Not long after Lia got used to her new artifact, Lucian arranged for the first public lesson of a 3rd-Year student fighting against an Undead. Lia would be the one starting it off while every classmate of hers was made to attend and watch. There were no excuses for missing it, so much so that anyone who did not show up was to be expelled. This caused the training fields to fill with all of the 3rd-year students an hour before the event even started.

This time, inside the training field, they were seated in an oval colosseum, so they could observe Lia face off against the number one enemy of the Realm and all living beings. The Misfits occupied the frontmost rows, and with Lucian's permission, their 1st-, 2nd- and 4th-Year members were also allowed to spectate. None of their fellows dared to miss the occasion. It was not just to show the strength and influence of the top student association at the school but also to show their support towards their leader, who was now praised as the strongest student of the Academy.

Which was a highly debated and controversial opinion. Many were saying she was left alone only because her organization grew so big it was foolish to stand against it. Be it true or not, to this day, nobody came to challenge her, and very few knew that Simbad did just that last year. Some said the fact that nobody stood forward to gain fame proved that she was the current strongest student in the Academy. Even though her name was not on the dueling list, many others of the Misfits' were… and one of the leaders, Aurora, was soon to reach the number one position. Someone like that, following Lia's orders, had to mean she was even stronger. Not to mention, she defeated the famous Ember, Olivia, in her first year.

Those who had close relationships with the Misfits remained silent simply because working with their specific groups made to complete the Academy's quests much more quickly and efficiently, earning a significant amount of CP for both sides. On the opposing end, those who were looking at them with jealousy mixed in with fear tried to justify why they were not speaking up more loudly against their perceived tyranny.

"Want to make a bet?" Koadriana asked, sitting in her seat and looking at the other leaders of the Misfits.

"About what?" Raufon leaned forward, already interested in what she had to say.

"How quickly she will win, of course!" She chuckled, "My bet is on… 10 minutes!"

"Nah, Boss will finish it in five!" Keily said confidently.

"This sounds rude." Rinzen chimed in, somehow ending up sitting next to them, proving many students' point that Lia had to be especially strong if one of the Six herself was friendly with her. Rumors were already spreading that she came here personally to recruit her in the first place.

"I think she would find it funny," Ceiline added, smiling.

"Oh." Rinzen tilted her head, thinking a little, "15 minutes. No… 20."

"That much?" Koa asked, looking at her questioningly, but then Aurora wrote to all of them.

"I think Rinzen is right." She nodded, watching the empty battlefield where Lia was supposed to appear very soon, "Knowing Lia, she would want to stretch it out as much as possible. She wants to earn experience and test out her new moves. Also, do not forget, she won't use her blue flames!"

“Ah… true…” Raufon crossed his arms, thinking, "So, she will use the Undead as a training dummy?"

"Kinda." Aurora nodded.

"A very dangerous training dummy." Keily said, looking deadly serious, "If it were me, or… when it will be my turn, I will make sure I kill it quickly!"

"You are filled with hatred," Rinzen declared, reaching out, gently rubbing the bunny boy's head, which made his face flush as the Head of House Berison knew precisely how to scratch perfectly at the base of his floppy ears. "I understand that. But relax. Harsh decisions cause trouble. And death."

"Exactly." Aurora agreed, "A strong, burning fire is good, but without control, it will immolate you too, sooner or later!"

"..." Keily said nothing but simply lowered his head, feeling embarrassed, still being scratched by Rinzen right until the point when two puffs of violet-colored smoke appeared in the arena, and Lucian and Lia appeared.

"Flashy!" Ceiline exclaimed, leaning forward, watching the duo materialize from literally thin air.

The moment they emerged, the constant hubbub of the students died down in a snap. They were expecting Lucian to say something, but he just looked at Lia, who nodded with a calm, serious expression hanging on her face. She was wearing light battle armor, colored entirely black with bright, red strings tying its different pieces to her body. A sheathed sword was hanging on her waist, and her fingers were gently tapping on its hilt while her light-blonde hair was tied up in a bun, held together by two hairpins. She looked completely serious, surprising those Misfits who knew her personally.

"She is wearing a standard battle armor of our 4th Branch." Aurora wrote, watching her, sitting up straight as an arrow.

"I ordered it." Arrived Lauron's voice, but nobody could see where he was as it came from their bracelets. "It was designed directly for her and made for Lia on Mother's orders."

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"Is it special?" Keily asked, and Lauron's voice answered simply.

"Of course. It provides resistance to many elements and can save lives. But watch… we can talk about it later."

He was right because Lucian summoned a sarcophagus instead of speaking. When the chains around it retreated, and it opened up, an Undead walked out of it, accompanied by clanking noises. This time, instead of being naked, it was dressed in plate armor with a Warhammer strapped to its back, shocking everyone present.

"No way…" Raufon gulped as the Undead was even bigger than him in his bestial form. "We are… we are also going to face something like that?"

"Of course." Lauron and Aurora answered simultaneously, and the latter let her elder brother continue, "Many Undead, under the Intelligents' rule, are equipped with weapons and armor. What, you thought they would be harmless?"

