Lied II

Lied's thoughts were interrupted by the instructor, who beckoned them to gather round. The group was selected not based on the year but rather the skill set of the individual. Lied walked up to his group and was greeted by familiar faces.

"How was your day, Lied-ser."

Shina wore a beautiful smile as she greeted him. Her red hair elegantly moving to the wind and her red-brown eyes glimmered which accentuated her beauty. Shina wore a red military vest and white pants; the golden buttons made them look authentic and the way it wrapped around her body accentuated her good figure. This was an outfit she purchased recently for her combat training.

"The day just begun."

He was always like this when dealing with his group mates. Trying to keep small talks as short as they could get and move on. Shina already aware of this and just smiled.

"May the best swordsman win."

Lied was currently at Dan 7. Like Reena had told him, he blasted through Dan 10, 9 and 8 but got stuck at 7. His group was made up of a total of 7 demons (1 from Year One, 4 from Year Two and 2 from Year Three). The most populated group was the group of Dan 9 members which consisted of 15 members, followed by: Dan 8 members (10), Dan 7 (7), Dan 5 (4), Dan 6 (3) and Dan 4 (1). Amassing a total of forty students.

"Get ready."

A loud voice roared across the coliseum. The owner of the thunderous voice was a huge red demon about 7'2 with bulging muscles, nicely trimmed beard and a scar running from his left eye down to his chin. He was the overseer of the 'Sword Den' and the head of the sword instructors.

All students quickly got in line in their respective positions as the instructors all went to their assigned groups together with some surprise guests.

A slim man walks towards the seven students all standing in a file behind him was a man slightly taller than him but with a much better build and a noticeably large sword.

"Good morning fledgelings. As promised, today you want to be instructed by famous warriors around the continent. Allow me to introduce your instructor."

He points at the man behind him.

"Mr. Sieg, the Titan slayer."

Sieg moved forward as they all stared in awe. Nobody here hadn't heard of the exploits of Sieg. He was always as the forefront of the war shredding the flesh and bones of the enemies around him.

Their instructor quietly exited the stage as Sieg stepped forward and started laughing as he casually swung his huge broad sword which was almost his height.

"I've come here after a accepting a request to train you brats and seeing as you brats are all in Dan 7 it's safe to assume that you know how to properly handle a sword. As far as my experience has taught me the only difference between a Dan 7 and Dan 6 is experience. So, I'll be skipping the formal nonsense and go straight for the kill as always."

An evil grin spread across his face as he stabs Titan, his broad sword, into the ground. Their instructor uses this as a signal to erect a thin barrier around them like the others. He pulls out a small pouch and shakes it. The students watch in awe as the pouch transforms into a rack filled with different types of swords.

"For this exercise we are about to partake in, we have no use for toy swords. So, drop those toys and come and pick a sword that best suits you."

After a moment of confused muttering, they all go ahead and pick swords of their choice.

"Only when faced with true danger will your senses sharpen."

He had a nasty grin on his face as picks on Titan.

"Now come at me."

The students stared at each other in confusion trying to understand what was going through this raving man's head but as their thoughts occupied them, two students already charged at him. They Lied and Shina holding a long sword and rapier respectively.

"That's the spirit. Use everything in your arsenal to come at me."

With a wild laugh, he steadied himself and tightly gripped Titan as he got into his battle pose.

Shina understanding what he meant decided to use her wind to boost herself and so did Lied. Shina was a bit surprised when she saw did, but her eyes were on the prize, so she chose to ignore him. They closed the gap and unleashed a fury of attacks which he easily blocked. Despite them not communicating with each other, their attacks were in perfect sync. They carefully covered each other's blind spots and never failed to take advantage of any blind spot they saw. Their attacks slowly began pushing Sieg back as a smile grew on his face.

The other students seeing how well the two of them fared were in awe and got enough courage to join in on the attacks with their variety of swords. They all joined in on the attacks but unlike Lied and Shina, they couldn't work in tandem with each making them hindrances to one another but despite that those two were skill able to manoeuvre perfectly and strike when necessary.

