It has been almost a week since the Sparring sessions began. For the first couple of days it was only those five against Brutus, but soon enough the others were involved. Most of their training revolved around the sparring, though heroes with certain classes sparred in different ways. The Magic oriented classes could only use their magic to attack, with some exceptions. Those more attuned to stealth and tracking had to use those skills when sparing to attack stealthily and track the Instructor to do so. Those with other Instructors and skill sets did similar things, which were suited for their powers.

Currently however everyone was in the Parade Grounds once more. The five who fought Brutus originally were fighting him again, this time however they were not being as overwhelmed as they were when they truly fought the second time. They were able to work better as a team and were working better against Brutus. They still weren’t quite his match, none of the Heroes were a match for their respective Instructors, but that was to be expected. Each of the Instructors had decades or more experience in combat and usage of their abilities than the Heroes currently did. The natural talent and perception of the Heroes narrowed the Gap a bit.

Brutus had just blocked a magic strike from Rodrigo when he spun to the left, moving out of the strike path of Mina’s dagger. The Battlemage, Richard moved swiftly to block the Knights path. He gave a spinning kick, his aura drawing a trail through the air. Just before the impact Brutus took a stance with his shield and pushed forward. The magically enhanced strike impacted heavily against the shield, though that was all it did, Brutus’s stance and momentum launched the smaller Battlemage out of the way. He went hurtling through the air a fair distance, impacting heavily against the ground.

That marked the end of the Battlemages participation in the Spar. He was not overly injured but the impact had rendered the young man unconscious. Gerard sent a barrage of metal shrapnel at the large Knight. While before he was only able to harness his own piercings and that only because of his familiarity with the metal pieces, after some training he could rip metals from the ground for his usage. Brutus moved his shield to block the projectiles, which it dead for a time, until he felt a force pull the metal shield away leaving him vulnerable.

He froze for a moment as he lost the Shield; this moment of inactivity gave enough time for him to be pelted by the metal pieces. They impacted against the magical aura that cloaked his form like a second skin. This was a spell that was always active on him, but it only took effect when he lost the shield, this was to prevent a rapid loss of mana. It was only a temporary fix though, and unfortunately he could not retrieve his shield at this time. He felt a tingling at the back of his neck, alerting him to an unseen danger, in the form of Mina conjuring appendages out of Darkness to restrain him.

He rolled to the side, tearing the fragile hold they had on him, preventing them from binding him fully. At that time Gerard sent another barrage at Brutus, this time the Knight crouched down and received all the damage. That was how it seemed at least, the projectiles were impacting against his magical shield, but not in the same way that they had before. The difference was made apparent when there was a flash of light, similar but smaller than when he used the ability Bulwark of Light, during the second Sparring match against them.

The glow expanded, taking each of the projectiles with it, before there was a larger brighter pulse that expanded and shattered. The projectiles were launched from him, at a greater speed than when they first hit him. Though the glowing bubble around him had shattered after expanding one last time that was not the end of it, as the initial projectiles went flying, something else happened. A magical shockwave of sorts was released; it picked up the metal pieces still being launched at him as if they were leaves being carried by a strong breeze. They flew back towards Gerard, cutting into him and sending spurts of blood into the air.

This only lasted for a moment as he cried out at the pain. Afterwards he drew a sizeable amount of them towards himself. As he did so, Gerard closed a hand into a fist, and the metal projectiles gathered into a sizeable lump before they spread out and formed a circular shield of sorts. He flattened a palm out and used it to control the metal, as the pieces impacted against it they seemed to melt into it. This allowed it to become larger and larger, letting it block the projectiles more effectively. Though the makeshift shield allowed him to prevent most of the metal bits from hitting him, a few did.

They hit below the shield, burrowing into what little exposed flesh there was, he let out a help as he fell. At the end of this, the only two who were relatively unscathed were Theresa and Rodrigo. Rodrigo due to the strength of his barrier and armor magic, Theresa’s lack of injuries was due to other means. Mina had willingly intercepted most of the attacks that would have injured the Ice Witch. Despite that Mina wasn’t all that injured, a special quirk of her class and the magic she used. Adding on to that is the fact that she had acquired a Blessing, from a certain goddess of Darkness and Vices.

Though the two domains may seem unrelated, she governed Darkness of all kinds, the Darkness cast by light and the darker side of the nature of mortals. This was a precarious thing for her to possess, especially in the Kingdom of Light. Due to the relatively, uh loose morals and nonexistent inhibitions of her followers many Countries dislike her. The Kingdom of Light however had a vendetta of sorts against their Patron Goddess’s Sisters followers. It was a deeper sort of antagonism than they held towards most other beings of Aethion.

As Brutus started to rise, the incapacitated Heroes started to recover as well. He made a gesture and his shield flew to him. They were connected in a way, but he could not recall it before as it had been influenced by a foreign magical force. Soon enough all of them, except for Richard were up and at attention. Soon after they took positions in front of him, some taking longer than others, healers broke away from the castle Guard to ensure that they were all fine. Richard’s unconscious state and Gerard and Mina’s injuries were dealt with in short order.

As soon as Richard fully recovered and took his place among the five Heroes, Brutus began to speak. “That was a good job; you guys have definitely improved since we first fought. You guys have shown excellent teamwork in the sparring matches.” Brutus paused and turned towards the other assembled Heroes before he continued. “I had this spar done in front of all of you to demonstrate three main points. One, no matter how strong you get or become, there will always be someone or something stronger than you or holds an advantage against you, this applied to me as well as the five that I sparred against.”

Brutus paused a moment to take a deep breath before he continued. “Two, do not rely too heavily on your equipment. Even if you do have a set of Soulbound Dwarf forged weapons and armor made from some sort of Devine Ore, it is useless if you leave it elsewhere or it is taken from you. In this battle an example of that would be my shield being taken from me; luckily I had something else to protect me, which brings me to my third and final point. Unless it is necessary do not reveal all of your abilities in combat unless you are sure your opponent will not be one you will combat against at a later time.”

He stopped speaking to allow that to sink in before continuing. “However If you are about to die or be beaten and you haven’t used all means at your disposal to ensure your victory or survival then you are a fool.” As he paused this time, shock was displayed on the Heroes faces at the callousness in Brutus’ voice. As he continued his voice softened. “As harsh as this is, it is true, more so when it applies to you lot. Remember, when you finally go into combat against the Demons and their ilk, the hopes and future of not just our Kingdom, but others as well rise with you,”

As he looked over the heroes, he saw that several of them were shaken. He silently scoffed at the fact that some of them were just now realizing the pressure that was on their shoulders. “Anyways I have other things to speak to you all about. The next stage of your Training will commence soon, in fact it is sooner than I and my compatriots thought, you all have great potential, exceeding even a few past heroes. I will go more in depth once these five take their spots among you.“ As he ended his speech he gestured for those standing in front of him to join the rest.