The sun soared through the sky, shedding its light upon the apprentices, who were sweating and stood still on the ground. Lysa took a deep breath. “Alright, now that Max is here, let’s do something fun.”

  Ray shook his head. Fun… I feel like it’s only going to be fun for her.

  “I have you for the entire day today, so all of you will show me how you use your selected weapons.” Tapping her chin. “How should we proceed? Hmm?”

  Her face lit up, and she turned to Maximus. “Spar with them, Max.” He squinted his eyes and pointed at the apprentices. “There are over three hundred of ?them.” She sighed. “You’re right. That’ll take a lot of time.” One teacher with a pole attached to his back, standing behind them, said, “How about they duel?” Lysa shook her head. “No, Brant, that’s not fun.”

  Another teacher, with hair red like Sera’s, said, “How about they spar with us three? That way we can see how good they are.” Then her lips curled into a smile. “It’ll also be fun to see them trying to beat us.”

  A nervous murmur rippled through the ranks of apprentices. The idea of facing a teacher one-on-one was daunting enough; the casual confidence in her voice made it sound like a game.

  Lysa let out a soft chuckle. “I knew you’d come up with something, Iuna.” She turned to the apprentices. “You guys will fight–I mean spar with these three: Maximus, Brant, and Iuna.” Her voice was loud and echoed through the air. “Make it fun, okay?”

  A collective gulp seemed to pass through the crowd of apprentices. Few of the lowborn exchanged wide-eyed glances, their knuckles whitening on their new weapons. The noble apprentices, for once, looked less arrogant and more on edge, their minds racing to determine which teacher might be the easiest to survive against.

  Maximus, Brant and Iuna walked down the stage. The apprentices instinctively took a step back. Tension thickened the air. The teachers’ mere presence was like an oppressive weight. Jon swallowed hard, his hand drifting to the hilt of his curved sword. Next to him, Elaira had already unsheathed her daggers, holding them in a tight grip. Sera planted her spear in the dirt, bracing herself.

  Maximus cracked his fingers and said, “I’ll give you exactly one minute, so use your strongest attack.” Iuna interrupted. “Come on, Max, that’s not fun.” Brant nodded and glanced at Lysa. “You don’t want to make her mad, do you?” Maximus sighed. “You are right.”

  Iuna crossed her arms and tilted her head. “How should we divide them? There are three hundred and twenty of them.”

  Brant crossed his arms. “We cannot divide them among the three of us.”

  Maximus added. “We each can take about a hundred and six of them, leaving only two.”

  Iuna clapped her hands and said with a smile, “I know. The last two can be Ray and Vivian. They can spar with Lysa.”

  Brant and Maximus nodded in agreement. “That’s good.” Lysa laughed from atop the stage and said, “Ray and Vivian, come up here; we’ll fight last.” Ray and Mei Zhi silently made their way up the stage and stood next to Lysa.

  “Watch how your peers do.” She said and then looked at Maximus. “Fight all hundred and six of them at once, you three.” Maximus frowned and Iuna smiled while Brant just stayed silent.

  For a moment, there was absolute dead silence. Then a wave of incredulous murmurs swept through the apprentices, hardening into scowls and dismissive laughs.

  “She can’t be serious,” a noble sneered from within the crowd. “They may be strong, but a hundred against one? It’s an insult to our training.” The surrounding others nodded.

  Another voice chimed in, brimming with confidence. “Let’s just rush them and get this over with.”

  Lysa covered her smirk. “Look, guys, they’re underestimating you.”

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  Brant shook his head; Iuna’s smile widened as she licked her lips, and Maximus sighed again.

  But within the main group, the reaction was different. Elaira’s eyes narrowed. “Listen here; this is going to be exciting.”

  Aidan and Victor glanced at each other as they unsheathed their swords.

  Sera watched the teachers and said, “Let’s go against Maximus. He seems the least interested in this.” The group nodded in agreement.

  After a moment of silence, Lysa asked, “Who wants to go first?” Iuna immediately raised her hand. “ME! Me.” Lysa nodded. “Alright, Iuna will be first. The hundred and six who want to fight–spar with her step forward. The others stand to the side.”

  Slowly but surely, most of the nobles followed Michael, who stepped forward. He said, “She’s just a woman. Let’s show her where she belongs.” The surrounding group cheered while Iuna just stared at them with a creepy smile.

