Chapter 20: 19 - Breaking Point
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Two weeks had passed since I'd started classes at the X-Warrior Academy. And ever since that first day, things had been...pretty uneventful, all things considered. I had initially prepared myself to face a whole lot of condescension from my Prodigy classmates, but to my surprise, it wasn't nearly that bad.
Of the fifteen Prodigies in my class, only four of them were openly and spitefully condescending towards me. Namely, Tairo Najimi, Bytra Lichood, Makoto Amano and Misaki Aki. Of the others, Taayin Sharma and Jian Lee clearly underestimated me and didn't think much of me, but they weren't all that condescending about it, they just treated me like I was weak. I could deal with that no problem.
The rest of the class was either indifferent or politely friendly towards me, though I didn't get particularly close to anyone, I just acted polite and returned greetings and stuff. Basically, I did just enough to avoid the 'loner' label, but I wouldn't call any of my classmates my friends, at most I'd say they were acquaintances.
Classes had been going well, the theory classes were boring but the topics we were made to study were pretty simple so far, passing the written exam shouldn't require anything more than a basic memorization effort. As for XFE training, for now we were just made to fight robotic practice dummies using XFE in Phantom Mode. And finally, teamwork training...actually, the classes for this hadn't started yet. Apparently, the instructor who was supposed to be in charge of it was tied up elsewhere, but he was supposed to show up for the first time today.
Instructor Jin Satou was in charge of the XFE training classes, and he'd been given temporary responsibility over the teamwork training classes too. He made it clear that he wasn't happy about it, accidentally letting it slip in his frustration that he wasn't getting paid for the extra workload, and as a result...he had made us all pair up and play badminton using Phantom Mode rackets and shuttlecock during every teamwork training session, with the goal of keeping a single rally going for an long as possible. It was stupid and unproductive, to say the least.
The instructor in charge of theory classes was a woman named Joan Anderson, she was a regular Paragon in her early-thirties. She had light blonde hair tied up in a bun, green-framed glasses over dark blue eyes, and a slender, tall build. She was nice enough though seemed kinda on the timid side, and her teaching style was good enough, if not a bit dull.
The best part about her classes was that Tairo and the others kept quiet regarding the whole Dud stuff, since they couldn't exactly insult me for being a regular Paragon without offending her since she was a regular Paragon 'too'. Today was a Monday and I was currently in one of the training halls along with the rest of my classmates, towards the end of the second session of the day.
We were evenly split up across four training halls, and each of the four halls were segmented into four equal quarters using high-tech barrier technology, for a total of sixteen quarters. We were each placed in one quarter with a handful of robotic training dummies and had to fight them in Phantom Mode. It was relatively productive, but there was only so much you could learn from fighting machines that attacked in set patterns. They were just like video games, once you figure out the pattern, fighting them becomes child's play.
Instructor Satou was supposed to be monitoring all of us from a seperate room, and send us directions and advice and whatnot to our I-Watches, but I highly doubted he was actually paying attention. For one thing, keeping track of sixteen people simultaneously was no easy feat, and knowing that unmotivated sack of laziness, he wasn't going to expend that much energy willingly.
Well, I'm not going to judge his teaching style, I couldn't care less about whether he was good at his job or not. If he has nothing useful to teach me then I'll just teach myself, as I had been doing for the past few years. I sighed and fired a couple of shots at the training dummy as it got up after I had knocked it down a couple of minutes ago, knocking it down again. This was really boring.
My I-Watch then received a notification, as the training dummy powered down. I brought up my holo-screen and opened the message. It was from Instructor Satou...
'I'm ending the session early, go gather in Training Hall 11 for the next session after your lunch break, which, finally, I won't be in charge of! You'll meet your new instructor for the teamwork training session there. That's all I need to inform you all of, so I'm done here.'
