Janus and Anastasia went over to the weapons rack to use for their sparring. The racks had both wooden and metal blades. From swords, spears, daggers, and halberds, the Training Grounds had it all.

The pair then pulled out wooden swords from the rack. It appeared that they were going to start things off light.

Once their weapons were picked, they then walked over to the center platform used for sparring. As they did, some of the other HMDD members decided to watch, though their expressions were still more scornful than anything. They walked on opposite sides of the platform and then made their battle stances.

“I’m assuming I don’t have to give you the fundamentals of swordsmanship, right?” Janus teased.

“Of course,” Ana replied, a little annoyed that she was being treated like a newbie.

After a few moments, the match started and Janus and Ana charged at one another. Janus attempted to stab Ana in the stomach, but she managed to move to the side swiftly, swinging her wooden blade at his neck.

The young Helsing ducked with ease as he swung his blade around, still aiming for her torso. Ana took a step back, barely avoiding the attack. But Janus wasn’t done as he lunged at Ana a second afterward, using that time to catch her off guard.

As Janus brought his sword down on Ana, she raised her blade and blocked the attack head-on. However, the amount of force that Janus delivered was a little too much for Ana as she got pushed back from it.

She lost her footing and fell on her back, currently in a daze. Just before she could get up and continue the fight, Janus appeared as he pointed his wooden blade at her, a smug look on her face.

“I lost…” Ana admitted defeat.

“You weren’t half-bad. It was when you decided to block my attack and didn’t anticipate the amount of force I used against you.”

“Yeah…”

“I bet you blocked my attack while thinking you were just blocking against a normal human, and that’s where you messed up. Remember that HMDD members fight against monsters, not humans. Since when you spar with me, you need to think you are going up against a monster.”

While this was more or less the mindset when using the Training Grounds, Janus takes it up a notch by making his training as realistic as possible. Ana, on the other hand, doesn’t, and that’s why she got caught off guard by Janus’s power.

“When going up against monsters, it’s life or death. The more experience you get out of it, the better.”

“That much is obvious…” Ana muttered, a little distraught.

Janus noticed her reaction and pondered.

“What I’m about to ask you isn’t by any means me insulting you. I just want to know. How do you usually fight monsters and what kind of monsters do you usually go up against?”

Ana was a little taken aback by Janus’s question, thinking he was doubting her skills, but with a little warning from his statement, she decided to answer.

“I mostly went up against vampires, werewolves, and ghouls. As for what kind from each one, I usually fight non-royal vampires, but I have encountered a low and mid-rank one before, aside from the Vampire boss.”

“And how did you fight the low and mid-rank vampire royals?”

“It’s usually a group effort because when I fought them, it was at a nest and I had backup with me. We would weaken the vampire by dividing its attention and attacking when it wasn’t looking. Then, when it’s weak enough, we go for the killing blow.”

This much was very procedural and routine. In order for HMDD members to take down royals, mostly low and Mid-rank, it had to be a group effort.

“And what about the werewolves?”

“The same I guess. It’s usually Betas or Omegas, but I have fought a few Alphas, though they were low on the Werewolf Hierarchy.”

“Which means you fought against them in groups…” Janus pondered.

As Janus pondered over this, Ana looked a bit worried.

“Is fighting them in groups not a good idea?”

“No, it’s a good idea, but you shouldn’t get too used to fighting in groups. The monsters will take advantage of that. If they know you can only attack them as a group, the monsters will do everything they can to separate you and take you down one by one.”

While some monsters are mindless beasts that just attack humans due to their instincts, there are those that actually have the brains to back up their brawns. And it’s these types of intellectual beasts that the HMDD are most cautious of.

The royal vampires can be considered highly intelligent monsters since there’s a chain of command and they know how to utilize it. As for the lower vampires, while some don’t give in to their vampiric instincts, most due.

And it’s those types that are more or less the easiest to deal with.

“While you are certainly skilled and deserve the rank of a Lieutenant, you are still lacking in some areas.”

As Janus said this, Ana lowered her head, obviously distraught by this. Janus then hastily continued, trying to cheer her up.

“Y-you don’t have to worry though, since you’re my partner! Plus, while other HMDD members are mostly just academy students with no worthwhile background, you’re part of the Carnell Family, so you’re definitely more skilled.”