  Lysa signalled to start, and all hundred and six of them rushed at Iuna at once, with Michael staying at the back. They collided with one another, and only a few of them managed to attack her. She weaved through their attacks, her smile fading, and made her way towards Michael. He flinched and swung his sword, but she ducked and stopped behind him. “I wanted to have fun; this is boring.” She said as she grabbed his head and slammed him to the ground.

  She grabbed the two axes buckled to her waist, sending a wave of shivers through the apprentices. One of them shouted. “You’re using weapons? How cheap.” Iuna’s eyes narrowed. “You’re using them too, so why shouldn’t I?”

  She rushed towards them and swung her axes, disarming each of them with one hit. Some tried to retaliate, but she parried their attacks and kicked them in the face. Dust and screams covered the group as Iuna single-handedly defeated all of them. At the end of the ‘spar’, only one remained standing, and he fell to his knees, shivering. His eyes fixed on Iuna, whose silhouette through the dust flying around resembled a demon.

  Iuna looked down at the ground, her voice low. “How boring.” And walked away through the whimpering and bloodied apprentices on the ground.

  She then turned to them and said, her voice loud. “GET UP!”

  The apprentices scrambled to their feet, clutching their weapons and broken pride. Iuna glanced over them. “All of you will be under me for the next three years.” Clutching her fists, and with a smile on her face, she added. “I’ll make sure to turn you into battle-hardened soldiers when you leave.”

  Ray’s eyes narrowed. So, the point of this was to assign teachers to respective groups. She sure made it sound like it was just for fun. He thought as he looked over at Lysa.

  Maximus shook his head. “How brutal.” Brant silently nodded his eyes closed and whispered, “Glory to the Infinite Light…” As he grabbed the pole attached to his back, and walked forward.

  Mei Zhi immediately turned her head toward Brant. Her eyes widened. That’s… The Order of the Sunken Lotus’s chant. How does he know that?

  “Next is Brant,” Lysa said with a bright smile. “Don’t go easy on them; I won’t like that.”

  After Iuna’s demonstration, the apprentices nervously walked towards Brant, whose eyes were still closed, muttered something, his voice a whisper. “Glory to the Infinite Light…”

  Lysa signalled them to begin, but this time no one rushed forward. They slowly, one step at a time, surrounded Brant, who continued chanting. Soon they attacked; one after another. Brant blocked every attack, his eyes still closed. The apprentices tried and tried, but he blocked every single one of their attacks. Dust flew in the wind as they continued. Some stopped to catch a breath, some attacked his blind spot, but he still somehow blocked.

  After a few moments, Brant opened his eyes, grabbed the pole with both his arms and disarmed every single apprentice around him. Attaching the pole to his back, he whispered once more, “Glory to the Infinite Light.”

  He glanced at them and said, “Well tried. You’ll be under me, so I’ll teach you some things.”

  The apprentices smiled and cheered as Lysa chuckled. “That was fun.” She turned to Maximus. “It’s your turn now.”

  He took a deep sigh and sauntered forward.

  Ray tilted his head. Where’s his bow?

  The remaining apprentices gathered before him as he cracked his knuckles. As soon as Lysa signalled to start, he rushed forward and knocked down two apprentices in a single blow. “Your reaction is slow. The enemy will not wait for you to get ready.” He moved, disarming them one by one and landing a single punch to each of their guts.

  Sera jumped at him from the side, thrusting her spear toward him. He dodged it and was about to punch her as well, when Cassandra jumped at him, slashing her broad blade downward. Both Sera and Maximus jumped out of the way before the broad blade crashed into the ground.

  As soon as Maximus landed, Aidan and Victor tried to swing their swords in a wide arc. Maximus caught both their fists before they could swing them. Elaira rushed at him from the front, while Jon rushed from the back. Maximus leaped up in the air as Jon’s swing almost cut Elaira before she stopped in her tracks.

  Landing to the side, Maximus smiled. Iuna crossed her arms. “Why didn’t I get somebody good like them?”

  Brant watched, and Lysa laughed. Ray smiled as he clenched his fists. Nice, they’re working together. Did Sera come up with that? Probably.

  “Aren’t you guys Ray’s companions?” Maximus asked, cracking his neck. The group nodded while Maximus smirked. “Then I guess I shouldn’t hold back.”