10:30 am.

Although what was happening was far too entertaining for some to miss out on, the classes had already begun and thus, it was impossible for other classes who had their respective classes already starting to stay and watch.

Outside teachers were not allowed to intervene against any of the principal's orders, who mysteriously ordered the full punishment of both Akihiko and Sana, hence the homeroom teachers responsible for the rest of the classes issued their students to come right away.

However, in the middle of the outside of block A, stood almost an entirety of a single class, respectfully a portion of them being male students.

Why were they standing there instead of simply attending classes? For what reason were they unable to accomplish this simple task?

"How are we losing to one single guy... He's not even awake... Is he? His eyes are closed. So how come he is standing up? This makes no sense..."

Shurit, an average height boy who is part of class A stood in the middle of this unbelievable scenario while questioning how Akihiko, who was previously shown to be unconscious, is still standing up despite all the physical attacks.

"He's not attacking as well, which means that if we don't attack him then he most likely won't attack us. After all, he only managed to strike Sugimoto and Clausolas down because they initiated the attacks on their own..."

Further delving into the subject at hand, Shurit observed from afar Akihiko's pattern and had come to the quick conclusion that Akihiko was not deliberately striking anyone unless that anyone stroke him in the first place.

"Kid, I've been listening to you for a while now, but what are you talking about?"

Unable to hide his surprise, Rodrick asked Shurit that question and since he did, everyone else looked at Shurit too. Naturally, they were curious why Akihiko was not striking them deliberately.

Regardless, Shurit would compromise and give a succinct answer according to his own thought process.

"I'm not an expert in the area of consciousness but there is a slight chance of this possibly happening. You'll have to believe me here, otherwise, this is pointless."

Without any sort of objection coming in from Rodrick nor anyone who stood at this moment, Shurit continued.

"I don't think that he is unconscious."

"What? Then how do you explain this, Shurit?"

Impulsively demanding an immediate answer, Zen interrupted Shurit in a flash.

Since Zen was immensely struggling with understanding the current scenario, it has been bothering him for a while how incomprehensible this is to him.

"If he is unconscious, then it would be impossible for him to stand up. That much is obvious. But, what if he just tapped out? In martial arts, it's a common move to do so, to forcefully shut down your own consciousness for a small portion. However, the fighter will not hit the state of unconscious, he will simply tap out."

"So you are saying that he simply tapped out and that is why he is still standing up? But how? What's the difference between tapping out and being unconscious?"

"Zen, tapping out could very well symbolize the synonym of being knocked out, which was what actually happened. That's the only logical explanation I can possibly come up with. Also, the fact that he is only reacting when we do strike him is pure proof that he isn't aware of this. In other words, he is maintaining minimal brain activity which is allowing him to be physically present."

"I see, Shurit. According to your reasoning, he is physically standing, which means that he isn't mentally here, correct? Subconscious then?"

"That's what I think, Catastor. The difference between the unconscious and subconscious could very well be the key to understanding the situation. If he is subconscious, then that would allow physical instincts to come into play. Hence, I think that is why he is able to fight back. Because he must be trained to a point where he can produce such ridiculous results."

After hearing what Shurit had just said, the rest started to truly believe that Akihiko was never unconscious in the first place but that he simply hit the state of being knocked out. Even though it can be hard to distinguish the differences, Shurit was able to deliver concrete reasoning to his classmates as to why Akihiko was still standing.

"Hold on, I'm not understanding something. If he can fight this well, then why didn't he do it in the first place? He knocked Sugimoto and Clausolas out already but earlier he was acting like a complete coward. Also, Rodrick, if we go by Shurit's reasoning, I sincerely doubt that this is an act. He is simply subconscious right now."

Certainly, it wasn't impossible to pull out an act like this, but the likelihood of succeeding should be fairly small.

Nonetheless, Rodrick truly wanted to disagree with Zen's words yet as soon as he gazed upon the standing figure of Akihiko he concluded that there was no other possible way.

"I see... Then, this criminal, who is standing right here just a few meters in front of us, is an actual monster?"

