Everyone froze at the oppressing claim.

Those who had already been a part of this outpost for many months now all paled at her claim, fully aware of what was to come.

"To get started, just come at me however you like! If you don't, I'll end up coming to you, so act quickly!" Guriya exclaimed, oddly enthusiastic.

Although pointless, Damian nervously turned to Mika in search of some kind of answer to this situation.

"Damian…I'm scared…" Mika mumbled.

"...It can't be that bad…right?" Damian replied, uneasy.

'I…I've already fought against Kley. Surely it can't be that bad…right?'

Moments later, Damian realized he was wrong. He was very wrong.

With no one stepping up to the challenge, Guriya's smile stretched into a full grin:

"I guess I'll come to you."

Instantly, she appeared at the front of a static group of fearful students. Just as quickly, she shot out a punch to the stomach of a nearby student, sending him reeling into the dirt before switching targets immediately.

One by one, multiple students fell to her hands. While the combat did feel utterly untouchable and surprising, the more experienced recruits were actually able to block or dodge a few of her ruthless attacks.

Taking in the absurd sight, Damian stood in place only to get caught off by the fact that he and Mika were now her next targets.

Panicked, Damian glanced toward Mika before quietly attempting to leave the area.

"Sorry, Mika!"

Startled by the loud voice and the approaching wild beast, Mika paled as she realized her only friend had just shamelessly ditched her for survival.

"You asshole-"

Without looking back, Damian ran for the hills, searching for anywhere he could hide. Alas, all but an empty dirt field surrounded him.

Desperately searching, he froze, noticing the silhouette of a horrific monster slowly approaching him. Accepting his demise, he robotically turned around and met the feared instructor.

"You ditched your teammate? Why would you do something so cruel? Where is your pride Imprinted?" Guriya questioned innocently with an insidious smile.

Damian broke into a cold sweat as he scrambled to buy time.

"Ahaha…why should I need pride when my own survival is what matters most? After all, those people aren't me; why should I try to drag them along if all they are gonna be is dead weight!" Damian claimed confidently.

"While I want to disagree with you, you aren't exactly wrong," Guriya smirked.

"See what I mean? So, can't we just call all of this-

"However. Sometimes, the safest answer isn't always the best. Your lack of humanity sickens me." Guriya stated calmly, her expression tightening.

Not a second later, Guriya launched forward.

"Oh god-

As the ruthless woman engaged him, Damian danced and dodged around her fists in jumbling and nonsensical motions. By a hair's breadth, Damian twisted and turned, continuously backing away from her in desperation.

'How is she so fast! She's not even using any abilities!'

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Staggering to keep balance, Damian noticed Guriya's expression forming into a hint of praise as she began to nod to herself:

"Pretty good, but I think that's enough out of you."

Confused by the remark, Damian remained ever vigilant, only to quickly find that he had sourly misunderstood what exactly an experienced Imprinted was truly capable of.

Damian carefully watched for her next move, only for him to instantly see black. Slowly regaining consciousness, he found himself clutching his stomach and collapsing onto the fine dirt training ground.

'What just-... Agh-damn that-...really hurts!'

Unlike the beating he received daily from Instructor Kley, which often sent him reeling in brief, aching pain—Instructor Guriya's single hit mirrored that of an eternally prolonged sharpness, as if someone had mercilessly stabbed him in the stomach.

Left as the only one standing, Guriya scanned over all her struggling students.

"Class ends here; go and recover in your rooms—the pain will subside in an hour." The instructor stated, severely unimpressed.

At the announcement, Damian glared daggers at the Imprinted.

'I have another class after this! You shameless harlot!'

Sensing the daggers Damian was staring at her, Guriya curiously turned to where he lay, still clutching his stomach with hateful eyes. Amused, the instructor silently watched Damian. Almost as if reading his mind, Guriya smirked devilishly.

"For those who have something to do after this class, I deeply apologize for any inconvenience I may have caused," Guriya spoke again, her voice somewhat tinged with sarcasm and amusement.

'...I'll kill them all.'

For the latter half of the day, Damian sluggishly forced himself to attend his exclusive class—receiving consistent, curious looks from Instructor Kley.

Following a laborious and strained work day, Damian again returned to his room before lingering at the mysterious old library for a quiet moment of thought.

***

After a habitual morning training with the entirety of the outpost, Damian sat slightly nervous at a lunch table with three now familiar companions—a certain one of them staring at him in obvious irritation.

Caught in the strange situation, Aricin eventually spoke:

"So…what's going on with you guys."

"This vile rat ditched me during training when he said he wanted to team up!" Mika replied, clearly upset.

Amused, Aricin turned toward Damian for any sort of explanation, only to be met with a complete lack of eye contact.

"I was uhh…it was…I'm sorry.." Damian answered in slight shame.

Shaking her head, Mika continued to consume her outpost rations in silence. The rest of the lunch had been spent under the quiet echo of numerous shifting silverware.

Following the awkward meal, Mika and Damian moved on to their block class. Repeating the day before, the class went on to learn more basics on survival and learning core aspects of combat in groups. Although still spiteful, Mika forced herself to work with the irritable Imprinted.

The two often had to go against other duos in combat, learning of their personalities in combat. Through these experiences, Damian even learned of the fact that he may be improving faster than he had expected, as even after the first week, his movements and judgment had grown to a degree capable of going against more athletic people, although the majority weren't exactly capable of magic.

Sadly, he always did feel himself running into walls when any sort of veteran fighters joined into the fight, like their top performer, Valyn—the familiar figure who absolutely crippled Damian in his first fight at the outpost.

During these group duels, Damian learned to adjust to Mika's simple physical ability, who now appeared a step behind Damian since he had developed a rune magic advantage as time went on.

"Mika, on your right-!

The two recruits rotated on the field, dodging the assault of two other mundane humans. Mika hastily tried to keep up with the movements of her enemy, struggling with her strength and stature. Fortunately, Damian proved himself a far more flexible asset than most as he constantly adapted to fight his own opposition whilst occasionally assisting Mika, throwing the entire duel into a consistent stalemate.

As the fight went on, Damian twisted and dodged the relentless assault of a tall man wielding a lengthy wooden sword.

'It's not that it's particularly hard to dodge this guy, but Mika is really making things difficult!'

Ducking below a violent horizontal swing, Damian used his momentum to rotate his body into a full kick into the stomach of the intimidating man, then quickly backed away to the fight taking place behind him. Sprinting briefly to the struggling bout, Damian kicked at the back of Mika's enemy, breaking his form and creating a slight advantage for the scrawny girl.

'That should be enough…I hope.'

Instinctually lunging to the side, Damian narrowly avoided the merciless stabbing motions of the enormous man.

'What exactly do I do against this guy, he's huge!'

Holding a wooden sword himself, Domain clashed with the man, searching for an opening.

Ruthlessly, Damian's eyes glinted at a brief opening. Dodging another stab, Damian fainted a swing to the neck to raise his opponent's guard, only to maneuver a hit directly to the body, slowing the man for a moment. Allowing himself an opening, Damian spun, delivering a precise strike right at the hand gripping the wooden sword.

Dropping his weapon, the man winced in pain at the unusual attacks. Damian glared at the man in snarky reproach.

'Why don't you learn not to drop your weapon, huh?'

With the tall man somewhat out of the battle, Damian and Mika swiftly finished off the duel against the two simple recruits.