"I-it worked!"
Aizel threw both hands into the air. Then he hopped up and down, making a ridiculous spectacle of himself.
CLAP, CLAP CLAP CLAP!
And I found myself applauding.
A triumph of the human spirit, truly.
"Splendid, Aizel!"
Three whole days to internalize that damned basic spell.
If it were a body that had never learned magic in its life, fine.
But that body, my body!
It's a Third Circle mage.
And my body's responsiveness to magic power and its control are top-tier.
And three days to learn that basic spell!
Isn't that an inadequacy you can't bear to watch with your eyes open?
And.
Watching him prance about in the body that used to be mine curled my fingers and toes past enduring.
SHINK!
I drew the longsword at my waist.
"Hup!"
Steadying my breath, I moved the Ether inside my body.
Lower abdomen and heart.
Ether rose from the places where the Mana Core and the Mana Ring should have been.
The Ether Core and the Ether Ring.
Streams of Ether released from both places at once whirled swiftly through my body and finally gathered at the tips of both hands.
And the moment it passed from my fingertips to the sword.
HMMM!
It changed into heavily vibrating mana and poured into the longsword.
-Perfect, Master!
Velkarion burst out in admiration.
That skull says he can see Ether, mana, and magic power with his eyes, apparently thanks to my Sovereign Body Art.
That such a skull was admiring it meant my Ether control was that perfect.
While Aizel floundered like that, I hadn't been idling either.
I'd thrown myself into training as a Magic Swordsman.
The first part of it was complete control of the Ether in my body.
A path no one in the world had ever walked.
No theoretical foundation, no practical references.
In that state I began by building a theoretical basis out of hypotheses.
Literally the work of slamming my head into bare ground thousands, tens of thousands of times.
Velkarion was a great help in that process.
A Seventh Circle Archmage brimming with intellectual curiosity and vanity.
An Archmage who, thanks to my Sovereign Body Art, could even see Ether with his eyes.
With such a being I built hypotheses, established theory, verified it, and laid down the system of the Magic Swordsman.
What came out of that theory and verification was the Ether Cultivation Art.
Within it, what I was focusing on now was maximizing control.
A Magic Swordsman must go through a process of converting the Ether in his body into magic power or mana.
Compared to moving and using mana or magic power already stored in the body, a slight but unavoidable time lag arises.
A weakness.
To make up for that weakness, I threw myself into Ether control training.
The final goal is internalization.
Right now, to use the sword I have to first go through converting Ether into mana.
Eliminating that process is the goal.
The moment I set my mind on using the sword, the Ether converts to mana and operates as a matter of course, without my having to 'think' about it.
Only when that works could one be called a true Magic Swordsman.
That process took roughly two seconds at first; now I'd cut it to about 0.5 seconds.
And now.
WHOOSH!
The moment I swung the longsword, Sword Aura extended in a straight line.
The instant a chilling, sharp arc cut through the air.
The flame burning at Aizel's fingertips wavered for a good while and then finally went out.
"Hey, hey!"
Aizel looked at me with resentful eyes.
But I was impressed instead.
"Oh, not bad, huh?"
"Huh?"
Aizel, about to snap out a complaint, looked startled.
"The fire didn't go out right away, it held on a bit, didn't it? When an ordinary mage's spell result breaks, it's hard to keep the magic power going, you know? But your fire didn't go out right away, it held on a bit, right? That means your sustain is good."
"Ah, really?"
Aizel's face brightened.
But it was too soon to celebrate.
"Of course, that's only possible because it's my body. The body of a great genius mage."
"Wow, and compared to my sister you don't even reach her toes......."
"Watch your mouth."
"What? Which part?"
"You're a Renhardt calling a Facial 'my sister.' That would sound just wonderful, wouldn't it?"
"Ah......."
"And as far as I know, Chloe Facial only reached the Third Circle at sixteen, you know?"
"S-still, Fifth Circle at nineteen!"
Hah, I reached the Fifth Circle at nineteen too.
I had to bite the words back before they came out.
But.
"True. And Chloe Facial's insane casting speed and Double Casting are outstanding to a degree that's hard to find precedent for."
A terrifying talent unmatched in practical combat.
It was thanks to that talent that she'd held out longest against that unknown force before the regression.
Anyway.
"All right, now for training."
"Huh? What training?"
"You can cast the spell stably now, so we internalize it completely."
"Internalize......."
"You're a swordsman, so you should know how important internalization is, right?"
"I do."
"Then let's do it. We finish today."
"What?"
At 'we finish today,' Aizel looked horrified.
"That body is already a Third Circle mage. And I never learn anything half-heartedly. The body has internalized it plenty. All you have to do is draw back out what the body already internalized."
Because that's what I did.
As I saw it, this was the moment Aizel could do it.
If he dithered and missed the timing, it might all revert.
So.
"Again!"
A personality like that needs to be bullied now and then.
He's not a child; if his will is weak, someone has to force a will into him.
"O-okay."
He hurriedly raised a flame.
And my sword cut the air.
FWOOSH, PFFT!
The flame that had tried to hold on died down.
"Think of the flame as an extension of your hand. It's the sensation of keeping magic power at your fingertips!"
The flame rose again and was snuffed out by the sword strike.
"The basics are the same. It's no different from the feel of a swordsman pushing mana into his blade!"
"Haah!"
Once more a flame rose.
