-Cyril POV-

The best thing to do in an awkward situation is to act as if nothing about it is awkward in the first place. Some may say that this method won’t always work for certain situations, but for me, it has never failed me before.

Moving past that, after Erline finished her introductions, I decided that to have a better grasp on how to go about teaching, I need to first understand what area each of them need working on. The best way to do this is not simply observing them and analyzing how they fight, but to directly have a spar with them and see how they fight and react.

Having said that, I had everyone follow me after I had them go and retrieve their end combat equipment as we headed over to our designated training field. Once we arrived on the open barren area that is the training field, but before starting the sparing, I decided to ask a simple question to get a feel for everyone thoughts and how they view morality.

“Before we begin, I have a question that I want each of you to answer. My question is what each of you think what the role a hero should play when there is a war between two nations when it has nothing to do with their task.” (Cyril)

I ask this question as it is important for the future if there should be a war that breaks out due to the political state of this world. In truth, there isn’t really a correct or incorrect answer as this question is more of their opinion.

After giving them a few moments to ponder this I asked each of them their answer in the same order that they did introductions starting with Elena.

“In my opinion, I think that as a hero, they should stand neutral in the war, but I also think that they should be ready immediately if need be to protect the innocent civilians if it turns into that type of war that seeks to drag the innocents in as casualties.” (Elena)

Going next was Aearial after Elena gave a very by the book type of answer but still a good answer in my opinion.

“Honestly, I am unsure how to answer as I feel that getting involved with politics and nobles is a bad plan waiting to explode, add on to that a hero that possesses strong combat experience and strength, then you have a nuclear bomb waiting to go off as it will only benefit in helping the nobles.” (Aearial)

Most likely the is a story behind her view but I honest can’t see her answer as wrong, I feel that it is a right decision if as a hero, you have no experience in politics or social interactions, avoiding getting involved with the politics of war is very responsible.

After Aearial gave her answer, next was Halbert, in honestly, I have curious in his answer since I think that he may be the type of person that follows the idealized version of a superhero and follows beliefs along those lines.

“I would say that getting involved should be the role of a hero, but to tell the truth, I am not sure when getting involved should be done, I have lived with the belief of protecting the innocent is always the duty of a hero, but I have only saved lives, I have never taken them.” (Halbert)

That could be a problem for Halbert in the future if he continues to follow that belief of not taking lives. I understand better than anyone here that there will be times that taking or giving up lives will save more in return, they at times can even be innocent, but that can wait for a later day. Next off the list would be Florian and her answer.

“I would say that fighting wars are idiotic as they only fuel hatred and sadness while achieving only temporary peace afterwards. My answer isn’t some pure and innocent thought either, I consider that it is a realistic view.” (Florian)

Her answer is very scholar like in that its more philosophical on her view of war, I can tell she understands war, but she also views it based on knowledge but not experience. I know that you can say that she is still young so most likely she wasn’t seen a war since there hasn’t been any full wars in decades, but she will need to learn that in war is never simple to explain using facts from a book, no matter how advanced a society is, war is the one thing that never advances, it always stays primitive.

Next was Lex and then last was going to be Erline, well since I’ve known Erline for years now, I can already pretty much expect her answer. Looking at Lex who was silent for a minute, finally began talking about what his answer was, but unexpectedly, his answer was surprising since people that fight like him tend to have similar views usually.

“My view on your question is hard since I have never experienced war and until I do then this will never hold much true weight, but growing up in the south, I would meet many soldiers and Adventurers that constantly protected the citizens from bandits and monsters. When ever I talked to them about what it was like, most of the time they would get a strange look while recounting what they saw. They spoke of the good parts and I felt as if they were heroic tales, so when I asked them if they were like heroes, they just shook their head while smiling and denied my words.

They always said something similar everytime along the lines of ‘that in battles of life and death, there are no heroes, there are only your instincts to survive and your comrades that have your back.’

So, regarding your question, I honestly think that there are truely no heroes that can participate in a war because wars aren’t won by a single man, but by an army, if that makes sense.” (Lex)

I think that I need to rethink my previous statement about people like him having similar beliefs, I think that I almost forgot an important rule of heroes, they always overturn expectations when you think you understand them. After what he said, most of the heroes looked at him with subtle surprise while Florian is looking with wide eyes toward him, well I can understand why somewhat. Well moving on, finally is Erline and seeing that she is last, everyone is looking towards her with more interest than before.

