“Land one hit on you?” Rom said with a bewildered look.

“Yes, and you can even have your friend help,” Hash stated.

Suke walked up to Rom and whispered “I am still mad at you but I am willing to assist.”

Rom brushed past her saying “If you are mad then you can just leave.”

“Fine have it your way,” Suke said and walked off the field leaving Rom to complete the task by herself.

“So, if I hit you once, you will recommend me for the test right?”

“Yes, that is correct,” Hash replied.

Rom gave a quick stretch. “Ok and this isn’t a trick in which I hit you and then you get me kicked out of school because of it correct? With Professor Nest giving me an assignment without any of the tools to complete it has made me a little skeptical on this opportunity.”

Hash took out his phone and input four numbers before hitting call. “Just give it a moment.”

“A moment for what?” Rom asked but within seconds a small yellow sphere appeared from the sky and hovered next to Hash.

“I Professor Sennoire Hash agree to giving Romhtra Dorfmure a recommendation to take the test called Ruin during the summer if she successfully lands atleast one hit on me.”

A computing sound came from the sphere followed by “Sennoire Hash’s verbal bind accepted.” The sphere then flew up to hover over the field.

“What is that?” Rom asked.

“It’s a notary sphere. It allows direct contact with an appointed servant of the Seraphic Sept who legalizes and witnesses deals. So, this should be enough to clear away your skepticism.”

Rom started to stare up at the sphere and waved. “Indeed, it does.” Then, with her full attention set upon her professor, Rom darted forward and followed up with a kick.

However, to her surprise, she ended up with her back on the grass within a blink of an eye.

“What the fuck!” Was what Rom wanted to shout but the air knocked out of her was preventing it.

“If that will put you out of commission then you can forget about participating in the test. Ruin has taken many young lives, and you shouldn’t even think about taking it if you are not fully prepared.”

A weakly “I’m not done yet,” came from Rom as she was getting up.

Light turned to dark, and the only thing Rom had to show for the time passed were imprints of her body from being slammed multiple times on the grass field. “We have been at this for hours and you haven't made any progress in being able to hit me. One should never let their pride outweigh their current weakness.”

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Hash’s words went over Rom’s head as she resorted to digging up a lump of dirt and grass with her hand and throwing it in his face. However, even with his impaired vision, Rom ended up on the ground and another imprint was added to the rest.

“Fuck! Any luck on your end?”

“No. I don't see his quill anywhere,” Shade frustratedly responded while flying around Hash.

“Instead of trying to find my quill, you should be using optic remembrance so you can at least see my attack that is slamming you to the ground.”

“Optic what now?”

Before Hash could explain, “I got dinner!” Suke walked onto the field with food she got from the dining hall just before it closed. “I figured you was still out here, and the dining hall was about close so I got some food for you.”

“That was nice of her. Especially since you rudely sent her away. Also, I didn’t forget about you being able to hide thoughts from me.”

“I’m sorry and I will explain later.”

“I don’t get it. Why do this if you are mad at me?”

“Well, you are my friend. Just because we fight or get mad at each other doesn’t mean its the end of our friendship.”

A chuckle came from Rom. “That was really sappy.”

Suke sucked her teeth and threw a bottle of water and pickled cucumber to Rom. “Whatever.”

The smell of pickled cucumbers brought forth a growl from Rom’s stomach, but it was ignored along with any thought of eating. What she currently hungered for the most was being able to land a hit on her professor.

“Actually, can you hold on to them,” Rom said before throwing the water and pickled cucumber back to Suke. “I’ll reward myself with food once I hit him.”

Suke shrugged with a “Ok” and proceeded to sit on the bleachers.

A yawn came forth from Hash who had been standing in the same spot for hours. “My shows are going to come on in a bit so let me give you a leg up in trying to complete the task at hand. As long as you have been at this your memory should have enough impressions of my attacks in order for you to start perceiving them. I want you to imagine your eyes. Once you have that picture in your mind, then have your quill get the memory of you trying to hit me for the past hours and place it in the eyes you imagined within your mind.”

“You heard the man Shade. Let’s do it.”

“On it!”

Shade fluttered down onto Rom who was picturing her eyes. “Why are they different colors?” Shade questioned.

“What are?” Rom replied.

“Your eyes. The left is brown while the right is gray.”

Rom paused for a moment. “That’s interesting. I didn’t realize I did that. Give me a second and I will change the right to brown.”

“No don’t change it. I think it looks pretty and I already got the memory to put into your eyes.”

“Also, you will feel a slight tingle within your eyes once the memory is placed within them,” Hash stated just before Shade did just that.

“I can handle a ting-” and before Rom could finish her sentence, the slight tingle felt like her eyes were set on fire. Although the pain was only for a moment, Rom stumbled back shutting her eyelids. “That wasn’t a slight tingle at all!”

“I want you to open your eyes and after they cool down, try to hit me again.”

As Rom opened her eyelids to a vision of haze, Suke who was sitting on bleachers just a few feet away noticed some steam seep out of her friend’s eyes and ran over with the bottle of water. “Here. Pour the water over your eyes. I think they overheated or something.”

“Overclocking,” Hash remarked.

While water was washing over her eyes, “Overclocking?”

“Yes. Overclocking. Think of the human body as a machine, our eyes as its hardware, and memories as software. The memory of you trying to hit me has information that you haven’t become conscious of yet due to the speed of your optic nerve but by directly injecting that memory into your eyes then you can drastically speed up the processing power of your eyesight. So, when you are ready come at me again.”

Suke took a step back from Rom saying “You got this.”

Rom nodded back and turned to Hash with new determination but before she could even make her next attempt at hitting her professor two newcomers stepped onto the field.

“Who might you two be?” Hash asked a man and woman with loathing faces directed towards Rom.

“Professor, we have no quarrel with you. We just want the gloom who put our son Matthew into a coma,” the man said.

“Oh, Mr. and Mrs. Victus. It is nice to meet you two and I wish it was under better circumstances but unfortunately, it’s still unknown who the culprit is for the unconsented memory manipulations being done on campus and so I believe your anger might be misdirected.”

“Misdirected or not, we will be the judge of that, and you can leave us professor…” Mrs. Victus was trying to her best to recall Hash’s name.

“Professor Hash and—”

“You’re the Abomination. When professor Nest told us that the gloom was on the field with professor Hash, I knew your name sounded familiar. Although, I thought you be bigger,” Mr. Victus said.

“Abomination?” Rom and Shade thought.

“Well at least his looks aren’t a disappointment,” the wife noted with a smile.

“Is she hitting on your professor?” Suke commented with a scrunched face just before the couple vanished from her sight.

Luckily for Rom, she was able to track the husband and wife barreling towards her. Shit! Rom didn’t have time to move or even guard against whatever they had in store for her and just hoped she would be able to endure. However, just as quickly the couple was about to close in on Rom, Hash appeared in front of them stopping them in their tracks.

“I will not let you two hurt my student.”

The couple laughed. “Who are you to not let us do something? We are Exalted by birth, and you only have the title out of pity. Know your place,” the husband asserted.

“Actually dear. I think we shouldn’t get our hands dirty taking care of a gloom. We should allow the Abomination to do it.” The wife looked Hash directly into his eyes. “Kill her now.”