The first thing Dante remembers, when he regains consciousness, was him losing consciousness. The whiplash from the speed Giles used knocked him out. Even with his body protected by will, Dante couldn't withstand Giles' speed.
Opening his eyes, the first thing Dante sees is the sky.
Huh... Did that teacher leave me on the ground?
Before Dante could sit up, he hears a powerful shout nearby.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Dante sits up and sees a huge open field. At the center of the huge field is the teacher Dante saw earlier, Giles Ivor. Giles is currently being attacked by three other students.
"Oh, you're awake."
Dante quickly moves away from the source of the voice. Once Dante feels safe, he looks for the source of the voice. He sees another student sitting on a wooden bench.
"Calm down dude. I was assigned by the professor to watch over you. Name's Stevie Ephraim. Or just Steve."
Steve puts out his hand so Dante could receive it but the white-haired teenager did not accept it.
"Oookkkaaayyy..."
Steve puts down his hand and tries another tactic.
"Sooooo, you wanna try that?"
Steve points at professor Ivor who is currently being attacked by three students.
Dante focuses on the fight and notices the teacher who saved him is sparring with three other students. He stands up and leaves the bench. Dante quickly walks towards Ivor.
Steve sighs dejectedly.
"People have no manner nowadays. Won't even shake a man's hand."
Dante walks towards the battlefield where most of the other students are.
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On the battlefield, Ivor is currently testing the abilities of Cieran Villegas, Nicholas Witer, and Anne Jaxon.
Cerian and Nicholas are best friends and entered the academy at the same time. They were both put in the Calloren academy for their juvenile attitude which has caused damage to other people before.
Despite their record, they both have high potentials making them prime students for the catastrophe class of Calloren Academy.
"Nicholas! Follow through!"
Cerian and Nicholas are infusing their bodies with will. Because of this, they're moving with great speed, maneuvering their way around Giles who is currently standing still. While Cieran and Nicholas were circling him, Giles' eyes moved fast enough to track the two of them. He finds their speed odd. They're moving at a speed faster than what their power can allow them.
Quite Fast... Is it Anne's unique power?
The duo is practically invisible as they move around. They were leaving afterimages. Giles was surprised as he already studied the will of these two. Even if they infused every will they have just for speed, they shouldn't be able to move this fast.
Giles then looks at Anne who is only a few feet away from the action. He notices a smug smile on her face.
She seems confide-
Suddenly two fists in different directions appear. The fists almost break the sound barrier as they move towards Giles' stomach and face. While the attacks were fast, Giles could still see that they came from Cieran and Nicholas.
Fast but... not fast enough. Before that though, let's deal with the cause of the speed anomaly. Anyway, I've got to deal with her first. Now... hold back, can't kill a student.
Giles strains his body and he starts to move with just the right speed towards Anne. Cieran and Nicholas' eyes widen in surprise as Giles' speed was about to leave the two of them in the dust. But this was part of the plan.
Anne smiles, expecting this. Giles noticed that the fists that were about to reach him were suddenly quicker. No, Cieran and Nicholas didn't become faster, he became slower.
Giles uses more power and he barely manages to block the attacks of the duo. He tries to grab their hands but they quickly move away without any effort.
Anne smiles at Giles.
Smug girl.
Giles uses more of his power and he moves forward, faster than before but just like earlier Giles feels his body become slower.
A leg and a fist suddenly close in towards Giles again at a faster speed. Giles raises his arms to block the attacks.
Blocked.
Before Giles could go towards Anne, another combination of fists and kicks assault him. Using his supernatural speed, Giles focuses on protecting himself.
Blocked again.
The duo continues to become faster as Giles progressively becomes slower.
Each time Giles tries to move faster, the harder it is and the easier it is for the duo to attack him. Giles raised the amount of power he was using but he kept blocking. He couldn't counter against the duo's attacks. At his level of power, his attacks would kill Cieran and Nicholas.
