Dios, Cynthia, and the other students and teachers reached the nearest city that contained a Great Spirit Arena, from there it was a simple matter of finding a hotel, getting room situated and then actually signing up for to fight in the arena. All in all it took three days for the entire procedure to be completed and for the students to be joining in their first battles. Camilla, Augustus, and Alexandra decided to sign up for three on three battles since they had the least amount of battle experience outside of sparring. Dios didn't really have much experience himself fighting humans, but he had fought quite a bit against other beasts. 

All four of the students were standing in front of their teachers listening to them give an uplifting speech.

" Alright you brats, I've got a lot of money bet on your fights so if you lose it'll be your asses on a platter. "

None of the students took Flander's words to heart, they knew it was his version of a pep talk. 

" Camilla, Augustus, Alex, you three are up first, remember keep calm, don't freak out and you'll be alright, all of us will be cheering for you from the stands. "

It was the motherly Cynthia's words that really pepped the three up for their battle, their already rushing adrenaline seemed to find another boost. The tomboyish Camilla even let out a resounding roar, though one could tell it was from a cute young girl and wasn't at all intimidating. 

" Good luck guys, be safe, especially you Augy, you're the weakest. "

Dios's weak attempt at a jab was brushed off by Augustus who knew his best friend was just teasing him. Before anybody else could say anything a bell rang signifying it was time for the three to battle. 

---

In the arena stood Camilla in the lead, her Flaming Sword of Legends drawn in a defensive stance. Behind her stood both Alexandra and Augustus, their domains were on and giving the full effects of their buffs, though the only way to tell was the crowns on their heads. Even though the three looked confident and ready anybody with some experience could tell the three were nervous, after all it was their first true fight. 

Across from them stood a much more well rounded team, it was two boys and a girl. The girl had a knife in her hand, it was a curved blade that looked slightly reminiscent of a boomerang, meaning it was likely a short and long range weapon, the girl stood in the middle of the two boys. The two boys seemed to be brothers, both had brown hair and eyes and their facial features were very similar, the only way to tell the two apart was their spirits. The first boy standing at the front of the trio had a wooden staff, it didn't look like anything special, but obviously it'd be stupid to underestimate it. The second boy didn't have a weapon, instead he had what looked like a snake wrapped around his shoulders, he was likely the true long range support of the group. 

One could tell the difference in experience between the Shrek Team and their enemies, Shrek was nervous almost twitchy. Their enemies however were confident and still, looking straight at the team from Shrek. It would be a tough battle. 

The Shrek team was still thinking up strategies when another bell rung signifying the start of the fight. Instantly the girl of the group threw her daggerang¹ Mix between dagger and boomerang. , following it was the boy with the wooden staff.

The dagger seemed to be headed for Augy and Alex, but the two had enough practice and skill to easily dodge such a obvious attack. They didn't however anticipate a strike from behind from the exact same dagger they had just dodged, true to it's shape the boomerang had flown around and hit Augy in his back. It left quite the nasty scratch, thankfully Alexandra had a healing domain so the scratch closed up in less than a minute. 

While the two buffers were dodging the daggerang they were also buffing Camilla who was in quite the intense battle with the bo staff wielding boy. Even though Cam's physical prowess was much higher than the boy's he had way more skill and experience than her. He was able to flow around her heavy strikes and land a few light ones of his own. Luckily they did no damage thanks in part to Alex's domain, but it did drain Camilla's stamina quickly, even with her very good stamina she wouldn't last long. 

So she thought back to all those spars she had between her and Dios when he was training with the bo staff² Remember, Cynthia forced Dios to learn how to fight with multiple weapons including a bo staff., his already greater reach was made more deadly with the addition of the staff. Once she remembered her fights though, Camilla also remembered how to combat a staff user.

Camilla desummoned her sword and then jumped right into close quarters combat, before the boy knew what had happened she resummoned her sword and smashed the boy in the side. It wasn't the most effective strike, but good enough.

