Under the disguise of Arin Sevia, Thanatos took the next generation of the Black Order into the private forest of the army. It didn't take him more than ten minutes to get permission. In fact, since he was training the Black Order, they gave him a private part of the forest, so no one could see the secret training. How convenient.
He was in the middle of the forest with the five children. They were all stretching for the competition. A battle against their new teacher.
"Ok, let's make the rules of the game clear. Your objective is to take this bell from me. You can use any ability or attack, and you can attack me at the same time if you want to."
"Teacher, is it true that you're going to give a prize to the winner?" Thik asked with a smile on his face.
"Sure, but don't get too excited yet. The prize is only if you manage to take the bell from my hand." Thanatos wrapped the small chain around his left hand, a golden bell dangling on it.
"Hehehe, don't underestimate me. I'm going to blow your mind with my power!" Thik did a few more warm-ups and then jumped with great speed at Thanatos.
"Thik! We didn't agree on who was going first!" Jane yelled at him for starting without the permission of everyone else.
"Should have been faster than me then, hahaha." In only a moment, he was in front of Thanatos. His hand stretched to grab the bell, but...
"Not bad, but you need more if you're going to try to compete with only speed." Thanatos moved the necessary distance to just get out of Thik's reach.
The boy didn't give up. He jumped again, trying to steal the bell from the left, from the right, up and behind. Even trying to kick Thanatos's leg, all his attempts were dodged with ease.
He's fast for a little kid, but he's still too young to be a real threat, although I can see how weak soldiers would lose to him.
"UF, AHHH, URRRGGGHHH…" Thik tried everything to catch Thanatos, but his attack pattern was too predictable. He didn't have any battle experience. That difference was too much to overcome with only speed and instincts.
"Nice try, Thik, but I think it is time for someone else…!" Thanatos dodged seriously for a second because Thik's kick almost hit his face. Did he become much faster in only a second? He looked at the boy. Steam was rising from his body.
"Hehe, I'm finally starting to heat up." He moved at tremendous speed. His attacks were dozens of times faster than before. Like a wild animal, Thik jumped and attacked from all directions.
Thanatos was surprised. He couldn't keep dodging all the attacks he had to block some of them with his hand. He was fascinated by the sudden power surge in the young boy. If he had to compare him to someone, he was almost as fast as Sebastian, the apprentice of the Hand he killed on the first day in this world.
Incredible. How is he doing it? The steam clearly has something to do with it, but how? He thought as he blocked a punch to the stomach with his hand, not only in speed, but he also gained strength too. He could see Thik's small muscles tense up like when Eric did his three-hit combination.
Finally, the onslaught of attacks stopped as Thik dropped to the ground, gasping for air as the steam stopped.
"AH... AH... AH... you're strong. I ran out of power and you only used one hand during the entire fight." He said with a tinge of indignation and respect.
"Thik, what is that power you used just now?"
"I don't get it myself, but the other trainers told me I can increase my metabolism or something to gain more power and speed for a short time. It is pretty cool, I know." He boasted without any shame.
"Metabolism? very nice. Who wants to go next?" He turned around and looked at the other children.
They talked about the order while Thik was trying to get the bell. The next one was Edmund.
"You said you have earth powers, right?"
"Yes teacher, I still have a lot to learn, but I want to try to get the prize too!" Edmund put his hands together and focused his mana.
Thanatos felt that something was coming, but he was ready for an attack from any direction. Edmund put his hand on the ground and...
"…!" The earth below Thanatos changed shape, and a fist hit him in the chest, sending him flying into the air several meters.
I didn't feel anything out of the ordinary until the last second. He didn't cast a spell, he was using the mana to directly command the earth!
Thanatos realized why Edmund was chosen. He had talent as a geomancer, the magical ability to control the earth without the use of specific spells. Using only raw mana, he could do things other people could only do with spells. He had read about people with the power to influence the elements like that in the Black Book.
"Open now!" Edmund ordered the earth to transform into an enormous mouth that was about to swallow and crush Thanatos.
He fell right into the mouth and the teeth bit on him. Edmund's plan was to immobilize him and then take the golden bell. Several ropes of earth took form and wrapped themselves around Thanatos' limbs. Everyone else was surprised. Edmund's plan had worked, and now the only thing he needed to do was get close and grab the bell.
The boy ran toward Thanatos, but before he could take the bell... The earth broke, flying in all directions as Thanatos patted Edmund in the head, free from all restraints.
"That was a good plan, but you need to consider that your opponent may pretend to be trapped to take you by surprise. Don't let your guard down no matter what happens in a fight." He remembered the fight against Agatha. Pretending to be trapped in the frozen blood was key to his victory.
"Yes! Thank you, teacher!" Edmund was a bit sad, but Thanatos's words encouraged him.
"My turn, my turn!" Jane came running, excited. She extended her hands, and mana took a small form in the palm of her hand. "[Star]"
"What? A star?" He couldn't believe what he was seeing. Jane had used a spell to make a star. It was small and radiated light like a light bulb. Pure white shining in the middle of the day. It took him a moment to notice that Jane was throwing the star at him.
Jane tossed the start like a baseball, and it landed in the tree behind Thanatos. The star exploded and burned the trunk, causing the tree to collapse. Thanatos felt the power of the spell. Although it was being used by an amateur, he could sense that it could hurt him if he didn't dodge.
