After Laceresta and I sparred, Instructor Quoketh decided to do a relatively small explanation on what to expect in the upcoming sessions, “I am doing this for all of you,” she had her hands on her back and was glaring at the gathered students in front of us, “but just because that’s the case doesn’t mean that what I am doing is always right, this isn’t what actual combat is and out there? There are a lot more options for you to do in a fight; retreat, fight, prepare an ambush, whatever- so don't go away from this class expecting that you are all expert Slayers because you aren't.”

"Fafnir, come up here,” our Teacher said and my Dragon followed, “Frovan,” the large teen came and he… was shaking despite only being slightly shorter than Laceresta, making him infinitely taller than the rest of the class and my Dragon's humanoid form was small compared to his bulk.

Instructor Quoketh turned to Fafnir, “I don't expect you to fight in your human form most of the time but I know that you'll have to at some point, so this experience is fairly important,” she said to the nod of Nir, “as a Dragon, you have natural instincts that help you fight and read the state of a fight better than anyone- but instinct can be refined through techniques, and Neophyte is teaching you how to fight yes?” Another nod, “good, I want you to hone them during these spars,”

Fafnir nodded, “I understand,”

I smiled encouragingly at her, “you can do it!” I whispered into her ear, “goodluck!” I said that one out loud.

“Thank you, Neo,” Fafnir returned my smile with one of her own before turning around and walking inside the circle meant to represent the ring, a steely gazed Frovan was already on the other side, though he was also sweating and his face was whiter than a ghost, he gulped as Fafnir gave him a nod, “hope we have a good fight,”

“Go easy on me?” He said, his smile looking more like a wince.

“I'm afraid not.” Frovan's much smaller- albeit armored, - opponent said with a shake of her head, “if I am as strong as a Demon Duke even in this form, I would not hold back just because you said so, I'd make it quick, the Demons wouldn't slow down just because you asked them to,”

“R-right,” Frovan nodded followed by another gulp, “please make it quick,”

Fafnir nodded and they both waited for Instructor Quoketh to raise her hand and start the fight, when she finished her gesture, Fafnir was already in front of Frovan with a punch at the ready, she threw a blow to his stomach, which struck and caused the guy to wheeze and bend over coughing, and before anything could be done by him, Fafnir proceeded to strike his temple with the side of her gauntleted forearm and he fell to the ground with a thump.

“Well, that was… completely expected,” I drawled, “honestly, when Instructor Quoketh said that we'll be the ones acting as a gate for our classmates to know how strong they are I didn't really believe her…”

Nir turned to me, head tilted, “I'm gonna continue fighting them?”

"We'll take turns,” I said as she left the ring and walked up to me and Laceresta, “tomorrow it will be Laceresta's turn to fight some unfortunate soul while you and me spar, after that it's my turn to give a beatdown to one of our classmates,” I explained, “and it's not like we won't spar with each other later anyways,” I said, “it's either Laceresta or me who'll do it and we agreed to teach you so that you know how to fight without relying on your instincts, we'll show you what kind of punches are effective, when to sweep, how to spot opportunities, that sort of thing.”

“Thank you,” Fafnir gave me a grateful nod.

“Don't mind it,” I returned her gesture.

After Fafnir came a standard spar and it was between Zathania and Naviri.

As the two combatants stood on the opposite end of each other, Naviri's mom (also known as Instructor Quoketh,) started explaining why they were picked to fight one another much like how she did for me and Laceresta earlier-

“These two can choose to switch between close and long range combat whenever they want, making them quite versatile but as you all can see, there are still two of them in the same class so you shouldn't think that you're unique just because your Pledges make you versatile,” she said harshly, which both Zath and Naviri took in stride, honestly I would too knowing full well that Instructor Quoketh's words don't hurt as much as her exercise.

Instructor Quoketh eyed them down once she finished talking and Zath and Naviri nodded at the same time, a small gesture that told our teacher they were ready to fight and since they were, she raised her hand.

When it went down, a dagger flew for Zath's neck in seconds- but was quickly stopped by a wall of ice that formed in front of her, from my perspective, I was looking at a wide eyed Zath- who, at this moment, is definitely feeling glad that she opened up the fight like that.

Though instead of going the usual route of obscuring the area with fog, Zath made it so that the wall of ice turned to steam and the steam turned to water before solidifying back to icicle spikes that flew for Naviri's neck, who met them all with her daggers blow for blow.

Zath wasn't done though and she dashed forward, staff wreathed in flames and when she was close enough, she pulled off a feint that tricked Naviri and got her to grab hold of one of her daggers in preparation for a block- the action turned out useless as Zath did a sweep that Naviri jumped over and when their Pledges struck one another, they moved away from each other to take a breather and see the state of the fight.

