(Arin's POV)
The morning wind blew cold across Brook's Private Training Arena, sweeping away the fine dust that had accumulated on the hard granite stone floor. The sun beginning to rise on the eastern horizon created dramatic long shadows between the two opposing camps.
On one side stood Leric and his two colleagues from Class A. Their armor shone clean without a stain, their breathing was calm and steady, and their weapons, a high-quality Saber and two standard Arming Swords, were drawn confidently. They were the definition of the ideal academy knights: primed, trained, and full of energy.
On the other side, there was us looking pathetic.
Kars, Tom, and I stood with shoulders rising and falling, holding back ragged breaths. Cold sweat soaked my back until it was sticky; the remnants of the gravity torture this morning still made my calf muscles twitch uncomfortably. Kars looked deathly pale, his hand holding the Rapier trembling slightly due to muscle fatigue. Tom's condition was even worse. He held his dented wooden shield with two stiff hands, his face as white as paper as if he were going to vomit at any moment.
"Begin!"
Brook's shout broke the silence of the arena, accompanied by the crisp and casual sound of an apple bite.
TAP! TAP! TAP!
In the blink of an eye, Team Leric charged forward in unison. They used no complex strategy, no careful defensive formation. They relied on pure physical superiority. They knew we were exhausted, and they intended to crush us like insects before we had a chance to catch our breath.
"Right! They are spreading out!" I shouted, giving a warning.
Leric, with explosive Senior Aura speed, shot straight targeting Kars. Meanwhile, his two friends, Ken and Mark, moved wide to the sides, executing a pincer movement to target our weakest point.
Tom.
"M-Me?! Why me?!" Tom shrieked in panic, his eyes widening.
He raised his shield awkwardly to protect his head. Mark, a large student with thick armor, swung his sword vertically with full force.
BLAM!
The impact was so hard that Tom was pushed two meters backward. His wooden shield cracked in the center. His legs wobbled, almost losing balance.
Before Tom could balance himself, Mark had already entered from his blind side, his sword slashing horizontally toward Tom's exposed, defenseless ribs.
"Die, small fry!" shouted Mark, full of killing intent.
Tom would not have time to parry. His Junior Aura was too thin to withstand that Senior Aura slash. He would be finished in the first ten seconds if left alone.
THUMP.
My heart pumped once hard. I ignored the stinging pain in my thigh muscles still cramping from the jumping exercise earlier.
Piston Heart: Maximum Senior Aura.
I kicked the stone floor until it cracked, gliding fast to cut off Mark's attack path.
Not with a sword, I used my left shoulder, layered with the remaining training armor, to crash into the side of Mark's body like a cannonball.
THUD!
Mark was flung to the side as if hit by a raging bull. He rolled on the stone floor, his eyes widening in shock from the sudden attack. He tried to get up, but I was already standing tall in front of Tom, blocking his way.
"Focus, Tom! Do not zone out!" I snapped without looking back. "Do not try to win! Just survive! Be a hard turtle!"
"R-Right! I understand!" Tom curled up behind the remains of his shield, his body trembling violently holding back fear.
Ken, who had earlier driven Tom back, now turned to attack me with an angry face. "Do not act like a hero, Arin! You are already out of breath!"
He slashed diagonally at my neck. A standard attack, but coated with dense and heavy yellow Aura.
I raised my Longsword to parry.
CLANG!
Metal clashed with metal, creating sparks that temporarily blinded the eyes.
This was where the difference became clearly visible. Ken smirked, expecting me to be flung away due to exhaustion. But his smile vanished instantly when he felt the feedback from that collision.
His hand trembled violently. His sword bounced back as if hitting a wall.
I did not shift a single millimeter from my position.
Although my stamina was low, my bone and muscle density, modified by the serum, was equivalent to a high-tier monster. My body's specific gravity was far above a normal human's. When he hit me, it felt like hitting a concrete pillar planted firmly into the earth's core.
"Why is he so hard?!" Ken was confused, his eyes implying a growing doubt.
"My turn," I hissed sharply.
I did not have time to play long. I had to immediately help Kars who was struggling.
On the other side of the arena, Kars was dancing on the brink of death.
Shing! Shing! Whoosh!
Leric was a Saber user, a weapon specifically designed for fast and aggressive slashes. He pressed Kars relentlessly with a barrage of attacks, forcing him to retreat step by step.
"What is wrong, Young Master Benzzi?!" mocked Leric while launching a flurry of attacks. "Your feet are slow! Your breath is heavy! You shame your family name with this pathetic dance!"
Kars did not answer the mockery. Cold sweat poured down his temples. His lungs felt like they were burning every time he drew a breath. He wanted to be angry, he wanted to shout back cursing Leric, but he remembered Celia's words in the garden yesterday.