He must have sent this to everyone. Great, guess I'm done here. I turned off my weapons and headed out the training hall. Sweet, I had an extra fifteen minutes of lunch break thanks to the day's second session ending early, which means that there'll be less of a crowd in the cafeteria right now. I made my way up to the first floor and to the cafeteria, where I was the first to arrive. In other words, I didn't have to stand in line.
I got myself a chocolate cream bun, chocolate milk and a donut for dessert. As I picked a table to sit at, some of my classmates began streaming into the cafeteria. I sat at the table by the back corner, it was nice and cool over here. Usually, by the time I got to the cafeteria, this spot was already occupied. It was right under a vent, so it was a lot cooler than pretty much any other spot in the cafeteria, it was really comfortable and chill, no wonder it was so hard to claim. Hopefully, no one will try to sit on any of the empty seats in this table, at least not until I finish eating.
I took out my earphones and connected them to my I-Watch, before plugging them into my ears and played some music. I then picked up the cream bun and bit into it...hm, could be better, but not bad. Today was the first time I was ordering something sweet from the cafeteria, I was curious to see how they tasted...yeah, these are okay at best, I'll stick to sweets from Delectables.
I then noticed someone approaching me through the corner of my eye. I glanced in that direction to see who it was. It was Suri Patel, one of my classmates. She wasn't the most social person, generally keeping to herself and seeming to have a permanent frown for an expression. Huh, come to think of it, I saw her seated at this table pretty often during lunch breaks...in fact, in the very seat that I had claimed today.
She stopped and stood by the seat directly across me, a slight frown on her face. It didn't take a genius to figure out that she wasn't happy about her usual spot being taken by someone else, but if she asked me to move or something, I definitely won't, even if she asks nicely. After seeming to mull it over for a bit, she sat down across me.
"Mind if I sit here?" She asked, though she said it more like a statement than a question.
Tch, clever...asking that after sitting down makes it awkward for me to say no, well played.
"You don't need my permission," I replied with a shrug.
"I don't think I've ever seen anyone have a meal made up almost entirely of chocolate," She remarked, as she took a bite of her lunch, a chicken sandwich and ice tea.
Grr, don't bother me when I'm eating...I hate being interrupted during a meal, the best way to enjoy eating is to do so in silence and relaxation. Well, I suppose I shouldn't be antagonistic towards her, it's not like she was deliberately doing this to piss me off...
"To each their own and whatnot," I responded half-heartedly, taking a sip of my chocolate milk.
She didn't respond, and a peaceful silence ensued for a couple of minutes. And then...
"So, uh...are those any good?" She asked, a bit awkwardly.
Huh, was she trying to make small talk? No, she seemed like she genuinely wanted to know...she didn't seem like the type who'd be super into sweets, but then again, I doubt I looked that way either.
"Oh, well, uh...they're not bad, I guess. Certainly nothing compared to Delectables-...oh, uh, that's a bakery in-."
"I love Delectables, they've got the best sweets ever-...!" She exclaimed, before trailing off as nearly everyone in the cafeteria turned their heads in our direction, her face red with embarrassment, "A-ahem, sorry about that...I just really like that place is all."
Oh? Now, that, I could greatly respect.
"Yeah, me too."
"Cool...so, when you say 'not bad', is that closer to bad or good?"
If she was a fan of Delectables, then it was only natural that she'd be curious about the sweets here...and I don't mind helping out a fellow sweets-lover.
"Well, let's see...the chocolate cream bun could be sweeter, and the bun's kinda dry, the chocolate milk tastes fine but is a bit on the watery side, and as for donut...," I trailed off, picking up my uneaten donut and taking a bite, "...pretty good, actually, the glazed cream's a bit bitter but it's all nice and rich, the dough is lightly sweet and soft, and the caramel on the inside is gooey with a sugary crunch to it...not bad at all."
Oh, crap, I got way too into that, she's probably weirded out by-...huh, actually, she seems to be drooling.
