“This seems almost insane, but there is that notable habit of strong Sages gathering together subconsciously…” Jonathan said, looking at Edward and Kazuya, who were glaring at each other with smiles on their faces.

They had managed to reach three Stars like Liza and Tony after all, the same day no less…

It was interesting to watch a Sage breakthrough to the next ‘level’ of power… there was a stillness about them, followed by a sudden burst of power that could be felt, before levelling off to their new strength.

“Still… These two…” Jonathan hadn’t been around to feel Liza’s breakthrough, nor Tony’s, but Edward and Kazuya had both broken into three Star territory during a spar between the two…

Understandably Jonathan was there to watch that the spar didn’t go too far… he also on occasion forced people who would normally not spar to do so, such as Kazuya versus Vince or Jade.

Vince didn’t normally fight Kazuya because Kazuya was kind of like Edward in that both could tank Vince’s shots to an extent while making his C.C (Crowd Control) abilities pointless…

Edward did so through brute-force, while Kazuya did so using skill mostly.

And Jade usually sparred against Edward and Tony, occasionally Leah…

The person who fought the least in the class, Liza, was pouting… and Jonathan had a smirk on his face, as Liza couldn’t rightfully decline a sparring request now.

And that’s how this glaring match started… during the spar, both Kazuya and Edward froze, and Jonathan felt them grow in strength.

Edward’s was a slow build-up of power as he closed his eyes, still in his fighting stance, his power capping off after a moment…

Kazuya’s was more like a veritable volcanic eruption. A huge spike of power that had Jonathan widening his eyes for a moment before calming as Kazuya’s energy fluctuated a bit before stilling equally as quick.

Jonathan wasn’t the only one guilty of this, but most had a tendency to forget that Kazuya technically had the Essence values of an entire rank higher than him, his breakthrough felt like a three Star Sage becoming a four Star Sage.

This was to offset the fact that all Elements under Kazuya’s control cost the same amount, that being an obscene flood of Essence to do what would cost Jonathan maybe a tenth of the amount were he to use his own Elements.

But after reaching three Stars, the two seemed to realize that they could now challenge Liza… and then glared at each other upon realizing that the other had also progressed and had the same idea.

“Is that really true sir?” Jade asked, still occasionally picking up bits of information that Sage-raised children normally knew.

“The whole ‘the strong gather’ thing? Yeah. Apparently the ten Kings all ran into each other during the Fae War, though Oren and Yule reached ten Stars during the war, they had still been looked at as Sages with a lot of potential.” Jonathan knew this despite being born two decades before the end of the Fae Wars.

Mostly because his own commanding officer was Oren at the time, and why he followed the man after the Wars were over.

“Does that mean that we won’t have weaker friends?” Vince asked with a frown as Jonathan rolled his eyes, a bit surprised that Vince, the happy-go-lucky of the class caught that negative connotation.

Then again, unlike everyone else in the class, Jonathan had an idea of Vince’s background… how Vince could be so jolly was a mystery to Jonathan.

“It’s not a definite; you all have a friend that’s a normal human right? The reason it doesn’t really happen often is because of a social thing.” Jonathan said, his words drawing the attention of the two younger Sages who were about to tear at each other’s throats.

“Think about it, humans, and I’m talking about Sages and normal humans alike, have a tendency to gather together in groups of people with similar situations or ideals, the poor hang out with the poor, the rich hang out with the rich, because they feel they can relate better to someone in the same situation.” Jonathan’s words felt like they were taken of a psychology essay or something.

“So obviously Sages hang out with other Sages, we don’t need to worry about accidentally hurting other Sages with enhanced strength, or having another Sage feel left out.” A pause…

“Now as a Sage gets stronger, they have to start worrying about hurting weaker Sages by accident. I could likely kill any of you in one or two hits if I truly focused and used my full strength, what do you think would happen if I was a King?” That drew a few pale faces, recalling that Jonathan ‘killed’ Edward in one blow just before the ICT started.

Jonathan was a peak five Star Sage, a King was almost one hundred thousand times stronger.

Kazuya recalled reading an article written by the Null Sons, xenophobic and racist they may be, the article had one bit of truth in it…

A sufficiently strong enough Sage was a country-destroying tactical weapon on two feet… and their Headmaster was one such ‘country-destroyer’.

“That’s just the strength part… then there’s our enhanced lifespans. I’m in my fifties, and yet I look like I’m in my twenties, the Headmaster is around a century and he looks a bit younger than even I do. Would you want to be friends with someone who will likely die long before you do? Despite how much it would hurt?” that drew a lot of frowns as Vince scoffed.

