Damien listened to Nora’s instructions and tried drawing a blade from his side. His hand swiped empty air as he realized he did not have a sword holstered at his side. He awkwardly stood there not knowing what to do next.

“I will grab one from the locker room. I will be right back!”

Before Damien could rush off, he was stopped by Nora. She calmly blocked him by grabbing him by the shoulder. Her hand tightly squeezed down enough so he could understand she was upset.

“What do you mean grab one, Damien? Why do you not carry your sword with you? I trust you have your own proper sword, knowing who your grandfather is.”

Nora’s passive aggressiveness was second to none and Damien could feel the tension through his body. Even Cal on the side shrunk his body away from their odd confrontation.

“Every proper swordsman carries their sword wherever they go. It is an extension of their body. You cannot be considered a true swordsman if you cannot understand something this simple. Where did you leave it?”

Damien tried speaking, but no words came out. His mouth would move and only dry heaves were heard. Nora’s aura had strengthened with each sentence she spoke and it got to the point it was too much for them to handle.

Nora watched him struggle and realized she unconsciously lost her composure. She had not been yelling or screaming, but the severity of her mood was displayed by the power of her aura she emanated. She quickly dispelled her aura and wiped out the lingering effects in the air. She removed her hand off Damien as she took a few steps back.

“I’m sorry, I should not have lost my composure. What I’m trying to say here is that our sword is our pride. It is not something we discard in the face of any situation. I know you are only a child, but your strength is not. You must learn this now so you will never forget. Now you can tell me, where is your sword?”

Damien was done catching his breath at this point. Her words became ingrained into his being with no choice in the matter.

‘I never really thought about myself as a swordsman, just something I practiced with my grandfather. He didn’t teach me anything else besides how to swing a sword. I do need to take pride in being a swordsman. I was only really focused on Dao Magic since I was deprived of it.’

“It’s in my room, mam. I won’t let it happen again.”

Damien’s voice was filled with determination which brought a small smile to Nora’s face.

“Go and grab it. There’s plenty of time before class starts. Now you can show the whole class the pride of a swordsman.”

Damien ran off without a fuss and Cal could only follow suit. He was too frightened to stay behind by himself even though it was the perfect moment to strike up a conversation. As they barged out the classroom just like they came in, Nora quietly muttered to herself.

“How could you not have been more strict on him, Veron? Were you truly helping him or hindering him?”

Nora fell into silence and let her thoughts flow through. In the meantime Damien was running back to his room as fast as he could. He felt a fire being lit in his soul as he avoided everyone. This time there was no one that would hinder his route and he eventually made it back to his room. He opened his door and waltzed in without much thought.

The mess he made earlier was in the process of being cleaned up and Kemo was working the best he could. Kemo had already found the will to begin and made some significant progress. Kemo was currently carrying some books to place on the desk when Damien came in like a storm.

Damien walked right by Kemo, accidentally bumping the books off his tiny arms. Kemo spun around and landed on its back. Kemo stood up straight to witness Damien going through every crook and cranny.

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“Where is my sword? I swear I placed it here.”

Damien was overturning the entire room once again trying to find his sword. After a few minutes of disaster he finally found his sword under his bed. It ended up there from all the chaos he first caused before he had left.

Damien holstered his sheathed sword on the left of his hip and disappeared back into the corridor. He left without a care in the world. Kemo watched all his hard work go to waste for the second time today. Furniture was overturned with clothes lying across the floor.

Kemo sat back down on the floor and decided to lie on his back. He activated his self-defensive mechanism that he had learned from his time with Cal. Kemo invented this technique so he would only be able to see and analyze the ceiling of the room. This way he would not be able to notice any potential mess around him. Effectively nullifying the part of his Rune Coding that programmed him to clean up after his owner. Eventually Kemo would shut down naturally into its cube form when it has finished his objectives.

Damien left his listless companion as he quickly bolted through the hallways. It was a comical sight to see Damien holstering an uncommonly large sword for his size. It was a weapon that did not synchronize with him at all. Even still the length and obtuseness did not hinder Damien’s movements at all.