Janus wasn’t wrong when he said this. While the skill level between the two were far in between, that doesn’t mean Anastasia is weak. According to the profile sheet on her, she single-handedly took down four to five werewolves.

While they were betas, it was still a task that not many could do. Any other Lieutenant that went up against the Beta werewolves wouldn’t have been able to defeat them all. If anything, they would only kill one or two of them and end up exhausted afterward.

So, her skills weren’t much of an issue. It’s just that her partner was a Helsing. A Helsing that has a healing ability and solos most monster fights.

“Alright, how about this?” Janus then puts away his wooden blade and brought up his hands.

“What are doing…?” Ana asked, confused.

“I’m trying to make this training more worthwhile. Imagine I’m a royal vampire and attack me.”

“Huh?” Ana tilted her head, completely confused by this sudden scenario.

“It’s easy!” Janus reassured. “With me attacking you like a vampire, you’ll be able to pick up on my method and work accordingly.”

“W-wait, do you even know how to fight like one?”

“Yeah! I sometimes fought like a vampire against other vampires. Though, those situations were a bit…special.”

“What do you mean…?”

“Less talking, more fighting!” Ignoring Ana’s question, Janus then charged at her, his movements exactly like that of a vampire royal.

Getting close, he then slashed at Ana like a vampire. Ana responded by deflecting Janus’s hand and kicking him away. Janus skidded across the platform, his hand that got deflected was a little bruised.

“A-ah, I’m sorry…!” Ana panicked since her reflexes caused her to defend against Janus as if he were a monster.

“Nicely done!” Janus praised. “That attack was pretty good. Keep it up!”

Ana was surprised by Janus’s words, but she didn’t have time to ponder over it because Janus charged right at her once again. He was a lot faster than before as he moved to her left side, attempting to slash again.

Ana blocked the attack, and unlike before, she managed to stand her ground. Janus then sends a barrage attack of slashes at her.

Ana was able to either block or deflect most of his attacks, but a couple of them connected, wounding her in the process.

“A-agh…”

“Stay focused,” Janus warned, trying to slash at her shoulder.

Ana deflected once more and this time backed away to gain some distance. However…

“Don’t always assume the enemy will just give you your space!” Janus then lunges at Ana, aiming right at her neck.

She responded by slashing down right on Janus’s arm which was reaching for her throat. A loud cracking sound could be heard as the wooden sword hit his arm.

When this happened, Janus backed away from Ana, obviously trying to tend to his arm. However…

“Don’t always assume the enemy will just give you your space!” Ana repeated Janus’s earlier statement, charging directly at him.

At first, Janus was surprised, but that expression turned to a smile in a split second. Just as Ana got close to him, he quickly grabs Ana’s arm that held the blade, then using his other arm that was supposedly broken, he grabs her collar and slams Anastasia to the ground, her back slamming into the platform floor.

“G-gah…!”

“Hehehe…” Janus laughed. “Nice try.”

Janus then straightened up, rubbing his arm that was supposedly broken, but it was now all healed. This explained why he was able to use it to slam Ana onto the floor.

Ana grunts as she slowly gets back up. Meanwhile, Janus speaks up.

“You catch on quickly, Ana. The moment I decided to back away when you broke my arm, you charged right after me, not giving me time to take a breather. Of course, I more or less expected that, which is why I still won. Otherwise, that would’ve been your win.”

“Although you say that…it doesn’t seem like that would be the case,” Ana muttered, still looking discouraged.

“Don’t be so down, alright? I’m a Helsing, and a very unusual one at that thanks to my Healing ability.”

Janus did his best to cheer Ana up, but he knew that this wasn’t going to work. While trying to figure out a way to help Ana cheer up, he was interrupted.

“Hey.”

Janus turned and saw four HMDD members look at them. Well, more like glaring at them. And by them, it was mostly at Janus.

The one that called out to him was a girl around his age, maybe a little older. She had short black hair and a bit of a tan. Aside from her, there were two male HMDD members and one last female HMDD member with her.

“Can I help you?” Janus asked, though he somehow knew what was about to happen.

“You shouldn’t be here.” The tan girl said with a stern tone.

After hearing this, Janus simply sighed. He should’ve known that this was going to happen eventually.

He was being harassed. This was expected since he defended Hyde after she killed a few HMDD members, causing the rats of the HMDD community to despise him.

Still, he wasn’t going to take this lying down.

