As the earth shook briefly and the flow of Wave continued surging through the air, Nana Kata unsheathed his blade before listening to its hums. He was given a task to take down the squad named Team Science directly from John King himself, though he was never one to be recruited into the so-called PORA by John.

The feedback about him was that Nana was simply way too erratic and eccentric to be used fully by the organization, and John couldn't help but agree with that assessment. Nana had no interest in the grand plans of the PORA, neither did he care about anything else but the way of the sword. And if he were to be controlled like the other executors of the PORA, then the finer details of his powerset would have been lost in the process.

Such was the risk of the conversion. In exchange for absolute obedience, the true essence of one’s being, which intrinsically tied into one’s strength, may have been lost.

To Nana, there were no finer tools to sharpen his blade than the bodies of his enemies. Particularly the other holders of the legendary weapons...and speaking of those people, John provided him with just the right amount of motivation prior to the commencement of the Summer Selection, knowing that he would be driven by other factors.

"The holder of the Sky Splitting Sword belongs on the so-called Team Science, as I am sure you may be aware?" John said, passing by Nata who's using the Union machine shop to sharpen his arsenal of fancy blades, majority of them the winning prize of previous Law of Combat challenges.

"Of course I am." Nana said, glancing carefully at the reflection of himself on the blade. John always thought him a strange character when not in the midst of battle, as his calm demeanor reserved for when the blades clash had confused both his friends and foe.

"Their squad will be in red." John said, "Easy to identify even across the woods. Also, here’s a sample of its Wave signature."

"Uh huh."

That was when John realized that Nana was, in fact, not examining himself, but a mark of the tiniest size left behind from Nana's previous trainings. Before John could read into Nana's thoughts, he arose from the cross-legged sit, spun around and sheathed the blade in a single smooth movement. The Water Weaving Sword then wrapping around his hip like a belt, with a blue gem the shape of a droplet positioned at the hilt.

"Ver's sword shall be mine." Nana said, "And then eventually...all five legendary swords will be under my control."

"Out of interest," John asked, turning away and knowing Nana will now do what he anticipated, "Do you not care for the rest of the legendary weapons?"

"Of the weapons listed as five-three-two-one, the broad categories are ranked in order of elegance. Thus, the order of the sword, spear, axe, and bow." Nana said, cleaning up the table after himself before heading out alongside John, "I do not concern myself with the likes of the crude weapons, as the way of the swords are the only way I need."

And so, he lead his squad through the lands and past the other strongholds, as their starting position were right across the vast forest from Wu's squad.

"Master! Shall we not secure all of these individual strongholds?" The newest member of his squads asked as they scurried across the top of the trees, passing by groups of students in the midst of battle and ignoring them completely.

"After we make quick work of the so-called Team Science and obtain the Sky Splitting Sword, then yes." Nana said, his eyes focused on the singular target far out in the distance. The Water Weaving Sword around his hip hummed with excitement as it tracks Nana's own mental state.

"As you wish, Master."

Behind him are a tall girl with sharp eyes and long black hair, a short man with dark brown hair, a slim girl with bangs covering her eyes dressed in a dark outfit, and a bold boy with pale skin and lines of Cast written all over his body.

"Once we engage, act according to our plans." Nana smiled, sensing his targets more and more before drawing his sword at last, "Make me proud, my dear apprentices in the ways of the sword."

"Sword Cast! Battle Segregation!" The tall girl in his squad shouted loudly, a glowing sword made purely out of the Wave suddenly expanding and growing upwards as Wu's group appeared in the lines of sight. They immediately reacted, though the tall girl carried through with her roar, the Wave sword splitting and splintering into four individual branches before they all flashed through the air.

The earth itself was cut up into slices like cakes, and all five within Wu's squad were instantly separated from one another. Taking the chance created by the tall girl, a boy with short brown hair then dashed right past her, a thin short blade no longer than the size of a dagger in hand as he cut through the gaps in space created by the Sword Cast with blinding speed, the sharpened tips leaving a screeching sound in the air.

"Dagger of Silence...cut the bonds..." He murmured in a ritual-like fashion. before the dagger pulsed with energy and clones of the weapon materialized over each of the gaps, severing the field of Wave connecting between each of the slices of the battlefield, "None of you will be able to return until you defeat your enemy."

"You all know what to do." Nana said, heading straight towards the slice where Ver was at with the weapons drawn and raw power pouring out from within his body.

"Yes Master!" The four swordsmen all replied at the same time, each of them scattering and facing off against each of the individual members in Wu's squad.

