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Chapter 8

Henry looked at the form in his hand before entering the auditorium once more. The school day has ended and clubs were starting. Keith chatted with a few students about the club activities with a carefree smile. The meet up time was known, so it didn't take long for everyone to arrive.

"Alright everyone follow me, Mr. Jurren has already got us some space in the gymnasium for the club." A few students raised their eyebrows.

"Hey you." Henry turned to his right and spotted the speaker. A messy crimson haired student grinned back. His head and body wrapped in bandages with only the joints free for movement.

"I owe you one for the help." Alex viciously pat Henry's back.

"Don't mention it." Henry grunted as he distanced himself.

"Your not bad." Alex stared at Henry oddly.

"Pardon?" A wash of confusion passed Henry. The compliment was unexpected.

"Your fighting skills. They're good, good enough to get a nickname. Not so bad, Eldritch Eye." Henry's face scrunched up with cringe. Henry loved hearing awesome titles and all that. However, when the nickname sounded like it created by someone who sniffed to much paint as a kid, Henry thought otherwise. A loud bang echoed past the gymnasium door through Henry. Dozen more echoed right after, they were now in the gymnasium.

"Our corner is over here, we have some equipment already prepared and set up. Mr. Jurren, I have brought them." Keith gestured at the punching bags and matts covering the floor.

"Ah, good. Warm up first, I'll be with you in a minute." Sweat dripped off Jurren's bronze skin, yet his breathing was strong and steady. He only glanced at the students ripping at the bag with his gloves once more.

"You heard the man. Start stretching, everyone knows you don't want to go in cold before you exercise." Keith led everyone a little ways away from Mr. Jurren. Keith led them through some basic stretches, and Henry followed along. They got in a circle before they began though.

"Do you think if we all went against Mr. teacher man, we might have a chance to beat him?" Alex and Jared seemed to have a lot more in common then he had initially thought, they both like to ask stupid questions.

"Why you looking at me like that? Whatever, hear me out. I can do a lot of the heavy lifting in this fight, so it should be possible." Henry closed his eyes and pretended he didn't know the stranger next to him. The slight discomfort in stretching was really helping with that.

"Plus, that Key guy feels quite strong. I think we can do it." A look of surprise flashed through Henry's eyes. He wondered if Alex's bloodline ability gave him the power to detect how strong his opponents are. It did seem in line with the theme combat that his current abilities were known for.

"My name is Keith, not Key guy." Keith hmphed from the other end of the circle.

"Kay, Y'know I think I could take that Key guy in a fight easy peasy." Henry stared blankly at Alex. Henry wondered if this level of stupidity was the result of head trauma or was already predetermined.

"Oh, not a bad idea." Alex immediately swung behind himself. Mr. Jurren leisurely blocked Alex's attack with his forearm.

"Hmm, you might be too weak. How about this, if you can beat your friend here in a fight then I'll consider it." Henry's mouth gaped in shock at both the teacher and after noticing resolve coursing through Alex.

"The differences between a person who has trained to fight and those that haven't is not a gap easily crossed." Mr. Jurren added that with a bitter smile. But just as it looked as if Alex would lunge at Henry any moment now, someone spoke.

"Mr. Jurren aren't fights between students not allowed?" The boy that asked that shivered. His body felt as if it were plunged into an icy lake trapping him under the ice sheet above. The boy gasped a deep breath after the teacher stopped glaring at him. He had stopped breathing involuntarily, any longer and he might've passed out.

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"Ah, that sound, it must've been just the wind? Right kids?" Mr. Jurren looked up at the tall ceiling while scratching his chin.

"Yes Sir! The wind's very stupid!" The boy yelled with his heart as his eyes shook. The only wind in the gymnasium were from the fans, and they weren't even turned on. Henry raised his eyebrows in surprise, Mr. Jurren's mana didn't stir up as he pulled that stunt.

"Now, get some gloves on before I beat two of you up myself." Since the situation didn't seem to allow any peaceful means to resolve this, Henry grabbed the gloves. The boxing glove automatically curled Henry's hands into a fist. Henry decided until he figured out what happened, it was best to listen to the muscular man's orders.

"On my count start. 1, 2, 3! Fight!!!" Henry spent the start watching and analyzing his opponent. Alex however wasn't having none of that, and rushed forward. To Henry, the gloves on Alex's hands looked less like gloves and more like claws. A swoosh of wind passed Henry's ear. The gloves glided off Henry's cheek as it skimmed his face.

