Feeling the shearing winds against his skin, Arin barely dodged each of Alexander’s attacks. Retaliating in kind with a nearly suicidal move that aimed to grab Alexander’s chest, exactly where his heart lay. Alexander saw Arin give up all of his right side’s guard in exchange for this one attack, inviting Alexander into a self-destructive trade.
Arin attacked in such a way that made it difficult for Alexender to use any other good move. A normal person would see Arin aiming to directly take their life causing them to defend themselves instinctively. This would result in causing Arin to slightly injure them, completely gaining momentum from the entire battle. Alexander already saw this and gritted his teeth, madly trying to kick Arin away before he could grab ahold of him.
“You are out of your mind!” Alexander felt the skin-deep mark on his chest, burning as air met his flesh. Even the uniform he wore couldn’t protect him from such force. This was the price he had to pay for trying to even defend against Arin’s move. His proper response was to also go in for the kill, piercing Arin’s chest back, going for a route where none of them survived, this way none of them would gain an advantage. As for whether this really was the proper response, Alexander didn’t think so, at least with this he only had a slight disadvantage rather than certain demise.
“This is fun.” Arin ludicrously grinned despite how dangerous the situation truly was. He felt alive in moments like this. Although Alexander kicked him away, the threat of instantly losing the fight was too close for comfort there. “You’re the leader here, right? You can call for help, I don’t mind.”
Alexander kept his silence, he knew that no one in his group could help him against this monster. As of now, they were both currently equally matched yet he knew that this truly wasn’t the case. As for strength, they were both equal, if not Arin having a slight advantage in this aspect. As for speed, they could fight each other, reacting to each other’s strikes which meant that they were also at par on this field. As for battle experience, Alexander understood that Arin had been through more fights than he would’ve had so he had the advantage here. Given that Arin was a battle maniac, constantly searching for fights even during his childhood.
If not for Arin acting like a complete suicidal maniac and taking his time whittling Alexander down, he might’ve already gotten a sizable advantage over him right now. Raising his fist, Alexander yelled out, “I surrender!” Fighting against someone like Arin didn’t gain him anything right now. Losing against a monster like him was something he didn’t mind at all.
Arin acted as if he didn’t hear him at all and ran at Alexander one more time. He was about to launch one more strike when a random girl appeared in front of Arin, taking in his strike in full. She crossed her arms as she braced for impact, sliding across the cafeteria's metal floor. He was slightly curious at how someone could take in his strike this easily. Even Alexander had to feel some kind of impact when Arin struck.
After she lowered her arms, Arin finally recalled who this girl was. She was the girl that Robert dealt with earlier, unknowingly appearing at a junction like this. Her face was slightly pale and her face was filled with indignation, she couldn’t believe that she was done in by a nobody like Robert.
Arin didn’t stop, attacking one more time, trying to break the girl’s defenses. As he hit her arm, she felt a slight tremble, feeling someone striking her defenses apart, greatly angering her. Giving up on the defense, she immediately tried to strike Arin back, hoping to cause him any kind of pain.
Arin was even more surprised, compared to her surprisingly great strength, her speed was disappointingly slow. He merely stepped backward and he managed to fully dodge her, even having the time to launch a counterattack, using his fingers to slash her throat.
Seeing Arin’s intent, Alexander moved, intercepting Arin’s attack in full. He redirected Arin’s attack by hitting his arm, moving the direction of the force. This caused his attack to barely miss the girl’s neck by the smallest margin, leaving a thin line oozing down blood.
She finally realized just how much danger she was in and tried to jump back, hiding behind Alexander as she gathered her breath. “God dammit! If it wasn’t for…” She stomped her feet in anger, if she wasn’t weakened then she felt like she could’ve done something. Her vision turned blurry as her exhausted body finally caught up with her.
“What’s your name?” Alexander asked right behind him. He dodged Arin’s right hook aiming straight for his face and counterattacked by using that momentum dodging into striking Arin’s liver. Arin once again ignored his attack and went for another grabbing motion on Alexander’s neck. Seeing Arin’s intent to exchange fatal blows once more, he stopped his counterattack and let his body fall down on the fall, dodging Arin’s grab. Alexander immediately twisted his body and regained his stance, just in time for Arin to attack one more time.
“Hah… hah… Rachel Oliane.” She tried to catch her breath, trying to regain any semblance of strength. Her blurry vision turned clear once more after she regained her senses. The previously glazed fight turned razor-sharp in her eyes, showing how fast each of them was battering each other.
After one of Arin’s signature suicidal attacks, Alexander found an opportunity to kick him away once more at the cost of his side being slightly mangled. “Rachel, why did you come here?”
“That bastard stole from us! I’m here to get it back.” She gnashed her teeth in response, still holding on to her fighting spirit. From what she saw she knew that she wouldn’t be a match for either of them right now, especially when she’s weakened. Even so, she wanted to vent out, wanting to fight back against someone much stronger than her.
“Leave already. You’re nothing but dead weight.” Alexander truthfully spoke his mind. Right now, Rachel was nothing but dead weight, unable to help him other than taking in a few more hits. “Give it up, if you want revenge then get stronger because right now, you won’t be able to win against him.”
