Ishuku-san laughed. Fain simply held his left hand out. Uta-san, her party and Sonya stepped back, Siorradh following suit. Sioc and the sword hero's party were confused and
"Fain-sama, I know this might be an effective way to shape the heroes and their companions up... But... Could you be gentle?" Princess Marla asked.

"Broom." Fain barked, and a broom materialized into his hand.

"What are you going to do with that? Sweep us to death?" Ishuku-san mocked.

"You're going Assassin's Creed on us..." Sonya groaned.

"What's that?" Fain asked. "Never mind. Zveit Durability."

Ishuku-san blinked. Zveit? He knew that was higher tear magic. He watched as Fain's name on the list of the 'battle formation' disappeared. That was when Fain struck. A resounding crack. It felt like the weight of a sledge hammer had hit him... Not in his crotch? No... It was slightly higher? His hip bone... The force had lifted Ishiku-san off the ground. The pain was... Disproportional. He was aware of the strike. That bones SHOULD have been broken. But it almost felt like he wasn't in his body and that he was. That he was in a shell and his shell was telling him his hip bone was crushed. That he felt and didn't feel it.

And then he hit the ground. His legs gave out. He collapsed onto his back. He went to jab at the fox kid with his spear but Fain had already followed up with an overhead blow. Ishuku-san was aware that his armor was collapsing on his ribcage and that he had several broke ribs.

That was when Fain exhaled. He looked around him. Ishiku-san struggled to get up. He couldn't. He was pretty close to being dead HP wise. That quick huh? It really needled him that this kid was able to beat him so quickly. Guess he had to give the fox boy some respect now.

-

Uta-san watched the spear hero fall first. It wasn't quick like he had felled the giant last time. It was two hits. Slow and very deliberate in comparison. But the result was not much different. She drew her bow and then lowered it. There were too many people in the courtyard. She needed to get to higher ground. "Everyone! If you are a ranged unit, retreat! We can't fight like this!" She yelled. "Spread out!"

-

Sonya caught on. "Warriors to me! If you fight alone he'll knock you down without a chance!" Sonya yelled. Several warriors looked to their hero companions who nodded. Fain smiled as he waited. Someone dragged the Spear Hero to the rear. He let them. He let them get into formation.

-

Arashi-san was not dumb. He looked at Fain and saw a clear threat now. But there was an issue. Sonya was at the front line locking shields with everyone's tanks and warriors. Uta-san was leading everyone, gunner, bowmen, and attack mage, to higher ground. This left him with the swordsmen and rogue types. "Everyone who doesn't have a spear and didn't go with Uta-san, hold tight and wait for an opening. I don't think we can attack his flanks just yet!"

Fain watched them. It was like a dungeon fight. And he was the boss. They were in a tight and cramped space. Towers overlooked him. He wondered how he should go about breaking them all down. They had to earn their wins after all. He breathed in, using the ki in the air to power his next attack. He couldn't keep this up for very long. But he didn't need to. They were grouping up. Which would make his job teaching them much easier.

-

Sonya stood at the front she watched the fox kid just stand there with the broom in his hands breathing in deeply. That's when she noticed. It was a breathing exercise her master had taught her... Or something similar. She felt something was off. "Raise your shields, lock them together. He's going to attack hard." She said. "Shield wall!" She felt it. Her stamina, her battle formation's stamina, the wall held. But it didn't matter. She watched as their HP as one sharply had a chunk taken out. A few people coughed up blood.

Fain had just used a defense ignoring attack. "That... cough. That was Hengen Musou..." Sioc said.
Sonya grimaced. She was about to switch to healing when she noticed her HP was rising back up. She sighed in relief.

" Lets see if we can wear him down faster then he will with us." Sonya said. " Tzuvait Torn Aura!" She began to cast her magic and skills to help with augmenting their defense. It caused a cascading effect from the others because the buffing started to follow suit all around.

She looked at Fain who hopped to the side when one of the gunners took a shot, and missed. He pulled out a scroll.

"Upon the steps of the mountain of lords I climbed,
Upon the summit I now stand,
through trials and tribulations I have faced,
grant me this moment from the lords' grace.
*Revelation Aura*!" Fain chanted.

The courtyard was silent as the watched the scroll burn in midair. Then Fain was gone. He reappeared in front of one of Uta-san's knights. His strike was slow, deliberate, and Sonya watched as the kid's fist crumbled the man's chest plate in. The shield wall skill shattered, and with it, a ripple effect of damage. It felt like the difficulty was set on Hell Mode to the power of ten. Sonya ran. She was being silly. She knew trying to get in this kid's way was not going to stop him. But...