Icore, yet another student from class A posed those shaking words to the atmosphere of the chilling winter.

"Though, there is no reason to be afraid. So far, from what we could tell, he can only strike back once you go into his radius. He doesn't wait for you to land a strike on him. Additionally, as soon as you enter his radius, he will supposedly knock you out. If that's the case, then we should all just straight-up gang up on him. Because, if we go one by one, it might just prove to be fatal."

Once again, Shurit said reassuring words to the rest of the class yet this time, not all people agreed with him.

"That's ridiculous. There is no necessity to be so try-hard about this... I'll finish him on my own."

Glacia, a proud student that was far too confident in his physical abilities begged to differ against Shurit's reasoning this time.

But, Shurit noticed the flaws in Glacia's words.

"Glacia, don't be stubborn about this. Can't you just put your individuality aside for a while? He's not a joke, you know? Being foolish about this isn't a good thing."

"Shut up, Shurit. You're making way too much of a deal about this. This guy is nothing to fear..."

"You're not getting my point, Glacia. Although I said that he wasn't something to joke about, we should not prioritize such things as pride. If we fight him together, then he will stand no chance. Come on, just look at him! His body is so fragile that it feels as if he's gonna crumble any minute now!"

"That's even better, Shurit. If he's in such a state, then teaming up is absolutely unnecessary. Also, I can't believe you are being so cautious about this."

Realizing it was far too late to change his mind, Shurit was taken aback and fell silent right away.

Without fear, Glacia marched forward to the lone standing Akihiko who was putting up a fighting stance yet no signs of showing independent movements regarding his escape.

This told Glacia that Akihiko was purely acting out on instinct and that nothing could possibly go wrong in a scenario of physical strength.

"Shurit, you said something that he only strikes the ones who meddle in his radius, right? Let's test that."

The lone figure that was the target of Glacia was shaking uncontrollably due to too much accumulated physical trauma yet that wasn't enough for Glacia to let down his guard.

In order to test Akihiko's radius range, Glacia performed a low kick onto Akihiko's left calf with his right leg.

Yet, Glacia was intercepted with Akihiko's knee in response which caused pain to be inflicted quickly onto Glacia's leg.

Thus, Glacia instantly backed off a few steps.

"Dangerous bastard, I'll give you that much. Hey, did you all see that? In just a matter of split seconds, he countered my low kick and was ready to continue his assault if I had remained in his radius. Also, it's supposedly around 60 centimeters but not more, I think. This means that by the time you enter that radius, you will get your lights knocked the hell out."

"If you know that then you---"

Shurit attempted to reason with Glacia yet again but was immediately cut off by Glacia's unexpected words.

"Don't get me wrong. I'm just demonstrating. I will handle this guy by myself regardless of how dangerous he is."

At the same time, Rodrick was using this situation to get any possible information of Akihiko, who was a current mystery to him and anyone else standing.

"How about we go one at the time? It makes more sense this way."

"What? Zen, are you saying that I'm going to lose like those two there?"

Harshly replying to Zen, Glacia pointed at the two knocked out figures on the ground.

"Your right leg is shaking quite hard. You might not show it that much, but it did considerably hurt, did it not? Therefore, this is just assuming that you will lose. So, yes, I do think that you are going to lose."

In response to Zen's taunt, Glacia clenched his fists tightly while forming a swirl of anger.

It was additionally visible how pissed off Glacia was by being looked down upon by Zen.

"You'll all regret mocking me..."

Ultimately, Glacia resumed his initial objective and walked into Akihiko's direction, however, he could not resist saying a few words before he got onto the real thing.

"Just checking, but what are you? Can you listen to this? Are you pretending to listen to this or something? Hm? What's the deal here? This is too good to be true. Under my impression, you are pulling out an act. You seem fairly trained. It takes another person who is experienced in martial arts to know the same, so I can tell. That's why, if you are acting, then you can stop it."

But no response came forward.

All that could be heard was the chilling gale passing by and Akihiko's nervous breathing.

"No response? Well, whatever. I'll be serious now. No hard feelings, alright? I just respect people that practice martial arts as well, but from the looks of it... You're just another damn fucking fake!!"

