Issuing duels inside a facility not meant for battle was prohibited, so using mana inside the dining hall would result in quite a big punishment, but that didn't seem to stop Mr. Dick-and-son here.
One of his groupies jumped from my left with a dagger, which he wasn't even able to handle or wield, at my demonic self.
"Too easy," I raised my hands, knocked off his dagger, and pulled him down using mana while the falling dagger of that guy fell into my hands. I gave a sinister smile to make them feel irritated, and they took a step back.
"Lucas, man, don't go overboard. We will be getting punishment too!" Bran said with concern as he was still not out of the laughter he was having.
"Well now, do I look like I care, huh brother?" I looked at Bran with a smile and arrogance. These insects are paying for exactly what they did to me as well as to Lucas.
Speaking so demonically to the students who were going to attack me, "Come on now, you Dick-and-sons!" as I unleashed my aura, overwhelming these idiotic humans as they were forced to kneel down, coughing blood from their mouths.
Their weapons fell down, and Henry's staff was broken in half.
"Well, come on...I dare you!" I said as I cracked my neck and fidgeted with the dagger I got in my hands.
"What the hell? What is that power?" Henry yelped as I came face to face with him.
"What do you think I am, you imbecile?" I said as I continued, "Maybe it's just me, but I find it pathetic when brats like you who come from noble families beat your chest for something that you never even earned. Before bragging about how powerful your family is, be competent enough to at least not embarrass them." I threw the dagger to the kneeling idiotic insects as I left through the door, not looking back.
"Revenge does feel great!" I said to myself as I stretched my body with a grin.
"Hey man, you know what you did is wrong, right? You would get into trouble for this act, Lucas!" Bran, who only saw the shaded outline of my back, came running towards me, expressing concern.
"Don't worry, my friend. All is well that ends devilishly well!" I replied with a thumbs up.
"Well, let's go to meet Master Gladius and start our training!" Bran said as I gave him a nod with a smile, leaving the cafeteria behind for the training grounds.
...
Each team is a squad, comprising a mentor and his two apprentices. And each team had a specific time and specific training grounds they could use. While there are more than 50 indoor training grounds and arenas, we, as the Gladius Squad, always trained in Training Area 7, where not many people or students would come by.
The area isn't so big and not so grand like the other arenas, but it had everything needed to learn if the student truly wishes to learn from a good mentor.
"Come on, come on! Do fifty more push-ups!"
"You aren't bending; bend your hips!"
"What are you doing, Lucas? Do a hundred push-ups again!"
And by that, our mentor Gladius was a strict angel that even my demonic self finds his training so much work.
Bran and I had selected swords as our main weapon for combat, and with that, we started our training with fifty push-ups. If we made any mistake in that, we would do it ten more times for the one time we did wrong. Followed by fifty sit-ups just like we did the push-ups, and twenty jumps, whether short or high, it doesn't matter, with finally swinging the wooden swords for twenty more times.
Each process is done the same way we did the push-ups.
Lastly, the sooner we finish, the sooner we would start our battle training, which is done with mana and also without mana.
But unexpectedly for us, this time, just as a light flashed in the middle of our fight, "Now you two, show me what you've got. Begin!" Our mentor Gladius stood with a wooden great sword in his hands.
"All out?" Bran asked, tilting his head.
"All out!" Master Gladius replied as I summoned my dark cube into my hands, reforming it into my black sword.
"Don't mind if I do." Just as I was about to attack, Master Gladius had already shot forward with his wooden sword, quickly approaching me with a strike from above.
"What the-" I barely managed to block it, as I noticed Bran jumped from behind Master Gladius to strike. "Hyaaak!"
However, Master smiled as he blocked his sword with just his bare hands, "Why shout when attacking, you moron?" He said as he caught Bran, throwing him towards me.
"Well well!" I grinned as I made a barrier with soft properties, making it easier for Bran's crashing, as I threw my sword towards master with my mana speeding up the sword's flight. And just as it was about to hit him, he dodged it, as I used dark teleportation to travel to my sword's shadows and I was already in the mid-air, behind master Gladius, aiming for a strike to his back without a sound.
But, "Shit!" I failed as he countered it with his sword, "You Brat? how did you get to my back so fast?" He asked with a grin as Bran was already charging towards master Gladius, utilizing his lightning attribute to speed himself and his reactions.
"Seems like I need to take you guys seriously!" he said as he noticed Bran's attack, using his gravity attribute to pressure Bran and making him fall down with his sword.
However, this wasn't over yet. I, who was still being caught by master Gladius's attack, willed my mana through my legs, towards the ground, using the necromancer skill of the Elderly Lich I crushed in the dungeon.
Skeleton minions emerged from a black swamp that was formed underneath master Gladius, grabbing his body to restrict his movement and debuff his skills using my dark attribute.
"How you like that, sir!" I grinned as I kept on clashing my sword against his wooden sword.
"Seems like you have more than a black cube as an ability, Lucas!" Master Gladius said as he gritted his teeth with a "Humph."
A sudden downforce, a large pressure of gravity, even making me barely stand, and making Bran stick to the ground.
"Haha, seems like you have more to show me, my student. Wanna go a round now?" Master Gladius asked as I was already kneeling on the ground, barely holding my sword. My necromancy was canceled out as the black swamp dissipated, revealing the ground.
"Damn!" I gritted my teeth in failure, but seeing that a King rank's power and clashing swords with him was so much exciting. "When was the last time I felt my nerves beating really fast, wanting to fight the opponent again and again.." I thought to myself with a smile.
However, I can't use transformation now, as it is something I'm still training in. I don't want people to get killed with my poor control over destruction with this new body of mine.
With much enticing impulse to continue the fight, I can only do one thing for now, "I give up!" I said as Master Gladius immediately canceled out his domain of downforce.
"What about you, Bran?" He asked as Bran was practically still being stuck to the ground like a smashed bug.
"I too-" He said as he slowly raised his hands as a give-up sign.