Training Grounds:

A horn sounded and Yoshiie took off. She sprinted headfirst into the building, doing her best to keep her aura as low as possible. There was a long, nearly pitch-black corridor before she arrived at the first room. The room itself was dimly lit and had a very noticeable draft, despite being underground. Yoshiie could barely make out the outline of the puppets through the darkness and as she neared the center of the room, a bright, overhead light suddenly turned on, making her jump.

“And now this is where the fight begins.” Ochi muttered. Rikuto and the other students seemed to hear him, as Rikuto questioned him.

“What do you mean, Headmaster?” Riku tilted his head.

“Well, the puppets are aura sensitive. And it seems like Akio has really good control over her aura, which is perfect for situations like this.” The elder man explained. “However, the problem with this is that it eliminates the biggest factor of a battlefield: unpredictability.”

“So, you turned on the lights to make her jump and for her aura to spike?” Lucas pointed out. “That’s cold, yo.”

Ochi let out a hearty laugh. “The world is cold, young man.”

Yoshiie inwardly swore. Several seconds after the light came on, she saw the sheer amount of puppets in the room and a single bead of sweat ran down her face. Some were much larger than others, while some were shaped more animalistic, while the final few were more humanoid. They were positioned in a very peculiar way with the “humans” sitting at tables and leaning against various walls while the “animals” were laying in natural animal positions. That was until her aura spiked.

Before she knew it, Yoshiie was forced to make an ‘x’ shape over her chest to block a heavy blow from a humanoid puppet. She whimpered silently when she felt her body being thrown violently across the room. She rolled on the floor and stopped just shy of the entrance itself.

Her eyes snapped open when she heard footsteps approaching her, and she raised her right hand quickly. Exactly one meter away, a giant translucent green hand, easily as large as she was tall, appeared before her own.

Yoshiie swiped her arm across as if swatting a fly and the phantom hand mimicked hers perfectly. In that single movement, four puppets were flung across the room and into a wall, and thinking quickly, she raised her left arm and materialized another phantom hand to block three more puppets. Yoshiie struggled to her feet and used the massive fists to shove back all her opposition just long enough for her to mount an offensive. “Hyperion!” She shouted before slamming the phantom hands together. The effect was immediate. The clap not only made a sound loud enough to be heard several hundred meters away in the observation room, it also made a shockwave strong enough to shatter all the glass in the test building and throw all of the active puppets away.

In this brief moment of silence, Yoshiie jumped high and formed two phantom feet below her. This left her body exposed since she was now suspended in the air a meter above the phantom appendages, but the loss in defense would’ve been made up by her increased attack power. With a single stomp, the building shook and any puppet still on its feet rocked left to right. Yoshiie took a deep breath and ran forward. She let out a loud battlecry before rearing a giant fist back.

The observation building shook from the shockwave and several glasses threatened to break.

“Oh wow.” Mei commented when she nearly lost balance. She was steadied by a warm hand touching her shoulder and turned to see it was Kasai. His eyes were still firmly on the display and he stood surprisingly still for what happened. Her face went red in an instant and she muttered a quick thank you before Kaiyo side-eyed her. Her breathing hitched when she noted how his eyes seemed to glow in the light and just how hot his grip was.

But as quickly as it happened, it ended. He let her go just as the second shockwave ceased and returned back to the corner of the room once he noticed how his aura made her body flinched; then he turned his attention back to Yoshiie. She was fighting valiantly, but it was clear that she was fighting a losing battle.

“Do you think it’s time we step in?” Asked Rikuto when he noticed how intense things had gotten.

Masahiro shook her head. “It’s not needed. The puppets are made to restrain and neutralize, not to kill.” It was then that the screen showed Yoshiie being violently and painfully thrown into a corner.

There she laid. Yoshiie painfully rolled on her back and looked up. Her body was a mess of bruises and scrapes and she became far too weak to maintain the limbs any longer. She took shallow, watery breaths and soon, it became hard for her to even keep her eyes open. Moments before passing out, there was a deafening alarm that went off that startled her. In the moment, all of the puppets ceased moving and those barely damaged returned to their positions while the torn and broken one reverted to a puff of smoke.

“Wh-hat?” Yoshiie questioned in a strained tone.

“It’s over, Akio.” Masahiro said over the loudspeaker. “Just stay there, the medical staff is on their way.” Not long after silence filled the room, a team of three people came and helped Yoshiie to her feet. Though she smiled warmly at them, there was an underlying sadness in her eyes that she tried her best to hide.

“Geez, that looked… rough.” Yume whispered, looking extremely nervous.

