Episode 2 (Anime)

Sword Arts (魔法剣(ソードアーツ)), Mahō ken (sōdoātsu)) is the second episode of the Reign of the Seven Spellblades (Anime) series.

Synopsis
The new students settle into life at Kimberly, and Oliver has an intense duel with Nanao.

Summary
Oliver and his new friends gather in the morning. Guy had almost overslept, stating that he didn't knew there were clocknots. Pete wants them to hurry up with the breakfast, because their day is filled with classes. Nanao is excited about the magic class, wondering what it will be exactly.

Luther Garland is the instructor at Sword Arts Class. He greets the students and wonders if they know what sword arts are. Pete explains that they are techniques performed using athames. The usage of athames along with white wand, dates back 400 years ago, when a famous mage Wilf Badderwell lost a duel to nonmagical. Since then, the mages started carrying athames in order to deal with close range attacks. Luther compliments him, stating that he is right and wishes for two students who know how to fight to put a duel for them. Nanao quickly volunteers. Luther have heard of Nanao, but wonders if she can use sword arts. Richard Andrews then also volunteers, and explains that he heard a story of how Nanao defeated a troll with just a sword, and wishes to see how they fight in Azia. Oliver realizes that Richard intends to take advantage of Nanao lack of experience with sword arts so that he can show off. Oliver then also volunteers, stating that he fought alongside Nanao against the troll. Oliver also realizes that Richard was close when the troll attacked, but he didn't do anything. Richard states that he should have left things to a teacher or upperclassmen, but Oliver then notes if he is a person who won't help a classmate in need. Richard gets annoyed, but Michela interrupts them, stating that she wants to duel Richard, noting that if he defeats her, people will be more impressed.

Luther then announces two duels: Oliver against Nanao, and Richard against Michela. He calls first Oliver and Nanao and casts anti-lethality spell on their swords, so that they don't injure each other. The duel ends when one of them deals a mortal blow to the head or chest. Since Nanao can't use magic, Oliver intends to not use magic as well and go easy, but the moment the duel starts, he remembers that she can use Innocent Color. Nanao uses Innocent Color and starts attacking Oliver, who barely is able to keep up. While fighting, Oliver realizes that Nanao must have killed people and is quite skilled. As she cries, Oliver decides to get serious and the two engage each other seriously, but Luther stops them, stating that he didn't told them to kill each other as unconsciously they both broke the anti-lethality spell. Michela asks Richard if he could deflect all of Nanao's attacks. She then asks Luther if they can cancel their duel. Richard also agrees and Luther cancels their duel.

After the duel, Nanao goes to Oliver, telling him that they had a great duel, but regrets that they couldn't finish it off and asks if they can fight again. Oliver refuses, saying that he will never fight her again and that he doesn't want to kill her or she to kill him.

Their second class is Spellology. The teacher is Frances Gilchrist, who tells them that they don't need athames, but only white wands, and if they have any problems and call themselves mages, they need to solve it with magic only. Later, Guy is tired of Frances lectures and fearing that the remaining classes could be more tough and intense. Katie is excited for the next class since its magical biology. The teacher for the Magical Biology is Vanessa Aldiss, who tells the students that if they are animal-loving type, they should throw their ideals in the trash. Here they treat magical creatures as resources and students need to learn on how to best exploit them. Vanessa gives the students magical silkworms, noting that they make as many cocoons as you want, as long as they are being fed with magic. However if they feed them too much magic at once, their cocoons turn black and the silkworms turn into monsters. If the cocoons turns black the students need to burn and kill them themselves. Today task is to produce five normal cocoons from ten silkworms. Michela don't have any issues and easily completes the task. She decides to help Nanao. Guy asks her for help too, but she tells him to first fail five times. Katie goes really slow, deciding to not have a single failure and save all of them. Katie ends up failing with the tenth one and tries to open the cocoon to save it, but the monster comes out and bites her hand. Michela and Oliver quickly kill the monster, but Vanessa tells them that they lose points for helping another student.

Oliver goes with Katie to the nurse office. While they are there, Katie reveals that her family owns a lot of magical creatures and even a troll with which she is quite close. She understands that humans use animals to advance, but still doesn't want to accept it and feels bad when she sees it. Oliver tells her that her home sounds like paradise, however she is now on Earth, which is a cruel place, where she can't remain being an angel. If she still decides to remain kind, that would be quite noble. She still doesn't need to make a choice, but she should know that she isn't alone. Oliver then opens the door, revealing that the rest of her friends are all trying to listen at the door.

Oliver later meets with Teresa, who advices him to choose better friends, since Katie is unlikely to survive if she can't even kill a silkworm. Oliver states he will be deciding that himself and wonders if she wants something. Teresa explains that she is heading back to Master Gwyn's workshop and wanted to tell Oliver that she will be gone for a while.

After dinner, Pete realizes that he lost his book and guesses its in Spellology class. Oliver tells him that he shouldn't assume that things lost in Kimberly are so easy to find. He and Michela decide to go with him, as Michela explains that a mischievous fairy may have even taken it. As the three leave, Katie says that she heard that Kimberly sits on top of a giant labyrinth, and at night the labyrinth starts to encroach upon the school. Pete finds his book in Spellology class. Michela and Oliver relax and decide to head back, however soon they find themselves in the labyrinth. Oliver states that students often get lost so there are instructors and upperclassmen who often patrol. A woman the shows up, saying that she is happy that they are counting on her. Pete heads towards her, but Oliver stops him. She introduces herself as Ophelia Salvadori, a fourth-year student. Oliver have heard of her and explains that he even heard her book, but it gave him shivers. Ophelia uses her magic and Pete heads towards her, but Michela stops him. Ophelia is surprised that Oliver is able to resist her. She tells them to come closer, but Oliver refuses and the three then run away. They run into a bone wall and a man shows up. He states that Ophelia is a lonely woman and they she give her some of their time. He introduces himself as Cyrus Rivermoore, a fifth-year student. Ophelia then comes and states they are cold for running away in the middle of their conversation, and perhaps they need some discipline.

Characters

 * Oliver Horn
 * Katie Aalto
 * Guy Greenwood
 * Pete Reston
 * Michela McFarlane
 * Nanao Hibiya
 * Luther Garland
 * Richard Andrews
 * Teresa Carste
 * Frances Gilchrist
 * Vanessa Aldiss
 * Ophelia Salvadori
 * Cyrus Rivermoore

Light Novel-Anime Differences

 * In the light novel, this is the class session where the concept of Spellblades is described. This explanation is moved to later in the timeline and shown in episode 3.