"Go check it out!"

"Y-Yes boss!"

One of the vice leaders quickly ran over and investigated what exactly it was that had crashed into the tree and after a few seconds she let out a scream before she yelled to the bandit leader

"Boss it's Kenny, they killed Kenny!"

The other vice leader covered her mouth, she had been in a very good relations.h.i.+p with the beastman vice leader, soon fury lit up in her eyes as she yelled

"Those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds!"

The vice leader drew her swords and was about to rush forward when suddenly she received a slap to her face as the bandit leader appeared right in front of her

"Calm down!"

"But they killed---"

"I know that's why you have to calm down, we can only avenge Kenny if we work together and are calm and collected!"

"... I understand"

"Good, now let's go find the son of b.i.t.c.h that killed Kenny, along with our new recruit"

""Yes boss!""

The bandit leader gave a sigh, she faintly felt that their new recruit and the one that killed Kenny were the same person, she of course didn't say this out loud

'Well with that kind of skill he should be worth two of my vice leaders if not more... This works out too'

The group of three calmly walked forwards and soon they reached a clearing where a single person sat holding a beastwoman in his embrace, the person had long pale horns and the boss knew immediately that this was their new recruit, the one that was able to condense his blood l.u.s.t. Next she turned her gaze to the beastwoman that laid in his embrace and when she saw the amount of blood that was on her clothes she gave a slight smile, she knew the beastwoman had died or was about to

"You! Where you the b.a.s.t.a.r.d that killed Kenny!?"

The youth raised his head and looked at the three women before he raised a finger in front of his lips indicating for them to be silent, this of course p.i.s.sed off the vice leader even more as she once again yelled

"You b.a.s.t.a.r.d, I asked you a question, were you the one that killed Ken---"

"Annoying, I told you to be quiet mortal, 78 is sleeping"

Mars waved his hand at the same time the vice leader clutched her head before she suddenly began bleeding out of her eyes and nose before she collapsed onto the ground, the remaining vice leader and bandit leader both sucked in a breath of cold air, from their numerous experiences with death they were able to tell that she was dead. Moments pa.s.sed until the bandit leader began speaking with a slightly shaking voice

"Hey you're the one right? The one among the teachers that can condense bloodl.u.s.t right? Just like this..."

The bandit leader raised her hand and soon a vermilion armor shard formed floating on top of her hand, Mars looked on undisturbed, this caused the bandit leader to panic somewhat as she quickly spoke

"You're a killer right? since you can condense blood l.u.s.t your thirst for blood must be enormous like mine right?"

Mars closed his eyes, the bandit leader took this as him admitting it and grew even more excited as she began yelling

"In that case why stay a teacher, join us instead! That way you can kill to your heart's content! Now swear loyalty to me and I'll set you free! Come, what are you waiting fo---"

"You're loud"

Without a sound the bandit leader also fell over, bleeding from her eyes, nose and mouth, she was dead too. Mars turned his eyes to the remaining bandit vice leader that shrunk back with fear visible in her eyes

"... If you manage to leave the forest before 78 wakes I'll let you live"

The vice leader nodded her head and then she turned and ran, leaving Mars alone with 78 in the clearing, he had long since healed her now he was just waiting for her to regain consciousness while he held her in his arms

'...'

Mars' head was clear, like a clear lake, completely undisturbed but under the surface a storm raced violently as his sword hand trembled slightly. Slowly the lake of his mind began showing faint ripples and soon he couldn't help but whisper

"I almost lost you..."

Faces of the people important to him flashed through his head as he could not help but wonder if he already had lost them too? Had he seen his numerous loved ones for the last time already?

"No... They are all alive..."

Mars quickly convinced himself, they had to be alive, they were safe in Green river, all of them, they had to be safe... Had to be, quickly he felt an urge to give up everything here and just rush back, but quickly he slowly shook his head and thought

'What use is it if that s.h.i.+tbag administrator just throws me away again?... I have to get stronger, strong enough to beat him up so bad that he would not dare to hurt me or the ones close to me again...'

A faint light of revolution shone in Mars' eyes as he looked up at the sky past the clouds up towards his current enemy, suddenly Mars felt a soft touch at the side of his face and looked down and saw 78 had awoken and was stroking his cheek

"Hey... I knew you would save me Mars"

"I almost didn't... Sorry"

78 showed a smile and continued stroking Mars cheek for some time until she spoke again

"What about the other bandit's?"

"I'll get to them in due time, you are more important"

"But the other students..."

Mars gave a sigh before he spoke again

"As I said you are more important, this living G.o.d has decreed it so"

78 gave a laugh before she showed a very happy smile, after all the person she loved most called her important, twice. But she knew she could not be selfish for much longer as the other students needed Mars' help

"... I am okay now"

"Really?"

"yeah... So you don't have to worry... Go kill the bad guys"

".... Fine, stay here I'll be right back"

Mars put 78 down on the gra.s.s before his figure blurred and disappeared from 78's vision, for the next few minutes the forest was filled with screams before it quieted down and Mars returned to the clearing and sat down next to 78 that still laid on the gra.s.s with her eyes closed

"Let's go back to camp"

78 opened her eyes and quickly got on her feet before she reached out her hand to Mars and helped him up, Mars walked over and picked up the bone broadsword before 78 latched onto his free arm and the two of them began slowly walking back towards the camp while chatting...

The field trip ended, after all it could not continue in a forest filled with mangled corpses for obvious reasons. Mars used most of the day heading back to the academy with his group of students in tow, the return trip was quiet, none of the excitement from the trip out to the forest remained, after all most of the students had had close contact with bandits

'Well they will get over it... Or they won't'

While it might seem cold Mars didn't really care if the students recovered from their trauma, after all to him they were still mere mortals, but 78 was different after all there was a saying that went 'you don't know how important something is until you lose it' and as Mars had almost lost 78. Thus he swore to do better in the future as 78 already had taken a solid place in his heart, Mars didn't realize that yet however, after all, Mars is a very dense person...

Back at the academy Mars sat down his backpack and looked around the room he was a.s.signed to by the academy

'4 months left... I should be able to make some progress on my mandate during that time... Well let's take it one step at a time...'

Mars sat down on the bed and meditated for sometime until a knock sounded out from the door to his room, Mars jumped off the bed and walked over and opened the door and came face to face with Rick that wore a smile on his face as he asked

"Wanna go drinking?"

"Sure, let me get my wallet real quick... There, let's go"

Mars and Rick walked down the hallway as Rick asked

"Where do you want to go?"

"Hmm... Let's just go to the usual place"

"Sure"