Countless gazes looked at a single person standing in front of them all. If previously, what he did could be explained by taking advantage of everyone’s lack of initiative then this time what he was doing was blatantly going against everyone here. However, it’s not as surprising when taking into consideration that he had already gone against most of the other 1st year batches.
“Coming in!” Brain, the bravest out of everyone, jumped from behind Barlot and came to face Arin first. Although he was weakened alongside everyone else, he still firmly held his headstrong attitude. He jumped into the air, twisting his body as he tried to kick Arin’s side.
Arin somewhat expected this fool to come in first. “I guess Professor Ferial didn’t lie.” He noticed that Brain’s momentum and movements didn’t match their pace, it was as if he was bogged down in water, hindering his movements. “Not used to being so weak?” Arin grabbed Brian’s leg, throwing him back in Barlot’s direction.
Brain yelled out in surprise as soon as his leg was caught, expecting it to be crushed within Arin’s hand, yet he was further confused when he was thrown away. “Eh?”
Barlow caught Brain within his grasp, stopping his momentum and weakly throwing him aside. It was at this moment that Barlot finally realized why Arin did that, he hid behind Brian’s body and rushed in, catching Barlow off guard.
Arin didn’t waste time as he went in trying to claw out Barlot’s eye. Facing such a menacing hand reaching out to him, Barlot dashed to the side, barely dodging Arin’s attack.
It was a close call but luckily he reacted in time, otherwise, he would’ve been blinded in one eye, making the next clash even harder for him. Barlot was about to counterattack when he heard a piercing cry echo from the center of the class. It was Sefi, screaming out her lungs as she felt the effects of purely dense Maze Essence Capsules immediately strengthening her body. Her bloodshot eyes caused everyone who looked at her to feel a chill sent down their spines. Her eerily tremblings made her the focus of attention.
Barlot continued on with his attack, trying to grapple Arin one more time like last time, using his overwhelming strength to prevent Arin from moving, trapping him in place. Arin easily dodged this one as well, with Barlot’s weakened body, it was child’s play for him to dodge such a slow attack.
If only Arin’s breath wasn’t quickening. He was running of breath despite not taking any hits at all. Once Barlot saw this, he felt his victory solidified even further.
“Your insides crying out?” Barlot taunted Arin.
As expected, the resonating item in Arin’s pocket further made him question and understand the current situation at hand. Arin took out a pen from his pocket, a sleek black fountain pen that seemed to be too elegant for common use. Seeing Barlot throw in another punch despite the common behind him, Arin met his punch with his pen.
Seeing Arin bring out something seemingly questionable, Barlot knew better than to underestimate Arin after experiencing all of his tricks. He used his entire built-up force to crush anything that came his way alas what Arin brought out wasn’t an ordinary pen. Arin’s Secret Fragment met Barlot’s fist, the result was quite obvious, Barlot’s fist met a tragedy. Due to Arin’s Secret Fragment only being a small pen, the only point of impact was one of Barlot’s fingers, specifically, the middle finger. It was crushed as Arin met no resistance pushing it in even deeper and ruthlessly shifting it around.
“Durable.” Arin pulled it out, exposing a flow of blood leaving Barlot’s hand.
The towering man grabbed his hand as he was utterly surprised at how this just occurred. He looked at the mysterious pen that was in his opponent’s hand, “A Fragment? You have a Fragment?!” Barlot’s eyes were completely wide open as he realized what his opponent had.
Seeing this one item in his opponent’s hand completely shifted the entire power dynamic within this fight. Barlot was completely baffled at how Arin could have a Fragment this early on, even his inhuman strength was essentially worthless in the face of a Fragment. Even the lowest-tier Fragment was priceless, no matter what effect it had, was beyond what any normal person could afford.
This was due to one simple fact, no matter what Fragment, no matter what specific effect it had, it will always strengthen its user the longer they use it. Even Maze-level Essence Capsules that they consumed were nothing but compared to these Fragments.
Another reason why a Fragment was considered an extremely terrifying object was due to one simple reason, it was unbelievably sturdy, so sturdy that normal everyday items would not be able to even scratch it.
Arin held his pen with one hand, in a gesture that seemed as if he was about to write something. His pen, the Emperor’s Note, had quite the peculiar ability to have whatever it wrote be nearly indestructible, barring other Fragments that could nullify its effects. It was only a Secret Fragment, the weakest category, even then it could only really be considered as a mid-tier Secret Fragment with how niche its effects would be. It had more of a supportive effect than an offensive one. Even so, the sheer durability of this pen was more than enough to act as a weapon in this scenario.
