"Alright, Kenya. Who do you wanna fight?" I asked once we'd gotten to the gym.
"Ha! Think you're getting out of fighting me that easy?! I'm not gonna hit a girl!" At Kenya's response, I locked eyes with Risa and shrugged, stepping out in the center of the gym.
"Okay, then. Here's the deal. You try everything you can to hit me. Just one hit, if you can cause any damage at all, then you win. If you can't do so after ten minutes, then you need to respect me as your teacher. This goes for anyone who chooses to fight Risa, too." I laid the rules out.
"Long as you don't use that dog, I won't need ten minutes! You're going down!" Kenya shouted confidently. He had a little too much confidence in his strength, huh? I actually felt kinda bad that I was about to absolutely destroy it.
"Alright then. Ryota, do you mind refereeing? Risa and I can keep the time."
"Sure… begin."
As soon as Ryota called 'begin,' Kenya's sword exploded with flame. He waved it wildly, shooting spouts of fire at me.
"Nice power… But the weak sauce flame show's a massive waste. Try hitting me with some of that raw energy." He'd lose either way, but my job was to give him advice.
"Shut up! These are the moves that Miss Shizu used!" Advice which he summarily ignored.
"Didn't Shizu use a high-level fire spirit to fuel most all of her magic?"
"What? What's that matter?!"
"So when she used flames, they were just ifrit's raw power. When you use it, you're wasting energy converting your power into magic flames, which aren't the same thing, anyway." Risa explained.
And Kenya didn't understand. "...Whatever! Shut up!"
Yeah, he didn't hit me.
The next kid was Ryota. He chose to fight me. I was pretty sure by now that all three boys would choose to fight me, and the girls would probably choose to fight Risa, thinking she was weaker.
As soon as Gail called out the starting signal, Ryota's body seemed to explode with magicules… body strengthening? No… he was simply putting out so much magicule energy that it's causing him to lose his sense of self… kinda like the Berserk skill.
"Nice power, but I gotta take some points off for the rabid dog impression." I commented, dodging a Ryota Cannon that smashed straight through the wall behind me.
Consuming the broken remnants of the wall, I fixed it during the last nine minutes of our fight. I'll teach him to control that berserk state later.
…
"Gail, you ready?"
His face looked determined. Gail was the serious type, so he probably had a plan of some sort. "Yeah."
"Ready… Start!"
And he shot five Earth Bullets at me. I gobbled them all down. He must've thought that I was weak to ranged attacks. Too bad. Without any other plan, he gave up after that.
…
"Yeah, I think I'll fight the girl…" Alice Rondo said, getting into position. With a shrug, I stepped aside for Risa.
Alice was a golem master, apparently. That meant that she fought by throwing a bunch of dolls into the air and controlling them from a distance by magic. Risa loved it.
"You know, if you could control this a bit better, you might be able to create your own golems from scratch, using dirt or something. You should work on that." Risa said, softly batting a stuffed bear aside with her hand.
"Shut up and let me hit you, wimp!" Alice replied. That didn't happen.
…
And finally, Chloe.
"Umm… I just want to read my book."
"Sorry, I need to see you fight." I apologized.
"Okay, Mr. Tempest… Then I'll fight her."
"Okay. Ryota."
"Ready…? Go!" I was actually pretty intrigued by this spar. Chloe seemed to be more of a bookworm than a fighter, so I kinda wanted to see what she'd come up with.
She lifted her book above her head. Was she going to throw it?
"Flow of water, ensnare my enemies. Water Jail." Hoo! Impressive. Suddenly, Risa was ensnared in what appeared to be a giant bubble of rapid water currents. Were she to touch the bubble, the currents were high enough that she'd be hurt… maybe, it was Risa, after all.
"Impressive, Chloe!" Risa called out from inside the Water Jail.
"Just so you know, I can make blades extend from the water around you. Give up or you'll die." Scary!
"You know, Big Bro, these kids could turn out to be pretty strong one day." Risa evaluated, stepping neatly out of the Water Jail. Water Control, what a cheat.
"Yeah, I hear that." I agreed, patting Chloe's head. She seemed on the verge of tears. Actually, all the kids were. Seeing the vast gulf between us was disheartening for sure, but necessary.
Unfortunately, all of this fighting hadn't seemed to affect that energy exploding inside of them at all. It'll take more than fighting, huh?
Wait, can I just separate the energies with Degenerate?
Report. Separating energies linked to another's soul using Degenerate not possible.' Not that easy, huh? Got any other ideas?
'Their magicules must be used somehow, or otherwise controlled. Possession by spiritual lifeform, or gaining of unique skill likely best possibilities.'
So, if I got a demon or spirit to possess these kids, that'd save them… but I can't use a demon, too strong wills, they'd never just save the kids then move on, and I can't summon spirits, so I'd have to find one. Or, I could somehow speed up them getting a unique skill? Is that even possible?
'Not without skills far beyond current capabilities.'
So finding an elemental spirit it is, then!
'Report. If Master evolves True Demon Lord Seed, new possibilities would arise.'
But I can't do that without soul energy, right? Won't that take me like a century?
'...'