CHAPTER 92: SACRIFICE

In groups of five, the students faced a small squad of five B-Rank members.

Two spearmen, two archers, and a fighter.

Nicole doggedly engaged the fighter in a fistfight that turned fierce.

Perhaps the fighter she was facing did not want to ‘hurt’ a ‘girl’ and held back at first, and that was her mistake.

In a boxer’s stance, Nicole threw her punches that were not only fast, but powerful.

Her trained moves made it clear that she was better at fighting a human than she was at fighting creatures.

The worst thing for her opponent was that she looked like a fighter with a boxing style and if they concentrated, Nicole could change her style and throw kicks, agile and lethal.

Sometimes arrows would come from the squad of soldiers and in response, Andrés’ drones would raise a barrier and then launch lightning attacks, slightly paralyzing the fighter.

Turning the battle more acrimonious.

Near him, Clémentine levitated while facing two spearmen with Érica’s support.

It was very difficult for her to use her telekinesis ability to move the spearmen’s bodies that were reinforced with magical energy, but that didn’t mean she was in a tough battle.

When the spearmen thrust her spear to attack her, she would generate a force of resistance by trapping the spears, and then that same force would turn into a wave that would strike the spearmen, sending it flying.

Other times, she used earth to affect the eyes of her opponents and even used rocks to hit them.

As if that wasn’t enough at key moments, Clémentine created a gravitational force to increase the attackers’ gravitational force, causing the attacks to destabilize and their attacks to miss.

Adding Érica, who cast minor spells to support, focused on containing her opponents, then the battle was in favor of the students.

Érica’s ice arrows would hit her enemy, wounding them, and other times she would produce a small frozen area around her enemies, affecting the soldiers and reducing their speed.

The archers who were in the background rarely had time to help their comrades, and Andrés repelled those few times.

The biggest reason for the few opportunities was Leslie, who was using her two pistols to engage the two archers.

The AI was supporting her and activating her barriers to protect herself from her enemy’s arrows, letting her know when she was being surrounded.

The difference between an archer and a shooter was simply the rate of fire.

The archer was slower than a pistol, and as for reloading, the time it took was equal.

Leslie only had to lower her pistol near her belt to magnetically reload her weapon.

Sometimes she would fire curved shots, surprising her opponents, and in response, the archers would fire arrows with some effects on them.

Some arrows produced a small cloud of smoke, others pushed it back, and others caused small elemental explosions.

They did not use training weapons, but real weapons, thanks to the training area that prevented serious or deadly damage.

Which led to the two teams being able to engage in combat that was close to the real thing.

“They’re pretty good,” Captain Sadiya said, watching the combat.

Aurora watched the students and couldn’t help but nod with a smile.

They had protected Andrés as the ‘priest’ of any group, allowing him to do his support work excellently.

Their drone barriers were vital at certain times, turning the battle into a bitter fight for their opponents.

Despite being outstanding in three engagements, Andrés was preparing a non-lethal sonic stun drone to finish the battle.

“Send another soldier to Andrés,” Aurora ordered, and Captain Sadiya smiled, giving an order to her soldiers.

Another soldier entered the fray and that psionic soldier launched a psionic wave towards Andrés immediately.

The drones around Andrés created a barrier and stopped him, allowing the young mechanic to fire his sonic stun drone.

The psionic erected a psionic barrier around him, preventing the sound from getting through.

It then attacked Andrés again, interrupting his wonderful work and preventing him from effectively supporting his partner.

“Captain Sadiya, I’ll leave the job to you,” Aurora said with a smile.

“We will give them the best welcome the army has to offer,” Captain Sadiya replied in a strict tone.

Aurora left the training room without looking back.

Would they lose, or would they win?

Neither mattered.

Whether they won or lost, they would have to face more soldiers and different combat.

The soldiers would not hesitate to take on the students, no matter if they were young or not.

This battle was just the first, and there were more to come, with some veterans in it.

So no doubt the students would be pushed to the limit and then trampled when they were on the ground so that they would learn the intensity of the training.

Aurora would not stand idly by, either.

That was why she went to another combat room to look for Colonel Makeba to train, but in that place, she found a gigantic bear and the Colonel fighting each other.

Their combat was too fierce, and it was noticeable that Oscar had already gone crazy, not only increasing in size but his own speed and strength.

Aurora sighed as she saw that they were ahead of her.

Still, she looked for another opponent without giving it too much importance.

While she had her masters, they always said it was good to have some confrontations with new opponents.

******

Entering the building after leaving the van in the garages at the front of the building, Aurora stretched her muscles and gave the students a look.

