with one strong swing…

TSHHH!

With one fell swoop, he had burnt through all three at once. Not cut or sliced, but burnt. The flame was intense enough to superheat the wood very quickly, allowing the sword to slice through it like some sort of incredibly thick butter.

"Whoa, in one swing!" The on looking students were impressed. If it was before, they would've been surprised as well, but after Yukio's performance, Diavolo's display was painfully overshadowed.

Glancing back at the scattered top halves of his victims, Diavolo took a deep breath and deactivated the flames from his weapon. He was neither dissatisfied nor satisfied.

"Hmm. Good. Do you wish to increase the difficulty?"

He wasn't really confident in the outcome, but, "I'll give it a try."

Generally, there were three styles of weapons: offensive, defensive and evasive.

For offensive weapons like swords, it was obvious that the test would be how well the bearer could attack with it. That was the most basic of the basics. But when the difficulty is increased, it gets tricky.

Till now, Diavolo and any other student who had offensive weapons dealt with still targets. When requested to up the difficulty, the next stage was none other than to deal with moving targets.

The instructor smiled. "Good answer. Bring them in!"

Immediately a basket full of, what looked like, balls were brought to his side. "From now on, I'll be throwing these Tension Balls at you from every direction. Your task is the same as what you did to those wooden pieces. The only difference is that these will be moving really quickly and my Raze will only allow you to rupture them as long as you strike them harder than what I set.

Since the human brain is said to be able to comprehend up to five units at once, we'll start from there. Any questions?"

"None, sir."

The instructor nodded once again. "Then…" And immediately afterwards, five balls from the basket started floating around him. "Let's begin!"

Fwoosh!

"Wha—!"

Dub! Dush!

With the snap of his fingers, one of the balls flung towards him. The speed catching him off-guard, Diavolo could do nothing but reflexively block with his sword, resulting in the ball being rebounded upwards.

"What's the matter? Is that all you have?" the instructor taunted him.

Recollecting his consciousness, Diavolo stood dumbfounded at the man standing firmly in front of him.

"This guy… he's been itching to get some action!" he thought as he scanned the figure before him.

A burning sensation started to surface within him. Till now, Diavolo thought that the students were always pinned against assistants and the like. He had never thought he would get the chance to fight a teacher himself! And it seemed like the will to fight was mutual. Although it wasn't technically a fight, the goosebumps he got betrayed how excited he was.

"Fine then! Bring it on!" And he put on a stance, suggesting that he was ready.

The instructor smirked and the balls started to float in a circle around their target at different rates as if it was some sort of ambush. Looks like the real challenge was about to start.

The human brain could comprehend quantities of five at once. That was how this base level was set. But this was not simply a matter of comprehension, but perception and response as well. Adding to that, the balls floating about at different speeds and spread apart so much, even this was quite a challenge.

Diavolo was slowly returning to a state of alertness. The alertness that he originally was. His eyes darted about here and there, making sure he never missed any changes in the balls' states. Just when he was thinking that the balls could approach him at any moment, one suddenly changed direction and zoomed towards him.

Fwoosh!

"There!"

He used all his strength and sliced at the ball. During that motion, Diavolo's heightened senses subtly allowed him to perceive the distortions in the balls' shape as it made contact with his blade. The force was so great that the blade seemed to have pierced almost to its center as it was about to rupture. But before he could rejoice…

Thud!

… the ball was rebounded away.

"What the—!" But there was no time to think.

Thud! Thud! Gong!

After two more slicing and an awkward block, Diavolo understood. This was not just a simple level up.

"After all the trouble I went through to accept a challenge! Is he trying to break my confidence?!" he complained as he stared at the grinning instructor.

"If that's the case, then—!"