The Magician of Sound

"Burn to Cinders, Flares."

A few whips made of fire appeared from the magic circle. Kai dodged all of them pretty easily.

The flares were trying to hit him but to no avail. Kai suddenly moved around her and made a counterattack.

On the side, Haruko and Rea were astonished by Kai. They knew that Kai was only a D-rank magician. But this D-rank magician was toying an A-rank magician in front of their eyes.

Although Ayaka seemed to not have that many experiences under her belt, it didn't change her rank. She was an A-rank magician. Their difference was big enough to have her at least land an attack on him.

But Kai skillfully avoided her attacks one by one. It was like he knew where she was going to attack. If she couldn't hit him, sooner or later, she would exhaust her magic power, and Kai would win. Kai also used his sword to fend off her attacks a few times.

Looking at their shocked expressions, Tasha smiled smugly. "Hehe, this is Kai's prowess. He could hear every movement from a few kilometers away. How can he not hear your movement when you're in front of him?

"Kai heard everything. Your muscle, magic movement inside your body, everything except your thoughts since he said it didn't produce a sound. Anyway, he can hear everything that produces a sound.

"Using that information, he can predict where the attack is going to be and what you're going to do."

"What?" Rea was shocked. Even Haruko opened her mouth in astonishment. Rea couldn't help but said, "Isn't it like seeing the fut-"

"It is like seeing the future, right?" Tasha completed Rea's sentence. Tasha smiled, "Well, it is not. It is more like a prediction. Even though he's sure that the attack is going to be that way, he always leaves room for adjustment. He's very careful and very hard to bait."

"Tasha, if he's that strong, why is he a D-rank magician? He should be a B-rank, if not an A-rank magician," Rea asked.

"Well, sound magicians are pretty rare. People tend to have elemental magic such as fire, water, ice, wind, and others. He's just like those people who have space, summoning, or any special powers like those.

"But unlike space or summoning, the government couldn't measure his power. His thoughts are unique and so is the way he uses them. The government might have a set of measurements for space and summoning.

"Sadly, they don't have a good grasp of sound magicians. They only know that sound magicians are auxiliary magicians that aren't very useful in battle. With his current magic power, he was granted a rank D from the government."

Haruko and Rea wanted to say something, but could only swallow their words.

"Well, most of it is due to his special ears, which no sound magician had in the past," Tasha added.

After hearing her explanation, they started watching him more carefully. But for Haruko, her heart felt sweet. She thought happily, "As expected of Kai. Sadly, you don't remember me."

...

On the field, Ayaka started getting frustrated by Kai. None of her attacks managed to hit him. She kept attacking him while gritting her teeth. "Are you a man? Stop dodging and attack me here!"

Kai sighed. He suddenly stopped moving.

Ayaka thought it was her chance. She attacked him once again.

"Firebirds!"

Kai only raised his hand toward the firebirds while holding his sword, and a green magic circle appeared on his hand.

"Sound Barrier."

The firebirds crashed into Kai's magic circle. Much to her dismay, they were extinguished.

"What?" Ayaka was surprised to see her firebirds extinguished just like that.

"He... concentrated his magic power in that magic circle to block her attack. It's a popular technique among elites as they could skillfully control their magic power," Rea couldn't help but comment.

She could use this technique too, but it was only after she reached her second year. And people had called her genius with just that. She was shocked to see that Kai managed to do that in his first year... No, he should have been able to use it before he even entered the school.

"But... why did he use this skill? Don't tell me..." Tasha suddenly realized that something was off. When she saw that Kai started raising his other hand and seemed to want to flick his finger, she immediately closed her ears with both her hands.

"Tasha?" Both Rea and Haruko were confused by her action before hearing an extremely high-pitched sound that attacked their minds.

...

After Kai blocked her attack, Ayaka fell into confusion. But she immediately regained her composure and made another magic circle.

"I'm not done yet!"

"Burn to Cinders, Flares!"

At the same time, Kai also raised his other hand. The magic circle on his other hand disappeared, and a new magic circle appeared on his other hand.

There were also two magic circles that appeared on both of his ears. He looked at the incoming flares and smiled. He finally flicked his finger.

Ting!

A high-pitched sound suddenly echoed through the room. Hearing that sound, Ayaka immediately screamed,

"Ahh!" She tried to close her ears with her hands, but the damage had been done. The wing on her back disappeared as she couldn't control her magic power stably, and she fell to the ground. Not only that, but her fire attacks also disappeared on the way.

With this one move, Kai disrupted her ability to use magic. Of course, if she had covered her ears beforehand, the situation might have turned out differently. Sadly, this was the first time she fought him, so she didn't know that he had this power.

