Chivalry of a Dark Knight [Batman x Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry]

CH12: An Inspiration (prt 5)

Stella didn't feel the sting from the chlorine when she opened her eyes and all she could see around her was a vacant blue. When she looked up towards the surface of the water, it looked like a portal to a faraway world.

"It's so quiet in here." she thought with relief.

She floated towards the bottom of the pool and decided that since she was here already, she might as well try out what Ikki was talking about.

"To be closer to my truest self and listen to my own echo."

She closed her eyes and concentrated, every other noise faded away and she attuned herself to her body's functions; every pulse, nerve, muscle.

She realizes that is must be how Ikki sees the world. The source of his peerless vision.

And then finally she could feel the burning mana inside her, easily moldable at her fingertips.

If she was being totally honest with herself, none of this exercise was necessary since she was already so expertly trained at a young age.

With a sadden face, her eyes opened slightly.

"But then why do I feel like I'm too naive?"

She remembered Ikki saying that he wanted her to go beyond his imagination but how could she? Ikki defied expectations, he goes beyond limits, he inspires people.

But an A-rank Prodigy like herself? She was the best because everyone expected her to be the best.

It was one of the reasons she left her country. Everything just came natural to her and nobody bothered challenging her, hence trapping her in a box called 'genius'. It made her feel jaded, like she was just a monument to be beheld.

She wanted to be more than just a class of her own. She didn't want to just match Ikki skill for skill but also inspire like him, help others like him, to stand with him shoulder to shoulder as true equals.

Ikki said that he was trying to reach Ryoma Kurogane but who could she reach?

His dark image flashed in her mind, just as she remembered from that incident.

"Batman..."

She had hoped that her hero worship of the vigilante wouldn't go out of hand but she always liked the idea of being a hero, it why she wanted to be a Mage-knight and a major motivation for her when she first started training, because her country didn't have many strong Blazers.

"But for that, I need to be stronger. I need to go beyond the world that Ikki sees. If I could reach that place, then I might be able to see something I haven't yet discovered."

Stella closed her eyes again.

"Reaching...deeper...towards the place of the Crownless Sword king."

But Stella could still hear muffled voiced from above.

"By the way, what about Kurogane-san? Is he single?"

She tried to ignore it and pushed on.

"Deeper..."

"I dunno. He is roommates with Princess Vermilion though."

"Deeper..."

"Do you think Kurogane and Vermillion-san are dating?"

"Guehghgh!"

That caused Stella's eyes to pop open and choke on the water before passing out.

From black, her vision came back in a haze. She felt like she was floating, everything was an incomprehensible blur and garbled voices bubbled in her ear.