First Day (VI) - Quiet Exchanges

Bell's Pathfinder led her towards the Arena, and this time, the Pathfinder didn't destroy the window upon reaching the large marble coliseum. She continued into the towering, yet open wooden double doors. 

Upon passing through, the Pathfinder displayed another arrow which led Bell through the winding corridors. When she had first entered the Arena, she was following the crowd up and into the bleachers. This time, she headed into the arena grounds themselves.

Bell closed her umbrella and carried it as she continued forth. Luckily, it didn't take long for her to reach the open area, as she simply had to pass through an open gate into the arena. 

It was after Bell passed through that the window shattered, indicating that Bell was where she needed to be.

'Standing here is much, much more intimidating than sitting up in the bleachers.' Bell thought with a jitter before continuing forth.

The rain continued to fall in the arena grounds, and Bell reopened her umbrella, heading into the center of the arena. Upon looking up and around, Bell noticed that there were a few hundred students spread throughout the bleachers. All of them looked older, with varying builds that looked to be originated from the Shards that they possessed.

As she continued into the middle of the arena and onto a tiled stone platform, a speaker announced to the bleachers and to herself.

[Student Bellona Finley enters open challenge!]

Before Bell understood what had happened, the speaker announced:

[Student Mona Chronis enters open challenge!]

'What?' Bell thought with a frown.

And soon after, the speaker announced a series of familiar names entering "open challenge."

[Judas Solace!]

[Tormin Solace!]

'What's going on?'

As more and more names were called, the students whose names were called entered the arena grounds.

[Michael Erikson!]

[Pyralis Erikson!]

[Strella Erikson!]

[Hilia Erikson!]

'Nobody else looks like they know.' 

They all made their way to the platform where Bell stood, each carrying a look of varying levels of confusion on their face.

[Charybdis Karagonis!]

[Polyphemus Karagonis!]

'Who is Polyphemus?'

Bell turned to see the short spear-wielding girl and her brother, who looked exactly like the boy with the sniper from on top of the Bullet Train. A look of realization dawned on Bell's face. 

[Aramine Park!]

[Magnus Berg!]

[Wren Berg!]

'Why are they only calling people I know?'

Afterward, the speaker started calling tens of other names, and upon being called, a corresponding student entered the rain.

'Oh, never mind.'

Bell and the others bunched up close to one another as tens of other students were called.

[... enters open challenge!]

After the final student stood on top of the large, roomy platform, one last announcement was made.

[Teacher Brutus Caesar challenges all Open Challengers!]

Bell noticed that a few students looked in one direction, and then more, and then Bell turned to face what the others were looking at. 

It was Teacher Brutus in full plate armor.

[Open Challengers! Defeat Teacher Brutus Caesar!]

Each and every student, including Bell, felt a type of fear that didn't originate from their heart or mind. It was something deeper, something more primordial.

A few students took a step back while others started shaking slightly. Others looked ill while Bell simply drew blanks after the initial wave of fear passed over her.

'What do you mean defeat Teacher Brutus?!' Bell thought, looking up to the students up above on the bleachers. They all stood silently at the railing that stopped people from falling directly into the arena. 

The students didn't look to weary any type of particular expression, minus a few, who looked like they were holding back tears.

A voice grabbed Bell's attention.

"Whoever defeats me here and now in combat will automatically pass this class. Those who do not will take this class normally."

Bell turned to face the origin of the words. Upon turning to see, Bell nearly leaped backwards in instinct.

Teacher Brutus was a mere meter away from the edge of the platform.

After a moment of silence, with only the sounds of rain pattering against the ground, umbrellas, and raincoats, a few figures dashed forward. Of those, Bell was able to recognize three; Michael, Charybdis, and Magnus. 

The three, as well as many others, were already wielding weapons, whether they were training weapons or not was a muddy detail.

The group entered combat with Teacher Brutus immediately upon landing on the ground, some dashed forward with wild strikes while others appeared from behind. Teacher Brutus let the attacks glance off of his armor, while he evaded a few others, making simple and unbothered movements to redirect the attacks to his plate armor.

