The students took their master's words quite serious. Gaia was never one known to lie or bluff. That was where Hugo got it from.
It wasn't being brutally honest, just being confident enough in one's strength not to lie about it. Though, Hugo had intentionally hidden his strength a lot of times, which made their speculations void.
"How are we to get out of here? I reckon he won't let us leave unless we pose significant damage to him."
"Why are you asking us, we're in the same situation?!"
The other two couldn't help but respond that way to Iron Alchemist's irrelevant recap.
Apart from that, Hyena gave some sensible information to the other two. One that they overlooked.
"But a word of advice is to prevent him from catching you. Gaia knows all our weaknesses after these few months with him. We'd have to be extremely careful and maybe even pull out a few moves we never told him about. I believe everyone has access to those kinds."
"Yeah."
It was shameful to say it, but they had all concealed some moves from Gaia and even each other. Showing the level of distrust humans could have for themselves. But that didn't matter, because a contingency plan was needed for everything. And among those things, a contingency was included.
"Now, I didn't want to reveal this too soon. But this old geezer has left me no choice. The contingency to the contingency!"
Hyena took a deep breath and laughed hard. He sounded like a crazed maniac, or worse, the laugh from a child's cartoon.
"Hyena Physiology- Were-Hyena Prime!"
His body became a few times bigger and long, plentiful strands of black hair that shone with a beautiful lustre grew across his entire body, his clothing also tore open to give room for his new stature and the only thing left was a pair of super expandable boxer shorts.
He was the peak of superhuman ability—not that he was even human anymore.
Essentially, he was a bipedal hyena. But this wasn't his first time entering this transformation. Hugo would notice it, and Alpha2 also noticed it.
He released a low guttural laugh and turned towards his companions.
"I perfected this form after a long while of trial and error. You'd be surprised by how long it took."
The creature's voice was like the sound of colliding gravel. It wasn't smooth or clear. It was more like the roar of a monster than that of a human's.
"How is it any different from the normal Were-Hyena form?"
"Hmm? First of all, it's much more durable and its physical abilities are more than double of the original form. Secondly, I'm able to perform some more 'special' moves with this particular form. You can worry about the details later."
In truth, Hyena had intentionally kept his response vague, because even he didn't know the full extent or weaknesses of the new form.
'I guess I'll find out now.'
Hyena's body was hunched but that did not disperse his domination nature in the slightest, and as if to prove that he kicked the ground once and appeared in the sky next to Gaia.
"I can't fly, so I'll just end it quickly!"
"Gnoll's Claws!"
He swiped his elongated claws at Gaia as gravity's power drew him back into its embrace. The slashes sent huge vacuum waves towards Gaia, perhaps trying to maim or even kill him.
But the old man was more durable than that. He waved his hand slightly and dispersed the space vacuum slash like it was nothing.
"I expected as much."
Hyena wasn't so much as surprised and focused his attention on landing without harming himself. Not like the land would or could even injure him.
But that didn't stop him from continuing his onslaught. He swiped the air with his claws regardless of anything else. Nothing mattered to him as long as he could finish up and head back to the cities.
'This forest life was dumb. Why did I even come here in the first place? To gain strength? Yeah right!'
All that drove his will to finish the battle with the old man before things could get out of hand.
"You guys mind lending a hand!"
The two companions were too captivated by Hyena's figure to even think straight talk less of attacking him.
"Matter Blink- Cremation!"
"Nuclear Energy Cannon!"
"Gnoll Claw Supreme!"
Different attacks simultaneously aimed for the old man in the air, giving off different visuals.
Alpha2's 'Matter Blink' was still as fascinating to watch as ever, from the clap of his hands to the pale blue flames spreading in the air, not unlike a forest fire.
The 'Nuclear Energy Cannon' was just like it sounded. A white light overshadowed the glow of the blue flames, and in the form of a concentrated beam went for their master with full intent to destroy him.
These two attacks took place before hyena launched his, and they appeared quite amazing to anyone observing them.
Even Gaia who was on the other end of the attacks paused for a moment to admire the amazing light they exuded.
That didn't mean he neglected them too.
Brilliant spheres of bright diamond-coated his entire figure, but all this seemed futile when it was observed before that Alpha2's flames along could destroy diamond without the addition of any other attack.