Glacia had realized something before initiating his battle sequence.

Akihiko's pattern functioned on counter-attacking. The very fact that he isn't striking first shows that yet that would be false to assume because previously, as soon as Glacia entered Akihiko's radius, he received an immediate counter-attack.

Nonetheless, assuming that Akihiko purely functions on counter-attacks can be lethal.

Glacia had not eliminated the possibility of it being the other way around. In other words, as soon as Glacia entered Akihiko's radius, he did not strike and simply stood there to see what was about to happen.

"As I thought, you will only act once you are att-"

Unknowingly, Glacia had relaxed the moment he had entered Akihiko's radius, which proved to be fatal to him, since Akihiko's right palm took immediate hold of Glacia's face, rose it up on the air and ultimately splashed it into the ground.

This alone confirmed that Akihiko was not functioning on counter-attacking alone, but whoever that got inside his radius would perish without mercy.

Blood started to flush from Glacia's face who was lying face down. Needless to say, several parts of his face got brutally crushed and disfigured in consequence.

As a result of his former cockiness, Glacia was officially out of action.

"Monster..."

"How are we even going to beat that...?"

As this was happening, the majority of the class A boys had even forgotten why they were fighting Akihiko in the first place and were simply consumed on winning.

Mainly Zen, who was observing the situation clearly.

"I see. So he doesn't just counter-attack, but the moment you infiltrate his radius, he will strike back. Therefore, it was a pure coincidence to assume that he would counter-attack. Sugimoto and Clausolas initiated firstly, so it made sense to assume such, but from what I have just seen, that's not how his modus operandi works."

"That's not all, Zen. His instincts are far too sharp. Glacia only relaxed for a split second yet the moment he did, this guy took ahold of his face and smashed it on the ground in a flash..."

Zen and Shurit were being analytical about this in order to conclude what could be done to win in this scenario.

"Kid, weren't you the one who said that you were next in case that he lost?"

So far, Rodrick was out of the fight in order to gather some more evidential clues on how Akihiko's habits essentially worked and just how far he could go, but he made sure to remind Zen what he had previously said.

Though, Zen was far too relaxed and lax about this.

Never for once, in his life, did Zen truly know the concept of fear.

"I did say something like that, didn't I? Fair enough, I will end this. Plus, it's getting late. Aren't we like 20 minutes late? Haha, this is too much of a joke. And... I have finished concluding everything that there is about this guy. This should be a wrap."

Noticeably, after saying those words, Zen did the same as the knocked out Glacia and walked towards Akihiko and proceed to attempt to taunt him.

"You're not winning this, by the way. It's impossible. Wanna know why? Because martial arts have one fatal weakness and that is weapons. Your eyes are closed because you are supposedly subconscious right now. I get it, but I really wish you could look at this sharp knife that I'm currently holding. To be honest, I could have just ended this from the start but for the sake of analyzing any possible flaws, I prolonged this on purpose."

Even though he was not getting any verbal responses from Akihiko, without entering his radius, Zen continued to explain his reasoning.

"Surely, your instincts are top-notch. I dare say that if this was a martial arts fight that I would straight up lose. I'm experienced in jiu-jitsu but even I am not confident that I can go up against that monstrosity of skills you possess. And that's why I will not fight you in a fight of physical contact, instead, I will permanently force your body to rest, by stabbing you so hard that you will enter in a physical state of inability. Because, this way, not only will you be heavily injured but not even your body will be able to sustain the pain. And trust me, I'm aware of how fragile your body is right now."

Despite admitting his short-comings, Zen was not afraid to admit that he was inferior to Akihiko in some departments. But, that obviously staggered Zen's consciousness a little bit, since he could not accept inferiority well.

And, from the looks of it, since Zen started to swirl around with his medium-sized sharp knife, it would indicate that Zen was not done talking just yet.