“Yeah,” Riku conceded with a heavy swallow. “But, we should be able to pass it no problem, right?” He did his best imitation of Lucas’ confidence, but it only came off as hopeful.

Yume just chuckled weakly. “Yeah…”

While they both fell into silence, Riku looked around the room. Lucas stood next to them and his golden eyes were firmly locked on the screen as the replays ran. He was up next and he knew that, but to no one’s surprise, he looked as confident as ever.

Leona was the nearest to Lucas and she looked excited. Her wild hair seemed to stand up on its own and both ears on top of her head stood up…Wait. On top? Rikuto blinked once then a second time. He was very surprised to see that her animal traits didn’t stop at her being able to roar and made a mental note to study further.

Near the back of the group, Toshiro stood with his arms crossed tightly over his chest and a firm scowl on his face. He gave off an aura of ‘holier-than-thou’ and no one chose to even stand near him. He would occasionally turn his scowl into a glare when looking at either Lucas or Kasai, and Rikuto inwardly sweat-dropped at that.

It was then that Yoshiie finally entered the room. She had several bandages on her arms along with a large white square on her cheek. She had somewhat noticeable puffy rings under her eyes, which she tried to hide by averting her gaze. She smiled but it didn’t quite reach her eyes and she silently found a place to stand in the room. “Akio, Yoshiie. You managed to stay in there for 3:12. Quite impressive for the very first run in this school’s history.” Masahiro tried to cheer the girl up but Yoshiie only gave her a barely audible ‘I guess.’ “Next up is Cloud, Lucas.”

There was a bright light that suddenly flashed in the room as if someone took a photo. Everyone turned to Lucas to see him smiling confidently. His aura rose slowly and he turned to glance at his peers with glowing eyes. “Watch and learn, maggots.”

Rikuto looked at the mildly insulted students and the angry Toshiro and waited until Lucas left the room to frantically apologize for his friend’s brash words.

“That jackass still calls people ‘maggots’?” Toshiro seethed. He attempted to go after Lucas and just as he neared the door someone called him.

“O-oi! Yakumo-san!” Rikuto attempted to grab his shoulder. Toshiro glared at him. The killing intent dripped off of Toshiro made a chill run up Rikuto’s spine. Beads of sweat ran down Riku’s face when Toshiro focused on him.

“What?” Toshiro’s tone seemed to made the entire room colder.

There was a tense silence before the gravity in the room suddenly increased to the point that both Toshiro and Riku were frozen in place.

“Boys, I will not repeat myself. Stop fighting please.” Masahiro ordered with a sickeningly sweet smile on her face. Ochi’s laughter didn’t make things any better.

Lucas continued to smile widely as he took his time in walking towards the building. He bided his time until a horn sounded. In contrast to Yoshiie, Lucas kept his hand in his pocket and walked in as if this was a casual Sunday stroll.

His first steps were quiet and subtle. He reigned his aura in until he got to the center of the room. ‘Watch and learn.’ He mouthed to the camera and, without breaking contact with the device, a ring of light appeared over his left shoulder and fire into the crowd of puppets. The camera’s video distorted when the light flashed around Lucas and what actually happened was obscured from view.

“There he goes,” Rikuto pouted. “Showing off again.” He noticed the collective surprised expressions in the class and inwardly felt pride towards his friend. Lucas so effortlessly dispatched three puppets with a blast from one of his light rings, that Riku couldn’t help his admiration.

“Such a crazy power…” Ochi pointed out with a smile. “Akane-chan, remind me to raise your pay. You’re gonna need it.”

Masahiro only nodded absentmindedly. She wouldn’t dare turn away from the screen as a second light ring appeared behind Lucas and mowed down four more.

“Wow, Cloud is uh… really strong, isn’t he?” This time, Mei asked no one in particular. Leona was the closest to her and she made a sound of agreement. “He’s just making those light things out of nowhere.”

“I wonder how many he can make.” Yume asked. A small, light blue barrier manifested before her and she used her finger to etch on it. She seemingly made notes on Lucas himself which amused Riku.

“Eight.” He said simply. “Or that’s the most I’ve ever seen him make at once.”

“EIGHT?!” Yume’s jaw dropped. She was far from the only person surprised as even Masahiro’s eyes were opened a bit wider than usual. Kasai nor Sumire gave any visible reaction, nor did they seem to care but Toshiro’s glare deepened in his silent fury.

“Yeah, eight. He may be able to do more.” Rikuto shrugged and turned his attention back to the screen just in time to see the third light ring being formed. “He’s just having fun at this point.”