“Naviri could've thrown a dagger at Zath just now right?” I said to the nod of Laceresta as well as Fafnir, “and Zath could've continued using her icicle spears, maybe turn it into armor or something to block Naviri's attacks,”

"Good point,” Laceresta said as Zath started jumping back, her footsteps causing the ground to form a thin layer of ice that quickly spread across the ring and even on the ground outside of it.

“She's really turned out to be a pretty good fighter huh?” I couldn't help but say as I watched my maid- who just a few weeks ago couldn't even fight Naviri without her holding back, - start to break down Naviri's quick paced fighting style.

“It's not over yet,” Fafnir said, “Naviri still hasn't used a single Technique, she's making something.”

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

As Fafnir said, Naviri hasn't used a single Technique in the fight so far and when she did, [Feather Steps] came first and with her newly found foothold, she started treading and running across the icy ground without problem.

Naviri ran across the ring like the ice underneath her feet was just regular, solid dirt and the shock that Zath felt from seeing that caused her to almost get hit by a Dagger, but she thankfully dodged with a swift weave to the right.

And that was when Naviri went on the offensive, she cast [Novice Archer], which started allowing her to hit her daggers with efficiency, sure, Zath still managed to block them but without the worry of her possibly missing- in this close a distance at least, - Naviri was able to buy herself more attacks, and some were starting to move past Zath's guard.

Zath pulled off an attack when an opening presented itself and threw out a large ball of fire at her opponent-

Naviri easily dodged the fireball before seamlessly executing another Technique; back when Everlast was still a game, [Target] was a simple and admittedly weak spell that was only really useful in the first parts of the game, and despite the lengthy description, what it actually does is it allows for someone to “hit their target no matter what” - ingame, the effects translates into an invulnerable dash that can be used for cheesing certain enemies.

Here though? The Technique does exactly what's described-

With her new Technique, it didn't take long for Naviri to find the opportunity to strike and she moved forward, forcing Zath into close quarters combat and after that, she never left- continuing an onslaught of slashes with the daggers that she was both holding as well as the ones floating behind her, Zath was forced into the offensive and Naviri didn't let up, using [Minor Speed] halfway through to boost her speed further and continue her attacks.

Eventually, Zath lost-

“And you're out,” Naviri said as she stopped attacking, breathing ragged from her fast paced movements, “good work, Zathania,” Naviri nodded at her and offered her a hand, which Zath shook, “you really did get stronger,”

“I tried my best,” my maid bowed, “thank you,”

“Yeah, Zath really did get stronger,” I mirrored Naviri's words, “good work,”

My maid bowed, “thank you, mistress,”

After that, Instructor Quoketh did her usual thing, starting with- “yes, Techniques are permitted, it's only banned against Neophyte and most of her team,” she said for the students who haven't figured it out yet, “now, why did Zath rely on her long ranged capabilities and Naviri didn't?”

One student got called- Sleet, someone from Nimbusegia, - they stood up and answered, “because Zathania knew that Naviri is better at her in close combat,”

“Correct,” Instructor Quoketh nodded in approval, “Zathania knew that Naviri was better at her in close combat and so did Naviri, and true to that fact, when the distance between them got closed, the battle all but ended- most of the time that won't be the case, especially if you have a team but you all better be prepared to fight when you're at a disadvantage,” our teacher explained, “next up are Lucille and Vicissi,”

"Now, why did I pick the two of them?” Our teacher scanned the crowd but no one raised their hand, Instructor Quoketh shook her head at that, “it's a pity that the only thing all of you see is how weak Lucille's current Pledge is,” she said to my genuine confusion, did everyone really think like that? What?

“Pledges aren't everything,” our teacher said, “and Lucille, for all she's weak right now, still managed to kill a Demon Baron, why is that?”

“Because of her Techniques,” I answered simply, “that's how I managed to beat the Demon Duke even when I wasn't as strong as him,”

“Yes, which means that you are as strong as Demon Duke with the addition of your Techniques,” Instructor Quoketh said, “and that's exactly why Lucille, even with her Pledge, will be fighting someone who's considered to be a prodigy within Nimbusegia because for all he is said out to be that way, someone from the Flora territory still managed to beat him at upgrading their Technique,”

Vicissi scowled, “and as you can see, he scowls,” Instructor Quoketh grinned, “being called a Prodigy and living life getting treated as one seems to have gotten over his head, Neophyte, you're also prodigious-”

“Don't compare me to a Prophecy!” He snapped and kept going even as our teacher glared at him, “they're not meant to be treated the same way as other Pledge Bearers to begin with!”