"Let me guess, you will attack me despite my choice of not attacking right? Then, I will just stab you with whatever you throw at me. Should you throw a straight fist at me, you will swallow this knife's blade edge so deeply that not even someone like you will be able to escape. Likewise, should you throw me a kick or just any movement at all, you will meet the same destination. Don't you get it? You are doomed. I am following a flawless strategy without any chance of you countering it back. Of course, if only you were conscious right now, you could hear me and form a plan to counter this, but that's not the case."

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Having determined the possible outcomes of the upcoming clash, Zen was looking pretty confident and so was Shurit, who didn't differ Zen's reasoning. Nevertheless, Zen still issued some words before moving on.

"Then again, this is pretty pointless to say. I'm talking to a vessel right now, not an actual person, so to speak. Let's just finish this. Everyone, go back to the class, will you? I got this."

"Wait, Zen, are you sure?"

"What, Shurit? Are you honestly doubting me?"

"That's not it... Didn't this guy defeat everyone's expectations so far? I'm not saying that we should not follow your strategy and trust me, I do support it, but what if you fail? Shouldn't there be a backup plan?"

"What are you talking about? We already have a backup plan. Rodrick himself is the one responsible for this. So, should I somehow fail, he will take care of this. All he did was to give us the privilege to partake in this beating. Also... I'm not failing. Don't speak to me in that tone, got that?"

Zen's last words pierced Shurit's confidence straight up due to how serious they were to him. Never had he seen Zen so serious about this.

To Shurit, Zen was someone who he looked up to for the simple reason of how brilliant he was in whatever he did. In contrast to such belief, Shurit could not shake off this unusual sentiment of worry from his being.

He could not stop thinking the following lines: 'What if something happens?' 'What if this fails?'

Yet shortly, he realized that Zen would not lose since Zen had never lost in sight of him.

While this conversation was going on, the remaining boys of class A carried the three knocked out figures with them and left the scene.

Shurit had left as well since he was placing immense confidence onto Zen.

Right now, since it was class time, there were no other people around except Rodrick, Zen, and Akihiko.

Since the blinds of the classrooms' windows were closed, no other person could see what was currently happening nor could any teacher be allowed to intervene.

"What are you waiting for?"

Impatient to the lack of action, Rodrick asked Zen, who was standing with his palms open in this snowy day, what was he waiting for.

After all, Rodrick was puzzled why Zen was taking so long despite all that confident talk.

"I was just appreciating the weather."

"Get on with it. I don't have all day long."

"Alright, alright."

To Zen, time was nigh. In front of him, just a few meters away, stood Akihiko who was severely injured.

"Now then... Show me what you got!"

Swiftly forming a dash, Zen quickly infiltrated Akihiko's range.

In response to this action, Akihiko launched a kick onto Zen's waist.

Just as Zen was about to receive a powerful kick, he intercepted the horizontal kick by stabbing Akihiko's left leg in the process.

If there is something that Zen learned is that a moment of carelessness can be crucial so Zen immediately took out the knife that was pierced inside Akihiko's left leg to intercept the following right hook that was immediately directed at him.

To do so, Zen firmly held the edge of his knife and allowed Akihiko to connect the hook straight to the edge of his knife.

"Told you so. Whatever you do, I will counter it. It's useless, no matter how much you try."

For this to work, Zen could not leave his knife on the body part that just tried to attack him for a long period of time, otherwise, his way of counter-attacking was nullified.

And so, as soon as Akihiko tried to launch a quick left punch, Zen did the exact same.

Akihiko's fists were bleeding from the inside of his tendons so much that a bloodstream started to form.

"What did I just tell you? It's--- What...?"

To Zen's surprise, Akihiko, for the very first time, completely backed off a few meters to regain his stance, yet Akihiko's left and right fists were down for the count since he could not put them up high like previously. Additionally, Akihiko's left leg wasn't showing any signs of strength.

"What is this? You're backing off? Just like that? Talk about disappointing. But, logically speaking, this is the correct reaction. It doesn't matter how much you try, your body has its limits. And you, have just hit a fair share of them, so to speak."

Smoking a cigar, with his back against the wall, Rodrick thought to himself that this was all that there was.

That it was impossible to come back from this scenario.

But something caught Rodrick and Zen off guard.

".......................ot lose............."

