LHAHS Chapter 436
Leo silently stared at Aaron.
Aaron raised his fist toward Leo. The atmosphere was completely different from when he had faced the other students.
"Why aren't they moving?"
"Hmph. In the end, a mage is still just a mage," Borman smirked proudly. "This is how battles between warriors at their peak unfold! It looks like they're doing nothing, but they're actually locked in an intense battle of wits! The one who moves first exposes a weakness, so the more seasoned the warrior, the less likely they are to act first! This is a battle of patience! They'll probably stay like that for another few dozen min…"
Fwoosh!
Before Borman could finish, Leo closed the distance in an instant.
Chelsea gave Borman a pitying look, and he awkwardly shut his mouth.
Aru widened her eyes, focusing entirely on their duel, determined not to miss a single moment.
Black Rabbit's skills are incredible.
Aru knew it well. There was an overwhelming gap between her and Leo. She couldn't even begin to gauge the depth of his martial prowess.
But even Black Rabbit's skills won't reach Aaron.
His opponent was the Brave Hero, Aaron—an absolute force of martial prowess, hailed as a god of war. It wasn't simply because he possessed great strength.
Back in Dweno's World, aqnd just now, during their spar, Aru had clearly realized just how unfathomably high Aaron stood.
I feel like he's even stronger now than when we saw him in Dweno's World.
She thought it was nearly impossible for Leo to stand on equal footing with Aaron.
But… maybe he can at least draw out some of Aaron's real strength.
If it was Leo, with his endless potential, perhaps he could push Aaron into revealing more of his true power. That's why Aru didn't want to miss even the smallest detail of this duel.
If it's Black Rabbit, he'll definitely aim for Aaron's blind sp—
Swoosh!
"Straight on?!"
Aru's eyes widened as Leo charged at Aaron head-on without hesitation.
Aaron doesn't have blind spots anyway.
Aaron's Hyper Perception allowed him to predict fragments of the future in battle. With that ability, he had no blind spots. No matter how quickly Leo moved to disrupt Aaron's vision, he couldn't escape Aaron's perception.
Swish!
Leo's sword thrust toward Aaron.
Aaron's eyes narrowed at the incoming blade.
I can't block it.
He considered deflecting it but knew that doing so would allow Leo to slip inside his guard. Aaron's instincts picked up on the dagger tied to Leo's waist.
In pure close combat, Aaron had the upper hand. But when it came to unpredictable mind games, Leo had the advantage.
Aaron's strength came from his natural instincts, reaction speed, and overwhelming dynamic vision. Leo's strength, on the other hand, was honed through countless battlefields.
Aaron had also fought in numerous battles.
But Leo, or rather, the Surviving Hero Kyle, had stood on the battlefield long before Aaron ever had.
Kyle was fighting in wars before I even stepped onto my first battlefield.
And it wasn't just Aaron who could read movements on a near-precognitive level through Hyper Perception. Leo had also stepped into the realm of Hyper Perception, albeit not at Aaron's level.
Aaron dodged Leo's sword and reached for his abdomen. Leo twisted his body midair to evade Aaron's attack.
Tack— Srring!
At that moment, Aaron snatched the dagger from Leo's waist. With that, his sealed senses returned. His vision activated, and his blocked hearing and sense of smell flooded him with information.
Fwoosh!
Aaron moved.
Even when eight people had attacked him at once, he hadn't budged. But now, with all his senses released, he stepped forward.
Even for the Brave Hero Aaron, in a duel against the Hero of the Beginning, Kyle, he couldn't afford to fight with restrictions.
Chaaang! Kshhhhhh!
The short blade of the dagger clashed against the long sword. Holding the dagger in a reverse grip, Aaron struck upward. Sparks flew as metal ground against metal.
Leo's right hand, gripping his sword, was forced upward.
Fwoosh!
With his right hand raised, Leo's abdomen was fully exposed. Completely defenseless.
Seeing that, Aaron immediately launched a kick.
Boom!
Leo's body was sent flying.
Screeeech!
His heels scraped the ground, kicking up dust as he skidded backward. Regaining his balance, Leo quickly dodged.
Boom!
Aaron's fist struck where Leo had been moments before. The ground caved in, and dust scattered in all directions.
"How does he generate that kind of destructive power from those movements?!" Celia's eyes widened.
Aaron's kick just now, and even his latest attack—he didn't seem to exert much force at all. Yet the sheer power behind them was staggering.
"It's because he's concentrating all his strength into a single point," Chen Xia, who had been watching the battle with sharp eyes, answered. "He's compressing his aura in an instant and detonating it. So quickly that it's nearly impossible to perceive."
"If that's the case, then no matter how strong Leo is, wouldn't that have done serious damage?"
"Not necessarily."
Everyone turned to look at Leo.
I didn't land a solid hit.
Aaron stared at Leo. In that brief moment, Leo had compressed his aura to neutralize Aaron's attack.
You've gotten stronger.
This wasn't the same Kyle that Aaron remembered. In terms of overall power, Leo hadn't yet reached the level of the Kyle that Aaron knew.
Kyle is still in the process of regaining his strength.
What surprised Aaron was Leo's growth in skill. The Kyle that Aaron remembered wouldn't have been able to block that attack so perfectly.
It hit him once again. The friend before him was not the same friend he had known.
Even in this era of peace, you… haven't stopped moving forward.
Even in peaceful times, Leo hadn't dulled. That could only mean one thing.
He hadn't allowed himself a moment of complacency. He had constantly pushed himself, all to ensure that the peace they had risked their lives to protect could be passed on to the next generation.
Aaron looked at the students who were watching their duel intently.
In that case…
He adjusted his grip on the dagger.
I should do my best to pass on whatever I can.
He wanted to leave behind even a fragment of his skills.
