It began with a question that occurred to me quite by chance.

“Tyr. You said your blood manipulation got weaker, but your physical abilities improved instead, right? You knocked Nabi out with one punch.”

“I know not why, but yes.”

“And in exchange, you lost some ability to control blood outside your body. Hmm... Isn't that dangerous? Being physically stronger doesn't do you much good when you can't die anyway.”

“True. But I can still command darkness. Darkness is the ash left behind after life is scorched by light. With that, I can summon black knights...”

“Those black knights are useless. All it takes is a wave of the hand to make them disappear.”

“... O-originally, black knights gained their strength by cloaking themselves in blood energy. Clad in it, they could rival knights.”

“But you said you can't cloak anything outside your body in blood energy anymore. Ralion's practically your only familiar worthy of the name.”

“... Ugh.”

Rebuked for her incompetence, Tyr lowered her head in dejection.

Look at me, bringing the Progenitor to heel with a few words. The Holy See ought to canonize me.

“Imagine running into the Military State's army outside. Could those black knights stop them? Ralion would have to do all the running around alone.”

“I-I have gained some strength myself.”

“Well, individual strength is all very good. But that alone won't let you shake nations or turn the tide of battle just by being there. Besides, you only gained it recently. We don't have an objective measure of how strong you are.”

I pointed at the debris piled in a corner of the prison. A massive steel beam was embedded halfway into the ground there.

“Let's test your strength. Could you lift that beam?”

A massive steel beam that had once supported the prison. Could she lift that enormous alchemical-steel beam, which had formed the skeleton inside the concrete and kept it from crumbling...?

... Wait. Why is that out here? Put it back.

“Yes. Of course.”

“Huh? Wait...”

Eager to prove her strength, Tyr headed for the beam, swinging her arms. Her small hand seized it firmly.

'I must show Hugh my strength so he need not worry. Let him understand exactly who stands behind him... But can I lift something this large with blood manipulation?'

Daunted by its size, Tyr gripped the beam with all her might.

SCREEEECH!

The steel buckled and twisted. The alchemical steel the Military State took such pride in changed shape like clay in the girl's hand.

The beam was too thick for even a grown man to wrap one hand around, yet it molded itself to her grip. Wherever she grabbed became a handle.

And then...

“Whoa!”

RRRRRUMBLE!

The ground shook violently. I steadied myself as I staggered, staring in horror.

No, wait. This isn't even solid ground. Why are we having an earthquake?

“Woof! Woof! Woof!”

“Meoow! Meoow!”

Sensing the warning signs of disaster, the beasts were the first to bolt out of the building.

“What? What's happening?”

The tremors were so strong that even the Regressor, engrossed in her training, rushed out barefoot. Up above, I could see the undying one evacuating to the roof with Callis.

Tyr, the cause of all this, was pulling the buried steel beam out of the floor. With her bare hand, she was uprooting a beam rooted deep in concrete.

The surface beneath her feet caved in under the force. Each time it did, the beam twisted, exposing more of its roots. She looked just like a farmer pulling up weeds.

Then, at a certain point...

SNAP!

Stretched to its limit, the beam snapped in the middle. The shaking stopped at once, and Tantalus, which had been lifted along with its foundations, sank about two centimeters. With a thud, the prison building made a brief but violent “landing.”

Having accomplished a feat beyond even heavy machinery, let alone a human, Tyr raised the broken beam and spoke dispiritedly.

“... It seems my strength truly has diminished. Even the darkness I create could lift this paltry weight... Yet I struggled.”

The Regressor and I stared at Tyr, our mouths hanging open.

I took Tyr to the classroom and rapped on the blackboard.

“Today, we'll be learning about energy arts.”

Blood manipulation was a type of energy art.

Energy arts were the techniques practitioners used to control their bodies.

By infusing swords with energy to make their blades sharper and harder, channeling impacts into the ground, or hardening their bodies, practitioners gained combat abilities on an entirely different level from ordinary humans.

And based on what I had observed...

“Your blood manipulation is an energy art, Tyr.”

I explained once more.

“Strengthening your body through blood manipulation. Extending your life, regeneration... All of these were possible because your power is an energy art. But because of a certain incident you experienced, your power became something that spread outward into the world and encroached upon it, rather than staying inside you. When you regained your heart, it returned.”

The Regressor wasn't surprised; she already knew all this.

After all, she had come down to the bottomless pit ahead of time to learn it, having realized it was a type of energy art based on understanding.

“Perhaps because you regained your power so suddenly, you don't seem to know how to use all that strength. Since I have no talent for energy arts, I'd like to invite Shei to be today's guest instructor. A round of applause!”

CLAP, CLAP, CLAP!

I clapped enthusiastically, calling the Regressor up.

The Regressor herself merely sat there, staring blankly.

“I'm the guest instructor?”

“Yes!”

“Funny. This is the first I've heard of it.”

“That's because this is the first time I've mentioned it.”

'... It's strange. Nabi's the one smoking mana herbs, but sometimes he seems even crazier than she is...'