She didn't see that up in the stands Dios was nodding his head in appreciation, he remembered all the times Camilla had gotten him with the very same tactic. After all, it wasn't something one would usually expect when in the midst of battle.

Once she had her opening Cam went in and started wailing on the bo staff boy, within five hits he was knocked out of the arena. That left two more people for the Shrek team to deal with. 

The snake boy who had been just watching summoned his snake to help support his female teammate who jumped into close quarters, her long range attacks had been doing nothing to the King siblings. The daggerang user when in close range used a lot of short swipes and stabs when fighting, basically she was the complete opposite of poor Camilla who had no experience in that sort of battle. While the female enemy was holding up Camilla the snake had been sent to start attacking the King siblings, it targeted Augustus.

The snake boy had no reason for targeting Augy, he couldn't tell which of their domains did what so he left it up to luck, he just hoped Augustus was the one healing. 

The snake was a constrictor type, it tried wrapping around Augustus's legs and tripping him up. Thankfully he had many months of training with Dios under his belt, so even though his fitness wasn't as high as Dios's it was definitely above average. That meant he was able to jump over and dodge any trapping attempts by the snake, unfortunately it realized that and changed up it's tactic. 

It feinted going for Alex and when Augustus was about to yell and warn her, the snake striked. It bit right onto Augustus's arm leaving it bloody and mangled. Instantly every body from Shrek Academy became enraged, Dios in particular seemed to grow an extra foot from his muscles bulging in anger. The metal rails he'd been gripping became more mangled than Augy's arm. 

Dios had really connected with the other students after spending years with them, Augustus in particular was Dios's best friend. So to see his friend be hurt so badly, Dios wanted to literally tear the snake in half

On the battlefield both Camilla and Alexandra were freaking out, they had never seen their friend and brother so hurt. Alex tried her best to pump up the healing powers of her domain, it didn't have much an effect, but it did seem to heal slightly quicker. Camilla herself was freaking out trying to untangle herself from the bitch attacking her. She tried her best to get at the snake but every move she made was blocked by the daggerang woman. 

Unfortunately Camilla's rage allowed her enemy to get in multiple quick shallow strikes. The cuts and stabs weren't dangerous but they definitely hurt, little stings that made it difficult to move. 

Behind Camilla, Alexandra was doing her best to kill the snake. She was sitting on it's back with her hands trying to hold the damn thing down. Unfortunately the snake was extremely strong, it could easily lift up Alexandra, even though she was strong for her age she was still a tiny little girl. She ended up wrapping her hands around its fat head, even though she couldn't keep the damn thing down she could prevent it from biting her, her brother, or Camilla. Thankfully she wasn't needed in battle, all she had to do was put out Spirit Energy and her job was done. Alex holding down her snake gave Augy enough time to recuperate, he was able to take of his shirt and wrap around the snake bite, didn't want it bleeding out after all. 

Camilla in the meantime had distanced herself from the dagger wielding bitch, before she could be followed she swung her flaming sword. Out of her claymore shot a flaming blade, the blade went straight for the female wielding the dagger. The enemy dodged, but Camilla was counting on that, the young redhead was running behind her flying strike. The bright flames blocked her enemies view of her, the dagger girl dodged right to the right of the flaming strike; she dodged right into the flat side of Camilla's claymore which was being swung right at her. 

From there Camilla used only three strikes to drive her fellow female off the arena. From there the three from Shrek made quick work of the arrogant snake guy.

" And there we have it! The Shrek rookies won their very first match. "

" WOOHOO YES! "

Camilla brought Augustus into a big ol' hug, even more surprisingly she kissed him. A big moist kiss right on the lips. Poor Augustus was left a blubbering mess when Camilla broke the kiss off. Up in the stands Dios was laughing his ass off seeing the situation between Camilla and Augustus, he knew it had only been a matter of time before the two got together. He also knew that Camilla would of been the one to initiate the relationship, it was obvious she would wear the pants in the relationship. 