“In my opinion, my view on heroes choosing sides in a war is that is the most dangerous thing that can be done in a war. To almost everyone, the existence of heroes are the paragons of righteousness, so if heroes decided to pick sides in a war, there will be the common view that the side that the heroes are on are by default the good guys while the other side are the villainous tyrants that the good guys must defeat. That’s why my answer aligns with Lex’s answer in that wars aren’t won by a single hero but by the army that is tasked with being the ones to fight and not heroes.” (Erline)

As expect of the royal princess raised in the world of politics and military officials, her view is looking at it from various angles, from seeing the moral repercussions that come from it, how the people would view the war, and rather having wars fought by the ones that are meant to fight them since it’s their job as soldiers to fight to protect their country.

Overall, all their answers can’t be considered wrong, but at the same time there are aspects that also can’t be correct either.

No matter though, it’s time to see what they can truly do when words fail to hold meaning and only actions carry weight. Just like the old saying goes, actions speak louder than hurricanes compared to words sometimes.

“Alright, with that out of the way, let’s move onto something else.” (Cyril)

“Wait what was the correct answer to your question you asked?” (Halbert)

I see this guy doesn’t understand the difference between questions with a right or wrong answer and a question that’s answer is only based purely on opinions. I guess I’m going to have to teach him that, but seeing a chance test something I decided to try something out on him.

“What are you a complete moron, couldn’t you understand that there is no correct answer to that question based on everyone’s answers being opinions. I guess all those muscles are only there to compensate for the brain you seem to lack, you know with that small brain, protecting any more than two people will put a strain on your brains compacity.” (Cyril)

You know, if I had to say, I would say that I am proud of what I thought of to provoke him. You can say that my insults were far from original, but I prefer keeping it simple and clear as it makes it easier to build upon it furher. Another bonus is if they are intelligent enough, I could even add on that I made my insults simple just for them so that even they could easily comprehend it.

Well that seems unnecessary though, seeing as everyone is clearly shocked by my blatant insults that came out of nowhere and seemed to hit them as if they were hit by a large truck while looking at Halbert, I got the reaction I was expecting from him, anger.

I wanted to piss him off because I felt that if he wasn’t angered, then he wouldn’t spar against me seriously, so deciding to capitalize on it, I provoked him even further.

“What’s wrong, did the truth hurt your feelings or did processing the first sentence I said cause your brain to short circuit from exceeding you brains compacity. No matter, if you want to start something I guess I am benevolent enough to humor you― oh sorry I guess I should stop using words that exceed elementary school standards for you to understand. Let’s make it as simple as possible, I planned on sparing with each individual, so I guess I can allow you to go first, it may not be able to act as a good warm up but I’m nice enough, so are you in?” (Cyril)

With each passing word that I said, Halbert’s face grew a brighter shade of red until it was practically scarlet. With each insult that was spoken, his fists clenched even tighter while his veins grew to the point of popping. Looks like my plan succeeded just like I planned, let’s see where this shall lead.

-Aearial POV-

Almost everyone was completely speechless from what we heard, for me I could clearly tell that they were clearly words of provocation, but that still didn’t make it any less surprising. So far, the feeling I got from Cyril was complete disinterest in things that don’t pertain to the task given, I couldn’t read anything from his expression even when the words he said to Ambrosia previously sounded annoyed, his face never showed it though and just stayed a completely blank expression.

You hear and see people like you him on characters in fictional stories and shows, but seeing it in person is something else entirely, it’s like he’s a one-sided glass window, he can see through you as if it’s natural, but you can’t see anything though him no matter how hard you try.

The shock comes from that even though he never showed his emotions on his face, he never said anything on the level to what he said to Halbert just now.

Halbert on the other hand was the complete opposite to Cyril’s emotionless face, he was clearly showing his anger in full view to the world. Cyril as is completely ignorant of Halbert’s anger continued provoking he until he offered him to spar with him.