She was staring up at the sky. Confused. Her HP had hit zero before she knew it. She sat up. So she could sit up? Well.. She was alive, but not quite. She couldn't move more than that. The 'battle' was a very one sided massacre. A kid with a broom was knocking them all down like twigs. But something seemed off. A lot of items he was using didn't seem to have a limit... Or seem to belong to this world. She thought about it.

An 'inventory' screen appeared. It was huge. It was like looking at a window in a computer that was filled with files. Many of them were collapsed, but they were clearly labeled. She knew some of these games. They were popular in the west and some even in the east. She understood now. Some of the items he was using came from this universe. Others not so much. But he said he wasn't...

It was a simulation. He was cheating. But why? Soon, it was over. Everyone was 'reset.' He had batted aside the rest of the 'tanks' and he didn't even use the broom more than to block when dealing with Arashi-san's group. The ranged fighter's and mages tried to scatter, but he picked them off one by one. It was over in less than ten minutes. And he had been taking his time.

"Where did you find this monster?" Ishiku-san asked. He had tried to fight Fain after being healed but he went down again like it was nothing. It was fruitless.

"He was cheating." Sonya said simply. "And he knows it. So Fain, why?"

"Simple. I can't use all the items I have collected. But they exist in one form or another in this world. Something similar can be made. I wanted to showcase what everyone of you can achieve. Your potential. Outside of this simulation, I don't have magic scrolls that I can use trivially. Revelation Aura is the highest magic level that I know of and I don't have anything from there. The highest magic I can cast is Dreifach. And I can't cast supportive magic like Sonya-san can... Heh san can... Nevermind, so the highest scroll I have in that area is Zveit. Outside of this simulation."

"Yeah, that's cute. But how are we suppose to train like this? We're just going to die to your cheating punk Ack!" Ishiku-san began to rant but Uta-san stepped on his foot and pushed him over. "So. This is what we can potentially be. How do we get there? And when are we going to actually train?" Uta-san asked.

-

It turned out, the only experience that could be gained was purely mental while in 'simulation.' It seemed like months went by. Fain had instructed them on everything he could. He told them that Hengen Musou was not something he could train them in but could train them in how to deal with it. Only a small amount of people had an aptitude for it. There were accessories that could be made to create barriers to negate the style's defense negating and rating attacks. But they would quickly break.

He taught them how to write magic scrolls. Skill scrolls were something that only heroes could use and they were only for learning like skills. They needed to be shared personally, otherwise someone might try to destroy them to undermine the heroes. He heavily encouraged them to share what they could after the simulation.

There were tons of materials everywhere not covered in the games the heroes have played in. He told them as much as he could about them and when to look for them when leveling.

Then he gave them hell. He had them face summonings and monsters from different worlds that he had fought. One of the most difficult was a long silver haired man who wore all black and had a fricken 12 foot long katana. He was clearly compensating for something. That and how emo he turned out when a single black wing sprouted from his back. Everyone hated him.

Sonya hated him the most. Because his attacks were so incredibly powerful that she had to dodge them rather than block them. A full swing rented through skyscrapers! His stabs however were easier to block. He was sadistic. Fain didn't like him either. He seemed to take pleasure in killing the swordman's different incarnations... Mostly one form or another of bizarre and grotesque monstrosities.

And then there was the Moon Lord. She hated him more than her fight with Ornstien and Smough. Pikachu and Snorlax can suck it!

How long was this kid going to keep them in this training camp?

She noticed that she was never hungry. Time was meaningless here. But he let them rest. During this time he was off making realities. A forest of white... Seemingly petrified trees. She tried following him. But she kept loosing him. There was buildings made out of huge conk shell like structures. She could see this beyond the forest... But she couldn't get to it. Sonya returned to camp.

Things were different. They were now camping in a dig site. It looked like it had been inhabited. But now one else was here other than the heroes and their party members. Sonya sat next to a fire and watched it burn. "It's a memory. Many of what we fought had been from memories." Uta-san said.

"What the hell?" Ishiku-san blurted.

"If those are his memories..." The sword hero began, but shook his head.

"Yes, he had it rough." A girl in a pink skirt and red jacket said staring at the fire. Sonya nodded but jumped. "Who are you?"

"Oh? I was wondering how long it would be before you noticed me. I'm Aerith. Aerith Gainsborough."