Passing by the halfway point to his class he noticed Cal sluggishly moving toward his direction. Knowing about his lack of physical endurance he gently grabbed him by his collar and took Cal with him. All the students in Point 1 were now witnessing a young kid with an oversized sword dragging another student in the air. It was a rare sight that would be remembered by all and gossiped about.

Damien led the charge back to Swordsmanship class with time to spare. Other classmates were already flowing out of the locker rooms, changed and ready to begin. They still had enough time to go in and change before Nora made them run more laps again.

Cal found newfound strength with the looming threat if they were not ready on time. He was able to get ready along with Damien in a timely fashion. The bell rang as they both lined up next to Yuki and Erik. Yuki gave Cal an elbow nudge straight under his rib cage, almost making him collapse.

“Don’t call me a freak again. That was your first and final warning.”

“Yes, my perfectly normal sister.”

Cal groaned out his last reply with the last breath he had. Yuki actually became more infuriated with that comment than the last, but she decided to keep it to herself. On the other hand Erik smiled derisively when he saw Damien’s getup.

“I don’t think a big sword is the answer to win against Zurat. You look foolish trying to overcompensate your confidence. You should just accept that there won’t be much of you left after that duel.”

‘Don’t let him influence you. I have to think of my pride as a swordsman now. Breathe in and breathe out. This is what you trained for all your life now, to control my emotions. I can’t let what happened in the restaurant occur again.’

Erik clicked his tongue in disappointment when he saw that he did not get his desired reaction. He noticed Damien was standing tall with his back straighter than usual. His demeanor was drastically different from the last two days since he arrived. There was something fundamentally different that Erik could not put his tongue on. He let it go so he could focus on the class that was starting.

Nora walked down the line and made sure everyone was at attention with the correct gear. Once she took her attendance, she grabbed everyone’s attention.

“Today is a special day. One of your classmates has taken the next step in cultivation and reached the Sky Realm in swordsmanship. As per tradition this classmate will verify his strength to the entire class with a demonstration. Now step forward so we can begin.”

All the students looked up and down the line to see who it was. Many were hedging some bets before the person was revealed. Erik was the only one silent, staring directly at Damien. His gut feeling told him that Damien would be the one to step forward. Damien took his first step toward the front of the class with an uproar of conversation. Erik watched on with clenched fists, causing him to bleed from his palms.

“Do I have no hope…”

The class fell silent as the atmosphere of the room turned serious. This was all caused by Nora who took the utmost respect in the display of the sword. Her natural feelings permeated through each and every student. Nora cued with her hand so Damien could begin the long standing tradition of this academy.

Damien slowly drew his sword that was clearly too large for his stature. His sword was simply adorned, with no distinguishing features. The only thing it had to showcase was its complex Rune Coding engraved into the body of the blade. Most of the students gasped in disbelief as a Rune Weapon was a rare commodity amongst them.

Damien held his sword in a low guard position as he concentrated. For others the weight and size would throw off their balance but Damien was able to wield it as if it were an extension of his body. Slowly the temperature began to rise, making it uncomfortable for most. Then in the next moment a visible sphere of heat seemingly appeared out of Damien’s body. It extended out to a diameter of 4 meters creating a proper Domain. From the last time he unleashed his domain, it has grown a meter in diameter.

As for everyone witnessing this event, they couldn’t help but gulp in awe. Whispers flowed from one end to the other.

“That’s a domain, isn’t it?”

“Has to be…”

“It’s always him creating waves.”

Nora was also among those surprised in his achievement. Being able to create a domain required great insight and understanding of various factors to meld it into an all encompassing technique. Nora took out her handkerchief and threw it into the range of his domain. As it daintily floated through the barrier it was shredded to pieces. Damien’s sword was already back into his low guard position when she switched her attention.

Damien then slowly sheathed his sword, which in turn caused his domain to disappear. The temperature returned to normal and everyone was able to breathe better. They all now knew for sure that another freak of nature had joined their year.