“Oh don’t worry, I understand completely, alright if you want, lets fight. Maybe beating you will knock you down a peg from your high throne teach you to show at least minimum respect to others.” (Halbert)

Once both walked towards the center of the field and stood around ten feet apart and they faced each other. Cyril continued looking disinterested and expressionless while standing with his arms at his side looking very relaxed.

Halbert on the other hand stood with his feet spread slightly apart and his arms raised in a loose boxing stance. Just looking at Halbert who looked ready to pounce at any moment was surprising since the whole time I have been near him, it seemed as if he was rather docile and quiet. It was a complete contrast to how he was now, but it wasn’t surprising since there are a lot of people that are like that.

They act one way when socializing with others, but when they do certain things, their personality seems as if it completely changes, it isn’t just them focusing either, it is something different than that. I completely understand what it is because most heroes I have met are like that in some way or another, it’s almost like a light switch that is flipped.

“Aren’t you going to get in a stance or are you just underestimating my abilities.” (Halbert)

“huh- a stance, no need. Didn’t I tell you earlier, sparring with you won’t even be act as a proper warm up so come at me whenever you want, it matters not.” (Cyril)

After Cyril said that, I felt a shiver go up my spine when I heard Halbert mutter something about ‘your wish’. After Halbert muttered that, I noticed his left leg slightly tense as it subtly slides back before kicking up a large cloud of dust into the air while Halbert accelerated forward at high speed toward Cyril before his image disappeared for a moment and reappearing behind Cyril with his arm tensed back before it shot forward towards the back of Cyril’s head.

Most people would expect Cyril to get hit since Halbert practically disappear and instantly appeared behind Cyril, but without care for that expectation that most people would have, Cyril casually turned his head to the side allowing Halbert’s fist to pass by with ease even though he never turned around and saw him coming.

Cyril than proceeded to wrap his arms around Halbert’s arm that missed its target before in a fluent motion, proceeded to manipulate Halbert’s momentum and used his weight to his advantage and threw Halbert over his shoulder while bending forward and pulling Halbert’s wrapped arm downward before letting go and allowing Halbert to momentarily fly in the air before he crashed onto his back when he hit the ground with a dazed look while looking winded.

“Is that all, you need to learn that brute strength won’t always win the fight.” (Cyril)

What Cyril said was completely correct when fighting hand to hand. Just from that one exchange, it was clear that Halbert’s form is very raw and unrefined and filled with a boat load of flaws. It’s not bad, but I could tell that his fighting style was based on fighting opponents that are most likely weaker in terms of their physical capabilities compared to him.

While I that may sound very negative since it’s like saying her only fought weaker opponents, I don’t mean to condemn him, because it’s possible that he is just the luckiest guy in the world that he never fought any overwhelming enemies compared to him throughout his whole life.

Going back to the spar, Halbert who was previously dazed on the ground regain his focus as he quickly stood back up and faced Cyril again. Halbert once again took his previous stance before doing the same thing as last time by accelerating fast towards Cyril except this time he didn’t attack from behind.

This time Halbert began throwing punches towards Cyril while mixing faints in between, he began with throwing a punch with his right towards Cyril’s face before pulling it back in a feint and punching with his left arm at his chest.

Halbert continued with this while trying to mix up the variance in his punches and feints, but to Cyril it made no difference. All Cyril did was casually move his head to avoid any punches towards it by a small margin and any other attack to his body was met with him parrying the fist by pushing it slightly to his side with the back of his hands.

Observing this spar, even someone who isn’t knowledgeable in combat could clearly tell that it was one sided with Cyril completely controlling every aspect of the fight while responding to every attack to him. To anyone experienced in actual combat, it would probably look like a trained military special forces soldier toying around with a common street thug that thinks that fighting is all about throwing the strongest punch.

“Why can’t I damn hit you, it’s like I’m trying to punch a leaf in a hurricane with you damn it.” (Halbert)

“It’s simple really but I’ll explain afterwards, for now why don’t I end this, we need to get through everyone today.” (Cyril)

After saying that, Cyril vanished in an instance, I was completely surprised because Cyril did the exact same thing that Halbert was doing before as he accelerated forward. Though he did the same thing, compared to Halbert who when he accelerated a huge cloud of dust was kicked up, Cyril on the other hand accelerated without any clear dust kicking up. Since both where in relatively close distance while I stood a bit away in distance, I could see the moment after Cyril disappeared and reappeared in front of Halbert and proceeded to use his palm to strike the shocked Halbert’s chin resulting in his head being pushed to look upwards.

