While listening to master Elijah speak, Nino barely felt different from the hundred or so novices listening to him. She had heard the same dry speech only a year ago while being one of the blank faces listing to it. Like the only difference this time around was the fact she was standing behind him with a matching red mask and black robes.
"My personal apprentice here is going to be overseeing your training, so work hard or she might punish you on my behalf," Elijah voiced at the end of his speech. Even if it did not come as a surprise to Nino, the words still agitated her. He was supposed to be teaching her to use her new spirit weapon and not just shove his responsibilities on her.
"So I will be leaving you to her adequate hands," Elijah ended his speech while he turned around towards the door of his office. The novices aimed their gazes at Nino who returned the favor. And as they gazed at her emotionless mask, she felt a moment of joy seeing the odd fear in their eyes.
"You know why you are here, start facing each other in combat, if I see one of you slacking, they get to duel me. And I can't guarantee I can hold back," Nino instructed. The novices immediately nodded and spread around the cave to form dueling pairs. There was still around an equal split of men and women as the two groups had only been mixed today to start their twentieth year of life.
Nino inspected the novices only for a few seconds before heading to the rockier part of the cave nobody had approached. There had been weeks Master Elijah had not shown up to even check on the novices, so Nino might as well just use the time to hone her own skill. Especially since the master still seemed as useless as a teacher as before.
Once near the rocks, Nino imitated the way some powerful masters moved by jumping to one of the larger rocks just by flipping her ankles. Her body swayed a bit but from certain angles, it definitely had looked like she had floated to her destination. Once there she pulled her green flute from her sleeve before taking a fighting pose.
There were several suitable large rocks around Nino and she began slamming concentrated blasts of wind at them. If she learned to break them with ease, she definitely would have the power to face most opponents she was aware of. Or at least have the ability to inflict some damage to them before losing.
Despite Nino's focus on her own training, she kept glancing at what the novices were doing. And it did not take long for her to notice how some pairs were just looking at her while pretending to duel. Not that she could blame them, her strikes were strong enough to send swirls of wind across the cave and even move some of the rocks. Not much of a feat but it definitely beat looking at the endless hand-to-hand combat novices had been subjected to for years at this point.
During the next hour or so, some of the dueling couples kept inching toward Nino hoping to get a better look. She did not exactly mind that kind of attention but the more they looked up to her, the stronger she felt. And the stronger she became in her mind, the weaker these beings turned. They were truly beneath her and most of all at the mercy of her whims.
"Master, would it be possible," one of the novices asked with a bow. Fulfilling a whim while gleefully smiling under her mask, Nino sent a blast of wind at him before he even managed to finish his words. He flew to his back and air escaped from his lungs just from the blast.
"No it would not," Nino exclaimed. She looked for a moment at the man gasping for air. He looked so pathetic and weak that she really wanted to see more of it. So she glanced across the cave to see most eyes on her.
"Time to teach all of you a lesson about power, all of you, I will be your opponent," Nino declared while already sending her next waves of wind. Whenever a novice was even partially hit by them, they fell to the ground and the rest ran around almost in a panic.
A wide grin spread on Nino's lips and she almost wanted to take off her mask to show it to these pathetic ants. They were truly at her mercy and she had all the power to decide their fate. But since she was not without mercy, she would let them live as they entrained her so. Though she might make at least some of them beg for their life by the time she would be satisfied.
** * **
"What's the matter, can't stand anymore?" Nino irked while poking a novice's stomach with her foot. He had been the last one still trying to get up even as most just obediently laid down and played dead. Her foot slowly moved towards his cock but she could not decide just how much she wanted to humiliate the man. As his body had not been blessed by the Holy Lord's essence yet, she definitely did not want his seed. But she was also getting bored of just smacking the novices around with slight wind.
"What is the meaning of this?" Elijah's voice boomed across the cave. He approached Nino with fast but methodical speed.
"Teaching these weaklings humility and lessons in true power, isn't that what you wanted?" Nino asked while letting the gleeful rush tone her voice. She also almost lifted her flute to challenge the master next even as her ability to actually break rocks with her strikes had not improved.
"A part of me does not want to believe I'm even saying this, but there is a limit to what you can do, for your sake, I hope none of them died," Elijah boomed. Even with his black robes and mask on, it looked like his notable muscles were bulging beneath.
"Aren't they too weak to live if they can't survive this much?" Nino shrugged as she definitely had been holding back to the point it had annoyed her. The moment Elijah reached her, his powerful right hand lunged to grab her throat and almost lifted her in the air. The leather glove burned her skin but it was clearly just a display of force and not an actual attempt to strangle her as the grip was focused on the sides of her neck.
"Such arrogance," Elijah flared and Nino felt his hot breath even through the masks on their faces. "Someone has to fuck that defiance out of you, too bad I don't have the time."
Nino was dragged towards Elijah's office door and she clutched her flute while thinking if she was ready to defeat him yet. But as he had not even shown his full power or even his spirit weapon yet, she just kept clenching her teeth while letting her feet follow the pull from her neck.
Once at the door, Elijah lifted a hatch that was in the middle of it before ramming Nino's torso through it. Then he opened the door and she swung a bit with it. Once on the other side, he grabbed Nino's hands and pulled them down. At the base of the door were two sturdy cuffs and her wrists were locked into them. Due to their low height, her feet lifted from the ground by the opening's edge, and to avoid having her weight be carried by her stomach, she was forced to press her toes to a narrow ledge outside the door.
Even as Nino could guess where this was going, she was not going to beg. And she just let go of the flute when it was pulled from her hand. Then Elijah ripped off her mask and threw it on the ground, then he pressed the flute sideways on her lips. He slid it along them like he wanted to force her to suck it.
