Equipping the ring of Amiena on his finger, Zephyr felt his powers drain. Dropping and dropping, his levels dipped into double digits. Stopping at a measly ten levels, the ring shattered into shards of light and was absorbed by his skin for the rest of the day. Even if he wished to reverse its effects, he would have to wait until tomorrow when the ring emerges on his finger again.
Not worried about his levels or the skills that he could no longer use for the day, the fiend kept staring at his fingers. The very same on which the ring had sat.
"Amiena…" He muttered, reminded of one of his many dead companions.
"She would've been proud," placing a hand on his shoulder, Aura pulled him out of his head. "Now, how about we show those losers what slacking off gets them? We can't have weaklings stumbling into the dungeon, after all."
Nodding back at her, Zephyr pulled himself together, and with the closing of his eyes, his and Aura's outfits changed. For Aura, it was a rookie adventurer's outfit, and for Zephyr, it was the same outfit as the instructors. Having changed their appearance before entering the place, they had already filled out a form to register at the guild. The receptionists had told them to take themselves to the training facility for assessment after a quick change, but of course, neither had any interest in the training; instead, they wanted to show the lousy instructors their place.
"Do you think ten levels is still too much?" Zephyr asked, right before they exited the changing room.
"Of course, they're only level fifteen if I judged them right. But I can't imagine them using their strength that wisely." Standing out of the room, Aura turned to a door to their left. Before heading out, she placed a hand on Zephy's chest. "Let me give them a reason to fight. You can come in any time once the stage is set."
Nodding in agreement, the fiend allowed her to set the stage. Walking out into the backyard with the barebones training facilities, Aura clumsily held a sword and glanced over to the male instructor gathered around the only female.
'There you are~' With a smirk, she started walking closer. Her hips swayed with a jerking motion to accentuate her curves further. Seeming less like a soldier and more like a slave of special sorts, she kept a smile on her face and stopped in front of them.
"H-hello…I was told to report here for assessment!" As soon as the men had heard her voice, their eyes widened, for it was more melodic than any angel. Turning their heads, their attention was snapped away from the female instructor, something she instantly noticed and frowned on with an intense look in her eyes.
'Loser~' Aura thought to herself while the woman burned with jealousy, and the men admired her with a thorough gaze up and down.
"Which one of you is going to instruct me?" Aura asked, making herself sound as timid as possible.
Glancing at each other, the two men paused for a moment, almost as if waiting for the other to speak up. But as neither stepped forward first, both of them looked at Aura at once and tried to claim the opportunity for themselves. However, right as they were about to open their mouth, Zephyr walked into the backyard as a slightly taller man than the merchant boy and wearing the same outfit as the instructors.
"Who is that?" The female instructor mumbled, and the other two squinted at the sight of the stranger.
"Hmm?" Wearing a mask of innocence, Aura held off her smirk and followed the instructor's gaze. Then, with a perverse joy bubbling in her chest, she exclaimed. "O-oh…I think I wanna ask him to train me instead."
Punctuating her words with a chuckle, she made her interest in the man known and began walking closer. Once again, even though they were confused by what was happening, the sight of Aura's gyrating hips made them both leave the female instructor by the fence and walk towards this new instructor.
Walking right past Aura, they firmly planted themselves in front of Zephyr. Folding their hands, they glanced him up and down and then ordered.
"Hey, you can leave. I don't remember the capital sending anyone else for these weaklings." The brown haired and bearded brute squeezed his fingers on the side, and the sounds of his cracking knuckles were meant to be a warning.
However, ignoring it completely, Zephyr looked him in the eye with an empty look.
"Weakling?" It was now he who was judging them, glancing them up and down before almost bursting into a mocking fit of laughter. "That's rich. I can easily bend you on my knees like twigs, no wonder nobody from this town makes it to the academy if you're the ones responsible for training them."
"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!" Grabbing him by the collar, the other man–a silver-haired and silver-eyed fencer, pulled Zephyr closer. "WANNA SAY THAT AGAIN?"
"Why, you jerk off to getting humiliated or something?"
"You bastard!" The man swung his flimsy fist at Zephyr, but to him it looked like a child trying to throw its first punch.
Leaning his head out of the stroke, he didn't have to move his body an inch, just his neck. Then, as the instructor was pulling his hand away, the fiend used his head and rammed it against the instructor's chin.
"OWW! WHAT THE FUCK?!" Feeling his entire lower jaw rattling, the man fell to the ground, and everyone in the training ground gasped with horror.
"THAT'S ENOUGH OF YOU!" The brown-haired man tried to punch the same, and much like his companion, he was taken down to the ground with nothing but a sideways kick to the legs. "ACK!"
Grunting and groaning on the ground, the two slowly lifted themselves up with a look of pure rage. In the meantime, Aura had moved next to Zephyr with an almost lovesick look in her gaze. And as if that wasn't enough insult, she locked her arms with him.
"Sorry, but I think I want to be trained by him," she said, her hand gently caressing Zephyr's arm.
Fuming at the sight, both the men looked at each other and were ready to assault him again, but before they could speak up, the woman who'd been their centre of attention not too long ago decided to step forward and speak up.
"I don't know what your deal is, but both of you piss me off." Taking out her fencing sword, the woman directed it at Zeph. "Let's see if you're really as good as you claim, and don't you dare cry when you eventually fail."
Taking her side once more, both the men stood beside her with their weapons drawn. The rookies were absolutely stunned by what was happening, and although the fiend didn't exactly wanna fight the woman at first, making Aura step away, he decided to take them all on by himself and have some fun while doing it.
"And what do I get if I win?" He asked, knowing full well that the woman was jealous of Aura hogging all the attention.
"I'll let you fuck me." Though both of the men next to her froze in response, she no longer cared for their opinion of her. "If you can beat me and these losers, I'll let you do what they've been trying to do with me."
"Racy, but—"
"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Yelling at the silver-haired man as soon as he tried to complain, she looked him in the eyes and stared angrily at him. "You two were ready to leave for the new girl, so don't act surprised. Besides, we're not losing to this bastard. Now get to it!"
And so, reluctant as they were, the guys directed their weapons at Zephyr. The girl did the same and waited for Zephyr to take out his weapon as well. But to their surprise, moving one of his hands to his back, the fiend gestured to them to attack him.
"Bring it," he said.
"YOU ARROGANT BASTARD!" And so they did.