"Aaaaaaahhhh!" Damon shrieked in agony, clutching the bloody stump of his right arm. The severed portion of his arm lay sprawled a few meters away, while a spreading pool of blood rapidly stained the floor of the ring.
Looking at the grotesque sight which had been my doing, I swallowed my urge to throw up. Truth be told, I couldn't even believe I had done such a thing; all that blood was too much for me to handle.
But it needed to be done, so I forced myself to maintain composure.
Besides, it's not like he would remain crippled forever. There was someone in the infirmary whose bonded ability allowed her to heal any form of injury. That's why the instructor had given us the go-ahead to get absolutely vicious. As long as we didn't kill, the injured cadet would be fine.
I pointed the katana again at the now yelling Damon, who kept clutching his arm, and said coldly, "Hurry up and surrender, or else I'm going to keep cutting off every limb in your body. And when there's no limb left, I'm going to cut off parts you wouldn't even want to lose."
For a moment, Damon seemed hesitant and wouldn't budge.
So, I raised the katana high again, aiming for his second arm, but just as I was about to bring it down, Damon yelled, "Stop! Please stop! I surrender!"
I forced a smile, then lowered my katana. At that moment, Aika began to dissolve into wisps of black smoke that gently flowed towards my arm. The katana in my grasp also dissolved into black smoke that flowed upwards as well, and in less than a few seconds, a large tattoo of a raven formed on my hand.
Then Aika yawned and her voice echoed:
'Gosh, I'm drained. Since I'm done for the day, I'm off to sleep. Don't call me out again today.'~~
She really put an emphasis on the don't. I smiled, looked at Damon one last time, then turned and slowly began walking down the platform.
Now that the duel was over, I could see the look of utter puzzlement in everyone eyes. Not only had I manifested a bond, but I had also defeated Damon, and then, most shockingly, had cut off his arm.
Even the instructor had the same stunned expression. He fidgeted with his glasses, lost in thought for a moment, then he began taking notes on a small book that he held in his hand. He didn't look up, but his voice, amplified instantly across the silent training ground, was tight and clinical:
"Damon Kaiser has yielded, and so the winner of this duel is Cedric Martini."
There were no cheers, which was to be expected. Rather, all eyes just fixed on me, some wary, some in awe.
Through the side of my eye, I caught a glimpse of both Leon and Levi, who stood not too far away from each other. While Leon had a frown on his face for some reason I didn't know of, Levi seemed to have an even more confused expression, his mouth was slightly agape as he tried to reconcile the "bondless bastard" with the current victor.
Truth be told, seeing all those stunned reactions, I couldn't help but feel exhilarated.
'I'm sure she's probably going to chew me out or ask why I chopped off Damon's hand.' I thought, already feeling mentally drained as my gaze settled on Audrey. Though to my surprise, she smiled and nodded gently.
'Oh?'
When I finally reached her side, though her eyes were lowered, she muttered in her usual voice. "You did great."
The corner of my lips curled up slightly. 'She's not so bad after all.'
Looks like I completely misjudged her character for one who did not like that sort of stuff due to her timid demeanor.
Not long after I had gotten off the ring, the instructor looked to Damon on the ring and pointed to him, then said, "Point A."
He then pointed vaguely in a random direction while touching the side of his head, then said, "Point B."
Instantly, Damon's form shimmered, then vanished along with his severed arm and even the blood on the ring.
Just then, a notification popped up:
[The Character Melvin Burgess has used the bonded ability: Law of Displacement.]
'Oh... so that's what the ability is called.'
Also, I finally knew the name of the tall, stoic instructor:
Melvin.
"The next duelists should quickly ascend the training ring for the next duel!" Instructor Melvin called out.
In response, two cadets went up the platform and the next duel immediately began.
Though I didn't focus on them as my attention was focused on one of the screens with a series of notifications hovering beside me that had appeared the moment I won my duel:
[EXP: +50]
[You have acquired 50 Karma points.]
[Available Karma points: 455]
'Not bad…' I thought as I grinned in satisfaction.
Turns out my hunch was right: doing something as malicious as severing Damon's hand really did count toward acquiring Negative Karma.
At the end, it was a productive session for me.
***
Hours later…
"Gahhh… I'm tired."
I muttered in exhaustion as I walked down the long hallway leading to the Dean's office, while also rubbing the back of my neck and rotating my head to relieve the stiffness and tension there.
The combat training session was over, and all the cadets had retired to their usual routine. As for me, I had left some minutes before the end of the session to the infirmary where I got some first aid and bandages wrapped around my shoulder and other parts of my body that were bruised and scraped. According to the nurse there, they were too minor to have a bonded ability be used on them. I could understand. After all, all bonded abilities had costs that had to be paid in order to be used. Though now that meant I had to walk around with these injuries until they healed normally.
'Tsk. Dammit.'
Luckily, Dominants healed a lot faster than normal humans, and so I should be fine in a couple of days. Though the current pain was a real annoyance, especially since pain mitigation was no longer available to aid me.
That aside…
After my treatment at the infirmary, I had a cadet deliver a message saying the Dean had called for me. I had no idea why, but that was the reason I was currently on my way to the Dean's office.
While walking down the long hall, I couldn't stop thinking about the duels. Though it was a really long session, there were a lot of surprises.
The cadet that surprised me the most was Audrey.
At first I thought she was just some timid cadet, until she got up the stage and defeated her opponent in less than a minute.
I was completely stunned. Not only did she move faster than I could read with my eyes, but even her moves were almost impossible to predict and defend against.
When I used Gamer privileges on her, it made sense, after all, she was just a few EXP points away from level fifteen.
'When will I finally get to that level?' I sighed in mild frustration as I finally reached the large doors of the Dean's office.
I stared at it for a moment, wondering what the reason was she had called for me, but after a while, I reached out and knocked.
Then, barely a second later, I heard a female voice call out from behind it:
"Come in."