"...I have got to try that," She stood up with a look of determination, heading for the front of the cafeteria.
Well, I'm just about done with my lunch, so I'm gonna go to the classroom, which should be empty right about now. There was over forty minutes left before the next session would begin, so I might as well relax till the time's up. I definitely can't relax here, it was starting to get pretty crowded and it probably wouldn't be long before some strangers decided to sit at this table...and that'd make me super uncomfortable.
I made my way back to the classroom and opened the door...it was empty except for one person, Kiran Sigdel. Unfortunately, that meant that the path to my usual seat was blocked. Asking him to move for a bit wasn't a real option, because he was asleep...and I would never do something as awful as waking someone up when they were trying to get some rest. And besides, he was grumpy and anti-social, I don't think I'd ever seen him talking to anyone in class. Even when greeted 'good morning' or whatever, at most he'd just grunt in reply.
Well, since directly interacting with him is off the table...I'll just jump over him. I bent my knees and sprang up, flipping myself forward to land on my feet, on the chair in the middle of the row. I then got off the chair and sat down in my usual corner spot. Alright, let me just set an alarm for 3 PM...cool, that's done. Time for a quick nap...
...
...
I stifled a yawn as we waited for the new instructor to show up. It was a few minutes past 3 PM, and we were all in Training Hall 11. I was leaning against the wall, feeling a bit drowsy and half-asleep. Maybe I'll just doze off for a little bit...I opened my eyes with a start as I felt a pressure push down on my right foot. Ow, what the-...oh, of course.
"Oops, didn't see you there, Dud...scary death glare you've got there, chill, it was just an accident!" Sneered Tairo, walking past me.
He'd had a few failed attempts to trip me and stuff over the past two weeks, but I managed to evade each time. Tch, my foot hurts, nothing was broken but still...
"."
Okay, I was pretty pissed off, this should alleviate that...
"Alright, that's it...I've reached my breaking point, I've had it with you. Fucking die, you piece of shit," I growled, swiftly pulling out my pistols and firing a barrage of energy bullets at his back.
My shots hit their mark with pinpoint precision, riddling his back full of holes, blood oozing out and deeply staining his clothes red.
"Wh-wha...y-you bastard, you shot me...!"
Everyone else was stunned silent, staring at me with wide eyes. Doesn't matter, none of them will remember any of this anyway...
Now, then...I was really tempted to go for a headshot, but I better not. That didn't mean I wasn't going to enjoy this as much I could though, plus it looks like he was in too much pain to bring forth his Primary Manifestation...
"I've had it with you...," I remarked with a blank glare, firing a shot at his right knee and eliciting a satisfying cry of pain from him, "You made most of my school life hell, just for the sake of it, I'll be damned if I let you walk all over me ever again," I added, before firing at his other knee, forcing him to slump onto the ground, "You deserve to die a hundred times over, and it still wouldn't be enough, you're nothing but a spiteful, narrow-minded piece of trash who gets off on childish bullying, you make me sick."
"P-please, no more- arghh!" He began, trembling with tears in his eyes, before I cut him off with a shot fired at his crotch.
"After everything you've put me through, do you really think I'd ever feel sorry for you?" I inquired coldly, viciously stomping down on his bloody crotch, slowly turning my foot as he screamed in pain.
"H-hey, you should stop this-," Began Alex, before flinching and stumbling back as I glared at him.
Oops, didn't mean to do that, my expression had been stuck in a glare and I forgot to change it when I automatically turned in his direction when he spoke. Everyone was looking at me with fear and indecision...if anyone was thinking about intervening, they knew that they couldn't stop me with Phantom Mode attacks, they'd have to fight for real...and that was making them hesitate. Additionally, they might be in too much shock to concentrate hard enough to maintain their Manifestations.
"E-enough of this! Hey, Kilzachs, I totally get that you're pissed, man, it sounds like you have good reason to be...but don't you think you're going a bit too far?" Andre chimed in, speaking to me in a calming tone to try and reason with me.