Efficiency.
Kars realized he was losing in stamina. If he engaged in a frontal clash of strength, he would lose in a matter of seconds.
So, Kars changed his fighting style. He did not parry or block. He performed minimalist parries.
When Leric slashed at his neck, Kars only shifted the tip of his Rapier five centimeters, enough to deflect Leric's Saber blade to miss his ear narrowly.
"You can only run?!" Leric became more aggressive, his aura flaring wildly from frustration. "Fight me!"
Kars retreated again calmly, his sharp eyes observing Leric's footwork patterns starting to get messy. Wait... wait for the opening... do not get provoked by emotion, Kars thought. He bet on patience, something he never had before.
Back to my position.
Ken was an annoying defense type. He used a round iron shield and a one-handed sword. He took tight cover behind his shield, waiting for me to exhaust myself hitting that iron.
"Why so quiet? Come on, hit me!" provoked Ken from behind his shield, his face smirking safely.
He was right. I was tired. Swinging this heavy Longsword to destroy an iron shield would drain my remaining strength in just five swings. I needed physics, not brute force.
I changed my grip on the sword.
My left hand released the hilt, then gripped the middle of my own sharp sword blade. My leather gloves protected me from being cut.
Technique: Half-Swording.
By holding the sword blade, I transformed this long weapon from a slashing tool into a precise and powerful lever.
I lunged forward, entering close quarter range.
Ken was surprised to see that maneuver. "What are you—"
I hooked my crossguard onto the top edge of his curved shield.
"Open!"
I pulled my sword down strongly, utilizing my body weight completely.
This was the principle of a simple lever. The strength of Ken's wrist could not possibly withstand the sudden weight of my entire body pressing on the top edge of his shield.
Creaak!
His shield was forced downward, exposing his head and neck that were previously tightly protected.
Ken's eyes widened in horror seeing his defense forced open.
Without a pause, I pushed the iron pommel at the end of my sword hilt straight forward.
THUD!
That solid iron pommel struck his helmet right on the forehead hard.
The sound of a painful dull impact echoed. His helmet dented inward. Ken staggered backward, his eyes crossed, his consciousness lost instantly due to a mild concussion. He collapsed to the floor like a dropped sack of rice.
One enemy successfully brought down.
"TOM! HANG IN THERE!" I shouted while turning my body searching for my friends' positions.
The situation behind me was critical.
Tom was already cornered to the edge of the arena, unable to retreat anymore. His shield was totally destroyed into wooden splinters. Mark grinned widely, raising his sword for a final attack targeting Tom's unprotected shoulder.
"Forgive me, Mother..." Tom closed his eyes, his body trembling in resignation.
But then, he remembered the training this morning. Remembered the feeling of floating helplessly in the air and falling hitting the ground. That pain... that fear...
Better to be hurt than to lose, thought Tom recklessly.
At the last second, Tom did something crazy that no one expected. He did not parry. He threw away the remains of his shield and charged forward headfirst.
TACKLE!
Tom rammed Mark's stomach with his head with all his might.
"Ugh?!" The Class B Knight was surprised, his breath caught. He did not expect a noble to use a barbaric attack like a wild bull.
The two of them fell rolling on the hard stone floor. Mark's sword was thrown far away. Tom, in a panic, pinned his enemy's legs, bit his enemy's armor arm, did anything to keep him on the ground.
"Let me go, Crazy! You are biting me?!" shouted Mark in disgust, beating Tom's back with a dagger hilt.
"NEVER! ARIN! NOW!" shrieked Tom, his mouth bleeding from biting iron armor.
I saw that golden opening.
"Kars! Switch positions!" I shouted, giving a command.
Kars, who was five meters in front of me being pressed by Leric, heard the code. Without asking, he performed a quick backstep, getting out of Leric's reach, and ran toward Tom to help.
I ran to meet Leric.
Leric, who was about to chase Kars, suddenly found his trajectory cut off by a solid wall of flesh and iron.
Me.
"Move aside, Trash!" Leric slashed horizontally with his Saber, full of emotion and annoyance.
I did not dodge. I raised my Longsword vertically as a wall.
CLANG!
The collision was loud and deafening. But this time, Leric felt something different. When his sword struck mine, it didn't feel like hitting a fellow sword. It felt like hitting an immovable bridge pile.
My feet did not shift. My hands did not waver. My bone density absorbed the vibration entirely.
I stared into Leric's eyes from close range.
"Your opponent is me, Lieutenant," I growled.
Meanwhile in the back, Kars arrived at where Tom was grappling.
Mark was busy beating Tom who hugged his leg like a leech. He did not realize Kars's arrival.