And I swung the sword.
FWOOSH!
SHWAK!
The flame struck by the blade held for a moment and then died down again.
He had to sustain the spell to the level where the fire wouldn't go out even when struck.
Only at that level of sustain could it be called internalized.
So I drove him.
"Again!"
I shouted 'again' dozens of times.
It's fine.
The me of that age never wasted a single second.
I invested all my time in honing myself.
I had tempered myself to overflowing.
So the body, that is, Aizel's body, could easily take this much.
The count went past dozens and into the hundreds.
"Hah, hah hah!"
Aizel gasped for breath.
No wonder he was worn out.
Even a basic spell exhausts you if you repeat it this much.
But it had to be now.
I pushed a little harder.
"Again!"
At my shout, Aizel moved both hands with a face like he was dying.
FWOOSH!
Flame surged from his hand once again.
But it was a slightly different fire from before.
Deep blue.
As temperature rises, flame turns from red to blue.
Normally that indicates complete combustion, but with magical flame the concept differs a little.
Perfect conversion of magic power.
It means the Magic Circle was driven at one hundred percent.
In short, complete internalization of the spell.
"Hup!"
I drew a deep breath and held it.
With all my strength I poured mana into the longsword.
And swung.
SHHHHK!
A sword strike that cut the air cleanly.
FWOOOOSH!
But the deep blue flame from Aizel's hand blazed all the more fiercely instead.
Something just then had felt strange, though.
Not Aizel. My own sensation was strange.
Sure enough.
-Master, that just now?
'You saw it too?'
-Yes! The Ether, the Ether extended all the way into the longsword.
Normally Ether had to change into mana when it left the body.
That was the direction I'd trained in until now.
But just now it was a little different.
The Ether was discharged outward from my fingertips and held its Ether state even in the sword.
And it caused a change inside the longsword.
'Could this be?'
-Could this be what?
'Could I form Sword Aura while it stays in the Ether state?'
-What kind of absurd.......
Nothing to lose by trying.
"Huuup!"
I steadied my breath more deeply.
Recall that sensation from a moment ago.
Ether that should have scattered into nature had held to my control even outside my body.
As if my hand had been extended.
I held that sensation as long as I could.
With the Sovereign Body Art I roused the sense one layer deeper.
A repetition of what I always did.
The sensory anchor point.
I extend that anchor point outside the body, into the longsword.
Then I make the nerves that govern sensation the anchor point of the Ether, and extend that Ether so the sensation reaches the longsword's blade.
Deeper, deeper, deeper still in Contemplation, focusing everything on the Ether.
A little more, a little more, a little deeper!
In that instant, the Ether surged out like a torrent.
From the hilt to the blade, and on to the point.
Now!
SHWAAAK!
I swung the sword just so.
No sound arose.
There was no resistance in my hand.
But.
CRACK, CRRRACK!
An unfamiliar noise rang from the huge marble table in the center of the study.
When I turned to look, a sharp line had surfaced across the marble tabletop.
And then.
CRASH!
The cleanly severed top collapsed with a tremendous clatter.
'D-did you see that?'
-What the hell! Master, you really are mad. Why is it that the more you do, the more absurd the things you pull off?
Velkarion shouted in a horrified voice.
The sensation just now was unmistakable.
Ether. Ether had condensed as firmly as mana and become Sword Aura.
'Maybe this is the true direction of the Magic Swordsman?'
-The true Magic Swordsman?
'Shouldn't magic and swordsmanship both be used with Ether? Purely with Ether?'
-Ah. Converting Ether means, when you get down to it, being either a swordsman or a mage.
'Right. What we've done so far isn't a Magic Swordsman; it can be seen as switching quickly between swordsman and mage.'
-T-that's true. Then was all the theory we established a waste?
'It was trial and error, but if it led us to the truth, it wasn't wasted effort.'
-Right. True.
'Now I'll have to train again in this direction. And Aizel seems to have awakened, so my work here is essentially done.'
-Yes? Ah!
Velkarion faltered and let out a small exclamation.
He must have belatedly noticed Aizel standing there blankly on his own.
I waited quietly for Aizel to fully awaken his body's memories and its senses.
I don't know how much time passed.
"Khuh, hah hah!"
Aizel shook violently and spilled out ragged breaths.
I waited quietly for his breathing to settle.
"Well?"
Aizel answered with a dazed face.
"T-this feels a bit strange."
"I'm in the same situation, and it isn't a familiar sensation. It's easier if you think of a library in your head. Then, when you're in some situation or need information, search for the memory the way you'd look for a book in a library. The memory will surface."
Aizel quietly closed his eyes.
He seemed to be searching as I'd said, so I gave him a precise target.
"Recall the first time you succeeded with the First Circle [Water Drop]."
Behind his closed eyelids his eyes moved back and forth.
And then.
HMMM!
Magic power gathered at Aizel's fingertips, a Magic Circle unfolded, and in an instant a fist-sized mass of water shot up.
"I-it worked!"
Right, that's it.
But that was when it happened.
"Young Master!"
Someone shouted from outside the study.
At my gesture, Aizel hurried to the door and opened it.
Standing before it was a soldier in guard uniform.
"What is it?"
"It's serious. You need to come outside."
"What's happened?"
"Facial. House Facial has attacked!"
Aizel and I shouted at the same time.
"What the hell!"