The rest of the way to the training halls the three conversed grew closer, Itoyea spoke about his ambition and dream of becoming a hero strong enough to completely purge all demon beasts and Itekan spoke of how he wanted to become the strongest being in the world, so he could stand with his father.
They got to the training halls soon enough and upon entering, they discovered they were t the only ones who had thought to familiarize themselves with their training facilities.
Itoyea was beyond himself with shock when they walked in.
The place was massive, it was much bigger than it looked from the outside.
It was divided into three floors, on the first there were three massive traing grounds, the first upon entry was filled with sand, the last traing ground made of concrete, and there were some wooden figures, that served as sparing partners, in the center in-between the other two was a dueling ground, it was much wider than the other two, it's floor was made of a material that was both extremely dense but at the same time rather elastic, the property that would be prevail was dependent on how well the candidates inside moved.
If they moved with too much force it was elastic, with too little it was also elastic, it required a certain level of experience and traing to be able to use this last training ground.
There currently were some candidates sparing in there, or rather attempting to stand, they were doing it terribly.
On the second floor, he saw the training equipments, there were several weights each heavier than the other these too were being used by some candidates, the room had several other exercise equipment, then at back of the room away from the sight of all the heavy machineries were several shelfs filled with books about different techniques and spells. There was in the same corner, behind a glass wall, chairs and tables for reading.
The third floor was a wide big empty hall with just one massive door, and it was currently locked.
Itekan, Itoyea and Binturu were still looking around when, a cheering sound grew louder, they turned to see several people gathered around one of the training grounds so they went to see the cause of the commotion.
There, in the middle of the grounds was, two candidates currently sparring, it was their spar that had caused the uproar, the spar between the two was terribly one sided, sounds of the beat down could be heard all across the first floor and something else.
Laughter. A sadistic one at that.
The one laughing got atop the other and beat him down, sounds of bones snapping filled the hall and those who had not come earlier were either on their way there or where sweating profusely not wanting to be caught up in whatever was going on there.
" Stop!!" Itekan shouted, as he and Itoyea shot forward, he caught one of the attackers blows that was crashing down and Itoyea had his hand to his neck, he was in his swordless blades stance.
The two had moved without hesitation, stopping the attacker in his tracks.
" Who are you two, you are interrupting our friendly spar" he said his eyes glistening with bloodlust.
" He's already beaten you've won" itekan said
" He didn't quit did he ?" The guy said asking the others around, those who had enjoyed the beating and were upset with the interruption, roared in agreement with him.
" You didn't give him a chance did you" Itoyea said, through gritted teeth.
" So what! He's still alive isn't he? The weak ones dont deserve to be in this academy, four stars academy does not need fools like this, they're only cannon fodder "
Itekan realized then that they were not alone, he sensed the presence of someone watching them, he knew it had to be the instructors.
' they're just watching, does that mean we're allowed to attack ourselves as long as no body dies, but still, this is too much' Itekan thought to himself.
" A friendly spar huh! How's this, you and me now, the winner gets to stay, but the loser" Itekan paused looking him straight in the eye, " has to leave " he finished.
Itoyea was shocked at this development, Binturu as well was shocked, the others who had earlier enjoyed the display of violence seemed pleased that they would get to watch another fight, and with the stakes, within minutes the gossip had spread across the entire training grounds and even more people were gathered now, not just candidates, several senior students upon hearing about the fight has gathered to watch as well.
" What do you say?" Itekan asked, the same bloodlusted smile on the attackers smile remained but now there was something else, excitement, he was excited for this, the boy before him had gotten his blood hot.
" Sure!"
On the second floor someone sat behind the glass wall watching this development, it was none other than Aitken.
" Show me what you are capable of, son of the fallen"
In a separate space, someone else, unobserved by everything else even light, crossed another name out of the list in his hand. Something was bugged him, ever since he noticed that Itekan realized someone was watching them. Not even heros of the third stage could sense him when he was in stealth, but that boy sensed him, and he did so in the few minutes since he arrived.
He was now getting ready to fight someone twice his size, who seemed eager for the kill. He knew this battle was not fair, but there was nothing he could do, his job was to simply observe the candidates at the training halls, plus the kid was the callenger, he iniciated the duel himself.
Sigh!
He got ready to cross out another name.