Candidate Number Four charged forward immediately with each step shaking the floor beneath his heavy strides.

His body gleamed with its steel-like sheen. It looks like that his every muscle was tightened and primed for destruction.

The sheer force of his movements was much slower compared to Candidate Three's blur of speed, but the weight behind them was monstrous.

He swung a fist the size of a hammer straight at Erend's head.

The attack tore through the air with such force that a sharp gust of wind followed behind it, ruffling the uniforms of those standing nearby.

WHOOOM!

The punch missed Erend's face by inches as Erend tilted his head smoothly aside, the shockwave rippling past him.

The candidate roared and threw another punch. This time at Erend's chest.

The floor shuddered as his hardened knuckles hit the stone tiles, carving a crack across the chamber floor when Erend sidestepped at the last second.

Gasps echoed around the room who had never seen it before.

The sheer destructive potential in each strike was unlike anything the others had shown so far.

Every punches, even when it missed, seemed as though it could break bones or cave in walls.

The candidate pressed forward, refusing to relent despite his attacks that didn't have any effect.

He swung his arms like a barrage of iron blocks, fists crashing down in relentless arcs.

His attacks boomed in the air and when one of them smashed the floor squarely it sent shards of stone flying like shrapnel.

But Erend flowed around them like water. Just like what he did before.

His movements were unhurried and precise. He raised his arms only when he needed to to parry the occasional strike with his bare hands.

Every time the candidate's steel fist met Erend's palm, there was a sharp clang like metal colliding with unyielding stone even though its looked like just Erend's skin.

The man's eyes widened slightly as Erend stopped one of his full-power punches with only a single hand, his body steady and unshaken.

"You've got strength and the defense," Erend said calmly, pushing the man's fist aside and stepping lightly back. "But you're letting it run too wild. Power without control only wastes your stamina."

The candidate gritted his teeth and lunged again. His fist crashing downward in a brutal overhead smash.

Erend slipped to the side and deflected the strike with a forearm, guiding the attack harmlessly past him.

The floor behind Erend split into a jagged crater as the fist slammed into it, debris scattering.

Erend's voice cut through the echo of the impact, steady as ever. "You need to keep your head cool while unleashing your power. Don't drown in it. Every strike and movement must have purpose."

The man roared and spun with a wide swing. His hardened fist sliced through the air.

Erend ducked beneath it, his hand brushing lightly against the man's ribs in a movement so effortless it almost looked casual.

"You should still be thinking while you attack. Your fists are heavy but what use are they if you can't hit your opponent?"

Erend's voice followed with each dodge and each parry as if lecturing during the fight itself.

The candidate's breathing began to grow heavier, sweat dripping despite the hardened sheen of his skin.

His movements were powerful but less precise now. His frustration fueling the weight of his attacks.

But Erend never broke his rhythm. Each deflection and sidestep was as if he was dancing through a storm of steel.

The chamber reverberated with the clash of raw force against stronger force.

Every candidate and staffer who were unfamiliar with Erend's strength watching held their breath. Their eyes wide, knowing that at any moment Erend could end this fight but instead, he was teaching and shaping the man's understanding even in the middle of battle.

The candidate's chest began to heave harder, his swings growing slower, the force behind them dulled by exhaustion.

The punch then came with a heavy grunt. His face straining, sweat rolling down his temple despite the metallic sheen of his hardened body.

Then, at last, his strength gave out.

His knees buckled.

With a heavy sound he crashed to the floor, the steel-like coating across his skin flickering before dissolving entirely.

What remained was only flesh that looked vulnerable, pale, and trembling with fatigue.

His eyes rolled shut as his body surrendered to unconsciousness.

Erend exhaled quietly through his nose. He looked toward the side where the medical staff already stood on alert.

They didn't wait for his words this time.

The stretcher team sprinted forward, lifting the collapsed man with practiced precision.

Erend watched them carry the candidate out before turning back to the line.

His eyes swept across the faces. Some of them looked pale, some wide-eyed, but all of them looked tense.

"Next. Come on." His voice cut through the silence.

Candidate Number Five swallowed hard and stepped forward.

—

Time passed.

One by one, the candidates faced him and one by one, they learned their limits.

A woman who could conjure walls of stone saw them shattered effortlessly, Erend teaching her that defense was useless if it wasn't paired with movement.

A man who wielded lightning burned himself out trying to force raw energy only to hear Erend's calm words about control over volume.

Another soldier who could shape wind ended up dizzy from his own reckless gales while Erend told him that precision and not chaos could decide his victory.

None of them could touch him.

Erend never struck back. He only received their attacks whether fire, stone, lightning, or body enhancement.

He dodged, parried, deflected, letting their abilities wash against him.

And he always spoke lessons delivered in the middle of combat.

Hours bled into the day. The fiery glow of the sun finally gone.

By then, most of the candidates were gone, taken to the infirmary by the exhausted medical staff.

The last to leave had barely been conscious, his arm hanging limp off the stretcher as they carried him out.

At last, silence fell.

All twenty candidates had faced him.

The chamber was littered with cracks, scorch marks, and faint traces of where elemental powers had flared and died.

The air still carried the lingering scent of sweat, smoke, and scorched stone.

Erend stood at the center, calm as he had been at the beginning.

The training had taken an entire day.

And for every candidate, it had left a mark not on their bodies alone, but on their minds.

They now knew the weight of what stood before them. And they understood that if they wanted to survive, they had far more to learn.

—