Chapter 28--( Baran takes on all who dare )

30 minutes.

By then all trainees were either kneeling on the floor or completely unconscious.

Maud was this close to being among the latter. She managed to pull herself up on wobbly legs.

She knew what she had to do. Maud didn't feel she'd done enough to eat her a spot at the top 5 so right now she was operating on sheer conviction.

She was saving this for the 1 v 1 final part of the program.

Maybe if she ever had to face Fray or that Fie_

" Ughh ", she grabbed her side. ' Fucker really doesn't hit like a pretty boy '.

Baran clearly didn't discriminate.

She stood up. Bloody and dirty from all the times she'd been knocked back down to the dirt.

He just stood there in his blue beach pants and sub glasses watching her pitiful effort to keep fighting. The joy of it all was imprinted on his lips.

Yep this was what he lived for.

She looked back up to the sky and smiled. Though she wasn't as crazy as her father, she still had to admit.

Fighting was fun.

/ WILD PLEA

She bit hard into her forearm. Eating at her own flesh. Tears came from her eyes, but they only seemed to intensify her conviction. Her jaw was biting in the way that you'd know she'd done this before.

Baran sensed the feral Arcane welling up in her. He didn't take his eyes off her. He just waited for her to complete her form. Waited through the rather grotesque activation process.

The sound of the biting and the small stops for breathe was like a symphony to the barbaric nature that was her dominion. It was unsettling to all that heard it, though Baran showed no fear.

He's seen way more worse. But was that really something to brag about? Jeez being a hero is fucked up.

After some time she tore open her whole arm. The blood gushed up like a fountain. Then she stopped and let it fall to her side, immovable. Droplets of her blood rushed down her arm hitting the forest floor like a tap, following a bleak sequence.

Her eyes were closed in their own tears and she smiled. Her long black hair was now disheveled.

But slowly, it rose up.

Baran knew now what she just did. His head moved to the clouds. Though the sun glasses and blood stains hid it, his eyes were wide open. Blue and utterly immersed.

" Holy shit ".

/ THE FIRST;

A massive beam of red lightning erupted from the clouds in a roar. The light caused a large blast just as it hit Maud .

/ THE REMEMBERER BEAST

The wind would be enough to throw a civilian to their doom.

The smoke cleared and only she remained. The remember beast. The first of Maud's transformations.

It was a massive beast of ashen hair. Its eyes were like two yellow moons ever shifting as it looked for what to decapitate. ' Don't you dare lose yourself Maud '.

She still hadn't mastered any of her forms. But the remember beast was always the easiest to take control of.

Her back was large and her limbs long and beastly. But you could tell it was still her. The form maintained much of her attractive visage.

" Raaaaaaaaaaaahhhh!!!

The beastial roar was enough to shake the Sentinel. He repeated his last words

" Holy.....Shiiiitt!!!", Baran said smiling like a kid who had just laid eyes on the best toy in the shop.

For the first time he thought he would need to activate his dominion. But he didn't, the man's pride wouldn't let him.

Maud held her head and shook it violently. Atop the moons, rolled dots from the back of its dark side. She finally got control. This form was 7 feet tall and extremely muscular. Any bigger and her clothes wouldn't help much in covering her. Her hair was a terrible black but feral and stretched to her large back. She lowered her stance and went on all fours. She was preparing to pounce.

The underlying grow said it all. 'She was ready to kill'

Staring at Baran as if he were prey. Maybe he was.

Her muscles bulged storing in unimaginable tension. Then at the crack of her decision.

She pounced.

BOOM like a bullet shot except much faster. Her hands widened and she slashed violently.

But Baran took each blow. She closed and clawed at his exposed skin but it was pointless. Then she grabbed onto his shoulder and bit it with all her might.

His skin was cold. The blood she felt was the one from where a piece of tooth used to be.

He was impenetrable.

In fear she retreated to a tree, trying to find a new strategy. Maud had borrowed time in the form of the remembered beast and no one knew better than her.

Baran smiled.

" What's the matter Alexander? Tired?"

She twitched at that stupid smile of his. Her head started to shake with anger and her claws protruded farther.

" Raaaaaaa

She leaped from the tree causing it to topple over.

An attack that would reach his very organs. Destroy him from the inside out.

Baran saw the genius in her. She harbored no intent of letting him survive. And that was the only way anyone ever stood a chance.

She spread her golden Arcane all around her body in even proportions.

Her left hand turned to a punch but her palm itself was faint straight. In a chopping motion.

Baran wasn't going to dodge. And maybe that would be his worst decision which he may come to regret. He just stood there wearing nothing but his beach pants and his sunglasses.

The way he underestimated Maud irritated her to the bone.

She took in a deep breath and hid whatever fear there was till she'd forgotten about it.

Then she swung aiming for his heart.

/ DESTRUCTION MORTALITY

The chop hit Baran hard. It sent him a few metres backwards but there was no damage.

His greek god physique just took it all. The only solace she had was the smoke the attack left on his chest.