The Regressor shook her head, looking reluctant.

“What I learned isn't standard-issue energy arts. It's hard to explain, so you do it.”

“Me? Hmm. Even if I was top of my class at secondary military school, I never went to a military academy, so I never learned energy arts...”

“There you go, lying through your teeth again. You can use energy arts.”

Apparently used to it by now, the Regressor responded without getting particularly worked up.

“Without energy arts, you can't even touch Sky Cherry Blossom's blade.”

“And?”

“You deflected Sky Cherry Blossom when I swung it. That means you've learned energy arts, at the very least. Which naturally means you can use them.”

'That's why I mistook him for at least an officer...? No, he isn't an ordinary convict laborer, so it wasn't a mistake. Anyway, that's why I thought so.'

So that was when she'd started overestimating me.

Yes. As the Regressor suspected, I could use energy arts.

But I could only use them, nothing more. My reserves and output were so pathetic that infusing a single card with energy left me a wheezing weakling. On a scale from zero to one, I stood proudly at 0.1: technically present, but insignificant.

Honestly, deflecting Sky Cherry Blossom had been a fluke I could never repeat. But I decided not to let that show.

“If you insist, I suppose the decent thing to do is teach you myself.”

Returning to the blackboard, I picked up a piece of chalk and began drawing.

“Now. Energy arts are generally divided into three categories.”

I drew the earth, a person, and the sky.

Drawing arrows extending outward from the person's body, I said,

“Heaven. Scattering energy into all things in the world.”

Next, I drew lines seeping into the earth from the person's feet.

“Earth. Sending energy into the ground to support your body firmly.”

Finally, I depicted energy swirling inside the person's body.

“Water. Concentrating energy on yourself to transform your flesh.”

I tapped the board a couple of times with the chalk, then spun around.

“These are the basic categories of energy arts. Incidentally, the Military State's standard-issue energy arts recommend learning them in the order of Heaven, Earth, and Water. Supposedly, that's the easiest way to learn.”

Hearing familiar terms, Tyr tilted her head.

“The teaching itself seems similar to what Mother Earth's sages explained long ago.”

“That's where it came from. But unlike the sages' vague descriptions of the principles of the world and nature, this classification takes a practical, analytical approach.”

Seeing was believing. A demonstration would be far easier to understand.

I wasn't sure my meager energy arts would suffice, but I might as well try.

“Now I'll demonstrate how energy arts are used.”

I took out a card and placed it facedown in the middle of the lectern. I hadn't planned to perform magic today, so I hadn't prepared any other cards.

Instead, I extended my index finger, stopping a short distance above the back of the card.

“Energy that draws things in. Adhesive energy.”

The card lying on the lectern stirred. When I applied more power, it stuck fast to my fingertip like a magnet.

With the card attached, I pointed my finger upward.

“Energy that repels. Bullet-repelling energy.”

Without so much as a flick of my finger, the card bounced up on its own. It spun through the air before falling.

“These two are the basis of every application. All other uses are ultimately variations on pushing and pulling. You can also cloak objects in this energy, not just your body.”

I cloaked the card in energy. Then I lifted the hem of my clothes and drew the sharpened edge across it.

The card's keen edge sliced through the fabric with a faint swish.

Tyr marveled at my skill.

“Sword energy? Hugh, are you an Expert? Goodness. I knew there was something extraordinary about you...”

“No, no. Anyone who's so much as set foot in an advanced military academy can do this. What knights used to call sword energy is really just a thin layer of bullet-repelling energy around a blade.”

A blade cutting into something would inevitably become lodged in its target. Those who wielded weapons had always feared the dead. If a dead body caught their weapon after a powerful thrust and refused to let go, they would become the next corpse.

But those who used sword energy escaped that limitation. Their blades tore through bone and muscle, then used bullet-repelling energy to shake off anything clinging to them and slide free. They had no fear of those who would die by their weapons.

Thus, they became experts in killing. Hence the name, Expert.

Of course, the concept was rather outdated now.

“Then you mean anyone can wield sword energy these days? No wonder mere soldiers possessed such extraordinary strength...”

“Exactly. I may have ruled the back alleys, but I was only moderately well-known. The real heavyweights have mastered energy arts far beyond mine. Now do you see why you need to learn how to use your strength?”

“I understand. If I do not start making an effort now, I may be unable to protect even myself, let alone you. I shall concentrate.”

Tyr looked at me with firm resolve.

The Regressor, meanwhile, could only stare in disbelief.

'Of course not! The people who came down here weren't soldiers. They were officers! One was a magic officer, another was a general's adjutant, and the last was a general himself... No matter how you look at it, Tyrkanzyaka is already far beyond even a general!'

The Regressor seemed to be itching to speak, but changed her mind when she saw Tyr concentrating with fire in her eyes.

'Still, it's given Tyrkanzyaka some good motivation. I'll keep quiet for now.'

Somehow, teacher and pupil thought alike. Were they rubbing off on each other?

“From what I can see, your power is an extreme form of Water energy arts, Tyr. You have more than enough strength, but you can't release it outside your body.”