“Sorry to tell you this, but I’m still an HMDD member. I only got suspended for about a month.”

“You shouldn’t have gotten suspended,” The girl snarled. “You should’ve gotten fired! Better yet, you should’ve been arrested for what you did.”

All Janus could do was smugly grin. “Well, considering my skills, a suspension seemed like the only solution, unless they wanted to lose a valuable asset such as myself.”

While Janus was arrogantly bragging, he wasn’t wrong that the only reason he got suspension is because of how valuable he was as an HMDD member. If it weren’t for that, he likely would’ve been arrested or worse.

“Hmph, you think you can act like that because you’re a Helsing? You think you have some special privilege that lets you do whatever you please?”

“Considering my other siblings are doing just that, then yes,” Janus bluntly states, causing the Tan girl to grow angry.

“At least they are Helsings by blood!” She snapped. “But you? You’re only a Helsing by name.”

The moment she talked about Janus’s adoption, Ana got surprised and then angry by her statement. Just before she could say anything, Janus did something unexpected.

He laughed.

“Hahahahaha! Is that it? That’s all you got? You’re pulling the ‘You’re not a real Helsing’ card? Seriously, now?” Janus held his stomach as he continued to laugh at the Tan girl’s weak taunts.

“Y-you bastard! You think this is funny?! We lost good people to that damn psycho bitch, and yet you defended her! She killed a few of our people, and you protected her like her life was more valuable than theirs!”

As the Tan girl went on a rant about this, Janus stopped laughing as he glared at the girl, causing her to clam up.

“You…don’t know Harriet like I do,” He said solemnly. “I will not deny Hyde’s actions for killing HMDD members, but that was Hyde. Not Harriet.”

Janus wasn’t going to defend Edna Hyde’s actions for killing all those people. After all, she did it all of her own volition.

However, that was Edna, not Harriet. That is why Janus defended and protected Hyde…because Harriet was just another victim that was going to suffer from her other self’s actions.

However, the tan girl didn’t see it that way…

“They’re the same people, you bastard!” She growled. “I don’t care if she’s suffering from that D.I.D shit! She killed our people and others! She deserves the death penalty!”

“You can say what you want…but what you say will not happen,” Janus declared, glaring at the Tan girl. “Harriet isn’t at fault for Edna’s actions. So she’s staying in a place where she and the people around her are safe.”

Janus didn’t care what people thought about Edna or Harriet. What mattered to him was keeping Harriet safe from both her other self and the people around her.

And if protecting Harriet created enemies…then so be it.

“Argh! I’ve had enough of this!” The Tan girl pulled out her wooden blade and pointed it at Janus. “Janus Van Helsing! I challenge you to match!”

Making this declaration, Ana had about enough of this.

“H-hold it! You shouldn’t resort to something like this!”

“Stay out of this!” Tan girl snarled at Ana. “This is between me and the Helsing!”

Not knowing what to do, Ana turned to Janus, likely going to attempt to convince him to decline. However…

“Fine, I accept.” Janus readily accepts the challenge, causing Ana’s face to grow paler.

With the challenge set in motion, both participants went over to the weapons rack.

“We’ll be using real blades,” The tan girl declared. “I’m assuming you’re okay with that?”

“I’m fine with whatever,” Janus said nonchalantly.

The tan girl clicked her tongue as she picked up a metal sword. Janus did the same and then the pair went up to the stage on opposite ends.

As the Tan girl pointed her blade at Janus, the young Helsing made a face, confusing her.

“W-what…?” She asked.

“The hell are you doing?” Janus scolded while pointing at her allies. “Why aren’t they coming up here?”

The tan girl turned to her allies to which they looked as confused as her.

“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

After hearing this, Janus started laughing again.

“Hahahaha!”

“Why are you laughing?!” The Tan girl demanded, fuming at that point.

“Y-you seriously think you can take me on by yourself? Have you forgotten that I’m a Helsing?”

“Only-!”

“In name, I get it. But, even if I’m a Helsing in name only or not, I’m still a Helsing.” Janus then glared at the tan girl, causing her to get startled. “As a Helsing, I received the same training as them, and if you don’t already know, out of all my siblings, I’m the strongest. Case and point, fighting me on your own isn’t a good plan.”

As Janus turned his glare to a smug grin, the Tan girl grew more irritated.

“Guys, grab your weapons and get up here!” She declared.

