Damian spent the entire time till sunset on logging under the guidance of the old man.
At the start, his cuts were very shallow. But soon under the old man’s guidance, he started entering a rhythm and alignment.
And he didn’t use any Aura in this practice.
’Hmm... this kid has some potential after all.
Unlike those failures from before, he listens well and improves as soon as a mistake is pointed out.
All those so-called geniuses always think they are unique and special.
But at least this kid is different. He has some kind of hunger for more knowledge.
Sigh... after all this time, maybe someone else can take over this art. Pity that his talent is not high.’
"... Does the axe feel heavy now?"
He asked Damian who was still swinging the axe relentlessly.
"No. It feels natural. It is as if the weight does not even exist.
All I need to do is align my body in a better way to let the axe fall."
Damian stopped his logging and responded after thinking for a while.
"Good. From now on you will carry on this practice daily until you achieve the realm of lifting something heavy as if it were light."
"This place is behind the academy, you can go back now and keep coming here for practice daily.
I will be here always, keeping an eye on you.
If I see that you are slacking off, or making stupid mistakes, I will tear your head off."
"..."
Damian couldn’t be bothered by the old man’s threats.
During this entire time of training, he got to know how much that guy likes to threaten with the ’head off’ stuff.
He probably didn’t mean that... maybe?
"What should I call you, old man?"
"... Just keep on calling me old man. You are not worthy to know my name as of yet."
After uttering those words, the old man disappeared from his view, teleporting God knows where.
"Sigh..."
Damian sighed, it was a very tiring day mentally as well as physically for him.
Training with Professor Salazar and then with this old man had drained him completely.
Picking up the axe and wearing his uniform’s blazer again, Damian started heading back.
While he was heading back, he looked at his status to see if there were any changes.
"Status."
━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Name: Damian Valcor
Age: 15
Rank: E-
Talent: S
Core Attributes:
Strength: 31 → 35
Speed: 33 → 34
Stamina: 33 → 40
Vitality: 31 → 35
Aura: E
Will: 145
Skills: —
Shooting: B+
Hand Combat: B
Telekinesis: E+
Aura Control: D-
Weapon Arts: —
Omega Point - S: Initiated
Abyssal Slaughter -SS: Initiated
━━━━━━━━━━━━━
’Finally, the Weapon Arts section is not empty.
Although I don’t know how it will keep track of my improvement.
Omega Point has levels but Abyssal Slaughter doesn’t seem to have any?
Forget it... I just started anyway.’
As he was heading back, the moment he entered the premises of the Academy, he saw an SFD car being parked there.
A familiar looking man stepped out of the vehicle and happened to see him too.
"..."
"..."
Damian moved towards him, closing the distance.
"It seems the SFD has decided to send you here instead of Officer Ashley Blackheart, I assume she must be quite busy with other important matters."
The bear-like man, Officer Brian Oleaf, replied after hearing Damian.
"... Unfortunately that is the case indeed."
Officer Brian was the one who had arrived at the Norrington incident and seen Damian’s madness at close hands.
He didn’t want to be the one sent here as a ’therapist’ for this psycho, but Ashley Blackheart was one of the most important officers of SFD and couldn’t be sent here.
"I see you have been involved in an incident again?"
"Yes, the Shadow Council managed to trace me back till here.
Though I wonder whose fault was in that."
"... How did you know about the organization?"
Brian was a bit shocked.
"The Stronghold Academy is quite powerful."
"... Indeed. And I admit we didn’t handle the situation well. But we couldn’t possibly alter the memories of everyone present at the scene, could we?"
"There are still many ways to contain a situation.
Are you telling me that the great SFD, responsible for the security of the Federation, can’t even stop some information from spreading?"
"..."
Brian had a complex look on his face, as if he felt guilty towards all this.
"You know Officer Brian. Once upon a time I knew another officer by the same name.
He always carried his duties honestly, believing he was on the side of justice.
I respected him. But nothing could change the fact that he worked for people with some questionable morals.
I considered him quite pitiful. He always tried to prove to his own mind that all his actions would result in saving many lives.
So he lived a life for justice, trapped by his own mind.
But did you know what I thought of him?"
Damian’s expressions now started showing pity but his words remained as cold as ever.
"... What?"
"I considered him nothing more than a dog on the leash.
Just like a dog he was loyal to his master, always thinking his master was right.
Every action of his master is justified. Even if it meant being disowned by him."
Silence filled between the two of them as they stood there looking at each other.
Brian’s feelings were hard to tell.
The one standing in front of him and lecturing, was just a kid who has started his academy.
Yet... every word that was ever uttered from his mouth, hit something inside his heart.
It was the same during the interrogation as well.
It could be said that ever since he came into contact with this person called Damian.
He had started questioning his own life a little. Though he wasn’t affected much, it did leave a shadow of doubt in his mind.
By all reasoning, the kid was just trying to protect his sister and protected all the other kids that day.
But from an officer’s perspective, the way things were carried out, the way he killed without any remorse and the way he tortured the terrorists, felt all too similar to what they encountered in criminals every day.
All because of one thing.
’He is way too young. For him to be so extreme, and having such a clear background despite his behavior... something is really off.
But maybe I should start changing my approach?
Let’s figure him out during our sessions.
I have a whole year to see through him.
And that shadow council as well... They seem to be targeting him now.
I can protect him by staying by his side.’
Brian did feel a bit guilty about how SFD didn’t try to hide Damian’s involvement. But he couldn’t change anything. All decisions were made by higher-ups.
"I’m sorry for how things were handled from our end.
And I saw the traces of your battle from yesterday as well.
I will inform the higher-ups about this and will stay by your side till this organization is handled."
Damian shook his head and eyed Brian coldly.
"I don’t need your protection, I only want you to inform me about their movements if you get any lead."
"... We can handle them on our own. As for letting you know classified information. I don’t have that liberty."
Brian refused completely. Handling terrorists was the job of SFD, not some kid studying in the Academy.
"... Yeah, sure. You guys can clearly handle them. I have seen your performance these past few weeks."
Damian replied in a sarcastic voice, before he left the officer standing there by himself.
He was becoming more and more disappointed with the structure of this Federation and their departments.
"Sigh..."
Brian sighed as he looked at the back of retreating Damian.