Such feat could only be pulled off because of the ability Shina had which allowed her to sense and predict the movements of those around her by picking up on the slightest change of the winds. It was as though the wind was speaking to her, the main downside to this ability was that it requires a ton of focus and drains the user easily. But she wasn't pulling any stops today and so she plunged forward with all her might.

Sieg was carefully observing each of them and after a few clashes he had a fair assessment on their potentials. He had been on the defensive since the start of the fight and now was a good a time as any to switch things up. He gripped Titan a bit tighter and stamped his feet into the ground and with all his might unleashed a powerful force.

Shina, the first to notice the change, moved back to get into an optimal position for evading or to put all her power into defence if needed. Lied, the second to notice pulled back a little and readied an attack of his own. Three others quickly noticed their change and got into position. 

Lied creates a gravity field around himself to deflect the attack while Shina uses wind to propel herself out of danger. The two girls behind her created a force field which barely manages to fend off the attack and a boy who barely jumps out of the line of fire. The remaining two students who were unable to defend themselves were carried away by the force and slammed into barrier. They both slumped to the ground.

Now I've taken care of their weakest link. Let's see how they perform.

The remaining five started attacking from different positions to avoid any hindrances. Shina attacked from the front with rapid stabs together with powerful kicks and slashes aided by her wind powers. Lied attacked from his right with brilliant strikes mixed in with feints while also using his gravity abilities to slow him down. His attack play was to drag out the fight while trying to create openings for himself and others to take advantage of. Deeno, one of the third year in the group, attacked from his back with both his long and short sword. His attack play was an attack and retreat strategy, probing him and taking his distance as much as possible. He often switched places with Lied and the two girls to confuse their opponent. The two girls attacked from the left, launching a fury of powerful attacks and quickly alternating positions without putting much into defence. One of the girls used and an unusually long sword while the other used two swords curved at the tip. The first coated her long sword in flames as she unleashed light but explosive attacks from the side while the other engulfed her sword in light and dark elements and deliver swift and precise attacks to his vitals.

Sieg was still barely able to keep the quintet at bay but even the slightest slip up will cost him. He couldn't help but smile wildly. The students were pushing him back, but everything was under control.

 The guy with black seems good in dual wielding but he lacks the confidence to go on the offensive. If he keeps training and gets rid of his habit to overthinking, he should reach Dan 6 in about a year or two. Those two girls are really something. Their ability to handle their blades is simply amazing. They have gotten styles which they abide to which is good and the way they are able to adapt to each other's moves talks about their familiarity. They both possess good battle sense and seeing the way they can complement their styles with their abilities is nothing short of amazing. They should reach Dan 6 in no time. Finally, these two, not only are they fearless, their sense of surroundings and adept use of their environment is astounding. Their abilities and sword skills put them on par with Dan 6s. Their skills are not to be trifled with. They should be a on par with demons like me in a few years. Well now that I have a good sense of their abilities, I could end things now.

Shina throws yet another stab while Lied and the girl with the abnormally long sword throws attacks from both sides. He digs his foot into the ground and propels himself forward. He appears in front of the red-haired girl (the dual wielding girl) and uses the hilt of his blade to hit his gut and knocked her out. Following that attack, he does a spinning kick which connects with the dark-haired girl, who tries to block with a barrier but is unable to. The connecting kick sends her crashing into the barrier and knocking her unconscious. He swings his blade, sending a torrent of wave towards them. Lied raises his sword as high as he could then swings it down as hard as he could while reinforcing it with significant gravitational force, greatly increasing its speed and power. The force of his attack cleaves through Sieg's with ease.

Deeno blasts a wave of lightning through his sword at Sieg, but he easily cuts through the attack.

"Try harder."

As Sieg tries to send another attack, Shina encases him in a whirlwind to momentarily block his field of vision. Sieg just powers through it an unleashed a fury of slashes at the trio but they all jump out of the way.

After about five more minutes of clashing, Shina was at the end of her ropes while Lied was barely holding on. Deeno had been knocked unconscious a few seconds back and Sieg was in peak condition. The smile on his face was replaced with a grin as he rested Titan on his shoulders.

