The students and their master were now at the cave where Reon had discovered the horned sap badger.
This would be Roland and Richard's final test.
They were excited to test out their new found strength, but also nervous at the time.
They had never been in a real fight before, and they knew this was life or death, unlike a spar.
"The 3-Star creature should be in this cave. Roland, I want you to fight first alone." Reon looked at his Roland.
"Alone? But master Reon, this is a 3-Star creature were talking about, it might be too dangerous for him." Richard pleaded.
Roland put his hand up to stop his brother from saying more.
"It's fine. I trust master Reon, and I want to see where I stand against a 3-Star creature." said Roland.
Roland walked forward to the entrance of the cave. He took a deep breath then stepped in with courage, Richard and Reon followed shortly behind.
Little did they know that up in the trees outside the cave, was a winged rodent that was chewing on a nut like a chipmunk.
The fat rodent had horns on its forehead. It had been watching this cave for a while, as it was mortal enemies with the Horned Sap Badger, and noticed when Reon and his students were approaching it.
A devilish idea appeared in the mind of the rodent.
As they ventured into the cave, Roland and Richard used a basic magic spell called Night Vision, to see clearly in the dark cave.
After walking 20 feet, they saw the cave collapsed into a smaller passageway that they needed to crouch down to get into.
They got down and crouch-walked 10 feet, then saw how the small tunnel opened up into a large cavernous space.
Within the cave they saw it. A large beast the size of a bear, but with the shape of a badger, and a horn on its forehead.
The Horned Sap Badger was laying down asleep in a corner of the large cave.
There were also two smaller badgers with horns on their head huddled up next to the beast.
It was obvious that these were the 3-Star beast's cubs.
Reon now understood why he hadn't seen the horned sap badger hunting on its own in the forest. It was watching over its new born babies.
"Master, now that I know that the beast is looking out for its babies, it doesn't feel right to hunt it." said Roland.
Richard nodded in agreement, and Reon smiled as he felt the same.
"I agree. You guys passed the test, let's leave." said Reon.
Suddenly though, Reon heard a squeaking sound coming from the entrance of the cave.
Dozens of mice appeared, running into the cave and causing a ruckus.
"What's going on?" said Reon.
On the other side of the tunnel, the winged rodent who had seen Reon and the boys enter the cave, was ordering these mice to cause chaos.
It wanted to make sure that the Horned Sap Badger fought the people he saw entering the cave, hoping that they would kill each other off.
Suddenly, the horned sap badger woke up and saw three intruders lurking in its den.
It growled fiercely as it stood up.
The three boys saw this and focused on the beast.
"We didn't want to fight, but she noticed us in her den while nursing her newborns. She most likely wants to make sure we die now!" Reon yelled to prepare Richard and Roland.
The horned sap badger walked away from its babies as it continued to growl, then it stomped its foot on the ground.
Suddenly the ground around its babies lifted into a wall around them.
Reon saw, and realized what this was.
"This badger has the ability to bend stones! You guys are at a disadvantage here!" Reon warned Richard and Roland.
"Fight it together!" Reon instructed.
"I need to check what is going on outside the cave." He said as he crawled back to the front part of the cave.
The horned sap badger saw Reon crawling into the tunnel, and thought he was trying to escape.
Right as it was about to stomp its foot on the ground again to use the cave walls to crush Reon, it saw something flying toward it.
"Not so fast, beast!" said Roland.
Roland had noticed what the beast was planning and instinctively used his Flame Magic to shoot an arrow made of crimson flames at it.
The beast was hit square on its chest by the flame arrow which made it stagger a few steps back.
"Flame Sword!" Roland and Richard both casted.
Crimson flames from within the young nobles manifested into swords made of solid flames in their hands.
Roland's flame sword was balanced like a standard sword, though the sword guard was quite grandiose.
Richard's flame sword was larger and thicker, like a greatsword.
The real battle started now.
They both slashed, creating more flaming projectiles that shot at the sap badger.
It growled and retaliated by bending the earth of the floor into walls, to shield itself.
Then it ran to quickly claw at Richard, but it's strong swipe was blocked by his flame sword.
Roland used the opportunity he saw to jump at the badger.
He slashed it from the side, drawing blood.
The slash was shallow, however, as the beast had an extremely thick hide and fortified muscles.
Still it excited the boys to see they were the first to deal damage.
"We can do this!" thought Richard.
Meanwhile, Reon made it out of the tunnel.
He saw a fat winged-rodent with horns flying meters high in the cave, while many mice were shuffling around on the ground.
The winged rodent also noticed Reon, and squeaked, commanding its legion of mice to attack him.
