Whispers burst out around the arena as Jun walked into the Sergeant's class.

"Isn't that the girl that Ivar…"

"...she showed up…"

"It's her…"

"What a weakling. Can't believe they let her back into class. What's the Sergeant thinking?"

"Shhh! Don't let Sloan hear you!"

Jun did her best to ignore the whispers, but she couldn't help but glance at the person who called her a weakling. A boy she didn't recognize was staring daggers at her, sending an itchy feeling down her spine. His aura glowed dark grey with streaks of silver in it, and seemed to throb with disgust. She didn't like his attention. Sighing to herself, Jun kept moving and put a few classmates between herself and the boy before sitting down in a free spot.

"You're alive," the girl next to her said flatly. Turning to look at her neighbor, she was surprised to see Emily to her left sitting with her friends Gina and Melody. Dark grey auras surrounded all of them giving off a mix of impressions. Emily's felt surprisingly soft, almost happy, while Gina's was a mix of disgust and resignation that strangely enough didn't feel unpleasant. Melody's was perhaps the strangest one of all, feeling like it wanted to reach out and envelope her. Envy? Greed? Jealousy?

"What're you looking at?" Melody snapped, her aura taking on a spiky appearance as girl glared at her.

Before Jun could respond, a shrill whistle cut through the afternoon air, silencing the arena as every head snapped to the hulking figure in the middle of the arena.

"Now that I have your attention," the Sergeant barked, "some announcements. First, many of you are already aware that Ivar Svenson is no longer a student at this Academy. He has been expelled for reckless endangerment and attempted murder. Some of you feel this is unfair, some of you may blame his victim. Do not. He broke the rules and is lucky all that happened was expulsion." The Sergeant's eyes swept across the crowd. Jun could see a silvery-white glow surrounding the man that seemed to glitter in places like a sparkling gem and screamed of discipline sharpened to a razor sharp edge. As Jun watched the man and tried to puzzle out what the lights and sensations she felt meant, she met the man's eyes and his aura changed. A crack appeared in the sensation of discipline and seemed to leak a hint of shame, anger, and regret, but just for a moment. As if she imagined it, the crack suddenly disappeared, leaving only discipline behind as the man nodded faintly at her and moved on.

"Ivar Svenson is the son of a war hero and already trained in the art of combat. Many of you have similar lineages that afforded you the opportunity to learn weapons skills and gain additional trained stats before attending this Academy. But just as many of you are learning and training for the first time, especially those of you who are on the path of a mage. Every trained warrior was warned prior to this class that because of the advantages they would hold over their classmates, they would need to restrain themselves to avoid unnecessarily hurting their comrades in training."

"This was to teach those trained warriors to control their strength and learn finesse. Simply dominating your peers in training only fosters overconfidence and makes you weaker, while depriving your comrades of opportunities to grow. Just as our apprentice mages were restricted from using their spells to force them to learn how to fight when they couldn't access their magic. Ivar Svenson broke this rule, utilizing all of his skills in an attempt to murder a student. That is why he was expelled."

"However, some of the warriors have complained about their restrictions. And there is a point that those facing combat against a warrior will not do so while they are holding back. So for today, the restrictions are lifted and we will be engaging in a special exercise." A mix of cheers and complaints broke out amongst the students as the class nearly descended into a riot.

"Yes! No more taking it easy on those weaklings!"

"Are you fucking serious?! Those meatheads will kill us!"

"Let's see how tough you are when I can use [Steel Body] Chad!"

The class quickly grew rowdy as people shouted back and forth. At least, until an oppressive force cast a veil over the arena. "It seems," the Sergeant said seriously, "I was not clear enough. The restrictions on both warriors and mages are lifted. And you will not be facing each other. You will be fighting me."

The mood in the arena immediately dampened as everyone stared at the hulking professor.

Jun glanced at the girls next to her, each of them grim-faced as they eyed each other and their neighbors. She had a feeling class was going to get more chaotic.

"You lose. Next group."

Jun watched as another group of students, a full twenty this time, picked themselves up and limped over to the the busy triage area where the healers were treating half the class. The Sergeant seemed to ignore them, looking at the rapidly emptying seats as he invited the next group of challengers.

He didn't have to wait long. A group of 8 hurriedly made their way down to the arena's weapon racks and armed themselves. A group of five, clearly warrior students, grabbed their weapons with confident movements. Among them was the boy who made her feel uncomfortable earlier who armed himself with a long halberd, a shield, and a sword. Once armed, the group dropped into a fighting formation with the five armed warriors in front and three mages in back.