“Do you really want to lose like this?” Arin slowly walked forward wondering whether Alexander would keep taking more losses like this. “I don’t mind more joining in, right?” Arin glanced at everyone else who was right beside him. The spectators were now offered to join the brawl, now their choices would soon affect the battle.
A few people were indeed tempted to join in. They weren’t as calm and collected as their leader when it came to provocation. Clenching their fists, Alexander noticed everyone’s intentions, “No one move! Don’t interfere!”
“I don’t get it, what do you want? If you want a fight then this should already be enough. If you want money then we’ll give it to you. Just speak up already.” Alexander was already much more exhausted than Arin due to him constantly being aggressively attacked with suicidal moves. Finding a way to finish this up would be more beneficial for him.
“Well, what about them?” Arin pointed at one group where a robed girl was being tended to by multiple people. Her appearance was mystified by a veil covering her face. Her finger flowed smoothly as she whispered a few words to her confidant.
“Marina offered her wisdom, we wholeheartedly give up.” A short girl spoke up. In contrast to her short figure, her voice boomed out like an echo. Their stance was now given, now all that was left was the one last remaining group. Arin pointed to one specific person.
“You already know the answer. We give up too.” Elliot was actually the leader of this faction. He had Alclair right behind him, serving as his own personal bodyguard. When Elliot went to meet up with the Student Body Committee, he was given the responsibility of safeguarding those people under him. Although it seemed to be a mostly terrible situation, there were a few well-talented students who did come under him. Some of them were also intellectually skilled while others were quite the fighters.
As the 1st years currently didn’t have access to the other years, they were forced to group up in a temporary organization. Factions were simply the temporary group that everyone would join in as they bid their time to finally join their Syndicate.
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This didn’t mean that they were fully loyal to the faction at all nor did it mean that they were free from the influence of a Syndicate. Everything was just a makeshift way to get to the part when it truly mattered.
“This didn’t turn out how I would’ve liked to.” Arin sighed in disappointment, he wanted to see the chaos reign over the cafeteria. He wanted people to succumb to their greatest desires and bring out their violent selves to let loose. Unfortunately for him, the leaders of the three created factions didn’t have the rash temperament he wanted them to have. “What a bad day…”
Saying so, Arin walked away, not even bothering to eat his fill. “I’ll come back to ruin everything at another time.” Arin raised his hand in a stationary position as he walked away.
As Arin went back to two of his subordinate’s battles, he saw that they were just about to finish. Robert only had to deal with five more enemies in front of him. He was visibly exhausted as beads of sweat dripped down his face, even his hands were slightly trembling. What was surprising was that despite him looking like this, he didn’t seem to have taken a single hit at all. As for Patrick, he had already dealt with the lean man. He was about to go help Robert out when he saw Arin observing Robert’s fight from a distance. Arin raised his finger up to his mouth, signifying Patrick to stay quiet and not to make a move.
Robert was too focused on his enemies to even bother checking his surroundings. He immediately ran into the middle of them as soon as he breathed in a massive amount of oxygen, filling his lungs. He needed to finish the entire fight before he finished this one last breath. Luckily enough, his five remaining enemies were also slightly exhausted from running after him this entire time. Robert immediately went straight at the person in the middle, putting him out of the picture, and leaving two groups of two people left, right beside him.
Arin nodded at Robert’s decision here, if they grouped up then he would have a harder time dealing with them. Immediately right after, Robert faced the onslaught of two people, those nearest to him. He sidestepped one guy, accurately hitting him at the back of his head, and knocking him out. As for the other guy, he took this opportunity to grapple onto Robert’s knees, locking him in place.
This gave the other two the opportunity to land one decent hit on Robert, knocking him out. Robert finally couldn’t handle it anymore and collapsed, letting his body fall to the ground. Arin watched Robert get beaten down as these three unleashed all their anger on him, completely unaware of how many people were watching them.
Arin could see Patrick raging, wanting nothing more than to help Robert out as he was beaten up. After a solid amount of time, Arin gestured to Patrick that he could make his move, letting him vent out his anger on these three. He made sure to crush their limbs and inflict greater pain on them than, similar to how Arin acted.
The finale of their second day’s lunchtime was Arin’s group leaving the venue relatively unscathed despite the numerously skilled people that stood there. Three factions, all of which already gained a surprisingly large amount of influence at such an early stage. Even then, the person who gained the largest amount of influence was Arin, with his insane stunt.
The first faction, the one that was led by Alexander, was one that was filled to the brim with students who firmly believed in Seal Academy’s ideology of the strong preying on the weak. This made most of the students here have a cruel disposition, respecting strength, and the drive and motivation to pursue the top. Their leader was beaten up in front of everyone despite knowing what kind of background he had.
The second faction, the one led by Elliot, was a faction under the Student Body Committee. With the ideology of protecting each other and supervising the weak, most of the students were clearly weak, those who desired to be protected against most forms of violence. Although there were a few highly talented people who shared Fiona’s vision, it was only barely a fraction. Elliot had already given up on all matters relating to Arin, even Fiona agreed to let Arin be for the time being, deciding to correct his behavior when he reaches the 2nd year to properly tame him.