A weak voice just leaked out, and they both realized immediately to who it belonged to.

"So you can speak, huh? Or was that an instinctive reaction as well?"

Zen was confidentially slowly walking towards Akihiko who was about 3 meters away from him. His confidence came from the fact that Akihiko's body was shaking violently in response to the over-accumulation of physical trauma.

"Your stance is gone. Your body can barely move, but you can talk. Even though your eyes remain closed. Therefore, this was an instinctive reaction. Nevertheless, the time has come. It's about time to end this, don't you think?"

Yet again entering Akihiko's radius, Zen stood tall inside the dreadful range of mortality, but Akihiko did not do anything.

"No? Nothing. Okay then. I'm not afraid of striking independently. So, here we go...!"

Although Zen still remained puzzled by Akihiko's unfinished words, he nonetheless proceeded to strike Akihiko's left shoulder.

Zen additionally knew that both of Akihiko's fists and his left leg would not be able to keep up, so he thought to himself that the only alternatives of defense were his right leg, but since Zen was aiming far too high, there would not be any chance of that happening.

But, Zen failed to foresee the act of savagery that Akihiko would perform in order to gain the upper edge.

Just as the edge was about to clash on his shoulder, Akihiko took a strong bite at the edge, which instantly caused several of his nerves to flush out bloodstreams.

"A-Are you serious?! You're bitting the knife's edge!? Are you insane?!"

Never for once did Zen see this coming. It was far too insane of a move to bite a knife in the first place.

Only someone who was truly desperate would do that in the first place.

"But so what!? I'll just take it out and do another atta..........ck?"

Yet Zen couldn't. Akihiko's bite was far too strong for him to take a hold of his knife again.

This caused Zen to enter a state of paranoia. In which, after seeing that his strategy had failed, could not form a single thought.

His mind went, unbeknownst to him, blank all over a sudden.

"Bastard! Let go of it, right now!!"

While Zen was attempting to retrieve his knife back, he had officially let down his guard and was fully prioritizing the recovery of his knife.

Which was why he didn't notice Akihiko's sudden movement with his right leg on his crotch.

"Kuaaaaaahh.... H-How could this.....?"

Once a male individual takes a deep kick into the crotch, it's hard to get up and in the majority of the cases, it's enough to put someone out of the fight right away.

"Ahh..... Ahhhhhh..."

Akihiko's breathing got a whole lot heavier.

And, while this horrifying turn of events was going down, a certain girl was watching the scene from very far away.

All this time, she was far too scared to make her move due to the absurd number of people ganging up on Akihiko yet after coming out of the toilet and watching this fight, Sana had regained her confidence.

Although minimum, Sana was able to move out and call out to a certain teacher.

Back to the scene, only three people stood in the middle of the scene.

One was Akihiko, who was somehow still standing unknowingly, the second was the knocked out Zen and the other was a middle-aged bulky man whose duty is to keep the peace of the block he is responsible for.

Thus, he decided to punish Akihiko and Sana the only way he knew.

Rodrick's methods are undoubtedly violent and unfair, but in his mind this is alright.

Because the one he is facing right now, in his mind, absolutely deserves everything that is bad in this world and that it doesn't matter if he is ganged up, he still deserves it.

Though, to contrast his way of thinking, Rodrick started to clap his hands to the injured Akihiko standing far away.

"Bravo, bravo. I must admit, even I am speechless. No one has ever survived my methods, realistically speaking. You are the first one to ever climb yourself to such heights. And for that, I will grant you a reward."

To Rodrick, this was nothing more than entertainment. He already knew that if he was minimally serious that Akihiko stood absolutely no chance of beating him.

"How about a swift death? Oh right. You can't respond to me. You are subconscious, according to them. If you ask me, what this kid just did was truly pathetic. He seriously thought that martial arts, as a whole, doesn't have any way to counter knives. Knives, hahaha!!! Now that's something to laugh at."

With this said, Rodrick had firmly rejected Zen's way of thinking about martial arts. Truly speaking, it is foolish to think that martial arts can be stopped just by simple weapons.

