The Devil's Evolution Catalog

We were now on the seventh day of the training camp, in order words, the second last day.

Thus far, the camp had proven smooth-sailing, and the kids had shown why they were the elite of the elite. From basic piloting to conditioning, it only took a day to reach the desired levels, after which all our time had been spent on combat tactics and combination attacks. Those went well, naturally.

Too well, in fact. An elite had an elite’s pride, and it was time for a quick wake-up call. I chose the ten strongest students for a mock battle against me. One on ten…

Gathered around the training yard, the students watched with excitement in their knights from the outermost ring. In the center was me, riding a newly manufactured knight, which I had taken to calling it the “Tin Can”. Due to its appearance.

Our magitek armor production hadn’t stopped all this while. But the fact that we were in the midst of training the pioneer batch meant that we couldn’t take in another batch of students.

Naturally the Tin Can’s systems weren’t as smooth as Wyrm’s. A stretch and wave of my arms made me realize how much the latency was, but it was still within acceptable parameters.

I beckoned towards the ten students with my arm. “Come at me, every one of you. Do not hold back, because I won’t.”

Having gone through seven days of rigorous training with me, the kid roughly knew what kind of person I was. If I said something, I meant it. But I did not overreact either.

Honestly, in a real battle, even a hundred of these brats wouldn’t be enough for a warm up. Yet with their knights, things were a little different.

A magitek knight, using one of these mass-produced magitek armors, was limited in their prowess. Roughly a five-star’s power for ordinary pilots. Six, perhaps. If they were ace pilots.

This was common sense. The students knew it, thus they did not think they were at much of a disadvantage. In all likelihood, they couldn’t even imagine how they could lose!

“Well, if our dear instructor wishes it, a bit of fun shouldn’t be a problem.”

Having gotten closer, I now realized that Ansom was a lively kid. This nephew of Meister Amori was quite a casual person. Affable. But he’s been getting rather mischievous recently…

The other nine students were just as eager to join in, though, the first to strike was a student named Tallin.

Tallin had a personality that could only be described as aggressive. He was impulsive, and rather than acting like a dignified magister knight, he was more like a berserker.

“Haha, the instructor’s mine then. Stay back, the lot of you!”

When the chosen students had begun to encircle me, Tallin had already stepped in front of them. This time, he charged ahead with his knight, mechanical legs tearing into the ground, spear and shield raised for a powerful ram!

Even though we were separated by our knights, his passion and hotbloodedness were infectious. Unfortunately, such a straightforward charge was only good for morale…

“Your openings are plain for all to see!”

Right as his spear was about to strike, I performed the Revolution Slice to switch positions, dodging his line of attack by an inch.

The boy rushed past me in a gust of wind. However, I wasn’t done with him yet. The Revolution Slice’s, at its core, was a counterattack skill. Thus I swung out with my own spear, swiping at his legs like I would with a staff.

“Boom!”

Tallin fell flat on his face with a deafening crash…

“That’s one down. Who’s next? Let’s see how much your training has borne fruit.”

No one dared to move at that moment. Faced with such a resounding defeat of one of their peers, even these elites couldn’t help but feel a sense of helplessness.

Even after climbing to his feet, Tallin dared not attack right away. Instead, he cautiously backed away, as he knew that no amount of charging would yield better results.

Unlike the ten students, however, the other 90 were more than happy to participate from the sidelines.

“Hey now, what’s with the hold up? I thought the fighting would have started yesterday!”

“If you guys don’t want to do it, I will!”

“Yeah, if you’re too afraid to attack, let us have a go!”

“Exactly, this might be our only chance to have some skinship with the Instructor. If you guys won’t do it, let me!”

“That’s right!”

These brats… you guys are getting some extra training later!

“Our instructor is definitely strong. Without these knights, it would surely be a loss, but in a fight of magitek armors, the instructor’s power should be similarly restricted as well. With so many of us, there’s no way we can lose!”

It was Ansom who rallied his fellow students. While one might have fallen, together they stood a chance. Was what he thought. And it seemed his other students agreed as well.

“That’s right, stand strong, everyone!”

“Together! Defeat the Instructor!”

“Together!”

Bolstered by each other, they immediately rushed towards me like a swarm of bees. No formation to be seen, anywhere.

Thus, the brats were taught a lesson once more…

Ten minutes later…

“Instructor, you’re cheating! Everyone here is using the same mass-produced models, so why are you so strong?!” Ansom dragged himself out of his knight, hair slightly ruffled and clearly dissatisfied with his showing. “Have you been holding out on us?”

“Exactly!”

“Didn’t I say so already? The first generation of magitek knights have the strength of a six-star, but you must be an expert to achieve that. You guys are merely beginners; not hurting each other on the battlefield would be a miracle.” Having said that, I stopped smiling and looked all in the eyes. “More importantly, I don’t see any teamwork from any of you!”

“…”