"Begin when ready," the Sergeant said, standing ramrod straight with his hands behind his back. Though he looked defenseless, the students had watched him dismantle every previous group with ease, never even using his hands.

For a few seconds, nobody moved, the students staring down the students nonchalantly. Then, the arena exploded with movement. The Sergeant was the first to move, stepping back just before a large spike of earth erupted from the arena floor where he'd been standing. Spike after spike shot up from under him, forming a forest of stone spears, yet none of them made contact. As if he were on a casual stroll, the man dodged spike after spike by the narrowest of margins, until he was boxed in on all sides. Before the last spear could impale him, the man kicked through the wall of conjured earth around him, his foot slamming into the chest of one of the warriors who'd been sneaking up using the spells as a distraction. The boy flew back, slamming into two of the other students that went down in a tangled pile of arms and legs. Casually, the Sergeant stomped on their wrists, disarming them. But before he could finish the three off, the Professor was forced to duck around one of the stone pillars to avoid a storm of wind blades and fire bolts, putting him directly in view of the other two Warrior students and the earth mage. One of the melee fo used fighters, a boy wielding a heavy maul, lashed out with a brutal horizontal strike that left no room for the Sergeant to dodge. He didn't.

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Instead, the man stepped into the blow, taking the haft of the weapon on his arm in such a way that it limited the force of the blow, and drove his shoulder into the boy's chest, knocking him down with a wheeze. The last boy standing was the one who called Jun a weakling, and surprisingly he put up a solid fight sending cut after cut after the Sergeant from a distance. It seemed like the two were in a stalemate for a bit, and Jun couldn't help but wonder if this boy would be the first student to force the Sergeant to use his hands. But before that happened, the Sergeant did something no one expected. He retreated, hopping between two of the stone spikes. The boy's grey and silver aura seemed to spark with confidence as he moved to pursue the Sergeant, but he only made it a single step before a ball of mud engulfed him.

With all five of the warriors downed, the Sergeant went on the hunt and quickly picked off the three mages with casual leg sweeps, never once moving his hands from behind his back.

"Your group failed. Next."

Jun swallowed nervously as she took to the arena. She wished her teammates were in this section of Practical Combat with her, but they were in other sections. Instead, she found herself gearing up next to Emily, Gina, Melody, and two other familiar faces.

"Good to see you again Jun, and my apologies for what Ivar did. I should have done something to stop him," Gregor said, nodding at her as he hefted a large square shield and blunted arming sword off one of the weapon racks. Hunter nodded silently in agreement as he checked the draw of a long bow.

Jun shook her head at the apology. "It's not your fault he did that… and I'm okay now. Besides, I don't think anyone knew he would try something like… that."

"I was his team leader and should have paid more attention to him. He often complained about how you and your friend turned him down when forming teams, but we thought it was just harmless venting. It's obvious now it wasn't." Gregor set the sword he'd been testing down and crossed his arm over his chest. "I owe you a debt for my failure."

"You don't—"

"Work this out later," Emily said, cutting Jun off. "Gregor, Hunter, Jun," Emily looked at each of them as she said their names, "we worked well enough together during the expedition, so I expect us to have a good showing. Gregor, you and I will take the front. We'll hold his attention and try to give the others an opening to strike."

"Sounds good, I'll have your back," the warrior said seriously.

Emily nodded at the other team leader before looking at Melody and Hunter. "Melody, Hunter, you're our archers. From what we've seen so far, Sergeant Sloan can easily dodge any shots, so we'll do our best to tie him down in one spot and distract him. If it looks like he's going to get out of our pin, try to keep him contained." Both of the archers nodded in agreement.

And then, Emily looked at Jun and Gina. "Gina, wait for an opening and use your fastest spells, we want speed and precision, not power." Gina nodded once, her hand tightening around her staff. "Jun, your barriers and snares worked really well in the Forest, but I'm not sure how helpful they'll be here. Try to box him in with us to give Gina an opening. Everyone understand the plan?"

"Understood."

"Got it."