Cyril than slid his right leg between Halbert’s legs and around and then placed his left hand onto his chest, in a fluent motion once again, Cyril pulled his leg back towards himself while pulling Halbert’s left leg as well and pushed against Halbert’s chest causing him to completely lose his balance and fall backwards hard onto his back once again.

I was mesmerized by what Cyril did, the way he in fluent motions executed the attack without any clear wasted movement and the simplicity of it was amazing. Everything that was done practically screamed efficiency in the actions executed with little effort needed at all, simply amazing.

“Well that concludes this little spar doesn’t it, alright who’s next on the list.” (Cyril)

-Cyril POV-

After sparring a bit with Halbert, since no one can forward, I decided to volunteer the magic users to see what they can to and get it out the way first starting with Florian.

“Alright Florian, this will be more of a demonstration than a spar, I just want you to execute as many intermediate tier spells as you know without losing control of them and as fast as you can.” (Cyril)

Asking her to invoke intermediate spells should be a good test for her so I can grasp her skills in magic as well get a rough guess of the amount of mana she has. I guess I should explain how magic is classified in tiers on this world, since almost every world has differences in their classifications of magic.

At the lowest tier is beginner’s spells that usually consist of basic magic that holds little combat potential, but are practical for everyday usage such as cooking or mundane tasks that need a small flame or some water.

The next tier is the intermediate spells, these spells are useable in combat but are used by almost every mediocre mage that gets basic instruction from an old book can cast.

After that is the advanced tier that mainly consists of spells that stronger versions of the previous tier and much more versatile attack spells such as the elemental lances. This tier also contains compounded spells that combine various elements to create various other spells such as magna and ice versions.

These are the three main classifications and while there are sub classifications for other magic types, they could wait for another time to be explained.

After Florian walked to the middle of the field, she began quietly muttering words which are the spells chants. Seconds later large amounts of magic circles began to appear at once and from them appeared various lances made of fire and earth that floated in the air.

After confirming that it succeeded, Florian once again began muttering chants and began forming large balls of water, fire, earth, and a vortex of wind from various magic circles.

Along with that I could see a bluish glow coming off her body which is the sign that physical reinforcement magic was invoked as well.

I know that I asked for her to cast as much intermediate tier magic as she could but she decided to instead cast intermediate tier magic such as the. Overall it was an impressive display of magic skill and control since she was maintaining each spell simultaneously without firing them off, even though the clear sign of slight of exhaustion can be seen from the sweat dripping from her forehead.

“Alright Florian, that’s enough for now, you can fire off the spells into the air if you want or if possible try to cancel the spells without causing rebound.” (Cyril)

Nodding to my words, she closed her eyes in concentration while the spells began to break apart into particles gradually until every spell finally faded along with cancelling the physical reinforcement magic. After that Florian planted herself on the ground while breathing roughly while trying to rest.

“Alright Lex, you’re next, your confident in your defense correct.” (Cyril)

“That’s correct, I am confident that I can withstand a blow from a large grown man wielding a Warhammer striking my shield, just don’t ask why I know that, it’s a long story.” (Lex)

Hearing that, I could tell this wasn’t arrogance but pure self-confidence, so I am tempted to test his limit that he can defend against.

“Alright Lex, this is the plan, I’m going to send an attack towards you and you try to defend without injuries.” (Cyril)

“That’s it? Nothing else needs to be done to test me.” (Lex)

“Well since you said all that you excel in is defense, I want to test what your limit is in defending against attacks. Are you ready Mai.” (Cyril)

“I am ready anytime that you are Cyril.” (Mai)

After saying that her body was engulfed in golden light and her body disappeared and turned into a golden flame that flew and landed into my hand. I began to imagine the imagine of a gun. I pictured the image of a more modernized version of the classic Colt Single Action Army Revolver that I saw during a past task, the design was different than the original design as it had more square and sharper edges instead of rounded parts.