When the attack from Nana's squad hit, Augen had already picked up their presence in the Wave. However, the effects of the Sword Cast were instantaneous, and by the time Augen went ahead to warn the rest of the groups, Wu's squad had already been completely separated.

"WATCH OUT!" Augen warned when the shouting voices from his squad mates were silenced unnaturally as a ghostly shadow dashed right past him. Then, the short man with brown hair appeared right in front of him, the small dagger in hand.

"It's fast!" Fatera instantly activated her Hard Mode, power surging from her body as the images of her surroundings started slowing down before everything became completely still. It was not just her heightened reaction speed in Hard Mode though, there was something deeper going on...

"You do not have to worry." The voice of the tall girl came from right in front of her before she strolled with the massive glowing blade in hand, "You will not be going anywhere.”

"My Cast Array!" Lera cursed, feeling as if her limbs had been amputated brutally as pained tingles feeding back from the Cast array filled her mind, "Everything's cut up!"

She looked down towards the communication Cast over her wrist, and it was unresponsive as the image of Wu next to her also started to freeze up.

"Shit!"

"Lera Huten. I shall be your opponent." The boy with Cast Lines all over him said, his voice sounding like echoes as if he was speaking from within a cave, or that multiple versions of the same being were speaking through him.

"Huh? What's going on?" Wu looked around before a sense of disorientation suddenly filled his head as the ground underneath his feet felt like it's pushing into him. Then, when he looked up, the short and slim girl with black bangs stood right across from him, her hands both by her hip as if she's ready to draw a blade, "Ah shit."

"Be careful, little one!" The Kraken's warning tone arose within Ver immediately as Ver stepped across from the enemy that suddenly appeared from seemingly out of nowhere. It was a handsome man with a scar on his face. He was tall with short black hair and a white fade, and a strange-looking sword was held in his hand.

The sword's body seemed exceptionally thin and soft, and as the man channeled Wave through it, the blade moved like a living being. A snake ready for the hunt, wielded by a man with the eyes of a predator.

"Ver Fulgen Vaughan." Nana Kata said, his voice cold yet filled with excitement, "You are in possession of something that belongs to me."

"What? The Token?" Ver looked at him, the Kraken's tendril growing out from her fingertips behind her and probing his strength when suddenly, Nana Kata's body vanished.

An instant later, through the warning of the Kraken, a sharp pain exploded from her fingertips as blood poured out from it and the Kraken's tendril, now cleanly severed by Nana, flopped onto the ground and immediately started wilting.

"So...are you going to draw your sword?" Nana asked, turning around and appalled by Ver's performance, "Or are you going to sit there and die?"

"Don't get cocky." Ver said through gritted teeth before a massive whirlpool formed in the air right beside Nana and jets of water shot straight from within, "Whirlpool Red!"

Forming whirlpools in midair takes far more control than forming it over surfaces of solid objects, and it wasn't easy to do for Ver at all. However, the ability to conjure up her Manifestations wherever she needed offered her far more flexibility in how she wanted to utilize her arsenal of skills.

"Oh?" Nana leaned back in a back bend with one hand on the ground before the jets of water tracked after him, and he swung his blade in a flurry, slicing straight through the individual Whirlpools and cutting it in half, somehow. He then flipped over, balancing himself briefly over one arm before crouching slightly at facing Ver.

Ver's eyes opened, and she pressed over her chest with her hands, spanning black whirlpools forming over her body before the Kraken's tendrils came roaring out from within her body.

"I said, draw your sword." Nana said from right behind her, and his voice now bordered on that of threatening, "You Eastern continent savage."

"You don't get to tell me what to do!" Ver shouted, controlling the Kraken's tendril and led it to swing straight towards Nana who twisted the body of the blade slightly, and the tip of the blade and his entire body weaved around the burning tendril before the metal pined straight into Ver's scapula.

She screamed out in pain as Nana kicked her down from behind.

"You are in possession of one of the legendary weapons, yet you hide it as if it's some sort of an antique toy?" Nana asked, "Some say that the legendary weapons are only used by those that are incapable of becoming stronger beyond that. That's bullshit. Those who are truly strong are able to use whatever tool at their disposal, including these elegant swords."

"So I will ask you nicely one last time, Ver Fulgen Vaughan." Nana said, the Water Weaving Sword now straightening up before it pierced through the earth in front of Ver’s eyes, "Draw your sword, and die fair and square to the superior swordsman."