Stronger than Me ?

The battlefield was completely occupied at that moment, knights everywhere, performing exercises like push-ups, sit-ups, and pull-ups. Morrigan had joined a small group of Cedric's friends so that he could feel more comfortable during his training. There were two other knights, a girl, and another boy, Cassius and July. Cassius was a classic hipster knight, with hair covering his eyes and always calm expressions; he seemed relaxed despite the intensive training.

July was a girl of medium build, strong, with expressions that didn't match her appearance at all, possibly naturally purple hair, darkened green eyes, and several piercings on her face in a classic gothic style. However, her makeup wasn't so well done at that moment because of the training, giving her a destroyed look, forming a charm around her aesthetic.

"You should be stronger, shouldn't you?" July teased Morrigan, who was panting on top of a group of horse hay left in a corner of the training field. "Me too... I thought I was," he replied breathlessly, while Cassius chuckled. "Lunchtime is coming soon, bro..." he said calmly, very polite in his tone but very animated. It was quite funny to see him gesturing with his hand, making various hangloose signs.

"You'll have to fight Dante in the disarming duel today, Morrigan, so things might not be easy. He'll try to show off by taking a piece of you," Cedric said, making Cassius nod in agreement very slowly. "He does that with all the newcomers... He's made many quit fields 4," Cassius said, despite his calmness, seeming focused when he spoke. "He's not a peaceful person, bro..."

Throwing his body upwards, Morrigan sat on the hay, with his arms on his knees, and then said, "It's okay, he may be stronger than me, but he must not have good intentions. Buyon told me that the better my intentions are, the stronger my Aura becomes!" Morrigan regained his breath as he said this, making Cedric excited. "I like your confidence. Even though I've been in fields 4 for a few months, I'm not so good with Aura. I can't beat him in disarming duels; his axe is too heavy," Cedric said, making it seem like he had been defeated a few times before.

"He's really strong, there are 4 like him in fields 4. The others don't care as much, but he's the most egocentric. That's why when he uses Aura, it's dark. Dark auras are never a good thing," July said, affirming something that Morrigan didn't understand, and then he asked, "Do Auras change according to personality?" Cassius then jumped in to answer the question. "Every person has a different aura, the colors don't vary that much, but if you're good, the color will be light. If you're very angry, or if you're bad, it will be dark, bro," he said, gesturing and putting his hands on either side, showing each example in a fictitious way, between his arms. "Your only advantage is that axes are bad against swords, but you may not be as fast as him. When you are, maybe you'll easily defeat him," Cedric said just as a large bell rang, swung by an excited child swinging back and forth hanging on the rope where the bell was, making it ring because he was hanging on it.

"Well, it's lunchtime... let's eat, and then it'll be your moment..." Cedric said, making Morrigan a bit anxious, but all that anxiety generated many ideas about how strong Dante could be. What Morrigan didn't know was that it was far beyond his comprehension.

The cafeteria was an extremely cozy place, with wooden walls painted blue, simulating a very beautiful tavern, full of golden symbols and paintings of battles of the soldiers of the Leomurd family and some of their lords. There were several round tables, where each knight could sit with their group of friends and eat. At the end of everything, there was a large counter with some cooks, where Buyon was helping, although his height prevented anything beyond his waist from being seen inside the kitchen.

Morrigan then sat with his current companions after serving himself, and hearing various murmurs about him, he seemed to have become, for a few minutes, the center of attention in the place, which was important to him, but it made him a little embarrassed. "The boy who uses aura," "Is he going to face Dante, isn't he?" "Is this boy a reincarnation?" "He doesn't seem like one of the knights?" Several random phrases were thrown into the air about Morrigan, who preferred to ignore them all.

All this attention ended when Juvs, a tall and strong woman, wearing armor only on her legs and waist, on the top, a white outfit with threads between the neckline of large breasts that matched her extremely confident smile, a subtly dark-skinned redhead, who really lived up to what Buyon said, was a breathtaking woman.

