Face Off

Morning came and Yule headed to shower to clean himself. After that, he quickly changed to Academy's uniform which was fitted nicely on him.

As soon as he stepped out of the bathroom, Haruto was waiting before him.

"Took your time, huh," then Haruto went inside the bathroom.

Yule just shrugged at him, thinking that he had to get used to Haruto's attitude if he's going to stay long in this academy. Plus, the aswang was way scarier than Haruto's attitude to him. He chuckled at his thoughts and quickly went out.

On his way out from the dormitory, he saw Ranger leisurely talking to other students outside. Yule thought that Ranger was a popular student in this academy since there were many students nodded at him every so often.

While Ranger was deeply engaged in the conversation with his friends, he noticed Yule at his peripheral. He immediately waved at him and clapped the shoulders of his friends, concluding their discussions.

"Morning! Excited on your first day?" Ranger said as he jogged to him.

"Actually, yeah! I wonder if I will get along with our classmates."

Ranger looked at him strangely then laughed hard. "I'm pretty sure, you will get along just fine with our classmates." With a strange emphasis on the word classmates.

*****

Ranger guided Yule to their designated classroom which was located on the second floor of the building. There were students still on hallway talking and scanning their mobile devices.

Before Ranger slides open the door, he winked mischievously at Yule which made him curious if there was a joke he didn't know.

As he stepped inside the classroom, Yule found that Sanna was already inside immersed on her mobile device. He noticed also that there were six vacant seats while Sanna occupied the seat near the door.

"You can seat anywhere," Ranger told him.

"But others may think I'm imposing myself."

Ranger waved him off and chose the seat the farthest at the opposite end of Sanna.

Undecided on which seat he should choose, Yule picked the seat right next to Sanna and greeted her. She turned her gaze to him and returned the device on her skirt.

"So how's Haruto? Basing from your reply yesterday, he definitely gave you the warmest welcome huh," Sanna winked at him.

"Well, he seems like someone with a stick stuck in his bottom."

Sanna snorted at his joke which made Yule laughed also. She divulged to Yule that Haruto was like that ever since he started in the academy. She also mentioned that she went to the same middle school as Haruto. But back then, he was a different person. Silent personality, but not cold personality just like now.

Then the door slid open. Professor Fields appeared and greeted them.

"I guess we're all complete now," Professor Fields started, observing his three students.

This made Yule paused because there were still four vacant seats in the classroom.

"Aren't we still waiting for the other students?" Yule inquired.

Sanna and Ranger smirked at him.

That was when Yule realized the wicked smile of Ranger when they were at the door and he was strange when Yule mentioned the word, classmates. The three of them: Sanna, Ranger, and Yule are the only students in this classroom.

"As you can see, Yule, the three of you are my only students in this class. I've mentioned before that the slayers' population is dwindling as the years pass by. So it's common to have few students in a class."

Aside from the ongoing threat of the Aswang on the Ground, the people of this Earth also faced with another problem on the slayers' population. How could they slay all the aswang if their numbers are thin? Yule thought.

"Since you're all familiar with Yule. I guess no need for an introduction right?" Professor Fields announced.

Sanna and Ranger nodded at him.

"So let's move forward to catch up session for our newest student. Since you're new to slayers business, Yule, you'll have to catch up big time. By the way, I believe in the effectivity of practical lessons, so I'm planning a side trip to the battle arena."

*****

They went to the ground floor of the building and entered a facility that had a resemblance to a wrestling stadium. There was a square platform in the middle which was surrounded by bleachers that can accommodate at least 5, 000 people.

Professor Fields gestured to Sanna and Yule to step on the square platform, while Ranger and the professor stood on the sidelines.

"Both of you start summoning your weapons," Professor Fields ordered.

Following the professor's order, Sanna nodded at him and shouted the name of the white stag. A white light appeared on her chest which quickly went to her right hand and a bow appeared on her grip.

On the opposite end, Yule was starting to get nervous. After they defeated the level 2 aswang, he hadn't summoned his weapon since then. He tried to breathe deeply, internalizing on how to summon his lance.

"I summon you! Weaponize!" Yule shouted.

But the whole facility was greeted by utter silence. No weapon or lance appeared in the hands of Yule.