“Sir, with all due respect, if we want to befriend someone weaker, or who will age faster than we do… that’s our choice, we’re opening our hearts to hurt, but we also feel happy for our connections.” Vince smirked as he looked to his classmates…

Right, he was the mood-setter for the class majority of the time for a reason… Vince had a good deal of charisma, ignoring that he wasn’t exactly a brilliant leader.

“Exactly. I was not saying that such friendships never occur, just that it’s for reasons like that which you don’t see those friendships more often… I mean, I’m an oddity myself, I’m married to a King and best friends with another.” When worded like that, one could see that Jonathan had some pretty powerful connections in actuality.

“That’s true huh… wait, we got a bit side-tracked, but sir, we want to battle for a chance to face Liza!” Edward said after a moment, glaring at Kazuya while Jonathan sighed, having hoped that the talk would have kept the two from competing.

“I have a better idea… I’m going to call on a third year Sage, you two can team up against her.” Hearing the gender of the opponent had Kazuya and Edward frowning for bit a moment before nodding in seriousness.

Good, only a moment to consider gender before tossing it out of a window. A girl can kill you just as easily as a man after all… and for Sages, the gap in physical strength was non-existent.

“Why though?” Tony asked, shuffling away from a workout mat for some… oh, Liza had fallen asleep on there.

Jonathan was going to start getting her energy drinks or something, sleeping that much was annoying… especially when it wasn’t him doing the sleeping.

“Liza could face either of them, but they haven’t accustomed to their new strength just yet, this fight is to get the two used to their new levels.” Jonathan’s statement was met with nods.

Each member of Elem High had at least gained one Star since becoming a Sage, so they were aware of the gap between Stars, though the gap widened as it increased…

It was for this reason that stronger Sages typically went on sabbaticals after or just before gaining a Star, so as to fully understand the changes they undergo.

“Oh… but wouldn’t Liza still win, if she’s so much more used to her strength?” Leah asked after a moment, breaking off from her own exercise, namely trying to create a water shield of a specific type.

If it was actually completed… well, no one but Edward would feel comfortable fighting her if she finished that shield.

“Probably, but it’s best to wail against an unstoppable opponent to test your limits. If you all reach four Stars I might be the opponent you face after progressing…” Jonathan did not mention his own growing strength to the group, knowing that many Sages were particularly vulnerable just after progressing…

Ever felt uncomfortable in your own skin? Sages got like that during their first fight after progressing… so the best thing to do was do anything you could, check what the new boundaries were, and doing that against someone just a bit stronger was not really a good idea, someone could get hurt…

But against a four Star senior, she’d be able to handle whatever Kazuya and Edward could do.

And so it was that a few minutes later a sighing form of Kim Ellis appeared; the fourth ranked member of the third year S-Class…

The first years totally shipped her with Yusuf, given how embarrassed she got around him.

“I got the message sir, who am I supposed to fight?” Kim sounded… oddly respectful? She even adjusted her glasses…

Then it clicked that Jonathan was Yusuf’s father and she wanted to make a good impression. Some chuckles were heard as Kim snapped her head to the source of the voice, glaring with fire in her eyes.

Actually, that might really be fire as it was uncomfortably warm near her.

“The hero brat and the muscle brat.” It’s been a while since Jonathan referred to them as brats, that mostly stopped after the inner class battles, grinding to a halt at the ICT’s.

Looking a bit confused, Kim turned to the students, seeing Edward and Kazuya step forward… then she shrugged.

“Alright then… any rules to the battle sir?” Kim was a second away from cursing or completely writing them off, and she only held back due to Jonathan’s presence.

“No weapons or equipment Kazuya, this is to get you used to your limits, not your weapon. Kim, demolish them but allow them freedom to attempt things.” Edward and Kazuya glanced at each other and nodded…

Facing a Sage one rank higher usually required ten people of the lower rank… so that meant that this fight was unwinnable in the first place.

They’d make her work for her victory though.

“Understood sir…” Kim cracked her hands, stretching as she got into a kick-boxing stance… she was probably a close range fighter, given by the ease at which she fell into the stance.

Kazuya and Edward responded by dropping into their own stances, Edward’s being closer to a boxer stance while Kazuya’s stance had his arms lowered to just above his waist, bouncing on his toes.

“Begin.” Jonathan said, and Kim did not move, following Jonathan’s orders so as to let Kazuya and Edward try out their newfound strength.

Edward stepped forward first, dashing forward with his odd ‘ground-shrinking’ technique which basically had the Earth beneath his feet drag him to his opponents, lashing out with a straight right.

