Fwoosh! Gong!

"You're gonna have to be faster than that, kid!" he advised. "Raze needs to be an extension of your body! You can't expect an enemy to let you power up like that!"

Fwoosh! Clang!

Diavolo was in trouble. He had no problems sensing and responding to the balls, but they were too tough to cut. Channeling Raze was clearly the only way, but his attention could be divided only so much.

"If it's like this, then…!"

Fwoosh!

And just when it was about to hit…

Thud! Thump! Fwoosh! Bang!

With a single explosive punch, the ball was launched all the way to the end of the gymnasium, where it smashed into a wall. The whole place went dead silent.

"You…" something snapped. "Are you screwing around?! This is a weapon's exam, brat!!!"

Fwoosh fwoosh fwoosh fwoosh!!!

"Oh shi—!!"

Thuk! Thud! Flup! Glug!

"Shit…"

"Oh no! Diavolo!" Yukio worriedly exclaimed.

Shin gritted his teeth and held the handle of his own sword tightly, as Diavolo was in the motion of falling down from the heavy hits. "Diav…"

Just as his center of gravity was about to move beyond no return, he quickly moved his feet far apart and regained his balance. Heavily, he somehow managed to stand again.

"I'm…fine…Yukio…" the words wearily came out from under his ashen face.

"Don't act tough, kid. You legitimately blacked out for a moment there. I'm disappointed. There's no reason to continue."

"I'm sorry, sir… but could you give me another chance? That shot was my bad," he said, his head still bent downwards.

"Hmm?" He raised an eyebrow.

"I think…" with no warning, a stream of fire ignited from his shoulder all the way down to the tip of his sword. "Those blows woke me up just now…" and he shot a piercing look at him.

The instructor needed no further explanation. "Don't disappoint me…" and the five balls recommenced their path around Diavolo.

The atmosphere got anxious as the tension rose. Things were getting serious. And from the looks of it, it seemed to be reaching the climax.

Fwoosh fwoosh!

Two balls were hurled at him simultaneously.

With a single burning slash, the balls were sliced open and fell deflated onto the floor. The interior of the balls were hollow. In other words, the toughness that he overcame was just the power of the instructor's Raze alone!

"I did it! Although it's not the same as back then, I can continue like this! But to think that simply blacking out helps me like this…"

Was what he thought, but that was not the case. It was simply the jolt of blacking out that reminded him of the urgency of the situation. Blacking out itself had no connection to his rise in power. After all, there was no gate this time.

"Looks like you're finally heating up. Wanna increase it to seven?"

"This guy!!!!!!"

Without any consent, the instructor added in two extra balls in the swarm after replacing the deflated ones.

The following scene was basically a display of fiery acrobatics. Diavolo used both his weapon and his Raze of fire to perform numerous acrobatic dodging techniques that were at times awe-inspiring and at others, silly. This continued on for about two minutes until finally he got used to the pattern used by the instructor.

"It was tough, but I think I finally got a grasp on it…"

And thus with swift movements and heated propulsions, he sliced the balls in successive groups of two, one, one, two, one.

"Haah! Haah!" Diavolo took heavy breaths as the flames over his body and weapon died down. The sweat that had been evaporating quite quickly till now had finally started to cluster up and crawl down his forehead and cheeks.

The instructor clapped. "Great job! Congratulations!"

"Congrats my ass!" he shouted internally but on the outside he forced a smile and replied, "Thank you, sir!"

The entire audience followed suit and clapped along, including his two best friends.

"You were great, Diavolo!"

"Thanks," he replied as he slowly regained his composure. With Shin, a simple thumbs up was all the exchange needed.

"Then let's continue. Answer the following questions."

"Yes, sir!"

"Name!"

"Diavolo Signore!"

"Weapon type!"

"One handed sword!"

"Material!"

"Plasma!"

"Generation!"

"First!"

The instructor froze again, but this time, it took less time to regain composure. "Sta—"

"AGAIN?!" But the crowd was even faster.

"QUIET!!" The instructor wasn't going to allow any chances though. "Status!"

"…Evolved!"

The instructor's pen stopped moving and the audience's breath stopped. No matter at which part of breathing they were in, they were all in sync. "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHH???!!!!!"

"Evolved…first generation…?"

"Doesn't that mean that…"

"His weapon has completely accepted him?"

"Eh? Why are you guys surprised? Isn't an evolution supposed to happen if someone can use Raze?"

