As one would expect from a First Class Adventurer, Ais was able to find a way to counter Kisuke's invisible strikes by covering the whole battlefield with her own wind, giving everyone an early warning sign if such an attack was used.
However, that was the extent of it.
Even though they all have improved massively thanks to them using Ki that they could even go toe to toe with a normal Level 7 easily, Kisuke's delicate suppression made them unable to bring out their full capacity. Finn and Riveria wouldn't be as surprised if Kisuke just overpowered them, but the scene in front of them proved that this mysterious man has the qualifications to call them 'amateurs'.
'Who is he really? Now that I've managed to sort my thoughts, the discomfort that I'm experiencing isn't coming from him directly but from the overall situation. It's certain that Loki and Filvis are hiding something from us, so is that the real cause of this unsettling feeling?', Finn's suspicion grew larger and it didn't just involve those who knew Kisuke, but the overall situation within the city itself. Loki wasn't wrong to call Finn's intuition better than most Gods out there.
"As Level 6s, you guys could easily take on Level 7s or maybe even 8s that haven't learned Ki or Magic control. It sounds impressive but..." Kisuke then suddenly stopped and pondered on his words more, "Well, considering that you guys learned without a proper master, I think this is still good."
"T-this is unreal... I couldn't even dish out a good punch...", Tiona muttered in frustration while trying to sit up.
Tione, meanwhile, just gave up and laid on her back while looking at her kukri knives that are both cleaved in half, "Not just that... I can't believe we're using the same weapon."
On the other hand, thanks to her speed and flexibility, Ais was able to avoid and mitigate most of the damage and was able to easily sit straight up. Unlike the two, however, she only has one simple question, "How?"
Although she still has the same stoic face as before, Kisuke noticed that Ais was much calmer than before and the black haze that covered her entire body has already largely dissipated, 'The only reason I can think of is that Dragon... Still, just her presence shouldn't have warranted this kind of subtle but drastic change because her hate actually stems from the Black Dragon. Or maybe because of Lysa's existence, it became a lot easier for Aria-san to fend off the Black Dragon's influence?'
Since there's still a bit of time, Kisuke didn't mind helping them out for a bit and explained, "It's because you guys focused more on firepower than control."
Ais tilted her head in confusion. When learning how to use Ki, they didn't encounter anything that divided Ki for 'firepower' and 'control'. However, Kisuke was the only one who could be blamed for that because he's the one who wrote the book they are learning from. By focusing on the technicalities, Kisuke avoided anything that might form a bias or limit their creativity, 'Although that clearly backfired since not one of them even delved deeper on the basics of how to control Ki. If they did, they would be able to discover another subset of the topic by themselves.'
"Before that," Kisuke looked at Finn and Riveria's direction, "Please come over too. I'll be saying something important."
Finn and Riveria looked at each other before nodding. Finn walked over while Riveria called the others who were watching to come over. After passing some potions to the three girls, Finn approached Kisuke, more specifically, the unconscious one under him, "Do you mind..." But mid-sentence, he recalled how Bete was the only one Kisuke overpowered and face buried after the former showed so much hostility to the latter. Shaking his head and smiling wryly, Finn kept the potion in his hand and shook his head, "It's nothing. Please go on."
Once everyone has gathered, Kisuke continued, "I can understand that you guys focused much more on gathering Ki more than controlling it because it raises firepower much faster and against monsters that could have incredible defences, that's what you need. However, that's a beginner's mistake... Or more accurately, a mistake for those who don't have a proper teacher."
Everyone was quiet. Thanks to the sparring, everyone knew that this man's ability was real. Even though they stand on the 'top', they are not arrogant enough to dismiss the words of someone who was clearly that much more capable than them.
Lifting his right arm, Kisuke rolled his sleeve back for everyone to see, "I will do a demonstration, but I'll be using Magic to emulate Ki because it's much easier for everyone to see it that way."
Everyone saw Kisuke arm become covered by semi-translucent white flame and some of them let out a voice of awe while some only stared in confusion. For the executives, however, it's a very familiar sight, "This is how it looks when you use Ki, am I right?"
Ais nodded vigorously.
The flame then started to burn strongly and Kisuke asked again, "And this is how it looks when you gather it to prepare for an attack, yes?"
"That's right.", Tiona answered.
While rubbing his chin, Finn added his conjecture, "I finally understand. Since you can visualize it like this, it also means that you can clearly see when someone gathers their Ki. With that knowledge in hand, you were able to predict their movement with great accuracy, disrupting their movements, and making sure that they could never unleash what they've gathered."
