"I give up", with both hands raised, he was taken out of the arena.
"Team Kayden wins," Lucas announced, his voice amplified by mana. It took a few seconds for the penny to sink in for Kayden's team.
"That's what I 'm fucking talking about!", Carlos shouted excitedly. Maria and Jean also celebrated, but not as loudly. Kayden kept his expression neutral.
That battle had been... ridiculously easy. His opponents barely could defend themselves, their spells were simple and predictable. Maybe it wasn't them who were weak, maybe it was a matter of experience.
Kayden had already fought dozens of times in real combat, while they had barely fought once or twice.
The boy sighed.
"Carlos, shut up, it's just the base rank", this match was his team's first fight against another official team, and this made them enter position 40, it was the lowest, but it was still a ranked position.
"Come on, Kayden, we're ranked, we're the best of the best", Carlos' smile was genuine, this was one of the best moments of his short life. A week ago he was just a guest, but now he was one of the top 200 in his school.
The team went out to rest under the shocked gaze of the spectators, the other team surpassed them in cultivation level by at least one rank, but they were still able to emerge victorious.
Kayden's gaze met Yan's. They expressed shock, but another emotion was also visible in their irises: regret. Anyone with a good knowledge of combat could tell you that Kayden practically won that fight single-handedly.
Kayden looked away, he didn't care, Yan's decision sealed any future friendship they could have had. A few moments later, everyone was sitting on a couch with snacks around them.
Before Carlos started making a fuss and gorging himself on candy and soda, Kayden caught their attention.
"Attention please," he looked like a father educating his children. "Before you do anything else, let's go over the fight…" Kayden was interrupted by a cheerful Carlos.
"Why? We won, that's what matters", Carlos said lightly, but without him expecting it, Kayden reciprocated in a not-so-light way.
"That fight was pathetic, did we win? I submitted two opponents alone and made the decisive move to finish off the other two, you made dozens of ridiculous mistakes and that's why we have to review the fight**", his harsh tone put an end to the group's festive atmosphere, but Kayden didn't mind. It mattered, it was necessary to give them a reality check as soon as possible to prevent them from becoming sloppy.
"Are you guys satisfied with a 40th ranking from a random school in a random city? So let's celebrate without worrying about anything, but I don't want that, my goal is to be the best in this school", the boy's eyes shone.
"Isn't that a little much, Kayden?", Maria opened her mouth and was quickly shot by Kayden.
"In your dreams are you just one of the crowd? I don't think so. In real life, I also don't want to be one of the crowd", his harsh tone made his allies think, but at the same time, it made them see something that they had been ignoring until now.
"I want to do the review, I will work hard to be the best", Jean was the first to say. "Please help me, Kayden", with a bow he finished his speech. Kayden was pleased.
Support was the one who said the least, but he was the first to recognize his mistakes and try to improve, this characteristic made him the perfect learner. Then the other two also spoke.
"Let's do the review," Maria had a new fire in her eyes that had previously been just dull emotions.
"That's right, let's be the best!" Carlos, who had his head down since the beginning of the sermon, stood up enthusiastically, shouting his words.
"Very well," Kayden took a contract out of his pocket, the three will climb 5 ranks per week from today, and we will also do intense team training. Here is a contract so that you can be tortured... trained by me", it was close.
But Kayden almost blurted out his intentions. He couldn't let his pawns, that is, allies, run away from his team because of intensive training. The three had seen contracts before but had never signed anything like this.
The requests were simple, they just had to come every day and be trained by Kayden, if they gave up they would never be able to join an elite team again, it seemed... fair. Seeing the three signs without thinking straight made the boy smile devilishly.
This was probably the biggest mistake of their lives.
******
"Save me!", someone on the ground was shouting to the people around, his voice seemed to express the pain of someone who had been tortured for decades on end.
"He's a demon! someone exorcise him please," a teenage girl could be seen running from the bubble. Scenes like this became common for passersby, there was a team that used colored bubbles to hide their training.
And every few minutes someone would come out like this, they didn't know what was going on inside, but one thing was certain, the demon's identity was well known to everyone.
Kayden left the bubble.
"I think you've had enough air," Kayden grabbed Maria and Carlos' collar and pulled them inside.
"HELP!!!", was Carlos' last word outside the bubble. Maria didn't even say anything when her collar was caught she knew there was no way to escape. The first time he tried, Kayden made sure to devote as much of his attention to his torture... training.
Inside the bubble, Jean could be seen using support and distraction spells on different dolls. Every few seconds, a device purchased by Kayden repeated a random sequence of positions and spells.
They had been training at this pace for a week. Kayden had to admit that they had made big improvements.
Carlos' training consisted of performing dozens of physical exercises, but the problem was that he had to keep his spells active.
Every time he ran out of mana, the demon would come to him for a beating session...sparing. The first time he saw Kayden using only his hands, he thought it would be an easy fight, what a sweet mistake.
With his combat experience alone, Kayden was able to deliver dozens of painful blows to the boy. Usually, it lasted until one of the other two was depleted of mana and underwent the same training.
There was no point in falling to the ground and pretending to be dead. The soulless demon would come and kick your body until you stood up. Crying or trying to run resulted in the same situation. Sometimes, Kayden went overboard and ended up hitting one of them too much.
The boy's voice was recorded in the minds of all three.
"Go to Mr. Lucas, if you don't come back in five minutes I will come after you." Fortunately, none of them had any stupid ideas to find out what happened when Kayden ran after them in this situation, but without a doubt, it wouldn't be good.
Maria's training consisted of attacking a wall, alternating between strikes in the area and at specific points. She should do this until her mana runs out, then have a small sparing session against Kayden.
She was sure this was just bullying, but the boy's voice haunted her mind.
"I'm preparing you for unexpected situations," with a smile that expressed concern for the team's well-being. The three also learned that Kayden could be the most shameless of beings while also appearing to be sincere.
It might not seem obvious to the three of them, but Kayden saw them improve their improvement spells that could be cast more times to your perception and space in combat.
The one who surprised him the most was Jean, the boy hardly complained and was always ready to train more. His spells were now cast practically instantly after they were pronounced, not only that but he was able to switch between different spells in milliseconds.