Chương 103: Training From Hell
December 4, X784
Pantherlily watched in awe as Erza commanded the troops around. He looked towards Meliodas who was laughing at the situation.
"In order for you to protect Fiore, you must become stronger than you currently are!" Erza continued. "To do that you all need to experience an actual battle and not some lackluster friendly sparring. All of you come at me at once!"
The soldiers looked at each other, confused at Erza's command.
"She's seriously going to fight us?"
"All of us at once?!"
Erza glared at the soldiers once more, causing their chatter to stop.
"Did I stutter?!"
The soldier's looked at each other once more before looking back at Erza who was standing firm in front of them with her arms crossed.
"AAAGGHHH!" One of the soldier's yelled as he charged towards Erza. Shortly after, the others followed suite as they rushed towards Erza. A smile formed on Erza's face.
"Good. The real training starts now."
---
"Meliodas…" Pantherlily said as he and Meliodas sat at the side of the training hall watching Erza pummel down the soldiers.
"Hmm?" Meliodas asked.
"I feel like we should step in." Pantherlily said.
"Nah. She's just breaking them down." Meliodas replied nonchalantly.
"Breaking them huh…"
The doors to the hall swung wide open as Arcadios walked back in. Behind him were, based on their attire, several other squadron chiefs.
"W-what's going on?!" Arcadios exclaimed. He looked around the hall. He glanced at Meliodas who returned a friendly smile and a wave to him. Looking back to Erza, he saw dozens of his soldiers on the ground unconscious as Erza held the remaining two in her hands. Erza noticed Arcadios enter and placed the other two soldiers on the ground.
"Do not worry. This is all a part of the training." Erza said reassuringly. The other chiefs behind Arcadios looked at her with awe.
"Arcadios what is going on here?" A short, old hunched man with big ears and hammer shaped eyebrows stepped in front of the group and faced Arcadios.
"This is the Fairy Tail group that the Royal Family sent to train the squadron." Arcadios answered. The old man looked at the Fairy Tail group, specifically Meliodas. 'So that's the one who the princess kept going on about.'
"I see. I am Darton, the Minister of Defense." The old man said as he looked at the Fairy Tail group. "I appreciate you all for coming here and taking the time to help train our army."
"Of course." Erza said proudly as she stood above the bodies of the unconscious soldiers.
"You see Arcadios, you've been too soft with your soldiers." Darton said as he walked away with the other chiefs following right behind him.
"Well I suppose this is enough training for today. We'll continue more tomorrow." Erza said. The soldiers on the ground groaned in response.
---
The following morning, Arcadios walked outside to the courtyard. His eyes widened with surprise as he saw half of his squadron running around the outskirts carrying large logs.
"Honestly! Take a look at yourselves! You call yourselves the Royal Army?! Stop dragging your feet!" Erza yelled. The soldiers groaned as they carried the massive logs above their heads, running laps around the courtyard.
"Quite the training regimen you have going on." Arcadios commented as he walked up to Erza. "By the way, I only see half my men here. Where are the rest."
"To make training more efficient, I took command of the weakest half of your squadron based on how they fought against me yesterday. Meliodas and Pantherlily are in the training hall right now training up the other half." Erza responded. Suddenly one of the soldiers fell on the ground nearby, dropping his log on the ground.
"I-I can't do it anymore...please Chief...make her stop…" The soldier cried out.
"You again?!" Erza shouted as she glared at the fallen soldier. "I guess that's as far as your determination goes. Are you really a soldier of the presteemed Cherry Blossom Squadron?!"
"I...I am a soldier of the Cherry Blossom Squadron!" The soldier said as he struggled to get back up on his feet.
"Then show me your guts! Do ten more laps with the log!" Erza shouted.
"Aye sir!" The soldier yelled as he stumbled over to his log. He picked it up back over his shoulder as he continued running.
"Impressive." Arcadios said. "I guess I really have been too soft on these guys. Ever since the war of X781 we haven't trained like this. I guess I'll go check up on the other two then."