"So, are you going to give up?"

Shina grasped her rapier and looked at Lied, who just chuckled as he swung his sword around.

"I'll soon be out of power so I'm going for one last attack. Can you keep him occupied for a few seconds."

Lied looked at her in disbelief then smiled.

"That's enough for me to end him myself."

Lied greatly increased the gravity around and charges at him.

"A frontal attack, not bad."

He dropped his sword and readied for an attack. The increased gravity slowed him down but not enough to put their speed on equal footing. Sieg closed the gap between them and slashed downward. Lied slides back while reinforcing his sword with gravity, redirects the sword strike to the side. Lied quickly thrusts his sword forward but Sieg evades the attack and kicks him away. On the air, Lied encages him in a field of wind and gravity then pushes him to the other side of the barrier. Lied manages to land on his feet and looks at Sieg. Sieg stands up and chuckles loudly.

"As fun as this is I suppose it's time to end this."

"I couldn't have said it better myself."

Sieg lunges towards him with a frightful smile on his face. Lied makes himself lighter with gravity and uses the wind to boost his speed before throwing himself at Sieg. They both exchange several blows before Lied lands a spinning kick to his chest. Sieg slashes upwards and Lied leans back, dodging the attack by a hair's breadth. Lied's sword is enveloped by a dark evil aura as he tries to stab Sieg.

Shina, whose preparations were completely opened her eyes and points her rapier, now coated in greenish aura at the battle.

It's all or nothing.

She covers the distance between them in a split second and slashes at the space between her and Sieg. Her single slash quickly multiplied into waves of wind slices, surrounding him and sender him into the air. She gives Lied the 'I leave it all to you' look before falling to the ground. Lied just sighs and grips his sword.

He jumps into the air and lands a full force attack with his sword at the helpless body of Sieg in the air. To his surprise, although the force still sent him crashing to the group, he managed to block the attack. 

Lied couldn't help but chuckle as he landed. Sieg, whose body was filled with cuts, stood up and laughed. His injuries began fading until they were no more.

"That was a nice last-ditch attack but alas it was all for naught."

"Now do you plan to fight me one-on-one?"

"I wouldn't want to disappoint the Titan slayer."

He picked up Shina's rapier and got into an unorthodox stance.

"That's more like it."

They fiercely clashed with each other, exchanging attacks at frightening speeds. Lied stacked on his gravity, shadow and wind attacks to its fullest to produce unpredictable attacks while prepared to defend himself while Sieg, leveraged his advantages in reach and power to push back Lied. It didn't take too long for a winner to emerge.

Though Sieg came out with way more marks than he expected, he managed to put down Lied in no time. 

He looked at Lied, who could barely stand and smiled.

"That was interesting. Not bad. Not bad."

He walked over and flicked his forehead, causing him to fall.

"Class dismissed."

Before there instructor could complain, he cut through the barrier and saw himself out.

Reena, who just bested her instructor watched him leave. As soon as she saw Lied's unconscious body, her blood was boiling but she repressed her anger just in time to stop her from destroying her sword. With the help of a few others, they were all carried to the infirmary.

…

It had been four days since his session with Sieg, so he had been recuperating and training behind closed doors. Reena decided to put off their meet day for now to ensure he got ample of rest.

Lied just finished martial arts session and was heading to the Combatant Lounge together with Kaiser. The two of them were close friends in contrast to what other demons thought. To them it was more like a boss and lackey relationship.

"Didn't you say you'd go meet the sword lady?"

Kaiser quickly inquired as they walked by one of the training grounds.

"That'll have to wait till after we got ample A.P."

"I know this might be rude but why do you still want to face the emp, er, Crystal. I want you and all but…"

Lied stopped and looked at Kaiser, who frightfully returned his gaze.

"I've said this before. It's a promise I made to myself, and I don't play on shying away from it."

Kaiser bowed his head in shame.

"I'm sorry for asking."

"What's done is done."

They continued discussing until they caught up with two female students who waved at them.

"Hey ogre. Why are you still staying around this slob?"