Having sufficient power but being unable to use it. The Military State hated nothing more.

Fortunately, the solution was simple too.

“You just need to practice firing your energy outward.”

“I am training precisely because I cannot fire it outward. How am I to practice?”

“Like this.”

I curled my right middle finger against my thumb, ready to deliver a finger flick.

With my left hand, I held the card beyond my finger's reach. It was clearly too far away for any flick to hit it.

“Hah.”

Yet when I flicked my finger, the card snapped backward with the sound of an impact.

The energy scattered from my fingertip had struck it.

“Like this. Keep flicking at it from beyond your reach, and you'll gradually get a feel for it.”

These were the card-flicking skills I'd honed in the back alleys. How about that?

Tyr, watching the card closely, was fascinated.

“You clearly did not touch it... Yet you struck it from a distance. Just like a palm blast.”

“That's what people used to call it. Here, take the card and give it a try.”

Just as I had done, Tyr held the card beyond her reach and curled a finger on her other hand. Then she flicked it forcefully.

That was all she did.

BANG!

The air exploded like a bomb. Wind churned, and the card caught in the gale bent backward. The escaping gust swept through my hair.

“I did it!”

Tyr looked at me proudly.

No, that was...

“That's actual air pressure. You're just too strong, Tyr.”

A card wouldn't do. I replaced the easily bent card with a block of wood. Tyr seemed displeased at first, but soon immersed herself in practice.

Having her study on her own put both my body and mind at ease. I was quietly watching Tyr flick her finger over and over when...

“You really do know your theory.”

Perhaps because we were discussing something familiar, the Regressor approached me amiably.

“I told you, I was top of my class at secondary military school.”

“Didn't you drop out? Then you're just an elementary-school graduate, like me.”

“Excuse me. Are you really comparing someone who never even got in to someone who consistently ranked first before voluntarily leaving? Unbelievable.”

As always, the Regressor was scattering energy all around herself, with Sky Cherry Blossom floating above her head.

The weightless sword was highly susceptible to energy arts. Push it with bullet-repelling energy, and it flew away. Pull it with adhesive energy, and it stuck fast.

Keeping Sky Cherry Blossom hovering above her head was a form of training in itself. Maintaining a balance that neither pushed nor pulled it was impossible without delicate control.

Energy arts were also what had allowed me to flick Sky Cherry Blossom away with my finger. My energy might have been meager, but the sword was so light that even a momentary burst could repel it.

If it had been steel instead... Ugh. I didn't even want to imagine it. A one-armed magician.

“Good for you, top student. But why aren't you teaching her the last one?”

“The last one?”

“You know. Heaven, Earth, Water. The one after those.”

The ideal to which all energy arts aspired. The ultimate attainment, said to transcend even magic and reach divinity.

The Regressor casually spoke of a realm whose very mention demanded caution.

“Fire.”

'The legendary realm I have yet to reach... One even the most renowned masters have only touched, never grasped.'

She thought it was legendary herself, yet wanted to teach it to a beginner? That was like teaching a child who had just learned to walk how to drive an automobile.

“The realm where energy arts touch the underlying principles and distort the world? There's no need to tell her about that now. Knowing about it won't let her learn it. It differs from person to person, so there isn't even a standard.”

“But some people can use it.”

“Will she ever even meet a practitioner who's reached those principles? Besides, reaching them doesn't make you invincible. I think Tyr could win.”

What good would twisting the world do? Tyr could weather it with her body, walk up, and punch them dead.

Divine realm or not, if they were frail, Tyr's fist would knock their head clean off. Even gods couldn't survive these days if they were weak.

At my textbook answer, the Regressor made no attempt to hide her disappointment.

“Looks like you don't have any clues either.”

“Are there clues? If so, I'd like to see them. I'd love to grasp it myself and wield some incredible power.”

“... Fair enough.”

As the Regressor muttered bitterly, Tyr, who had been practicing finger flicks by herself, called me over as if she'd discovered something.

“Hugh. I have found a way.”

“What? Already?”

Her body was already brimming with blood manipulation, but still, in such a short time?

“Let's see it, then.”

“Watch closely. I adapted my original method of blood manipulation a little...”

Tyr pressed a fingernail hard into her fingertip. The flesh gave slightly, and blood seeped from the tip.

Then she flicked her finger with all her might.

The world split in two.

For one instant, I distinctly saw a fan-shaped wave of fresh blood. Blood surging from Tyr's finger swallowed roughly half the classroom.

But by the time I blinked, that blood energy had already returned to her body.

Even having read her thoughts, I wondered if I'd hallucinated it.

Only the completely shattered block of wood proved that what had just happened was real.

If she'd flicked her finger toward me... Wow. I'd have become one with Tyr. Physically.

“The blood energy refuses to stray far from my body. Still, is this not serviceable enough?”

This was just... She'd flicked her own blood and flesh out like projectiles.

These weren't the energy arts I knew.

Forcing my fear-stricken, trembling body to move, I nodded. All the while, my mouth remained hanging open.