Chapter CXVII - More Training (part 1)

The next day in the morning, we trained again.

We have the whole Saturday for ourselves, since it's a regular day off of the week. There are no classes or club activities on Saturday, which makes it the perfect time for us to train for a full day straight.

After heading to the bottom of the stairs, I told everyone the time limit for today will be forty five minutes. Anyone that goes beyond that will be punished.

And then I left them to run with the class president, who was very eager to run away as soon as I turned to him.

Jericho was the first to arrive. Her speed increased multiple times since yesterday, and she arrived in less than ten minutes after I lit the beacon.

Manda came second, along with the other wind magicians who now also can fly. I guess having flight really is a bliss.

Then one by one they all started to arrive. And after forty minutes, the last person came to the top of the mountain.

"Congratulations. None of you went past forty five. Now, off we go with the punishment."

All of them glared at me with disbelief, because they all managed to come below forty five. So, why did they get punished?

"It's for those who ran away on the first day. Don't think I forgot."

I answered them coldly, and they all quickly froze.

The punishment is simply climbing up the steep cliff on top of our temporary base. Everyone who left that day, including Maneil, is now trying to reach the top where I am waiting for them.

One by one, they managed to reach the top. Their fingers looked quite injured since the cliff they were climbing was basically rock, but they will get healed afterwards, so no big deal. Some of them also fell while trying to climb, so I healed them as well. One of them actually fell face first and went unconscious, so I dragged him inside the cave and let him rest.

After we were done with the punishments, we went straight with the training.

Today's training is physical combat. Everyone will pick a partner and face one another in hand to hand combat without using magic. By doing this, I can increase their battle experience without magic, because magic just makes things a lot easier.

I walk around giving them some tips. Jericho seemed to be quite talented at hand to hand combat despite her lack of training. Her opponent is Maneil, who is also a good hand to hand combatant. The two clashed in a very tense battle and everyone else watched. But in the end, Maneil was able to win since she had more practice in it.

Maneil has always been the best in terms of combat in class E, and Jericho is simply a rising star. But I'm certain Jericho will definitely become better than her in the future.

They change partners every now and then because by doing so, it can give them more experience against different opponents.

But surely, their hand to hand abilities are weak as hell.

"You go on the assault, and I'll go on the defensive."

I said to Maneil, who is 'supposedly' the best hand to hand combatant amongst the class. She is one of the fastest in class too, so it makes sense if she is the best at close combat. 

She lifted both of her fists, forming a stance, while I placed both of my hands behind my back. She dashed forward, striking her fist forward, but I was able to dodge every single one of them easily. Once she realized that she couldn't punch me, she lifted her foot and tried to kick me from the right.

WOOSH!!

The foot flew past my ears very fast as I ducked to the ground. She used her other foot to kick forward as soon as her right foot landed. But then I quickly moved my hand, and I was able to grab her left foot.

Seeing that her left foot was captured, she panicked. I lifted my body up and turned her foot. She turns into a tornado before kissing the ground.

"Wow!!"

"That was intense!"

The others who were watching got very impressed by the spar. I lend my hand to get Maneil back up, and slowly she wipes the dust on her face.

"Your moves aren't sloppy at all. You made no unnecessary movements and you moved quickly."

I complimented her, which made her even more confused.

"T-Then why can't I land a hit on you?"

"You are fighting as if I'm the same as those guys behind you. You need to think like you are fighting an actual pro, and try to guess on what they will do and act. 

Believe me, fighting someone better than you is a lot easier than fighting a dumber one."

My words somehow confused her, but she decided to try again. We both took a stance and started sparring again.

And surprisingly, her moves became sharper. Or at least, that's how it looks for me, but for everyone else, her moves are the same.

It's just that now, she is reading her opponent's movements properly.

Fantastic… she is learning...

Our fists clashed multiple times, and she was able to kick me at a very good spot. I did block her attacks completely, but the fact that she was able to hit me at all is impressive.

"W-Woahh…"

"She was able to push Rize this far…"

The others quickly fell for Maneil as she kept on pushing her punches and kicks at me. Then I thought it's about time I move as well.

She threw a kick at my left abdomen with her right foot, so I quickly moved my right leg to kick back her foot. She was immediately thrown off balance by the sudden counter attack, and while she was regaining her balance, I already closed the distance.

A foot quickly flew at her right cheek.

BAKK!!

Maneil got thrown away five meters to her left, and a large bruise can be seen on her right cheek.

"Oh…"

I quickly rushed at her and healed her cheek.

"Damn… That hurts…"

"Sorry.… But you will be more disappointed if I hold back."

"Damn right."

After healing her, I lent her my hand again and pulled her back up. We both shook hands as a mark of respect to the other party, and then she quickly went to the other students.

"Okay! The sun is already above our heads. It's time for the next lesson."

Next is team combat. Three students will be pitted against another three on a large arena set up by the earthen magicians, and they will try to beat their opponents.

This will not use the tournament system, so anyone can challenge the other teams freely. Of course, there needs to be a line because there's only three arenas.

The arena is seven times seven meters square, lifted around half a meter from the ground. There's only three arenas because this mountain top doesn't really fit anymore. We are also pushing the arenas a little bit forcedly at the side of the cliff because it nearly didn't fit.

As a result, two arenas are only separated with a thirty centimeters gap between them. Let's just hope they don't matter at all.

After picking their teammates, the students quickly challenged one another. The teams are free to lose, which means they can leave a team and join another, or if they want that team permanently, can too.

"Rize. Can we-"

"I'm not going to the battles. That would be unfair for the opponents."

The two girls in front of me, one of them is Bonzie, quickly turned away in disappointment. But, they quickly found another teammate right after.

"Rize. Can we-"

"Like I said, I'm not going on the battles, so I won't be teaming."

"Huh? That's not what we want though."

"What?"

I turned around to face the three students behind me. 

They are Elmone, Jericho, and Manda, and the grins on their faces already told me their intentions.

Obviously, I grinned as well.

"Heh... So, you guys finally gathered enough balls to challenge the almighty me?"

"It's unfair for everyone if you just sit down and do nothing. Besides, we want to know ourselves… How good you really are."

Jericho said to me, representing the other two. I formed a grin on my face and then led them to one of the arenas.

Once a battle had ended in the arena, I quickly stepped up, followed by the three.

"Eh? Rize?"

"What? Is she fighting the three of them alone?"

Everyone else stopped what they were doing and watched.

"Oi, those at the arena. Don't stop."

""Right!""

Even the ones at the arena stopped their spar because of us, so I quickly barked on them to start sparring again. Then, I turned my gaze to the three.

"I hope you three won't regret this. After all, I haven't had a good battle in a while. I might be getting quite hungry."

VWOOOMM!!!!

I said as I lit both of my fists in green flames, while a single shadow wing formed on my right back.

The three can feel an insanely heavy pressure coming from me, but they are also quite excited. I can tell that from their faces.

I purposely didn't shoot tons of pressure, because not only is it necessary, but it will also kill them at this range.

And… maybe alerting Veneo or other mages back at Xyphon. So no can do.

Jericho formed her wind wings on her back, Manda used creation magic to create a gauntlet out of flames and started floating as well, and Elmone cladded his body in shadow armor.

Seeing how serious they are took me by quite the surprise.

They are dead serious about killing me, aren't they?