"Kinda…" Raufon replied honestly, "Weren't we told they are… simple?"

"They are." Aurora nodded, "But that does not mean they are harmless!"

On the battlefield, the Undead watched his surroundings as if taking in where he was before noticing Lia and no longer bothering with anything else. His green eyes were only watching her, turning brighter as the seconds went by. Lucian only tapped her shoulders before disappearing. Lia unsheathed her sword, waving it once, and the outburst of her mana swept through the arena, kicking up dust. The Undead, being left alone with her, looked like it was thinking of its next move before starting to walk forward like it was not his business at all and just an old friend of Lia, here to greet her.

As an answer, Lia slashed diagonally upwards, and deep, crimson-colored flames flew out from her sword, instantly traveling the three to four meters between them. It hit the armored undead square in the chest, but it only staggered him before he continued walking, shrugging off the flames like nothing.

"Hmph!" Lia scoffed then she was gone, making many gasp out audibly.

When she reappeared after teleportation, she was behind the Undead, and her sword clashed against the Warhammer on his back. Releasing a loud, ringing noise, it made the Undead fall flat on its face while Lia was fighting the rebounding energy in her hands, grasping her weapon's hilt with all her might. She knew the Undead was not finished, not at all, and stringing her moves together, she was already aiming to stab it in the head while still on the ground.

The armor it wore and its weapon was clearly made out of some kind of unique material. He had to be a warrior once, who knows how far back in time. While her sword was thrusting downwards, her mismatched eyes could see battle marks on his plates. Many of them looked like claw marks, crisscrossing through its surface, and parts of its war hammer's head were strongly chipped, and one half of it was as if something bit a piece out of it.

"...!" She knew she made a mistake, letting her eyes wander and look at the armor the Undead was wearing. He used that minute lap in her concentration and rolled out of the way of her sword as it stabbed into the ground. "Don't you think!" Lia thought, and just by tightening her grip, a flaming tornado surrounded her body, rebounding the stretched-out hand of the Undead.

When submerged in her crimson flames, his gauntlet started to melt, disfiguring his arm and forcing him to pull it back before losing it. The Undead stood up relatively quickly, glancing only once at its arm before tilting its body to the left, dodging. While everyone's eyes were focused on the flaming tornado, reaching up to four meters in height, Lia already teleported, appearing behind the Undead once more, trying to stab through him. Yet he felt it the moment Lia exited No-Space, making him able to evade her. With its now melted, boxing-glove-like gauntlet, he smashed at her, making Lia draw back her sword, blocking it and being flung dozens of meters backward behind the sheer strength of the punch.

"He had to be a beast, folk…." Lia murmured as his physical strength was comparable to her father's.

"Why isn't it using its weapon?" Keily asked, and it was Rinzen who answered.

"It probably was sealed away for a long time. This one degraded to the point it just can't think cohesively. Which is our biggest advantage. Most simple Undeads become hyperfocused on a task and forget to utilize their tools, the terrain, or their surroundings. Like this one. It wants to catch Lia… it forgets to wield its war hammer in the process."

"Which is why the best method of dealing with them is an ambush." Aurora wrote in the air, "When they are surprised, their instinct is to react with their bodies. Even if they have weapons on, they won't remember using them."

"Poor man…" Keily whispered, "He had to be a strong and proud warrior, fallen in a battle… Probably against these abhorrent monsters! This is not how a warrior should… exist. Nobody should be like him."

"Yeah…" Raufon said softly, "I feel that beneath that unnatural smell of his, there was once a strong kin of ours." He added, agreeing with Keily that no warrior, especially not a proud beast folk, should be turned into an inhuman weapon.

While the battle was going on and everybody was watching, four men were kneeling inside a magic formation in a faraway land. They were placed on its anchor points, surrounded by green light as they wore white, pristine robes with a serene look on their smooth faces as they meditated. Then one of them flinched, which in turn disturbed the three others as they all opened one of their green eyes, looking at the first one.

"What happened?" They asked, their eyes already closed back, continuing their meditation while he answered.

"I felt the resonance of an old puppet of mine being reactivated."

"We have thousands each that we have to control en-mass. If we lose focus after a lost one returns under our command, we should not even be worthy of being inner disciples!"

"I was disturbed because it sent back mana fluctuations that are on the Marked List." He answered in a complaining tone.

"And?" The others snorted, but their eyes remained shut, maintaining the magical formation with their minds. "Don't disturb the formation, or we will lose our puppets and be demoted back into outer disciples!"

"I'll go take a look…." He said, once again making them open their eyes briefly. It caused the formation to flicker, forcing them to concentrate again, reigning in their emotions.

"You think you are a core disciple? Don't be ridiculous! It is hard enough to maintain the matrix without you leaving it!"

But their words did not matter as his mind was already traveling through the formation, and soon he found himself in a bulky, big body, fighting against a nimble, small girl wielding a burning sword in her hands.

"Prime material." He thought, feeling the inner talent of the girl. As soon as his soul traveled down, it hit his senses at once, evoking a deep desire to get a hand on her body. "This will be a fine trophy… a worthy gift to raise me into a core disciple!"