Barlot immediately started backing off, with a Fragment in hand, his opponent would be already nigh-impossible to defeat. He didn’t know what the effect was nor did he care. In Arin’s hand, it was the same as an indestructible dagger that could pierce his flesh.
“Choose wisely.” Arin slowly stepped forward, with a weapon in his hand, no one should be able to defeat him as of now. He had already shown off what he could do without a weapon, now that he had one, he was basically undefeatable. “You deserve what you have. Do you really want to lose it all?”
Barlot was conflicted with a scenario where he wouldn’t be able to win. If he gave up, it meant that he was admitting that he was completely inferior to him. But if he chose to continue then he would lose even more practical resources. It was clear which option Barlot would pick.
“I’m backing off.” Barlot walked off. He ignored the looks of confusion from his classmates. With their current hope giving up, everyone
One by one, they all gave it to Arin in an organized manner, letting them all leave somewhat peacefully. Even the twins, Liam and Lianna, gave in. At first, Lianna wanted to fight back against Arin since she never got her chance but after Liam tugged on her uniform, she eventually gave in as well. Liam warily looked at Sefi who was still reeling in from the effects of consuming seven pills at once.
In the end, there were only five people remaining in the room. Arin was still standing in the middle, waiting for the other three to make their decision. Alclair had already woken up, waiting for Elliot to make his move. Sefi was still recoiling from the overturning energy, causing her muscles to pulp up and reform. As for the last person, he was the same shady person from last time, the only one out of the eight finishers of the mock trial, the one who left for the library early on.
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He was still calmly observing the situation as if it had nothing to do with him. After confirming his doubts, he stood up and walked up to face Arin, “You sure you want to keep going?”
Arin kept his facade, his devilish grin spoke volumes of his confidence, “I want to keep going.”
Elliot saw how brave this student came up to Arin and finally connected the dots. Arin’s injuries must’ve been much worse than how Professor Ferial described them. He had to keep using suicidal moves to battle with Alexander and now he finally had to use a Fragment as a weapon. This could only mean one thing considering Arin’s personality, he wasn’t as healthy as he seemed.
“Arin, can you even take a step forward?” Elliot also got up from his seat, accompanied by Alclair.
Arin didn’t answer. Despite this, his silence already spoke for him. He was already barely hanging on, multiple intense fights in such a short amount of time had already worn him out. He had no other choice but to bring out the Secret Fragment in his possession.
“What do you want to do with these bottles anyway? I refuse to believe you don’t have access to something better.” Alclair finally spoke up, he was apparently the only one out of the loop as Elliot and the mysterious student had already figured out what Arin had in mind.
“An experiment.” Arin immediately threw the countless bottles before him to Sefi’s side. “Eat them all.”
The mysterious student merely let this happen, his curiosity was peaking as to what the outcome would be. Normally one pill would be enough for a normal person to use for an entire week. Two pills at once would have greater effects but lesser efficiency, opting for speed instead of overall gain. Although this method could increase one’s strength rapidly, taking on more than the body could handle could cause them to explode. Now for Sefi to consume seven pills at once, it was already a miracle that she hadn’t died yet.
Now, Arin was forcing her to eat roughly sixty people’s worth, this should kill any normal person with how much built-up energy was surging within her.
“I…” Sefi could barely speak any further. She had already eaten countless Maze-level Essence Capsules at this point. As she consumed a pill, it melted in her stomach, spreading out the energy contained within to empower her body.
Elliot sighed, he threw Arin his own bottle, with a single pill missing, alongside a thick pouch filled to the brim with Federation currency and warned him, “Arin, don’t go too far. From what Fiona told me, there are a lot more monsters here other than you.” Seeing Elliot make his move Alclair immediately consumed one pill and threw it at Arin’s feet. “Like her.” Elliot and Alclair rapidly left the scene.
When they got out of the classroom, Alclair turned curious, “Elliot, what did Fiona tell you?”
“To stay away from provoking a few students. On the list, Sefi’s ranked pretty high up there.” Elliot recalled what Fiona told him when they met up for that brief meeting. She entrusted him with a lot of responsibilities as well as a lot of trust. From her plans, she seemed to be planning on restructuring the academy from the ground up. Using Elliot as the leading figure, they would soon slowly convert everyone to conform to her ideals.
“Sefi?” Elliot could hear her gurgling something as she kept on screeching like a banshee. “What did Fiona say about her?” Whatever was happening inside was getting worse.
