The taut whip crackled as it whistled through the air, and Arabella instinctively raised her hands to shield her face. The whip struck hard against her arm, and a burning pain made Arabella let out a scream. A red mark instantly bloomed on her arm, and her body felt electrified, causing much of it to go numb in an instant.
Before she could react, a second lash came at her. Arabella felt as if her insides were about to be punctured, clutching her stomach as she collapsed to the ground.
The short-haired girl turned with a flourish, the whip tracing a long arc before striking again on the back of the curled-up Arabella.
"Are you done yet?" Rebecca swung the whip with a look of impatience. In combat training, one shouldn't just take hits without fighting back.
The sultry instructor, who had been watching silently from the side, slowly stepped forward, her high-slit, fitted dress emphasizing her curvy figure.
"Change," she said, looking at the already incapacitated Arabella. This new Witch was weaker than expected and did not appear to be cut out for combat, yet she was the Demon Attendant of that person.
As a former colleague of Seraphina, Fiona had some understanding of Dorian. That High Priest... had quite a wide range of tastes...
After being beaten up by several Witches in succession, Arabella was assigned to the resting area as an injured observer, accompanied by a certain girl in glasses.
"So this is fate." Nina seemed in good spirits. The "wasteland zone" that used to be hers alone now finally had company, and it was a legendary figure.
"So your abilities aren't suited for combat either?" She looked at Arabella, whose disheveled appearance made her feel a bit sympathetic.
"What abilities?" Arabella asked.
"Every Witch awakens a special ability after being possessed." Nina pointed to the Witches engaged in combat training, "Evelina can read people's memories, and Rebecca, who just fought you, can manipulate electricity. And over there…"
Arabella followed Nina's finger to see Eugenia leaning casually against a bench in a corner, absent-mindedly staring into the distance. Her calm demeanor stood in stark contrast to the chaos of combat around her. In front of her, her opponent stood there mindlessly, slapping himself across the face in a daze.
"She seems impressive..." Arabella couldn't help but touch her own face. She looked at Nina, "So what's your ability?"
Nina pouted and looked up at the sky: "I have great digestive abilities. I can eat a lot."
"......" Definitely not suited for combat.
"Well, what about yours?" The girl in glasses was curious again.
Arabella frowned, thinking for a while. It seemed that she didn't have any special abilities. The only difference from normal people was that Dorian had mentioned her strong healing ability.
"Does being able to take hits count...?"
Soon, Arabella realized that not only did she lack special abilities, she didn't even have ordinary abilities.
The Dark Power combat class faced continuous setbacks, and Arabella's reputation quickly shifted from the mysterious Witch who could recover after Demonization to the weakest Witch in history. The way people looked at her changed from a cautious regard befitting a monster to a scornful disdain reserved for a failure.
"Are you okay?" Even Nina began to worry about her now.
Arabella gritted her teeth: "I'm fine."
They were wearing arm and leg guards that looked light but were surprisingly heavy, weighing Arabella down to the point where she could barely lift her legs.
"Twenty laps, you can use Dark Power. If you don't finish, you won't get to eat."
As soon as the teacher's words fell, several people immediately leaped away, disappearing in an instant, while the others followed suit.
"Well, I'll go ahead then." After hesitating for a long time, Nina joined them.
Arabella took a deep breath and started moving. The leg guards infused with Dark Power made her steps feel as if they were filled with lead. She hadn't run far before she was gasping for breath, her lungs feeling like they were about to burst. She wanted to lie down right there but felt a stubborn resistance. With her heavy body, she didn't know how long she had been running, repeatedly collapsing to her knees before struggling to get back up.
As night fell, when Dorian came to pick her up, the sight that greeted him was of the girl exhausted and collapsed on the ground.
"Am I embarrassing myself?" Arabella mumbled, burying her head in his chest as he picked her up.
"Witch training is inherently far more intense than what an ordinary person can endure. If you cannot use Dark Power and rely solely on human strength, it's impossible to complete," he said, carrying Arabella to a circular training ground and sitting her down, then pulling out a bottle of holy water and gesturing for her to drink.
The holy water was sweet, instantly revitalizing her weary and famished body.
This was what had helped her survive when she had been burned and unable to eat. The Holy See made the holy water by mixing rare medicinal herbs with magical power, making it excellent for healing injuries and replenishing energy, and it was incredibly precious in the outside world. However, Dorian used it as if it were worthless, casually treating it as a meal.
Seeing Arabella's complexion improve, Dorian walked to a wall full of weapons, selecting a small, light sword and tossing it to her: "Once you're rested, we'll begin."
The power of a Witch comes from the Demon that is parasitic within them. To utilize Demon power and gain extraordinary abilities, a Witch must merge their body and spirit to varying degrees with the Demon, becoming a half-demon state. However, the more one merges, the greater the risk of becoming a full Demon, which is why a Priest is needed to control the Purification.
What Arabella needed to learn now was how to harness this power.
"You must feel the Demon within you, merge with it, and use Dark Power to strike," Dorian stood in the center of the circular arena, hands behind his back, appearing to be relaxed.
Arabella still felt nothing. Nevertheless, she raised her sword and charged at Dorian with all her might.
The white-clad Priest merely turned slightly, causing the girl to miss her attack, and then delivered a quick chop, knocking her down to the ground.
Her knee must have scraped against the floor, resulting in a sharp pain, but an unnamed anger surged within her. Ignoring the pain in her body, Arabella got back up and launched another series of attacks against Dorian.
Dorian remained composed and calm, easily sidestepping most of her assaults while occasionally offering pointers on her movements.
"Don't just rely on human strength. If you can't learn to use Dark Power, you'll never be able to touch me... The gaps are too wide." Dorian sidestepped once more, evading her swing, and then delivered a kick to the girl's abdomen as she stumbled after missing her strike.
Arabella let out a scream as she was kicked several meters away.
"Continue," the Priest coldly commanded.
Curling up while gripping her stomach, Arabella felt cold sweat running down her face from the pain.
Dorian frowned; he had controlled his strength, so she shouldn't have sustained internal injuries from the kick.
He squatted down in front of Arabella and lifted her shirt. A long whip mark cut across her abdomen, swollen and oozing a few drops of blood, precisely where his kick had landed.
This injury must have been from the earlier class. Looking at Arabella, Dorian sighed lightly: "That's enough for today."
Arabella was all too familiar with that gaze; almost every teacher had looked at her like that throughout the day. As if to say that Dorian's new Demon Attendant, the successor to the former Chief Witch Seraphina of the Sis Holy See, was a worthless individual with no abilities.
She didn't care about the opinions of others, but the fact that Dorian looked at her that way stung deeply.
"I can continue," Arabella gritted her teeth.
Dorian was taken aback.
"I can continue!" She raised her voice and repeated the statement. Her lips were pale, her body slick with sweat, yet she trembled as she stood up.
Dorian stared at Arabella for a moment, then returned to his earlier calm demeanor. He moved to the center of the arena and took a stance, his cold voice resounding once more.
"Continue."