---
Arcadios walked into the training hall and saw the rest of his soldiers all lined up in an orderly fashion of several rows and columns, standing evenly spaced apart. Each soldier held a sword in their hand as they swung downwards, performing a basic slash.
"How's it going here?" Arcadios asked. Pantherlily, who was the closest to the entryway, noticed him.
"Based on what we saw of them fighting Erza, they need to work on their basics again. So we're training them in just that. Meliodas and I are checking their form as they swing." Pantherlily replied. Arcadios looked towards the squadron and saw Meliodas in front of one of his soldiers.
"No no. Your legs are too far apart." Meliodas said. The soldier nodded and adjusted his legs and swung down in front of him again.
"Your shoulders are too stiff. You have to follow the movement all the way through." Meliodas said. He reached for Mel Force and demonstrated his own sword swing for the soldier.
"A-ah I see." The soldier said. He swung downwards once again.
"Hmm...better…" Meliodas said as he continued on to the next person.
---
Several more hours passed as Meliodas, Erza, and Pantherlily trained the soldiers. The group stood in the main hall of the barracks with Arcadios in front of them.
"After observing you three, I would say this was quite the successful training session." Arcadios said.
"It was an honor to get the chance to train the Royal Army." Erza replied.
"After helping with this training, I do kind of miss being a Captain." Lily added in.
"Well I say it's time to treat the soldiers out to some booze." Meliodas said with a cheeky smile. Arcadios smiled back at Meliodas.
"I suppose so. There is a bar just outside the castle that the soldiers frequent. We can all meet up there." Arcadios said.
"That reminds me, I haven't seen Hisui at all." Meliodas commented. Arcadios flinched briefly at the casual mention of her name but shook it off.
"You're right. I recall you saying she would also spectate the training." Erza added in.
"I inquired about this with the higher ups earlier. It appears she is busy." Arcadios mentioned. 'The Royal Family may have acknowledged Meliodas' strength, but even they don't want to let the man who caused a nationwide emergency near her again for now.'
"Why don't we head back into town then since the day's just about over. The main branch of the Heart Kruz store is here. I'm curious as to what clothing designs they may have there and not in Magnolia." Erza suggested with a hint of excitement in her voice.
"Well they do have nice clothing." Meliodas commented, thinking back to his previous clothes he had bought when he first arrived that were all the "Heart Kruz" brand.
"And perhaps they have something in Lily's size." Erza said with a smile as she glanced over at Lily. Lily looked away, somewhat embarrassed.
"N-not like it will fit me anyway once I grow into my battle form." Lily mentioned.
---
The Fairy Tail group walked through the bustling streets of Crocus, having now completed their mission by the Royal Army and with extra money in their pockets as Meliodas had split the money between himself and his group mates. The group walked around the main square, checking out the various stands set up selling food and other items.
"S-strawberry cake!" Erza yelled excitedly as she ran towards a dessert stand. Meliodas looked around with Lily at the other stands. One area of the square in particular caught his attention. It was a small table with a skinny young man who was around Meliodas' size that was sitting behind it. The young man had black slicked back hair where a few strands fell over his face. He wore an oversized white tank top revealing his lanky arms and baggy black slacks. Behind that young man was another who wore a full black suit with his light brown hair parted to the right side.
"Come on down!" The man in the suit yelled as people gathered around the table. "How about a test of strength for some easy money! For a small entry fee of ten thousand jewels, you can win one hundred thousand jewels! All you have to do is beat my friend Lance here at arm wrestling. Simple enough right?" The suited man said as he gestured to the younger man sitting at the table. Lance gave the crowd a friendly grin as they all returned skeptical looks at him.
"Ten thousand jewels to win a hundred thousand? Sounds easy." One of the people in the crowd commented.
"Seems like a scam to me." Another one commented.
"H-hey I remember those two on a different side of the city yesterday. I think that young guy won fifty times in a row."
"Hah I'll beat him!" A large, bulky man stepped forward. He had a bald head and a bushy black mustache. He wore a black suit that was tight around his rotund gut. Despite his gut, his arms were quite muscular. On his way to the table, he dropped ten thousand jewels into the announcer's hands.
