" Stop scaring the newbies again, old coot"
A woman dressed in the same attire shouted from across the room. Immediately her voice was heard, and the suffocating aura that threatened to drown them immediately retreated.
" If I`m a coot, then you must be a hag."
"Oh shut up…"
" Tsk…Bloody witch."
He mumbled just loud enough for her to hear it, before shifting his gaze to meet that of the newcomers. He closed the distance between them almost in less than 3 seconds
Landing in front of the teens, he spoke.
" I assume you're both recruits."
"Y-yes sir."
Ember spoke shakily, She recovered first.
The man's formerly sharp eyes softened a little upon seeing Ember. He quickly regained his composure as he turned to face a still-shaken Grey. With a slight sneer, he spoke,
"There are barely 2 months left before the Shiver, If you can't even handle this much pressure then you're probably better off feeding yourself to the beasts."
He calmly watched as Grey struggled, finally recovering by using ember for support before he continued.
"I suggest you two stand in the tourist corner and observe other students training, there's approximately a week left before the course restarts."
Nodding their heads, Ember and a still disoriented Grey made their way to a sizable booth that was raised quite high, allowing anyone within it to have a full view of the entire training ground.
Upon reaching there, Grey plopped down on the nearest seat taking deep breaths to calm himself before finally relaxing. He looked down on his hands and saw them still quivering, What just happened had to be one of the most terrifying experiences he had ever gone through. The moment that man laid his eyes on him, it felt as if part of his being that he didn't know of was brutally being cut and pierced by something. It was almost as if he was being looked down on and damaged by a lifeform so high that it had comprehended part of his existence that even Grey couldn't fathom. It was nothing short of petrifying.
"How the hell did you recover so fast."
He asked, looking incredulously at Ember.
" I live in the slums."
Her eyes glinted with a bit of dark amusement.
Grey squinted his eyes a little but figured it probably wasn't a good idea to push for an answer on how that was related.
Massaging his hands, he stood up to join Ember by the display window of the booth.
On it, there was a thin blueish outline wrapping around the bodies of everyone present in the room aside from the man and woman that had previously spoken. At the top right corner of the wall were some words.
Ranker Fay> From the looks of it, Grey could guess that jerk of a man had to be Master Nagi, while the person that scolded him was Ranker Fay. Looking around the window, Ember curiously tapped one of the outlined students on the window. Rank: E Completed courses: 0> Before Grey could do anything, he was interrupted by some movement going on, at the ground level. It appeared that after Ranker Nagi had finished talking to them he went back to the ring in the middle. "Alright gather around everyone, we'll be starting now." He spoke in a measured tone. Looking around the class a little, he continued. "I assume you all did your stretches, 'cause we've got another long day of sparring ahead of us. Unlike usual I'll be calling on Rankers Orion and Lucius for the opening spar." Upon hearing their names two students slowly walked out of the crowd, both seemed to be part of the strongest students present as any student in their paths quickly moved away the moment they passed through. The first to arrive was a wheat-skinned boy with an average build wearing the same black kimono that Nagi wore, His short brown hair gently brushed against the ragged white blindfold he wore. Resting on his waist was a katana wrapped in a white sheath. His competitor on the other hand had a far more rugged build than him, sporting two bronze knuckles on his fist. The muscular boy sported a buzz cut that faded at its sides and in place of a kimono, he wore a dark jumpsuit that still followed the kimono aesthetics. " Alright, you both know how this goes, Lucius to the right. Orion, to the left." Hearing this command the buzz-cut boy moved to the right, while the blindfolded boy went to the right. Fliping off the ring, Nagi spoke. "Start." Almost immediately Lucius rushed up to Orion, throwing a straight jab before he could draw his sword. Sensing this would happen, Orion leaned a bit to dodge it. Suddenly defying inertia, Lucius stopped right in front of his opponent, swinging his leg for a curved kick instead of punching. The change took Orion by surprise, but his reflexes quickly saved him as he pushed himself to the side, using his unsheathed sword to block the kick. The resultant force threw him across the ring, rolling on the floor a bit before stopping. Luckily for him however this gave him some breathing room, as he used the opportunity to draw his sword. Careless of the sharp blade Orion possessed, Lucius recklessly pushed forward aiming to press his advantage. Orion's ears twitched a little and the moment Lucius was one step away from him, he elegantly sidestepped passing Lucius quickly, as he then made a calculated swing of his blade at the position he predicted Lucius' neck would be in. It was as if the world slowed down at this moment, Hearing the sound of the swinging blade, A smirk grew on Lucius' face as he put more force into his legs, trying to escape the blade's range. He barely escaped its range, as the blade scratched the back of his neck drawing some blood. Before he reached the ground, gravity's effect on him seemed to exponentially increase as he landed with a small shock wave. The moment his feet touched the ground, he twisted his body to face Orion again before using the resultant force and his legs as a spring, crashing his bronze-knuckled fist into the face of a shocked Orion. The punch sent Orion flying into a corner as some blood slowly flowed down from his mouth. "That is enough." The cold voice of Nagi signaled the end of the fight.