They grunted as they attempted to land a single hit on Teacher Brutus, all the while, his open visor showed his expression; one of pure and utter boredom. Charybdis was the one who made Teacher Brutus move most with her strangely shaped spear. Michael had most of his attacks deflected, but it looked like Teacher Brutus was interested in the Erikson. 

Lastly, Magnus used a bow and arrow, each arrow sent towards Teacher Brutus was sent in the weak points of his armor or into his visor. Each and every single arrow was deflected or avoided by extremely minimal movements.

After a few more exchanges where students attempted to attack him while he avoided and blocked them all, he made his move.

In an instant, one of the student's entire bodies flashed orange before the student reappeared several meters backward on the ground. Another student's blade was caught in Teacher Brutus's hand, and that student's body flashed orange before they reappeared a few meters backward.

Charybdis was caught off-guard by Teacher Brutus appearing beside her as she was making a long and brisk step. In an instant, her body also flashed orange before she was sprawled on the wet ground far away. Magnus sent one last arrow in Teacher Brutus's direction before he, too, was caught and sent flying tens of meters.

This repeated several times until there was no one still "fighting" him. The only one who managed to last longest was Michael, who used his strange reappearing ability to try and get the jump on Teacher Brutus. Michael only got to use his ability once before Teacher Brutus understood it and used it against the boy.

Michael was hit the hardest, with the color of his body flashing neon yellow before he vanished and reappeared ten meters backward.

A bit of blood started dripping from Teacher Brutus's gauntlet. 

Everyone on the platform was simply stunned by Teacher Brutus's show of might. He was powerful, smart, and fast, all nearly at inconceivable levels.

After a moment, Teacher Brutus turned to face the students on the platform, "He'll be fine." Teacher Brutus said with a deadpan expression.

"Now, all of you come at me at once. Do not be afraid of unleashing your abilities."

It took nearly a full second for his words to register in Bell's mind. And immediately after it did, she Created a longsword and the black flames of Ruination. She dropped her umbrella and dashed towards Teacher Brutus.

The rain pelted against her skin and clothing, but Bell saw a way to get into an advanced class, which meant she would learn more and faster. It would increase her chance of survival, so she was going to fight like hell, like her life depended on it.

Because her life might be on the line in this fight.

So Bell dismissed the feeling of rain pelting her skin, she dismissed the sudden cold she felt, and even dismissed the voice in the back of her mind calling her crazy.

Bell was going to be triumphant against Teacher Brutus, with or without the help of her classmates. Luckily, her classmates were close behind, but Bell was too focused on attacking Teacher Brutus to actually notice.

She cleared the several meter distance in a few seconds, all the while preparing an attack with her longsword coated in the gray flames of Ruination.

Bell sliced diagonally downward towards a slight opening in Teacher Brutus's neck, and her attack only landed on a shoulder plate. Immediately afterward, she attacked once more, this time, her sword swung in an opposite arc towards the underside of his opposite armpit.

Again, her attack was deflected off of armor.

Time seemed to slow for Bell, as her movements became slightly stiffer, her mind moving a bit faster. Teacher Brutus looked to have an opposite effect being placed on him, seeing as how he looked to be using his strength a bit more to avoid and deflect attacks. 

Loud clangs started to ricochet off of Teacher Brutus's armor, and Bell knew that the boy with the sniper, Polyphemus, was assisting the group. Several sets of arrows were also deflected off of his armor, and Bell knew that Strella was somewhere, attempting to nail anything against Teacher Brutus.

It took several more exchanges where Teacher Brutus deflected Bell's attacks before she noticed Torm's hulking form swinging towards Teacher Brutus with his fists.

It was then that Teacher Brutus stopped moving and actually blocked an attack. He raised a gauntlet to block the incoming punch, were they pushing him back?

'Why isn't Torm using his war hammer?' Bell thought before the calculations ran their course in her mind. 'Oh, yeah, he doesn't want to hurt everyone around him...'

Bell noticed that Torm had a red and teal aura amidst the air around him, and she couldn't recall what exactly those colors represented. Deep inside, though, she knew that the others were using their abilities to try and take Teacher Brutus down.

There were a few that were sparing with their attacks, only hopping into the battle whenever there was a clear opening that no one else took. Bell, Pyralis, and Torm, on the other hand, were constantly beside Teacher Brutus, all were trying to find an opening in Teacher Brutus's defenses.

