Chapter 9: The strength of humans

Ivan collided with Mr. Black, but to his surprise, he got taken head on by his teacher. Mr. Black didn't even move a single step backward to dampen the collision, he stood there like a mountain. Ivan got scared and went for a retreat. Mr. Black, however, stood still and said: "Not bad kid, but to overcome me, you have to use a bit more force. You are a hybrid after all, shouldn't you be a bit stronger?"

It seems like Mr. Black loses his coolness easily when fighting as he didn't behave like his usual self. He wasn't behaving like his calculative self at all, going as far as taunting Ivan.

Ivan got noticeable angry by the taunt and decided to once again charge for Mr. Black but this time he clearly didn't hold anything back. I nearly couldn't see his figure flying at Mr. Black and with a loud sound he hit him again. But once again, Mr. Black was nonchalantly holding Ivan's fist with his bare hands.

"My turn", he said and punched Ivan in the ribs with his elbow. Ivan sank to the ground and failed to stand up. A clear win for Mr. Black.

"You have a lot of strength, but other than charging straight at me, you don't have a clue on using it. I grade your strength D but your technique is a clear F-. You are fighting more like a savage than an intelligent being. With refinement and training you will be a very talented fighter however, like a rough jewel stone which needs to be polished", he said to the barely conscious Ivan.

"Looks like I overdid it once again, I always get so excited fighting young hybrids with unknown potential", Mr. Black murmured as he went to get a medic to treat Ivan.

As he came back, I decided to ask him: "How were you able to match him in strength so easily? I thought humans can't go up against hybrids?"

"Well, that's a lesson for another day, maybe we will talk about it in tomorrow's morning lesson. But to give you a hint, I wouldn't say I'm an ordinary human at this point anymore", he told me leaving me empty handed.

I wasn't satisfied with the answer but I clearly knew that asking more would make things worse. After Ivan got patched up, it was Adrik's turn. He had a similar build to Ivan with short brown hair, blueish skin and red eyes but if I had to compare these two I would say Ivan is clearly stronger. Adrik went for the same strategy as Ivan did, but he had more fighting experience. He tried to do a faint to surprise Mr. Black but in the end he got humiliated just like Ivan did before him.

"I can clearly see, that you must have had a rougher childhood. You may not be as strong as Ivan, but you surpass him by knowing how to fight. I grade your strength at E+ and your technique at D. Your style of fighting is quite dirty, you might be able to become a tricky opponent one day", Mr. Black said with a smirk. He somehow seemed proud of Adrik for a second but I could be imagining.

Now it was my turn. I knew I didn't stand a chance against him but I still wanted to try my best. I picked a similar sword to Emilia but mine appeared to be lighter. I could easily handle it with one hand and decided to swing it around for a bit. Mr. Black obviously didn't care if I took my time, so I did just that. As I grew more confident, I told him I'm ready. He picked up his sword again and also got ready.

At the signal, I didn't directly charge at Mr. Black however. I waited for a bit and approached him closely but he unmistakably gave me the initiative. I now charged at him and because I knew he would parry my strike for sure, I decided to use my fist to punch him in the stomach. Just as predicted he parried the sword without a sweat. My fist however landed on his stomach but he didn't show any sign of pain. I retreated back and went for it again but this time with more momentum. As I hit him for the second time, he parried my sword again and as I wanted to go for the same trick, I got hit in the stomach instead.

"Nice try, but doing the same trick repeatedly makes your unpredictability predictable again. Your hit with the fist was weak, like a human and your strength behind the sword wasn't any better, so I will grade your strength with an F and your technique with an E, as you undeniably never learned a fighting style. At least you are thinking about how you are able to outsmart your opponent, which is a crucial idea to have when starting out", Mr. Black said, praising me in some sense. I was happy with the result, as I was able to achieve more than I had wanted, not having everything as F. It seemed like the amount of skill you need between different tiers grows by massive amounts the better you get. Getting an E didn't take that much skill just good intentions.

"Now you four will head over to Lisa so she can measure your celestial energy with the celestial artefact", he told us while going to another room.

#####

"So what do you think of her for real?" a figure standing in the shadow asked.

"First of all, I saw you sneaking in that magical sword. You shouldn't do such reckless things, headmaster. If the other teachers would have noticed, you would be ridiculed. As for the girl, she was somehow able to use the magical sword, even though she didn't show any celestial energy yesterday. Someone without any shouldn't be able to wield such a sword. It even looked like she is a natural with it, because in reality using one is a hard task which most train a year or two for to be able to use it to such an extent. Hybrids talented with celestial energy can pick them up faster but even for them it would take a couple weeks. Her physique however, is just as weak as I said it is. Her body hasn't seen any training so far. Thanks to her control over the magical sword however, I still noticed the collision of our swords as I was parrying her. Another teacher might have lost his composure under such an impact and might have given in. With enough training she has a chance to become what you are hoping for. Also, I think Ms. Violet would make a great master for her", Mr. Black said, showing a respect for Yoru he would never show in front of the students.

"Certainly interesting, she will be worth my time and Ms. Violets as well. She was looking for a worthy disciple for a while now after all. Mr. Black, you know what your job is now, right?"

"Yes, sir."

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