The third faction, yet definitely not the least, was led by one mysterious woman named Marina. Her face was shrouded by a mysterious veil that prevented anyone from seeing her face yet one thing was for certain, she was without question a beauty that countless people would devote their lives to. As such, her faction was mostly filled with people who desired to help her, it was such a questionable faction that edged on borderline impossible. No one knew how strong she was, no one knew how smart she was nor did anyone know how she suddenly formed such a formidable faction in such a short amount of time. All everyone else knew was that she would definitely cause a storm to form when she left this birdcage. As for why she obediently followed Arin’s demands, no one knew except for herself.
Quite an eventful lunchtime soon ended with everyone going back to their classes, preparing for afternoon classes. By now, most of the students who were greatly maimed or near death from morning classes were already fixed up, all weakened from their mock trials. As for those unfortunately too badly beaten to attend, they had to miss out on class.
As for Arin’s side, the expected beating that he should’ve given out by now on how they acted didn’t appear. He only told them a few words to think about. As Robert was still knocked out, Patrick had to relay what Arin said to him at a later date.
After finishing his business, Arin finally went back to class. The students there were all finally awake, giving Arin a dirty look as they all collectively hated him for what he did back then. This was of course, with the exception of everyone who saw him rip out Barlot’s guts, replacing the feeling of disgust with fear. Even Professor Ferial was back there reading the same book she had before. She tipped her book in Arin’s direction, signifying her approval of him to the dismay of a lot of students.
He didn’t even bother with the sixty or so students in class as he just sat there, listening in to what their adviser had to say.
“Since everyone is-”
One of the students raised their hand and cut her off, “There’s still my friend who hadn’t come in.”
“Do I look like I care? As far as I’m concerned, I’m only teaching a single person.” Professor Ferial scoffed in response, cutting off that student completely. “If you want me to care then do something that’ll make you stand out. Let me say this once and never again, I’m not here to teach everyone, I’m here to teach those who show promise, and as far as I could tell only one student did such a thing.”
The same student tried to rebuke her, “I know Seal Academy works like this but-”
“Tch, so much for being the star class. There are still idiots here.” She rubbed her temples as she made her decision. “Say something again and I’ll throw you out.”
“But-”
Within the blink of an eye, the student who tried to speak up disappeared in front of everyone’s eyes. Even Arin was confused, he didn’t even see Professor Ferial’s shadow or any kind of movement that would’ve signified any physical change.
“Is that a Fragment?” Arin curiously asked Professor Ferial. There were all kinds of Fragments, some were straightforward in their use while others were completely complicated with unforeseen applications. For Professor Ferial to make someone disappear within the blink of an eye would signify that she holds quite a powerful Fragment.
“As sharp as I’d like you to be, no, call it… a privilege as a Professor. Any other questions?” Professor Ferial had a soft spot for Arin only. He had a personality that she liked, leading to such obvious favoritism.
“Just one more thing, I noticed that these classes were grouped based on a certain metric. Hearing you say star class made me wonder, just how were we grouped by?” Arin was really interested in this question, this would help him understand what kind of mindset Seal Academy has for nurturing its students.
“That is… not a bad question. Very perceptive, a good trait for being a Solver.” After showering him with praise, Professor Ferial finally came to answer him. “Classes are designated in such a way that one perhaps two students would be the sole focus with everyone being designated to be their stepping stones. I’m sure with how you visited the other batches there was one or a few people standing out of the rest. Of course, there are a few classes where everyone’s given the same chance of trampling on everyone else.”
After hearing this, everyone immediately looked at each other and then rested their eyes on Arin. Hearing what Professor Ferial just said, it was implied that they were all stepping stones for Arin to succeed which made them all quite sour. Even though they somewhat believed it, they still didn’t agree with it.
Seeing everyone suddenly turned quite hostile at Arin, Professor Ferial laughed for a little bit before clearing up the misunderstanding, “Though there’s one class that’s really interesting, an experimental one if you will. What happens if students at the peak of their respective skills are grouped together in one class? I’m dying to find out.”
Professor Ferial gazed at Barlot, “Will the strongest student come on top, crushing all the competition on his path?” She then looked at Elliot, “Will the smartest one show his fangs as everyone unknowingly stumbles along the way?” She then leaned over in Sefi’s direction, “Or will the craziest one somehow find the most insane way to pull a fast one on everyone else?”
“Personally, I like the battle maniac the most right now. Arin, keep doing what you’re doing. Though…” Professor Ferial walked over to pat Arin’s shoulder and chest, causing a creaking sound to echo out, causing everyone to feel confused. This was quite an unnatural sound, something the human body shouldn’t make under normal circumstances. “A few cracked ribs, bone fractures, a bit of internal bleeding, and you’re still fighting as if you haven’t felt anything. Stop acting, go to the clinic already. Barlot really did a number on you.”
Elliot’s eyes widened in surprise, he saw the entire fight against Alexander. It was such a highly tense battle that was extremely close, with Arin constantly making suicidal moves one after another. After hearing their adviser finally say this out loud, he finally understood why Arin did so, “He’s been… injured this entire time?”