Magic is always something to be on the lookout- His thoughts were interrupted as he saw Jane launching over a dozen stars at him.
"[Star shower]" The stars left her hand and went flying toward Thanatos. The trees were completely decimated as every star caused an explosion.
In normal circumstances, Jane wouldn't use this spell on a person. The trainers repeatedly warned her about the power of her spells, but she was so excited after seeing her new teacher deal with her friends in such a cool way that she wanted to try her best too.
After she expended all her mana, the smoke settled down, and Thanatos was nowhere to be seen.
"Oh no, I killed the teacher!" Jane grabbed her head in regret and fear.
"I knew she was going to kill someone one day, but I didn't think it was going to be today!" Thik said to himself in the back.
"Calm down, I'm not dead." Thanatos appeared and put his hand on Jane's shoulder to calm her.
"Teacher! How did you survive?"
"Did you really want to kill me? Well, to answer your question, look there."
Jane turned around and looked carefully. There were chunks of ice on the floor.
"I used [Ice wall] to make a barrier and defend myself."
"But my start destroyed that wall. How are you okay?"
"I didn't sit waiting for your attack to stop. After the wall broke down, I used the chunks as shields and ran to safety. You didn't notice because you were too focused on your spell."
"…Awesome…" Jane was stunned by Thanatos's abilities.
"Who is next, you want to try Cid?"
"N-No, if Thik couldn't, then I had no chance. I'm sorry for still being weak."
"Don't worry, you're young. That's why you are going to train. If you combine your eyes with combat ability, you're going to be a nightmare for all the casters that try to fight you."
"Y-Yes sir!"
"Then I guess the last one is Gena. You want to try too?"
The little girl nodded and walked toward Thanatos. At the same time, all the other children backed away and hid behind the trees. Gena extended her hand and dropped the doll she was carrying.
"Bubu, beat the teacher." Thanatos' eyes followed the doll as it was falling, but it never reached the ground. The doll disappeared. The next thing he felt was a fist hitting his jaw...
Thanatos was sent back several meters. He looked at the thing that punched him. It was the doll, or 'Bubu'. It looked like a humanoid mannequin. His skin was dark and rough like leather. His mouth was too big in comparison to his face, and he was constantly salivating. The single eye had a red iris and was looking at Thanatos.
"What the hell is that?" He asked, spitting blood from his mouth.
"BRBRBRB... UUUUFGGGGGGHHH!" The thing growled and then attacked Thanatos with his long and thin arms. A flurry of blows rained on him. It was fast and strong. Thanatos got serious, but the creature was still strong enough to strike a few hits in his defense.
Thanatos dodged and blocked the punches and, after reading the rhythm of his opponent, he grabbed both hands at the same time. The creature was strong, but if he could only attack wildly like a frenetic animal, then he wasn't that dangerous…
POW... A third arm erupted from the chest of the creature and punched Thanatos in the face, sending him away.
"AAAAAHHHUUUYYYY…" Thanatos broke the writs of Bubu, before flying away. Bubu twitched his hands.
Thanatos smiled as he landed. "You're interesting, but even with extra arms, I just need to break them." His eye was beginning to swell from the punch, but he was still confident.
"AAAAAAUUUUUUU… WWWWWHHHHHHHHHHHIIIIIIIIIIII!" Bubu grew two extra arms, and the ones with the broken wrist retracted back into his body.
"Are you trying to adapt to me?"
Bubu jumped at Thanatos again and, with three arms, began a rush of hits. Thanatos tried to grab the hands, but a thick liquid came from the arms, preventing him from having a grip. He was really adapting to counter Thanatos' tactics.
"Hahaha, try to adapt fast enough!"
Thanatos changed his battle style and took Bubu by surprise. While the creature tried to adjust, Thanatos undid momentarily the spell [Transformation] on his right hand. He let his claws appear and cut Bubu ten times, severing the arms and legs from the body and then stabbing right in the chest where the heart would be.
"OOOOHHGGGGGGG…" There was nothing there but the dark meat. The meat changed form into a mouth just as big as the one in his face. He was going to bite Thanatos's hand...
"[Fireball]" Bubu exploded from the inside as the fire consumed him. His pitiful sounds echoed in the forest as his body turned into a dark smoke and returned to Gena. He took the form of the doll once more.
"UUUHHHHOOOO!!!" The children scream with excitement. It was the first time they saw someone beat Bubu in a fight.
Gena walked to Thanatos and gave him a tuck to call his attention. "Sorry." That's all she said.
"Don't worry, I heal fast. Tomorrow my eye is going to be fine. You have a strong pet, Gena. Make sure to use him well." He patted her head and gave her a reassuring smile.
The game was over. Thanatos was impressed, so much so that he wanted to take the children back to Underworld. He wanted to train and teach them more things. A part of him considered kidnapping them, but...
No, I can't force them to join me, and if one of them refuses, he's going to try to stop me. I don't want to hurt any of them. He couldn't force himself to harm them; he wanted to see them at their full potential. He accepted this was the only time he could act as a teacher with them...
"...!"
"Teacher, are you okay?"
Thanatos felt something. A cold shiver ran down his back. A terrible feeling that someone knew he was here. And that person was running toward him at this very moment...