Kim’s response was a duck with the exact same punch being launched, sinking into Edward’s stomach with the forceful impact.

The first years winced as Edward doubled over, Kim twisting and grabbing his thigh and shoulder before fully throwing Edward far behind her, she now moved for Kazuya, who had not been idle.

Kazuya was just behind Edward, and unfortunately Edward was a big guy, when Kim hit him and then moved Kazuya was unable to see what she was doing until Edward flew away…

“She took out Edward while blinding Kazuya to her movements all in one move…” Jade was suitably impressed as Kim was now just in front of Kazuya.

“Not just that, she closed the distance to a specific point, notice Kazuya’s stance? That’s a stance more suited for kicks, which is pretty much the longest distance we can fight at without the use of a weapon or Element. But she’s too close for him to launch a fully stretched out kick.” Tony warned, not stuttering due to talking about combat.

When it came to fighting and a few other topics, Tony would lack the stutter or pause. Usually it was fighting and sports, having a surprising love for football.

Tony’s words were correct, and Kazuya’s grimace showed that Kazuya was well aware of this as well, his arms snapping up as he back-stepped, unable to escape Kim’s range as she stretched out her leg, hooking her foot at the back of his knee.

With a tug, Kazuya was moved forward slightly, striking out with a punch aimed at her stomach, Kazuya’s retaliatory attack was deflected when Kim stopped tugging him forward, raising her knee to bounce his punch off of, before bouncing onto her foot and letting loose a snap kick, launching Kazuya flying much like she did to Edward when it hit him square in the chest.

“…Ouch.” The visible gap between them and the third years was terrifying, the first years realized that beyond the power Kim had her combat experience was also much higher…

Jonathan just nodded at the observations of the class, he had been taking a backseat in regards to teaching them after all, anything he told them would only be when it was necessary to prevent them from making a mistake.

Edward and Kazuya were both still in a bit of pain, but by focusing their energy/Essence at the point of injury it lessened the pain.

Reinforcement was a standard ability Sages possessed and most actually did so subconsciously, but focusing on it would allow one to increase the effects, the effects being enhanced power, durability, and recovery rates, though it obviously didn’t work when a Sage had no more energy left to give.

…Jonathan was really in trouble if he didn’t start having a more hands-on teaching session with his class, because it should not have taken Edward and Kazuya that long to reinforce themselves.

Kim had actually been doing it all throughout that small encounter, minimizing her expenditure by only activating it when attacking or when blocking.

Granted, it wasn’t a perfect use, even Jonathan couldn’t use reinforcement perfectly.

The only person who could claim that was the King of Lightning but even he said that he felt there was more to be done with reinforcement.

Jonathan actually wished he could go lessons from said King.

The King of Lightning was the best teacher out of the Kings with a possible exception for the King of Darkness and King of Light as those two weren’t known for teaching.

The only reason why the Temple didn’t have better students than Elem High?

The King of Lightning rarely taught anyone personally. Anyone he did teach though, would always end up strong… many of his disciples had ended up eight or nine Star Sages.

Snapping back to the fight, Jonathan watched as Edward and Kazuya both rushed forward, this time attacking at the same time from different directions, a better effort than previous…

It was still kind of worthless against Kim though, who had changed her stance to one with open palms, one facing Edward and the other facing Kazuya.

The best barehanded combat specialist of the third years was Kim after all… Bobby beat her when it came to pure strength, but in technique, she had never lost a bout in that style of combat against anyone of her grade or lower.

And somehow that made sense for both the schooling grade, and the grades of strength.

Kazuya stepped forward, launching a quick, probing low kick instead of fully committing to an attack, while Edward launched a classic karate kick, aiming high while Kazuya’s attack aimed low.

Kim’s response was to spin, one hand coming up under Edward’s foot and lifting while Kim ducked, giving her the space to jump off the ground, spinning horizontally over Kazuya’s kick.

Things like that probably wouldn’t look out of place in an old martial arts film, but Kim made it work, landing on one leg as she kicked back while punching forward, straightening out her body.

Jonathan actually smirked with a bit of an impressed vibe when Kazuya and Edward both managed to quickly stabilize themselves and block, striking back almost as quickly as Kim did before she blocked them both off.

“The rest of you, come on, we can leave those three for a bit.” Jonathan said, walking away with the knowledge that one of the three would lock up the combat training centre.

“Aw, can’t we watch?” Vince asked with a pout that had Jonathan develop a tick mark on his skull… not because of being questioned, but because Vince should never pout, it looked strange.

