In a world where the enemies are forced to wait at the front door and no big conflict is happening anywhere, one could say that those at the top have become stagnant to a certain degree with the period of extended peace.
But amidst that, one group continued going higher and higher without anyone noticing. Maybe because there were no conflicts and therefore there was no stage for them to display their complete capabilities, they went under everyone's radar, including the factions where they came from.
"I don't know how you can elude everyone's eyes, but who do you think keeps fixing the underground training grounds after you leave?", Kisuke asked while grinning. This was the only reason why Kisuke could track their real progress. As for their mode of training? A 3 vs 3 sparring with Claire, Tanis, and Kunou on one team and Ophis, Lilith, and Flanna on the other side.
It's a ridiculously unbalanced match-up, but somehow, they managed to make it work.
While the first team was trying to damage the comically durable transcendents with everything they had, the Dragons were learning the basics of combat to better control their powers.
"...Eh? ...It doesn't have an automatic repair function?" Tanis asked back, but Claire and Kunou knew that asking would mean admitting it and sighed.
"It does. But you kept destroying the place so much that after the 50th time, I stopped restoring its normal functions."
Claire and Kunou were dumbfounded because they didn't notice anything different. They'd already memorized everything in the training grounds, even the placement of the rocks, and there were no changes to it in the past six years that they've been using it, so they thought it was an automatic repair function kicking in so they'd always go wild without care for anything.
Kisuke had always wanted to train Ophis, Lilith, and Flanna to not just control their powers, but to also use them effectively when needed but he didn't know how to go about it exactly and even if they were listening to him, it'd be hard to make them follow exactly what he wanted to happen. In addition to his busy schedule, he wouldn't be able to give them the attention they needed.
After all, the only training that Kisuke knew was for those with the same physiological makeup as him and not those with Ophis' that could be shaped in any way. Not to mention the special characteristics that make up their identities. Essentially, only they would be able to know how to control their abilities.
When Kisuke first discovered that these girls would use the training grounds to practice what they learned and with such an unbalanced team, he felt conflicted on whether to let it go or stop them since it was too dangerous. A small mistake from Ophis' team could result in something disastrous.
But Kisuke, as usual, let his curiosity take over and gave them a silent pass while watching carefully for any accidents that might occur.
When they started, there were indeed some accidents, but Kisuke was surprised that he have to didn't do anything and Claire's team was able to deal with the problems that came their way. At that time, Kisuke realized how much he and the others were underestimating them.
Every week, these girls would secretly come to the underground hideout using Ophis' ability and would spend a few hours sparring. But if other people could see what they were doing, they would be appalled and horrified because the only 'sparring' that they knew, was the kind of sparring that Kisuke's group did. No rules and just avoid getting fatally injured. So out of necessity, everyone from Claire's team learned their own Healing Magic, be it through Magic, Ki, or Youjutsu.
And while Kisuke was watching them during their regular sparring, he made a few incredible discoveries.
In the first stages of their unsupervised training, Claire's team was facing true monsters. Even if Ophis' team tried to hold back, they didn't know how to do such a thing in the first place. So they sometimes ended up releasing power way beyond what they intended, especially Flanna, who could just go from poking softly to poking a hole through your stomach the moment she accidentally drops her pistols.
In other words, Claire's team was facing very real threats that actually pushed them to adapt and evolve, just like how the 'Golden Generation' thrived through the repeated conflicts of their time.
But what's the most surprising thing was that Ophis, Lilith, and Flanna were developing in ways that Kisuke never expected. Because Claire's team was incredibly weak, they were forced to learn how to hold back properly, but because Claire's team was also improving at a remarkable rate, the Dragons were forced to keep adjusting, making them develop their own combat styles that only suited them and that no one else could teach them.
What Kisuke thought was an imbalanced team, turned out to be the perfect matchup that pushed each side to compensate for each other's shortcomings, 'I wonder if they did that on purpose?' Kisuke asked himself after the 200th time that they'd 'sparred'.
Though their development could be said to be incredibly slow compared to the Golden Generation, it was a completely steady incremental increase, such that they'd even almost caught up to today's top fighters all by themselves. It was a miracle that Kisuke was the only one who'd been able to notice it.
Claire sighed, "I really thought we were able to hide it from everyone... I didn't think Kisuke-niisan would be peeping on us."
"Oi, oi, oi. Those words are going to get me killed, you know?"
Claire stuck out her tongue at him, "It's true though."
Ignoring Claire's teasing, Kunou was curious about something and asked, "Kisuke-niisama, is it true that we're stronger than the Golden Generation when they were our age? How is that possible?"
"I'm not lying." Kisuke turned to Kunou after giving Claire a forehead flick that made her roll on the floor in agony, "You lot just don't know how strong you've become thanks to all those years of sparring by yourselves, because none of you have actually revealed to anyone what you're capable of. Trust me when I say that if others were to see you fight for real, they'd have the same opinion."
However, Tanis had a much more simple comparison, "But the training ground... If we really got as strong as you said, the training ground will probably go."
Claire stood up and agreed with Tanis' words, "That's right. We thought we hadn't been improving our firepower because the damage had remained the same."
Kisuke looked at the three of them with disbelieving eyes, "You seriously didn't notice? Compared to the first time you used the space, it has been strengthened countless times. Do you know how many headaches it caused me just to adapt to the power you guys were releasing? At the end of it, I got tired and just extended a bit of the Global Isolation Barrier over the training ground or else you'd disintegrate the whole place and disappear into the sea of Dimensional Gap."
Claire, Tanis, and Kunou stared at him with dumbfounded expressions.
Finally, Kisuke added, "Didn't you think there's a reason why Ophis, Lilith, and Flanna started dodging your attacks? Because they actually hurt them now."