There are multiple arguments about this yet the truth is, there are several martial arts created and made to combat weapons.

Assuming that weapons can solely dominate a fight can be foolish.

Nevertheless, it always depends on what weapon we are talking about here.

"You... can't even stand anymore. Look at your body for a second. It's just a touch away from being shattered. Still, very impressive stuff. I don't think that I have ever praised a criminal before, but you do deserve some praise alright. What are you? 15? Surely around. YET, you performed this good. Your martial education must've been rigid."

In the middle of this, Rodrick had thrown out his cigar and started to step on it furiously, which didn't make a lot of sense because he was praising Akihiko while doing so.

Unless he was being passive-aggressive about this.

"Regardless, you are a criminal. No matter how many I get rid of, your kind will just keep on swarming. Sorta like spiders or cockroaches. The more you kill, the more they come at you. Kill one, two come back the other day and so on."

In addition to all this, Rodrick started to strip his white uniform shirt and exposed his bulky body to this shivering weather.

"And that is why I will finally put you down. It's a shame that you will never hear my words of praise, but this is good. Wanna know why? Because this way, you'll at least not have to die in a painful way. Be thankful for I am being generous against your kind! And now... die!"

Since Rodrick was building up a swing with his right arm, as soon as he infiltrated Akihiko's radius, he threw a massive bomb at Akihiko.

Yet, Akihiko could not respond. His body was done for.

It was over for him.

This was the limit of Akihiko's body.

"...What is this?!"

To his surprise, Rodrick's thick right arm swing was stopped from behind, and it wasn't from Akihiko, but from someone who he did not know was there.

"Is this him, Sana?"

"Yes, sensei..."

"I see. Sana, take care of him, if you would."

"Umu."

Sana simply nodded in response and rushed towards the badly injured Akihiko who could not even strike back despite his radius being invaded by Sana's figure.

"Who the hell are you?"

"Me? My name is Basara Tenma. And I'm responsible for the little shit you were just about to beat. Oh, my bad. The little shit you beat up. Also, according to my student's information, it wasn't just you. Mind explaining that in detail?"

In front of Rodrick, whose upper body was fully exposed, stood Basara Tenma. This man was wearing a black tuxedo with a red tie along with his fashionable short spiky black hair.

Enough to capture anyone's attention, Basara was fully capturing Rodrick's arm.

"Get lost. I'm in the middle of applying punishment to him."

"I see that you are lacking manners. How not surprising. But that was not my question, was it? I'll ask again. Would you mind explaining to me in detail how my student is so beaten up? And why you were about to hit him? Also, according to her, you were going to hit her too. Why is that? Explain."

Basara didn't care enough to ask this unknown person his name and was, instead, far more curious about the current situation.

But, this would have a bad result, since Rodrick did not like Basara's involvement in this.

Not one bit.

"Your student? Are you their teacher then?"

"Yes, I am."

"Mhm, I see. Well, sure, I will explain. Only if you let go of my arm."

"That, I cannot do. You will be reported for being suspect of performing illegal actions on my students. You are not responsible for them. Only I and my companion are."

Something to mention would be that Rodrick was attempting to release his arm from Basara's right hand but that was not working and it was stressing Rodrick out.

Especially when Rodrick was trying to show a professional front to a teacher like Basara.

"I see... But, your students interacted with other students. That little pest there verbally lashed at students from class A. H-How are you going to justify that, teacher? Also, c-can you let g-"

"That's still not a plausible argument. I am responsible for them, therefore I will give them the consequences. An outsider like you, who has no business interfering with the program's subjects that I am responsible for, is completely and utterly irrelevant here. Begone from my sight before you get fired."

Rodrick was feeling far too oppressed.

He could not stand the thought of being controlled by Basara like this.

Furthermore, Rodrick could not see his actions as wrong, even though Basara had not mentioned them being wrong once.

His rage was accumulating far too much at this point.

"Begone...? Just who the hell do you think you are talking to---- Ow! Ow! Ow!! Let go!! You're gonna break it!"

"You have dodged my question, not once, not twice, but thrice. Are you joking with me? Answer my questions right now or else I really will break your arm."

