"D… duel?"


    There was a certain chill crawling through in''s entire body as he stared at Zac. Just a few more feet and he could escape.


    But what exactly was he thinking? To run from a duel in front of all his ssmates—no, why would he even run?


    "..." in then turned to look at his ssmates, only to see them whispering with each other, some even smiling at him in shame. But of course, all of this was just an imagination caused by his panicking mind, no one was reallyughing at him; there wasn''t even a word whispering in the air, none at all.


    Zac, who was standing at the door and blocking itpletely, could not help but just shake his head and sigh.


    As a member and officer of the Order of the Grand Militia, Sanctions Duels are sacred. A ''break your promise with your lover, just not a duel'' kind of sacred.


    And this kind of mindset was not limited to them at all—themon themarian also treats the activity sacred. To try and leave in the middle of it would bring shame to one''s entire lineage.


    Some families even choose to go on eternal death once they find out one of their family members shamed them by breaking the sanctity of a duel.


    Everyone knew that, and in did too.


    "..." in closed his eyes as his breaths finally started to calm down. His opponent is strong, overwhelmingly so—but that was not a reason to run away.


    He then turned to look at Riley, who had his dismembered arm tucked between his arm like some sort of weapon.


    "..." in then once again breathed out as his limb finally regenerated fully,


    "Let''s do this again," he then looked Riley straight in the eyes as he stood straight and ced his hands behind his waist,


    "My name is in, from house Leiz!"


    "Riley," Riley breathed out as he waved in''s dismembered arm, "From house Ross."


    "I am truly sorry for underestimating you. It was my mistake in thinking that a professor would be weak…


    …Let us go again, Professor Ross!"


    in then stood in a stance, watching Riley''s every move as he very carefully stepped closer toward Riley.


    "Y—"


    in seemed to want to say something as he rushed toward Riley, but before he could do so, he felt his vision suddenly shift to the floor.


    "...What?"


    in then very slowly looked at his feet, only to see them no longer attached to the rest of his body. He then quickly turned his attention back to Riley, only to see his eyes glowing red.


    "How… how could you release an energy st that fast!?" in bellowed, "I… I couldn''t even see it."


    "Because I am just better, student in," Riley let out a small sigh as he finally dropped in''s arm,


    "Gically speaking."


    "Geics? But I haven''t even heard of House Ross before!"


    "Oh, you will," Riley shrugged as he started approaching in.


    in, on the other hand, seemed to have already lost the will to fight as he just looked at the ceiling and let out a very long and deep sigh. He then turned to look at his ssmates, finally seeing their true expressions of horror and shock.


    This is enough, in thought. There was no shame in losing to an overpowering opponent. And so, with another sigh, he smiled.


    "I give—"


    But s, before he could utter his surrender, he felt something suddenly stuck in his throat; preventing any words from escaping his throat.


    "Imend you, student in''Leiz," a small smile then crawled on Riley''s face as he neared in,


    "Not giving up even in the face of defeat. As expected of a themarian."


    "!?"


    in''s eyes quickly widened as he heard Riley''s words. Not giving up!? He was about to!


    in wanted to shake his head; but like the heavy feeling blocking his throat, he felt something locking his head in ce.


    "I hope we still see you in ss the day after, student Leiz."


    ''What!?'' in could only scream inside his mind, ''What does that even mean!?''


    And then, out of nowhere, his vision turned dark.


    "..."


    "..."<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "!!!"


    And as if life itself gasped right beside his ear, in woke up from his own breath.


    "...Where?" in blinked a couple of times as he started looking around at his surroundings, only to see he was no longe4 in the ssroom. Instead, the room was covered in ck and red,


    "Is this… the Afterlife? Did I… die? Wh—"


    And before he could even start thinking about how short his life was, he noticed his ssmates there.


    "You guys are… dead too?" in furrowed his eyebrows, but after a few more seconds, he let out a very long and very deep breath of relief,


    "Ho…" His breath stuttered, "I''m… I''m still alive."


    in once again started looking everywhere, finally noticing that the ck and red room is actually their ssroom.


