Chapter 2 of the day. Anyone who is reading Curo, I apologize. I am more focusing on this one, instead of Curo for now as this one is more intresting for me at the moment.

Enjoy

Chapter 7: First day of training

When Alex reached his flat he just laid down on the bed and started thinking. He needed to make a specialized training regime for everyone of them. What suited one, didn't necessarily suit the others. While Alex was pondering about that, time ticked by and when it was 1 AM, he decided to go to bed, he also already had a rough sketch of the training plan until the “boot camp” started.

He went to sleep and woke up at 5 AM, He was already at the training ground at 5.55 AM. As he waited there drinking coffee from his travel mug, time slowly ticked by, 6 AM, 6.15 AM, 6.30 AM. He was completely alone, he felt rage quietly building up more and more. At 6.45 AM came the first person, it was Erica. When she saw Alex standing there completely angry, she froze. She had thought the 6 AM gathering was a joke but now she understood just how terribly wrong she had been.

“You are 45 minutes late, let me hear your excuse.” Alex said with a cold look. Erica dropped the bag she had on her and stuttered, “I-I-I d-d-did not think y-y-you thought the 6-6-6 AM thing s-s-seriously.” “Ohh, is that so. Now then 55 laps around the training ground now. If I see you slacking or resting without permission, you are getting 5 more laps. Am I clear?”

There was a tinge of anger hidden inside the cold tone that sent shivers down Erica's spine. She immediately scrambled to run, as time ticked by the other members of the team also poured in. They all met the same fate as Erica but everyone got a different number of laps to run. In the beginning, Alex planned to give them 10 laps to run but after waiting for half an hour for them, he reached a decision, everyone would get one extra lap for every minute they were late.

The worst off was Marina, she had to run a record number of 154 laps. Alex let them rest for five minutes after every 10 laps so it wasn't a complete torture. He also allowed them to take over a certain number of laps from another person, so if Erica was done, she could help out Marina by helping her do her laps. If he hadn't done that, they would have been there at least until midnight.

This also helped them get a better sense of teamwork so it was like killing two birds with one stone. It was 2 PM already when they had finally finished, all four of them were exhausted. When Alex saw this, he brought the new water bottles to them, he had regularly refilled the water bottles he had prepared, he needed to keep them hydrated throughout training. When they all saw Alex, they did no longer see an instructor, they saw a “Demon”.

“Alright, it is a bit late but go grab lunch now, we will meet here again 3.30 PM. Do not be late this time.” When Alex had said that, he turned around and started heading towards the mess hall. The four saw him leave and started calming their breath. This was a harsh lesson for them as to not take his words as a joke. As they went to the mess hall, all along the way the heard mockery. They were used to it now, “Failures”, “Team Crazy”, “Pampered brats”, all of those nicknames had been attached to them now.

They were no longer mad about it, they just ignored it but deep down, their heart clenched every time they were mocked. Usually they would start a fight with the people mocking them but the current them had no spare energy to do so. As they dragged their bodies to the mess hall, more mockery came their way, finally Cristoph couldn't handle it anymore and gathered the last remnants of his energy before he shouted, “Do you want to fight me?! Come on then, After meeting that Demon of an Instructor, you guys are nothing.”

When everyone heard that, their faces were grim. This was the first time, they were called weaklings like that by them. A boy who seemed around 17 with a large frame and built body stepped forward, “Hoo, you seem to have gotten more courage huh? This is the first time a failure like you has said such bold words. Seems like you need to be taught you place again.”

As his words fell rocks started growing around his arm and just as he was about to punch Cristoph, he was suddenly staring at the ceiling. Not understanding what had just happened, he rose to his feet and eyed the indifferent youth in front of him. “These are my students and I don't remember giving you any authority to teach them anything.”

The owner of the voice was Alex. When the four students saw that, they had mixed feelings. They were happy that he was helping them out but they also feared him for the consequences. They remembered him saying that if they picked a fight, they were on their own, so him intervening now confused them. The brute however had blood flow in his brain and in a blind rage he didn't hear anything the Alex had just said, he just wanted to get back at him for humiliating him like that. Just as he was about to hit Alex, who was facing his students instead of him, he felt a sharp pain in his right arm.

As he let out a scream Alex turned around and said with a cold look, “This is a warning, you touch my students again and I will break more than just your arm.” As the brute heard that, he looked at his arm and realized, it was broken and bent form 4 different places. As he saw his arm, his clear mind returned and he shifted his gaze from his arm to Alex. When he saw his cold eyes, sweat started appearing on the boy's forehead.

“Do you understand?” As Alex barked at him, he immediately answered, “Yes, I understand.” Everyone started making way for Alex and his students to leave as an enraged voice echoed out in mess hall, “Who the fuck do you think you are to do this to my student?” A middle aged man stepped forward. He had a built body but not as large of a frame as the brute who had his arm broken.

“Since you find amusement in seeing my students in pain, I find amusement in causing pain to yours. When that bastard spoke out, you just pointed at him and said, “Ohh look, he is going to teach them a lesson again.”. I just punished the little fucker for messing with the wrong persons students. If that hit had landed, Cristoph would have been hospitalized for at least a month. Do you have the balls to take responsibility for that?”

Alex said in a calm, relaxed manner. The man, who had stepped out, however was gritting his teeth and suddenly his arm turned gray. As if it was covered in steel. When Alex saw this, his eyes flashed and he just put up his guard. Fighting against a student was a hell lot different from fighting against an instructor. Countless plans and attack patterns ran through his mind.

The man just gnashed through his teeth, “I don't know who you are but I am not called the “Steel Fortress” for nothing. I honestly do not give a shit who you are either as you are going on a one way trip to a funeral home.”

The man raised his steel like arms and started rushing towards Alex. Everyone held their breath, some of the instructors even started running towards the two in hopes of intervening but they quickly realized, they will never make it in time.

Everyone helplessly watched as the man drew closer to Alex and just as the punch was about to connect a terrifying scream echoed out in the hall.