Rodrick was on his knees due to Basara applying immense force onto his right arm while performing an arm lock.

But, Rodrick didn't believe that Basara would actually break his arm.

"You wouldn't do it. After all, you will get fir--- GYAAAAAAA!!!!!!"

"I will get what? Sorry, I couldn't hear you. Sana, how is he?"

Without letting Rodrick finish his sentence, Basara dislocated Rodrick's right arm in the opposite direction, therefore, causing it to break.

As Rodrick screamed in agony, Sana, who was at Akihiko's side, couldn't help but feel extreme anxiety and worry.

"H-He, he- he... He's..."

"Calm down, please. Take a few breaths and answer me then."

Said Basara, as he ignored Rodrick's loud screams.

Right now, in order to understand the situation, Basara had to resort to dreadful measures, hence he decided to try his luck once again with Rodrick.

"So? I can let go and stop the pain if you just tell me."

"A-Ahhhhh!!!!! Ahhh...!!!! It hurts so much, it seriously does!!!"

"Is that so? Perfect then. So?"

"Are you heartless!? Insensitive!? What the hell is wrong with you!? You just break the arm of someone you just met?!"

"And you were just about to beat up my students for no apparent reason. Of course, unless there is a reason. Also, I don't want to hear those words unless it's from a woman, for fuck's sake."

Unable to care for Rodrick's obvious torment, Basara insisted on the matter at hand.

And since Rodrick was with his right arm broken, things weren't looking very good for him.

"A-Alright, I get it! Look, the principal gave me the orders alright!? I'm not to blame! He just told me to punish these two students if they acted out of the line, which they did! You can't deny that!"

"That's another partial case. Go on."

"And... To punish them, I was just going to play a little prank, you see!"

But, to contradict Rodrick's credibility, Sana intervened quickly.

"Liar... You kept on launching attacks at us with your baston even inside the block... How is that a little prank!?"

"N-No, it's the truth! All I seriously did was to play a little prank! You've got to believe me! You wouldn't believe some random criminals, right?"

Yet, Basara kept on physically pressuring Rodrick's right arm's bones.

"What did this prank revolve around?"

"A-Ahhh!!! It revolved around showing these two how there is consequences to everything!"

"You're being far too vague. Do you want me to break your left arm next?"

Rodrick was experiencing a sense of paranoia far too great to overcome.

In the past, he had suffered constant bullying due to the fact that he was unable to fight back and for the sole reason of being a coward.

Therefore, he always thought to himself that as long as he had the strength and mental fortitude to prevail that everything would go his way.

As a matter of fact, it did. His training produced amazing results which resulted in impressive feats.

But, for the very first time in his life, Rodrick felt that he was fighting a monster that could not be beaten no matter how much he trained.

He was experiencing a feeling of terror, a searing sensation that evoked all sorts of negative emotions inside his heart. A repulsive thought of not being able to make it fully consumed Rodrick.

Because Rodrick was no longer experiencing the stage of fear, which he had already overcome, he was instead, experiencing the advanced stage of fear called paranoia.

"N-No! Stop! Stop! Stop! I'll say it, just stop, please!"

However, Basara did not stop.

Instead, he moved on to Rodrick's left arm and dislocated it in the process.

Basara was never serious when he gave that ultimatum. Because Basara was already intending on crushing Rodrick's left arm from the start.

While this was happening, Sana was bursting into tears for two reasons.

One, this was all her fault and two, she was experiencing a similar feeling to terror just by being present in this scene.

"GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!! Y-You said that you wouldn't break my left arm...!!"

"No, I didn't. Stop lying. Now, answer me. Or do I have to go deeper?"

"I admit it! I really do! I tried to kill them due to my hatred for criminals! I additionally tried to kill him with a few students from class A! But it failed! I don't know how your student did it, but he managed to fight back! Now, let go!!"

"So you tried to kill my students just because they spoke to some random students? Don't get me wrong, they will be punished for that, but what the fuck? Are you retarded? Why would you attempt murder publicly?"

"It's not my fault! The principal told me that I could punish them however I please!"

