Syn stood in the center of the loose dirt the following day, still smoking a cigarette and looking bored as he kept his hands in his pockets.  His clothing hadn't changed either simply because it wasn't real clothing, it was his shadows that had formed clothing.  It helped him from having to replace torn or shot up clothing when he was fighting and now here as an instructor it was mainly habits.  As the kids all filed in he tapped his foot and rested most of his weight on the right foot.<br/><br/>"Come on...chop chop kiddies, I'd like to get this shit done with some time this year."<br/><br/>He said as he sounded bored and annoyed.  When they all lined up around him he motioned to the pillar behind him, a single red X was painted on the pillar.<br/><br/>"Get past me, and touch that X, you pass.  Simple right?  This is a trial and error class.  Meaning you try, fail and learn for your mistakes, actually learn because real life combat, you fail, you die.  Here you just take a trip to the medical wing since I'm not allowed to kill you."<br/><br/>When a large male snorted, Syn looked at him and snapped his fingers as a shadow tendril sprang out of the ground at his feet, taking shape from the boy's own shadow and wrapped around his left arm.  Grotesque bone snapping pops were heard as the boy let out a cry of pain and dropped to the ground.  When the shadows released his arm, it was bent back in a way that it wasn't supposed to turn.  His elbow was bowed inward at a ninety degree angle and bone was protruding from his suit.<br/><br/>"I said I wasn't allowed to kill you.  You kids are pretty tough, so I can do quite a bit before I need to stop.  Since most of you are new here I'm going to tell you this once, so listen very carefully.  I've killed more Hunter's than I care to count and I will continue to do it once I'm done with this bullshit.  They don't care that you're kids.  They don't care that some of you are less of a threat than others and they don't care if you're male or female.  To them, you're a monster and they'll kill you just for that.  Ya'll seem to forget, you're not immortal...you're durable and resilient but not immortal."<br/><br/>Motioning to the X behind him he raised an eyebrow as his hand slipped back into his pocket.<br/><br/>"Who's next?"<br/>Three students tried charging him at once and his hands never left his pockets as he moved around them like a ghost, swift fluid movements.  Any spells were swallowed by shadow voids and the few students who tried to use light spells were swallowed in void portals themselves.  When they were released they looked like the female from the other day.  Curled in a ball and whimpering in absolute fear.<br/>"The strongest weapon you have is the one between your ears.  Use it and get to that pillar."<br/><br/>Again another wave of fails as everyone was using spells or attempting to use brute force.  They did try team work but everyone wanted to be in charge so the team fell apart and no one was succeeding in anything but causing mass pain for the others.  Four students remained.  Two Earth houses, one Light and one Spirit.  The spirit House member seemed a bit odd, he saw her the day before and felt her digging around in his mind but he just gave her a taste of something she wouldn't want to see.  Repercussions for trying to read someone who was much stronger than she was.