When he analyzed a few of the fighters on each side, he found out why. Those on the red side were on average five levels higher than their enemies, with a few of the leaders even being ten levels higher. Sam frowned at this, unsure of why this was being used as a training method. He was about to make a comment on this, but as the last few of the green team members were sent to the stands, with about half of the reds remaining, a man stepped out into the middle of the arena, clapping.

“Great job, green team! You managed to whittle down the numbers of the superior team by almost half, a definite improvement from the last time.”

The man was about to continue, but Sam stood up, and cleared his throat.

“What exactly just happened here? What is the purpose of having two unbalanced teams?”

Sam did not doubt the methods of the trainer, but he wanted to make sure that they were well guided. The man looked up at Sam, a hint of annoyance on his face. As soon as he saw Sam however, he paled.

“Ahem. Faction leader Atlas. I was not expecting a visit from your august self today.”

The man quickly slipped into a strangely formal diction as he spoke, and Sam shook his head.

“Just consider me a spectator. I only want to know what your reasons behind this training method are.”

“R-right. Of course. I am trying to prepare my charges for fighting against a numerically superior and higher leveled force. The fact that a group that is far weaker than another one can take out half their number is a great feat. If all of the soldiers in this city can fight to that same level, then we will have a great fighting force on our hands.”

“Huh. That sounds reasonable to me. Would you mind if I tested this myself?” Sam asked.

“Test? I don’t know what you mean…”

Before the man could continue, Sam flexed his legs and leaped over the heads of the audience, landing in the middle of the arena sands. He walked forward, heading straight towards the center of the arena.

“Come on then. All of you, get back here,” Sam called out.

The rest of the soldiers came back from their positions in the stands, looking quite apprehensive. Behind Sam, the trainer spluttered, but eventually realized that he was defeated, and he withdrew. Sam paid him no heed.

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“Here is how this is going to work,” Sam said, tossing his mace aside. “I will fight you all at the same time. I win if I get you all out. You win if one of your number lands a single hit on me. I will personally reward anyone who manages that. How does that sound?” He was met with silence. “I said, how does that sound!”

The soldiers began to cheer, and Sam smiled. He opened his hands wide, and waited for them to make the first move. The fighters immediately began to group themselves in a cohesive unit, with the melee fighters at the front, and the mages at the back. A man at the front screamed a command, and a wall of arcane power was sent crackling towards Sam. He clapped his hands together, imbuing the motion with his Dao. A wave of red energy surged outwards around him canceling out the spells that were coming his way.

There was a crack like thunder, and Sam was standing in front of the soldiers, a gaping hole left where he had been standing. A moment later, three of them were sent flying up into the air, out for the count. All it had taken was a single backhand. Sam quickly moved into the army, keeping track of who was near him. Attacks came in slow motion, and he flitted around them, redirecting them into the path of their attacks. He had intended for this to be a bit of a challenge for him, but he was so far beyond the norm that it was more of a breeze. Sighing, he closed his eyes, relying on his other senses to fight.

He heard a cheer from the soldiers around him, as if they had sensed an easy victory. However, such a thing was not coming. Sam could hear every one of the nearby weapons, and sensed them as they intruded upon his aura. This was an avenue of power that he had not tested as of now, but he found that it was quite effective. Every time that a foreign body entered his aura, he felt a tiny surge of power in that area, and was able to track their attacks from there. In this way, he stood there for a minute, getting the hang of it.

He was soon surrounded by soldiers, all of whom alternated their strikes in perfect synchronicity. However, he was untouchable. A moment later, he exploded into motion, tearing through their ranks like they were nothing more than children. In fact to him, they were even less than that. It was as if a fully grown man had decided to fight ants. As he fought, Sam began to grin. He felt truly alive.

The other fighters started to flag, even those who were still in the fight, as Sam slowly wore down their stamina. They did not have the incredibly large stamina pool that he had, and they quickly started to lose their energy. This manifested itself in the form of sloppy blows and a general slowness in the body of the fighting force.

Sam was still in the upper half of his stamina bar however, and he wasn't even using his big skills. Because he was simply fighting with his fists, his bar was dropping slowly. The men and women fell like chaff before him, and soon he had reached the mages’ division, where he tore through their ranks like a knife through flesh, easily dodging their hastily constructed mana blasts and elemental energy attacks.

Sam quickly began to enter a battle state, and he lost track of what he was doing. Soon he was standing in front of the last few mages, and he quickly took them out of the fight with sweeping blows of his arms and feet, kicking and punching them into the air. Despite their relative fragility, none of them were severely injured, as he was limiting his strength. It would not do to injure his own soldiers, no matter how innocent his intentions. All he wanted to do here was prove a point.