Teacher Brutus began his class with an apology.
"Alrighty guys, to get everything started, I just wanted to say sorry."
He pointed somewhere far away on the bleachers and through the canopy that protected everyone from the rain.
"Someone higher up on the food chain wanted me to test you all immediately. That was supposed to be the final, but with it out of the way, I was able to evaluate how you all not only fought, but how you all fought in a group."
A few of the students around Bell made a realization that she soon made as well.
'We're going to have to fight him again?!'
Teacher Brutus then announced what was on most of the students' minds.
"Yes, I'm confirming that there will be another test of similar nature later on down the line. The final will be individual matches against me. Of course, your final grade isn't impacted by this exam, it's purely for you to observe your own growth."
A handful of the other students around Bell and the others sighed in relief while Bell felt her heartbeat rise.
'I'm excited to see how far I'll go in one month.'
"Anyways, for today's class, I'll be having you all do individual matches against one another while I watch and point out your weak areas. So, everyone, grab a partner."
Bell immediately glanced towards Torm, but he was already paired up with another tall-looking boy.
'Aw...' Bell thought with an expression of dejection.
Someone appeared beside Bell, and Michael's voice filled her left ear.
"You want to be my partner?" He asked, Bell turned to see his questioning smile.
Bell nodded, "Sure."
Afterward, the two stepped off of the platform with Teacher Brutus's instruction and found a wide area for just the two of them.
Michael summoned a Marble that quickly took the shape of a longsword.
Bell used Creation to conjure a pair of scimitars in response.
The two waited for Teacher Brutus to give the announcement before Bell thought of something.
'Do we have any form of protection against one another? Where's the Shields?'
In sparring scenarios, it was common for both participants to equip a Shield. The Shield was a small pin that one placed on the cloth above their heart, and it would protect any person from one instance of fatal damage.
Even then, there were some attacks that passed through and simply killed the target. So, the Shield was often paired with a training weapon.
Unfortunately, it was extremely difficult to actually protect the body from fatal damage, so it broke after a single use. From what Bell knew, there wasn't a way to get the Shield to sustain more instances of fatal damage.
Teacher Brutus walked beside the two and began lecturing.
"We have Shields, but you'll need to use our practice weapons, so you should dismiss your weapons."
Bell then wrapped her blades in the gray flames of Ruination with the blades as her target. After a moment to allow the flames to spread across the entire armament, she reactivated the flames for their Destructive property.
Michael had the luxury of simply dismissing it, with a torrent of golden petals flowing into his heart.
Teacher Brutus then gave the two sturdy, dull training longswords. From the looks of it, they were being conjured from wherever he stored Marbles.
Bell then spoke up, "Can I use a claymore instead?"
Teacher Brutus nodded, replying with, "Sure thing, can you hand that back, then?"
After he collected the training weapon, Teacher Brutus conjured a claymore from a similar material. Then, he handed the large weapon to Bell with a single hand.
Upon grasping the handle with both of her hands, Bell found that the weapon was heavier than any claymores that she had used in the past.
With that, he tossed a small pin to the two training combatants, who quickly equipped the pins.
Teacher Brutus then said, "For this performance, please refrain from using your Fragments abilities, this is a test of skill over your weapons. Now, on the count of three, your bout will begin."
"Three."
Bell readied her claymore in an offensive stance.
"Two."
Michael followed suit with his longsword.
"One."
Bell braced herself to dash forward, and Michael looked to do the same.
"Go!"
The two then sprinted towards each other with their blades readied.
Michael opened with a strike aimed for Bell's head, which Bell deflected against her claymore. Michael was a step too close for her to utilize her sword, so Bell released a hand from gripping her claymore.
With Michael exposed from his failed attack, Bell struck him in the face with a closed fist from her spare hand.
Red, square pixels then flew from the site of impact.
Bell's foe was pushed back a step, and Bell raised her training claymore to slash downwards.
As her blade fell, Michael regained his footing and control over his weapon. He raised his longsword in response, then audibly grunted as her claymore made impact with his longsword.
Bell retreated a step to allow another exchange to occur, finding a bit of confidence in her skills after Michael's previous performance.
She was almost tempted to taunt the boy but elected not to.
'He's a friend.' Bell reasoned.