Blocked again.
When Giles moves at around 10% of his physical power, which is enough to pulverize the two of them into dust, the duo becomes faster again.
Blocked again.
I see now.
Giles stops moving and for a few seconds nothing happens but it becomes apparent that the duo is becoming slower. He looks at Anne whose smile dropped.
That girl was transferring my speed to the other two... She can increase speed and also transfer? Interesting. But it must be based on something she can see or sense or at least be aware of...
Anne looked cautious. The duo seems to tense up as well as Giles have figured them out. Anne shouts at the duo circling Giles.
"You two might need to use your unique powers!"
Giles stands still, waiting for the duo to use their powers.
I just need to test out the powers of the-
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Giles suddenly hears a scream as he feels a massive amount of will heading towards him. Quickly turning to the source, Giles sees Dante running towards him with eyes that scream "I'm coming for you".
Oh, he's awake.
Anne sees an opportunity. She quickly uses her unique power on the will-infused Dante.
Dante, whose speed was already fast, suddenly moves twice as fast as the duo, appearing in front of Giles within a second. Despite just experiencing Anne's power, Dante managed to immediately adapt and use his newfound speed to attack Giles.
Cieran and Nicholas quickly notice the incoming Dante, so they take advantage of it. The two of them move to trap Giles.
Despite their speeds, Giles quickly moves his head to look at Steve who is quite far away. Giles notices the dejected kid and then he looks at Dante's angry face.
Poor Steve. This rude boy must've ignored him. Well, I only said 3 per group, now they're breaking the rules.
Before any of the 3 men surrounding him could react, Giles uses 20% of his physical strength, which effectively doubles his speed and power, and he disappears.
The three boys accidentally attack each other but they manage to block any attack. Seeing Giles disappear, Dante screams.
"Where did he go!?"
Giles responds to Dante's screaming.
"Here."
The three turns around to see Giles, holding Anne's arm behind her. While she could manipulate speed, to some extent, Giles moved at a speed that surpassed her current reaction time. Giles praises Anne, who did very well.
"Good job Anne, your unique power is quite potent to affect me like that."
Anne proudly smiles.
"Your will is pretty weak but you must've been making do with your speed right?"
To prove his point, Anne suddenly disappears from Giles' grasp. She then appears beside the other students. While she was blindingly fast for Cieran, Dante, and Nicholas, Giles could see Anne move towards the trio. She happily responds to Giles' question.
"Yes, sir Ivor. I've been making do with this type of speed."
Giles nods with satisfaction.
Such an amazing unique power. She doesn't even need strength because most of her opponents wouldn't be able to react to her. But I guess she wouldn't be able to harm enemies on my level.
"Anne, it's good that you're well versed with your unique power, unlike Cieran and Nicholas."
The duo looks a bit embarrassed.
"But I don't want you getting too reliant on them. From now on, you are to refrain from using your unique power unless for group practices. I want you to start using your will to enhance your speed."
Anne looks like she won't be listening. Giles gives her a smile
"If you don't listen, I'll just ask the dean for a power lock."
Anne's face pales and she quickly responds.
"No no no! I'm okay sir!"
Anne nervously laughs. The duo and some of the class seem to get a kick from it as well. Anne looks at Giles' smiling face and she thinks how serious he is.
He won't actually do it, right?
Giles continues to speak.
"Good, now-"
Dante appears in front of Giles and throws a punch.
Giles easily blocks the blow. Studying Dante, Giles senses his power.
This kid has a lot of will.
Dante starts attacking Giles with a combination of punches, kicks, and elbows.
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While Dante is attacking Giles, the class is starting to get to know each other. A student who enjoys watching the fight is currently staring at Dante.
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This student was Selena Woreset.
Wow... he has good reflexes... He must be strong... He'd be a good fight...
Unknown to Selena, she started to drool a bit. A student by her side noticed that.
"Ummm, Selena?"
