Having gotten the gist of Ren Isana's explanation, Asuna asked in some confusion, "How long were you over there? You didn't spend years, did you? Are you a middle-aged man now?"
Ren Isana slowly floated a question mark. "Good grief, how did I become a middle-aged man? I was only over there a few days, thank you. It's just that when I came back I got dropped into this point in time!"
People really do laugh when words fail them. Asuna suspected he had turned into some ancient monster? Ren Isana had to hand it to her thought process — he couldn't believe she had the nerve to go there.
"Can you blame me? You crossed through space and time and then got that much stronger overnight. Anyone would jump to conclusions!" Asuna spread her hands, the picture of innocence. Watching her, Ren Isana reached over and pinched her cheek.
"It was just a parting gift from that other world. The place was in a state of war, and magic of every description was free for the taking, which is why I got strong so fast. I learned everything that world had to teach, and I inherited the legacy the God of War left behind." Ren Isana explained, amused.
Asuna finally understood. "Oh, that explains it. No wonder. With Ren Isana's talent, dropping him into a world like that is basically a rat falling into a rice barrel."
Their conversation finished, Asuna didn't linger and headed upstairs to wash up. Ren Isana, naturally, followed. Back in her dorm room, she wasn't remotely surprised to see him simply teleport in after her.
Over the next several days nobody went anywhere; they all rested in the dorms with the new term about to begin. Some of them, however, had clearly been rattled into action and came to Ren Isana for instruction.
Yukino Yukinoshita was one of them. From her very first day transferring into the special class, Ren Isana had been one step above her, and in their first fight, apart from the opening few seconds when she had the upper hand, the rest had been a one-sided beating.
And now, with Ren Isana breaking through to Tier 9, the gulf between them had become an outright chasm. It was crushing. There was no catching up, was there?
And if she couldn't catch up, then she would study harder and fight for a chance to reclaim some pride down the line. The odds were slim, but it was still a goal, wasn't it?
"So what kind of magic do you want to learn?" Ren Isana looked at Yukino Yukinoshita, read the complicated look in her eyes, and had a fair idea of what she was thinking. A girl as relentlessly competitive as her had run into a wall she couldn't climb.
Yukino Yukinoshita answered without hesitation. "Anything that makes me stronger. I'll learn whatever it takes. So please, teach me properly!"
She was all in now. Whatever it took to get stronger, she would do it. Ren Isana would craft her the best possible path — she trusted him on that.
Nobody understood her better than Ren Isana did. He understood her better than she understood herself. Yukino Yukinoshita knew better than anyone just how absurd the person in front of her was.
Listening to her, Ren Isana rubbed his chin and fell into thought. Yukino saw this and waited quietly without interrupting. Off to the side, Asuna could only shake her head.
Still, Asuna said nothing. She knew this teammate of hers well — nobody wanted strength more than Yukino did. Having her own boyfriend draw up a training plan for her wasn't a bad outcome.
"On the magic side, you're not lacking. Your talent combined with your affinity means you can cast any ice-element spell you want and get creative with it. What you're missing is close-quarters combat." Ren Isana laid out her situation.
Yukino Yukinoshita nodded. Beyond raising her Magic Power reserves, there wasn't much magic left for her to learn. With one look at an ice spell she could work out how to release it, and her talent let her cast it with ease.
She wasn't as absurd as Ren Isana, but she was still very good. Close-quarters combat, though, had always been her weak point. She could use a weapon, but she was hardly skilled with one.
"Here's what we'll do. From now on you focus on weapon mastery. Get proficient with your kodachi first. Once you have that down and pair it with your ice magic, your combat power goes up considerably." Ren Isana began laying out her path forward.
He already had a rough plan in mind. Set the ice magic aside for now and shore up Yukino's weakness first. With a talent that gave her that level of body control, the magic side would catch up fast.
And Yukino could absolutely build her kodachi training around that talent of hers. Never underestimate raw power applied at the right instant — a single burst was still plenty strong, and Asuna could help with that part.
"For the blade work, learn from Asuna. Her swordsmanship comes down to one word: fast. Her draw speed is fast too, and your talent lets you match that, whether it's an [Iai Slash] or anything else. Later on I'll teach you a sword style I created myself, called [Secret Ghost Sword Art]." Ren Isana continued outlining the plan.
Yukino nodded thoughtfully. He wasn't finished, so she didn't interrupt and simply listened.
