Fifth Lecture: Dependance.

Rasmus looked at the racks of weapons which offered so many different types of weapons. He used wind magic and flung a sword from the racks into his hand. He swung it and the handle was good enough for his grip.

His students didn't expect Rasmus to be profound in controlling Mana. Even though they were trained to control Mana, they couldn't do it like he did it. It would take people decades to control Mana, but he did it like Mana was a part of his limbs.

"Maximilian, you're up for a spar?" Rasmus pointed the sword down as he rested his hands on the bottom of the sword's handle.

"Are you sure about this? The Blackheart family was known for their amazing magic, not close combat," Maximilian asked with his eyebrows raised, staring at Rasmus with a condescending look.

"Never underestimate your opponent. If they challenged you to something that you're good at, it's either they're better than you or they have a few tricks to make you lose," Rasmus responded as he lifted his sword and pointed it at Maximillian.

Maximilian hummed and went to grab the same sword as Rasmus to make it fair. He readied his stance and showed his perfection in holding a sword, intimidating Isador and the others. He looked like an impenetrable wall by just standing there and menacingly staring at Rasmus.

"Don't hold back," Rasmus said as he transformed Mana into Aura.

Maximilian was shocked by the amount of Aura that Rasmus had produced. He did the same and his Aura was a bit stronger than Rasmus. As a Northern Star, it was undoubtedly that he could maintain an incredible amount of Aura in his body.

They both dashed and exchanged blows which affected their surroundings and cracked the floors. At that moment Maximilian realized that Rasmus was strong and not someone he should underestimate. He knew that he had to take the spar a little more seriously.

Rasmus smirked as he exchanged blows with Maximilian. Maximilian was annoyed that Rasmus was still able to make such an expression in a fight against him. He felt like he was being mocked by Rasmus and at that moment he lost his focus which was something that Rasmus had been waiting for.

Rasmus raised his sword and swung it down vertically, forcing Maximilian to swing his sword up diagonally. The moment they clashed with the sword, Rasmus used the opportunity to move his left leg in between Maximilian's legs.

Maximilian was so focused on the swords that he didn't realize Rasmus's left foot was right under him. In an instant, he fell down and Rasmus's sword was about to stab him right in between his eyes. He was shocked by what had just happened.

"Is this the famous Northern Star?" Rasmus asked as he offered his hand.

"What did you do?" Maximilian was still confused and couldn't understand what had happened to him.

"He put his left foot right in between your legs and swooped your right foot out. You slipped and he pulled your right shoulder down with his left hand," Monica explained to Maximilian. "It was so fast that I could barely see it all."

Unlike Maximilian who was taught how to use weapons, Rasmus had the skills to disarm and take down his enemies. Rasmus was the infamous mercenary in his past life and was the best among the others. He knew every martial art that didn't exist in the Neva world, giving him a huge advantage when it came to close combat.

"Want a rematch?" Rasmus asked as he stepped back and swung his sword around.

Maximilian didn't say a word, but he readied his stance again, and now he took the fight more seriously. He didn't want to show too much because there were a few skills that he didn't want the others to see.

They exchanged blows again, but this time Maximilian used his left fist to do a follow-up attack as soon as he clashed his sword with Rasmus's sword. He didn't expect Rasmus to drop the sword and used both hands to grab Maximilian's left arm.

Rasmus showed his back to Maximilian as he pulled Maximilian's left arm to his front, forcing Maximilian to get close to him. Rasmus used the momentum and pushed his right leg to the back, lifting Maximilian's whole body in the air, forcing Maximilian to do a somersault over Rasmus's body. He slammed Maximilian to the ground and it was enough to stun Maximilian. He pulled out a dagger that was hidden under his suit and put it on Maximilian's neck.

"You lose again," Rasmus said as he looked down at Maximilian. "Do you want another rematch?" He smirked and his brows were raised.

"No. You were holding back, and I know I can't win against you," Maximilian said as he stared into Rasmus's eyes with curiosity.

"I did because you didn't want to take this spar seriously. Maybe the result might be different if you decided to go all out," Rasmus responded as he helped Maximilian stand up.

"Valari, you're next," Rasmus said as he played around with the dagger in his right hand, moving it in between his fingers.

Valari grabbed a dagger since he had mastered the dagger arts as his weapon of choice.

In the end, the result was similar to Maximilian's fight, but the difference was Rasmus always took the dagger from Valari's hand. They couldn't believe that Rasmus was fearless even though he might lose his finger or even his hand when he tried to disarm Valari.

Isador also experienced what those two experienced and understood what Maximilian felt. He was thrown back and forth like a bag, and he didn't see them coming as if his eyes betrayed him.

Alexander fell for the same trick that Rasmus did to the others. Although he had observed Rasmus's movements during his fight with the other before him, Alexander still made the same mistake as them.

"Four of you, come and fight me," Rasmus looked at Maximilian, Isador, Alexander, and Valari.

The four of them attacked at the same time, thinking that it would corner Rasmus. Knowing that Alexander was the least skilled compared to the other three, Rasmus immediately disarmed him and used him as a shield.

Their plan failed immediately, and seeing he used Alexander as a shield, they stopped attacking and that was when he incapacitated him. He targeted Valari next since he was easy to disarm and took him down before Maximilian and Isador could do anything.

Rasmus grabbed the dagger with his left hand and tossed it to his right hand. He coated the dagger with a dense Aura and when it clashed with Isador's sword, it shattered the wooden sword into pieces.

"You're dead," Rasmus used the bottom of the hilt to hit Isador right in the chest where his heart was.

Rasmus kicked Isador and sent him away, but that was when Maximilian used the opportunity to appear behind him. Rasmus smirked as he glanced over his shoulder, forming a fireball right next to Maximilian's left ear.

"Watch out!" Monica shouted.

Rasmus snapped his finger and exploded the fireball. Maximilian was thrown by the explosion and if he didn't use Aura on the left side of his body, he would die. On the other hand, Rasmus was fine since he created a Mana wall on his back, preventing him from getting hit by his own magic.

At that moment everyone remembered that Rasmus was a mage. During the spar, he didn't use any magic and only used his physical strength which caught them off guard.

"I'm not going to say that you all lack teamwork because I'm not going to teach you how to be too dependent on each other," Rasmus paused to squat and looked at Maximilian and the others. "I want you to learn how to use each other to reach the goal. That goal is to beat me, and with that being said, it's time for you two misses to fight me."

Aurelia and Monica looked at each other for a moment, and then they created magic circles on their hands as they stared at Rasmus. They knew how good Rasmus was at controlling Mana to the point he didn't need to use any magic formation. They knew that it would be hard to win against him, but they didn't have any choice.