Over time, Bell was building up small slices in the parts of armor she was hitting, but within those small cracks, gray flames were being stored. As Torm released another punch, and as Teacher Brutus defended against his attack, Bell unleashed the black flames of Ruination. 

It was perfectly timed to where Teacher Brutus didn't have the time to react, and as Torm's punch landed against Teacher Brutus's gauntlet, the gauntlet caved by a short amount.

Immediately afterward, Teacher Brutus attempted to dodge a spear attack launched by Jude, which was avoided... directly into another attack.

Aramine landed an attack into a small opening in Teacher Brutus's armor, but her blade didn't draw blood.

'What?!' Bell thought, landing more and more attacks with the gray flames of Ruination. Teacher Brutus soon noticed what Bell was doing and started to avoid her attacks entirely. He was reading her like a book, and Bell couldn't do anything to stop him avoiding the swings, slashes, and strikes.

Bell noticed that Aramine dragged her blade against her wrist and drew blood, which then immediately coated the blood, and the smell of blood filled the air. Immediately after Aramine used her ability, Teacher Brutus looked her way and then resumed deflecting and avoiding the onslaught.

Several swords, arrows, and spears rained down on Teacher Brutus, but each attack glanced off his armor with his micro-movements. As the students wielding their weapons jumped in and out of battle, attempting to land attacks from unseen locations, Teacher Brutus kept on evading and deflecting. He was a fortress, a monster, completely unstoppable, a true powerhouse.

There were at least twenty students who had completed the First Trial and had ascended to Challenger-hood. The gap in power of twenty students who had completed the First Trial and a single man who had completed his Fifth couldn't be this large, right?

But it was, and even as the students alternated between attacks, all doing their best to keep their stamina up, all while casting abilities to weaken or bypass Teacher Brutus's armor, it wasn't enough. Bell started to get a hunch that it wouldn't have mattered if there were even one hundred students fighting Teacher Brutus. They weren't getting under his armor, they weren't going to draw blood.

And much less, they weren't going to win.

But they fought nevertheless, Bell felt the sight that the students shared; the glory of winning against a teacher. The sight of potentially being placed in a higher class, the potential to learn more than they would now.

So they fought, and they all fought with all of their strength and willpower. But after a while, Bell noticed that look in Teacher Brutus's eyes. 

It was boredom. 

He turned around and a wave of students flashed orange before they appeared several meters backward, unconscious. 

Bell's group just lost a third of its fighting power!

Teacher Brutus had only launched a single counterattack!

'We've lost.' Bell thought to herself, steeling herself to get knocked out at any moment. As she continued to maneuver around the other students rushing in and attacking Teacher Brutus, Bell started to feel her stamina slowly draining.

Not only that, but her impending knockout never came, instead, the battle only carried on. Was he testing them? Was he seeing how they would react when in battle against an unstoppable foe?

Bell's stamina draining was gradual at first, but the more intense that she attempted to fight, and the more stamina she used to upkeep the gray flames of Ruination, her stamina slowly but surely started to drain more and more. 

At this point, Bell was audibly panting between every attack. 

Teacher Brutus raised his fist and Bell wanted to yell "dodge!" But she knew that the attack would have already landed. So she simply watched as another third of the students were wiped out. This group included Pyralis, Strella, and Jude.

Another third of their fighting force was immediately knocked unconscious, and that left the rest, who were rapidly wearing out. The battle was dragging on too long, and Teacher Brutus only looked like he was in tip top shape. 

'Damn it...' Bell huffed inside of her mind as she readied her sword once more and rejoined the fray. 

The battle was even more hectic now, seeing as how Bell and the others were trying to make up for the losses by going into overdrive, but they had no respite. There was no one else to take their spot, there was no one else to provide an occasional blow. 

It was a handful of children fighting against a man twice their age.

And they were losing badly.

Bell entered a state of calm after a certain while, her body started listening to her much better, and it wasn't due to the usage of Ruination. No, this was even deeper insight on how to move her body, what paths to take, what attacks to launch.