    "I survived, I survived. I… feel my legs giving up, but… I feel stronger. So, it''s true that if we die and survive from a stronger opponent, we be stronger."


    in then turned to look at udyne to see what she was thinking. udyne, however, was just looking down. In fact, it wasn''t only her. All of his ssmates were all staring at the floor.


    "..." The only one that wasn''t looking at the floor was Gary.


    "Hey, half-breed," in then raised an eyebrow as he approached Gary, "What the fuck happened after I lost a life? Why is everyone just looking down?"


    "..." Gary just turned to look at in, before shaking his head and letting out a small sigh. And without even saying a word, he stood up and started walking away.


    Before he could pass by in, however, in grabbed him by the arm.


    "What happened, Half-breed?" in raised his voice as he looked Gary in the eyes, "Why is everyone so quiet? And where''s the Professor?"


    "You…" Gary returned in''s re; Gary, however, held some sort of pity inside his eyes as he stared at in, "...You''re lucky you don''t remember anything. Just leave it at that."


    And with those words, Gary pushed in''s hand away and made his way out.


    "Where are you going!? Is that ss done!?" in could really only watch as Gary just waved his hand as he disappeared into the hallways, "Where''s… the Professor? Guys?"


    in then once again turned his attention to the rest of his ssmates, who seemed to bepletely oblivious to his presence, "...What the heck is going—"


    [There has been a dy, but we could finally start our ss.]


    And all of a sudden, in heard Riley''s voiceing from one of his ssmates; in quickly turned to look, only to see his ssmate holding an orb.


    "Did… you record the duel!?" in rushed to grab the orb from his ssmate; his ssmate, however, seemed like she could care less that her personal device was snatched away from her.


    "..." in only nced at the girl, before turning his attention to the orb. And there, from the hologram, he saw Riley standing in front of the ss… as well as him, tied up and hanging from some sort of crucifix—no, upon looking at it closer, it was arge fork.


    "Where… did he get something like that?"


    [Since the ss was interrupted by an unexpected variable, I failed to specify what our ss sybus would be.]


    "He… is still teaching? Just… how long was I out?" in could not help but sit on the desk as he continued to watch the footage.


    [No worries, since there really is not much to exin about what I am going to teach all of you,] Riley stood close to in, who waspletely unconscious as he hand from a giant fork, [Torture.]


    [!!!]


    in could hear his ssmates'' gasp.


    [The name of this ss is Torture 101–Torturing That Even Kind People Can Learn,] Riley said as he tapped in''s face, [And since we already have a volunteer, we can proceed immediately.]


    "What… is he doing?"


    [This is called a spinal nerve, as I am sure all of you are aware of,] Riley then pointed at the back of in''s neck, [Avoid this at all costs, because if you identally hit this, then physical torture would no longer be avable for you. But of course, there are many more ways to torture someone—physical torture is actually the weakest of them all.]


    "Why…" in could really only blink his eyes as Riley treated him like some sort of… specimen, "...Why don''t I remember any of this!?"


    [This is the heart, avoid it too. Once you destroy a themarian''s heart, they would start dying if their brain and stem cells can''t regenerate it fast enough.]


    "!!!" in almost dropped his ssmate''s orb as he could not help but let out a huge and almost violent gasp. How could he not, when Riley just casually pierced his chest and pulled out his heart for everyone to see?


    [Luckily, a themarian''s heart is probably one of the strongest things in the universe,] Riley nodded to himself as he looked at in''s heart, [The aorta, and even the smallest of veins has the same consistency as normal rubber, except a thousand times stronger—it won''t break easily. And here… this is…]


    "..." in could really watch in horror as Riley continued to dissect him like he wasn''t a themarian. He could also hear some of his ssmates wanting to vomit; the one recording, in particr, was probably crying already.


    It wasn''t only that—he was screaming. in was screaming in pain—he was conscious for the entire duration of this… brutal dissection.


    Just how…


    …How exactly did he survive something like this?