This made Ranger chuckled while the Professor looked intently on Yule.

Then-

"You may commence in battle now!" The professor shouted.

"W-Wait!" Yule stammered while looking wildly at the professor and Sanna. "I haven't summoned my lance yet!"

But Sanna ignored all the protests of Yule and cocked her bow in his direction. When she pulled the string of her bow, a magic circle appeared before her bow. When the energy arrow was released and pass through the magic circle, it had multiplied to three energy arrows.

And the arrows flew straight to Yule.

When the arrows hit Yule, he was sent flying to the nearest bleacher, crashing it. Yule heaved deeply but was surprised that no arrows pierced on his body.

"Slayer's bodies are stronger and can endure heavy damages than normal humans or what we called mundane." Professor Fields explained as he saw that Yule was checking on his body for any sign of the arrows.

As the professor explained it, Yule remembered Sanna's earlier fight with the aswang where she crashed a building but remain to be unscathed after the monster threw her like a rug doll.

"But our bodies have limitations also. So I wonder how many energy arrows you could endure before you can summon your weapon."

As if on cue, Sanna released more energy arrows at Yule.

He tried to shake his head to regain his bearing, but Sanna didn't give her a chance as Yule tried to dodge the incoming arrows. He successfully dodged the initial batch of arrows, but when the arrows kept on coming to him like a hailstorm, he was sent flying again.

"Hey, Sanna! Do you have any grudge on me?" Yule shouted while trying to stand.

His opponent just smiled at him as her reply and launched more arrows towards him. Yule quick on his feet, ran on his left while the energy arrows trailed after him.

"While you're busy running away from the arrows, I'll continue my lesson to you," The professor announced brightly at his student.

The only thought that Yule could think about his predicament right now was to dodge all those arrows and save his life. So that's why he was livid when Yule heard Professor Fields that he will continue her lesson while the boy may get pierced by those energy arrows.

"We rank the aswang based on the level of their power," the professor continued. "There's the level 1 wherein it took the shape of a large black wolf. It's weak as a single opponent but way stronger with a pack, so I advise caution on dealing the level 1. Next is level 2 which you've already encountered together with Sanna."

Yule barely heard what the professor was saying as more arrows trailed after him which caused explosions around the platform whenever Yule was hit by the energy arrow.

"Level 2 aswang are giant creatures that have boar heads. They are intelligent creatures also than level 1s. Next is level 3. As mentioned before level 2 aswang are giants, but level 3 are titan level kind of creatures. They stand around 15 feet or more. The level 3s are bipedal creatures also, but their body is covered by green moss up until their head. They are completely devoid of features, not even eyes, noses, or mouths to be seen."

Professor Fields stopped talking as Yule was no longer standing from his crumpled state on the ground.

While lying on his back, Yule was breathing heavily. He no longer had the strength to stand and ran again from Sanna's arrows. He touched his chest and prayed again to the girl in violet dress to help him summon his weapon. Then, he felt a small warmth on his chest, and at the same time, a word popped in his head. The original name of his weapon.

"I summon you! Sibat!"

A white light came out from his chest, and it floated before him.

"Weaponize!" Yule shouted.

The white light glowed brightly and the violet spear made its appearance again to Yule. He quickly grabbed the spear, and the moment it touched his skin, it rapidly vitalized his whole body, making him good as new.

Yule rose from the ground and formed an attacking stance against his opponent, Sanna. Then he turned his gaze to the professor without breaking his form.

"So what's the next level of aswang?" Yule asked.

Professor Fields smiled at Yule and nodded in his direction. "The last level is Level 4. They are the strongest aswang as they can wield immense power and magic. The odd thing is they look like human. During the early days of the war, many slayers were brutally killed by these level 4s, since those slayers let their guards down thinking that they were civilians needed to be rescued. But they were deceived by these creatures and annihilated their group."

The professor paused and looked at Sanna. "You may take your rest now, Sanna. I think it's time for Yule to face Ranger." She nodded at her professor and took a seat from the nearest bleacher.

After Ranger heard his name from the professor, he started stretching his long arms which made some popping noise as he stretched them.

"Finally! I was about to doze off while watching them." The smile that Ranger threw to Yule was a lot like a predator thrilled to taste his prey.