“Fair enough,” Instructor Quoketh shrugged, good for her for not reacting at that disrespect honestly, “so, we have someone with a Sanguine Pledge fighting him, a humble village girl-”

“U-uhm please don't say that, can we just fight?” Lucille said.

Vicissi smirked, "what? You're excited to get your teeth kicked in?”

Lucille nodded quickly in response before her reply caught up to her and she started violently shaking her head- “n-no I mean I just want to fight,” she bowed, “I don't want this to get any longer and offend you,”

“Whatever,” Vicissi scowled, he turned to Instructor Quoketh, “so?”

Our teacher called her Pledge in response, she raised the massive greatsword and glared at Vicissi, “do that again.”

Vicissi bowed, “sorry,”

“It's good that you know how to act humble and admit your mistakes, even if it's only when you're about to get struck down, work on that and you'll be fine in my book,” our teacher raised her hand.

When the fight started, Lucille didn't hesitate to call her Pledge, which is a good call since Vicissi did the same.

The spar was between a small, hand held dagger vs a grimoire and to everyone, it's probably a fight that couldn't be easily won by the heroine but they're slightly wrong, Vicissi has the advantage sure, but Lucille can become faster than him if she manages to use her Technique.

The start of the fight was all but standard; with Vicissi using a bunch of attacks that involved changing the dirt into something hard to step on- control, that's what he was going for and as Lucille kept dodging his balls of ice, pellets of snow, and cold winds, the ring was slowly changing into an environment that's not to her favor.

And it would've been his victory- and I thought that too honestly, - if Lucille didn't suddenly pick up speed and run for Vicissi like her life depended on it, when she got close, the wide eyed prodigy could do nothing as she struck him in the solar plexus with the pommel of her dagger, sending him to the ground.

Lucille hesitated for a bit before she sighed when Vicissi was starting to get up and without thinking twice, struck the back of his head with the pommel of her dagger.

“Please don't get up,” she said while preparing for another strike, her Pledge raised in the air.

“You think-”

“Just stop it,” I cut him off and he stared at me in shock, “you lost, that's all there is to it, give up.”

Vicissi huffed and he glared at me, I glared back at him, seriously, what a prideful little shit, “fine,” he said, “I give up,” he didn't forget to glare at me as he turned his back from us and walked back into our gathered classmates.

With that troublemaker gone, Instructor Quoketh walked up to the front to start her explanation, “you look like you knew what you were doing,” she said to Lucille who nodded, “why were you so confident in calling your Pledge against Vicissi earlier?”

“Because I knew he'd call it first instead of using Techniques,” she answered, “and if I do the same, then we both call our Pledges at the same time, making things even.”

“And the fact that you continued to dodge instead of fighting? You used a Technique before your upgraded one right?” Instructor Quoketh asked again.

Lucille nodded to confirm it, “mhmm!” She said, smiling, “I used [Light Weight] to go even faster and then [Greater Speed] after that,”

“Good work, and good call,” Instructor Quoketh complimented before allowing Lucille to go back to her friends.

When things settled down, the next combatants came and as usual, there's an explanation- Eber and Garth both specialize in physical attacks yadda yadda yadda, - before it starts and then after that, the actual fight begins.

I watched the two combatants go at it, but my main focus was on Eber, if I remember right, he should have the blood of a Beastkin running in his veins, he just lacks the typical animal traits found on them or, at least according to a theory I read on a forum- it did manifest, just not externally, he had the physique of a Boar, but nothing more.

And I'm not gonna lie, physique is already good enough, it's why my eyes were on him- brown hair, a muscled body, and a tall height, those are the traits that can be said to be Eber's strongest but then no one mentions the fact that-

“Huh, I never knew that he's that strong,” Laceresta commented appraisingly while eyeing the fight.

“It has something to do with his Pledge maybe?” I lied while eyeing the clawed gauntlets on Eber's hand, “maybe it's his Pledge's effect?”

"Maybe,” Laceresta looked skeptical as she eyed our classmate.

As the fight went on, it was obvious that Eber is going to win the spar and Garth couldn't do anything about it with his naturally gained strength- which can grow bigger thanks to him being a Pledge Bearer, but he's still weak now, - or his Pledge, which is a standard dark-blue sword- a bad match up for someone who has gauntlets that allow them to easily grab the sword and then proceed to attack with their other gauntlet wearing hand.

It didn't take long for Garth to fall in the end.