"Yes, but the first generations are an anomaly. Even among the first generation users around the world, not all of them have evolved weapons. We have no idea what parameters determine complete sync between them and their users…"

"The Rose seriously lucked out when they hired these guys!"

"Isn't it more like, they were hired because they were so capable? If they were any less able, the Minister would've been disappointed when he returns…"

"I suppose so…"

"Psst! Hey, it's two-to-one. I win the bet! You better have your cash ready!"

"As if! There weren't any agreements like that!"

Meanwhile, the instructor stopped bothering about the crowd and carried on, asking Diavolo about naming his weapon. Once finished with bestowing the name 'Blood Burner,' he silently walked back to his two best friends. Once close enough, the others simply watched him casually greet and chat with the two, staring at them and gulping a large ball of saliva.

"He's risen again, hasn't he?"

"Yeah, it's unclear who the top is among those two…" they whispered as they looked at Diavolo and Yukio. It seemed like Shin was the only one being left out.

This was how the trio's weaponry exam concluded… or at least it would have if it weren't for the next person.

Everyone, including the boys, had their attention directed towards this man. The young man in his late teens who had teamed up with one of his 'enemies' and successfully defeated his opponents without losing his cool.

He stood in the middle of the room and tightly gripped his spiked knuckles as he spoke impassively, "Highest difficulty."

The crowd took a while, but once the words sunk in, their eyes slowly widened. On the other hand, the instructor nodded without any reply.

In less than a second, ten Tension Balls flew out from the baskets and circled around the target. Rather than a circle, it was more like a distorted sphere since the balls wouldn't be able to fly through the ground.

"The highest is ten?" Diavolo felt doubtful.

Unlike Diavolo, no words were spoken for Claude. Seemed like even the teachers held some opinions about him as well after all.

Soon enough, a ball was launched towards him, and without even flinching, Claude gently but swiftly leaned back and dodged.

"Whoa!" a few of them subconsciously thought.

Having been dodged, the ball trajectory could only lead it to strike the ground and rebound away. But it didn't stop. Just when people thought it would return to its normal circular pathway around Claude, it struck another ball at full force and rebounded back.

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"It bounced back?!" someone exclaimed.

Claude tilted towards the ball and swerved around it as if he saw it coming, but unnoticed by the crowd, the ball that this one had struck, rebounded off the wall, struck the ceiling and returned back to him.

"Holy shit! It's gonna—!"

Before he could finish his sentence, the second ball struck a third ball that was making its rounds and both deflected in opposite directions. Then one of the two struck another ball before exiting the 'sphere' whereas the other reflected back right before it hit the crowd, as if there was an invisible wall separating them from the testing zone. Before long, the entire testing area was chaos and nobody could keep track of what was going on.

"W-what the hell is this?! How is he dodging all of them?!"

It had been a mere ten seconds and already the crowd was getting dizzy. So this was the next step, was what they were thinking. In Diavolo's case, none of the balls collided with each other. The level beyond was when they actually did, which added further unpredictability.

But Claude had asked for the 'hardest' difficulty, right? Yes, there was still something left. This was merely a warm-up.

At the fifteen second mark, something changed. Without even colliding with something, a few of the balls started to change course. Previously, where the balls moved in a circular manner, they now moved in a box-like pattern as well. That too, randomly.

"Hey, hey, hey! Is he gonna be alright?!" a concerned student asked.

"He asked for it. Now he needs to deal with it."

At the twenty second mark, Claude finally started his counterattack. He used his knuckles to rebound them away. Some might think he was actually trying to puncture them, but he was actually testing out how much Raze was preserving their toughness.

But now that he started attacking, it added an even greater degree of unpredictable patterns. Well, technically, they were predictable, but there was only so much the human brain could manage to keep track of.

Things got direr after the thirty second mark. The instructor, without any warnings, added in five more balls: each after two seconds.

"What the heck?!"

"He's gonna die!!!"

Contrary to what people were thinking, Claude was doing pretty well against the swarm. It was tough, the droplets that trickled down and sprayed away from his cheeks due sudden movements clearly displayed that. However, he seemed to be doing much better than Diavolo; in the sense that he had yet to take a hit.

"You have twenty seconds to eliminate as many as you can. After that, frenzy mode will start and a unit will be added after every 3 seconds."

"What?!"

"Dude…this…isn't this way too hard???"

