Chapter 51: Back in Business

I took in the chilly, morning air as I made my way to the cafeteria. The days had been getting colder, and though it was still early, the person I was meeting was also an early riser. As I walked in, I spotted her sitting at a table with her back to the entrance.

“Morning,” I greeted her.

Colleen jumped slightly.

“Ah—Cadel! Man, you startled me!” she exclaimed.

“Sorry. Hope I didn’t keep you waiting too long.”

It had been a while since I had last seen Colleen in person. She was my first friend here, a connection we made during the bus ride to campus. We had struck up a conversation and exchanged contact information back then. Although we had planned to meet after my school camp, things got complicated. Between Soren being on the loose and the school’s lockdown measures, it had been nearly impossible to find the time, especially since Colleen was part of the Research Division, housed in a different area of the school. Her Division was busy with their own project work, which had left her with little free time.

Now that our schedules had finally aligned, we’d arranged to catch up and share everything we’d experienced over the past few weeks.

“No worries! I just got here not too long ago!” Colleen gestured to the seat opposite her.

As I took it, she leaned forward, “So, what was so important, or secretive, that you couldn’t mention over the phone?” her eyes sparkled as she whispered.

I decided to start things off slowly.

“What the school had shared with us was accurate. A criminal suddenly broke in and caused a scene, so our camp ended prematurely. Since they were unable to catch him, the school was put on lockdown.”

Colleen gave me a flat look. “Bruh. Everyone already knows that,” she pouted. “I’m asking about something less obvious. Maybe something only you or a few others saw? The way you phrased it, it seemed like you had something more to share.”

Her inquisitiveness was fitting for someone in the Research Division.

Since it was early on a Saturday, there were few people in the cafeteria. I made sure no one was within earshot as I continued. “So, what do you know?”

She tilted her head. “Okay, from what I’ve heard from some of my friends, apparently you guys got attacked by someone. Some of you were pretty badly hurt in the process. The criminal is highly dangerous and still on the run. Am I correct?”

I nodded my head. After a brief pause, I decided to test her a little.

“Ever heard of Umbra?”

She frowned, shaking her head.

“Umbra is the organisation that the criminal is part of,” I explained. I didn’t elaborate further, but Umbra was much more than that. It was the very reason I had been forced into that nightmare research program. One where children like me were experimented on.

“How do you know that?” she fired back.

“I had a brief conversation with the criminal.”

“What?! You talked with the criminal?” Her look was one of incredulity.

“Shh! Yeah, anyway, he claimed to be a 6-Star.”

“Are you serious?”

“Not joking. He had ice-related powers, and could bring his surroundings to dangerously low temperatures.”

The school had instructed me to keep this information confidential, but I figured Colleen’s expertise in research could be invaluable in digging up more details in the long run. I hadn’t revealed Soren’s exact identity yet—this was a calculated test to gauge how much she could uncover on her own.

“Hmm…” Colleen looked deep in thought. “What were his motives for invading the camp? Also, did he just leave on his own volition?”

Fortunately, I had prepared answers to those questions as well.

“He said he wanted to gauge the strength of the students here. He left after he was disappointed no one could put up a challenge.”

What I just said was, of course, a lie. In actuality, Soren had come seeking revenge on Scarlette for severely injuring his little brother, Kazen. He had disappeared from the scene because he had found himself overpowered by a certain Yours Truly.

“That’s uhh… pretty lame reason for his actions,” Colleen observed.

I shrugged. “I don’t claim to understand criminals.”

Colleen squinted at me curiously. “You know, I’ve been hearing things about you as well, Cadel. Are the rumours true?”

Well, this was rather inconvenient. “Who can say?” I said, keeping a neutral tone to my voice.

“You’re not really a 2-Star, are you?”

She probably wasn’t going to let this up if I didn’t give her a straightforward answer. “Yes, there’s more to me than what meets the eye. But for certain reasons, I can’t really disclose anything else right now.”

Colleen leaned back, frowning. “Fair enough. Is there anything else you can share?”

“When you do your research on Umbra, be careful. They’re a dangerous organisation. Also, do keep what I’ve just told you to yourself.”

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

“Figures. Alright then, I’ll let you know if I dig up anything useful.”

With that, our conversation became more casual as we caught up on school life, sharing anything else we found interesting events from the past few weeks.

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Ms Reina tapped the whiteboard to get our attention. “The Intra-District Tournament is coming up,” she began. “As you know, the semester is ending soon, and before the break, we’ll hold our annual tournament with Horizon High. For you first-years, it’ll be a one-on-one combat event, organised in a standard elimination format. Each class is required to send two participants, which we’ll decide on later.” She continued, highlighting that this was an opportunity to not just showcase individual abilities, but our school’s overall strength compared to them.

Back in my usual seat in class, I glanced around at my friends, who were equally attentive. Over the short time that we had spent together, we had formed a close bond with one another. They really made life more bearable in this school.

“Make sure you pay attention, Cadel. It’s your thing,” Kaede whispered, winking at me.

“One way or another, I’ll have you be one of the representatives for our class,” Scarlette muttered under her breath.

Ms Reina continued, “As you may know, our relationship with Horizon High has been... tense, to put it mildly. Winning is a priority.”

A bespectacled boy in front raised his hand. “Is it really safe for us to hold a large-scale tournament now, especially with what had just happened?”

“Excellent question, Spencer. Rest assured, security will be significantly heightened during the event. There will be stringent checks, round-the-clock monitoring, and additional guards from the Administration. Horizon High—corrupt as they may be—will also be doing their best to ensure the safety of their own students.”