After clearly imagining the Colt SAA clearly, I could see Mai who was originally a ball of golden fire begin to morph and change to mimic the image that I envisioned in my head. After the golden flames turned into the form of the revolver, she finally began to manifesting into a physical state as the revolvers details and color began to form until she completely turned into the overall image in my head.

She does assist in the process because she will handle ascetics since she calls it important. Looking at her, instead of a grey and dull revolver, the look was more clean looking, the color was mainly a solid glossy black with electric blue outlines and line work. Looking at the small open space that was just below the cylinder of the revolver and above the trigger was the symbol of our contract that resembled a sword and a crown fused together.

“Alright are you ready Lex, because I’m not going to wait for you to stop being shocked by every little thing, smart rule of thumb you know.” (Cyril)

After saying that I raised the Revolver and aimed directly at Lex’s chest who just registered what I said and stared blankly at me before realizing what I said. Let’s see if he can react appropriately to this since I aimed for a moment before firing at Lex who hasn’t every readied his shield.

Luckily for him since it seems that he has good instincts and reflexes, because the moment I pulled the trigger, he registered the danger and instinctively brought his shield up at an angle in the hope of deflecting the foreign projectile.

It seems that he was muttered a short chant as a bluish glow began to come from his body before it moved to his shield as it covered it.

Everything happened in the span of a second, it began with what sounds like a gun firing with a silencer before the violent sound of metal deforming rang out and the sound of sliding feet on dirt was heard.

What happened was that even though he properly tried to deflect the attack instead of taking it full on, but unfortunately it seems that I may have fired it with too much force since even though he successfully deflected it, the force of the bullet was still too much for him to completely deflect.

Lex who was previously standing around thirty feet away was now standing around ten feet further than before while holding a deformed shield that was heavily dented on one side so much that it collapsed inward from the force of the bullet and now barely resembled a shield at all.

“My mistake Lex, I misjudged your ability to defend and fired off a bullet stronger than I originally planned on, don’t worry about your shield, I’ll replace it later.” (Cyril)

Looking dazed once again, Lex finally looked down at his shield in confusion.

“Bullet? What―Wait, what happened to my shield!” (Lex)

“Well I fired a type of projectile called a bullet at you, but since firing off a normal bullet would probably kill you, I changed the property of it so that it caused blunt force instead of penetration so that it didn’t. I didn’t account the amount of force that you could handle so I winged it based on your confidence.” (Cyril)

“Umm― Mr. Cyril, what do you mean by changed the properties, I felt a small buildup of mana in your weapon before a muffled sound was heard and Lex was blown back, what did you do? What was that attack!” (Florian)

Before I could even answer a question, Florian who was originally fearful towards me for some reason, was now firing on questions like a machine gun without any sight of fear. Those two are really to alike in that aspect I guess.

“Well before answering anymore questions, little let me answer the first few. The buildup of mana was me forming the bullet using mana which allowed me to manipulate the properties of the mana to go from it focusing on penetration to blunt force, that’s pretty much all I did.” (Cyril)

“Hey now, don’t try to make it seem as if it’s that easy, do you understand that there are probably only two people in this world that understand how to condense mana so much that it becomes solid. Also, I would have never understood the process if you were never summoned as well.” (Ambrosia)

“Oh, Ambrosia, your still here, I forgot all about you with that small presences of yours, sorry about that, maybe growing older made your presence smaller than before.” (Cyril)

“Wha― my presence isn’t that small is it that it gets thinner with age!” (Ambrosia)

After shooting down Ambrosia after continuing my plan of ignoring her existence which seems to work since she begins muttering words while looking slightly depressed, Aearial finally asked a question after the commotion settled down.

“Hey Cyril, I had assumed that blonde girl was also a student, but what is she really, since she transformed into that revolver in your hands?” (Aearial)

“Oh― well since she never introduced herself, I’ll do it for her, her name is Mai and she is considered a transcendent weapon and can turn into most forms of weaponry that the wielder imagines, she is also my partner that is contracted to me.” (Cyril)

After explaining that, we continued the spars with Aearial next since she seemed the most capable in terms of combat. It was easy to tell looking at her posture, the way she walked as well as well as how she watched her surroundings.

