"Class, today will be the start of your first training." Instructor Westeria announced to the whole class as he distributed the training sheet to them. "All the information is in the sheet provided. If you don't have any questions, proceed to the training room at noon sharp. Class dismissed!"
*
"Finally, some real training!" Fred exclaimed happily after their instructor left the room.
"I wonder what our training will be, then?" Marcus pondered to himself.
"I heard it was VR training." Mark said. "Other classes have already taken their first training a week ago."
"Where on earth did you get that info, Mark?" Ian asked.
"From the conversation with students from Class Beta," Mark answered.
"Damn, they are so lucky!" Lena said in her usual cuckoo-lander attitude.
"From what I also heard; we are doing this together with the other class!" Mark continued. "From what I heard again; Class Beta also took this alongside Class Charlie."
"But the instruction said that we don't have any classes to take the training with." Carol reacted; she had read the paper.
"I think you lying, Mark."
"Hey!"
"What he said is true, Carol," Sasha said.
"What did you mean?" Carol asked while Mark did the victory pose in the background before Ian smacked him in the head.
"Most classes have taken the VR training by batch," Sasha explained, and the entire class turned their attention to her.
"Class Beta and Class Charlie took the training together last week. Since we are the only Class left that has not taken it yet, they decided for us to take the training alone."
"Since we are Class Alpha," Fred said, putting his hands on the back of his head. "They expect us to be the best."
While everyone else was listening, Sephiram looked at the training sheet, but his face looked pale due to drowsiness.
"Sephiram, what's wrong?" Mina asked while staring at him. "You're looking pale."
"Ah!" Sephiram jolted, and then he looked at Mina with a concerned look. "I'm sorry. I'm only sleep-deprived because I couldn't sleep last night."
"Nightmares?" He nodded.
"You should go to the clinic," Mina said in a concerned voice. "I will tell Instructor Westeria to excuse you for the training."
"I'm fine, Mina," Sephiram reassures her. "I will take this training. I won't miss it because of sleep deprivation."
*
"Seems like all of you are here." Instructor Westeria said as the class gathered in the training room. For now, they are in the back room where the staff are preparing the equipment. You could hear the keyboard typing in the background. Behind the instructor is a large rectangular glass window, which leads to the training area. "For your first training, we are doing the stimulation on how you will battle against the vampires."
He showed him the VR headset. "This is a VR headset. You must wear this to enter the virtual stimulation. And these-" he turned right to see a table with tools resembling the weapons the classes have taken each. "Are training weapons. This is also an opportunity for you to hone your weapon skills."
He turned his attention to his students. "Questions?"
Misty raised her hand. "Yes, Misty?"
"I heard that other classes are taking this training together." She said while her classmates nodded in agreement. "But it's only us here. May we know if other classes will take this training alongside us?"
"No." Was the instructor's flat reply, which shocked the entire class.
"The other classes had already taken their training last week." He explained. "And only you, Class Alpha, haven't taken this training yet."
"Any questions?" Silence.
"Okay, get your training weapons and head out to the training area."
*
The training area is a spacious room where all students can conduct their visual training. The entire class is now wearing their VRs while holding their respective training weapons.
"Listen, Class Alpha." Their instructor said through a speaker. He is in the back room along with the staff, looking at them through a large window. "The objective for this training is teamwork, you will be put in a situation where a hoard of vampires will attack you at night."
The students listened to their instructor. "On your right wrist is a watch specifically made for this stimulation." The students looked at their watches. "You may press the stop button to abort the mission."
"Your grades will be determined by this training. Good luck and do your best."
'Activating Battle Stimulation.' The System PA announced that the entire training room was suddenly morphed, and the entire environment changed. The students braced themselves for what would come.
*
Sephiram opened his eyes. He looked at the surroundings around him and clutched his rapier tighter. He was in an open area of a canyon, with the rocks could be seen from afar. He could see the moon shining brightly.
'Where am I?' he asked himself. 'The last time I know, I was in the Training Room, and -" Suddenly, he heard a battle cry on the other side. This made him turn his head to where the noise was going and begin to run. 'I forgot. We are in the training stimulation.' He realized as he ran towards the site of the battle.
*
The battle had already begun before Sephiram arrived. The rest of the class have already brandished their weapons and are now in their battle stance. "Where on earth have you been, Seph?!" Mark asked as he saw Sephiram running towards them.
"I'm sorry," Sephiram replied, then turned on the approaching vampires. "How many are they?"
"They are an entire army," Carol replied. "Can we beat them?"
"We can beat them!" Sasha said. "Listen up! We need to plan to take them out! Leon, Ian-" she turned to the two. "Get into sniping positions! You will shoot the vampires from afar." The two did as they were told.