After Ayaka fell to the ground, Kai walked toward her leisurely. He pointed one of his swords to her neck.

"I win."

Ayaka suddenly snapped from the pain in her ears. In just a single moment, Kai defeated her.

"I..." Ayaka was still in disbelief.

"Ahem, Kai Carter wins!" Haruko had recovered from Kai's attack and announced the result hurriedly.

Tasha removed her hands from her ears casually as she didn't get hurt by Kai's attack.

Kai nodded at Haruko and started walking away.

Ayaka murmured, "I lost..."

Kai put on his headphones again. Haruko and the others went to the arena, and Haruko acknowledged, "It was a good match. I might lose to Kai, too, if I don't know about this magic. Ayaka is also strong, but you don't have enough experience.

"You have too many redundant movements. But don't worry, in this school, you might have chances to spar with your classmates, and there are also real combat training sessions to provide you with life-and-death experiences.

"I believe that you have the potential to do so. After all, the ranks in our cards are not enough to explain our overall strength. Kai is an example of that. So use this experience to make yourself stronger."

Ayaka finally stood up and looked at Kai, "I've lost."

"Hahaha, Kai is really the best. Now, let's go and pick your weapon!" Tasha said happily.

"Sister!"

Ayaka gritted her teeth. If she had known about his power, the result might have been different.

But a loss is a loss. No matter how much she complained, it wouldn't change the result. She was taught that way by her family.

"My butler has been waiting for me, so if you want to, you can go with me now." Ayaka could only sigh.

Tasha blinked her eyes. She grabbed Kai's hand and said, "Let's go!"

"I want to go with you too. Sadly, I have another matter I have to attend to here, so I can't go. Besides, I'm not invited," Haruko immediately said. "I haven't met Uncle Kudo for a long time."

"The thought is enough. I will let my father know," Ayaka said. Both of their families seemed to have a good relationship.

"Haha, I'm just a bystander here. Anyway, Kai Carter, I want to invite you to the student council. With your ability alone, you're more than qualified to join us. Will you join us?" Rea suddenly asked him.

"..." Kai wasn't interested in this student council thing, so he rejected her, "Thank you for Vice President Rea's invitation, but I don't have any intention of joining the student council."

Hearing Kai's rejection, she was caught off-guard. Normally, people would be overjoyed to join the student council because of their well-known reputation. But the person in front of her rejected her just like that. She made a wry smile. "Is that so... That's too bad."

Haruko wasn't surprised by that though. She had expected for Rea to be rejected by him. She was trying to come up with a plan to make him join the student council this whole time, but nothing came to her mind.

"I will let my butler know about it first." Ayaka was also surprised to see that Kai rejected Rea's invitation. She thought that he was a fool. She was grumbling inside and decided to leave out of frustration.

"Hehe, let's go, Kai, we're going to pick your weapon!" Tasha was very eager to go. It was as though she was the one who won the weapon.

Kai sighed and shook his head helplessly. He said, "You should give a call to mother first."

"Oh, that's right." Tasha almost forgot about that. She made a distance between them and called their mother. Not long after, her mother picked up the call.

"Tasha? Why are you calling?"

"Mom, I'll be accompanying Kai to go to the Kudo group now to pick his weapons."

"Kudo Group? You mean that Kudo Group?" Their mother was astonished to hear the name of the number one weapon supplier out of her daughter's mouth.

"Yes."

"If I'm not mistaken, Kudo's princess is also enrolling in the same year as him. And you said it's their new technology. It's impossible to get that unless you're... I see, as expected of my son. So my first daughter-in-law is Kudo Group's princess. With this, I can rest assured when leaving Kai to them."

"What! No, Mom! Listen to me. She won't get a chance. I will be the only one for him. I am his only wife."

"But in this world, polygamy is legal, you know. The government even encouraged us to do so. Not to mention, you're his sister."

"We don't have any blood relationship, so it's fine. As for the government, I'll abolish that rule after I rise in power!"

"Alright, alright, whatever you say. I'll make a honeymoon plan soon for Kai." She didn't care about whatever Tasha said.

"Mom, you wo-"

Clack!

She hung up. Tasha gritted her teeth. She went back to Kai and said, "Let's go back. We don't need the weapon anymore."

"But... it's rude when you've been daring up 'til now," Kai said.

"That's right. You shouldn't do that, Tasha. It's very rude," Haruko also added. Rea also nodded her head in agreement.

Tasha bit her lips and pouted. "Fine, we'll immediately go home after we pick a weapon. Let's go."

She dragged Kai outside. An idea suddenly flashed on her mind. She smiled mysteriously.

'Geh!' Looking at Haruko's smile. Rea immediately knew that she was planning something in her mind. As expected from her deputy, she knew her well.