“It’s pointless for you all to watch, because that means you aren’t improving. If you want to stay here, train.” Jonathan reminded, before pausing to look at the two fighting against a third year.

Jonathan was considering talking to the two about the Six Arts, and how they would finally be capable of progressing in that sense, though which Art they’d gain was a mystery.

Most got either their Clad or Armament as their first Art after reaching the third or fourth Star, ignoring the generation and controlling of Elements being one of the Six Arts.

The idea of a three Star Sage awakening to a Diversity or summoning a Manifestation was just a tad bit insane. It was possible for the former, but the latter took up too much power to be done by any except for perhaps Kazuya.

That actually reminded Jonathan of something…

“Liza, you will spar with Tony. He has already stabilized his power, but he hasn’t fought that much with it.” The normally tired girl sighed but nodded, while the shy boy shivered.

Tony was impressive in his own right, each member of the S-Class was talented but Tony was the closest to breaking into the top three of the class…

He was being hamstrung by his own shyness and dislike of fighting his friends though. A normal reaction, but Tony also didn’t really like standing out, or being focused on…

As if he was only safe when he wasn’t seen…

Jonathan had some suspicions about that situation, but from all accounts Tony was offered counselling or therapy but refused… at least he lived alone now, so if it was a case of his previous caretakers being abusive, then they weren’t around the boy anymore.

“And Liza, use your Armament for this fight, it’s the less lethal option between your weapons.” Liza seemed to be against this but nodded, moving to another part of the room with Tony.

“By the way, you three…” Jonathan looked at the left over three members of the S-Class, and then considered them for a bit.

“You three will work together against myself. You three have a front-line fighter, a long-range crowd controller and a support-caster, one of each basic Sage group basically.” Jonathan was ignoring a few things, but the essence of his words was enough.

The three winced in response to Jonathan’s words, he was quite scary when he sparred with the group after all…

“By the way, you three are the only ones still in the two Star range… you have no hope of lasting long in the coming school-wide tourney if you can’t progress… in that case, you’ll just have to work well together to defeat those stronger than you.” The gap between a peak two Star Sage and a new three Star Sage was much closer than the gap between a new two Star Sage and the previously mentioned three Star Sage.

With the three working together they should be capable of defeating a new three Star Sage with some effort to spare, but only under select circumstances.

With his words, Jonathan flicked his arm, a sword coming into existence with a chain wrapping itself around his forearm, his Armament being summoned.

“So I’m going to be a bit scarier than usual to help you progress a bit forcefully… don’t worry though, my blade is blunt…” that actually wasn’t that reassuring given that he’d still be hitting them.

As a side note, Liza had apparently decided to name said Armament as ‘Chained-wind’ which sounded way too childish for Kazuya to feel comfortable with.

The rest of the S-Class agreed that it was an awesome name, and Jonathan looked a bit disturbed when they told him the name.

Kazuya and Jonathan agreed that some Sages were just weird… both unknowingly ignoring that they each had their own oddities, like Kazuya’s feminine cooking skills or Jonathan’s weird dressing habits.

While Jonathan sought to torture- um, train, that’s the word. While Jonathan sought to train the weaker members of the S-Class, Liza was standing opposite Tony who had his blunted claws on his hands, Liza focusing her power.

It was a shame that no one else was able to pay attention, Tony thought, because there was speculation on what Liza’s true weapon was, as an Armament was the best weapon you could possibly use, it was made for you after all.

Tony watched as her hands began to glow slightly, the energy being a light silvery colour as it extended, forming into Liza’s Armament.

It was a staff, that was certain, however it had at the base, and at the top it had a ring of metal that might have been bladed, with smaller rings jingling slightly as they moved in a non-existent breeze.

Tony recognized the weapon instantly, given it was considered a part of Buddhist belief, a weapon of self defence for monks and to be used primarily in prayer, with the amount of rings signifying the rank of the monk…

Upon Liza’s weapon, a Khakkara or Pewter Staff, sat an odd number of rings, five, making Tony stare in confusion while Liza tapped the bottom of the staff onto the ground.

“Rings… two at base… one per Star.” Tony nodded, used to using broken sentences himself, understanding that each Star would add a ring, and were Liza to be a ten Star Sage she would possess twelve rings, on the level of a Buddha.

Well, the monk ranks were something like four-six-twelve rings… Tony wasn’t quite certain as the only Buddhist in the class was Kazuya.

“I see… does it have a name?” Tony asked, getting ready to blitz his classmate, his legs already sparking slightly.