She appeared talking with some knights, who were toasting and joking, as soon as she noticed Zi'o, she said, "We have a new face here!" with her strong voice, then she put her elbow on the boy's shoulder, "Who are you, little one?" Morrigan then, still a little dazed by so much energy, replied, "Morrigan, I'm new to fields 4... You must be Juvs', Buyon told me about you!" he said this with a few drops on his head, he was embarrassed, and she then said laughing, "Did he speak well or badly? That big guy... always courteous." She said this smiling, "I hope you feel at ease, if any bully messes with you in my kitchen, you can call me!" she put her hand on her bicep, large, indicating that she was a fighter too.

"Thank you, Miss Juv's," he thanked, while the others seemed cordially to continue eating, it was a common scene for them, it was common for newcomers to the place. As soon as lunchtime was over, they rested for about 1 hour, where some things were taught to Morrigan, such as postures, and good knightly customs. A new bell was rung, and this time, there was a different figure in the training field, a Captain was there, in training clothes, but with a flag with the symbol of the golden lion on his arm.

This time it was a more charismatic figure than Senmaru, a man with shaved sides of his hair, black hair, physically strong, on his back, a large spear with a bluish flag swirling around the tip, the metallic handle full of adornments led to a blade that split into two sides, leaving an empty space in the center meeting above, forming a thick and rigid sharp point, an extremely beautiful weapon.

"In formation! The Disarming Duel is about to begin!" he indicated, and soon Cassius called the boy to stand near them, pulling him by the shirt. As they lined up, there were a total of 10 rows, with 5 knights each. The Captain then said, "The duels will be as always, whoever loses the weapon due to hand pains from impacts loses, each competitor is entitled to only one dodge, the victory counter in disarming duels will be points to increase your ranks as knights."

He explained calmly while most of them already knew, with Morrigan, there were nine other beginner knights in Fields 4. "Does anyone want a specific challenge?" the captain asked, and everyone fell silent, and the eyes turned to Dante, in the penultimate row on the left, in the second position, he stood with crossed arms, dramatically opening his eyes, saying, "I want to face Morrigan Zi'o, the Novice of the Aura!"

Silence fell over the field as the captain searched with his eyes for Zi'o, the boy was in the penultimate row, behind Cassius, in the fifth position, being the last in line. "You two, come forward, I don't know Zi'o, but I heard that you're capable of defeating a Hex Monster of standard 2, not an easy creature to defeat." The Captain crossed his arms impressively, and Dante walked forward, drawing his axe from his back where he kept it, and then stood in front of the rows. Zi'o came somewhat anxiously drawing his sword slowly, and the captain then recognized the blade.

"Where did you get that sword? Morrigan?" Curious, the captain asked, "I got this sword from Master Delial, he gifted it to me when I defeated the monster.." The captain then said with a laugh, "You're using this sword? How crazy of Delial to leave this sword with someone." They were then prepared for the start of the Disarming Duel.

After standing facing each other, with their weapons pointed, Dante was the first to speak, "You may dominate the Aura, but the battlefield is different, your enemies who think will use their minds against yours, and then you will be devoured..." As he said this, a greenish aura emanated from his body, and Morrigan was then thrown a few centimeters back on the ground by the force of Dante's aura.

"I understand all your frustration, Dante-san... And I'll accept it at this moment, to try to give my best..." as the boy spoke, he then began to close his eyes, and the palpitations of his heart began to bring back the sensation of the Aura again, when his true feelings began to emerge, Morrigan shone in a bluish-white tone, but as both hearts filled with emotion, he then expanded his aura throughout his body, and Dante was also pushed back, seeing Morrigan's eyes shining brightly. "Everything!" the boy finished speaking, with the ground around him beginning to lift some pebbles from the force of that energy.

"His Aura..." Incredulous Dante, furrowed his brows wondering, "Stronger than me?.."