I will save you in this 5th Life

Eh?

I exclaimed as I saw Yuuna walk to the same side I did when I said my farewell to the others because I did not expect to see her walking the same way I did to reach my home 

The main reason I was confused was because while I saw her in the morning when I was going to the academy, I only met her on the path near the academy, which made me mistakenly think that she was going the other way 

But I guess this gives me more time to talk with her, so I do not mind this development 

I started by saying 

“I did not think you were going this way as well, because I only met you on the way to school so I thought you lived in the other direction.” 

“Ahh, I went out early in order to do something, it caused me to reach school around the same time since it took me too long.”  

She took a sip of her drink as she answered my question 

We started to talk about our personal lives since there was still quite a bit to go 

She was the one who started first 

She talked about some stuff, that I and I think most people that know of her already knew about 

She talked about her background as a successor for the temple, it seems that she expected herself to be a monk since most of her life she had been training to be and as one 

Her father is one of the higher-ranked monks in the country, and despite being lower ranked than my mother who is a rank 9, he is able to fight even with her to a certain degree is what I heard from my mother when she was talking about him 

It is due to him being able to leverage his skills and train his body so that he can keep up with people higher ranked than him 

And it seems Yuuna had also been subjected to this training, which lead her to be known as the Red Oni during the school rumble back in the day 

Fun fact she was actually known as the Red Flash at first due to her speed during battles allowing her to evade and attack before the incident that led to the change of her moniker happened during a school rumble 

I think it was during the semifinals of the School Rumble Block G two years before, that she got her new moniker 

At first, it was a relatively normal match, that was quite even with Yuuna using her fists, against an opponent who was using dual blades 

While Yuuna was rushing forward to attack the opponent, I think the opponent said something causing Yuuna to stop and she took that moment to slash towards Yuuna 

Although Yuuna was able to snap out of her stupor just in time to avoid the full brunt of the cut, she still got some damage dealt to her forehead and led to blood bleeding down to her eye, reddening it and affecting her vision 

And it was at this moment her demeanour change and she started to attack the dual wielder recklessly without even fully dodging the slashes of her opponent as she originally did 

Many people who were watching the match live in the audience or on the television all agreed that she looked more like a berserker going wild instead of a graceful and agile fighter at that moment 

Which eventually led her to be called an Oni which is known for their brute strength and the ability to go berserk 

Her name change was further boosted by the fact she also was seemingly unwilling to go down during the fight even though it seemed as though she had taken way too much damage during the skirmishes she had with the dual wielder, which is akin to the vitality and near zombie-like traits that Onis are known for 

The skirmishes lasted for more than 5 minutes and the people watching did not really know how to feel and the referees did not really know how to stop it, since the fight still was not going in the favour of either person and thus, they could not use the Saviour rule in order to stop the fight 

The Saviour rule was established 20 years ago during a fight where a student participant was killed since no one had thought that the battle would be going that one-sided and would end that quickly. Thus, in order to prevent similar incidents from happening again, the fields of the school rumble have a Saviour enchant embedded into it 

Although, at that time there were talks and protests of wanting to end the School Rumble due to the unethical practice of making school-aged children fight for the amusement of the public and also to prove their worth as a warrior 

But these talks were eventually squashed due to such events being one of the most profitable events of the year for the country and also a way for schools to scout out new talents for their schools 

These events also provided chances for the students to find chances to enter the schools they want, even if they might not have the resources to enter the school by enrolling in them normally, allowing them to break their cycle of impoverished lifestyle 

Although one thing is for sure, the event holders and the council really made it their life goal to make it so that there will not be any more freak accidents in the event 

After the incident which caused the premature death of a student participant, there has not been a case of severe injury or incapacitation, let alone death 

Other than the Saviour rule that was set in place of the battle arena, they made sure to call the best healers and set up healing spells right outside the barrier so that the players can get healed immediately after the battle ends 

And now on the topic of the Saviour rule that was implemented in the arena, while it was said to be a new magic spell that was invented and embedded onto the arena, most people who are experienced in spells and magic would find out that it is not the case 

The <Saviour> enchant is more similar to the <Cover> ability that is used by Paladins and Guardians which is a type of Activated enchant that lasts for a long period of time as a passive 

<Cover> allows the <Paladins> and Guardians to set down an enchant which allows that them to instantly move towards that Covered target if the enchant perceives that the damage is going to be fatal to the target of protection, it is said that the enchant uses that mana that is used to attack a person in order to calculate the risk and the damage of the incoming attack which can allow it to precisely and accurately activated the enchant in order to protect the target 

But there are several drawbacks to this ability, it does not account for the vitality of the protecting <Guardian> and <Paladin> 

This makes it a very risky ability to use in drawn-out battles or large-scale battles involving many sources of damage since it might pull the tanking protector who is already taking too much damage to their death by sending them to the target's protection and taking the fatal damage 

This adverse effect is very apparent due to the long-lasting effect of Cover which might require much in-depth planning when you are using it for battles that will take a long time or in large scale battles 

Now let me get back on topic, <Saviour> is a Cover-like skill that most people can learn without being a Paladin or Guardian although mostly the ones that are stationed for this Saviour duty are people who can tank the damage that is incoming from the opponent 

But there is much more difference regarding this skill, the other difference is that this is pretty much a permanent skill due to the fact that it is embedded in the arena is transferred to stay on the contestants as long as they are in the field 

