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In less than an hour, all the guards assembled in the courtyard. Well, at least those whose condition allowed them. Since Laihud had healed most of them last night, the guards did not argue with him.

On top of that, they had already seen how strong the mercenaries were. If someone like them were offering the guards a chance to better themselves, they would be foolish to disregard it.

Vimur and Ashton were already waiting for them there. A couple of other mercenaries joined them as well. As for the rest of them, they decided to leave the guards to suffer. After how they have been treated, they had no desire to help the guards or anyone.

"Is everyone here?" Ashton asked Laihud while the guards formed a circle around them.

"Everyone t-that could move..." Laihud replied before hastily walking away. Being the centre of attention wasn\'t his cup of tea.

As Ashton looked around, he found quite a few spectators watching them from some distance. Eula, her mother, the servants, and even Vulcan were standing outside the forge smoking a cigar-thingy.

It was likely because, apart from Eula, most of them had not seen Ashton fight before. Even though they knew he was the one that ended last night\'s battle, no one had witnessed him doing anything.

"I\'ll be frank with you," Ashton said while pointing at the guards, "Except a handful of you, none of you idiots knows a thing about fighting. Forget about that. I saw how well you operate the turrets and other defences. The birds would have had a wonderful time dodging your bullets."

As he admonished them, not a single guard could even meet Ashton\'s gaze. They were well aware of what a disaster the previous night had been. Even those who performed decently did not have the courage to point out.

But some were infuriated by Ashton\'s words. However, they channelled that anger to fuel their thirst to get better rather than lashing out after hearing the truth. That was the case for most of them, except one person.

"I don\'t think you\'re being fair here." A blonde guy with a bruised cheek spoke up, "You guys are exceptional in the art of combat, but I doubt even you can fight if odds were stacked against you."

"This mother-"

Vimur was about the charge at him, but Ashton stopped him. He was waiting for something like this to happen. That was the sole motive behind his speech. There wasn\'t a better way to make someone understand their weakness than forcing them to admit it themselves.

"Let the man speak, Vimur." Ashton smiled, "I\'m unaware of what odds you\'re referring to. Please, enlighten my ignorant self."

"We were outclassed and outnumbered. Ten to one, that was the odds. Not to mention, they even had better weapons than us."

Upon hearing this, Vulcan almost broke his own of non-violence against any creature but the Xyrans. His weapons were one of the best in the class, and this runt was saying those pesky invaders had better weapons than the guards?

"Outnumbered and better weapons..." Ashton scratched his chin, "I\'ll have to disagree about the latter part. Rather than blaming the weapons, why don\'t you admit you didn\'t know how to use them?"

Ashton continued, "Other than that, you think being outnumbered was the reason for your uselessness. Is that correct?"

"Yes."

"Fine. Let\'s do this then," Ashton shrugged, "Vimur, bring some weapons and what\'s your name again?"

"Ely Martis." The blondie replied.

"Ely, gather twenty brave guards like yourself and get in front. We\'ll have a duel--twenty of you against me. You\'ll be using weapons, and I won\'t even use my hands. Are those odds enough to recreate the \'odds\' from last night?"

Ely did not speak a word. The expression on his face was similar to that of a deer about to become a lion\'s dinner.

His big mouth had gotten him in trouble once again. However, he couldn\'t back down now, not after everyone had their eyes on him.

"Fine by us."

Suddenly, a couple of dozen guards volunteered to team up with him. Maybe Ashton\'s words bruised a few too many egos.

"Great."

Ashton replied and proceeded to have his hands cuffed. Just to make sure the runts don\'t cry later. Vimur handed half of them some melee weapons while the rest were given ranged weapons.

The weapons were made for practice so they could use them as much as they liked and not hurt anyone too deeply.

Everyone carrying melee weapons charged at Ashton before the fight had even begun. It was a dirty move, but ethics were the last thing in one\'s mind in a real battle. Sadly for them, all it took to defeat them was a single stomp.

Ashton stomped his feet on the ground, and the shockwaves generated by it made all of them fall to their knees. After that, the spar turned into a soccer match.

Ashton\'s kicks were flying everywhere, and a guard had to be rushed to the infirmary with every kick. Even Vimur couldn\'t keep up with Ashton\'s moves.

After seeing Ashton\'s vicious moves, he would have assumed Ashton was playing with them to show off if he didn\'t know any better.

As for the guards carrying guns, Ashton\'s agility made it impossible for them to aim, let alone fire a round at him.

Thirty-six seconds. That\'s the time it took for Ashton to decimate the guards. Had his hands been open, it wouldn\'t have taken him more than ten seconds. So while in everyone\'s eyes, Ashton was a monster, he wasn\'t impressed with his performance.

\'It shouldn\'t have taken me more than thirty seconds to beat them to a pulp. I seriously need to eat and rest more. Neglecting food and sleep was the wrong move.\'

[Tsk tsk tsk, I expected more from you, Ashton. You\'re taking your genes and abilities for granted.]

\'Yeah, I\'ll have to train some more. Time to have a spar with Atlas. But first...\'

It was quite a task to find Ely amongst the grovelling guards. But Ashton eventually found him. The bruise on his face was more refined now, and it now resembled a tattoo of a shoe print.

"Do odds matter in every battle?" Ashton asked before offering him a hand.

"No, sir." Ely replied, "Only strength does."

"Good. Get yourself checked and be back within the hour. The lesson will begin by then."