The auditorium suddenly became filled with chatter as the people inside started leaving after the class was finished. A couple of students started to converse.

“What happened to your face?” Keith asked one of the three boys that came up to him.

“He got beat up,” one of the guys smiled.

“By who?” Keith questioned with a surprised expression.

“This fucking gray-haired dude,” Josh scoffed while looking at the ground and clenching his fist.

“You mean to say that some old guy beat you up? That’s hilarious!” Keith could not hold back his laughter.

Suddenly, the confrontational student from the back of the auditorium approached the group.

“Wait, this man, what did he look like?” the youth wondered.

“Oh, hi Ian,” Michael greeted the boy, “Long hair, partially gray hair, stubby beard, an eyepatch. He mentioned he was a knight,” the boy explained.

“Well, he did have an ordinus badge peeking out of his pocket,” Caleb remarked.

“Holy shit! You got beat up by the pale reaper!” Ian exclaimed.

“Come on, there’s no way it was him, right?” Keith said, rubbing the back of his head. “Guys, if that was the pale reaper, you would have been killed on the spot.” He explained.

“Whoever it was, this shit fucking hurts,” Josh stated, alluring to his bruised face, “Wait up, that reminds me”, He said before taking a deep breath, “Hey, meat-bag where do you think you’re going?!” he screamed to Zeke who was trying to slip away unnoticed.

“To have lunch,” Zeke muttered before shifting his gaze away from the group.

“Not yet, you aren’t!” Josh exclaimed, standing up from his seat. “Not after you pulled that shit with the teacher, making Keith look all dumb and shit!” he shouted, walking towards Zeke.

“Come on guys, knock it off,” Keith said, pulling on Ian’s jacket. “Fix this,” Keith said to him.

“Alright,” Ian smiled.

“Why don’t we take this conversation to the bathroom?” Josh smiled, with his face inches away from Zeke’s.

“I don’t want to,” Zeke mumbled.

“You think you have a choice? You contractless bitch!” Josh screamed while grabbing Zeke by the collar.

“Doesn’t that make you one as well?” Zeke remarked.

“Shut up, I’m just a late bloomer!” he said, slapping Zeke on the face.

The slap emanated throughout the auditorium, alerting the teacher, but instead of confronting the delinquents, he simply looked away, shifting his guilty gaze away from the boys.

It had always been that way, those with power oppressing those without it. It was always true, but in this new world, governed by demons and contractors, it became even more so. Those without power could not hope to stand up to their oppressors. And power was something that Zeke was severely lacking.

Zeke was dragged to the bathroom by the three boys in front of everyone’s eyes. The teachers, the students, the janitors, no one seemed to care. It was as if his life was worth less than the lives of his abusers. A deep pain filled his head as he stared at the three boys.

“Not so tough now, aren’t you?” Josh said while pushing the boy into a stall.

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“Why do you keep doing this?” Zeke asked with a sorrow expression.

“Because you’re weak and refuse to do anything in retaliation,“ Ian walked in, interrupting their conversation.“ The world has no need for people like you, so afraid of hurting others, you rather get hurt yourself, chicken.”

“If I fight back, you win,” Zeke scoffed.

“Well chicken, you might be right,” Ian laughed, “But you wouldn’t have to suffer through this.” He said as he extended his hand, causing fire to start coming out of his palm. “You see, if I use a small amount of magic, the ordinus system won’t pick it up. It’s because the system assumes that all contractors use magic on a daily basis. To put it simply, even if I’m not breaking the law, I can still use some magic.” He finished explaining and placed his burning hand on Zeke’s shoulder, injuring the boy.

Zeke squealed in anguish, tears began flooding his eyes as Ian’s hand burned right through his uniform. Zeke took a deep breath and closed his eyes, wishing for the suffering to end.