Aaron lowered his stance. Seeing that, Leo shook out his hands.
He's coming at me for real now.
He flexed his left hand, which had absorbed Aaron's kick, trying to shake off the numbness.
Fwoosh!
This time, Aaron took the initiative.
Leo adjusted his grip on his sword.
Kshh—!
Blades clashed once more, sparks flying.
"How was it?"
After the sparring match ended, Aaron smiled at the students lined up in front of him.
"It was incredible!" Borman shouted, eyes gleaming with admiration. "I could feel that Instructor Akan's techniques have reached a realm beyond comprehension! Is all of it thanks to Hyper Perception?"
"Hyper Perception is a technique that pushes one's senses to the extreme," Aaron said. "The techniques I used in the fight just now belong to a different domain."
"Ooooh!"
"If you're interested in my techniques, I'll teach you as well."
The students' eyes widened.
For warriors, techniques were as valuable as core spell formulas were to mages. Even mages who published research papers rarely revealed the core structures of their secret magic.
It was the same for martial artists. Sharing the results of years of training was no easy matter.
And yet, the instructor standing before them was willing to teach them techniques that had reached unfathomable heights without hesitation.
"First, I'll teach you how to activate Hyper Perception."
"Yes, sir!"
The students responded enthusiastically.
"Since you've already learned the Brave Hero's Breath, you should be able to grasp Hyper Perception quickly."
"Is it a derivative technique of the Brave Hero's Breath?"
"In a way."
More precisely, it was a technique Aaron naturally developed while using the breath technique.
I remember struggling to learn this from him myself.
Leo clicked his tongue inwardly. Aaron's breath technique and Hyper Perception were notoriously difficult to master. Since they were Aaron's unique abilities, it would have been impossible for Leo to learn them if not for his own mana affinity.
But more than that, the real difficulty in learning Aaron's techniques was…
"First, take a deep breath and sense the flow of mana."
"Yes."
"Then, spread the mana throughout your entire body."
Aaron guided them through the mana circulation method needed for Hyper Perception.
"What's next?"
"Stimulate all your sensory organs with the mana spread throughout your body."
"…Huh?"
The students, who had been listening intently, suddenly froze.
"You're starting to feel it, aren't you?" Aaron's eyes sparkled.
Dion hesitantly raised his hand. "Instructor Akan."
"What is it?"
"Could you provide a more detailed explanation? It's too difficult to understand."
"Hm? Was that too abstract? Now that you mention it, the students I've taught before always said my explanations were hard to understand."
Aaron crossed his arms in thought before clapping his hands together.
"Got it! Imagine turning your mana into grains of sand, then putting them inside a glass bottle and shaking it!"
"……"
"……"
The students' expressions twisted further at Aaron's cheerful explanation.
"Is that still too hard to understand? Hmm… in that case."
Aaron made every effort to explain in greater detail. He described how to circulate the mana, the timing of the breath, and how to feel the senses when using Hyper Perception.
But the more he explained, the more confused the students became.
"Let's take a short break. I'll think of ways to explain it better."
In the end, Aaron granted them a break.
"Leo, that was an intense match! Great work!" Eiran approached Leo, pulling a towel from her subspace storage and handing it to him.
The combination of the hot weather and the intense movement had left Leo drenched in sweat.
"Thanks." Leo smiled and wiped his face with the towel Eiran had given him, then pulled at his collar to let some air circulate inside his clothes.
Seeing that, Eiran's face turned slightly red. For a teenage girl, the occasional glimpse of his collarbones was quite a sight. She turned her gaze away but kept sneaking glances at Leo.
That was when…
"As expected of Black Rabbit! Even though Aaron's senses were restricted, you managed to hold your own against him!"
The other students still believed that Aaron had been fighting with his senses restricted.
"Eep! I-I wasn't looking at anything!" Eiran shrieked in surprise at the sound of Aru's voice behind her.
Aru tilted her head in confusion. "Huh? What are you talking about?"
"I-It's nothing!" Eiran frantically waved her hands.
"Anyway, Aaron is still the same as ever. His explanations are way too hard to understand."
"Maybe it's because his perspective is different from ours."
Aru sighed lightly, while Eiran gave an awkward smile.
Both of them had already trained under Aaron in Dweno's world. Back then, his explanations had been just as incomprehensible. Because of that, most of their training had relied on actual sparring rather than theory.
"This time, though, we can't just brute-force our way through, so it's going to be even harder."
"B-Brute force?"
Aru crossed her arms and let out a deep sigh, while Eiran's ears twitched, her mind wandering off in an entirely different direction. Then, when she met Leo's eyes, she flinched and cleared her throat.
"Leo, is Aaron's explanation difficult for you to understand too?"
"I can grasp the gist of it."
"What?"
"What?!"
Eiran and Aru both exclaimed in shock.
Aru's tail stood on end as she questioned him. "Are you serious? You're not lying, are you?"
"Why would I lie?"
"As expected of Leo!" Eiran beamed. "Once I fully understand it, I'll give you two some pointers."
After that, once their break was over, the students spent the entire day listening to Aaron's explanations.
Leo also helped by providing much more detailed explanations than Aaron.
It wasn't until sunset that the students finally managed to grasp the basics of activating Hyper Perception.
"You're all amazing!" Aaron clapped his hands together, genuinely overjoyed.
Seeing him so earnestly pleased, the students couldn't help but feel a sense of pride.
"Instructor Akan, you must have gone through intense training to master this technique, right?" Celia asked eagerly.
Aaron cheerfully replied, "Nah, I could just do it naturally from birth."
The students' faces contorted in disbelief.
And then, to make matters worse, Aaron added, "See? Once you get the hang of it, it's really easy!"
It's not easy at all!!!
The students collectively screamed internally.