After that bizarre morning, the students of Scythe continued their usual routine without any hindrance, the morning was filled with endurance, and the evening was filled with skills advancement.
Scythe had changed the training method for every one of his students, there's no more 3 phase training, since everyone had already shown enough adaptability, he decided that his students were good enough to be able to move onto the next stage.
"Starting today, you're all going to train your every skill– Strength, Agility, and.. Persistence." Scythe said at the field on that day.
The new training method that Scythe gave to his students were way more complext than before, however it still has some similarity to the 3 phase training, the training will be divided into 3 parts throughout the whole 6 hours from 6AM to 12PM, with the schedule being 2 Hours of Strength training, 2 Hours of Agility training, and lastly 2 Hours of Persistence training.
The strength training consists of various tasks that is aimed to improve their scythe skills, like swinging their scythe in with one hand, mastering complex swings and combos, and other similar stuff, for the agility training, the students were told to dash into a specific point as fast as they can, they were not allowed to take any other step except for the one taken before the dash, this will train their acceleration and their dodging ability, making them extremely unpredictable for enemies as they can move faster than their eyes for a short amount of time.
For the persistence training, it was more like an endurance test, the training for this one changes every day, with Scythe deciding the method he wants to use, one day he might be telling his students to lift a large rock over their head for an hour, on the other day he might tell them to endure continuous attacks and punches from his subordinates, there's no end to his psychotic ideas, he did all this just enough to keep everyone alive on their edge, constantly battling between life and death, living while doing this set of training daily was undoubtely a torture, and the student's hatred kept on growing as time passes.
However, despite the severe difficulty of the training, eveyone gave their best, sweats, tears, and bloods dropped each day, as the day goes, their body significantly grows and they became stronger.
***
A week later..
It was a rainy day in the forest, small downpour falls into the ground in the late morning, with the dark cloud looming over everyone's head, the students bathe in the middle of the training ground, their clothes all wet, their sweats mixes with the cold water, and the ground began to transform into mud.
"Huff.. Huff.. Huff...." Calea gasped for air as her body almost reached its limit, swinging the scythe constantly for 2 hours without a break and then dashed for hundreds of times in a row was bound to consume most of anyone's stamina, it is now the time for the Persistence test, and today, Scythe decided to use the barrage of attack endurance method for the third time.
Not just her, but everyone in the training ground was exhausted, their breaths were heavy and erratic, constantly searching for air they can inhale.
'Damnit.. My stamina might have increased from my awakening, but this is still ridiculously exhausting!' Calea said to herself as she takes more gasp and held her conciousness in place, if she passes out right now, it won't end well for her, because she saw it herself a few days ago. 'If i go unconcious right now, at the persistence test, i'll get beaten up by those people.. That's what happened to Orbeth two days ago, i was lucky that i managed to stay up until the end of the training, but i don't know if i will be able to survive again..'
Calea took a short gaze at Orbeth, he was also at his limit, his face shows more fear than anyone else in this field, with furrowed eyebrows, shaking mouth, and multiple bruises and wounds from Scythe's subordinates, although Calea might be wrong, her intuition told her that Orbeth has developed some sort of a trauma from the experience.
"Let's do another attack endurance today." Said Scythe as he stood in his usual spot beneath a tree.
"Huff.. Huff... Shit.., today is– Huff.. harsher – Huff.. Huff.. Than all of the training we've done before.." Deon complained, struggled to complete a sentence without gasping.
"Hmm?" Scythe responded, he seems to have heard what Deon had just said, a few seconds later, a group of cloaked men appeared from behind him. "Just do the usual."
As the cloaked men approached everyone in the training ground, a despair feeling began to creep in Calea's mind.
'URGH!!.. I need to hold on!! two hours of this.. Damn these people! Because i awakaned my aura, Scythe personally increased the difficulty of the training for me!' Calea shouted to herself, two of the cloaked men arrived infront of her, their eyes were full of excitement, as if they took joy from torturing others.
A smile formed from the two cloaked men, and Calea braced for the impact by covering her face with both of her forearms.
"Nice to meet you, again? I think.. Well, let's see your struggles." Said one of the cloaked men.
Immediately after saying those words, the two of them then began launching various punches towards Calea, all of their punched was enhanced with aura to accommodate with Calea's awakening, and as usual, she blocked them with her arms, she have been in this situation before, that's why there's a large bruise that covered almost her entire forearms, it was caused by the constant punches throwed at her.
THWACK!
THWACK!!!
Punch after punches, Calea took it and absorbed the pain, occassionally she also block some of the attacks, negating its damage. But she knew that just by blocking won't be enough to last 2 hours, that's why she began to uses her aura to enhance her body, making it more resistant and stiff, the experience was grueling, it was excruciating, she can feel her bones cracking gradually, yet she stood firm with perseverance.
'Keukk.. Scythe said i can't dodge the attacks and have to block all of them! That bastard instructor, i swear i'll pay this back!!' Calea shouted in her mind, although the cloaked men were not using their full power, the punch that they deliver still hold some power to it because of their Aura.
'Urgh! i still can't use my aura for more than three minutes.. Hold it Calea.. Hold it.. Keep your focus.. And don't ever step out of it..' Calea thought as multiple water droplets entered her eyes.
30 Minutes passed since then...
Meanwhile, the other students also having a hard time with the persistence test, specifically Carsel, to begin with, he was already injured before this new set of training was implemented, and now that the training has gotten harder, he struggled even more than before, it's unbelievable that he was able to hold out for 30 minutes.
"Huff.. Huff.. P- piece of shit.. Sl- Slow down.. Huff.." Said Carsel, stuttering with his words.
Instead of hearing his plea, the two cloaked men thought that his begging were hilarious, and they then started to increase their pace. Carsel was already on the last bit of his stamina, he knew he won't be able to hold out for 2 hours, however he still desperately wants to survive as long as he can, that's why even if it was just a small droplet of energy, he'll take it without question.
THWACK!
THWACK!!
'URGHH!!.. SHIT! I- Im losing my senses, my conciousness is fading..' Carsel shouted in his mind, desperately clings into whatever left inside of his body.
Then suddenly, one of the cloaked men hit him in the stomach, his blurry vision caused him to lower his guard and unable to react in time for the unexpected attack, the cloaked men weren't just limited to hitting the student's faces, but they can also punch them in any parts of their body, whether its a fatal or not, Scythe said that as long as the student isn't dead, they can do anything.
THWACK!
"KEEUKK... Y- You— Ahh.." Carsel said, his vision turned black and he fell to the ground.
Thud!