....
....


　I look at him.

　We jiggle out of the distance, trying not to miss a single movement of Shelly in front of us.

　Shelly has not yet pulled out her sword. She just has her hand on Oborozuki Yoru, who is still being delivered, and she's asking how she's doing.

　On the other hand, I, on the other hand, have already deployed the Invisible Blade 《Invisible Blade》 with the Compound Dagger 《Multiple Knife》.


　And on top of that, the Twilight Eye 《Twilight Sight》 is also deployed. While reading the movement of the overflowing magic element, he didn't want to miss Shelly's every move.

　Not only humans, but all living things are always accompanied by magical elements in their movements. And it's the same with the activation of magic. So I can predict my opponent's actions in advance.

　But..........


.........


　It was Shelley who moved first. When he closed the gap between the two in just one step, he pulled out a sword. Although I was a little taken aback by its unnoticeable speed, this level of speed was within the range of my expectations. I parry away the attack by Oboro Tsukiyo with the Invisible Blade, and then I counter and repel Shelly's Oboro Tsukiyo as it is.


''You're good.......Shelly.
You are. Julia's great, too. But...


　Its twin eyes start to glow gold. It's the proof that the magical eye has been activated.

　Devil's Eye.

　Sherry possesses a future eye called the Prediction, which is a magic eye that can see into the future. However, there are some restrictions. Within a 10-meter radius, and she can only see as far as three seconds into the future. Although it's not a universal ability, three seconds is a significant advantage in super close quarters combat, the Cross Range.

　To be honest, in terms of speed in terms of physical ability, I'm probably faster than Shelley. To begin with, my Invisible Blade, Invisible Blade, has almost no weight. On the other hand, Oborozuki Yoru, on the other hand, has quite a bit of weight. This difference is obvious.


　However, Shelly's Future Eye 《 Prediction》 overturns that.



I'm going to keep going...!


　Shelly is attacking me continuously.

　Yes, she can see my future moves now. Therefore, my speed advantage is almost non-existent. Now, me and Shelly are almost evenly matched in the battle..........................but the end comes abruptly.


'....Do you want to continue?
No, no, I give up, I give up.


　Shelley admitted defeat as the Invisible Blade was thrust at his throat. Of course, that wasn't the starting point for the knife. I activated the Invisible Sword 《Invisible Blade》 with the little finger of my right hand as the starting point. And in an instant, I extended it to Shelly's neck.


　A momentary attack and defense. However, Shelly was unable to duck or catch it.


''Huh........Yulia is so strong......I really hate her.......''
I thought we were on the right track this time, didn't we?
'Hmmm........I'm sure that using the magic eye will give you an advantage, but the control is still, you know. You can use it to match your body's movements for about 10 seconds. If you use it for more than 10 seconds, your body won't be able to keep up with it. To begin with, I can't tell if the world I'm seeing is real or 3 seconds in the future.
'I see........future vision is useful, but it has such a harmful effect.......'
'Yes. Honestly, I like this performance, but I guess that's what I'm getting swept up in.
What does the future look like?
Hmmm ... maybe it's a little hard to explain ... because this is pretty much a sensory thing. But yeah... it's like the world you're seeing now is superimposed on another image.
"overlap...
'But when you get to a speed as fast as Julia's, it's not infinitely blurry either. It's easy to fight against normal opponents with a time lag, even if you use futuristic vision, but after all, it doesn't seem to work out so well when you're in the special class versus a magician.
Yeah. Well, I'm sure Sherry will learn to use it to her advantage.
'I always thought Julia had a lot of faith in that, you know?
''Well as far as I'm concerned, I sincerely believe that, but...''
It's not in my nature, it's just...
Are you under pressure or something?
That's one aspect of it, but...
But?
'I don't feel bad when Julia tells me that,'
'I see. Well then I'll just keep saying it in the future!
What?　That's not the place to say that you should refrain a little bit or something like that!
Oh, no. I have faith in Sherry.
Shit!　That's not what I'm talking about!


　And Shelly would scream in place for a while, scratching her head.


　◇


　After my early morning workout with Shelly, I was back at the base. Normally, I would be going to the twilight earth now.

　Incidentally, the land I regained was given a different name. The place that was a level 1 danger zone was Area 8, followed by Areas 9 and 10. This started with the number 8, because there were seven boundary cities and the land we got after that.

　Right now, areas 8-10 are being developed in various ways so that humans can live in them, and various supplies and other things can be placed in them. There are a lot of times when a counter-magician is sent out to do that, and there are also jobs such as hunting for monsters that still exist around the area, but the current me was left with a different job.


　That is the job of teaching at the anti-magic academy.


　It seems that they decided to send someone from the special class to teach a class on close combat, but the other special class opponents who specialize in close combat are too much trouble, so they decided to pass on the job. This is just a matter of seniority, so it didn't matter that I was at the top of the pecking order, rank zero.

　But that's okay....I don't mind teaching people things....

　But teaching doesn't change my age much. If I were to live my life as a normal anti-magician, I'm sure I'd still be in the academy.

　Becoming a soldier and even being at the top of the special class of anti-magician is a dream come true if you think about it from the past. Truly, life is an unknowable thing.


　Well, as I was walking around thinking about this, I arrived at the place.


　The anti-magic academy that exists in the first boundary city.

　I've been to the academy I attended, the academy in the third and seventh boundary cities. Although the basic structure is the same, this will be my first time here. And this is just a trend, but the First Boundary City has a lot of people who become excellent counter-magicians.

　This is because the First World City is home to nobles and highly skilled opponents, and their children also inherit their abilities.

　That's why from time to time a special class of anti-magician is sent out to teach.

　When I was about to enter, I bumped into a familiar face.


''Huh?　Are you Eve, by any chance?
........Oh. So your charge is Yulia-kun............
Does that mean that Eve was looking for the magic?
'Yeah I'm honestly sluggish. Eira was originally supposed to come over but she had another urgent assignment coming up, so I had to come over...
Ha, well, that's just the way it is.
Well, it pays, and I'll just end it the way I always do.
No. Are you a Texan?
'Hmmm, just kidding. Just kidding.


　Eve teases me with a grin.


'Lieutenant Colonel Yulia Curtis and Major Eve Ailey, is that you?'


　As we are talking about this at the academy gates, a woman approaches us.

'Yes,'
'Yeah...'
So, if you'll follow me I'll show you around.


　When the staff of the academy said that, Eve and I continued on our way.

　While the interior is not that different, I had the impression that it was a bit larger than other cities.


''Well then, please wait over here.


　We were ushered into the reception room, and the staff woman left without further ado. There are already freshly brewed teas and sweets on the desk.

　Yves took no time to work on them and ate the sweets and sipped her tea with a slurp. This mental strength, or thick skin on the face may sound bad, but it's something I want to learn from in many ways.


　As I was doing so, there was a knock at the door.