Professor Shaw

Upon stepping into the arena, their eyes immediately landed on a woman, who seemed to be in her late 20s or early 30s.

"I'm Professor Shaw. I'm assuming you're Layla and Mia?" She gave a welcoming smile.

"We are!" Mia answered, smiling in return.

The professor had an above-average height. She had beautiful, fiery orange eyes and long gray hair, and everything appeared ordinary besides her lack of clothing, more specifically her upper body area, where she showed off her six-pack in nothing but a black battle bra and yoga pants.

'She never changes…'

"Class will begin shortly. Patiently wait before it begins... then, the fun shall begin." Professor Shaw smirked. She expected that combat class would begin—she wanted to see what made Layla and Mia worth sending out on missions.

Shortly later, the training grounds were filled with recruits, and class began.

"Yesterday, you began sparring with another of your choosing along with your preferred weapon of choice, excluding guns of course. Today we'll begin with unarmed combat to determine your level of strength. Then, we'll begin your physical training. Remember, in a week from now, you'll be sparring against me for a reward." Professor Shaw smiled, hiding a sadistic smile behind her teeth. "First, find a partner, and begin your sparring!"

The recruits, without delay, found their sparring partners from yesterday, leaving Mia and Layla alone to spar with each other. Mia smiled at Layla.

"It appears that we'll be partners."

"This'll likely be a common occurrence from now on."

They separated from the professor and spaced themselves away from other recruits to ensure they wouldn't involve them in their spar, and vice versa.

"Ready?"

Layla nodded and bolted towards Mia, sending a roundhouse kick flying. The kick landed on her chest, about to shoot her back; however, before her body shot back, she grabbed onto Layla's foot and leaned her body back in an attempt to slam her into the ground.

Layla, reacting quickly, slammed her hands into the ground and flipped her body back onto her feet. Mia didn't leave her with time to breathe and appeared behind her, her elbow jabbing at her upper left rib.

Boom~

Blocking in time, Layla locked her leg around Mia's and sent her palm flying. The palm strike landed on Mia's chest, and Mia's body tilted back as she lost her balance, but to the surprise of the Professor and those sidetracked by their spar, Mia's hands slammed onto the ground, and she went for a sweep kick.

'They're surely promising! Let's see how they do in the physical training…'

The kick missed its target as Layla leapt into the air and fell down with a spinning axe kick, landing on Mia's raised arms, which she used to block.

Boom~

Mia, feeling her bones creak in pain, grabbed on to Layla's leg and threw her overhead, and a smile formed across her face. "You're good!"

"Likewise!" Landing on her feet, Layla smiled back. "Looks like it's tied once again."

"Excellent, very good!" Professor Shaw, followed by the recruits, applauded—they couldn't hide the shock on their faces after seeing the top two recruits spar. "Your combat skills appear to be around B to A rank; were you taught by a master?"

"Well…" They contemplated appearing to be struggling with their answer. "Yes, we're trained by an A-Rank master!"

Peering into their eyes. "And who might that be?"

"My father, Xander!"

"My stepfather, Camdyn Reyes!"

Immediately after hearing that name, Layla grew a little surprised, but skillfully hid it from her face—this name was the name of her childhood friend, the friend who was her partner before her vampirism—her prior inquiries were finally answered.

"Reyes Family, huh? I did hear that he adopted a daughter around your age! But I didn't expect her to be here before me or to be this talented! I'm sure your father would be proud of you!"

"Thanks…"

"Don't mention it; your father has saved several times, and I kind of feel indebted to him!" Seeing how they'd gone far off topic, Professor Shaw announced, "Since you've observed a spar between the top two recruits, I hope you'll learn something from it. For now, we'll move onto your physical training."

"To warm up, let's have you run 15 miles around the training grounds! Remember, if you cease to run or pause during those 15 miles, you'll have to restart! Also, if you're unable to finish the run before the class ends, points will be deducted! Point deducted depend on your progress in the 15 miles!"

"Now run, sprint! If you keep your pace, you'll be done in less than two hours. That's if you don't have to restart!"

Heeding Professor Shaw's shouts, the recruits, without arguing as they knew it'd deduct points, especially after yesterday, all started running around the training grounds.

~~~

After about two hours' worth of running around the training grounds, the majority of the recruits finished their 15 miles, leaving several who were forced to restart.

"Uh, uh~!" Dozens of recruits panted loudly as their legs gave out—they've never run for this long, so it was natural for them to be exhausted to the point where they felt they'd die. After all, their bodies weren't durable enough to endure such intensive training.

However, Layla and Mia neither displayed signs of being exhausted nor signs of their legs giving out—it appeared as though they hadn't just run for 15 miles. Additionally, they'd run at lightning speed; their pace remained the same all the way.

"A refreshing run, don't you think?" Taking a sip from her bottle of water, Mia faced Layla.

"Certainly… I haven't been able to exercise like that for some time now."

Layla pulled out a shadow bottle and took a sip from it. Naturally, it contained sweet progenitor vampire blood. As she sipped from it, her eyes landed on the recruits, who'd fallen asleep from exhaustion. 'I presume they have already regarded Professor Shaw as a demon by now! Her renowned title is the demonic warrior after all!"

Seeing the recruits sleeping peacefully, A frown of displeasure creeped onto Professor Shaw's face, and spheres of water materialized above the heads of the sleeping recruits before they fell heavily onto their faces, immediately waking them up from their dreamy sleep and away from Professor Shaw, the devil.

"Did I say you could sleep? No, you can sleep when you're dead! Now that you've angered me, you are all deducted 500 points, excluding the ones who didn't sleep! In addition, your hellish training, which you enjoy dearly, will be double the original amount. 2,000 push-ups, sit-ups, and a 30-minute plank. Begin before I break you!"

Fear-stricken, the recruits immediately started their push-ups, unwillingly but as accurately as possible after watching the recruits who did it wrongly receive a reduction in points coupled with becoming a seat for Professor Shaw.

"Hehe!" Layla and Mia couldn't help but let out a giggle, seeing Professor Shaw shouting at the recruit she sat on.

"What're you doing? Stop trying to seduce me like a cat! First, keep your back, arms, and legs straight with your eyes facing the ground! Then, bend your arms to a 90-degree angle, pause, and return to your previous position! Continue the process, up, down, up, down."

The recruit who struggled with her on his back was left with no choice but to comply—he'd rather not lose anymore points with his points already being in the negatives.

And in a week's time, if he wasn't able to escape the negative points, he'd be expelled. Naturally, he didn't have time for that, on top of the humiliation he'd bring to his family and himself.

Two hours had passed since they began.

As the class grew closer to reaching its end, the recruits finished their physical training, and they lay on the ground, appearing to be dead. Well, more specifically, fall asleep immediately after finishing the training.

'Layla and Mia are naturals, appearing to have completed my hellish training without breaking a sweat! Whereas the others are amateurs but, with enough intensive training, will grow to be suitable slayers, excluding the slackers, who'll likely be expelled. Their futures will change this world for the better...'

'For now, we'll gradually move step by step…' Professor Shaw clapped her hands, attracting the recruits who'd remained awake. "Class is dismissed. Don't even attempt to wake up the ones sleeping; let them wake up on their own time."

Layla and Mia left, shaking their heads, a smile forming across their faces. 'Professor Shaw, you never change, do you? Still, into deducting new recruits' points as much as possible! Those still sleeping will be late for their next class, and in doing so will be deducted points for being late!'

Leaving the training grounds, they made their way to the fourth and final class of the day—history.