The man sat down across from the younger man he was about to arm wrestle. He placed his right arm out on the table as Lance placed his right arm. They clasped hands as the announcer stood next to them..
"Who do you think will win?" Lily asked.
"Hmm...probably the smaller one." Meliodas answered. "I suspect he's hiding his true power."
"It would appear so." Lily commented.
"Ready…" The announcer yelled. 'GO!"
The large bald man's right arm sleeve immediately shredded apart, revealing his vascular bicep. He gripped hard on Lance's hand as he tried to push down on it. Lance grunted as his arm was slowly pushed down.
"Gghhhh!!!" The bald man grunted as he pushed down with all of his might. To his surprise, he could not make Lance's arm go down any further. 'W-what's with this guy?!' A look of panic became apparent on the bald man's face. Lance grunted more as he began to push back, the bald man unable to oppose as the back of his hand slowly fell towards the table. To his dismay, Lance had managed to push the back of his hand fully onto the table.
"Winner!" The suited man yelled out. The bald man grumbled and walked away from the table.
"Are you kidding? That guy's too strong!" A person in the crowd commented.
"That bald dude's arm was twice the size of that kid's head and he still lost!" Another person shouted out.
Meliodas looked at the arm wrestling station that was set up. He briefly thought about all of his bouts with Ban, and how many times he had won and lost against him. 'I remember losing to Ban at Vaizel...but what was our score again?'
"Are you thinking about challenging that?" Lily asked, noticing Meliodas staring intently at the arm wrestling table.
"I don't know yet. But you should try first. I think they'll be really surprised to see your battle form." Meliodas said with a cheeky grin.
"Hustle the hustlers? I guess I'll give it a shot." Lily said with a grin. He walked up to the table and hopped up on the chair across from Lance.
"Oi! Did someone lose their cat?!" The suited man yelled out to the crowd.
"I'm actually here to participate." Lily replied. He placed ten thousand jewels on the table as the crowd, the suited man, and Lance all had a dumbfounded look on their face.
"Did that cat just talk?" Lance questioned.
"Well a challenger is a challenger." The suited man said as he grabbed the jewels off the table. "But how are we going to set this up with the size difference. Anyone got a higher chair?"
"That won't be necessary." Lily said. His body began to grow, gaining a muscular human build as he grew in size. The spectators watched in shock and Lance's eyes widened. A small smile formed in the corner of Lance's mouth.
The two of the clasped hands with their elbows planted on the table. They both looked fiercely into each other's eyes.
"Ready...Go!" The announcer yelled. An immense pressure was released from the two of them as Pantherlily pushed as hard as he could. Lance's arm gave way slightly and started to get pushed back.
"Woah that buff cat man is winning!" A person shouted out.
"That's what we thought last time, but then that bald guy still lost!" Another person shouted. The announcer looked nervously at the crowd. 'This isn't going as planned. We might have to move locations again.'
"Gggrraahhh!!" Pantherlily grunted as he pushed down on Lance's hand. Just as Lance's hand was about to touch the table, Lily felt an enormous pressure coming from Lance. Slowly, Lance pushed back, much to Pantherlily's surprise.
"HAAAH!" Lance yelled as he slammed Pantherlily's hand into the table.
"Winner!" The suited man yelled out. Lance let go of Pantherlily's hand as Pantherlily reverted back into his regular form with a defeated look on his face.
"Hey that was really fun!" Lance said with a wide grin. Lily nodded at Lance before hopping off the seat and back to Meliodas.
"Hmm...he's really strong." Meliodas commented.
"I can't believe I lost. As soon as he started pushing back, it felt like I was trying to move a mountain…" Lily said dejectedly. Meliodas patted Lily lightly on the head.
"Don't worry I won't tell Gajeel about this." Meliodas said teasingly.
"So does anyone else want to test their strength?" The suited man continued. The crowd grew silent and looked at each other anxiously. 'Dammit...they're onto us. I think we might have to call it for today…'
"I'll go!" Meliodas shouted.
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