"Nadeshiko, Lena! I want both of you to take the right platoon while Mark and Mina will take the left platoon! Marcus and Fred will guard our two long-ranged members in front while Carol and Misty will take their back in case those vampires do a sneak attack! And Sephiram-" She looked at him. "You and I will take the Central Platoon!"
Everyone agreed with Sasha and proceeded to go into their positions. "Here they come! Right and Left Platoon, move out!".
*
-Right Platoon-
"Oh my," Nadeshiko exclaimed as she saw the vampire army approaching them. "Can we reduce their numbers with only the two of us alone?"
"Nah, I got this! ~" Lena said as she ran two meters away from the approaching vampire army. Once she was at her destination, she raised her heavy mace and slammed it on the ground...
... hard that it creates a massive earthquake, causing the army to lose their footing and get out of balance.
"By the way," Lena said. "You bad vampires go beddy-bye bye~!" she taunted as the cracks caused by the earthquake, she created went towards them and the ground crumbled, falling the vampires to their deaths.
"Not bad," Nadeshiko said in awe as she saw the scene in front of her. "Now," she readied her naginata in her battle stance. "My turn." she charged toward the already dizzy vampires and began to dance in grace while slashing the vampires with her weapon.
*
-Left Platoon-
"All right!" Mark roared excitedly as he slashed hordes of vampires at the speed of light. "Witness the speed of Mark the Lightning!"
"Still haven't changed, Mark." Mina sighed as she saw Mark slashing another vampire hoard. She turned at the remaining vampires standing up. "Well, time for me to take action." She is preparing to throw her Scythe.
"Heads down!" She warned Mark as she threw her weapon like a boomerang, killing every vampire in sight. Upon seeing the approaching weapon, Mark ducked to save his head.
"Nice trick, Mina!" He exclaimed. "You want to impress Seph, do you?" he teased.
"W-watch it!" Mina stammered as her face blushed red. "We have a vampire to kill, so stop teasing me or you will lose a head!"
*
-Firing Range-
Ian and Leon can fire the vampires from afar thanks to their respective weapons. Ian already reloaded his fifth magazine. "Sheesh, they keep coming!"
"Running out of ammo?" Leon asked.
"Still have it."
They didn't know that a lone vampire tried to attack them from behind but a chakram flew out of nowhere, decapitating the vampire.
"That was a close call," Carol said as she caught her weapon like a boomerang. "Are you guys okay?" She asked the two.
The two snipers turned to Carol. "We're okay." Then sees the dead vampire to the ground. "Did they try to attack us?" Leon asked.
"Of course, they are!" They looked above and saw Misty somersaulting in the air while whipping a group of vampires to oblivion.
"Sheesh, sometimes I'm jealous of her," Carol said then she shouted in the direction in front of her. "Are you guys on the other side?!"
"We're fine," Marcus replied as he reloaded his pistol.
"Still hanging." Fred also replied while blocking the vampire's attack with one tonfa and slamming its face with another.
*
-Training room-
"All students already initiate combat." The staff informed Westeria. "75% data has been extracted."
"Good," Westeria said as he saw the entire fight throughout the monitor. The view is split into twelve panels. Each of the panels sees each student fighting virtual vampires. "Make sure to get each of the student's battle data. I need them to grade them."
"Yes, sir!"
Westeria sees the monitor again. 'They have learned how to handle their weapons for the last week.' He thought. 'I observed them in the arena on how they were able to train with their weapons and talked to each other on how to sync in battle.' He smirked in satisfaction. "But they have a lot to learn," he said aloud.
He looks at the screen again and sees the two last panels. "Set the level difficulty to Abyssal." He ordered the staff. "Make sure that is not too difficult to kill."
"Yes, sir!" The staff replied. "Setting General Vampire to Abyssal Mode, 50%!"
*
-Central Platoon-
'Is it just me or they are too easy?' Sephiram thought as he thrust another vampire to the heart using his weapon. "Sasha, I'm done here!"
"Okay!" Sasha replied as she cleared the vampire in half. "We need to fall back and regroup-"
Suddenly, they are interrupted by the sound of the horn. Class Alpha turned their heads in the direction of the sound.
"Is that-" Sephiram looked up and on the top of the rocks saw the Vampire General in his black military clothes.
"That face." He said as he observed the face of the Vampire. It has ghoulish features despite being human. "How-" Suddenly, he felt a pain in his head, and he dropped his weapon to the ground and fell on his knees while clutching his head with both hands, screaming in pain.
"Sephiram!" Sasha saw her companion and approached him. "What's wrong?"