Ryota, still staring and looking creepy, I thought I'd just train with Daiki for now.
"Daiki, now that Hayato is gone, do you wanna train with me?" I asked.
"Sure, but before that," he formed a dagger in his hand and said, "Take this." He tossed me the dagger.
"Thanks," I said.
The two of us settled to start a spar by distancing from each other in the center of the place.
Daiki attacked me first. I countered it with an exchange hit and backed down.
"Don't forget to protect your brain with mana, or you'll end up like Hayato—or worse," I reminded Daiki to make sure the same doesn't happen to him.
"Don't take me for a fool," Daiki said.
"Well, alright," I replied, and Daiki swung his sword at me again.
I countered by releasing Fear. It slowed Daiki's reaction time by messing with his brain. That allowed me to use my dagger and attack his sword to throw him back.
Daiki went flying a little until getting his brain back, and he teleported to the ground.
"Not bad," I said.
I rushed this time, exchanging hits with both my daggers and his sword. I swung and he swung. We traded hits for a few seconds until I backed down.
As I strengthened my daggers with a greater amount of mana, I suddenly got an idea in my head.
"VoidMind, use all the time in the world and tell me one thing... Do the Fear particles have the properties of mana itself?" I asked VoidMind.
VoidMind: "Enabled Thought Acceleration... Analyzing..."
VoidMind started thinking.
By asking if it has the same properties, I meant—does Fear function the way mana does for a reason?
After a minute of VoidMind's analyzation in Thought Acceleration, while everything around me flowed in slow motion, VoidMind answered.
VoidMind: "By the looks of it, the way Fear flows through air when released flows exactly like mana does in nature. The way it functions and the fact that there's no difference in the properties changing when mana is used as a source to Fear—the mana most definitely has the same properties as Fear. The main difference being your Fear's density is MUCH more than mana, which makes it unable to course inside of something. It's a lot more complicated, but for the reason you're asking, yes, it works like that."
That was perfect. I had figured out how I can utilize Fear like Fear Manifestation before even learning it.
The way Fear works is like mana—I can make mana course through the dagger to make it stronger. But what if, instead of mana, I use Fear to cover the dagger? Even if Fear's density is higher than mana, it can still cover it from the outside, which doesn't make a difference for combat.
VoidMind now understood when to disable Thought Acceleration, so it did without even saying anything—right when I needed it to.
Daiki rushed at me again and jumped me at an insane speed.
Instead of countering, I closed my eyes.
"Close eyes, focus on controlling Fear particles and make them course through the dagger in my right hand," I thought in my head as Daiki closed in while I was just standing there with my eyes closed.
Daiki hesitated a little because he thought I was gonna get hurt, but he knew I wouldn't be so careless.
Slowly, the Fear particles released from my hands and started covering the dagger from the bottom.
And just when Daiki's sword was inches from my shoulder, Ryota reacted for the first time—worriedly—while Daiki thought I had messed up and was going to be hurt badly.
But I smiled. And then instantly, the Fear devoured the dagger, turning it all black.
I instantly pulled up the dagger, just an inch close to me. The dagger, covered by darkness, snapped the sword before it could hit me. Half the sword went twisted, flying toward the tree as it breached through the tree beside Ryota.
"Huh?" Daiki said, confused in mid-air.
Ryota was shocked, while Daiki didn't understand what the heck had actually happened. Meanwhile, I was just smiling.
Daiki instinctively teleported a few meters away.
Daiki, holding his half-cut sword, was far away by a decent distance.
My eyes still closed, I dashed towards Daiki at a speed I had never reached before. Daiki, barely getting rid of his numbness from teleporting, found me already in front of him.
The instant Daiki recovered from the numbness, he let go of his sword and was able to instantly create a blue shield—which was most likely made of diamond itself. The shield was a little big, with no design over it at all.
My dagger, covered—or I should say devoured—with Fear, I swung the thing vertically through the shield.
It cut it in half.
That thing cut a shield made of literal diamond in half.
I was completely shocked myself. My stamina drained as my heartbeat increased, and I fell to the ground.
"I'm done with this for now," I said as I breathed heavily, lying on the ground.
I laughed in a smiling manner, while Daiki fell back, breathing heavily as well.
"What was that, Kuroto?" Daiki asked as his stamina was drained out and he was shaking.
"I'll explain it another time. Just so you know, I just did something incredible," I replied.
With my arms to the sides as I lay there, I turned my head toward the right side, seeing the dagger.
The dagger was broken down in pieces and completely crapped out from that Fear I used on it.
"Even if I can't use Fear Manifestation for the time being, I still figured out a cheap alternative that works well," I murmured to myself.
Ryota slowly walked toward us.
When he reached, he extended his hand toward me, gesturing to help me get up.
"That was very good," Ryota said as I grabbed his hand to get up.
It was very surprising for Ryota to do this—and even more surprising that he complimented me like that.
"Thanks, but I'm still nowhere near where I'm aiming for," I said, stating a fact.
When I was back on my feet, Ryota gave his hand to Daiki, helping him stand up as well.
Just as I turned around, the things Daiki made vanished into blue particles.
"What? They vanished?" I questioned, confused.
"My creation doesn't last forever, it just disappears after I'm done with it," he answered.
That actually made sense, otherwise he'd be the richest guy in the world if that thing lasted forever.
Daiki, Ryota and I started heading back to the base.