The three Shrek rookies came back up into the stands, a bunch of the people congratulated the trio on their way to Dios and the teachers. When the did finally reach the rest of Shrek Academy Camilla ran up to Cynthia. 

" Did you see that teacher‽ We fucking kicked their asses. "

" Yes I did, very good job Camilla. I'm so proud of you. 

Cynthia brought the young red headed girl into a hug. Over the years the students had connected well with the teachers of Shrek academy, especially Cynthia who was the motherly figure of the group. This was especially true for Camilla who was an orphan adopted into the academy by Cynthia, truthfully Cynthia had talked to Dios a few times about adopting the young red head. 

While that heartwarming scene was going on Dios was talking to Augustus and Alexandra.

" Great job guys, especially you tiger, getting the girl like that! HAHAHA. "

Augustus blushed when Dios brought up the kiss, Dios and his sister laughed/ giggled at the usually stoic boy's blush. 

" How's you arm? "

" It's alright, Alex's healing has basically fixed it for the most part, there is just a little soreness left. "

" That's good, it seems we're going to have to increase your dodging training though, after all you should of seen that snake bite coming. "

Augustus paled at the mention of dodging training, why? Because Dios's definition of dodging training is him pelting rocks at you as hard as he could. Of course he didn't aim for anywhere fatal or places that could cause permanent damage, but none the less it hurts when a titan throws rocks at you. 

" No need for that friend, I was just distracted is all. "

" Oh, then I guess I should increase your awareness training. "

If it was possible Augustus somehow went even more pale, Dios's version of awareness training is him blind folding you and then attacking with a whip, somehow it was even more torturous than his dodging training.

" Relax Augy, I'm just messing with you, to be honest I'm very proud of you, and you Alexandra, both of you were very brave and clever while on the field. "

The two siblings shot Dios beaming smiles, Dios's classmated truly relished his praise since he was essentially the big brother of the group, mainly from the maturity and life experience he carried over from his last life. 

" Saying that however, I will need to discuss with Cynthia some way for you guys to defend yourselves while on the battlefield, it really worries me you two not having anyway of defending yourselves. "

Dios had thought quite a bit about a way for Augustus and Alexandra to defend themselves, his first thought had been Tang San, but he wouldn't show up for another year and Dios had no way of making his own hidden weapons. His second idea had been taming beasts, but it was beyond difficult to tame any over 100 years old. 

" Enough of that talk for now Dios, it's time for these three to relax while you wait for your battle to start. "

It was Cynthia that lightly admonished Dios, she realized his feelings as the father of the group, and she liked that he was like that, but sometimes he would worry to much. 

" Yeah you're right Cyn. Bring it in guys, I'm proud of you. "

Dios wrapped his massive arms around the three tiny preteens, all four had smiles on their faces. Sadly the only witness to the heartwarming scene was Cynthia, the other teachers and Flander were betting more money on Dios's fight.

---

Around thirty minutes later it was time for Dios to show his thunder. He stood up and was prepared to enter the arena, before he could however, Cynthia pulled him into a soft warm embrace. Somehow she always made Dios feel reassured despite only covering a small bit of his body.

" Good luck Dios, I'm rooting for you. "

In reality Cynthia had no reason to be nervous, Dios on physical strength alone could romp somebody ten cultivation levels higher than him, let alone somebody at the same level. None the less, nobody had discovered the limit of Awakened Souls power/ limits, there were legends of people who just awakened being able to slay 1,000 year old beasts. Of course those were legends, but it didn't dispute the fact that their were people who could rival Dios's power while at a similar cultivation level to him.

On the arena Dios was standing across from a short stocky woman, she was blonde with large breats and wipe hips, truthfully she was pretty damn sexy and just Dios's type. If it wasn't for the fact that she was a total butter face.