"That's correct, but I couldn't actually see them. I had to hone my senses to detect these types of things and all of you should be capable of that too since it's very similar to detecting Magic Power."
"Moving on, this came to be because you only practiced basic controls to the point that it's usable." The roaring flame on Kisuke's arm then stopped and formed a thin film on the surface of his skin, without any fluctuation. A stark contrast to its noisy state from before.
"This is the extent of what you can do if you have enough mastery of control and right now, I'm varying the intensity, but it's already hard to see any differences it makes. I know you might say that I'm of the extreme minority that could detect this and that may be true to some extent, but raising your control over Ki doesn't just hide what you want to do next.", Kisuke picked up the kukri knife with his aura covered hand and the white film slowly crawled towards it, enveloping it completely after a few seconds.
"It's a lot harder to reign in Ki, so beginners would rather just focus on gathering since they can get the same amount of firepower for a lot less effort. However, with control, you can extend the influence of your Ki towards your weapons and this will make them sharper and sturdier. In fact, the invisible slashes that I did earlier are just an extension of this." Swinging his arm, some of the white film left the knife and traveled for a few meters before disappearing.
Various voices of surprise and admiration sprung out from the crowd which soon evolved into various discussions.
After arranging his own thoughts, Finn asked, "That's really surprising. We didn't know there's more to Ki than what's in the book. Since you've gone to the trouble of demonstrating this to us, I suppose you planned to teach us this control method? But outright giving it to us wouldn't make any sense so please name your price. If it's reasonable, we're determined to purchase this information."
When Kisuke shook his head, Finn thought that he needed anything other than material or monetary gain and was about to discuss it with him. But before he could say anything, Kisuke cleared his misunderstanding, "There's nothing to purchase, Deimne-san. There's no special way to manipulate Ki. What you have is all you need to know."
While the others became confused for a moment, Ais spoke up, "So those basics are all we need and have to do it over and over again?"
Kisuke nodded, "That's it and nothing else. It's just a matter of how much or how little you can manipulate your Ki without concentrating too much. Besides, everyone's body is different even if they are twins. After mastering the basics, that's where you have to find a unique way to manipulate the flow of Ki more smoothly. If there are any special methods, that's for those who can't use Ki normally."
"I see. I'm sorry for jumping to a conclusion and thank you very much for enlightening.", Finn was truly thankful, however, Kisuke was still a suspicious figure in his eyes so he couldn't help but wonder, "But why are telling this to us? I'm sorry if this may sound rude, but what's your goal?"
Kisuke then finally stood up and shook his head once again, "I can explain, but I don't really have to since you'll understand it later. Loki-sama could vouch for that."
Finn turned to Loki and saw her nod to him silently.
"Now then, before resuming my spar with Challia-san, allow me to show another thing that might motivate you to practice more." Kisuke dropped the kukri knife and raised his right arm once again. Within a few seconds, everyone could see frost started forming around his arm and hand before a blade of ice suddenly emerged from his hand.
"Geez... What is this Magic? It's too silent and fast!" Tiona commented.
"Don't be a fool, Tiona." Riveria interrupted, "He said he'd show something to motivate everyone to practice. If that's true, then that's still a demonstration on how to use Ki."
"Wait, what!? Really!?"
Even Ais couldn't help but come closer to take a look, "You can do this with Ki?"
"Once you've reached a certain level with Ki manipulation, there's a small chance that you can awaken to a special attribute. However, it is so rare that even I don't have it and I can only show it with some cheap imitation and a 'simple' special attribute."
Incredibly interested, Riveria asked, "What's this special attribute?"
Kisuke took back his 'Magic' before answering, "It could be anything. When I said that what I showed was something simple, what I meant was there could be anything with wild effects and not just simple ice. I could say this because I personally knew someone who can manifest white flames with her Ki. But instead of burning with it, her flames could absorb all sorts of energies and convert them to something she could use. And to some extent, those same flames could even affect the soul itself. In a battlefield, consumption isn't a problem for her and she could technically dish out multiple attacks that could deal the same damage as wide-area annihilation Magic each. Only if she can handle the mental and physical strain... Which I guess she can do now easily."
"Oh~ Are you talking about Koneko-chan? Has she already grown that strong? If I remember correctly, she should just be a Level 3 not long ago. So she already has enough power to wipe the floor with Finn and the rest, huh?", Loki suddenly dropped a bomb.