The other three HMDD members then went over to the weapon rack and grabbed their metal weapons before heading over to the platform as well. One had a spear, another had daggers, and the last one carried a bastard sword.

Meanwhile, Anastasia watched the whole scene unfold, not sure what to do in this situation. She could’ve called for backup and stopped the fight, but something told her that would only make things worse. With all the HMDD members having a grudge against Janus, she only put up a show for them, rather than having them stop it.

The four HMDD members faced off against Janus. They glared at one another, neither side making their move.

“So, are you going to make the first move or should-?!” Before he could say another word the tan girl charged at Janus with lightning speed.

She tried to stab Janus in his face, but he simply moved his head to the side, dodging the attack. The tan girl then slashed down on him, but Janus backed away, evading her second attack.

As he backed away, one of the HMDD members that carried the spear got behind Janus and thrust his spear, aiming for his back. Janus then maneuvered to the side as he grabbed the handle of the spear and pulled it toward him, pulling the HMDD member as well.

Before the HMDD spear wielder could do anything, Janus delivered a punch to the face and launched him backward.

Just then, the dagger wielder and bastard sword wielder charged at him. Janus didn’t look all that fazed as he brought his sword up and deflected both the daggers and the bastard sword.

He directed the bastard sword to the floor, causing it to get stuck and the daggers in the air, causing the dagger wielder to lose his weapons. Janus then grabbed the back of the dagger wielder's collar and tossed him at the bastard sword wielder, sending them both off the platform.

Janus turned to look for the tan girl when he saw her blade coming directly toward his face once more. He deflected the attack, but the tan girl wasn’t done as she kept swinging her blade at him, trying to find an opening.

While he was occupied with the tan girl, the spear wielder returned as he picked his spear back up, and charged at Janus. Instead of his back, the spear wielder went for his legs, likely immobilizing him, to give Tan girl the edge in the fight.

Unfortunately, Janus knew he was there as he lifted his leg that the spear guy was targeting and slammed it on the spear, breaking the weapon. While the spear wielder was surprised by this, Janus deflected another attack from Tan girl before closing the distance and punching her in the stomach.

Getting winded by the attack, the tan girl fell to her knees as Janus grabbed her and then tossed her at the spear wielder, sending them both off the platform like he did with the first two.

And like that, the match was over.

“Well, that was a good workout,” Janus gloated while stretching.

“U-urgh…!” The tan girl got up and glared at Janus. “Y-you arrogant…bastard!”

“I think the arrogant one here is you, considering you thought you can take on a Helsing and win.”

“G-grr…!”

“Hey, you’re the one that wanted this fight. I simply obliged, so don’t go throwing a temper tantrum since you lost.”

Getting off the platform, Janus went over to Ana who looked a bit stunned.

“Did you manage to see how I fought and took some references?” Janus asked out of the blue.

“H-huh? A-ah…no, I didn’t. I-I couldn’t even keep up…”

Ana wasn’t wrong that she couldn’t keep up. Janus’s movements were too fast for her to notice as he mopped the floor with the four HMDD members.

“Well, I’m sure another opportunity will appear where you can properly observe the fight,” Janus said as he walked over to the exit.

“I honestly hope nothing like this happens again…” Ana muttered to herself. “S-so what will we do now?”

“What else? We’re going on patrol!” Janus smiled as he declared that the pair were now going to patrol the night shift.

…

After the pair left the training grounds, the four HMDD members still remained on the floor. Completely defeated by Janus Van Helsing.

“Janus Van Helsing…you bastard….!” The tan girl gritted her teeth, frustrated by her defeat.

While stewing in her failure, a new HMDD member entered the Training Grounds and approached the group.

“I’m here for…what happened here?” The new HMDD member asked, puzzled by what happened.

“It’s…nothing,” the Tan girl said, pulling herself up. “What do you want?”

“Ah, right. I was sent here by Ms. Kora Van Helsing.”

“M-Ms. Kora?!” The tan girl jumped in surprise.

“Yes, she told me to tell you four to get ready for departure. You’ll be doing some patrolling on the night shift.”

“I-I see…we’ll be getting ready then.”

“Understood,” The HMDD member said while bowing.

He then left the group and went for the exit.

Meanwhile, the tan girl and the rest of her group started getting prepared for their night patrol…not knowing that she will somehow encounter Janus once again.