15. To New School III

Following the conclusion of the first test, Elrich the Iron Fist came to the front.

While having male physique, she was identifying as female, wearing a fancy red-and-blue combat dress, which seemed to be screaming of pain caused by being stretched by enormous muscle.

"Now, we are going to have a small spar" she explained, sending everyone a wide smile "Each of you will have thirty second against me. Your goal is to try and deal as many blows as possible. Come on, there is nothing to be scared about. We do have really good medics present."

The way Elrich said that was not reassuring, and most of the new students was looking at each other, visibly disturbed. Mattheia was one of the exceptions here - just standing there and casually talking to Kashia.

"This Elrich somehow reminds me of Junie" he said to the angel girl "I'm not saying about physique, since Junie is in a league of her own, having this slender yet powerful figure, but the air, the vibe. I get a really familiar feeling."

Kashia nodded.

"Yes, this is something strong individuals emit" her eyes were shining as she was speaking "I can clearly see the aura. That person is definitely no joke, Mattheia. I doubt there are many people in this hall who could stand a chance in serious fight."

"Oh, so there are ones?" Mattheia looked surprised "You mean other teachers?"

"Them too, but don't underestimate yourself or me" it was quite interesting seeing the angel girl pointing at herself and doing light flex, though her muscle mass was not much "And I can see the look on your face. Sky People have different muscle density than other races, so we don't need enormous size to be strong."

The boy was not really convinced.

"If you say so."

Elrich was standing in front for a moment now.

"I was hoping there will be volunteers" she said with a disappointed voice "Since there is no one, I hope I can make the first pick on my own?" she asked, looking at the other teachers, including headmaster whose gesture only showed "do what you want."

Seeing how headmaster gave her freedom, a wide smile appeared on Elrich's face and she jumped into the crowd, walking between students and looking. It was no more than few minutes before she stopped next to Mattheia and Kashia.

"I can see some interesting individuals here" she started walking back and forth, and then "Ok, I think I have the first pick. You, come with me!"

For a moment, Mattheia thought it is going to be him, but Elrich pointed her finger at a guy standing two rows behind Kabanos family's heir - the boy standing there was by a head taller than Mattheia and had much stronger build, looking really tough.

"What's your name, kid?" the Iron Fist asked the boy.

"Sherkhan Gerhan, lady" his voice was deep for his age, but sounded a bit shaken as he replied.

"Cheers, Sher" Elrich immediately shortened the boy's first name "I recall a person having the same surname. I recall Bagherran Gerhan, are you related perhaps?"

"He's my father."

"I see, you sure inherited good physical traits" Elrich was looking at Sherkhan's physique "Let us see if you can put it to good use too. Come to the front and we will have a light spar."

They went back to the spot, from which she spoke to the audience first.

"Ok, everyone, make some space for us" the Iron Fist clapped her hands "Sher, first attack is yours."

Sherkhan took a fighting pose, setting his feet wide and lowering the centre of the body. On the other hand, Elrich was just standing straight, seemingly relaxed, awaiting the student's move.

"Remember you have limited time!" she told him with a singing voice, obviously provoking "Attack or you lose your chance!"

It turned out Gerhan did not need invitation. Everything happened in a matter of seconds - from the wide, open pose, he made a sudden charge, causing a whistling impact sound as he attacked. The shockwave was so strong, there were cut marks on the wall left afterwards.

The Iron Fist clapped her hands, still standing in the same spot as before, looking firm.

"Okay, time's up. It was a nice attack indeed, though you didn't manage to land a clean hit. However, the shockwave reached me." she pointed at a small cut on her dress "That was a good attempt. You can return now."

Sherkhan returned to his original spot, walking proudly and smiling.

With this short fight, atmosphere in the hall loosened up, and other students were now less reluctant to take their chance against the sturdy-looking teacher. However, it quickly became obvious that Sherkhan was actually really good as no one was managing to even touch Elrich.

Neither Mattheia nor Kashia were pushing to engage that powerful teacher early - rather than that, they were observing subsequent fights to see how she behaves, and potentially find some weak points.

"It's no use" Kabanos family heir finally said after about fifteen minutes of various students making their attempts "None of those guys is strong enough to make her try anything."

After saying that, his eyes met with Elrich, who smiled and called him with a hand gesture. The boy sighed, but went to the space made for fighting.

"I've noticed you were watching the fights until now pretty closely, Mattheia" the Iron Fist actually remembered his name, most likely from the previous trial "Did you manage to find something useful?"

The boy shrugged.

"Hard to say. No one seemed to give you any trouble. You were just standing, completely unfazed."

The teacher laughed.

"Seeing something like that can be also a clue, you know."

Hearing these words, Mattheia started thinking quickly about the meaning of her answer. What could it possibly be?

Elrich gave the signal to start the spar, meaning there were about thirty seconds of fight the boy had to deal the blow.

He did not want to rush in blindly, watching the opponent's posture, but she was doing absolutely nothing, just standing there, not moving from the spot with hands crossed on her chest. About half of the time managed to pass, when something came to Mattheia's mind in relation to what the Iron Fist said just a moment ago.

The boy decided there is nothing to lose, and since the time was running short, he bet everything on the idea that came to his mind.

Remembering Junie's teachings about martial arts, he lowered his centre of gravity, putting his feet wide in similar way to what Sherkhan did for the first spar, with the difference being that Kabanos family heir did not go for direct hit on Elrich - instead, he went for a move learned from Junie called 'bear step'.

The usual way of using this technique was moving body weight from one leg to another, while standing astride, gathering strength for every blow from the lower part and charging opponents in such a pose. This was an ultra-offensive move that would either blow the opponent off feet or throw off their balance at least. However, Mattheia applied the technique in a different manner - as he rose his right leg, which was facing Elrich, and dropped it to the ground in a fast, smooth move, not targetting the teacher, but the ground under her.

With that move, he cracked the floor, making the Iron Fist flinch for a split second, which ended up being enough for follow-up attack. Of course, given this person's experience, the teacher managed to recover original posture quite fast, avoiding the major impact - still, not enough to not receive the blow.

Mattheia ended up dealing body blow, which caused Elrich to slid about half a meter back. Once he completed his move, everyone in the hall went silent.

Several seconds later, the boy could hear a sound of hands clapping, and the first person to do that was none other than the Iron Fist.

"That was a great move" she said, giving him a smile "Do you happen to know Junie the Flash?"

He blinked fast, hearing the name.

"The name of the person who taught me hand-to-hand combat is Junie, but I've never heard this Flash nickname."

Elrich shook her head.

"It must be the same person, given the way you moved. To be honest with you, I never imagined you would do this kind of attack so smoothly, so I underestimated you a bit, for which I apologize. Having said that, I would gladly meet that master of yours."

Mattheia hesitated for a bit if he should say it, though in the end he decided it should not be such a big deal.

"She is living in the same manor and even came for the entrance ceremony with me today."

The very moment he said that, the face of the Iron Fist changed completely as if she forgot about being in the middle of the trial.

"Could you lead me to her now?"