Indeed it was. It was the hardest difficulty after all.

Most if not all, including the trio, stared dumbfounded at the spectacle before them. This man… had jumped into leagues far beyond what they had thought. Claude actually was training his life out while maintaining a low profile.

"Heh, now do you understand how inferior you are to our bro, huh?!" a thick voice rebuked.

"Forget it, Garth. You shouldn't just shatter the hopes of little kittens like them. Let them bask in their dream world where one victory proved it all."

"It's you two…" Yukio murmured as their attention was diverted away.

"However," Nicolas continued, "I do feel thankful for one thing. Brother Claude finally got a fire lit in him. Oh, but don't misunderstand. He's not chasing after you specifically or anything. Because unlike you, his progress was far greater in quality as you can see, fufu!"

"Wow… if I look at him like this… he actually seems… pretty respectable," Yukio muttered.

"HAHAHAH!! You see! Looks like you too can feel the greatness that is our Claude bro! I'm starting to like you!" Garth beamed.

"But at this rate… will he manage to destroy all fifteen of them before the frenzy begins?"

"Just you wait…Brother Claude will surprise you…"

『☆ Anti-Group Combat Technique; Material Natura: Gas; Blistering Wind』

Very quickly, as if it was part of his everyday routine, Claude gathered energy in his fists and launched an attack at the next incoming ball. With force originating from his shoulders, the ball exploded before it could distort into a hemisphere.

"He's started!"

Bam! Bam! Babam!

One after another, four more hit the dust. But just after the last punch, his body was completely open. Since he had used both hands simultaneously, there wasn't enough time to strike the next one approaching his blind spot.

"He's not gonna make it!"

Claude's pupil moved and sent a piercing look at the inanimate object hurtling towards him. "Humph!" he mentally scoffed and bent his right arm. But unfortunately, his fist couldn't make it and the ball landed on his elbow.

"He got hi—!"

Bam!

The ball exploded before he could finish.

"Oh no! He struck with his elbow instead of his knuckles! The instructor's gonna lose it, now!"

"Keep watching, fool!"

As Claude turned along with his striking motion, his elbow was bare before everyone's eyes. The sleeve torn, what lay underneath was now exposed.

"An… an elbow cap?!"

"Not just at elbow cap. Look closer."

Although it was really tough to look closely while Claude was in his continuous motions, few people could make out the spikes that protruded from the black elbow piece.

"So that's the ca—"

Bam!

Another one popped, but this time, due to his knee.

"No way! Spiked elbow and kneecaps?! How many others is he hiding?!"

Only eight more remaining. However, it was at the 56 second mark. Will he make it? Contrary to what one might think, eight remaining didn't mean it got easier to deal with. That might've been the case for lower difficulties, but not here. For every blown ball, the speed and toughness of the remaining balls increased. This was why Claude was taking a longer time to take care of the next ones. He needed time to gather up.

Bam! Seven remaining. 57.1 seconds.

Boom! Six remaining 58.3 seconds.

Bam! Five. 59.7 seconds.

"Times up. Frenzy will now begin."

"Oh shit!" "Here it goes!" everyone crossed their fingers.

Boom! Four. 62.2 seconds.

Fwoosh! Five. 63.0 seconds.

Babam! Three. 65.9 seconds.

Fwoosh! Four. 66.0 seconds.

"He took out two!"

"Yeah, but right when another one was launched."

"His delays are getting wider. Will he make it?"

"You numbskulls seriously doubt HIM??!!! Who do you think has been ruling over you all this time, HUH?!!!!" Garth yelled.

"Hiiii!" the boy shrieked. "W-we're sorry!"

Fwoosh! Five. 69.0 seconds.

"Oh no! He couldn't destroy another one this time!"

"This looks bad…"

"Wait… how is this bad? Since when are we cheering for him?"

"……."

At second 71, Claude did something unexpected, and jumped.

"What the?! Now he can't dodge!"

No matter what the crowd thought or said, nothing entered Claude's ears. Right now, he was completely in the zone. As soon as he reached his highest point, he bent his right leg, put his fists together and aimed straight at his own knee.

"What is he doing?! There's nothing the—"

Fwoosh! Six. 72.0 seconds.

Babam! Four. 72.1 seconds.

