The Fight for Acknowledgement

The courtyard in their new house was fairly wide as the group had requested during the time the house was being built, to enlarge the courtyard in order for it to be used as a training ground.

And within the same courtyard, Lancell stood in the middle of the fairly wide space, surrounded by his students.

"Uhh...Lancell? We're sorry now so, please let this slide. I mean, you just got back from your trip so, you must be tired right?" Rayle inquired after apologizing.

"Nope. I have my reasons, and I'm curious about something. Currently, I don't have any spellblades, so if you guys wanna beat me, now's your chance." Lancell answered.

"I see." As Shin heard his words, he materialized Acxelicht as an intricately patterned spear formed in his hands. He raised and pointed the spear tip to Lancell, and spoke.

"If teacher is saying he has his reasons, then it must be something serious." He added.

When the group noticed Shin preparing, they also started to arm themselves and started to prepare for combat. Even Ludivine was preparing too.

Shin's intuition was sharp in places it was needed most. And now that Shin had deduced that the matter was serious, they naturally would follow along.

And speaking of instincts...

"I feel like...Lancell's going somewhere...far away." Ludivine, the one with the most terrifying instincts on the group, uttered.

And that one statement alone brought the tension in the group as Lancell saw it an opportunity, so he spoke.

"If you wanna ask for details, then come beat me—" Lancell didn't get to finish as while he talked, he was interrupted by a sudden spear thrust.

"Alright...We'll beat you..." Shin spoke.

Lancell avoided the thrust by twisting his body, as he then tried to grab Shin to throw him along with his momentum, but Shin saw through his plan and stomped on the ground to negate the momentum he carried.

BOOM!

Lancell thrown a bit backwards from the force of the shockwave that Shin emitted, but he easily regained his balance and countered the incoming kick from Shin by narrowly evading it, then landing a blow to the face.

The exchange lasted only for a few seconds, and the other people from the group couldn't react from the sudden shift.

Lancell and Shin took distance from each other, and Lancell spoke. "Hey, idiots. Are you gonna fight or not?" He asked the rest of the group

As for Shin, he only spoke two words. "...He's...leaving..." Everyone clenched their teeth when they heard Shin's words. Shin then added.

"...That's why... I want to know... where... and why..."

Silence pervaded the surroundings for a while, and then Rayle spoke.

"Well, this is lame. Lancell's gonna leave us without telling us why? Now that's kinda annoying."

"Yeah. I guess I want to know about it too." Siri agreed with Rayle.

"Sooo? We get to beat up teacher this time? We're not gonna have the tables turned on us like last time, right?" Sally asked.

"Haha...Does that even matter? Even if we can't beat him, we have to try." Argos stated.

Lina was silent, but worry was evident in her eyes. And Ludivine held out her wand in front of her.

Lancell was now surrounded by his students who were eager to fight.

"Well. Let's get started!" Rayle shouted as he dashed.

◇◇◇

Rayle was fast, verily so. However...

'Competing with me in speed? How idiotic.' Lancell thought as he easily avoided Rayle's attacks.

As he kept evading, chains suddenly appeared from beneath the ground as it restrained Lancell's leg, and the same time, three glowing arrows were already in front of him.

BOOM!

The arrows exploded upon contact covering the place where Lancell stood. However...

"Hey. Should you really stop attacking without even confirming your target's loss?" Lancell's voice resounded as Rayle was suddenly blown back ten meters.

"...Void...Step..." Shin muttered.

And only then the group realize that their teacher, who had never used Secret Techniques during sparring, was now going to go all out

Everyone's minds tensed as they knew just how strong Lancell was. He struck where it was most needed, moved when needed, and was absolutely precise in his attacks.

And that was when he was yet to use his secret techniques. And now...

"I see. If you're not coming, I'm coming to you." Lancell spoke as he was suddenly covered by dark purple wind. He had activated Void Wind Guidance Level 6. It was now capable of overclocking its users speed by six times, but it depended on the user's body whether it could handle the strain.

Lancell dashed into Sally's direction, and then threw a punch that was strong enough to kill a normal person.

However, Lancell's fist didn't reach its target as a white barrier suddenly formed in front of Sally.

"Sorry but, we're not gonna hold back too." Argos spoke as he strengthened his Luminous Barrier that was threatening to crack under Lancell's absurd strength.