“To either completely stay away from her or to control her actions. She warned me about her specifically because apparently she’s an unpredictable variable that even the president couldn’t understand. She’s the embodiment of the word insane.” Elliot trailed off as he muttered. “In more ways than one.”
Alclair didn’t ask any further questions as he saw Elliot give off a grim expression. This wasn’t the time to ask this kind of question anymore. As they were walking, Elliot’s grim expression turned even more serious as he faced Alclair, “Alclair, do you want to visit my home?”
“That’s a little…” Alclair wasn’t expecting Elliot to suddenly shift the topic to this. “Well, it depends on how long I’ll be there for.”
“Just ten minutes. I just want to give you something.” Elliot’s mind wandered to whatever her sister concocted for him. “I think I know what Arin’s full plan is now. If what he’s doing is what I’m thinking of then we’ll need all protection that we can get.”
Alclair saw how serious Elliot was and nodded. He blindly trusted him.
Back inside the room, the mysterious student watched Sefi’s body morph and transform unnaturally. Her limbs bulged and reformed as they kept alternating between, human and inhuman. “Curious, say Arin, I can see that you want a rival but isn’t this going too far?”
“A rival… You could say that.” Arin calmly looked at Sefi’s transformation. Ever since he laid his eyes on her, he had always felt a certain feeling within the depths of his heart, as if something was inherently wrong with her. After injuring her, he hadn’t felt anything wrong even back then which further confused him.
As she continued on to refine the medical properties within her body, it was clear that she was exponentially growing in strength right before their eyes. An interesting scene appeared before them, Sefi’s neck manifested a tattoo that seemed to hold quite the power.
His Emperor’s Note resonated with Sefi, this could only mean one thing, Sefi also had a Fragment. Arin knew this for a fact after she used it on Elliot. He still hadn’t figured out what it does but it apparently affected Elliot. With Professor Ferial actively pointing out Sefi’s one glaring trait, Arin decided to use her.
“How long do you think until she breaks?” The mysterious student prompted another question for Arin to answer. “In my opinion, she’ll reach her limit in around ten more capsules.”
“She’s already had a Fragment for a long time now so I doubt she’ll break at all. It’s her Fragment doing this to her.” Arin calmly waited for Sefi to finish up.
“Hmm?” The mysterious student looked at Arin’s ever-so-malicious expression. With this facade placed on his face without faltering a single time, no one would be able to guess what was on his mind. “How can you say so?”
Arin took out his own personal Secret Fragment and showed it in front of him. The Emperor’s Note was trembling vigorously, signifying that a higher tier Fragment was activating around him. When the mysterious student saw it, he continued on with a nod.
“This information’s very valuable, I appreciate it.” The mysterious student’s gaze turned back on Sefi, his thirst for knowledge was unquenchable. Seeing something he hadn’t known before occurring in front of him, he just couldn’t leave right now.
After consuming half of the pills, Sefi’s body returned to normal. She lay on the ground unconscious, with the slightest breath of life still within her. She weakly opened her eyes, showing off a different set of pupils than the ones she had earlier. Her dark pupils turned blood red, changing her previously eerie look to one now filled with bloodlust. What’s even worse was her mouth mimicked Arin’s smile.
“She looks rabid. You want help?” The mysterious student patted Arin’s back, causing him to slightly exhale. He already knew the answer to that question even without Arin speaking. “Although I can’t match her, I can do one thing.”
Arin’s body was immediately dragged away by the mysterious student, “Run!” Sefi’s previously stiff movements were now flowy and smooth, what was once eerie was now elegant. Her Fragment was influencing her actions, with the amount of essence that sprouted her Fragment into receiving nourishment, it reacted by further strengthening her body while at the same time taking control of her body. Her frantic smile showed her emotions in full view.
No matter how fast the mysterious student ran, Sefi was right behind them, keeping the same distance the entire time. She was enjoying the hunt.
“What’s the plan now?”
“To the clinic, my job’s done. It’s everyone else’s problem now.” An expectant look appeared on his face. “I’m looking forward to tomorrow.” Arin’s and Sefi’s smiles looked identical in their madness.
Left with no other choice, the mysterious student ran to the nearest clinic, immediately slamming Arin’s body inside as he went inside as well. Sefi tilted her head in disappointment as she ran away, finding her next victim. As the halls were still empty with countless students still in their classes, she was left to aimlessly wander the halls. Yet as soon as the bells rang, it was hell.