" No...", Maud's eyes fell with disappointment as she went to the floor, returning to her human form "....fucking way ".

She landed on the floor. That was the longest she could keep at it

Jabal dusted his body. He looked around and saw that Maud was the last to challenge him. Theo, Morr, Fray and all the other students. He'd beaten all of them down.

He took in a deep breath and waved his right hand opening a small portal.

Doctors and nurses rushed out from the portal holding all sorts of Archaic equipments. They were ready to heal.

After all they'd repeat this everyday.

Baran turned and was just about to fly back to the mountain.

But then Fray took advantage and charged at top speeds.

Baran anticipated it though.

He swung Fulgura at the Sentinel's neck. But Baran used his bare forearm to block the attack.

The cursed runic could not even pierce his skin. Nor could Fray wipe away that stupid smirk from his face. How far did he look down on all of them.

" Did you think you could find an opening?"

Baran said while pushing Fray off with nothing but pure strength.

Fray landed back on the floor and used his sword to stop himself from falling. He was breathing heavy and very very tired.

" Come on Kid. You're clearly not in ant shape to keep this going ".

' Kid?' Fray boiled inside. Baran was only 2 years older than him. He put up a brave front and faced Fulgura at Baran.

Then he rushed at Baran, weaving left and right so he could make up for the loss of his speed with being unpredictable.

CLANG

His sword collided with Barans arms. None of his movements could hit correctly. He was way too spent to use long ranged attacks. Now he was just running on muscle memory.

He swung at Barans neck but as always he got parried away by that impenetrable defense. It's like he had 100 arms.

So this was the Vagul art of the Vaughn Gunes family.

" Arghhhhh ",

Fray slashed at Baran with all his might. Now the sword managed to pierce into the Sentinels forearms.

They were in that position for a while. Fray had one idea. To dig into that wound as hard as he could. His face turned purple and used all his might to swing down.

Baran was shocked.

Fulgura made him bleed. It cut into his arm, about an inch deep.

The blood trickled down slow but undeniably there. It was the blood of a Sentinel.

Fray had no more strength in his body. He just laughed.

" Well look at that. Your skin isn't so ", he fell to the floor.

" Impenetrable ".

Baran smiled. The small cut disappeared in an instant as he regenerated

" Crazy little fucker aren't you?"

Then he saw it. A bright white light coming from his left. Unholy Arcane. Theodore's Arcane.

He turned to it and saw Theodores mouth opened wide and inhumanely.

The bright light was coming from his mouth.

"RAAAAAAA!!!!"

There was no sound for a second. Baran dint have much time to think about how or why Theo could still move but one thing was clear, he really needed to get out of the way.

" AAAAAA ... RAAAAAAAA!!!!!!

That was definitely not the voice of a human. The attack was released from Theodore's mouth in the form of a massive laser.

It erased every single thing it touched.

" Nah fuck that ". Baran cursed at the idea of dodging. He stood his ground and used his bear hands to block the light beam.

Who would ever tell that his pathetic older, the one who cried during sparring, the one who couldn't even match up to a wraith.

Who would have thought Theodore could harm Him.

Baran smiled in a crazed pride. The light beam was reaching its limit. In the heat of battle a thought crossed Barans mind: maybe he should have worn pants before he came out here.

In truth Daisy possessed enough power to eliminate Baran in one attack. She had to pay it masterfully and pretend he was leagues above her, so she just lay there on the floor.

It was all astounding to her.

The white light beam Theodore released was very similar to Daimiur golden beams. The only difference was their power.

" My Ohhh my King. You shall realise what you are soon enough". She whispered to herself.

" How long can you keep this up brother?"

Bars shouted. Though the light beam was erasing off his skin and bone. Barans regeneration more than made up for it.

So what did Theo do?

He used all his might.

" RAAAAAA!!!!!

A final war cry as he multiplied the beam's intensity. It went from the glowing white colour to a mix of black and white.

Baran scoffed.

" Let's end this already ".

He separated his hands and dispersed the light beam away. Literally overpowering Arcane with pure force.

The glowing red flames appeared again and he pointed his fist at Theo.

Theo knew he was beaten.

The confident smirk was back on his face.

And with that he swung his fist summoning massive red holy flames that burned before you even touched them.

The fire blaze took the form of a serpent dragon and hit Theodore knocking him out cold and almost burning him to a crisp.

...

..

..

" Well that was exhilarating ", his looked back to Theodore's almost lifeless burnt body " you wretched worm "

Baran said realising he still had to use his dominion. The destruction from the spar turned most of the green forest to a far cry of its former heavenly state.

And they had to do this every single day for most of the 6 months.

He opened another portal and the medics came through. They got out of harm's way when Theodore attacked. Now they got to work.

Baran flew back up. Now he had to go do the rankings and try to remember where all 98 remaining trainees lie in terms of power scaling and ability. ' Fuck. Who knew this instructor job would such a pain in the ass?'

He let out a fatigued sigh, he already knew who would be number one though.

Theodore Vaughn Gunes.