Combat Class

Sitting beside Bharat, Asha looked at Hriday, who had just entered the room and waved for him to take a seat at the round table. With a smile on her face, she said

"Welcome to the RC, Hriday. I know this might be a bit sudden, but we hope that you can let go of your nervousness and relax. After all, you are now a part of the highest decision makers in the Federation."

Hearing this, Hriday gave an awkward smile and slowly sat down on the seat which Asha pointed to. Clearing his throat, Hriday said,

"I am happy to be of service to the Federation. However," he paused, his hesitance clearly visible on his face. 

"However, is it really fine to give me this position on the RC? After all, Uday was the one who betrayed us and was the reason for … his death. I was expecting to get fired, so it's really hard for me to understand why I got promoted instead?"

Hearing this question, Bharat, who had been sitting there silently this entire time, said

"We do not judge people on their relations. We have seen your loyalty for the Federation, and your unremitting efforts to make the Federation a better place. And that is why me and Asha decided that you were the best fit to replace Jamshed; that is all that matters."

"As for Uday, we have gathered here today to discuss our further actions regarding him and the mess he left behind. We were already being pressured in the international scene due to the Bloody Night incident, and if countries like the USNA, GAU, Japan or Russia catch wind of the fact that we lost two of our members in one day, they can use it as an excuse to help us by sending in military aid. I hope I won't need to explain how bad that could get."

Sighing, Asha said,

"Indeed, that is a major problem. We can cover up Jamshed's death by saying that he died of natural causes, but Uday… we have no choice but to declare his betrayal and issue a wanted order for him. We can't keep it under wraps for a long time. However, this will indeed put us on a backstep when considering international relations…"

At this point, Hriday, who had been quiet the entire time said, 

"Uhm, what about Alaukik?"

The moment he said that, Asha instantly turned to him and started to glare at him. 

"What do you mean?" she asked, in a not so nice voice.

Seeing this, Hriday quickly spoke up,

"I don't want to use him as a weapon, no no," he said, shaking his head. 

"I simply meant why don't we introduce Alaukik to the world? As a new strategic class magician? Once the world knows that we have another SCM, they won't be able to pressure us more would they?"

"Indeed," said Bharat, "that would ease a lot of our problems. What do you say, Asha?" he asked, giving Asha a glare. 

Noticing this, Hriday realised that there was something else going on here, but didn't speak out, knowing that at this point his interruption will only add to the tension. 

Letting out another sigh,

"I will not agree to using him as a shield for us, and neither will he. If we force him, you all know what will happen."

"Hmph. He is the cause of our problems, and now he himself has run away," said Bharat, hitting the table beneath him. 

"Bharat." said Asha, 

"Remember who pushed him to take those actions - it was us, Bharat. Had we treated him better, if we had treated him as a human instead of a weapon, then perhaps right now he would be standing here with us."

'Instead, he is now taking everything on himself. He refuses to take anybody's help, and is unable to trust anyone.'

Massaging her forehead, Asha regretted why she didn't fight more, fight harder to save Alaukik from the very beginning. Even though she knew she couldn't have done much, it still broke her heart to see Alaukik today, and how broken he had become. 

Hearing this, Bharat knew that Asha was right, and couldn't say anything in response to her. And so, he simply decided to gloss over what Asha said and move on. 

"Let us leave the past aside for now and focus on the current situation. While we can explain the Bloody Night incident as a retaliation for GAU troops entering our borders, once we release news of Uday betraying us and Jamshed's death, it will cause another stir in the international scene, which will be bad for us."

Nodding, Asha said,

"While we can say Jamshed died naturally, we cannot cover up Uday's betrayal. Instead, the best action we can take is to assemble a special operations unit and task them with catching Uday as fast as possible. It would be impossible for him to disappear without leaving any tracks behind. And in fact, I think I know where Uday might be right about now…"

-------

With a spring in her step, Divya quickly made her way to the grounds, where the combat training for the freshman was going to be held. Behind her trailed Alaukik, Ash and Lisa, each of them lost in their own thoughts; that is, until Divya stopped in the front, causing all of them to crash into each other, breaking them out of their individual stupors. 

Shaking his head, Alaukik faced forward and turned his head, as if questioning why Divya suddenly stopped. Meanwhile, Ash and Lisa also caught up to the duo, and now all four of them stood at the entrance to the grounds, looking outside. 

"Is there something wrong?" asked Lisa, as she turned to look outside.

Taking a look, she turned towards Divya,

"What's the matter? Why did you stop?" she asked.

 Giving a cough, Ash pointed towards the ground and said,

"This is just a guess…but maybe it's because of those?"

In the direction Ash pointed, there was a normal ground, with a rubber track, a grass field, etc.

The only problem was, right in the middle of the ground, there was a wall over 15m tall, splitting the entire ground into two halves. And on the other side of the wall you could hear the sound of machinery whirring along with the sounds of humans shouting. 

"Oh that?" questioned Lisa,

"They're probably renovating the grounds right, since we have a new coach after all. He probably wants some new stuff added," she said, scratching her head a bit. 

'What is wrong with him now?' she thought to herself.

Meanwhile, Alaukik, who had stayed silent this entire time walked forward,

"It's fine, they're simply doing some renovation like Lisa said. Look," he said pointing towards their left,

"Our classmates are also making their way towards the grounds as we speak."

