At first, everyone was worried, but soon their expressions shifted from concern to astonishment. Shinn's attacks appeared fierce, yet he couldn't even graze Yang Hui's clothes—it was like watching a circus monkey being toyed with.
"Coward! Are you just going to keep dodging?" Frustrated by his inability to land a single punch, Shinn shouted angrily.
"Are you sure? If I strike back, your little performance will be over," Yang Hui teased, effortlessly evading Shinn's blows while maintaining a playful, mocking tone that only further provoked him.
"What did you say!?"
"Then here I go?"
"You bastard—Wah~!?"
The next instant, Yang Hui finally acted. He twisted Shinn's incoming wrist, using the momentum of his own spin to send the boy flying. Shinn felt the world spin around him, his body suddenly weightless before crashing onto the cold, hard ground, pain shooting through his back.
Then Yang Hui's face appeared above him, knees pinning his chest and one arm down while the other was clamped in an iron grip. Yang Hui's free hand formed a mock gun gesture, pressing against Shinn's forehead.
"Bang~"
He flicked Shinn's forehead with his fingers, making the boy yelp in pain.
After this brief bullying session, Yang Hui lifted his knee—but the moment he relaxed, Shinn suddenly lunged, attempting to tackle him.
Yet Yang Hui had anticipated this. Though Shinn moved fast, Yang Hui was faster, sidestepping and giving him a push from behind that sent Shinn crashing face-first into the wall.
"Thud~!"
"Oof… That looks painful!" Yang Hui winced exaggeratedly before Shinn could even cry out, earning an exasperated glare from Athrun.
"Alright, that's enough," Athrun interjected. While he supported teaching Shinn a lesson, he didn't want it to go too far—lest it leave lasting psychological scars.
"Not my fault. He tried to ambush me," Yang Hui defended, raising his hands innocently.
"Ugh… You bastard… That hurt!" Shinn groaned, clutching his nose as he stood up, his face flushed red with tears welling in his eyes.
"Playing the victim now, kid? You attacked first, asked me to strike back, then tried to sneak attack me."
"Tch…"
"Pfft—HAHAHA…"
Mayu, Lunamaria, and Meyrin, who had been worried earlier, couldn't hold back their laughter at Shinn's petrified expression.
"Stop laughing! What's so funny!?" Shinn yelled at the girls, but they only laughed harder, making him stomp his feet in frustration.
"HAHAHA…"
His outburst only fueled their amusement. Even Athrun and Rey, who had been holding back, turned away to stifle their chuckles. Shinn's behavior was undeniably childish—throwing tantrums, playing the victim, and getting flustered.
"Gah! It's all your fault! You damn—!" Unable to vent at the girls, Shinn redirected his fury at the instigator. But before he could finish or charge forward, he froze again—and the others fell silent.
"If this were a battlefield, you'd already be dead… twice."
Yang Hui's smile remained, but his words carried an icy chill.
"You… I… That's not…"
"But your performance just now was no different from combat, was it?" Yang Hui stepped toward Shinn one step at a time, the sound of his heels clicking against the floor seeming to pound directly into Shinn's heart.
"I didn't... I clearly..."
"Willful, impulsive, disobeying orders... Need I go into detail?"
"...Tch! Who do you think you are!? What gives you the right to lecture me!?" Shinn knew those were all mistakes he'd made, but he just didn't want to admit it—especially not in front of Yang Hui.
"I indeed have no qualifications." Yang Hui shrugged with a smile, making Shinn lift his chin smugly upon hearing this. But the next moment, an icy gale swept through, freezing him solid. "But after you get your comrades killed, plenty of people will have that qualification."
"This..."
"Lunamaria, do you remember what I taught you during the previous battle?"
"Huh?" Lunamaria was startled by the sudden question, flustered.
"When you lack the ability to control the battlefield, following orders is more important than questioning them," Mayu answered in her stead.
"Correct. Remember this, kid. Obeying orders is a soldier's duty. When you lack the ability to control the entire battlefield or bear the consequences of disobedience, just quietly follow your superiors' instructions."
"You... You're not my superior..." Shinn continued to argue stubbornly.
"I'm not, but Durandal is."
"..."
"Being tsundere, willful, unwilling to admit mistakes—none of that matters. But you'd better think carefully about what the consequences will be if you bring these attitudes onto the battlefield."
With that, without waiting for Shinn's reply, Yang Hui walked over to the firing range under everyone's gaze to check their training scores.
"Tsk tsk, each batch worse than the last." Yang Hui clicked his tongue in disappointment, shaking his head. Ten shots at 100 points—aside from Rey who managed 70 points, none of Shinn, Lunamaria, Meyrin or Mayu scored above 60.
"Tch, easy to talk. Like you're anything special..."
"Ahem. Yang Hui's marksmanship surpasses mine." Shinn was still sulking when Athrun couldn't take it anymore and cut in.
"Eh? Really?" Everyone except Rey gasped in surprise.
"Seeing is believing." Yang Hui picked up two pistols and set both firing lanes to the highest difficulty—moving targets.
"Tch, just showing off..." Shinn was still muttering when the shooting drill began. The next instant, he was rendered speechless—Yang Hui stood between both lanes, firing both pistols simultaneously, every bullet hitting the fleeting targets dead center at 10 points each.
Unsurprisingly, the final scores were 100 points and 100 points—perfect scores on both sides.
"M-monster..." Shinn began feeling afraid, no longer daring to act arrogant before Yang Hui. The man seemed capable of anything, constantly displaying terrifying prowess from new angles.
"So... amazing..." The others were equally dumbfounded. They couldn't even clearly see the highest-difficulty moving targets, let alone handle two lanes simultaneously.
"Not bad. At this distance, it's nothing special."
"..." Mayu, Lunamaria, and Meyrin wore stiff expressions, convinced Yang Hui was flexing his skills—and they had proof!
Athrun, however, agreed with Yang Hui's assessment. After all, this was just target practice at the shooting range. While Yang Hui's performance was admittedly excessive, his scores should be the baseline standard for elite units. Real combat was far more complex than this.
"Rey, had enough of watching the show?"
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