Contractors and Paladinus bolstered their country's battle strength, and they naturally sought combat skill. Such skill was needed not just for warfare, but also to oppose terrorist groups and criminal syndicates that abused its powers, like Rebellion.
For contractos and paladinus training, a number of dome-shaped arenas dotted the Caelestia Academy campus. The interior of each dome included a space for combat with a roughly hundred-meter diameter, with audience seats built on a bowl shape around that space.
In the third training arena, Near Lainsworth and Laura Stuart stood twenty meters apart with Semiramis Martini waiting between them as referee.
Above them, twenty or so second- and third-year students who had been training, and many visitors who had heard about a mock battle being suddenly declared in the middle of spring break, fixed their gazes on the field.
They were all staring at the supernova who had entered the academy with fanfare, Laura Stuart.
「So that girl's the Stuarts's 'Ice Princess'?」
「A really beautiful girl, huh?」
「Such pretty hair.... It's so wonderful....」
「But who's her opponent?」
「...Wait, isn't that Near, the guy who got a D during the examination?」
「A looser? Why's she fighting someone like that? Isn't Laura supposed to be an A-Rank prodigy?」
「Dunno... hey, aren't there any second-years who shared classes with him? I wanna know what kind of student he was.」
「I was in the same class, but because that guy didn't even meet the minimum requirements for combat practice, I haven't really seen him in action before.」
「Forget about advancing years... not rated high enough to even practice? Isn't that just too lame?」
「What the heck, that's boring. Won't the princess kill him instantly?」
Laura laughed sourly as gossip floated down from the audience.
"The more I hear, the more useless you sound. Shouldn't you just stop trying to become neither a Contractor or paladinus and live as a regular citizen?"
"Well, maybe I should, but I won't be sure if I don't fight for it."
"Don't you get it? You'll become my slave if you lose, you know."
"Of course I get it, but that's if I lose. It's fine if I win."
"...Even now, you still intend to beat me?"
"That's why I made the effort to come here."
After those demonic beast attacked me
Near returned a troubled but warm smile to Laura's stinging words, but he didn't step back from his starting position. He was already prepared to do this. That, for some reason, greatly irritated Laura.
Effort... was it?
「If I work hard then I can beat talent.」
Laura hated ordinary people who thought like that. Whenever they lose to someone like her, they say,
「I worked hard but still couldn't beat talent.」
As if they were the only ones who put in effort.
As if... I win only by my talent.
It made her angry. Near hadn't been this strong right from the start. No, she was quite the opposite back then. During her childhood, she didn't have the aptitude needed to even aspire to magic.
She couldn't control her overwhelming power, and sometimes she even freeze her own body. Her father and mother, and everyone around her, thought that she'd never become a Contractor.
But even so... Laura didn't give up. She knew she had potential.
A strong Contractor was crucial for a giant state like United kingdom, and just like knight Sigmund who led this modest land of the Far west to victory in the Second World War, a strong enough paladinus and contractor hybrid empowered his country to negotiate with larger nations as an equal.
If she could learn to handle that power, it would become a vital asset for protecting the people of her kingdom, so Laura didn't give up.
She continued training no matter how much everyone around her objected. And after three long years, she mastered Absolute Zero.
She was critically injured several times in the process, but even so, she became who she was now by great effort.
That's why I can't stand being dismissed with cheap words like talent or prodigy!
"Now then, we'll start the mock battle. Both sides, release your weapon on arms."
"Serve me, Zaphkiel."
Stella summoned Zaphkiel, the sword shaped from her soul, into a form that deals no physical damage to humans but cleaves away physical stamina and strength directly.
And she vowed to the boy in front of her―she'd crush him.
Talent can't be defeated. A prodigy is special.
To erase such self-deception, she'd crush him utterly.
"Alright. Well then, LET'S GET STARTED!"
And so, the fight between a prodigy Contractor and a failed student began.
YOU ARE READING
7th Heaven: Weapons of God's fury
RandomThis is an anime inspire story :) The story goes with the boy named Near a transfer student that came from the eastern country. He was enrolled at the school of Caelestia Academy the only school with complete facilities and equipment that teaches it...
