“Thanks for helping me sweep up the gymnasium Chloe.”

Mr. Contray and Chloe were cleaning up the floor of the gym in preparation for the tournament that was planned to take place later.

”No problem! I love to help where I can.”

As they cleaned, Chloe couldn’t shake off the feeling that the tournament was a bad idea. It was early in the year and the students were the most competitive at this time. Then of course there was Saneko, and Chloe still didn’t know what to make out of her.

”Mr. Contray, you probably know this, but there’s this girl in my class named Saneko.”

“Ah yes, the one with the horns. She was supposed to be removed from your class yesterday if I remember correctly.”

”Mhm. About that. I...”

Chloe wanted to tell Mr. Contray to remove Saneko from the tournament. She was scared of the destruction she may cause. But on the other hand, if Saneko didn’t participate, she would be moved out of the HRS class which would cause problems of its own.

”Yes Chloe?”

”Oh... never mind. It’s nothing.”

”Don’t be afraid to talk. If something’s on your mind, you should say it.”

Chloe wanted to tell everyone what she knew, but there was no evidence. No one noticed the things she did, and even if they did, who’s to say the events weren’t just a series of coincidences?

”I’m worried about Saneko. Or... actually, I’m worried about what she might do.”

”What is she going to do?”

”I don’t know, and that’s the problem. You know she’s not normal. She broke Reader and she has demon horns for God’s sake. I think we should be taking her more seriously than we are currently.”

”Yeah, I will admit her horns are peculiar. Her unnatural hair color as well. But this is a world where cultivation magic is normalized and monsters attack our Earth frequently. We even have superheroes. She’s not all too weird in the big picture.”

Chloe took a deep breath. She thought that if anyone would believe her, it would be the principal, so she decided to speak.

”Saneko isn’t normal. I’m not just talking about her appearance. She... she caused distortions in our world. And even if you couldn’t see all of them, I’m sure you remember that thunderstorm a few days ago. I’m convinced that was her.”

Mr. Contray gave Chloe an unconvinced look. He of course thought Saneko was weak like every other student and teacher in the academy. However, he knew Chloe was reliable, and she wouldn’t say something if she wasn’t sure.

”I’ll make sure to keep an eye out to see if there’s any odd behavior coming from her.”

”That’s no good. Her entire behavior is odd.”

Mr. Contray chuckled a bit. He couldn’t deny that. Saneko was by far the weirdest student he had ever known, and that was saying something.

”You know what I mean. I’m sure it’ll be fine, but I promise I will try to pay more attention to her.”

”Thank you Mr. Contray.”

The bell rang, and the two of them looked up. It was time for the tournament to take place.

”Your class should be coming here as we speak. Go take a seat.”

Chloe nodded and placed the broom she was sweeping with down. She headed off to the seats as Mr. Contray stood on a podium.

The class funneled into the gym and they all took seats on the bleachers. Saneko walked up the stairs to the very top, sitting away from the other students, as she thought it would make her appear more mysterious.

”From here I can look down on everyone else. They are probably so jealous of how I can look so superior no matter where I go.”

Two students quietly whispered to each other as they noticed Saneko sitting way up in the top of the bleachers.

”What’s she doing?”

”Probably being insane again.”

Once all of the students had taken a seat, Mr. Contray walked up to the microphone and cleared his throat before speaking into it.

“Welcome to the HRS tournament. We host one of these every year at the beginning of the year to rank each HRS in order from weakest to strongest. Remember that this tournament isn’t to humiliate the weaker. All of you made it to this class due to your strength. This tournament is to simply find out who needs more help than others.”

Mark looked over to Kal, both of them had just been accepted into the student council, so they were fairly confident they would rank high.

”I think we’ve got this.”

”Yeah. Although, Chloe will still probably blow us out of the water.”

”True. I still can’t believe she didn’t join the student council.”

Mr. Contray looked around at the students to see who he thought should go first. Allan caught his attention, so he pointed at him.

”Allan, how about you go first, and... Cynthia, you can be his opponent.”

Without hesitation, Allan and Cynthia stood up and started walking down the staircase. Once they made it onto the ground of the gym, Mr. Contray backed away from them.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

”Both if you stand on opposite sides of the gym.”

The two of them walked to opposite sides of the gym just as the principal instructed.

“We have medics on standby, but we still encourage you to not attempt to hurt your opponent.”

Allan and Cynthia stared at each other from across the gym and nodded. They understood the rules and were ready to compete.

”Alright. You may begin!”

Wasting no time, Allan sprinted towards Cynthia, charging at her with a clenched fist. He was an expert in short ranged attacks. Cynthia did not expect such a sudden movement. She attempted to use an ability of her own, but it was too late. Allan punched her in the stomach, hard enough to cause her flying back into a wall.

Sana was cheering for her brother from the bleachers loudly, pumping her fist in the air.

”YOU GOT THIS ALLAN!”

Cynthia was disoriented, but not really hurt. In this world, cultivators had very high pain tolerance. Once even the slightest bit of magic was cultivated, it mixed with their blood stream, which inadvertently lowered the feeling of pain, as well as enhanced muscles and durability.

Cynthia regained her composure and looked behind her to see that the wall didn’t even have a scratch or dent in it.

”What is this wall made out of?”

Mr. Contray heard Cynthia’s question and spoke up to answer it for her.

”We have made sure to enforce every wall of the gym with magic. They are basically impenetrable.”

“Impenetrable you say?”

Hearing this gave her enough confidence to use one of her most powerful abilities knowing there would be no damage. She reached into her pocket and pulled out what looked to be a toy wand. She started powering it up with all of the magic in her hands, causing it to radiate with power. Allan put his fists up, ready to face whatever was thrown his way.