Somewhere deep inside, Bell's taunts and jeers were reserved for mortal enemies and rivals.
Michael then found the courage to enter another bout against Bell.
He lunged forward with his longsword extended, looking to pierce her stomach. Bell responded by extending her claymore forward and attempting to gain control over Michael's sword.
She failed, and red pixels started to spew outward from Bell's forearm.
Afterward, Bell took a step forward, gaining more control over the two's blades, then pushed forward.
Michael took a step backward, and with that, Bell released the longsword from her extended control and struck forward with a piercing motion.
Before Bell's claymore struck Michael's heart, his longsword appeared pressed against her throat.
All around her, a spray of red pixels emanated from her body. She had lost that final exchange.
"And the winner is Michael!" Teacher Brutus announced.
The fight hadn't even lasted thirty seconds, which was surprising.
Bell felt as if she would have done better in her duel if she had access to both Ruination and Creation; then realized that neither gave her an out of that final clash.
With a sigh, Bell stepped forward and extended an open hand to Michael. He took and shook her extended hand with a smile.
"Good duel." Bell said.
"Good duel." Michael repeated.
The two then turned to Teacher Brutus, who began to explain the two's shortcomings.
"Firstly, both of you did good, and if I were to rate your performances on a scale of one to ten, I'd give you both a seven point three. Which, unfortunately, is only a C under the Terrarium curriculum."
He drew near to Bell and Michael, continuing as he did.
"Can I get those back?" The two gave their training weapons and pins in response.
"Thanks. Now, Bell, what do you think you did wrong?"
Bell said the first thing that came to her mind, "I wasn't fast enough."
Teacher Brutus chuckled before correcting Bell, "You weren't smart enough."
Bell nodded in reply, her cheeks flushing red.
"You have more range and your blade is heavier, somewhat. You should have stayed a pace back the entire time, allowing your opponent to come into your striking range. Outside of that, you did excellently, minus that last exchange. You should have feinted, then redirected his weapon to the side as you went for the killing blow."
Bell continually nodded her head in continual response to Teacher Brutus's lecture.
Teacher Brutus then turned to face Michael, who stiffened up somewhat under the scrutinous gaze of his teacher.
"You did well, except your short-range combat could use some improvement. You allowed yourself to get struck in the face for some reason, and in a real battle, that would have nearly been the end of the fight. You would have been disoriented, allowing the enemy to get a finishing blow. Outside of that, you used your range well."
Immediately after, Teacher Brutus started going around and inspecting every other student's bout against one another. Mona and Pyralis had a duel after Bell and Michael, from the look of it, Pyralis was a much better spearman.
'That's surprising, I didn't expect Mona to be the type of girl to use a spear.' Bell thought as she examined the two's duel.
Teacher Brutus continued to give advice to the students before reaching Bell and Michael once more.
"Here are your tools, please have another bout." He said, extending a training blade and a pin to the two.
The two had another duel, this time, Bell won now that she knew to keep a step or two backward. Unfortunately, her aggression took a hit due to that, and the two never got close enough for Bell to use her other limbs to attack her foe.
However, Bell won in the end, then the cycle continued.
Before Teacher Brutus left to Mona and Pyralis again, though, he gave advice to the two.
"Bellona, you used your space well, but your aggression and footwork could use a bit of work."
"Michael, you need to be a bit more cautious when moving in with your weapon, you were a bit careless with the placement of your weapon."
Thus, the cycle began, and in the end, Bell would squeak out just two more wins in the duels against Michael.
After a whole eighty minutes of dueling and waiting, Bell had won in ten bouts, while Michael won in eight.
"Class is over." Teacher Brutus flatly announced when the tolling of the mysterious bell came from overhead.
With that, the group gathered and began their short journey to their dorms.
They had quickly navigated the tunnels underneath the bleachers, then ascended the stairs and turned in the direction of their dormitory complex. Upon reaching it, they all bid their temporary farewells before returning to their individual rooms.
Upon entering their living room, Bell placed her closed umbrella against a corner close to the door.
Then, she returned to her sub room with Mona mirroring her actions.
After the door closed, Bell decided to continue her experiments and reading.
'What to do first, though?' Bell asked herself, sitting beside a technique booklet and a set of empty printer paper.