"Once you've drilled all that, go back to the magic. With ice magic, if you develop it in the direction of temperature, you can absolutely reach the point of freezing space-time itself. For that, go find Emilia — her control over temperature is excellent." Speaking of ice, one certain grand marshal inevitably came to mind.
Freezing space-time. Ren Isana could name several people capable of it, and one of them used a tachi just like Yukino did, and controlled ice as well.
The Seventh Sense, the art of ice mastery. That person's abilities flashed through Ren Isana's mind. Maybe he should develop Yukino in that direction? A moment's thought and every one of those techniques surfaced in full.
Right, that settled it. Ren Isana made up his mind on the spot. Before any of that, though, drilling her weapon work was essential. Once she had the blade down, he would push her further.
[Frozen Rose], [Ice Prism Reflection], [Ice Prism Twin Blades], [Aurora Execution], [Thousand-Armed Avalokiteshvara], [Southern Cross Shield], [In Heaven and on Earth, I Alone Am Supreme]... all of those could be brought out. And then, to finish, freezing space-time itself.
When Ren Isana had said his piece, Yukino nodded and thanked him. "I understand. Thank you for the guidance. I'll train hard from here."
Yukino Yukinoshita had made up her mind to follow his plan exactly, because everything he said made sense and she had no reason to refuse. She resolved to go to Asuna and Emilia for instruction.
Seeing how serious she was, Ren Isana nodded, then turned his gaze to Megumi Kato, who had been quietly fading into the background this whole time. "Megumi, I sent you off to find the Nanaya family a while back, and you came home before you ever got there."
Megumi Kato blinked, then nodded with a rueful shrug. "Right... I came back before I even set out."
There was nothing to be done about it, and she hadn't taken it to heart. She had always been laid-back about these things. If she could get stronger, she got stronger; as long as she wasn't dead weight, that was enough.
Fortunately, she had never been dead weight. She had met the mark on every world they had explored. She was content with where she stood — behind the best, ahead of the rest, and for an assassin that was plenty.
"I'll teach you myself. I learned all of that back at the Root." Ren Isana grinned at Megumi Kato.
Megumi blinked at that, and asked in surprise, "You've already learned it? Is that assassination art really that impressive?"
Ren Isana had sent her to the Nanaya family to learn their assassination arts, but she had never had the faintest idea what kind of arts they actually were. Now that he had brought it up, her interest was thoroughly piqued.
"It's quite good, actually. That assassination art is brutally effective against anyone with high regeneration. If you master it, then the next time you fight Kojou Akatsuki you could carve him into eight pieces in an instant and leave him on the ground bleeding out." Ren Isana thought about it and laid out what the Nanaya arts were for.
The style was built specifically to counter vampires and high-regeneration enemies. It would have been even better if Megumi had the [Mystic Eyes of Death Perception], but she didn't — still, those arts would serve her well for a long time.
"Then I'll be in your care." Megumi decided on the spot to learn it. Hearing her answer, Ren Isana stepped out, extended a hand, and the [Noble Phantasm] in his grip promptly took the shape of a dagger.
That sight left Asuna and the others momentarily stunned. What was that? Ren Isana had never demonstrated it before. Was it some new weapon he had picked up in the other world?
Most of them still had no idea that Ren Isana could forge a [Noble Phantasm] — Asuna included. Mainly because he had never had the chance to mention it.
"Watch closely. The Nanaya assassination arts are divided into upper-body techniques and lower-body techniques. The upper-body technique is [Senshou・Flash Sheath], and the lower-body technique is [Sensou・Flash Dash]. [Sensou・Flash Dash] in particular is going to matter enormously for you." Ren Isana talked as he demonstrated.
In his view, [Sensou・Flash Dash] was the crown jewel, especially in tight quarters. It was a genuine godsend — using the surrounding terrain for spatial displacement and lunges made it an outstanding technique.
Ren Isana surged forward with the dagger, and in the next instant all Megumi Kato saw was a flash of blade light in front of her before he was back where he had started. She couldn't follow any of it. The whole thing had taken a fraction of a second.
"Sorry, Ren Isana! I couldn't see it!" Megumi said, a little deflated — but she was thoroughly taken with the technique. That instantaneous burst of forward movement suited her perfectly.
Combine it with her [Presence Concealment], and if she ever carried out a real assassination, she doubted she would miss. Put the target down and vanish.
"It's fine, I'll teach you." Ren Isana didn't know whether to laugh or sigh, but he wasn't bothered. Of course she couldn't follow it. She would learn it in time — and it wasn't as though they were short on that.