The student calls out to Selena and she suddenly snaps back to reality. Before she looks at her classmate, she returns her normal cold facade. Turning to the one who called her, Selena tried to remember her name.
"Vera?"
Selena looks at Vera, who is beside her.
"You seemed worried. You kept staring at that white-haired kid. Do you think he's attacking sir Giles because of earlier?"
Selena tilts her head.
"Earlier?"
Selena tries to recall what happened earlier but all she remembers was the fear she felt when she stared at Giles.
Unlike most people, Selena's unique power comes paired with other miniature powers. One of these powers is the ability to sense how dangerous an individual is compared to her.
For now, Giles is akin to an exploding supernova while Selena is a small ant.
It was rare for Selena to feel fear.
She usually feels excited when she finds someone stronger than her. Vera notices that Selena was in her own world again so she continues.
"Yes, earlier. Don't you remember? Sir Giles brought in that white-haired kid unconscious and foaming."
Selena tries her best to remember what happened.
Oh yeah... so that kid fighting the professor was the one he brought in.
Selena stares at the defensive professor and she smiles. She was excited and wanted to fight him but she was on the last of the list.
I've never seen anyone this strong before. I won't let it pass me by.
Selena calls Vera's attention.
"Vera. Hey hey."
Vera looks at Selena.
"Yes, Sel?"
Selena smiles at how quickly Vera gave her a nickname. She liked it.
"Did you feel hurt by the professor's comment before about us, being freaks?"
Vera's face hardens. She understood why he said it but it didn't mean she had to like it.
"Yeah, but his reasons were in the right place so I guess I can ignore it."
Selena knew that Vera was holding back.
"Want to at least try to punish him?"
Vera's eyes shine with some mischievousness.
"Do you have a plan?"
Selena wasn't trying to hide it so their talking got the attention of other students. Gus approaches the two girls with some confidence.
"I want in as well."
Vera looks at Gus and was about to include him but Selena quickly speaks.
"Hah! Do you think you'll do well against the professor? I don't think you'll do any real damage."
Selena looks at Gus and senses that if they were put in a fight, she would win 7 out of 10 times. Gus frowns but he maintains his neutral state.
"You underestimate me."
Selena chuckles at Gus' words filled with pride. She knew that he was weaker than her just based on his will but she wanted to enjoy the fight, not get knocked out by a single strike.
"Sure, you can join."
Gus seems to stare at the professor with some bitterness. He calls Calmas who is a few feet away from him.
"You want to join in as well Calmas?"
Calmas, who was currently sitting alone, was surprised when he was called.
"M-Me?"
Gus nods.
"Yeah, your unique power is opposite to mine."
That confused Calmas.
"Wha-what do you mean?"
Gus responds to Calmas' question.
"Don't think I noticed. When sir Ivor called you out, the area around you started to sizzle. I had to shut you up or else you might have burned others."
Calmas looks guilty.
"Don't worry."
Gus puts his hands up and solid ice appears.
"I won't let you burn anyone. I can remove the heat from your fires and if it's too cold-"
Calmas finishes Gus's sentence.
"I can heat things up."
Gus nods approvingly.
"Good."
Vera smiles at the two boys.
"You now have a reason to come out of the closet! Wonder who'll come out first."
Calmas seems shocked by this.
"What!"
Gus ignores the jab and looks towards their other classmates.
"Anyone else who wants to join?"
Others were listening in.
"We'll join!"
The small group sees Moriah dragging Seth and another girl with her. The girl seems a bit dismayed but Seth seems to appreciate the attention of the larger woman.
"Seth, Livia, and I want to at least surprise the smug professor."
Gus and Selena look at Seth and Livia with a mischievous smile.
"Ye-yeah! That professor deserves to be taken off his high heels!"
Livia chuckles.
"I think the right phrase is a high horse."
Seth stutters a bit.
"Ye-yeah... that's what I meant!"