“You’re up next Aearial, also since you said you skilled in multiple forms of martial arts, I want you to use the one that your most proficient in and use that if you would. Since this is only for me to gauge everyone’s capabilities, I mainly want to see your physical capabilities and reflexes and how you react to the situation.” (Cyril)

“Alright than I can do that.” (Aearial)

One we took our places ten feet away Aearial began to take a low stance that allowed her to begin sprinting and avoiding attacks at a moment’s notice based on my usage of Mai as a revolver and took into account of it. But I want to see how she reacts to things that she doesn’t encounter previously or see’s so I had Mai change forms from a gun to a combat knife that was based on the ‘Ari B’Lilah’ counterterrorism knife, but instead of imagining it with a sharp edge, I imagined a dull edge since it’s a spar.

Aearial seeing that I changed to using a knife also changed her stance from a low stance that focus on leg power to a stance that was focused on self-defense and counters based on how she is keeping her body squared and arms in tight. I couldn’t really name the martial arts form, but it seems based on various forms of martial arts like how MMA fighting is used, except her style seems to have been developed for actual combat and not sport.

After she was ready and I began the spar, neither of us rushed at each other and just stayed in place while watching each other’s actions. Observing her, I can tell that she was truthful in that she is highly skilled in hand to hand combat as I found it hard to figure out how to approach without being countered, but since I am the instructor, I guess I should start it off since standing her won’t help anyone.

Deciding this, I also took a stance that was focus on defensive fighting and reacting to attacks used by soldiers. The stance consisted of me holding Mai outward ready to thrust anytime while my other hand floated above the blade with my palm parallel to the ground with me bending forward slightly.

I decided to see how good she is in a defensive battle when faced with an opponent that does the same. I slowly moved closer towards her until I was just outside her range of her reach.

Both of us stared each other square the eyes the whole time waiting for the other to make a mistake at any moment. Making the first move, I quickly thrust my right arm holding Mai towards Aearial aiming for her stomach.

Aearial easily reacted by using her right arm to push by outstretched hand to her side, missing her body while at the same time using her other hand to stop my other arm that was aiming for her face as well.

Catching my left arm by the wrist, she used her right hand and attempted to put me in an adductive wristlock while she tried to break my balance by kicking my feet out from under me and force me onto the ground to give herself the advantage in position.

The problem arose when her leg that tried to break my balance only hit air where my legs should have been. After I saw her aim to put me in a wristlock, without her noticing, I grabbed onto her cloths on her back using my hand that was Previously holding Mai who I had to let go.

After I latched onto her without her knowledge, I took advantage of her abnormal strength that I noticed she had after she grabbed my wrist. The reason her leg met with air was because I lifted both of my legs up to my chest before she realized.

When she finally noticed the sight of my legs in front of her, the look of realization finally bloomed on her face but it was too late for that.

When my legs finally reached right where I wanted them, I pushed them out and towards Aearial’s abdomen. She attempted to jump back to weaken the blow after letting go of my wrist but failed to get away since I had pulled her back to me using my right arm that was secretly holding on to her. This little oversight was her mistake as my legs connected with her abdomen and knocked the air out of her.

The kick ended up sending her flying back a few feet from the force and sliding onto her back. Once she hit the ground, she tightly clutched her stomach while gasping for breath desperately.

“Aria!”

Elena rushed over to Aearial while shouting her name along with Halbert. When they arrived by her side, Halbert had Elena help him and they moved Aearial into a crouching position since Aearial couldn’t do this by herself due to the pain from being winded.

After few minutes of this, her muscles finally relaxed enough for her to breathe properly or at least without as much difficulty. During this time, I moved to the side and ignored Halbert’s glare towards my back and went to pick up Mai who I had to let go previously while she continued to complain towards me about throwing her like I did through our telepathic link in a vain effort.

Well, two more to go before I guess I should end class for the day, all that’s left is Elena and Erline who I need to spar against, but seeing as Elena never mentioned having much skill in hand to hand combat or anything I decided that I may just need to gauge how well are her reflexes are for now. I’m going to have to guess using that for now and then maybe tomorrow during training, I can see more into about that.