"Sleep," whispered Kars coldly.
His Rapier slid precisely. Not piercing flesh protected by armor, but piercing the narrow gap in the armpit of Mark's armor.
Kars did not pierce deep, just enough to press the axillary nerve point.
"ARGH!" Mark's arm went numb instantly, hanging limp.
Kars kicked Mark's head with the hard sole of his shoe.
THUD.
Mark fainted on top of the battered Tom's body.
"Tom, are you alive?" asked Kars, panting from exhaustion.
"Feels... like dying..." moaned Tom, but he smiled widely with bloody teeth. "But we won one."
Two down.
Now it was just me and Leric.
Leric took a step back, seeing his two friends already defeated and sprawling. His face was beet red, a mix of anger, shame, and disbelief. The spectators on the sidelines cheered loudly, shocked by this drastic turn of events.
"Impossible..." hissed Leric, his hand trembling holding the sword. "You are just exhausted trash! How could you defeat us?!"
"Because we trained hard, Leric," I answered, stepping forward slowly. "While you were busy polishing your ego in front of a mirror."
"SILENCE!"
Leric went on a rampage. He channeled all his remaining Senior Aura into the sword. His Saber blade shone blindingly bright.
Aura Technique: Flash Cut.
He shot forward. This attack was incredibly fast, almost invisible to the naked eye. The tip of his sword targeted my neck for a deadly slash.
My body screamed. My muscles had reached their limit. I could not match his speed in this condition.
So, I would not match his speed. I would destroy his trajectory.
As Leric's sword approached, I executed the technique Brook taught indirectly through gravity torture.
Grounding.
I raised my sword high, then slammed it straight down, toward Leric's sword blade moving horizontally.
Not a sword technique. This was a hammer technique.
I used my entire body weight, all my bone density, and earth's gravity.
CRACK!
My Longsword struck the center of Leric's Saber blade squarely.
Steel met steel at a perpendicular angle.
Leric's sword did not break, because it was a high-quality sword. But the downward force I generated was so massive that his sword was forcibly driven to kiss the stone floor.
Leric, who held his sword tightly, was dragged along. His body was forced to bend following his sword pinned to the ground by my sword.
Leric's knees hit the floor hard.
"Ugh!"
He tried to pull his sword back, but I pressed it with all my body weight.
"Let go," I ordered coldly.
I rotated my wrist. Winding Technique. Locking his sword blade with my sword's crossguard, then jerking it twisting roughly.
The wrist strength trained by hitting iron posts thousands of times worked perfectly.
Crack.
Leric's wrist made an unnatural sound. He screamed in pain and released his sword. His weapon was thrown far away, clinking on the floor.
Leric now knelt before me, unarmed, panting in fear.
I raised my right foot high, then kicked his chest with a simple yet brutal Spartan Kick technique.
BOOM!
Leric was thrown backward, rolling on the stone floor, and stopped right at the feet of Instructor Brook who stood watching.
He tried to get up, but the pain in his chest and his shattered pride made him vomit on the spot.
Silence.
The entire arena fell silent witnessing the end of that fight.
I stood tall, even though my hands trembled violently and my vision began to blur due to extreme fatigue. Kars helped Tom stand. The three of us, dirty, battered, and exhausted, still stood in the middle of the arena.
While Team Leric, the arrogant Class A Knights, sprawled helplessly on the floor.
Instructor Brook stopped chewing his new apple. He swallowed his bite, then grinned widely full of satisfaction.
"Good," his heavy voice broke the silence. "You didn't die."
Brook walked to the center, saw Leric's pathetic condition, then looked at us with arms crossed.
"Your technique is still trash," Brook criticized sharply without mincing words. "Tom, you fight like a drunk wild boar with no brain. Kars, your footwork wastes energy, you dance too much. And Arin..."
Brook glared at me.
"...you took too long finishing off small fry like this. You should have been able to finish it in two moves."
Even though his words were spicy and harsh, I could see a proud glint in his old eyes.
Leric, who was still coughing on the ground, lifted his face. His eyes were full of vengeance glaring at Kars.
"T-this is not over..." hissed Leric, spitting blood. "Master Karl... Master Karl will destroy all of you..."
Kars walked closer. He looked at Leric coldly, the gaze of a leader newly born from the fire of battle.
"Send my regards to Karl," said Kars softly, yet heard clearly by everyone watching at the fence.
Kars pointed to his own chest with his thumb.
"Tell him, I came to take what is mine."
Kars turned around, supporting Tom on his shoulder. I sheathed my sword with a satisfying click, then walked following them out of the arena.
We left that arena not as tortured losers, but as winners who had just sent an open declaration of war.