The students formed up into four squads of four, each containing two warriors, one mage, and one psychic.
Due to the injured warrior from earlier they had exactly 18 people which meant that there were two extra's, one mage and one psychic.
The two of them took on an active role, to constantly monitor the field and provide back up and info as the fight progressed.
They felt it was a little overkill as they surrounded Lirian, but not only did he ask for such conditions he demanded them.
Hinata was the most accomplished mage in the class with her record breakthrough speed she naturally took on the outlier mage position and Karen as the only mental focused psychic took on the outlier psychic position.
Having a capable mental psychic could easily improve the effectiveness of a team, in warfare the most important factor to victory was effective communication, to out maneuver your opponents.
Karen felt that her position would make it a lot easier for effective communication, with her staying out of the field and observing how the battle shifted, not that she expected much when fighting against a blind opponent.
When they all got into place, they kept their eyes trained on Lirian, he tossed the walking stick aside and unsheathed the sword on his side.
As Lirian stood facing them he pushed the tip of the sword into the ground and curled both his hands around the hilt as he took in a breath of the boiling air in the room.
They had to admit that despite his disability he was still extremely imposing as he stood facing them with a completely calm face, that air of confidence he always wore still clung to his body like a tight suit.
Damien in particular felt a sense of creeping discomfort wash over him, he felt like he was caught in the jaws of a wolf as Lirians presence reached out to him slowly bending and twisting his mind, causing his entire body to break out into a cold sweat.
They noticed that Lirian was slowly tapping his fingers against the hilt of his sword and every strike made a round ringing sound.
'Any second now,' Lirian thought, as the vibrations traveled through the hilt, past the crossguard all the way down the blade into the tip that was stuck in the ground.
Then it happened, a large streak of fire came hurtling down at him, he almost laughed at how well he had predicted Hinata's actions.
Her intense envy of him made her so predictable, she couldn't take the standstill and broke the silence by attacking first, it was very dishonorable but Lirian liked it, it made things so much easier for him.
Lirian slid both his hands of the hilt of the sword and opened his arms wide as he embraced the energy of the world using energy control.
The energy all around him was dyed silver and as the fire stuck the ball of silver energy around him it looked like a meteor falling into the wide boundless oceans as it was completely swallowed and devoured.
"Thanks for the fire," Lirian shouted with an ecstatic laugh, giving everyone a very bad premonition.
At the point of impact, the entire ball of silver energy around Lirian turned into a golden red color the color permeated throughout the entire ball, and waves of roiling heat began to emanate from it.
The good thing about energy control was its ability to break down any lawless energy form, however, it came with a large catch.
He couldn't mimic the natural elements unless he had absorbed that kind of energy and used it to ignite the energy he controlled, it was the next level of energy control mastery.
--
"That's new," miss Hira commented beside Alastor, she couldn't hide the awe in her eyes and neither could Alastor, from Lirians sword skill he assumed that the path of a saint would suit him best but that control of energy, would make him a great warlock as well.
--
Lirian pulled his arms inwards to his chest, and the fire followed his movements condensing tightly all around him, once he felt it had simmered enough, he took in a deep and powerful breath.
He opened his arms wide and released a powerful breath, that could easily be mistaken for a car's backfire.
The ball of fire exploded outwards rapidly creating roiling waves of flames that stretched across the ground in all directions, turning the entire field into a sea of liquid fire.
Lirian left only a single opening in the circle around him, while everyone was running backward in a panic he was making his move.
Before they got a chance to start, Lirian made his move, due to his blindness unless he was willing to waste fate particles to get an image of his surroundings he had to avoid being crowded, and the only way to do that was to take down as many of the close-range combatants as possible.
He wrapped his hands around the hilt of the sword pulling it from the ground and moved to his first target his movements were smooth and quick as he closed in on Damien.
Damien only got a second to think as he saw Lirian charge directly at him, he held his spear firmly and moved in to block Lirian's blade with the shaft.
As the pressure built up in his arms he thought that he blocked it but a second later the tip of Lirian's sword sunk through the wooden shaft just narrowly missing his chest and coming out near his underarm.
Damien's eyes shrunk as he was forced to release the spear in surprise and jump back to avoid the blade, he looked down in shock as Lirian pulled the sword back with the spear hanging on it.
Lirian elbowed the spear of his blade, and quickly caught the shaft in one hand, in the next step he swiped at Damiens's feet as he came back to the ground.
Damien managed to shift his weight enough to stomp on the shaft but just as he let out a sigh of relief he felt something strike his neck, and he heard Lirian mutter, "Dead!", he fell down as the stinging sensation coursed through his neck.
If Lirian had struck with the edge instead of the flat of the blade he would be dead, he knew it but he was unwilling, from now on he would be known as the guy who lost to a blind person in three moves.
--
He felt a strange sensation all of a sudden and blinked, when he opened his eyes again he found himself beside the commander and Miss Hira, "What am I doing here?" he asked.
"You're dead," Alastor said simply.
He looked at the field and saw it break out into a pandemonium, "It wasn't fair, I wasn't even ready," he cried out, Lirian had attacked him and just a second passed before he was finished.
"Hmpf," Alastor grumbled, "18 cultivators, vs a single-blind boy and you're actually complaining about fairness, the Uldwin family won't be happy to hear you say that."
Damien looked down in shame, he could hardly believe that he lost even if it was against Lirian, after all, what excuse could he use when his opponent was blind and outnumbered.
--
Lirian quickly moved onto Damiens partner and met her sword, she had tried to get to Damien but Lirian had taken him down before anyone could blink, she frowned as she felt the power of Lirian's strike, it wasn't as strong as hers but it definitely didn't feel like something someone without cultivation could muster.
It had taken her by surprise that the fires didn't affect only her group and that had costed her, her partner, she took two rapid swings at Lirian to try forcing him back.
As he met the second strike Lirian felt a psychic energy blast closing in on him, he quickly ducked to the side and let it take the warrior in the chest causing her to stumble back.
He grinned and moved forward to finish her off, but had to quickly perform a side step as he heard a sword slicing the air behind him, he kicked the warrior in the stomach forcing the breath out of her lungs and spun around to meet the blade of Shen Lim.