"Zephyr-sensei, if things get out of hand, do you need us to step in and stop them?"
A female instructor with short, pale-blue hair walked forward and asked in a soft voice.
"Since he has become a special recruit, this is the kind of thing he should be able to handle."
As he spoke, Zephyr was watching Aren, who was now completely surrounded and already under attack from the new marines.
"Um... Ze... Zephyr-sensei."
Jero stood at Zephyr's side. If there was anyone who had not charged at Aren, it was Jero alone.
"Hm?"
Zephyr glanced back at him, a little puzzled, but did not speak, simply waiting for Jero to continue.
Jero looked up at him. "May I ask... is there only this one exam? What happens if we fail it?"
"If you fail the entrance test, your admission qualification will be canceled. However, there are three assessments in total. Your final results will determine whether you stay or go," Zephyr answered calmly.
Jero immediately followed up, "So that means, even if I skip one, as long as I do well in the remaining two tests, I can still pass, right?"
"Yes, but you would have to perform exceptionally well in the next two," Zephyr said with a nod.
As he looked at Jero, he recalled a few things his former student, Lockby, had told him about this seemingly timid, easily flustered lieutenant.
He needed a good mentor to guide him, to help him forge a firm and unyielding sense of justice in his heart.
Whether Jero was really as promising as Lockby had claimed, Zephyr did not yet know. That would require time and observation. What he could see right now, however, was that Jero clearly had no intention of participating in the first trial.
"That is fine. As long as I work hard on the next two, it will be alright," Jero said with a breath of relief, seemingly having made up his mind.
Zephyr fixed his gaze on him. "Tell me your reason for not participating."
"Huh?"
Jero froze for a second, then scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "Because Aren is too strong. I don't know about the others, but someone like me... Aren could finish me with a single blow. Rather than getting knocked out right away, I'd rather save my strength for the next two tests."
"Hm?"
Zephyr blinked. "You...!"
He had only been stunned for a moment, but just as he opened his mouth, about to say something to Jero, Zephyr suddenly felt it.
Whoosh...
It was not exactly a fierce wind, but rather an overwhelming force.
A violent, tempestuous aura swept out in an instant, rushing past Zephyr's body, past all the instructors, past every marine who had been standing around watching.
In the next heartbeat, that aura surged outward in all directions.
The previously calm surface of the sea heaved and roared as waves rose under the passage of that invisible pressure.
Without a moment's hesitation, Zephyr snapped his head around and looked back toward the source.
Where dozens of trainees had just been crowding in, Aren was still standing in the same spot as before, his feet planted firmly on the ground.
The marine trainees who had charged at him from all sides were now scattered across the ground in every direction, lying there in twisted, sprawling heaps.
Around Aren, a spiraling current of air could be clearly seen, twisting upward like a vortex. It looked at once like a protective barrier and like countless blades, ready at any moment to tear everything around him to shreds.
This sight did not only shock Zephyr.
Every other instructor, and every marine who had been watching for fun just moments ago, now stared wide-eyed at the man standing in the middle of that swirling aura, their faces filled with pure disbelief.