Seth tries his best to be brave which earns a snickering smile from Livia. Livia seems to get annoyed at Seth's efforts.
"Anyo-"
Gus calls to see if anyone else was interested but someone immediately cuts him off.
"We'll join."
The group notices Cieran and Nicholas come in.
"Didn't you two just have the chance to fight him?"
Cieran says with some annoyance.
"Yeah, but we want to hit him at least once."
Moriah lets go of Seth and Livia, who both falls to the ground.
"Ow."
"Ouch."
Moriah calls Cieran and Nicholas.
"Hey! You two!"
They both look at the rather tall devil girl. Nicholas answers her call with a smile.
"Yeah?!"
Moriah speaks.
"You think we have a chance against the professor?"
Nicholas replies with some optimism.
"Yes, we've seen the peak of his power. It was when he suddenly disappeared to grab Anne. Speaking of Anne, hey Anne! You want to try and beat the professor again?"
Anne looks at the growing group and she shakes her head.
"Nah, I'm not allowed to use my Unique Power, so I won't be much of help. I'll try to learn from your fight though."
A thought enters Anne's head.
Ha, the peak of sir Ivor's power. Nicholas and Cieran didn't see what I see. I could barely see how fast sir Ivor was, even when I was prepared to enhance myself.
Cieran gives her a quick wave. Nicholas elbows him and they both chuckle like idiots.
Selena has become a bit impatient and she says loudly.
"So are we going or not?"
Gus replies to her with calmness.
"Yeah, we're just checking if anyone else wants to join."
Vera chimes in.
"How many are we now?"
Seth stands up from the ground.
"Well, we're 10-"
Gus corrects Seth.
"9, Anne didn't join."
Selena chuckles.
"10 of us, if we include that crazy kid."
They take a moment to look at Dante who's currently attacking Giles, who's only defending himself.
"Who did he say he was?"
Gus shrugs. He turns around and calls Steve who's sitting near a rock. He was lazing around with his eyes half-closed.
"Hey, Steve! What's that guy's name?"
Steve looks at Gus and does his best to shout back.
"Dante! He never told me his name but I saw his ID. If you ask me, he's a rude kid."
Gus nods.
"Thanks, Steve! Wanna join?!"
Steve shakes his head.
"Nah, I'm okay here. I'm going to relax."
Steve lies down and enjoys the cold air in the battleground.
The group goes back to planning.
Cieran says with some annoyance.
"We're 10 in total. We'll take him by surprise... If only we have Anne's unique power, we'd be able to act faster."
The group agrees but they don't want to impose themselves on someone they just met.
"So what's the plan?"
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Giles continues to observe Dante as he blocks all of his attacks. Despite only using a portion of his strength, Giles is surprised by the weight and strength behind Dante's will-infused attacks.
Hmmm... His will isn't just pure talent. He's been training.
While Giles is impressed by Dante's skills, Dante isn't too amused by his inability to harm Giles.
What the hell! Why can't I hit him?!
And to add insult to injury, Giles praised Dante.
"You're strong. What's your name again kid?"
Dante performs a powerful kick towards Giles. Giles easily blocks the powerful blow but he underestimated Dante's strength, causing him to get pushed back.
Dante stops attacking, proud that he managed to move Giles.
With a few seconds of breathing room, Giles dusts his pants.
"My name is Dante! If you're gonna be my teacher! Stop blocking and teach me!"
Giles shrugs.
"Is that how you've been taught? Well, that explains your sloppy fighting technique."
That pissed Dante off.
"GRRRRR!"
While Giles was blocking, he has been making small jabs towards Dante's technique.
This earns the ire of Dante who continues to fight without any end. Giles frowns.
This has become boring now. Dante won't learn anything if I keep this up.
Giles decides to end the fight but before he could say anything, he sees something approaching him on both sides with his peripheral vision.
A gout of fire and concentrated ice approaches Giles at both sides with extreme speed.
Tsk.