Basara was confused about something in the meantime.

The principal's supposed involvement was beyond his expectations.

He wasn't also buying into the idea of Rodrick being allowed to do this with the principal's consent.

But right now, that was not a priority to Basara.

"What about this kid? Were you responsible too?"

Basara was pointing at the knocked out Zen who stood coldly on the ground.

"N-No! Your student did that!"

"Why do I find that hard to believe?"

"I'm serious! I really am! He was standing up and fought back against some of the class A students! I'm really serious about this, I swear! I'm not lying! Please believe me!"

But...

"No way in hell am I believing that. You could've just knocked the kid out and pretend to come up with this scenario. I call it bullshit. And for lying, you'll get what you deserve."

Rodrick's left arm further contracted in response to Basara's words.

"Kuuuuuuhhhhh!!!!!!!"

The sound of his bones cracking was something that Sana, Basara, and Rodrick himself, heard far too well.

"Obviously, I'll report you for misconduct, even if you claim to have the principal's consent. In which case, I'll have to contact the principal about this..."

"B-But you won't get away... I'm sure that the principal will fire y-"

"No, he won't. I'm contracted by a special governmental force that is operated partially from the laws of this school, so the principal cannot lay a single hand on me. Do you get it? Right now, I could do whatever the hell I want to you and you would not be able to do anything about it."

Rodrick's imagination suddenly began to imagine the worst types of scenarios possible.

At worse, the ultimate demise Rodrick could receive was death itself.

"W-What are you planning on doing?"

"Right now? Oh, I don't know. Maybe I should kill you? Or just plain torture you?"

"Y-You wouldn't...!"

"I wouldn't? Really? That's what you think?"

Basara's face got closer to Rodrick's in order to meet his eyes up close.

They say that if you stare long enough into the abyss that the abyss will stare back.

Without any doubt, Rodrick was feeling a similar sentiment.

"But, I can't. I also wouldn't do that. My student is watching. I have to show her that there are times to be rigid yet that ultimately it's correct to show mercy. Therefore, I will let you go. Go on, scram."

"R-Really?! Thank you so much! Really, thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"Though--- Should something of this circumstance ever happen again... I don't think that I will be able to show kindness."

Upon hearing those words, Rodrick immediately wet himself out of sheer fear.

He didn't want to exist anymore in the same moment as Basara.

His natural instincts told him to flee right now.

"I understand............. I'll never do it again............."

Unable to shake his sense of paranoia off his body and mentality, Rodrick began to cry while spouting snot from his nose in response.

Additionally, his body was shaking violently as well.

"Then fucking scram already."

Without looking back, Rodrick fleed the scene without direction.

It didn't matter where he went, as long as it's not in the same place as Basara, he could feel a minimal sense of safety.

"Are you calmer now? I'm sorry about that. I needed to understand the situation better."

"I........... It's all my fault......."

Basara truly wanted to tell her how right she was about saying that all of this might've been her fault, but it was not appropriate to do so.

Sana was feeling guilty and Basara knew that forcing even more guilt onto someone who has a guilty consciousness, will not do you well.

"No, it's not. All that should've happened is you two receiving your respective warnings. That's it. That's all it should have happened. I'll say that breaking the rule of interaction will lead to consequences, but that lunatic didn't have the right to intervene. It's not your fault, Sana. Don't blame yourself."

Basara's words were reassuring but Sana could not stop her flowing tears from falling down.

"I-I-I-I...... He's so hurt..."

"He sure is. We best take him to the nurse, no?"

"We will miss class.... Is that fine...? You said that we could not miss any class no matter the occasion."

"That would only apply if I was your homeroom teacher, Sana. Since I'm not, that doesn't apply. Also, I'll talk to Yuka about this. Take him to the infirmary, alright?"

"Are you going to talk to Yuka-sensei now, sensei?"

"If you are worried that you might get a penalty, don't you worry. But, I do need to stop in a certain place first..."

For some reason, Basara decided not to mention that place to Sana.

"But of course, I have to help you carry that mountain of blood. Just what the hell even happened?"