And also, it can bring in more than one person in order to protect that victim as long as the Saviour plans on doing so, which is also completely different from normal Cover skills that only allow the protector to be pulled in 

If multiple people are pulled in at the same time, it is also spread to the others who are involved in the pull, with the most damage going to the main Saviour and then the extra damage which might kill the Saviour to be spread to the sub Saviours 

But as far as history goes, it has not happened yet since there are no participants strong enough to go through the defences and fatally damage an experienced tanker 

And last but not least, in order to protect the tankers, the Saviour skill actually takes the excess damage that could potentially kill a protector and instead breaks down the mana and sends it to power the stadium which it obviously does not need to, but the excess mana had no place to go so the creators just connected it to the stadium's power source 

And now back to the incident, and since there was not a large gap between the players during the fight the Saviour rule did not feel as though either player had the chance of dying and thus it could not be activated causing Yuuna’s berserk and the dual wielders assault to not stop 

And the main reason the battle ended was actually due to the dual wielders fatigue finally allowing for the Saviour system to activate and the battle to end in default due to the rule activation signalling the loss for the dual wielder 

This has actually been more of the norm since the creation of the rule, not the fact that the rule activates a lot but more so that the activation of the rule being one of the win-loss conditions signalling the end of the match and the victor 

But Yuuna actually did not fully stop at this moment and continued to follow through with the attack that caused the activation of the rule, which the tanker tanked and retaliated accidentally due to the bloodlust that was permeating out of Yuuna, causing her to be blasted backwards and reach the edge of the barrier 

Just when everyone thought, she was going to move in and attack again which led to them bracing themselves 

She instead raised her balled fist to the sky and yelled loudly 

Proceeding to immediately pass out afterwards due to the blood loss and fatigue 

It was said that the blood during the fight made her already red hair seem much more darker after the fight, and the loud guttural yell she gave after the fight made her seems like a demon or an Oni to be precise 

Which eventually became her new moniker 

The funniest thing is that she did not have those types of fights anymore with her next school rumble fights, since it was said that she started to control those berserk urges and trained herself to become a much faster and precise fighter than she already was, making it so that her old nickname suited her more than Red Oni 

But due to that incident, the Red Oni nickname was the one that stuck 

Although most people do not fear her as much compared to that day since she has changed and controlled herself a lot, which allowed her to still have a normal school life 

Well as much of a normal school life a top-ranking student can have 

I cannot say I do not understand, since I also know what she went through as a top-ranking student 

Although I was not one of the students of a Numbered school, my name as a child of a prominent Paladin family and also due to my record at the school rumble tournaments made it so that I had to be constantly targeted for battles both inside and outside the school, so that they could prove themselves by defeating someone who had made a name for themselves 

Although, it was not that much fighting for me, since I had already proven myself in my first year as a student at the school and most of the students at my school did not really feel up to it since Named schools are not that competitive compared to the Numbered schools 

And with this in mind, I suddenly asked Yuuna 

“How was the school for you as a Numbered? Because I heard it was very competitive and as a top-ranked student were you often challenged to fights?

 

She stopped to think and answered me 

“It is as you say, the Numbered are so competitive and I might even add more competitive than rumors suggest. Because during my first year of school, I was asked to battle nearly 5 times per week and that does not account for the official battles that happens during lessons. But luckily the numbers started to decrease after I went up the years and rose up the ranks, and also due to that incident.” 

She said the last sentence dejectedly  

And I patted her head when I saw her expression 

She had a shocked expression and so did I because I just went for it without giving it much of a thought 

And I am not sure if I am getting the signals wrong but I think she appreciated it and did not hate it since it did not push it away  

After patting it for a few seconds, I gave a response to her answer 

“Oh, wow that is crazy to hear, I guess Numbered schools really thrive on that competitive nature huh, because in my case I did not have to go through that much and only happened to me in my first year.”  

“I guess you were really just that strong.”  

“I guess so? Or it is just my family’s training coming in strong.”  

“That could be it as well, because it was for sure that in my case and I continued to train so that I do not go down the same route as last time.” 

“I don’t know if this is the right thing to say but don’t feel so down on yourself because although that incident happened, it is not something that is unexpected due to the nature of the event, and I along with most people can clearly see that you really gave it your all to get rid of the stigma caused by the incident.” 

I consoled her  

She did seem to heed my words a little and cheered up a bit, returning to become the girl I met this morning and before we spoke of this incident 

We then continued onwards to our homes and chatted a little about what were we expecting from the lessons and what classes are we planning to take first 

And after a while and of course through another sheer coincidence 

We found out we lived right next to each other  

At first, we arrived at the same apartment complex and I thought there is no way we are neighbours, right? 

And then we went to the same floor  

And then we arrived at our rooms 

Which are situated right next to each other 

“I am not even surprised anymore.” 

I said as I opened my door 

“Yeah, this is a crazy sequence of coincidence but I guess we are really fated huh?” 

She said as she opened her door 

“Maybe even more then you think.” 

I said under my breath 

I then said my farewells as I walk into my house 

“Good night and seeya tomorrow, don’t hesitate to find me if you got anything or even if you are just bored.” 

“Good night and thanks, see you tomorrow at school” 

Was the last thing I heard as I clicked my door shut and went into my room to eat dinner and rest for the night