Six Days Six Lessons, Three Brothers (3)

On the final day he spent with the three brothers, something a bit more to Cyrus' liking was planned. He was led to yet another clearing but this time he was not only greeted by the other two brothers but also by Gabriel. Once he was present, all of them began equipping themselves with their full plate armor and equipping themselves with longswords. Of which allowed Cyrus a peak at the brothers chains, 28 red ones for each of them. Unas explained what was planned for today as they readied themselves,

"For the last day we decided to show you our specialty, group combat. We three brothers when separate from one another are still strong and proud Legionaries, but with our might combined we can easily fight off far stronger opponents to at least a draw if not win the confrontation outright."

Dues then picked up the conversation,

"We hope that this also serves as a reminder that alone we may be weak, but by working with those we can trust we can easily display combat prowess far beyond what we otherwise could."

Finishing Tribum said,

"Now Gabriel, let us test our mettle against one another once more!"

Gabriel nodded at that and took up a stance, of which his three opponents also did the same. They all remained exactly 6 ft apart, which seemed like the optimal distance to stay just out of range of one another. Gabriel merely stood waiting, slowly contracting each and every one of his muscles preparing to strike out at any moment. While his three opponents assumed a basic formation, with Unas in the middle, Tribum on the right flank and Deus on the left flank. With little warning, Gabriel surprisingly made the first move even though he was outnumbered. He stepped to the right with a speed far outpacing what he had shown when fighting Cyrus and struck a clean downwards slash towards Unas. Such a ferocious attack, with the strength of a mountain behind it, was deflected by Unas with some difficulty.

The deflection was difficult and did not leave Unas any room to mount a counterattack and thus was set to receive another superhumanly fast blow by Gabriel. Recognizing this in the instant, Unas launched himself back completely ignoring the blade slicing upwards towards him. Instead, the blow was caught by Tribum who was able to match Gabriels immense might for a few moments. While Gabriel was slowly overwhelming his opponent, who had locked blades with him fully feeling the strength of the heavens and earth contained within his longsword, Deus had circled around and struck towards Gabriel's exposed flank with perfect timing. As expected, Gabriel was now caught in an immediate predicament to which he responded by diagonally retreating with powerful and swift steps. Having narrowly avoided his immediate loss, the two groups once again regained their starting positions.

The spectator, Cyrus, was shocked at how powerful they all were once more.

"I had tasted a bit of Gabriel's prowess and even estimated it based on the information I have on the Legionnaires. Yet, it seems I had vastly underestimated them."

Cyrus continued to watch them exchange moves back and forth all the while displaying almost impossible speed, strength, and technique. Rhythmically they fought back and forth, almost as if they were dancing with one another and not almost fighting to the death. It was clear to Cyrus that Gabriel was a monster in human skin, with every blow and strike the very ground would shake with the amount of force he was outputting. Even though one side had every advantage when it came to physical attributes, however, the other made up for this with careful and precise teamwork which allowed them to stay in the fight far longer than they ordinarily should have. Covering for one another's weaknesses and lending immediate support when needed, either by taking a blow for the other or by forcing Gabriel to retreat via mutual destruction.

"Having men like them at my side would be most useful, oh such useful tools they could be" remarked Cyrus inwardly, not even realizing his other half was showing.

After what felt like a long time, but was actually just a few short yet extremely intense exchanges, the fight ended. They saluted one another in mutual respect and stored away their respective war gear.

Walking up to Cyrus, the three began speaking, albeit it was quite clear they were quite exhausted from their breaths,

"Phew, that was pretty intense this time around huh. Gabriel went all out today for his spectator, usually we can last a bit longer than that hahah" said Unas

"That is true, but for us to be able to survive that long against someone like Gabriel is impressive enough. Titles like Honoris are not given to just anyone, but a select few. Only Honoris can get their Mandatum qualifications and be fit to lead a legion and only the Honoris are one day to be awarded the title Finalum" said Deus, in apparent awe of whom he had just fought.

"You fought against Gabriel yourself Cyrus, so I am sure we do not need to tell you what exactly to take away from this. While someone of Gabriel's might is rare indeed, the empire is vast and if you reach a certain height you will eventually see more and more people like him… some may even be stronger" finished Tribum.

"I understand completely, thank you for the guidance and the opportunity" Cyrus said sincerely while bowing slightly.

The trio waved Cyrus away, appreciating his gesture while they no doubt went to go and rest from the beat- exercise they had just gone through.

Cyrus walked back to his tent, whilst reflecting on his various interactions with his mentor's old friends.

"All of them are quite unique in one way or another, and masters of their respective crafts. I can now truly see the meaning behind the words, 'Every person is a tool, every tool has its worth' that Cato had tried to teach me about. Perhaps a bit too cynical, but it still rings true… I wonder if this realization was planned out when Cato arranged for me to travel with them? In fact, it is starting to seem that this trip may just be one giant extension of my mentor's lessons…"