Lancell took a step back as he evaded more arrows coming his way

'Hm...It's really difficult without Spellblades as expected.' Lancell thought

If he still had his Spellblades, he could have just slashed through the barrier, and knocked down Sally, but it was no use crying over spilt milk

He materialized Arkenvalle as he felt his speed boosting by an absurd margin.

BOOM!

At this moment, the area he was in suddenly exploded into flames as Ludivine used one of her recorded spells in her wand, Explosion.

However...

"Naive. You just blocked your own line of sight." Lancell's voice reached everyone's ears as he was already in front of Sally. He threw a punch at her again but it seemed that Argos' barrier was still there.

"W-Why me again?! You got something against me?!"

"Not really. But I hate being weak, so I wouldn't want to take one of your hexes."

"H-How about I don't use it on you? G-Good deal, yeah?"

"Yeah. But combat has no compromises!"

Crack!...

The barrier suddenly cracked as Argos couldn't hold the barrier anymore, and the fist went through the next instant.

"Ugh Gweeeehh..." Sally gave a weird scream as the punch in the solar plexus and flew backwards. She then fainted.

Lancell didn't have time to rest as the next instant, a barrage of arrows chased after him. As Siri shot another barrage the next instant. She too, had taken the no liberties.

Over a hundred arrows were soon chasing after Lancell, but it was still unable to keep up with his monstrous speed.

'And to think I used to scoff at this kind of strength, was I really an idiot in my past life?' Lancell laughed inwardly.

Lancell then moved towards Shin's direction as he planned to use him as a meat shield.

Siri knew what he was thinking, so she cancelled her arrows, doing exactly as Lancell wanted her to.

Lancell didn't engage Shin as he went past him and went directly for Argos.

Argos was caught off guard, so he raised his arm in desperation as he put his shield in front of him, but he didn't feel the impact he expected.

'Wha! Could it be?!...'

"Aaaaahhhh!" A girl's scream resounded as Ludivine was knocked out after a receiving a kick into her stomach. It was a bit cruel to do to a kid, but Lancell had seen far too many things much cruel to this one.

'If something like this could break her, then she might as well just die in this turbulent times.' Lancell thought without guilt.

Everyone grit their teeth as they were getting wiped out without having any means of resistance.

Psychology, observation, reflexes, experience, intuition, techniques, physical strength. Lancell was so overwhelming in these aspects that there was a gigantic gap between them and their teacher.

Yet, even so...

"As if...we'd give up!!!..." Shin said as rushed to Lancell.

His spear lit up in a blinding light as he chanted a one-chant Spellblade.

"Grand Sweep!"

After receiving pointers from Lancell, he was able to make a few one-chant Spellblades, and this was one of them.

A powerful shockwave was released from the spear as it swept everything in a semi-circle of a few meters ahead of him.

Lancell knew he wouldn't be able to dodge this strike, so for the first time, he used Arkenvalle to block the strike.

Claang!!!

He didn't use a Spellblade, but it was still powerful enough to block Shin's attack.

"...Why?..."

"Huh?"

"Why do...you keep doing...this?"

"What are you talking about?"

"...Always doing things...on your own..."

Shin's frustration grew, as well as everyone who heard his words.

They all respected Lancell. They would even die for his sake as he was the one that gave them strength. And that exactly why they were frustrated.

They were frustrated that he excelled in everything when it came to fighting. He was so excellent that no one on the group even dared to think of one day reaching where he stood.

And Lancell knew about that.

'That's why I can't entrust my back to you. If you guys are beneath me, you can't protect my back properly.' And that's why Lancell answered.

"Oh, that? It's because you guys are far from being able to help me." He stated as a matter of fact.

Shin went silent, but Lancell suddenly felt a chill that went down his spine.

"...Then..."

Shin spoke. His aura was different than before. Unlike the heroic aura he usually exuded, it was like a desperate beast, searching for a way to survive.

("Lancelot.") Arkenvalle called out mentally.

("Yeah. This might be a bit bad.")

As a former hero, he had seen this kind of scene before.

("Heroic Desperation.") Arkenvalle spoke.

The state when a hero completely puts his focus on one single objective. And temporarily abandons the title of a hero.

In turn, they gain power several times their usual limit.

("But the backlash from this won't be pretty.") Lancell commented.

After Heroic Desperation wears off, the Hero would then become bedridden for at least three days and temporarily lose all of his levels.

In other words, Shin would be far more vulnerable than a normal human.

("That's why, we have to finish this quick.")

And so, the plan that Lancell made to check their growth and see if they were fit to be allies, went on a completely different course.