" Battle start! "

Dios's opponent instantly jumped backwards, many didn't know why until they saw Dios's axe swing by where her head just was. Everybody was amazed, not only at Dios's speed that defied his massive size, but also at his opponents near precognitive response to his attack. It truly looked like she saw the future to some of the people in the stands since she had moved before Dios had, least that's what it looked like, in reality Dios had moved first, but he left an after image that distracted the audience. 

In that small time frame Dios realized his enemy would be formidable, so he decided to try and suss her out.

" That was a pretty quick response, I'm surprised. "

" That so? "

" Yeah, it's not often people can dodge my attacks. "

" Then I'll take that as a compliment, now are we going to talk like sissies or are we gonna fight? "

Dios giggled as a response, and before anybody could tell he was already swinging his axe at his enemy, he sent swung 20 times in quick succession, each swing was as fast as his first. His speed alone was surprising, what was even more surprising than that was his enemy was able to dodge each and every strike. Every time Dios though he sealed off her escape she was able to wiggle her way out. 

Since he wasn't getting anywhere Dios decided to change it up, he fainted a swing with his axe and when his enemy bent backwards to dodge he shot out his left hand grabbing her. As soon as she was in his grip Dios threw her towards the edge of the arena, he didn't want to cause her needless pain. 

His enemy however had different plans, in mid air she activated her spirit, and in less than a second of it's activation tree roots grew out of the ground and stopped her. Before Dios could try and gain back his advantage his enemy went on the offensive, she the arena was instantly covered in tree roots that grew from the ground. Dozens of the roots surrounded Dios trying to trap him. They did cover him for a worrisome second, that second however was all Dios needed to flex his muscles and literally rip the roots off of him with pure muscle strength. 

The entire audience except those from Shrek academy were scared speechless, after all, it isn't every day you see someone who can literally rip wood apart. While everybody including his enemy was stunned Dios got in a punching position and stayed in it for a full two seconds, before anybody could even question what he was doing Dios punched the ground full power. Dios could of brought the entire building down had he wanted to, but instead he concentrated his power to only the arena, the vibrations and upturning ground caused his enemy to be thrown out of the arena. 

After a rich three seconds of pure silence the entire arena erupted out in deafening cheers, so loud were the cheers that the arena vibrated slightly. Of course it was Cynthia that was cheering the loudest, after all that was her man that was being cheered for.

---

Back in their hotel the Shrek academy people were celebrating, after all, the student all did amazingly for their first battles. ³Only Cynthia knows about Dios fighting beasts from when he lived in the forest with his aunts and uncles. After all, that kind of information isn't something that should be given out.

" Kids, you did good, and I'm proud of you, but don't let these victories get to your head. Right now I want you three to think of what you did wrong and try to think of ways to fix them. Dios you first. "

" Yes deam, my biggest problem was that I threw my enemy off the arena, I didn't take into account her spirit allowing her to gain an advantage. I could of knocked her out before throwing her, or had this been a real battle, kill her. "

The other kids gasped, but the teachers all nodded. 

" Kids, this isn't a forgiving world, people will happily kill you if it means the slightest benefit for them. I want you to keep that in mind for the future. "

The kids all nodded, but they didn't actually heed their dean's words, they were still to young and innocent. Dios, knew the true state of the world and was fully prepared to kill if it meant protecting himself or his friends and family.

" My other big problem was my height, it made it way to hard for me to hit my enemy. I might have a solution to that tonight however. "

" Good Dios, you seem to have put some thought into this. Augustus, since you were the one who got hurt I want you to answer this time. "

Augy seemed to contemplate for a couple seconds, likely thinking of how he would word his answer. 

" I had a couple of glaring mistakes, first I let my guard down when the snake pretended to be done with me, had I remained vigilant I could have dodged. Dios has already offered to increase my awareness training, and I'm inclined to agree. "

The teachers gasped quitely with wide eyes, even they knew the pain of Dios's brutal training. 

