The true essence of Combat.

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'Instructor Charles?'

Damien recognized the pale man in black armor immediately.

It seemed that the other students recognized him as well.

This confirmed Damien's suspicion that Instructor Charles had quite a reputation.

'If someone could order Instructor Charles to escort me to this Academy, then that person should be very powerful and of a higher rank... it should probably be that gold-armored middle-aged man...'

"Are you going to stand there in a daze forever?" Charles' nonchalant voice rang in his ears, bringing Damien out of his stupor.

He turned around to see Charles beside him and the rest of the class already seated.

He looked for a seat, and as fate would have it, the only empty seat was beside the dark-haired girl at the front of the class.

During his fight with Jason, she was the only one who had her head on the table.

He walked in her direction. Even though he was still worried, everything was secondary to his goal.

'Otherworld demons, clean your necks for me; I will be coming for your heads.'

He went to his seat and sat down beside the sleeping black-haired girl.

'But was she really sleeping?'

For some reason, Damien felt a chill running down his spine as he sat down.

He turned his head to the left only to see two piercing amethyst irises in the girl's eyes.

The chilly feeling lasted for a second as she put her head back onto the table.

'What the hell was that?'

Damien was shocked but put his thoughts behind him as he focused on Charles.

"You guys called that a battle... combat?" Charles sneered.

"Both of you had various flaws in your combat—be it your judgment, analysis, or skill... they were all trash. Do you guys even understand... combat?" Charles' tone suddenly became spirited as he began to talk.

His entire aura had changed the moment he began to talk about battling.

He scanned everyone's face, then sighed:

"What do you understand about combat?"

Everyone was hesitant to answer.

The class was quiet for a while until finally, a boy raised his hand.

"Combat is an art meant to utilize one's skills, physique, and Force Skill to fight."

"Really, you are not far from wrong..."

Charles replied with a half-smile.

Then his gaze suddenly intensified. In an extremely cold voice, he spoke:

"But for Slayers, the true essence of combat is slaughter..."

Everyone was shocked, even Damien. Then he muttered in his heart,

"The essence of battling is to kill?"

Seeing their faces, Charles continued:

"Whenever a Slayer draws his weapon, he does so with only one thought—to kill monsters. That's what a true Slayer should be about... That's what this entire Academy is about."

Everyone who was listening felt their blood boiling.

"I didn't make a mistake by coming here," Damien thought, clenching his fists on the table.

"Your lessons will be held on weekdays.

There will be combat lessons on the first two days. Auxiliary and survival skills will be taught on the third day," Charles began to read the routine for classes.

"In the last two days, we will learn about the various Otherworld monsters, their strengths, weaknesses, and everything there is to know about them."

"You can figure out what to do with the rest of the time; however, if in two weeks you haven't comprehended the first level of your Force Skill, then you will be kicked out..." Charles' voice trailed off, and everyone was shocked to see only a dark afterimage on the podium.

"There goes one of his legendary disappearances," someone groaned aloud.

"I guess class has ended."

Everyone got up, packing their stuff.

"I am Sara Velina ; what about you?" the girl beside him inquired with a poker face.

"What is up with her?" Damien thought.

Damien, who was not used to social etiquette, replied steely,

"Damien."

Sara slowly got up.

"Your strength was quite surprising, but that sword draw you used was quite powerful. If you master it, can we have a duel?"

"Eeh..?" Damien muttered.

"I will take that as a yes."

Before Damien could reply, she had already left.

"This girl..." Damien thought to himself.

She is quite strong. Damien had noticed how easily she had stopped Jason from crashing into her.

"Her name sounds familiar," he thought to himself as he walked out of the class.

He could not recall when he had heard the name before.

He just walked back to the dorm.

Sony and Scott were not back yet.

"It seems that they are not done with their class yet."

Damien opened the scroll that contained the Basic Force Training Skill.

He began to feel for the so-called Force Energy.

Almost a minute later, he felt the thick invisible energy in the air.

He absorbed it and began to channel the energy through his body.

He felt the raw power coursing through his bones and muscles.

He entered a meditative state for hours.

His eyes fluttered open.

"So tiring," Damien thought, rubbing his sore muscles. It was then he noticed that his body was covered by a layer of slightly dark sweat.

He entered the bathroom.

He emerged later to meet Scott and Sony also entering.

"Hey Damien," they both said, looking exhausted.

"What happened to them?" Damien wondered.

They both took off their shoes and laid down on their beds.

"They must be tired," Damien thought.

He told them he was going out, but the two were fast asleep.

Damien shook his head and left.

As for where he was heading, he soon came to the gigantic building.

The Training Hall