Turning back to face Divya, 

"Let's not waste any time Divya," he said, giving a slight smile.

"I'm sure you're quite excited for this aren't you?"

Taking a deep breath, Divya nodded and slowly took her first forward, onto her path of becoming stronger. 

------

A while later, after all of the freshmen were assembled, a loud voice resounded throughout the entire grounds. 

"Welcome newborns! This is the first day of your combat training classes, so let's take it easy k? Don't mind the construction going on beside you guys, the school's just building some of the stuff that I need."

As soon as this voice stopped, a loud gasp came from a lot of students, before everyone started pointing upwards and saying

"Look up guys!"

"Is that flight magic?!"

"I thought flight magic was an impossible dream!??"

Hearing all of this commotion, Ash, Divya and Lisa also turned to look upwards, while Alaukik didn't bother since … you know. 

Seeing a person float down from the sky, Lisa smacked her forehead and whispered, 

"I knew he wouldn't be satisfied with a normal appearance."

Meanwhile, Divya and Ash simply kept staring at the person, who was apparently their coach, floating down towards them. 

Suddenly, the voice resounded again through the grounds,

"By the way guys, this isn't flight magic. Don't misunderstand," chuckled the voice.

"As much as I would like to say I figured out flight magic, I haven't. I'm simply floating down using gravity magic, so calm down a bit."

"Now, my dear babies, let me introduce myself while you're all focused on me. You can all call me Mr. Maywheather, or Sir, whichever is more comfortable for me. And now, for our very first meeting, let us start with everyone taking 10 laps of this half ground! What do guys say? Isn't that just the best greeting gift you guys could give me?"

Hearing this, instantly most of the students started cursing, 

"10 laps? What the f? 10 laps will kill us!"

"We're here to learn how to fight, not how to run!"

"B*tch, how the f*** do you think you are? This lady hasn't run in her entire life, why would she run now?"

Suddenly, Maywheather clapped his palms together, resulting in a loud sound spreading across the grounds. 

"Listen up, bi*tc*s. Either you run," he said, and, with an evil smile on his face (although too far for anyone to see), he continued 

"Or you get punished. And there are two punishments - either you run a 100 laps, or you fail this course, meaning you have to repeat this entire year again no matter what. Now, start running quickly, cause you only have 15 minutes left! Oh! And I nearly forgot, if you exceed the time limit you get punished!"

"This fker is crazy!" said a boy standing on the edge of the grounds, before instantly starting to run around the track.

Seeing him start to run, everybody around him also instantly took off, resulting in a huge crowd of students just running around the track like crazy. 

Of course, Divya also took off immediately, while Ash, Lisa and Alaukik slowly started jogging on the track.

Noticing that neither Alaukik not Divya ran immediately, Ash asked the two of them,

" You won't run like the others?"

Hearing this, Lisa turned towards him and asked him the same question, 

"What about you? Why aren't you running like them?"

Alaukik on the other hand, simply said

"Shut up."

Smirking, Ash thought to himself,

'Oh, this is becoming more and more interesting.'

------

Whether it was a stroke of luck or something else, everybody managed to finish the 10 laps before the time limit. The last person barely managed to clear it with 10 seconds left on the clock. Seeing this, Maywheather, who had landed sometime during this farce, clicked his tongue and said, 

"And here I was hoping at least one of you would fail."

"Well, isn't that great everyone!" he continued, facing everyone who were sitting in the stands catching their breath.

"All of you successfully managed to clear your first task of the day! Now, let us begin the real class! Your very first combat training! What do you think? Are you guys excited?!"

However, contrary to the cheers Maywheather was expecting, all he got was a bunch of groans from the students, along with another slew of curses directed towards him. 

Sighing, Maywheather said,

"Well, it's fine if you're not excited, because you have to do it anyway!" he said, clapping his hands. 

"Now, group up in pairs of the same gender. Quickly now, I don't want to wait all day for you guys! Make your pairs and come down on the ground."

Slowly, everyone got into groups of two and made their way down the stands and onto the ground. Following everyone, Divya, Lisa, Ash and Alaukik also made their way down. 

Divya and Lisa instantly paired up, while Alaukik, who didn't want to pair up with Ash, started searching for a lone boy.

 Unfortunately for him, everybody else had already formed pairs, and were quickly spreading across the grounds. 

Letting out a sigh, Alaukik slowly moved forward with Ash, taking their place near the corner of the grounds. 

"Well then," said Mayweather once again. 

"Since it is our first ever class, the goal for now is simple. Get your opponent to surrender. It's that simple. Now," he paused, making sure everyone was paying attention to him. 

"I don't want to see any weapons being used, and make sure you don't hit too hard. I don't want anyone dying on me. Make sure your partner is someone your size, and your skill level. For example," he said, moving towards a pair of boys.

"I don't want an elephant partnering with an ant," pointing towards that pair. 

"Both of you, split up and find someone your own size."

After making sure that everyone had partnered up equally, Mayweather went back to the centre of the ground and said,

"And with that, let us begin your very first combat class! Fight!"

A/N:

As always, thank you for reading and have a nice day!

Btw does anyone play GI/HSR/WuWa here? Just asking...

Thank you Nico, Void and Ramon for the powerstones~ :)