" I also had no way of protecting myself, once again Dios has offered to give me some weapons training, but that doesn't completely solve the weapons problem. No matter how strong I get or how skilled with weapons I am, any good attacked focus soul master could handle me. "

" I have actually been thinking about how you and Alex will be able to protect yourselves in battle. I have a pretty good idea, but it'll require some testing, Cynthia and I'll will probably be gone for around a month testing. "

Cynthia knew he was going to be trying to find a way to bring some tamed beasts out of the space. 

" Then after you have won a sufficient amount of battles here you two can go and do whatever it is you want to test. Alex your turn. "

" Similar to Augy, though I didn't get attacked I probably would have made the same mistake. With the snake, I don't know of any ways I could of dealt with it better, it's scales were very strong so I probably couldn't of pierced it even with a weapon. Any ideas. "

Dios would of let Cynthia or one of the other teachers answer, but they all looked at him. Clearly they wanted to keep the discussion and answers between the students. 

" . . . Your idea to restrain it was pretty good, but putting it into action wasn't that great. You literally jumped on it and wrapped your arms around it's head and mouth. If you had a whip, or maybe some other proper way to restrain it then that would of been better, I'd say a whip or a net or something. Of course, nets are inconvenient to carry around and surprisingly difficult to use mid battle, though I have come up with a few ideas on how to do it. That idea is manipulating your Soul Power into strings of some sort, then connecting them to key places on the net, that will allow you to manipulate it the net without actually touching it. Apart from that, I would like to up your training, flexibility and speed training would be best, you're petite and small, not built for power like your brother. "

Naturally the teachers, including Diantha, and students were shocked by Dios's rather radical idea; some people didn't know that Soul Power could be manipulated outside of the body let alone be used for battle. For Dios to think of such an ingenious method was beyond remarkable, it was extraordinary. What they didn't know was that Dios had simply borrowed the idea from works of fiction in his previous life and adapted to his new one. ⁴ I was thinking of Puppet Masters from Naruto with this idea. It's fairly similar anyway.

" There are of course problems with that method. For one is the absurd amount of Spirit Power you'd be burning on top of you King's Domain. Then there is the matter of control, you'd have to practice for months, maybe years to get proficient at manipulating your spirit power outside of your body. "

" . . . Then, uhh, Cynthia, when you have time I want you to try and bring Dios's idea to reality, both of you can brain storm while Dios is battling in the Spirit Arena, and when you two leave for a month after that you can try and actually practice the idea. "

" Yes dean! " 

Cynthia was naturally excited, after all her boyfriend had just created a battle method that could potentially revolutionize battle tactics for Support Type battle master. In the past they used to sit back in the sidelines not really doing much, despite usually having the best control and sometime capacity of spirit power. However, if Dios's idea worked, Support Type Spirit Masters could become the new attack type. Cynthia could imagine it already, hundreds of Support Types all buffing themselves while controlling a multitude of weapons, they could destroy armies of Attack and Defense Type Spirit Masters. 

" Good, then Camilla it's your turn to discuss what you could of done better. "

" There was a lot I could of done better. First, my battle control was pretty lack luster, I should of been able to help Augy and Alex to deal with the snake. I also need a way to deal with fast small targets who are hard to hit with my Claymore. If I could fix the second problem my first problem would also be mostly solved. The only thing I can think of to fix my second problem would be to get better sword skills, maybe adopt a second weapon, perhaps a dagger. "

Dios knew that everybody wanted him to answer, so he didn't hesitate to speak. 

" Honestly, I have no idea, the only idea I could think of would be to develop a special technique or something of the sort. Something similar to my Divine Punch, some kind of attack skill that will let you attack even without your claymore. If you'd like to brainstorm ideas I'm available at almost anytime, these next few months would be ideal since you'll be able to test your ideas in battle. "

" Thank you Dios. "

" All right kids, great job today, now make sure you celebrate tonight. " 

That night Shrek Academy partied harder than Dios's muscles.