The sharp blade in his hand lightly touched Rias's delicate cheek, pressing it in slightly without breaking the skin. Then, following the path of the swing, it pulled back midway and shifted toward another part of her body.
After repeating that three times, Cid stopped.
Even though the blade had brushed her several times from start to finish, Rias showed no reaction at all. She remained frozen on the tips of her toes, still in the middle of a jump, her whole body motionless.
This was not time stop. Cid was simply thinking and moving so fast that it felt as though time itself had stopped.
Then, returning to the original path of his first swing, and as his thought speed dropped back to the normal flow of time, the sword awkwardly slashed toward Rias.
Rias moved as well. She sprang high into the air to avoid the blow, widened the distance between them, then stretched one hand toward Cid and opened her palm.
A dark crimson glow flared. The Power of Destruction gathered in Rias's hand shot out, and the overflowing red torrent kicked up waves of air in its wake.
What a waste.
As if he had not even reacted in time, Cid stared blankly as the red magic bullet flew past him and slammed into the wall of the training ground.
Seeing that Cid seemed to have been frightened senseless by the attack, Rias hurriedly tried to comfort and encourage him.
"Cid, you don't need to worry about getting hurt. I can control my attacks. Shall we try again?"
Control, my ass. You throw out ten parts of power, two leak away on the way, then another three get wasted in the explosion. Whether even half of it actually lands is questionable. Even a power type shouldn't waste it this badly.
With conversion efficiency like that, no wonder you still lost despite having the Destruction talent that hard-counters Riser's immortality. You really didn't lose unfairly.
"I can do it, Rias-senpai. Could you just slow your attack down a little? It came too fast just now, so I couldn't react."
While inwardly criticizing Rias's control over her magic power, Cid still put on the face of a beginner overwhelmed by a veteran and asking her to go easy on him.
"Well… let's try again, Cid. Believe in yourself. As long as you watch the trajectory of my attack, you'll definitely be able to dodge it."
Rias looked troubled, but after hesitating for a moment, she still said it.
Please stop believing in me. To dodge your magic bullets, I'd have to raise my strength by at least another level. But B- is already the level of a high-grade mob character. One level above that is the realm of the peak mob character.
According to Cid's plan, he would graduate in the peak mob character realm. Then, after more than ten years of buildup, his strength would break through into the perfected mob character realm. By then, he would already be middle-aged. From the perspective of a human lifespan, his talent would no longer be enough to keep breaking through. Everything would be completely reasonable, perfectly fitting the growth curve and peak years of an ordinary human life.
If he broke through into the peak mob character realm right now under Rias's training, then according to his plan, his strength by middle age would reach A-, the level of an entry-level hero or entry-level villain. That was the kind of strength that got your name mentioned in the story.
At that point, he would not be a mob anymore.
"Okay, then I'll try again. Go ahead and attack, Rias-senpai."
Cid smiled, looking as if his fighting spirit had been rekindled. He still had to keep up his public persona.
"Then here I come. Be careful, Cid."
Seeing that Cid was ready, Rias called out and gathered Power of Destruction in her hand.
Go ahead. This time I brought twenty blood packs. I can keep you company all day.
...
Nagisa Akatsuki walked out the door, turned back, and closed it, deliberately leaving a small gap.
"Tap, tap, tap…"
She stomped loudly down the hallway, her footsteps echoing, but after turning the corner, she suddenly stopped. Then she crouched down and quietly retraced her steps.
Without making a sound, she returned to Kojou Akatsuki's hospital room. Lowering her body, she positioned herself at the gap she had left earlier. Enduring the cold air blowing into her eyes, she lined her gaze up with the narrow opening.
Through that tiny gap, Nagisa Akatsuki saw Kojou Akatsuki sitting on the bed, and in front of him, a beautiful woman with long emerald-green hair, smiling as she looked toward the door.
Uh…
Before Nagisa Akatsuki could react, the woman casually waved her hand. A sudden force pushed the door from the inside, sliding it open along the threshold.
The door swung open, exposing Nagisa Akatsuki crouched behind it, looking completely suspicious.
"Ah! I… I came back to grab something, hehe…"
Caught in the act, Nagisa Akatsuki could only blurt out an obviously made-up excuse, forcing an awkward laugh.
The emerald-haired woman's smile only deepened, but she didn't call her out. With another wave of her hand, the door closed again, this time sealing completely without leaving any gap.
Left outside, Nagisa Akatsuki stood there dumbfounded. She hurried forward and pressed her ear tightly against the door, but couldn't hear a single sound. Frustrated, she waved her hand in the air.
"Why make it so soundproof?"
After complaining and trying a few more methods without success, she finally gave up and walked away.
Inside the room, the emerald-haired woman kept her eyes on the door, a faint smile lingering on her lips. Kojou Akatsuki, still on the bed, didn't dare interrupt her while she seemed so amused.
Only after Nagisa Akatsuki had left did the woman turn her gaze toward him, a teasing smile on her face.
"My, my, young man. This is our second meeting… ah, no, for you right now, it should be our first. Fourth Primogenitor."
Kojou Akatsuki froze, his expression shifting to shock.
"You've met me before? No… you know I'm the Fourth Primogenitor!"
"You could say that."
The emerald-haired woman replied casually, her smile unchanged.
"I was bored back then. I happened to pass by Itogami Island and thought I'd take a look at the one who killed Avrora and became the Fourth Primogenitor."
The moment the name Avrora was spoken, a sharp pain exploded in Kojou Akatsuki's mind.
"Ah… ah… ha… ha… Who is Avrora? Why does hearing that name make my head hurt? What do you know?!"
No longer treating her as a doctor his parents had called, Kojou Akatsuki tried to mobilize his magic power and Beast Vassal to prepare himself.
But in the next instant, his body went numb as if struck by lightning, completely losing control as he collapsed onto the bed.
"Save your strength. The magic power in your body is in chaos after your earlier rampage. And without a blood partner to feed on, your Beast Vassal is completely uncontrollable. In your current state, I don't even feel like lifting a hand against you."
Enduring the violent turmoil of his magic power and the rampaging Beast Vassal inside him, Kojou Akatsuki gritted his teeth.
"Who… exactly are you?"
The emerald-haired woman seemed amused by the question, her smile widening slightly.
"Giada Kukulcan. Though, as the Fourth Primogenitor, you're probably more familiar with my other title."
"The Third Primogenitor, the ruler of the Chaos Zone, [Chaos Bride]."