Lucas’ grin never left his face. He easily dispatched wave after wave of puppet with his light and after a few minutes, he grew bored. Lucas suddenly jumped into the air and formed another ring of light below his feet. This entire time, his arms remained crossed while he hovered on his ring high above any danger.

“Now, where’s the flash drive…?”

“He can fly, too?!” This time, it was Yoshiie’s sudden outburst. Rikuto held back a laugh.

“Not fly, hover.” He corrected. “If you noticed, he’s not moving very quickly.” Riku pointed out.

Yoshiie did a double take. It was true. While he was fairly high in the air, he barely moved quicker than a light jog. “Yeah, but still…”

“Trust me, I’ve known him all my life. If you think he’s strong now…” Riku trailed off, leaving his classmates to piece together everything else.

“If I were a flash drive, where would I be?” Cloud muttered to himself. He redacted three of his light rings and only kept one under his feet. He spotted some stairs at the end of a long corridor and figured that was the way. However, when he got about halfway there, a particularly large puppet landed before him. It once again had a vaguely humanoid build but this one stood no less than three meters tall. It held a mace-like weapon in its ‘hand’ which appeared to be attached to it. “Oh, you are different, aren’t you?” The white-haired boy taunted before two more light rings appeared behind either shoulder. But before they could fire, the puppet lunged at him with a speed he didn’t expect. “Whoa, there.”

Another light ring appeared a meter in front of Lucas’ person to block the blow but much to his surprise, the puppet seemed to force it back. “What the…?” He voiced before the fist and ring came to a stop mere centimeters from his face. His grin didn’t falter however.

With a gesture of his hand, two rings appeared slightly above the puppet at angles that met above where its heart would be. They fired simultaneously and penetrated the puppet’s shoulders and came out of its sides. “That should do.” Lucas taunted. But once again, he was caught off guard when the puppet stumbled but didn’t fall. “Oh? Tough SOB aren’t you?”

Lucas de-materialized the ring below his feet and slowly fell to the floor. He looked up at the massive puppet and summoned two rings behind him. He raised his left hand and pointed a single finger and all five lasers fired at the same time, completely skewering the opposition.

“And stay down, maggot.” He quipped before pressing on.

“Wow, I haven’t seen Lucas attack with his arms in a long time.” Rikuto rubbed the back of his head at the stares he received. “N-not in that way! He of course used his arms when we fought, but I haven’t seen him actually fire with them.”

“Wow, and that was a Stage Two puppet, which is twice as strong as the normal ones.” Masahiro pointed out. “Cloud didn’t seem to put much effort into that either.”

As they watched Lucas trek through the sea of Stage One puppets, some looked at the screen in admiration, while some looked uninterested. “Maeda-san.” Yume leaned over and whispered.

Rikuto turned to her with a raised brow. “What else is there to know about Cloud-san’s power?” Her barrier never left her and Rikuto could see the few notes she had on both Lucas and Yoshiie. He gladly turned to talk to her.

“Sure, Yume. For starters, he’s not actually trying right now, so I don’t think now’s a good time to take notes.” Riku warned before saying anything. She was momentarily surprised but nodded for him to continue nonetheless. “From the few times I’ve been hit by those beams, they sting like all hell.”

“So probably not heat-based. Anything else?”

Rikuto was taken aback. This Yume didn’t seem like the same meek, jittery girl he first met in the library. She seemed genuinely interested in learning about his power, so much so that even her tone shifted. “Um, that’s a fairly broad question. I’ll let you know if I think of anything.”

“There we go,” Lucas said once the flash drive came into view. He broke into a mad dash to grab the device and the moment it came into his grip, two Stage Two puppets dropped from the ceiling and locked onto him. “Oh, really now?”

Lucas shifted his feet and took a deep breath. All eight light rings appeared behind him in various places and they all took aim at his enemies. “Fall before me, maggots.” He whispered.

The screen went entirely white in the room. By the time the light died down, neither Lucas nor the puppets were in frame, but many holes were seen in the walls where the puppets once stood.

No more than thirty seconds later, Lucas reentered the room with the flashdrive in his hand. “Now then maggots, what did we learn?”

“Impressive. Very impressive, young man.” Ochi acknowledged. “With a time of 7:15, Cloud becomes the first student in this school’s history to complete the run, sub ten minutes too.”

Rikuto ran up to Lucas and the two shared a complicated handshake. “That was so cool, you show off.”

Lucas just shrugged with a wide grin.

“Next student, Hasama, Mei.”