I gripped the student who ran in my direction. Unfortunately another sneaked behind me, grabbing me by the wrists. I was immediately punched in the stomach by the third student. I stomped my foot onto the foot of the one holding me. They groaned in pain as his grip loosen.

I took this opportunity to elbow him on the chest. I gripped his arm with my right hand and threw him towards the two students. I was able to take my current opponent off guard by using his friend's body as a shield. My opponent caught his friend, making him occupied for a second.

This meant one student was left alone. That very same student proceeded to run away, retreating. Unfortunately for him, I was able to grab his wrist with my left hand. I flinched and groaned, yet that didn’t stop me from pulling him towards me.

I raised my hand, punching him on the cheek. My left hand grabbed his uniform. I pummeled his face until I was forced to dodge an upcoming attack.

The student charged at me, attempting to punch me. In response, I simply let my palm change the trajectory of the punches. When an opening showed itself, I lightly struck the student, prioritizing speed over power.

Since I was facing three students, I had no choice but to choose speed over power. I needed to be able to attack them and dodge their attacks at the same time.

A blurry object appeared in peripheral vision.

Realizing at the last moment, I barely evaded the attack. Another one made its way to me, I couldn’t evade this one so I raised my arms to protect my face. The strike connected against my arm, I flew back due to the impact.

“Haaaaaaaah,” I breathed loudly, catching my breath.

My arms throbbed with pain. I caught a clear view of the perpetrator. It was the leader of the group. He had a smirk on his face though bruises could be seen all over his face.

Wait…does that mean?

My eyes darted around the area until it stopped at a particular student. The student while injured still continued fighting the leader, forcing the leader to be occupied once again.

Mitsugi evaded a punch, kicking the leader in the ribs. He got hit by one of the nearby students, making him cough blood.

When I attempted to provide support, two students stood in my way. I raised my hands, ready to fight any time soon. I quickly jabbed the one closest to me. I received a kick to the back of my leg in response.

My body bent its leg a bit due to the hit. He took advantage of this as he scored a clean punch to my cheek. I was forced to stand on my knees. When trying to get back up, a kick connected against my chin.

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I rolled onto the ground, dirtying my uniform. I hastily forced my body back up, legs and hands trembling. I got back into my fighting stance despite the agonizing pain being felt throughout my body.

One of the students began attacking me while the other placed his hand onto the ground. I knew what this meant so I tackled the one attacking me. The shadow hands no longer had anything to hold onto, forcing them back into the ground.

Meanwhile, I didn’t bother fighting the guy I tackled, instead opting to step on him, making him groan in pain. I rushed forward to the other student. He still held his hand onto the ground leaving him vulnerable.

He stood up at the moment where I swung my fist, letting him block it. I threw jabs, hooks, and even some uppercuts however they were all parried.

Since we were getting closer to the walls of the academy, I slightly pushed him. Losing his balance, I grabbed him by his uniform collar and pushed him against the wall.

A solid impact was made, his head colliding with the wall. I wasn’t done as I struck my hand aiming for his face. While a bit dizzy, he still managed to evade my punch.

However that didn’t matter one bit for me, my hand went right through the wall, leaving a hole the size of my fist. The other student recovered as I caught a glimpse of a figure approaching me. I took my hand off the wall, and proceeded to grab my opponent by his uniform and throw him onto the ground.

A sense of nausea welled up, another problem with the current scuffle. The student I tackled threw a kick at my face, I easily evaded the poor excuse of a kick.

Well, that was the plan.

A hand clutching my leg, limiting my movement. As such I couldn’t dodge the kick as expected. The kick held quite the force as it collided against my head.

Next thing I know I’m suddenly staring at the sky with debris flying around the area. Dust was in the sky, making me rub my eyes out.

What was I…?

“—!”

Immediately I rolled around, only stopping when I felt the cold, solid wall. I had barely avoided the attack. I gazed at the people in front of my vision.

The figures of four people approached me at a slow pace. I wiped my mouth from the blood. To my surprise, I had no blood on my face. A male student stood in front of the rest, presumably the leader.

“Out of all the people we fought, I expected you to be the first one knocked out. Quite the surprise we have here. But now look at you; all injured and on the ground. How cute.”

…

“Is that so?” I asked, standing straight.

“Oh? You can still stand. Impressive, but that won’t get you nowhere. You’ll need to fight all of us if you want to escape,” he said with shit-eating grin.

“That won’t be necessary,” I replied.

Despite the predicament, I still calmly conversed with the leader. Even though he insulted, mocked me, I still stayed calm. I wasn’t going to get worked up by something this petty.

“Let’s teach you a lesson.”

One of his lackeys restricted my movement. Not a single ounce of resistance was shown by me. There was no reason to do so.

All I could do is brace myself for the upcoming punishment.