Seeing this happen, Reon deduced that the fat winged-rodent must have been the cause of the whole ruckus.
With his twin blades, Reon started an onslaught of the little mice, as he ran over to the Winged Rodent.
The winged-rodent decided to get involved now.
It flapped its tiny wings, and accelerated at bullet speed, aiming right for Reon's head with its sharp horns.
Reon instinctively blocked the attack with both of his blades. Sparks flew from the strong impact.
The winged-rodent flew back and tried to attack the same spot again.
Once more, Reon blocked the rodent's strike, making the rodent fly back.
"*Squeak! Squeak!*"
The winged-rodent was angry and confused that Reon could block its accelerated strike, its specialty.
The rodent's body began to glow with purple aura, amplifying its energy output.
"Another 3-Star creature!" thought Reon.
The rodent accelerated with even more speed than before, towards Reon.
Reon quickly dodged to the side, then the rodent slammed into the cave wall with great force.
A meter wide crater was made from this attack.
The beast was flustered for only a few seconds before it launched itself at Reon again.
Reon put his twin blades up to block it this time.
When the rodent's horns connected with Reon's blades, he was pushed back a few meters, his back slamming against the cave wall.
Reon used all of the strength in his body to force the winged-rodent back with his blades.
The winged-rodent used its internal energy to accelerate itself towards Reon once again.
Reon blocked again, and the process repeated several dozen times. Each time Reon's back was slammed deeper into the cave wall, inch by inch.
"This beast is too strong and fast for me to deal with!" though Reon as he repeatedly blocked each strike.
"Once again, I'm just too weak!" Reon thought, before he smirked.
"So. I just need to be stronger, and faster!" Reon said.
Reon, noticing the rodent's attack pattern, ducked and rolled out right before the rodent would hit him again.
In the middle of the cave now, Reon took a deep breath in, a memory of training with his Uncle playing in his mind.
---------------
"I don't think I'll ever be able to beat you Uncle Ken," said Reon after losing a spar for the thousandth time.
"Never limit yourself or the possibilities you can create, Reon." Ken told him.
"But Uncle Ken, if I'm being honest, the truth is you are way too strong and fast for me to handle without being able to use energy, like you." Reon replied.
"You know Reon, at some point in the future, you might think you've reached the limit of your power…but..." said Ken.
Suddenly Ken got into a fighting stance and threw his fist towards Reon with his full force, creating a short gust of wind that moved Reon's hair a little bit.
Reon looked unimpressed and unconvinced.
"You can always push past that limit!" yelled Ken.
Once again he punched, but this time much faster and stronger than before, the new gust of wind now blew Reon's hair back faster.
"But how!?" Reon questioned defiantly.
"How? Use more power of course!" Ken replied, punching toward Reon again.
This time the pressure from the gust of wind Ken's punch made, forced Reon to close his eyes.
"You think you've reached the limit of your speed? Move your body even faster!" yelled Ken.
As Ken said this he seemed to disappear and reappear behind Reon, kicking him on his side launching Reon more than five meters in the air.
Reon landed on his feet and readied himself to spar again.
"Your opponent is too fast for you to handle? Strike where they will before they even reach it!" said Ken as he disappeared once again.
When he reappeared behind Reon, Ken felt something he hadn't expected.
Reon's left foot was in his stomach.
Ken shuddered for a second, but grabbed Reon's left leg, lifting him with one hand, then threw him straight to the ground.
Reon bounced off of the solid ground where he stayed for a moment due to the pain.
Ken's face was shocked as he had done this on pure instinct.
"He actually got me!" Ken thought
"Layla… your son, this kid, is really, too much." Ken thought as his face shifted from shock to a proud smirk.
-------------
The winged-rodent shot itself at Reon once again.
Reon shifted to the side, striking with great force.
"Damn, that was meant to kill you, but I was a few inches off." said Reon.
"*Squeak! Squeak! Squeak!*" the rodent cried in pain.
Half of its fat tail was missing and blood was leaking out from the place where Reon had chopped it off.
Seeing part of its beloved tail on the floor close to Reon, the rodent was filled with rage.
It surged its energy to the max, wanting to ensure that Reon would die here and now.
This was the full power of a 3-Star creature, and Reon wanted to meet it head on this time.
He got into a stance, focusing his senses, and body to the limit, then past it.
The winged-rodent began to flap its tiny wings.
"Now!" thought Reon.
Reon slashed his right hand blade, with all of his might right where he predicted the winged rodent's head would be.
With almost no delay between both events, there was a tiny sonic boom echoing from the cave's walls from the winged rodent's initial acceleration.
Then the winged-rodent flew straight into Reon's blade, getting sliced in half.