The back garden was more than wide enough for mock battles, and Qualia and Spirito were facing each other on the grass with a ten meter gap between them.
“My principle when it comes to teaching is that you watch, steal what you can, and learn. That’s all.”
“Error. Cannot steal principle.”
“Maybe you should start by doing something about that whole memory and common sense confusion… Oh well.”
“Initiating learning.”
Spirito dropped her posture for just a second, and at the same time, Qualia started his calculations, predicting her movements.
“Calculating opti…”
Spirito closed the ten meter gap in the very small time it took for Qualia to finish his calculations.
“Shukuchi.”
Qualia saw an afterimage for a second. This ‘shukuchi’ Spirito used, as she applied wind magic to move a human body at an ultrahigh speed, was beyond Qualia’s expectations.
She swung her sword sideways while moving super fast, and the sword reached Qualia’s waist.
“Activating 5D printer.”
There was an intense sound of steel hitting steel.
Qualia was flung back by an impact he could not push back, but it was still not a direct hit.
He managed to block it with a fake sword made up of the same material as the tube part of the photon weapon.
“Where did you get such a tough weapon… And you managed to block an attack following shukuchi even though you’ve never seen it before.”
“Analyzing situation. Your movement speed and the energy behind your impact surpass expectations. Using as feedback for further predictions.”
Spirito’s speed and ridiculous strength blew away Qualia’s optimal solution.
The accuracy of his current optimal solutions was not enough, and he would use this failure as feedback for further predictions.
He was putting learning on top of learning.
“Revising optimal solution.”
“I’m kicking it up a gear.”
With another shukuchi, Spirito became a strong wind.
There was a slash from the left, or so it seemed, as Spirito swung her sword from the right.
A metallic sound echoed again, and Qualia was pushed back.
“Zero point two seconds faster.”
“Another gear.”
There was no time to rest, as Spirito flew towards Qualia like an arrow before he could fix his stance.
Spirito’s charge that seemed to cover the entire sky behind her… Did not look like a bluff.
After identifying that Spirito was coming at him from behind, Qualia moved to block her sword without looking. But Qualia was thrown in the air again, as an incredible repulsive force assaulted him after his sword touched hers.
“Detecting upturn in impact energy.”
“Looks like I’m going up another gear.”
“Your strength is trustworthy.”
Qualia could not execute a proper attack in this series of slashes, as attacks that were too fast to be seen came at him strongly from all sides.
His optimal solutions could not keep up with the shukuchi and density of sword attacks his human body could not reach.
“…Give up already.”
Whispered Spirito as she locked swords with Qualia.
“You’re weird, but I see that you show promise. You’re just not as strong as me.”
“Affirmative. Your specs are higher in close quarters combat. Your actions surpass Qualia’s optimal solutions.”
“So you admit it… Then this next one will be hell.”
A metallic sound echoed, and in the end, Spirito’s dull blade momentarily dug into Qualia’s stomach.
It did not cut, but it did send him flying.
The damage was such that Spirito’s face was more strained than Qualia’s, as he rolled on the ground.
“…Don’t try to endure it. It hurts, doesn’t it?”
Qualia stood up and got ready to fight right away, with a blank look on his face that contrasted with the intense pain running through his abdomen.
“Error. Word ‘pain’ not registered. Are these signals pain?”
“Yes, and I am going to continue to shower you in that pain. As a teacher, but before that, as one to stop my big sister’s foolishness.”
Spirito pointed, as she was perfectly honest about her intentions.
“I only became your teacher to stop her from getting Hello World off the ground. Sorry, but I’ll have to take you down a peg and make you abandon the idea of becoming a guardian knight for Hello World.”
Spirito admonished Qualia, as she looked back and forth between Lobelia and the cross behind her.
“Say you give up, and I won’t hurt you. The pain will end.”
“Negative. Those words have been labeled taboo.”
“I won’t show mercy. I’ll hurt you even more, you know?”
“Serious ‘pain’ has been perceived already.”
Qualia was not thinking back to the rejection from his body when he installed the 5D printer. In his memory screen, the images of Arrows kicking Ina and her pained face were being reproduced.
This error, that pain that felt like his heart was being torn off, like his calculation circuits were being burned by lava, was perceived more than enough at that time.
“The way to remove this pain deemed the best is to take the role of a guardian knight with Hello World, and create ‘tasty’.To fulfill that role, your combat data is needed.”
“…Going up a gear.”
Spirito once again surpassed Qualia’s optimized solution, and this mock battle went on until the sun set.
“Executing learning.”
Every loss was recorded as a learning experience for Qualia, And his optimized solutions were being polished.
Two hours had gone by since they began.
“Shukuchi…!”
Though the battle dragged on, Spirito showed no signs of running out of stamina.
In fact, it seemed her swordsmanship and shukuchi were being polished. She kept going up in gear, and was close to her full power.
And yet…
There were less and less times when Qualia was being pushed completely into a defensive position.
“Ah…”
Finally, Qualia managed to graze Spirito with his sword. It did not leave a wound, but a blow was still a blow.
Spirito took some distance using shukuchi, and put away her sword while sighing.
“…That’s all for today.”
“Error. Did not receive ‘I give up’ from you.”
“We will do it again tomorrow. Until I hear ‘I give up’ from you.”
■ ■
After leaving Qualia’s sight, Spirito exposed her irritation.
“…What was that? By the end, he was keeping up with all the moves I showed him today…!”
She was still clutching the handle of the fake sword as if she were still fighting, and bit her lip while trembling.
“…It will be no joke, but I have to do it. I can’t let my sister do something stupid. I have to pull out my secret technique…
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MC is capable of learning very quickly but his ability to speak normally is inhibited by author’s desire to make MC seem lacking.
Well thats the point of this story, he is a machine dedicated for fighting.
Don’t take away the fun development part of the story, please.