"Yes." Jun swallowed nervously as Emily picked up her own weapons and led them into the arena. Gripping her own sword and shield, Jun fell in next to Gina as they stepped through the arena barrier, the magic sending a spark through her mana channels that made her shudder reflexively. That was new. But before Jun could pay more attention to the spark she felt, the Sergeant's voice boomed out, repeating the same offer of advancement and gear if they managed to win. Winning meant forcing him to surrender, something no one truly thought possible. They didn't know his exact rank, but with her recently unlocked mana senses and whatever these auras she'd been seeing was, it was obvious to her he was strong. Far stronger than Arwen, who'd been an overwhelming presence to her. Even if the Sergeant was limiting himself, the odds of victory were low.

"Begin when ready."

Jun didn't wait, immediately channeling her mana into her spells as she felt her classmates' mana move. Emily and Gregor sped forward as they fed their mana into some kind of body enhancement, while Melody and Hunter immediately split to the sides and started to fire, forcing the Sergeant to dodge out of the way of their arrows.

The Sergeant started to drop back away from the warriors' charge when Jun coalesced her first spell. A simple barrier manifested directly behind him, blocking him in. Pain shot through her head as the Sergeant kicked it, shattering the spell, but it'd never been meant to hold him there, just delay him long enough for the warriors to close.

Gregor closed first, his sword swinging for the Sergeant's head and forcing the man to back up. But before he could retaliate with a kick, Emily's sword swiped at his leg, forcing him to step back instead. The two warriors split to the sides as Gina's mana coalesced into a series of wind bullets that shot for the Sergeant!

Anyone less skilled would have been hit by the spells, and even with the Sergeant's Constitution probably multiple times greater than her own, Jun was sure Gina's spells would've at least broken skin. But the Sergeant had already demonstrated immense skill as he neatly hopped over the spells. But everyone knew that jumping into the air was a terrible move without something that allowed you to control your position. After all, you couldn't just kick off air without using magic.

The second of Jun's barriers coalesced as the Sergeant jumped up, a small, thick brick-like bit of magical force carrying a full quarter of Jun's mana pool, unlike the minimally powered barrier she used earlier. Accelerating the brick downward, the Sergeant barely had time to react, grabbing onto the barrier with his bare hand and using it as a bar to redirect himself back towards the arena floor. A loud thump filled the arena as the Sergeant landed forcefully in the sand outside the small cordon the students had set.

"Nicely done forcing me to use my hands, students," he said with the ghost of a smile. "But that was a mistake." Before Gregor could do more than whirl around to face the Sergeant again, the man charged him, neatly ducking his instinctive blow and grabbing the boy's shield before picking him up and throwing him out of the arena. Emily threw her shield at the man, a desperation move Jun recognized as one she'd used against her classmate before. Chuckling, the Sergeant caught the thrown shield and used it to block Emily's thrust before she too was tossed out of the arena, moments before he stepped back to dodge another arrow.

Looking up, the man smiled at the archers and blocked another shot with the shield before flipping it around in his hands like a frisbee and throwing it at Melody, neatly shattering her bow as she began to knock another arrow.

Jun started to coalesce another barrier around the man, only for him to shatter it with a pair of punches. As Jun recoiled from the mana backlash, Hunter fired, only for the Sergeant to parry the arrow with his palm and charge the boy. Dropping his bow, Hunter pulled his training sword and lashed out at the Professor in a brutal series of strikes, but none of them landed. Instead of falling back, the Sergeant advanced, dodging or parrying with his hands in an inhuman display of skill.

Jun barely saw the kick coming before the Sergeant lashed out, only to shatter a hastily coalesced barrier instead of striking Hunter. As the Sergeant stumbled slightly from the unexpected obstacle, Gina released another swarm of wind spells that peppered the arena floor and forced the Sergeant to drop back. Melody, deprived of her primary weapon, charged in with her short training blade, only for the Sergeant to grab her by the wrist and bodily throw her out after Gregor and Emily. Hunter was similarly dispatched before Jun or Gina could respond, leaving just the two mages against their monster of a Professor.

"The best performance yet today students," he said, dodging another of Gina's hastily crafted spells and shattering another of Jun's barriers, "but not good enough."

Jun wasn't sure what it was that told her to move, but she did, darting in front of Gina with her shield out as she coalesced her snares on her shoulders and sunk them deep into the sand of the arena, just in time to take a massive blow. Jun let out a short scream as she felt the bones in her wrist snap from the impact, and lashed out with a wild swing of her sword, surprising herself when she felt it slam into flesh rather than air.

"Ow." the Sergeant deadpanned.

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