Bell "saw" how she should move her feet, it started out as simple feelings, but as the fight dragged on further, Bell started seeing foot imprints on the ground. Following the strange mix of her intuition, the footprints in the mud, and how she felt that she should move her blade, Bell was slowly making more and more progress on cornering Teacher Brutus.

A small smile bloomed under the rain and onto Bell's expression. She knew that she was going to lose this bout, but she had learned something that was hard to describe. 

Bell knew how to fight, sure, but she didn't have a deeper insight on how to read the battle and how to move according to that information. She didn't know how to properly utilize her weapon to get a desired outcome, but with this bout, Bell felt that she understood the first step to climb that staircase.

But all it took for Bell and several other students to lose the bout was a single mistake.

They had clumped up together in front of Teacher Brutus, and he raised his hand in preparation to strike. Bell immediately saw and understood what to happen, but she couldn't execute her plan accordingly.

Bell was unable to jump out of the way of the attack, her legs and lungs disobeyed her orders. Thus, Bell, as well as the others in her group, were knocked out.

But, the last thing that Bell saw before her world flashed to black was a look of pity upon Teacher Brutus's face.

***

She awoke to the rain pattering against her face, and the cold woke her up. Bell sat up and saw that several other students were looking up, they were sitting on the platform, dangling their feet just above the ground. Others were standing around an individual, and it didn't' take much for Bell to realize that they were talking to Teacher Brutus.

Bell remembered the feeling and patterns of her current clothing, because she was going to have to burn them with Ruination and Create them from scratch. 

She stood up fully, wiping away any mud and muck from her skin. As she grew closer to the platform in the middle of the arena, Bell saw that the other students were faring much worse in terms of cleanliness.

Bell noticed that at least three or four of them were completely caked in mud, they probably fell face first into the mud as they passed out after Teacher Brutus knocked them out. 

'Yeesh.' Bell grimaced, 'I wouldn't want to go out like that.' 

She grew close enough to hear what Teacher Brutus was saying, and he was simply lecturing the other students on what they could do better when fighting. 

Bell wasn't too interested in what he had to say about other students, so she stepped up onto the platform and waited for him to analyze her performance.

It took several students, including Michael, Pyralis, Hilia, Magnus, and Polyphemus before Bell was spoken to.

Teacher Brutus's face lit up when he laid his eyes upon Bell, and he began speaking to her. 

"Ah, Bellona, you did spectacularly!"

Bell nodded and mumbled, "Thanks..." In reply.

"Only a few other students were able to do what you did today! In all my years of teaching... Oh! There are only two other students who were able to enter that state!"

Bell wore an expression of confusion on her face, but the realization soon dawned on her. 

'Ooh... That feeling... Yeah, I know what he's talking about.' Bell mumbled to herself in the depths of her mind.

Teacher Brutus kindly announced what Bell did anyways.

"Bellona! You were one of three students to enter battle meditation!"

Bell didn't know what that term meant, only looking towards Teacher Brutus with a growing confused expression.

"Yes, yes, of course you all wouldn't know..." He said with a tone of disappointment and embarrassment.

"Battle Meditation is where your instinct and mind are in perfect sync, this is where you learn the most in battle! Hence the term, Battle Meditation!"

Bell then understood, with a nod, she asked, "Is there anything that I can improve on?"

Teacher Brutus's smile slowly faded, and his face started to scrunch as he entered a state of deep thought.

"Honestly, you were doing perfect, I don't know where you came from, but you were taught well." He said after a few moments of silence.

The rain continued to pour on the students, but for Bell, that was only a good thing, seeing as how it was washing away the mud on her clothing. Being a bit wet was better than being wet and dirty.

Teacher Brutus then continued, "Oh! If you go to the library, you can pick up a Technique Booklet. If you read it and practice what they say, you can incorporate new moves into your arsenal."

He then added quietly, just between him and Bell, "I must say, your attacks were simple and easy to read, so using that would be of great help."

Then, he took a step beside her and patted her on the back twice. Bell winced, the slaps were powerful, and Bell knew that those pats were going to leave marks.

"But anyway, you can head back to your room right now, if you want. The bell already tolled a few minutes ago. I'm gonna wake up these other lazybones and lecture them a bit."

With that, Bell bid her farewells to the class and headed towards the exit with her conscious friends.