At that time, nobody understood what had truly happened. The gist was that Claude somehow predicted that the ball the instructor would launch would be straight towards him, and it would also align itself with another ball at that exact spot. But how was that even possible? The ball that was already in the swarm could somehow be guessed, but wasn't the instructor's shots random? If he could predict it, wouldn't that mean even the instructor followed a pattern when launching? Or was it that he sent out some sort of cues for where he was about to launch? Nobody knew.

But one thing was for sure, Claude still had four remaining. Those four were already reaching unperceivable speeds. If Claude didn't find a way to deal with this ever increasing difficulty, he would be in big trouble. But more importantly, he was still in mid-air, completely vulnerable to hits.

Just before he was about to land, he straightened his body and caught a ball between his palms. The force was so strong that he flipped over twice and was sent off center by over a meter before his feet actually touched the ground.

"He caught it?! Isn't that against the rules?"

"Nope. Look. He's holding it between the straps of his knuckles. As long as his weapons are involved, any action is valid."

Frrrrr!

The ball spun about wildly between his hands.

『☆ Anti-Group Inhibition Technique; Material Natura: Gas; Grinding Wind』

Before the next second, the ball lost all its spin and stopped in his hand.

『Takeover』

Frrrrrrrr!!!

The ball started to spin even faster than before.

In the meantime, he barely managed to dodge two balls and a third one grazed across his cheek. As soon as the ball he held started spinning again, the instructor raised his eyebrow.

『☆ Anti-Group Combat Technique; Material Natura: Gas; Blistering Wind』

Mentally announcing so, he flung the ball in a certain direction.

Fwoosh! Six. 75.0 seconds.

Bam! Five. 75.01 seconds.

Bam! Four. 75.15 seconds.

Bam! Three. 75.32 seconds.

Bam! Two. 75.48 seconds.

Bam! One. 75.50 seconds. And finally…

Thud! Pshhhhh!!! Zero. 75.63 seconds.

With a stylish movement of his right arm, he posed it as if he was flexing his biceps, only for the only remaining ball, the ball that he had held between his palms, to land on his knuckles and wearily deflate. That was it. It was over.

"Just now… what the hell happened?"

"He let go of the ball he had and for some reason, it all just ended?"

"What on earth did he do?!"

"Hmph! Kittens like you would never be able to understand his greatness!" Nicolas scoffed. He didn't know either.

"He cut off my control over the ball and used his own Natura to control it…" the instructor deduced. "This kid… is scary…"

Drenched and torn, Claude stood as a victor in the middle of the zone. After a good long exhale, his chest heaved up and down with deep yet silent breaths.

"Congratulations… You've succeeded…"

"Hmm." He nodded.

"Answer the following questions then." And the instructor grabbed his clipboard. "Name!"

"Claude Brandt."

"Weapon type!"

"Wearable spikes."

"Material!"

"Gas."

"Generation!"

"Second."

"Status!"

"Unevolved."

Huh? Second generation and unevolved? People thought they heard wrong.

"Just look at these sorry faces! Claude bro doesn't need fancy weapons like yours to prove his worth!"

As a matter of fact, small and compact weapons like Claude's was the right way to go in such cases. It didn't matter that his wasn't a third generation. Weapons like knuckles didn't need to be third generations to be made entirely of crystals. Even if one wasn't made of full crystals, it didn't need to be such to cause an effect on the weapon as a whole. It was just small and convenient. Not to mention cheaper.

As such, it was much easier for Claude to treat his weapons like an extension of his own body rather than something like a sword or spear. Punching came naturally. And yet again, because of its small size, it took far less time to inject energy into it and do something.

All in all, it was cheaper, more efficient and had faster response times. Perfect for a fast paced battle, or in this case, a test.

But of course, not many people had the same thought. In their eyes, someone with a second generation unevolved weapon was able to outperform and outshine the stars of the show. And this person was not someone they had good interactions with.

Fear lingered in their eyes. However, in a certain corner of their hearts, unbeknownst to even themselves, there lingered a small degree of respect and admiration for Claude Brandt.

----------------------------------------

Exams were over and it was the final month of the semester. Things were hectic, but they settled down quickly. There were fewer gossips going about the transferees and Claude's group so it was pretty much a normal school atmosphere.

Normal except for one thing.

"Alright everyone, may I have your attention please!" the homeroom teacher announced. "From today onwards we'll be having a new friend amongst us! Please welcome her properly, okay?" And after gesturing at the person beside her, the person greeted:

"Nice to meet you, everyone! My name is Layla Neftis."