Cynthia raised her wand, and it fired off a barrage of yellow beams at Allan. He tried to block them with his fist, but they burned extremely badly. He let out grunts of pain as each beam collided with his skin.

It was a flashy display of power. The students in the bleachers cheered and booed at the events, depending on who they were rooting for. Saneko on the other hand, wasn’t really paying attention to the fight. Her mind was instead on other things.

”When they said tournament, I thought they were talking about one of those crazy cool colosseums or something. Not a lame gym. What a disappointment.”

Allan had enough of Cynthia’s onslaught. He ran to the left suddenly to avoid the beams. Noticing this, Cynthia attempted to aim her wand to the left, but Allan ducked and started running to the right. He ran towards her to deliver another blow, this one more powerful than the last, but she was ready this time. She slammed her wand down on his head. Even if it was just a toy, the force was enough to make Allan’s vision go blurry for a second.

The students held their breaths to see if this was the end of the fight, but Allan managed to keep His footing, just barely. He jumped backwards a bit. He realized close range wasn’t an option anymore, but he didn’t know any long ranged attacks.

Cynthia began charging up one very large beam, and this time Allan had no other option but to run towards her again. He jumped in the air and tried to deliver a blow to her head, but she deflected it with her wand. Jumping backwards again, Allan tried to see if there was another opening, but before he could, Cynthia fired off the charged beam. Allan let out a gasp and the beam collided with his body before he could react.

The students were left shocked. Sana was furious. She didn’t understand how this was even possible.

”How did she charge that ability so quickly? This isn’t fair!”

Mr. Contray helped Allan up, and checked to see if he was okay. Allan was breathing and he could still stand up, even if he had injured.

”We have a winner! Cynthia! But please remember. Try not to injure your opponent.”

Cynthia laughed nervously. She didn’t actually mean to hurt Allan, but she wanted to win as quickly as possible so she could rank higher.

”Hehe, sorry.”

Mr. Contray looked around the bleachers as Cynthia returned to her seat.

”Mark and Luke, you can come up next.”

Saneko was unfamiliar with the name “Luke”. She looked down to see Mark standing across from a boy of average height who had no distinct features at all.

”Ah, he must be a background character. I assume he’ll be taken care of easily.”

Just as Saneko predicted, as soon as the fight began, Mark moved so fast that Luke couldn’t even react. Mark simply flicked him on the forehead, causing him to go flying backwards. Luke was instantly defeated and no one seemed surprised by the outcome. Mark was known to be powerful. The fight wasn’t even anticlimactic, it was just expected.

”Well that was a short one. Mark is the winner! Now let’s see here. How about Kal vs Saneko.”

Saneko perked you when she heard her name. She stood up and walked down the staircase, standing tall as she did so, attempting to assert dominance. As she did, students began to talk about her.

”Kal was accepted into the student council just like Mark was. He’s way too strong for her.”

”Yeah, this fight is going to end just like the last, maybe even worse.”

Thanks to her immense hearing, Saneko could once again overhear every single word being spoken. It only made her feel more excited for what was to come. This was it, the time where everyone would be shocked and Saneko would have a real main character moment.

Chloe, however, was freaking out. Who knew what would happen. She saw her entire life flash before her eyes as she feared Saneko greatly.

Knowing the rules, Saneko and Kal stood across from each other in the gym.

Mr. Contray looked to see if the two of them were ready.

”You may start!”

Kal instantly charged at Saneko. Similarly to Mark and Cynthia, he wanted to end the fight as soon as possible so he could rank higher. Although Kal’s speed had broken the sound barrier, Saneko was witnessing his movements in slow motion.

”This guy really thinks he’s all that. I have calculated over a million ways I could beat him already, but the real question is which one is the coolest.”

As Saneko pondered this very serious question, Kal made his way closer, but before he could strike Saneko, Chloe stood up from her seat.

”STOP!”

Kal froze and looked over at Chloe, as did Saneko and everyone else.

”What? This is your second outburst this week!”

”I know... it’s just... isn’t it unfair to be going that fast?”

”Huh? Mark went that fast. What are you getting on me for?”

”But... well... Saneko’s so weak it would be unfair.”

Saneko had a look of frustration on her face. She already disliked Chloe, and now she was ruining her opportunity to show off. Saneko could see that her true intentions were to, once again, save the world, but Saneko couldn’t care less. Without saying a word, Saneko grabbed Kal’s arm. He let out a shocked gasp, and she threw him against the wall. She put no force into her swing, but the force was still great enough to cause the entire gymnasium to shake. All of the students were left speechless. Stepping over to Kal, Saneko let out a giggle that she tried to make sound as maniacal as possible.

”This is the so-called student council? Pathetic.”

Kal looked up at Saneko and attempted to stand back up, but she put her foot on his head. It was so disrespectful and Saneko knew it. She honestly felt bad about it, but she thought she looked so awesome right now that she couldn’t help it.

Mr. Contray rushed in, pushing Saneko back.

”You two are disqualified. Saneko, you caught him off-guard, and now Kal is too injured to continue. We have no way to calculate this based on a fair battle.”

Saneko scoffed and turned around. She returned her hands to her suit pockets and walked back up the staircase.

”Insolent mortals.”

Saneko couldn’t help but think this was the coolest she’s ever been. To everyone else she was just an asshole, but she was so deluded she couldn’t find a distinction between asshole and cool.

Chloe shuttered to think what would have happened if Mr. Contray hadn’t stepped in. Despite herself, Saneko would not have killed Kal, but Chloe didn’t know this. For all she knew, Saneko was a completely psycho. The other students started wondering how it was possible for Kal to be so caught off-guard that he was thrown into a wall, by who they considered to be the weakest student no less.

”Saneko definitely did something.”

”Yeah, did she cheat or something?”

”I have no clue.”