“I’m tired,” Clémentine muttered, rubbing her temple, having spent all her psionic energy.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Érica entered the building, and without speaking fell to the couch, completely exhausted.

Her pallor let it be seen that she had also used up all her magical energy.

“I’ll go get some drinks,” Nicole said as she stretched out her arms, wincing in pain.

However, she was the one in the best shape.

Maybe because she let herself go in battle like a true fighter, her body was sore and energetic.

“I just want to eat my dinner and go to my bed. Then tomorrow I’ll wake up and be full of energy,” Leslie muttered, sitting down on a couch.

An excellent meal and then rest in their rooms that would reinvigorate their bodies was an excellent plan.

Andrés used his holographic clock and made the magical energy become denser in the room, then commented. “This is life.”

That magical energy reinvigorated his body, which was nice.

Aurora gave a smile at the sight of them and, without saying too much, let them be.

They had worked hard to face the soldiers and receive the grueling training from Captain Sadiya.

Maybe they wouldn’t have an improvement in their skills, but the experience in facing all kinds of enemies and then continuing on even exhausted was certainly helpful.

Aurora went to the kitchen and watched as Nicole was drinking a magical drink to revitalize her body.

Then she left, taking a drink for her companions.

Left alone in the kitchen, Aurora checked the magical ingredients to prepare dinner.

“What do you want to eat?” Aurora asked, checking the ingredients and what was available, feeling a particular presence.

It wasn’t as if they stored everything in the fridge, as there were small chests where the space rings with some edible ingredients were kept.

Since food could be preserved inside and was not affected by the outside, it was best to keep it in it.

“Aren’t you tired? If you want, we can order some prepared food,” Alice said, who had entered the kitchen.

Aurora thought about it, and in the end, shook her head.

“That’s okay. I can cook. I’ll make something to help the others recover,” Aurora commented and turning to look at her friend, she added. “I’ll go train with my master’s first.”

She wasn’t that exhausted and didn’t have too much work to do, so Aurora wanted to take some time to visit her masters.

“I’ll take care of covering for you,” Alice replied with a gentle nod.

Aurora gave a smile and retreated to the top floor.

For someone who didn’t believe she had a ‘system’ and always looked at her strangely, she comfortably accepted that she had masters.

An unreliable sword master and a master fighter who preferred to hit her repeatedly, looking as if she wanted to have fun fighting.

Masters that supposedly were in a small dimension somewhere in Africa.

Aurora didn’t ask too many questions, knowing that her old master wouldn’t talk and understanding that he was hiding secrets.

And in the end, none of those secrets mattered.

She didn’t need answers now, neither from her system nor from her masters, who helped her for quite some time.

Climbing to the top floor using a portal, Aurora couldn’t help but smile, as those thoughts he let them show superficially so that her system could perceive them.

—I don’t always read surface thoughts. Only at times necessary for better communication.

Her system’s response came immediately.

Although at this point, her response seemed like an excuse.

—...

Her system sent her a few dots, as if it didn’t know what to respond to her insistence.

“It’s okay. I have no problems.” Aurora replied with a smile and as she used ‘quick change’ to wear her training clothes, she asked curiously.”If I ask you. Will you tell me the reason why you are with me?"

The system was silent, as if it hadn’t expected that curious question.

—Do you want to know?

The question was a simple text, but Aurora knew it carried more weight than she expected.

“No. I don’t have time to take on any more tasks than I have now.” Aurora commented without changing her expression.

It wasn’t as if she was naïve; she was just refusing to find out more, that was all.

She already had her own assumptions about her system, but since she had spent so much of her life at his side, she preferred to keep it that way.

For a system with which she spent most of her life by his side, defining his goals and reasons for helping her was easy enough to do.

Those assumptions and her own theories Aurora kept deep inside her, and now she was just having fun at her system’s expense.

“Come on,” Aurora said, and immediately she was surrounded by a white light, being moved into a boundless white place.

When she entered that boundless space, she found her two masters playing chess.

“Oh, Aurora, you finally arrive. I’ve already been getting bored with being here.” said the elderly woman with a smile, getting up and throwing the chess pieces on the floor.

“Tch... I’ve been winning. That’s why you want to leave,” mumbled her elderly master as he made the chess set disappear as if it had never existed.

Her master Latfigar ignored the old man’s grumbling and approached Aurora, looking at her closely.

“Watch your combats on that mission. I have to admit, your body is powerful and assimilating the combat aura into your body and not manifesting it was perfect for you,” said the old woman as she nodded again and again in satisfaction.

Aurora couldn’t help but give a soft smile.