"How are we gonna eat food?" I asked Daiki.
"If you didn't know, the rooms are kind of different, and in Saya's room she has a small kitchen. Her room's a LOT bigger than ours, and she's our master chef. She has arguably the best homemade cooking I've ever eaten in my life," Daiki said, remembering how tasty Saya's cooking was.
I nodded. I wasn't particularly into food, because I take food just as something I need to be able to survive.
While walking, I was reflecting on everything I did, and I'd practice once again.
Before we knew it, we were already at the gate.
"Where will we eat and when?" I asked while the gate was forming.
"In the meeting room. That place is basically where we do everything, including eating, and the dinner is about an hour later," Daiki answered.
I nodded, and we entered the place. Daiki and Ryota's rooms came a lot earlier than mine, so I waved them goodbye a couple seconds after entering.
Just when I was about to enter my room, I heard a laugh from the meeting room.
"Uh..." I turned toward the meeting room, curious about the laugh. I knocked and entered.
I saw Hayato passed out on the chair while Toshiro, sitting, laughed at what Yuki told him as she stood.
"Oh, hey Kuroto. Wait, come here," Toshiro said as he saw me come in.
"Okay..."
"Is it true Hayato actually forgot to flow his mana through his brain?" Toshiro asked.
"Well, yeah," I replied honestly.
Toshiro laughed while Yuki chuckled.
I was just standing there, confused.
"May I ask why you're laughing?" I asked curiously.
"No, it's just something from the past. That's why we find it funny. You wouldn't find it funny like we do," he replied.
I nodded and just stood there awkwardly.
"How did your training go?" Yuki asked as she stopped chuckling.
"Well, it went very great. I learned something new—will show you sometime," I replied.
"Alright," Yuki said.
Toshiro checked his pocket and pulled out the key.
"Hey, Kuroto, take it," he said as he tossed me the key.
I nodded and just headed inside my room.
There's still an hour remaining until we have dinner. I'd most likely sleep afterward.
I reflected on the training and everything that had happened today.
The more I reflected, the more I realized some of the mistakes I made that I could fix when I fight. Even if they were minor, several minor mistakes add up to a big one.
After ten minutes of just thinking, I pulled out my phone, having nothing else to do.
I scrolled through social media and the news in Japan.
Nothing major for five straight minutes. And just when I was about to close my phone, getting bored of it as well, I saw something on the news.
Twenty minutes ago, a report stated that two six-year-old kids had been kidnapped.
It wasn't like any other kidnapping.
They disappeared in a park right in front of their parents' very eyes, without even a single trace.
"What?" I wondered to myself.
It wasn't like any other kidnapping report—the kids disappeared into thin air without a trace.
Just as I was shocked, I heard a voice in my head.
"Everyone, come to the meeting room immediately," the voice said. It sounded very much like Toshiro's.
Worried, a little because of his urgent message, I hurried my way out of my room.
From the hall, I saw Riko running as well, while I saw Misora enter the meeting room. Side by side with each other and entering the room, I posed a question.
"Did you see the news?" I questioned.
She nodded, and we entered the meeting room.
Everyone was there.
"Immediately sit down," Toshiro said.
I sat on the right side of the ten chairs, with Riko beside me on the right.
"We have an extreme emergency... They got us. I was careless," Toshiro said. I was confused.
All the full members' faces were deeply saddened as they sat on the opposite line.
"Cadets, I cannot have you know about it yet, but we have an extreme emergency at hand. You might have seen the news about the kidnapping. I don't want you to do anything about it—I have a different mission for you," Toshiro said worriedly.
Everyone, including me, was confused, while the full members were getting more and more worried.
"All six cadets—Haruka Murakami, Riko Iwasaki, Ryota Sugiyama, Misora Kurogane, Daiki Iwasaki, and Kuroto Kurogane—you all have an important joint mission," Toshiro continued.
"You must all go to Tokyo immediately. I want you to raid as many dangerous looking gates as possible. Maybe use a few minutes now and then to eat food, but you must continuously raid dungeons for a week. Well, not a full week if something happens, but unless something does, I don't want you to return," Toshiro said hurriedly.
I was confused, but the others nodded—including Misora.
Were they not confused as well?
Why were they agreeing with him so easily—even Riko? Why do they trust him so much?
What's up with the kidnapping that Toshiro is talking about so hurriedly?
I had so many questions—too many, in fact.
But did I really have the time to question them?
What is it that the Crimson Order is hiding from us?
But I realized something else.
I don't have the time to waste.
"Kuroto?" Toshiro questioned me since I was zoned out.
I nodded to Toshiro, gesturing that I was in for the mission.
"All cadets—you must not go into a gate alone or just with your teammate. For this mission, all six of you are teammates, and you must raid one dungeon at a time. I know it doesn't sound right, but you will definitely know when to come back. The only condition you're allowed to return—aside from when you know it's time—is when you're extremely injured, otherwise you mustn't at all costs. All cadets, dismissed. You're all on a joint mission to raid as many dangerous-looking dungeons inside of Tokyo as possible," Toshiro said and signaled us to go.
I was confused and I hesitated.
But I realized the way Toshiro was so restless, meant it was an urgent something that had happened and it did have something to do with the kidnapping.
So I definitely didn't have the time to hesitate.
We all ran outside toward the gate, almost side by side to each other, we exited the place and started to head toward Tokyo.