Boom! Boom! Boom!
Crash!
Hilde’s attacks hit Chris like flashes of light.
Anakin stood at a distance, checking Chris’s condition.
From within the murky dust and smoke, Chris’s figure slowly revealed itself.
His shield was cracked from being deployed in a hurry, and there were cuts on his arms.
The children all stared at the sight blankly.
“Hahahaha!”
Lucien burst into laughter at the sight, and the other frozen disciples soon began to smile with joy.
“…Hilde. We did it.”
They had never even coordinated their words, yet they had cooperated naturally.
Anakin had worried it would be difficult because the 47th-class students all had such strong personalities.
“Are you alright?”
Hilde approached Anakin and handed him a handkerchief.
Only then did Anakin realize, amidst the joy, that he had forgotten he was bleeding.
“Oh, thank you.”
As Anakin wiped the blood away casually, Hilde frowned, clearly displeased.
“You shed blood every time you fight.”
“…”
Knowing Hilde’s worried heart, Anakin smiled to show he was fine.
“It’s okay. I’m used to it.”
Anakin kept smiling, seemingly unaware that his words made Hilde’s expression sour even further.
“You know what happens if you overdo it every time you fight like this.”
Of course, Anakin knew well.
Perhaps because he had used too much power recently, his sleeping hours had increased and he became exhausted quickly.
If this continued to repeat, Anakin’s body might not be able to handle it any longer.
Even now, he was in a state of overload, making it difficult just to stand.
Anakin wore an expression of agreement.
“I understand. I won’t overdo it anymore.”
After thanking Hilde for his concern, Anakin looked around as he felt several sharp gazes on him.
‘Why is everyone staring at me?’
Leaving the puzzled Anakin behind, Chris cleared his throat a few times and approached the disciples.
“You did well. To be honest, I thought I could suppress you all without taking a single scratch.”
Chris scanned the 47th-class apprentice disciples one by one.
“However, that last move was reckless. If it weren’t for me, you would have been dead the moment you were caught.”
Facing an opponent with such an overwhelming difference in skill head-on would usually result in losing one’s life.
They had barely managed to corner him by taking advantage of his position as a teacher.
If they had met him as an enemy outside, they probably would have died more than twenty times already.
“Good work. That’s all for today’s lesson. I hope you grow through the practical experience you gained today.”
The battered children listened intently and nodded.
Having felt Chris’s combat power firsthand, the looks in their eyes were now filled with a layer of respect.
With those final words, he turned around and left the training grounds.
As he exited the annex, Chris thought to himself.
‘They said this was a class to watch out for, one that has the upper disciples buzzing…’
‘I can see why.’
Two kids with terrifying backgrounds, one grandson of an Elder, and even a child who uses blood magic.
He had even overheard among the disciples that Elder Salute was keeping a close eye on that boy, Anakin.
“Hmm…”
Chris looked down at the wounds remaining on his arm.
They were marks from Hilde, the one who hit him at the very end.
However, many other children’s sacrifices had paved the way for that attack to reach him.
Right judgment and monstrous execution.
Moreover, when they had him pinned down, the children—who usually acted individually—actually synchronized their moves.
It is rare for a plan to be realized so perfectly just by trying to synchronize.
Especially for children of this age, who lack practical experience; if a spell misses or a casting is slightly delayed, the plan falls apart instantly.
However, the children just now performed their roles without a single calculation error.
Looking at this alone, it was safe to say that among all the apprentice disciples he had taught, this 47th class possessed overwhelmingly superior talent.
Their individual abilities and their combination were also excellent.
Usually, when holding exams for apprentice disciples, the number of passers is set in advance, but they don’t always pick everyone.
However, this class produced the highest number of passing candidates in history.
Since only such conspicuous children were gathered, they were bound to be strong.
‘If the 47th-class children become official disciples…’
Chris felt that, for some reason, these children might be able to change the closed-off atmosphere of Pasadian.
“They are a bit arrogant, though… Heh. I can overlook that much.”
As Chris muttered and walked toward the main building, a dark shadow stepped in front of him.
