Chapter 543:The Duel

"D… duel?"

There was a certain chill crawling through Alain'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 classmates—no, why would he even run?

"..." Alain then turned to look at his classmates, 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 really laughing at him; there wasn't even a word whispering in the air, none at all.

Zac, who was standing at the door and blocking it completely, 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—the common 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 Alain did too.

"..." Alain 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.

"..." Alain 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 placed his hands behind his waist,

"My name is Alain, from house Leiz!"

"Riley," Riley breathed out as he waved Alain'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!"

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

"Y—"

Alain 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?"

Alain 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 blast that fast!?" Alain bellowed, "I… I couldn't even see it."

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

"Genetically speaking."

"Ge…netics? But I haven't even heard of House Ross before!"

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

Alain, 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 classmates, finally seeing their true expressions of horror and shock.

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

"I give—"

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

"I commend you, student Alain'Leiz," a small smile then crawled on Riley's face as he neared Alain, 

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

"!?"

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

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

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

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

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

"..."

"..."

"!!!"

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

"...Where?" Alain blinked a couple of times as he started looking around at his surroundings, only to see he was no longe4 in the classroom. Instead, the room was covered in black 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 classmates there.

"You guys are… dead too?" Alain 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."

Alain once again started looking everywhere, finally noticing that the black and red room is actually their classroom.

"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 become stronger."

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

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

"Hey, half-breed," Alain 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 Alain, 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 Alain, however, Alain grabbed him by the arm.

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

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

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

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

Alain then once again turned his attention to the rest of his classmates, who seemed to be completely oblivious to his presence, "...What the heck is going—"

[There has been a delay, but we could finally start our class.]

And all of a sudden, Alain heard Riley's voice coming from one of his classmates; Alain quickly turned to look, only to see his classmate holding an orb.

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

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

"Where… did he get something like that?"

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

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

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

[!!!]

Alain could hear his classmates' gasp.

[The name of this class is Torture 101–Torturing That Even Kind People Can Learn,] Riley said as he tapped Alain'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 Alain's neck, [Avoid this at all costs, because if you accidentally hit this, then physical torture would no longer be available for you. But of course, there are many more ways to torture someone—physical torture is actually the weakest of them all.]

"Why…" Alain 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.]

"!!!" Alain almost dropped his classmate'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 Alain'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…]

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

It wasn't only that—he was screaming. Alain 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?