Henry's mana sense blared, an upper cut. This one he couldn't dodge in time, so Henry pressed his foot into the ground and lunged forward almost hugging Alex. A dull force shot past Henry's stomach, and his face contorted but held on. Alex's eyes narrowed as he quickly created some distance. Henry couldn't help but scoff at how much Alex was underestimating him. But, Henry knew without his mana sense he would've been out cold on the floor by now.

They both backed up assessing each other. Alex frowned for a moment before grinning. The fight while unexpected was more than half-decent in Alex's eyes. The short exchange was not leaning in his favor, so Henry switched things up. Henry's shoulder dropped and his posture relaxed. Henry knew he lacked the experience that Alex had, so focused on his specialty of cheating.

A world of a trillion shades of colors appeared before Henry's minds eye. This was the first time he was focusing all his senses on Mana. The Mana twirled, swirled, swooped and flowed almost like it was stitched to reality itself. Every time Henry has sensed mana, at least one of his other senses perceived the world at the same time. But now, the world was dyed in a chaotic mess of color with no limit to how far he could see. A scorching fire ruptured from the depths of Henry's mind. Henry just learned viewing the unfiltered world so freely came with a price, it was at the cost of his consciousness. Henry's consciousness was quickly slipping from the unending sea of information travelling past his brain. Then his head met the floor. Henry had slipped.

The back of his head buzzed as he felt his hair touch the mat. A slight numbness passed through his skull as he sucked in a breath. The pain was relieving in a sense, it provided a focus to the eerie yet colorful world he had seen seconds ago. The thought of losing control of his Mana sense never crossed Henry's mind before. Henry never doubted BAS's capabilities, until now.

[The Beyond Average System always delivers top of the line products. BAS is only limited by the Host, BAS recommends Host completes the Bloodline Acquisition Quest to solve his own short-comings]

Henry's eyes furrowed as he rubbed his head. The rubbing or the gloves didn't help alleviate the searing headache raging inside his skull. Henry was both pleased and unhappy his Mana sense had potential to be stronger. However, he couldn't use that potential because he lacked somewhere according to BAS. The tiny bumps on the gym matts comforted Henry as he laid there like a puppet cut from its strings.

"Alright stop, I guess pitting a newbie against someone with a bit of experience was dumb on my part." Mr. Jurren scratched his cheek, and dragged Henry off to the side by his collar. Keith took that as his cue and got his gloves. The two got into position, Keith was where Henry previously stood.

"Alright, don't make this boring, go." Mr. Jurren yawned as he lazily watched the kids duke it out.

Both parties showed no restraint and were on top one another immediately. Alex displeasure from before vanished like the wind in front of his opponent. He couldn't wait for a proper fight, the last one wasn't even worthy of being called a fight. Then Alex's head flicked towards the audience. Where did his opponent go? Alex crumpled to the floor.

"Arrogant trash, having meaningless thoughts during a fight? Dumb ass." Keith scoffed as he walked away, but the perks of having enhanced senses weren't for show. Keith dropped low, Alex's momentum was too much as he tumbled on the ground into a roll. If it weren't for his quick reaction, Keith would've been inflicted with at least a concussion and maybe worse. They were now a distance apart, Alex's blood pumped viciously throughout his body. To Keith, Alex's bloodline ability was like a big stone flew out of a previously calm pond, the pond rippled like crazy.

Alex's blood red eyes preyed on Keith's hesitation. Alex feet pounded the mats, one could even see minor indents. The charging demon that was Alex had Keith both pale and furious at the same time. Keith's shoulder muscles popped as a wave of blood rushed into his arm. Keith leaned back pumping his blood faster and faster till his arms got a tinge pink. The kinetic energy ended up causing minute burns on the interior of Keith's veins. In a blink, both of their fist were inches away from each other. The less courageous of the spectating students covered their eyes and listened in anticipation for a sickening crunch to come at any moment. But it was all silent.

In between the two fighters stood Mr. Jurren. His stance steady and strong, each of his hands held the two fighters strikes. Jurren grunted before kicking both of them back.

"Phew, you guys sure pack a punch. What the hell do they feed kids nowadays." Mr. Jurren smiled cheerily, but to those who understood the power behind those punches tensed. They all wanted get as far away as possible from this beast clothed in human skin.