“Nirvana. First truth, dukkha.” Liza said, stepping forward as time began to speed up for her, as she appeared near Tony in barely a moment, leaving the ‘fastest’ member of the class to stare at Liza with wide eyes as he attempted to dodge.

The staff, Nirvana, had one of its five rings glowing an eerie red colour as the staff was swung, barely clipping Tony as he jumped back, stumbling from being hit while moving… and then he groaned in pain as he grabbed his shoulder.

“Suffering. Inflicts prolonged pain, no damage boost.” Liza explained and Tony understood the idea immediately, as the light tap which had hurt him hadn’t stop hurting as if she had just him him.

It felt like Liza was grinding the staff into his shoulder, but he still possessed full range of motion… but if she could hurt someone to the point where the amount of pain had them shut down…

That was a scary ability on its own… and if each ring had an ability… then Liza was definitely unfair.

Then again, life wasn’t unfair, and Tony knew this, crouching as he burst forward, still much weaker than Liza, but unwilling to lose so easily.

He didn’t like fighting his friends, but going easy on them in a spar would do nothing more than hurt Tony’s friends further down the line.

If sparring with him got them stronger before they fought something too dangerous for them, then so be it.

He just hoped the other abilities of Nirvana weren’t as painful.

“Second truth, samudaya… origin.” Liza added, the next ring glowing as Tony felt his stomach drop…

Yeah, this fight was going to be horrible.

While the S-Class sought to increase their power, the King of Metal was giving a raised eyebrow in response to the person on the other end of the phone call, not that his conversation partner could see said eyebrow.

“Grigory, to what do I owe the pleasure? Aren’t you usually away from civilization, how did you manage to get this call to connect?” Donovan Oren asked his fellow King out of curiosity.

“Greetings Donovan, I called to share some pressing news… and I have an emergency method of contacting other Kings who have phones you know?” The King of Wood was an interesting man, Donovan could recall from their previous meetings.

Some of the Kings were more social than others, the King of Light had apparently met every single King in their group while the King of Fire was a recluse who few knew the identity of, let alone their status.

Donovan could be considered on the social side of the Kings, but the King of Wood was a hard person to keep track of given that his Clad took the shape of a forest that grew around him.

The Wandering Village, more than just a learning institution, was actually the King of Wood’s Clad remaining perpetually active in the area around him… which also made the Wandering Village the most difficult learning institution to infiltrate.

“I wanted to let you know that some idiots tried to sneak into my domain. I prevented them from meeting a single one of my students but they managed to escape as one of the intruders had a Diversity related to teleportation.” Donovan frowned hearing the words of his fellow King.

Seriously… what idiot… also, Donovan really had to wonder how his train of thought landed so close onto the truth.

“That’s… interesting. There are easier ways to commit suicide, but entering the domain of a King with the intention of going against said King? That’s almost as bad as someone attacking me in a city, or Miss Salem at night.” Donovan noted absently, while hearing a hum of agreement from the King of Wood over the phone.

“Indeed. From what I’ve managed to learn, the two are a part of a Rogue Sage organization of some kind, though I do not know their name or purpose, I do know that they aimed for Raphael, our Essence Sage… so I’m giving you a warning to look out for your… Hiiro, was it?” Donovan felt a headache coming on as he heard the warning of his fellow King.

“Yes, Hiiro Kazuya, though he prefers to be called by his surname… an issue with his first name sounding like the word ‘hero’ apparently.” Donovan vaguely understood the reasoning.

Kazuya was a quiet, competitive Sage, he only interacted with his classmates because he had to, until he became friends with them at least.

He felt he didn’t quite embody the word hero since he wasn’t altruistic enough for the title, and he knew that people made the mistake of thinking that his name meant that word…

Donovan had gotten the story from the Kazuya couple themselves as Hiiro’s name actually meant ‘one colour’. His name had meaning, an important one, but Hiiro didn’t quite get it just yet…

Maybe once he understood the wish his parents made for him using his name, he’d be more open to its use.

“A bit young to be disillusioned, isn’t he? Though I must express my concern here Donovan… from my understanding, I believe he is the last of the four to reach three Stars… you might want to focus a bit more on him.” Donovan chuckled, hearing the suggestion of Grigory.

“No thanks Grigory… unique they may be, I won’t ignore his classmates for him… after all…” Donovan looked down at his computer, seeing seven profiles of the S-Class students.

“No matter how strong he gets, he is but one person. But with a support base… he can be great.” Donovan smirked.

To train the best one, or the great many… Donovan made his choice. It just remained to be seen which decision was correct.