Knock Knock

For the next few days, Damian followed through with his practices, gradually growing closer with Mika during their fights as a duo.

Nearing the completion of their second week, the two of them, along with Aricin and Yulie, sat for another lunch, chatting about whatever came to mind.

"Since humanity has always remained hiding behind large walls, what do you think is really out there? You know…past the forest or up in the mountains." Aricin casually questioned.

Glancing over at him, Damian continued to chew on some food whilst pondering the idea.

"I think…*munch*...that there have to be all sorts of Gods watching from afar. Other than that…*munch*...I have no idea. Maybe there are more humans? If so, they better be rich, or else there would be no point in robbing them."

Exchanging strange looks, Aricin and Mika immediately brush the remark aside.

"...Right. What about you two?"

Aricin gestured to Mika and Yulie.

The two girls paused in thought.

"I don't know." Yulie curtly replied, briefly closing her eyes.

"I'm also not very sure. Hopefully, there are other people out there, like what Damian said," Mika answered, unsure.

Nodding in agreement, Aricin responded.

"It makes sense; I'm not too sure myself. I guess I'd only hope I would live long enough to see it if we ever do make such a discovery."

"I don't really know about that. I kind of *munch* like my answer more. Who wouldn't wanna dream of being rich?" Damian scrunched his brow.

"You're such a pitifully shallow person," Mika remarked in slight disgust.

"The hell does that mean? It clearly means something bad; what're you tryin' to say, huh!" Damian suspiciously questioned in irritation.

"Uhh-

"Don't bother." Before Aricin could help out the naive Imprinted, Yulie swiftly ended the conversation from degrading further.

— —

Shortly after, the four separated and headed off to block training once again. The class came and went with Damian and Mika, further increasing their capabilities as Travelers. With everyone now finished with their schedules, the recruits slowly began to return to their sleeping quarters.

Unlike the others, however, Damian walked further into the training grounds, eventually spotting a familiar figure sitting leisurely, playing with a strange, somewhat translucent sphere. With his hands in his pockets, Damian greeted Yulie as per usual.

"Yo, how's it going?"

"Fine." Yulie reluctantly replied, her eyes still following the strange artifact in her hands.

Ignoring her usual boring attitude, Damian glanced around in search of a particularly ill-humored instructor.

"...Where's Instructor Kley?" Damian asked, somewhat surprised by the absence.

"No idea."

Met with a brick wall, Damian rolled his eyes.

"Thanks for the help."

Unsure, he continued to wait around Yulie for another dozen minutes. Sometime later, someone eventually showed up, although it wasn't Instructor Kley. A single guard working the outpost made his way to the two Imprinted.

"Hey, are you two, Yulie and Damian?"

"...Yeah? Hey, do you know where Instructor Kley is? He's supposed to be here." Damian asked.

"Instructor Kley wanted me to let you know that he would not be present for classes for the next week due to something coming up." The guard calmly relayed.

"What the hell? Where did he even go?" Damian wondered aloud.

The guard shook his head.

"I do not know."

Scratching the back of his head, Damian sent the guard off.

'Well, this kind of ruins everything; today was supposed to be the day I would tell him about the weird noise in the library. Who do I tell now? Maybe Instructor Guriya? Maybe I should just tell Yulie, although considering how insufferable she is I doubt she'd be of any help. Gosh, this really complicates things.'

Breaking his train of thought, Yulie finally stood up from where she rested.

"So…what now?" Damian questioned.

Meeting his gaze for a brief moment, Yulie walked to the weapon rack, picking up a fake sword.

"What else? Just keep training."

At the response, Damian face-palmed at his seemingly redundant question.

"Right."

For the remainder of the night, Damian was ceaselessly beaten and battered into the dirt by Yulie's sword.

*WACK*

As their one-on-one training went, Damian quickly fell to the ground at another one of Yulie's piercing strikes.

"..."

"...Get up."

"..."

"Get up."

At the lack of movement from Damian's collapsed figure, Yulie once again swung her sword—whipping him in the thigh.

"Augh! I'm already dead; don't you know that corpses can't talk!?" Damian angrily spouted.

"Get up." Yulie brazenly ignored his ridiculous pleas, whipping him in the thigh a second time.

"Augck! Jeez! Alright, alright!" Damian sluggishly forced himself to a standing position.

Reluctantly, Damian once again readied himself for another duel.

"What..what do you think happened for Kley to be gone for a week?" Damian cautiously questioned as they readied themselves to resume combat.

"...I'm not sure…but there's usually only ever one reason as to why Imprinted are forced to leave their outpost." Yulie sighed in thought.

"What reason is that?"

"Something very dangerous needs to be taken care of."

— —

Smothered in bruises, the ghastly Imprinted made his way back to his room. However, not before once again revisiting a friendly noise ever-present in the library nearby.

"That's what I'm saying! Who the hell does that woman think she is?! Why is every Imprinted at this place so damn rude all the time!"

*SCRATCH, SCRATCH*

"You make such a great point; maybe I should stand up for myself!"

*...SCRATCH…*

"What do you mean I wouldn't stand a chance?! I mean…well…you might be right about that."

Late into the night, an unusual scene had taken place. A scrawny, beaten Imprinted sat at the wall of a small abandoned library—the boy knocked at the wall every so often, eliciting a responding muddled scratching noise from beyond the wall.

Absent-mindedly, Damian reached for a small pocket watch nestled deep into his uniform.

'Pretty late; I should head to sleep.'

Stretching lightly, Damian picked himself up from the library floor. Glancing to the wall, Damian knocked at its surface once again.

"I'm gonna go ahead and get some sleep; I'll chat with ya later."

*SCRATCH, SCRATCH, SCRATCH*

However, suddenly stricken with curiosity, Damian inspected the ethereal glove fit onto his right hand.

'As the days have gone on, I've noticed something pretty interesting with this thing.'

Clutching his sealed hand into a fist, he abruptly struck the wall. From the impressive impact, a minuscule webbed crack formed into the stone.

'This glove doesn't break, it doesn't tear, and it even completely mitigates pain. It's like having an indestructible hand.'

Coming to a new sort of revelation about his aspects as an Imprinted, Damian nodded, satisfied with his newfound strength.

'Alright, I guess I'll count this as a-

*KNOCK*

*KNOCK*

Caught off guard, Damian stumbled at the incredibly violent booming that shook the entire room from the wall.

"...Uhh…was that you..?" Damian's shaky voice murmured aloud as he gazed at the mysterious wall.

Put off, he backed away from the room in quick succession, glancing outside in case the noise had attracted any unwanted attention. Thankfully, the room was fairly far from where people usually slept.

"Ha..ha…I'm gonna go."

Damian once again left the room in a cold sweat. Arriving at his small private sleeping space, he forcefully pulled his mind away from the subject as he drifted to sleep.