The girl with short black hair and deep purple eyes stated with obvious disgust in her eyes. Her name was Syndi, and she was in the same year as the others and so was the girl beside her.

"Nice to meet you too, Syndi."

Lied flashed her a peerless smile making her look away.

"Shut your face, air head."

"Not the nicest of ways to greet your mates."

Kaiser grumbled but the glare she gave him made him shrink back to silence.

"Hey Olivia."

"Hey."

"Don't bother her you dimwit."

Unlike Syndi, Olivia was more of the silent and conservative type. She was short red demon with shoulder length wavy platinum blonde hair with gray-blue eyes. She exuded a dull and faint presence and was easy to forget. Her gray-blue eyes looked disinterested in the world around her and her faced lacked any bright expressions. She most took the role of a spectator in most matters and was shrouded in mysteries. Because of her spectator like behaviour, she had a keen sense of observation and was an excellent judge of character as far as they knew.

She stood beside keenly observing the back and forth between Lied and Syndi. It was reaching its climax and soon it was going to be the end of their talk.

Three, Two, One.

"How dare you."

[Black hole] She creates a dark ball the size of a tennis ball and launched several strikes of lightning at him. He quickly creates three dark balls to absorb the lightning. She enlarges the one in her palm and launches rows of flames at him.

After a bit of back and forth between them, she lets off and sighs.

Same as ever.

Kaiser and Olivia couldn't help but say inwardly.

"So where are you going?"

"To go get a quest."

"Same here. Let's go together."

They all decide to head to the Combatant Lounge together.

· Syndi

· Ego: Magic

· Inherent Talent: Black hole

· Rank: Platinum

· Olivia

· Ego: Magic

· Inherent Talent: Dominion

· Rank: Gold

· Kaiser

· Ego- Energy Boost

· Inherent Talent- Explosion

· Rank: Gold

A few minutes later, they all arrive at their destination. There were quite the number of demons in the Combatant Lounge at the moment but most of them parted way for Lied and his group to pass.

"You seemed to have built up a notorious rep."

Syndi couldn't help but whisper.

"Guess that's the only things weaklings would pick on."

Some demon clearly heard him, but no one dared say a word. This place had an unspoken rule 'might makes right'.

After eliminating multiple most of the quest on the board, Syndi and Lied looked at a single platinum ranked quest.

· Platinum Quest

· Extermination Quest

· Exterimate the ender knights roaming near the Town of Sia

· 3 members required.

· Limit: 2 weeks.

· Reward: 105 A.P.

"It seems decent enough and it's new."

"The problem lies in the required members."

Lied adds.

"Why don't three out of us four partake in this mission."

Olivia chimes in. Her voice light and soft.

"So how do you suppose we choose who stays behind?"

Kaiser asks worriedly.

Syndi raises her hand.

"A game of rock, paper, scissor."

After three games of rock, paper, scissor, the loser was decided.

Kaiser slumped his shoulders as he resigned to his fate.

"I just had a feeling this would happen."

Lied pats him on the back.

"We'll be back real soon. I'll be sure to get a souvenir for you."

Kaiser's face lights up as he sees Lied's refreshing smile.

"I'll find another mission in the meantime."

With this they both bid farewell and his group heads for the receptionist's desk. 

A tall blue demon with deep purple hair and sky-blue eyes and an appealing figure wearing a black suit and skirt is managing one of the three receptionist spots. Her sky-blue eyes were focused on the paper in her hands until a voice from the front of the counter startled her. She quickly hid the paper until her desk and made herself presentable.

"How may I help you?"

Lied slides the quest paper to her. She collects and carefully examines the contents before she stamps it. She configures the location of the warp watches to their destination and hands it over.

"Would you prefer to take some coins with you?"

"Yes please. I'll be footing the bill."

Lied says proudly making Syndi kick his thigh and hiss.

"Okay sir. Name please."

After going through the necessary procedures, he was given a pouch of 12 gold and 30 silver coins. They all wear their warp watches which had just registered them and with a zip, they were gone.

The receptionist couldn't help but sigh as she brought out the paper. She wore a look of longing as she softly stroked its edges. With a soft voice she mumbles words of unknown origins.