Devil’s Valley

Five days later~

Inside an expansive hall, all of the recruits were seated, donning their metallic combat suits, as their attention focused entirely at the front of the hall, where Nixon stood alongside a multitude of familiar and unfamiliar faces—they were the teachers.

What bewildered the recruits was that... Layla and Mia stood with them! They couldn't discern why they stood with the teachers, who appeared as if they shared the same status!

Eagerness for the answers to their queries grew, and fortunately, their questions would be shortly answered by Nixon, who stood before a wooden podium.

"You might be wondering why I've gathered you here today. Or why these two young ladies are standing alongside us?" Nixon smiled, "To put it simply, you'll be leaving the Slayer Association to go on a Demon Extermination Excursion. The professors and recruits standing alongside me will be your guides and guards to ensure your safety."

His sudden declaration of their excursion and that Layla and Mia were leading them left them all in shock as they started whispering amongst themselves—none of them had expected they'd be leaving for a demon extermination a week after they'd just begun classes. Additionally, Layla and Mia, who're in the same position as them, were to be their guides and guards during the excursion.

They couldn't fathom why their chairman chose them! To them, it appeared he'd gone crazy and chosen recruits to substitute for their lack of professors. They were aware of Layla and Mia's abnormal strength, but... they didn't believe that they were strong enough to substitute as professors.

"Silence!" Silas exclaimed, and the hall quickly turned silent; however, he was no longer calm—he was angry. "Now tell me! What right do you have to claim our chairman is inept? You're just mediocre recruits who joined the Slayer Association a week ago! Unless you desire to be expelled a week after entering, I suggest you seal your mouths and listen-"

"Silas, that's enough!" Nixon silenced Silas. "It's accurate for you to consider my choice to be wrong as Layla and Mia recently joined the Slayer Association, as did all of you; however, not only are you indicating I'm inept, but you are considering they are as well! To prove that they are adept enough to substitute as a professor, I'd suggest a one-on-one sparring match."

"The rules are simple: you'll be using G-ranked etheric knives so as not to inflict severe wounds that could affect you later in the excursion. Any fighting style is permitted, and the match will go to three hits. Whoever inflicts three hits first wins. If blood is drawn, it'll be considered a hit."

"The first sparring match will be Professor Shaw versus Layla."

Hearing their names called, they walked out into the circular ring formed after the recruits spaced out to ensure they wouldn't get involved in their spar. Nixon, who remained before the podium, threw them both a dagger.

Layla took a glance at its stats:

[Name: Redemption

Type: Combat Knife

Grade: G (Weakened State)

Aether Capacity: 5

Weapon Abilities: Locked]

'G-Rank, huh? A rank that discerns a demon's rank It's weakened; however, it's fitting for this friendly spar.' She smiled and readied herself, as did Shaw, by lifting their daggers.

"Begin!" Nixon shouted.

Immediately, Shaw bolted towards Layla, and at lightning speed, she appeared before her, stabbing her dagger diagonally towards her lower left rib; however, before the dagger reached its destination, Layla weaved to the side and grabbed Shaw's wrist while stabbing her dagger into her right abdomen.

Boom~

Shaw, reacting quickly, blocked it; however, she wasn't quick enough to prevent a shallow cut from forming where the dagger was aimed. From the cut, blood slowly trickled down her stomach and soaked her white yoga pants—Layla had earned her first hit, leaving all the recruits in shock.

Not only was Layla able to compete fairly with Professor Shaw, but was she also able to achieve the first hit? Didn't this mean Layla and Mia, who appeared to be equals in strength, shouldn't be recruits but genuine slayers? Why weren't they?

Shaw smirked, "Your strong! Just like him… if we didn't have this rule where one would need to graduate from a recruit to be a slayer, you'd already be a high-ranking slayer."

"I appreciate your compliment, but shouldn't we skip the chatter and continue? Unless you'd like to talk all day!" Layla smiled in return.

Shaw manically smiled as she bolted towards Layla once again—this time with greater speed and reached her in a blink of an eye.

~~~

Half an hour... The spar lasted half an hour, and Layla succeeded in defeating Shaw. She'd won 3 to 1, almost a complete victory, and Shaw's smile never wavered even for a second—she was neither upset nor angered by her loss. It was more of a learning experience, as she knew the youth would inevitably rise above them.

It was only Layla and Mia who had an early head start when compared to the others!

"As clearly seen by Layla's victory, they're adept enough to substitute as a professor, don't you think?" Nixon glanced around the hall in search of anyone who doubted their strengths. No one—not even a single soul—appeared to doubt their strengths. "Good. As we've delayed far too long, Professor Lee, please inform the recruits what demons are and their ranks."

Nixon backed away, making room for Professor Lee to take his place before the podium.

"I'll keep this as brief as possible." He cleared his throat and continued, "As you've already known, demons came with the invasion of the vampires, who brought Aether, which you all know fairly well; however, Aether wasn't what they brought... Another energy, the Nether, came with it. Nether has many names: the abyssal element, dark Aether, etc."

"Nether was what turned all living animals into demons; however, it neither turned humans nor vampires into demons; that was until a recently turned vampire starved himself to the point where he became mindless and bloodthirsty before inevitably becoming a demon."

"This led to there being two specific types of demons: the initial demons, called original demons, and the secondary demons, called end demons. Once an end demon is born, their strength would reduce by a single rank, so we made another letter rank, G, to distinguish their strengths."

"Just G by itself wasn't enough, so we added GF to GS. It made it similar to the vampire ranking; however, the strongest demon we faced was a GA-ranked original demon. As for the demons you'll be facing today, they'll be GF to GE-Rank." He calmly explained. "The location you'll be exterminating the demons is Devil's Valley, a place known for being completely infested with demons."

With that, Professor Lee had finished his brief explanation of the demons' types, strengths, and the location they'd leave for—he returned to his earlier position, while Nixon did the same, returning to the wooden podium.

"I appreciate it, Professor Lee!" Nixon smiled. "Before you leave, I'll inform you of the rules of this excursion. Firstly, the use of guns will be prohibited unless you are in danger, and only the professors can employ them. Secondly, you'll be split up into 10 groups of 50, with five professors per group, to avoid venturing too deep into the valley. Third and lastly, you're prohibited from speaking—this is to ensure no one attracts demons, especially high-ranking ones."

"For communication, we'll provide you with etheric wristwatches. This'll grant you telepathy to communicate effectively without attracting any unwanted attention. The automatons will hand you the weapons and wristwatches you'll use now." From the entrances of the hall, dozens of automatons entered and made their way past the recruits, handing out weapons and wristwatches.

Once they finished their purpose, they returned to where they came from as the recruits placed their wristwatches on their wrists and checked the stats of their weapons.

"Lastly, before you leave, I'll call out which of the ten groups you'll be in; once the group of 50 is formed, you'll be able to enter the gate behind me." As he spoke, the space behind him began to distort, gradually forming a massive round white gate.

"Ean, Wade, and Reuben…" He began calling out the names of recruits, and once 50 were named, he called out their professors before they stepped through the gate, disappearing into the abyss.

He continued calling names until not a single soul, whether it be a recruit or a professor, stood with him in the hall—he left the hall, smiling.

'Let's see how well Layla and Mia do during this excursion!'