“The lesson seems to have been fun?”
“…Bern.”
It was Bern, a man of darkness with a massive height and broad shoulders.
Chris was large himself, but Bern was a full head taller.
He was a classmate from the 28th class, just like Chris, and one of the few people Chris was close to within Pasadian.
“Why do you look like that?”
“…”
“Weren’t you just doing practical training?”
Bern moved his gaze to the cut on Chris’s arm.
“This class must certainly have talent, seeing as they made you look like that.”
Chris wondered why he had come, and as expected, he was here to get information about those children.
Chris leaned against the wall with his arms crossed.
“They are definitely strong. To the point where they can’t even be compared to other classes. Given time, they will likely surpass the others and become official disciples.”
“Are they that good?”
At this, Chris spoke with an incredulous look.
“Isn’t that why you came to ask me?”
“…I suppose so.”
Bern nodded.
He was a fellow who had a somewhat gloomy side to him.
Even so, Chris couldn’t distance himself from the only classmate he had grown up with since being an apprentice… though it was true that Bern made him feel uneasy.
And lately, it seemed Bern was obsessed with something else.
“Hmm… but while they might have overflowing talent, they lack manners.”
Chris frowned as he recalled the training session. Bern could not hold back a laugh at Chris’s expression.
“Heh. Aren’t geniuses usually arrogant?”
“Especially Lucien Philo… that kid was even imitating Elder Philo’s magic bit by bit. And he’s incredibly sturdy. I guess genes don’t lie.”
Bern stroked his chin, lost in thought.
“Lucien Philo. It seems the Master cherishes him quite a bit. After all, he never showed him to us even once. I don’t know what form the Master’s favor takes… but I am envious.”
“Envious, huh.”
Chris had a different opinion than Bern.
The Elder Philo he had personally met was a man who appeared clean and perfect on the outside, but Chris didn’t think he was as flawless as he seemed.
Of course, it was true that he felt awe toward the Elder’s immense martial power.
“What about Anakin Descartes?”
Chris looked at Bern with an ‘I knew it’ expression.
“So he was your goal? You usually talk in circles before asking what you’re really curious about at the end.”
“…You know me unnecessarily well.”
At those words, Chris quietly thought of Anakin.
‘…Damn it.’
Why was it that he could only remember Anakin’s brilliant features from their confrontation at the end?
Chris prided himself on never being deluded by a “honey trap.”
However, Anakin’s cold face had a power that would make even the most indifferent man hesitate.
“Why are you silent?”
Bern narrowed his eyes as if telling him to speak quickly. Chris let out a sigh and said.
“I don’t know the details. But he has leadership and skill.”
He had no intention of telling Bern about Anakin’s specific talents.
He had never seen anything good happen once this guy showed interest in something.
Bern narrowed his eyes, gauging Chris’s intentions.
“Surely you held a one-versus-many mock battle today. And you’re saying you don’t know, Chris?”
“I don’t know! I said I don’t know. Just get lost. I have another lesson later.”
Getting fed up, Chris waved his hand at Bern to tell him to disappear.
Bern smiled broadly, as if he had read Chris’s mind.
“Chris. Just know that the more you try to hide it, the deeper my interest in that child becomes.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Bern vanished without a trace.
“Crazy bastard…”
Chris shook his head with a weary look.
“Anakin. I think you look beautiful in a different way when you tie your hair up.”
The lesson was over, but the exhausted children were still gasping for breath.
It was then that Mantis approached Anakin and struck up a conversation.
“I usually tie it up when I train. It gets in the way.”
Anakin had thought about cutting his hair because it was bothersome, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it easily, perhaps because it was the trademark of the original Anakin.
However, he was thinking that he should cut it one day.
“By the way, Mantis, are you okay? You got hit a lot by Teacher Chris.”
At Anakin’s concern, Mantis bragged about his faint arm muscles.
“I’m fine. I’m perfectly okay. Ever since I was carried out on the day of the last exam, my physical endurance has somehow gotten stronger.”