Her attitude held a trace of disdain for our rival school, undoubtedly influenced by yet another incident that had occurred a few weeks prior—My friends and I had gotten attacked by Ignar, a lava-manipulating esper. Instead of apologising to us, their school had decided to sweep this matter under the carpet. There was plenty of back and forth as the two schools bickered over it. Of course, our teacher was involved. And with the camp incident, it was obvious how much Ms Reina cared about our safety. Fortunately, she looked less fatigued these days as the lingering stress from the recent turmoil began to subside.

But back to the present. From what Ms Reina explained, the tournament was set to begin in two weeks and would last for another two. There looked to be a total of 128 participants across the two schools for our year level. Initial matchups would be seeded based on our performances in the Practical Assessment portion of our General Enrollment Examination, which we had taken before selecting our schools. Also, it looked like standard combat rules would apply.

As the lesson neared its end, Ms Reina made her final announcement. “As mentioned earlier, we’re gonna need two representatives for our class. Please finalise the decision among yourselves and submit your decisions by tomorrow. Class dismissed.”

After she left, Spencer, our class representative, took over. “Alright guys. Firstly, are there any volunteers?”

Silence enveloped us as my classmates peered at one another curiously. I noticed several stares in Kazen and Scarlette’s direction. Which was to be expected, given that they were the only two 5-Stars in our class. However, I noticed a few furtive glances in my direction as well.

“What are you waiting for?” Scarlette hissed at me.

“It’ll be weird if I volunteered immediately. People are gonna think this is a prank or something,” I replied.

“So you’re just gonna sit there?”

“I’ll give it a few. Anyway, what about you? Aren’t you gonna participate as well?”

Scarlette averted her eyes. “I mean… if no one else does, then I guess I don’t mind…”

I understood that it was a tough decision for her. After all, she had just lost 3 duels in a row: to me, Kazen and Zara, the last of which was a girl who could manipulate air. That duel was only a couple of days ago.

I glanced at Kazen, who happened to be staring daggers at me. I flicked my head, indicating that he should volunteer. He went back to facing the front, unmoving. Was he perhaps not interested? Or maybe he didn’t want to face off against me again? There was a possibility that we would be matched against each other as the tournament progressed.

“If no one is interested, then I’d like to recommend Cadel, and either Scarlette or Kazen,” proposed Spencer.

A sense of uneasiness and confusion fell over the class. I heard a few mutterings of my name as my classmates glanced nervously at me.

“Is Cadel actually that good?” a voice called out.

“If you’ve seen what he was capable of during the camp, then yes,” replied Spencer. He himself had seen me in action when my team faced off against Kazen’s, which he was a part of. “If there are no objections, Cadel, if you may?”

I gave a simple nod. “Alright. But I want Scarlette with me.”

Scarlette’s eyes widened in surprise. “Wha-? Huh?”

“Why are you so shocked?”

“Because, well—”

“You said it yourself, you wouldn’t mind if no one else volunteered,” goaded Jonah.

Scarlette sighed, defeated. “Fine…”

“Great! So our two representatives will be Scarlette and Cadel! I’ll let Ms Reina know,” announced Spencer.

While my classmates were momentarily surprised by me being one of the representatives, they looked to already be past it as they started filing out of the class. To be fair, this decision didn’t really concern them. To most of them, who represented the class didn’t matter. In fact, some were probably relieved that it didn’t come down to drawing lots.

“I can’t wait to see you two in action!” Kaede clapped enthusiastically.

“Same here. Are you two really alright with it though?” Mira asked.

I nodded. This was not only a great opportunity to test my skills against other strong students, but also to clinch the prize reward awaiting the winner. People were already suspicious of my true abilities anyway.

Scarlette was a little more hesitant, but she agreed as well. “Yeah. I mean, I’m used to losing already. What’s the worst that could happen?”

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Student Records

Written by Reina Callisto, homeroom teacher of class 1C

As requested by the Administration to assist in the investigation regarding the incident on Day 4 of Camp Eclipse.

Cadel Ren: A powerful student with the Ability to manipulate energy. Initially graded as a 4-Star during the Pre-Enlistment Practical Assessment, his powers have consistently exceeded expectations. Engaged in a duel with Soren Rain, forcing the latter to retreat. Tends to keep to his circle of friends in this group during class.

Kaede Tsukishi: A 2-Star student with the Ability to manipulate plasma, albeit to a limited degree. Kaede has shown continuous improvement since the start of the school year. Notably, she was the only student in this group to avoid injury from Soren’s attack. Generally soft-spoken but well-liked by her peers.

Scarlette Falcon: A 5-Star student from District 1, Scarlette has quickly gained recognition among her peers. Impulsive and temperamental, she is the leader of the affected group. Scarlette suffered severe injuries from Soren Rain but was swiftly treated by her groupmate, Mira Coven, preventing further harm. She is highly skilled in fire manipulation.

Jonah March: The group’s only 1-Star, Jonah possesses the Ability to manipulate light rays. Despite his current limitations, Jonah has shown steady improvement. Known for his humour and playful demeanour, Jonah is also deeply caring. He sustained a critical injury in an act of sacrifice while attempting to protect his friends from Soren.

Mira Coven: The group’s, and class 1C’s only healer. Currently rated at 2-Stars, she has displayed exceptional healing abilities far surpassing her Rank, as demonstrated during the camp when she treated Scarlette’s injuries. Though quiet and shy, Mira is a loyal and dependable friend. Potential for an Uprank.

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