So in theory, there wasn't even a need to add Iron Alchemist's attack into the mix.
But that didn't matter to them. If Gaia wanted to use diamond as a guard against their attacks, then they'd welcome him to use it right away.
"I'm not so dumb, you know!"
A loud and frail voice spoke just before the attacks hit the floating diamond sphere.
*CREEAAK!*
The diamond emitted huge amounts of smoke as the attacks hit its body. But it didn't show any visible sign of destruction.
"Hah, I told you I wasn't that dumb."
The old man's voice yelled in jubilation just a bit too early.
"Gnoll's Claw Supreme!" It was at that moment Hyena launched his attack.
Five claw marks appeared in the air, taking the form of a huge tear in space. The claws stayed visible for a few seconds and disappeared into thin air later.
The smoke from the first clash was still clearing, so it was impossible to know what effect that had on the diamond sphere but the lack of sound was a good way to find the result, and so far so good.
"Ugh!"
The fur on Hyena's body retracted fast and his body returned to its original state. Everything from the fur to claws, to elongated fangs all, disappeared as though they weren't there in the first place.
'Hmm, so that's the current limit of this form. Approximation of the limit should roughly be two Gnoll Claw Supremes.'
Hyena as an experienced educator identified the important parts of the Were-Hyena Prime transformation the moment he came out of it.
Alpha2 stopped staring at the spherical diamond and walked over to help Hyena up.
"Hey, you okay?"
"Ah. I'm alright, just that I can't wait to get back to the city. I want to spar with Hugo or Ruki to test my strength a bit."
Alpha2 nodded in understanding, having prepared to do that as well. Iron Alchemist who was standing by the side gave a subconscious look of approval, his mechanical eyes never leaving the diamond sphere even once.
And finally, after a while, the smoke cleared, and the sphere began to crumble apart. Layer after layer, the once beautiful ore met its end at the hands of the trio.
But just before it crumbled, they all noticed the deep claw marks on the diamond's surface, informing them of how dangerous that particular attack was.
"Well, damn. You kids didn't hold back. What's with this generation, the ack of respect outstands me!"
The final layer of the diamond came apart to reveal the frame of a burnt old man, it almost seemed as though he would fall out of the air any second from now.
"The heat from Alpha2's and Iron Alchemist's attacks was even enough to permeate this thousand-year-old Earth Diamond. That alone would have destroyed it, but the destruction was delayed by the chemical reaction formed from mixing your two attacks!"
"And as for Hyena, you've improved. Able to make such a powerful transformation without my help. This is the first time I've seen physical force able to pierce through this kind of diamond."
Gaia descended from the sky with a satisfied look on his face.
"The three of you have officially passed through my tutelage and graduated. You have my permission to use my name for any of your advent."
The three students nodded, and without a word picked their stuff lying around the cave and left.
"Heh. Kids these days..."
. . .
*Beep Beep!*
"Huh, a message from Gaia. It says the guys are done with their training."
"Hugo concentrate!"
A loud man shouted in what seemed to be a foreign language, most likely Japanese.
"Ah sorry, sensei."
Hugo adjusted his grip on the katana in his hands and aimed straight for the weak point of his teacher.
*SWISH!*
The sword cut through the air with a loud screech and continued doing what it was purposed for. The gleam of the metal sparkled from the head of the sword to the tip where his master's neck was now held.
"Nice swordplay Hugo-san, nice swordplay."
"It's only due to your training Akira-sama."
Hugo lowered his Katana and sheathed it while bowing at the same time.
"No need to be so humble. The only thing I'd want you to do now is to take care of the ones seeking to bring destruction onto the world. The Seer told me you'd need to worry about Four Horsemen serving a dangerous shroud of darkness!"
It took Hugo a while to process the man's words but it nevertheless still sank in.
"I will try my utmost best to protect the innocent and give justice to the weak!"
"Haha, that's the spirit. It reminds me of the previous you; a young teenager without an official license using his Awakenings to fight crime."
Hugo became silent at his master's statement and even began packing his things in preparation to leave the dojo.
Akira knew the story behind the boy and said nothing as he watched him leave with nothing but a goodbye wave.
'The last thing the world needs now is the rebirth of the Judgement'