She could have used her combat aura emanating it to create even greater effects with her punches, but when she assimilated it and strengthened her body, another change occurred.

Her strength, agility, and stamina increased greatly, and instead of learning to use her combat aura to fight, she had to focus on combat techniques.

This training was purely physical, and it worked for her.

Furthermore, she could tell that the old woman designed this training to match and improve her sword skill.

If she had used her combat aura as a common fighter, then it would not be of great use when she wielded her sword.

Only by increasing her physical strength could it be of use to her when swinging her sword.

Aurora noted that they set up the training so that both masters were satisfied.

“Although I am pleased with your progress. The old man has been complaining too much and has been very annoying,” said the old woman, pointing at the old man, who was tapping his katana sheath with a serious expression.

Aurora had felt it, but had tried to ignore it.

His back was straight, and he looked capable of unsheathing his katana and attacking her in an instant.

“When you attacked the camp with your friend, you moved fast managing to set the supply depot on fire, but when the tank was targeting your partner you moved... Do you remember what your mistake was?” the old man asked with a serious tone.

He looked slightly angry, and his strict look made Aurora stiffen.

She remembered that night when she went out telling no one with her friend.

They helped General Kavuri’s force retreat, causing destruction in the camp.

As for her mistake...

“When the tank was about to shoot Alice, I used my sword... And almost killed a person.” Aurora replied in a simple tone.

Her hand trembled for a single moment and instead of cleanly slicing the barrel, she ended up slightly, wounding the militiaman at the machine gun.

If she had moved wrong... Maybe that person’s head would have separated from his body.

When she faced the magical beasts, it was the same thing, and it seemed even worse to her since she wasn’t facing a human, only beasts.

Aurora was unapologetic, however.

She knew her old master didn’t want an apology; he wanted action.

“After this, I want you to train with your sword in your free time. Take your time to reconnect with your sword,” the old man said, and casually unsheathed his katana.

The ‘after this’ was about enduring his hard training.

******

—Good job.

Aurora fell to the couch after leaving the white place and read the comment from her system.

“Good job? I got my ass kicked,” Aurora muttered, extremely exhausted.

She looked at the time and saw that only half an hour had passed, at this place her expression became distressed.

For hours she had trained with her master... No, she had received the beating from her master.

She had trained before and she had to admit that she was ‘rusty’ and it was hard to get back on her feet.

It wasn’t just techniques, but it was hard for her to emanate her sword aura to her full ability.

Something that was basic for an A-Rank swordsman she was struggling with.

With those thoughts on her mind, Aurora was about to get up when her holographic watch vibrated and, after looking at who it was, Aurora answered.

“James, is something wrong?” Aurora asked the gray-white-haired old man.

The old man was the same person who had helped take care of a small mission when they were in Greece, he was Alice’s butler and her guardian before her family adopted her.

“No, no, this call isn’t for work. It’s a personal favor,” James said with a friendly smile, and seeing Aurora giving him an apologetic look for her sudden reaction, he added. “I know you have a lot of work to do, so I’ll be brief.”

Aurora nodded comfortably, apologizing with a smile.

“I want the young lady to come to the anniversary party,” James stated in a serious tone, and noticing the look on Aurora’s face, he sighed and commented. “I’ve asked her, but you already know her... She doesn’t like this kind of party.”

Aurora’s look became slightly strange.

Now she understood the reason the invitation for the anniversary party asked them to attend the party almost compulsorily... Aurora was sure that was the old man’s way of ‘asking for it’.

“You spoil her too much,” Aurora said, shaking her head with a sigh.

The old man’s expression quivered and he couldn’t help but give a smile, which wisely hid his thoughts.

After all, the ‘spoiling’ thing also came from her, who basically accepted any action she asked for from her.

Aurora wisely ignored that part and pondered for a moment.

Alice had no desire to go to the party, and it wasn’t as if she had anything against the old man who supported her in whatever she wished, it was just that parties of that style bored her.

Still... Aurora nodded.

“I’ll help you. I may not go for long, though I will ask her to attend, at least for appearance’s sake,” Aurora replied calmly.

She could say she was doing it for the old man, but she really didn’t want to go to the party herself and she was sure that if she sided with her friend, they would both end up going.

Was it cruel to sacrifice her friend in this way?

Maybe, but Aurora only excused herself in...

“Thank you. Your servants have wanted to see you for quite some time,” James said with a casual smile, giving an excuse for her to use.

Aurora smiled at those words she could use as an excuse.

Whether it was that she didn’t wish to go, or that Alice had to take over her responsibilities, or that she was simply selling out her friend to curry favor with that kind old man, it didn’t really matter... Alice would be the sacrifice.