Confronting a Master

It's been two weeks since Fredrick's recovery and subsequent leave.

It was a leave for one and a half months, but Ezra doubted the plan would take that long.

This in turn left Ezra without a teacher for the time being, but it didn't stop his training.

It also exposed a limitation to Ezra's plan. Right now, he couldn't communicate with Cabrera.

Ezra had thought of a solution, but it could only be implemented after Fredrick came back.

Fredrick is a retired knight that taught trainees for years, and he had only come out of his retirement on the behest of the Empresses to teach Ezra.

Hence, he only needed to inform the others that he would be absent and then could travel across the continent without supervision.

After all, he was already retired.

A man who was termed a demon trainer.

It was a scheme to make Ezra willingly stop training by having him train beyond his limits and break.

Needless to say, it was an utter failure. Rather, they had handed Ezra his very first Knight unknowingly. They also allowed him to kickstart his plans far faster than he thought possible.

The scheme to hinder his growth had instead accelerated it, and Ezra had been training unobstructed ever since…that is…until today.

"Seriously?" said Ezra immediately after he heard the message delivered by a knight from the Empresses.

'Well, it's a lie to say that I wasn't expecting it, but to think that they'd pull the same trick again'

What the message entailed was actually incredibly simple.

It was that, in light of Fredrick's recent absence, Ezra was to begin training at the new training ground along with the other recruits. He would be under the tutorship of Knight Lugard.

And the interesting thing was…

'He's at Master-rank'

Ezra's new trainer was a Master-rank Knight.

The minimal threshold to be termed a powerhouse all over the three continents.

Any one who reaches this rank was good enough to be an elder or even the head of most organizations.

The ranks in power were: Novice, Journeyman, Adept, Intermediate, Advanced, Expert, Master, Great master, Grandmaster, Mythical, and Transcendent.

So Ezra couldn't help but be baffled.

'Are Master-ranks as common as cabbages in this empire?'

It was a very incomprehensible question, but what would you think when someone powerful enough to be at least a division commander in the army was sent to teach a five year old kid?!

Like, seriously, didn't he have anything better to do?

This is the reason why Ezra told Fredrick to keep his advancement a secret.

The empire would have him shipped off to the army or somewhere else if he was found out.

Master-ranks are considered rare resources and are used to calculate the total strength of any power.

Or at least that was what Ezra thought, but seeing such nonsense, he began to have doubts.

'That aside, returning to the other training ground…hmm, are they trying to throw me into a place full of wolves? This…will be interesting!'

Ezra quickly got his gear and headed for the new training ground.

—-----------------------------------

*Clang*Clang*Swish*Bam*

The loud sound of metal hitting metal drowned the new training ground.

"Up! Left! Right! Down! Down! Right! I said right! Start over!" shouted a knight as he directed the group in front of him.

"Who's that?" someone asked as they saw a short boy enter the training ground.

The boy had silver hair and a face that put others to shame.

But they were shaken out of their daze when a loud voice rang out.

"Are you Ezra?"

All others could only look towards the origin of the sound, a young man sitting in a wooden chair.

The man had a lean build, blue eyes and short brown hair, and was clad entirely in white armor with two swords strapped to his side.

His face would also capture the hearts of a lot of maidens, but right now, it was housing a very ugly expression.

The hostility in his voice was also unpalatable and radiant to all who heard it. Combined with the aura he was emitting, it was no wonder that the recruits moved far away from his vicinity.

And yet, the person who all this was directed at…

"Who's asking?"

…was completely unperturbed.

"Huh?" the knight uttered with an incredulous expression, while the bystanders were speechless at such a scene.

Different thoughts went through different minds as different expressions formed on the faces of these people.

But all that mattered not at this moment, because…

"DID I HEAR YOU RIGHT?!" the knight said, with his voice reverberating loud enough that Ezra's ear started bleeding.

The knight had popped one too many veins and his body was exuding killing intent as he instantly arrived inches away from Ezra.

*Crack*

The stone ground cracked under the knight's pressure, yet…

"And what If you did? You can stop the stupid bluff, because If I pass out…it really won't be good for you"

Ezra spoke slowly, while firming his stance to withstand the terrifying pressure the Knight was emanating, but his gaze never changed as he stared at the Knight directly.

*Crack*Snap*Crack*

The sound of bones snapping rang out as Ezra groaned heavily…but didn't back down.

Rather, his smile grew wider as he thought…

'A month ago I would have immediately fainted from this much pressure. Now though, I've gotten stronger.'

But he also knew…

'But…it's definitely not enough, especially considering that he's not even using fifty percent of his strength. As expected…I have to grow stronger, and much more than in my past life, but this affirms it, progress is progress'

The knight whom he was staring at was flabbergasted as he thought…

'I thought I was babysitting a toddler, but for him to be this arrogant at this age…'

'Most greenhorns would have fainted or cowed, or at the very least have their fighting spirit doused, but he doesn't even seem disturbed!'

But the most disturbing thing was…

'What's with that crazy smile?'

The wide and wicked grin that stretched across Ezra's face was freaking him out.

Even with his ears and nose bleeding, Ezra didn't take a step back.

The sound of his bones breaking kept resounding, yet the boy kept up his firm stance. This in turn fueled the knight's ego as the pressure drastically increased.

'Kneel!' thought the knight as he increased the pressure bit by bit.

Yet, instead of begging or sniveling as the knight expected, the wide grin was instead replaced with a gaze of insignificance.

Like the gaze of a man watching the sun rise.

'Let's see how long you'll hold onto that expression' thought the knight as he sought to increase the pressure once more.

But before he could do so…

"Sir! You have to stop! You're going to kill the recruits if this goes on any longer!" one of the other Knights shouted with a panicked tone.

At this moment, the overbearing pressure vanished like a change in weather and the suffocating atmosphere evaporated as if it was never there.

*COUGH*COUGH*

Loud and violent coughs rang out as numerous boys laid on the floor coughing up large amounts of blood.

A lot of them had their bones twisted in obscene angles, their blood sprayed out from different parts of their body.

Others had long since passed out due to immense fear and shock, their faces warped in expressions of utmost despair.

Their mental state was unknown at this moment, but one thing was certain, this was a memory that was going to haunt them at night.

The Knights moved with haste as they called the nearby guards to assist in taking the children to the healing center.

The Knight responsible for all of this hadn't even noticed it. His gaze was focused on the boy in front of him.

Ezra could only keep his stance at this moment because he had frozen.

He couldn't count how many fractures he had accumulated in the past few minutes as he found himself unable to move.

But his gaze never changed.

'This bastard!'

And it only enraged the knight even further.

'What gives you the right to look at me like this?'

'Do you know how much I've suffered to get here?'

It reminded him of a nasty memory, one that he never wanted to remember.

"Lower your gaze and I may free you from this torment" the Knight said in a resounding voice.

But what he heard was something he never even considered.

"Huh?"

A look of bewilderment and intrigue formed on Ezra's face.

Like he hadn't heard it right.

And while others moved with haste to carry the incapacitated ones, a petite voice rang out.

"Wow, you're quite talented…at being pathetic that is"

"You know, for a Master-rank Knight…you're really…really…stupid" Ezra said as his sight waned and his body weakened.

And then…

*Bam*

Ezra fell to the ground as he felt his body ache in multiple areas, his ears and nose bleeding.

His eyes had reddened, his skin had become incredibly pale and his bones had cracked.

The sound of running feet was the last thing Ezra heard before his vision went dark.

—--------------------------

Meanwhile…

"We're heading to the Semanis forest!"

Cabrera was having one heck of a day.