“You’re really not gonna fight back, are you chicken?” Ian laughed. “Do you know what would happen if I were to use my powers? I would get detention! Isn’t it funny that I can legitimately hurt you, and since your injuries are not considered being severe when concerning contractors, I would be fine,” Ian smirked.

He lifted his hand, extending one of his fingers. Using magic, he coated it in fire, condensing the flames until his finger began to glow.

“Unauthorized, demonic energy detected, the use of magic is prohibited, cease the illegal activity or you will be prosecuted,” Ordinus called out, using the bathroom speakers to issue a warning.

Suddenly, Ian stabbed his finger directly through Zeke’s shoulder, creating a large black burning hole in it. Zeke screamed out in anguish as blood began dripping down to the floor. The other three boys looked on, shocked by Ian’s cruelty.

Zeke immediately pushed Ian away, stunning the boy and running out of the bathroom while grabbing onto his bleeding shoulder.

“So you do have a limit”, Ian smiled. “Where are you going, chicken?” he asked as Zeke ran out of the bathroom clutching his shoulder tightly with his hand, struggling to apply pressure to stop the bleeding.

Ian grinned as he stormed out of the bathroom, “Hey chicken!”, he screamed out, “let me cauterize that for you!”, he flipped in a pirouette while channeling a fire spell, using the momentum to propel himself into the air. As he fired off the attack, a shroud of fire enveloped the halls, hastily propelling itself towards Zeke, who was barely able to duck and leap away at the last moment.

“Illegal use of magic detected. Ian Monteleu, cease all illegal activity. Knights will soon be dispatched,” The Ordinus system rang throughout the hallways.

Zeke took off running as fast as he could. The onlookers stood idly staring at the wounded boy with both pity and disdain.

“Come back, chicken!” Ian screamed as got ready to fire off another spell, aiming it at the boy.

But before he could fire it off, Keith grabbed him by the arm, extinguishing the spell.

“Enough!” Keith screamed out, with an enraged frown.

“Hey, you were the one who told me to fix this,” Ian smirked.

Without batting an eye, Keith punched Ian in the face, knocking him to the ground. He clenched his fist tightly, holding back not to punch Ian again, before shifting his gaze to the battered boy running across the hall.

Zeke continued running, despite the fact that there was no longer anyone chasing him. He ran out of the academy, ignoring the safety checkpoints on the way. For hours he ran. Escaping to the forest behind the academy, climbing up a one-sided slope to a cliff overlooking the city. It got dark by the time he reached the top.

The moon shined brightly over him as he gasped for air, throwing up onto the grass beside him.

The brimming silence of the deep dark blue forest contracted greatly by the oval white light emanating from below, contaminating the calm world in its fabricated glimmer. The trees stood tall over the boy, acting as a buffer between the ground and the sky. The green grass shined against the moonlight as the bugs traversed across the ground, unnoticed by anyone.

“Fuck!” he screamed at the sky as tears rolled down his eyes. “Why me?” he thought to himself as his life flashed before his eyes.

He recalled his father that he had not seen for many years. He thought of his mother and the promise he made on her deathbed.

“Promise me that you will try your best, despite how harsh the world is,” he recalled her final words.

“I lied,” he whispered, choking on his tears, “I lied!” he screamed as his face contorted in anguish. “I lied!” he laughed hysterically.

“A living corpse with nothing but a room to my name!” he continued as he walked towards the edge.

“Well, you did it! You won! I hope you all rot in hell, humans and contractors alike. I hope you all get dragged down to hell!” he screamed out while gazing down at the lawless city while clutching a tree branch in his hands.

He let go of the branch and screamed intensely at the moon before leaping off the cliff.

He fell, feeling the wind blowing up in his face, looking down at the lawless city one last time.

“Yo,” a masked figure suddenly appeared, falling alongside him.

image [https://i.postimg.cc/WpYKdBRN/Name-Alias-X-Species-Demon-Age-80-Height-182cm-Affiliation-Knights-Rank-Special-grade-investigator.png]