"Do you really believe all this stuff?" Argus whispered into Gunther's ears.

"Of course, I do," replied Gunther with no hesitation. Argus nodded with pity as he knew that these kinds of teachings would take them nowhere.

The master still lectured. "First, I will explain the basics. What are Nigrosian arts? Can anyone tell me?" He asked, looking at the faces of the children, hoping to get an answer from one of them.

A girl stood up like an obedient student and answered, "It is about developing your spirit energy by submitting your soul to God."

"No, your answer is incomplete," said the master. He looked unhappy with her answer.

‘Heh, they changed the name of the devil to 'God',’ Argus wondered after hearing her answer. ‘What they do is nowhere near holy.’

The master signaled her to sit. "What she said is correct. We submit our soul to God, but her answer is not complete,” said he and again looked at the students, “Who can complete the answer?"

Gunther belonged to the bright students of the class. He immediately stood up and answered, "Nigrosian arts is the art of developing our spirit energy by submitting our souls and wills to God."

"Gunther is always brilliant," the praising words escaped the mouth of the master when he heard his answer. It amazed Argus that this arrogant master could actually praise someone.

"As he answered,” explained the master, “we submit not only our souls but our wills to God. The healthier your soul is, the more grace you will get from the de…” he paused awkwardly, “I mean, the God."

Argus smirked after he noticed the pause and wondered what he was about to say.

"And for a healthy soul, you need to have a healthy body,” added the master.

For the first time during the entire lecture, Argus agreed with him.

"You students… are the future of our empire. Some of you will become commanders, high-ranking officers, or even governors in the future,” continued the master. "Not only you have to become best in the Nigrosian arts but in physical combat as well. For that, we categorize the students into distinct groups according to the level of their spiritual energy, and also, according to their physical combat prowess.”

‘So they will categorize us based on spiritual energy. How is it related to someone's physical combat abilities?’ Argus thought and found it illogical. He stood up and spoke, "Master…"

The master paused and eyed at him with a frown. "What happened?"

"If we are checking someone's physical combat prowess, why are we categorizing based on spiritual energy?" He asked, making the master frown even more.

"The spiritual energy defines your path in the future. Do not act over-smart on your first day, I was coming to that point," responded the master rudely. Argus did not respond and took his seat. He saw the fat guy whom he and Gunther had met earlier laughed and made fun of him.

Argus had first decided to not catch too much attention but somehow his mind signaled him to do the opposite.

"You can not do a thing, against someone who could control your mind and make you a puppet, with your physical abilities, or against someone who could steal the souls out of the living bodies. We base the categorization on your spiritual energy because of this reason," explained the master.

Argus knew all this, and he agreed with him too, he just could not keep it in peace against him.

The master added, "We will check your spiritual level tomorrow and categorize you. And for today, you will have a physical combat class."

The students murmured among themselves when the master walked out of the class.

"What do they teach in physical combat class?" Argus asked Gunther.

"They will teach us hand-to-hand combat for now as we are beginners. We will slowly move to weapons when we show some progress," Gunther replied.

After a while…

They called the students to the training grounds for the physical combat class. Argus noticed Marya was also present there. She was there to act as a trainer for them which again showed the level of skills she possessed. She just stood there with an expressionless face next to Master Wrath who gave a lecture again.

"Physical combat is important when you can not fight with your opponent with your spiritual abilities. There have been some powerful warriors who mixed spiritual prowess with their combat abilities and became a nightmare for enemies. You reach that level to contribute something to the state."

When he lectured, Argus just stared at the girl and her sword but had to look away when she too looked at him.

"Who do you think was the greatest threat to our empire?" asked the master after he finished his lecture.

"It was The King of Alabusia - Argus Devonte Albus," Someone answered. It was none other than Marya who showed no expression at all.

"Correct, Marya,” reacted the master, “The biggest terrorist and threat for our country was Argus Devonte Albus. It was good that our king killed him before he could move to capture the sixth castle,” he glanced at Argus, “Whenever you fight, think that you are fighting him.”

Argus knew already that he was a terrorist for the people. He had worked all his life for the betterment of the people but only received hate in return.

"Why was he doing it, master?" Argus suddenly asked and caught the attention of everyone. "Was he doing it for his own greed or was there a bigger reason behind it?" He wanted to know if they hated him for capturing their castles only or if there was an even bigger reason.

"You clearly have not read the history books,” mentioned the fat guy in a mocking tone, trying to act smart, “You will get the answer when you read them instead of asking stupid questions.” Everybody laughed at his words and the master too smiled after hearing it.

"Okay, silence,” said the master and raised his hand. When the students got silent, he said, “The history tells us that his whole lineage had their hands painted with the blood of innocents," he added further, “He even took some traitors from our people in his team and used them against us. That man just wanted to impose his treacherous rule on everyone."

"He clearly was a demon," Marya mentioned with a dirty face. Her thoughts did not match her sweet honey-like voice. Argus could clearly observe around him and see that some boys stared at her but could not approach her as they feared the headmaster.

"Okay, we will test the combat level of the new students. One by one you will have a sparring match with Marya. I will mark you while observing your movements and how long you could stand on your feet," told the master to the students before he whispered into Marya’s ears, "Do not go easy on that boy who just questioned."

Argus doubted he whispered about him as he found Marya ferociously glaring at him. He sensed an alarming vibe from her when her hand drifted to the hilt of her sword.

She could not forget what had happened earlier, and had to show him his place. Argus just acted like an idiot and waved at her, but her expression did not change at all. She continued to glare at him.

'Jeez, does she even smile?' Argus thought.