(Heartfelt thanks to 'Erciyuan de Shuangxiezuo' for the 1888 reward, and to 'Kaede no Chōrei', 'Yume no Shouyou', 'Yunqi Qinggu', 'Lei Xiang', 'Youcai Luobo', 'I Have No Integrity', 'Watch My Sure-Kill Death', 'Seven Sins Shattered', and 'Yan Yu Jiangnan' for their rewards!)
Walpurgis Royal Academy of Machinart, training grounds...
This was one of the training grounds specially provided for the students of Walpurgis Royal Academy of Machinart to conduct practical Automaton Thaumaturgy and Automaton combat training.
On this morning, with little time left before classes began, the training ground was packed with people.
Around the grassland-like training ground, students gathered in twos and threes, surrounding its center as they watched what was happening inside and whispered among themselves.
At the center of the training ground, Wu Yan stood on one side with Natsuki, Ikaros, Astrea, Nagisa, and Natsuoto. On the other side, Raishin stood with Yaya, facing off against Wu Yan's group.
Raishin's gaze swept across the five girls—Natsuki, Ikaros, Astrea, Nagisa, and Natsuoto—who wore pure white knight battle uniforms. His sharply defined face was taut, and his eyes were filled with gravity.
"Just like the rumors said, you have five Automatons. I see... The only One-Man Army capable of suppressing another One-Man Army is another One-Man Army, huh?..."
"I think of my partners less as an army and more as a team!" Wu Yan, standing before the five girls, met Raishin's eyes and smiled faintly.
"Still, Raishin, you did your homework. You'd already heard all those so-called rumors?..."
"Unlike me, you're quite the attention-grabber..." Raishin said with a smile that did not reach his eyes.
"I'm only a half-baked nobody, so I often do things beyond my capabilities. If I didn't prepare beforehand, wouldn't I have no chance of winning at all?..."
"So you've been thinking about defeating me