"Don't patronize me. And no, I wouldn't say I've gone too far...I mean, he's still breathing, isn't he? That's still too good for him," I replied, firing at Tairo's shoulder.
"I-if you don't stop, I'll have to...," Andre began, a bit shakily, putting up his arms, "!"
"What is going on here!?" A loud voice cut him off before he could activate his X-Ability.
Everyone turned their attention to the direction of the voice, including me. A look of surprise crossed my face as I saw the person who'd just spoken...what the...? It was a kid.
_____________________________________________
Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Don't forget to vote, and feel free to leave a comment, I appreciate any and all feedback and criticism!
Also, check out my Instagram account @aimdaqs for posts relating to this book.
Join the Discord server, I plan to tease upcoming chapters and future story arcs here, and you can also discuss or ask me any questions about the story and characters. Use the invite link to join:
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Please report us if you find any errors so we can fix it asap!
Two weeks had passed since I'd started classes at the X-Warrior Academy. And ever since that first day, things had been...pretty uneventful, all things considered. I had initially prepared myself to face a whole lot of condescension from my Prodigy classmates, but to my surprise, it wasn't nearly that bad.
Of the fifteen Prodigies in my class, only four of them were openly and spitefully condescending towards me. Namely, Tairo Najimi, Bytra Lichood, Makoto Amano and Misaki Aki. Of the others, Taayin Sharma and Jian Lee clearly underestimated me and didn't think much of me, but they weren't all that condescending about it, they just treated me like I was weak. I could deal with that no problem.
The rest of the class was either indifferent or politely friendly towards me, though I didn't get particularly close to anyone, I just acted polite and returned greetings and stuff. Basically, I did just enough to avoid the 'loner' label, but I wouldn't call any of my classmates my friends, at most I'd say they were acquaintances.
Classes had been going well, the theory classes were boring but the topics we were made to study were pretty simple so far, passing the written exam shouldn't require anything more than a basic memorization effort. As for XFE training, for now we were just made to fight robotic practice dummies using XFE in Phantom Mode. And finally, teamwork training...actually, the classes for this hadn't started yet. Apparently, the instructor who was supposed to be in charge of it was tied up elsewhere, but he was supposed to show up for the first time today.
Instructor Jin Satou was in charge of the XFE training classes, and he'd been given temporary responsibility over the teamwork training classes too. He made it clear that he wasn't happy about it, accidentally letting it slip in his frustration that he wasn't getting paid for the extra workload, and as a result...he had made us all pair up and play badminton using Phantom Mode rackets and shuttlecock during every teamwork training session, with the goal of keeping a single rally going for an long as possible. It was stupid and unproductive, to say the least.
The instructor in charge of theory classes was a woman named Joan Anderson, she was a regular Paragon in her early-thirties. She had light blonde hair tied up in a bun, green-framed glasses over dark blue eyes, and a slender, tall build. She was nice enough though seemed kinda on the timid side, and her teaching style was good enough, if not a bit dull.
The best part about her classes was that Tairo and the others kept quiet regarding the whole Dud stuff, since they couldn't exactly insult me for being a regular Paragon without offending her since she was a regular Paragon 'too'. Today was a Monday and I was currently in one of the training halls along with the rest of my classmates, towards the end of the second session of the day.
We were evenly split up across four training halls, and each of the four halls were segmented into four equal quarters using high-tech barrier technology, for a total of sixteen quarters. We were each placed in one quarter with a handful of robotic training dummies and had to fight them in Phantom Mode. It was relatively productive, but there was only so much you could learn from fighting machines that attacked in set patterns. They were just like video games, once you figure out the pattern, fighting them becomes child's play.
Instructor Satou was supposed to be monitoring all of us from a seperate room, and send us directions and advice and whatnot to our I-Watches, but I highly doubted he was actually paying attention. For one thing, keeping track of sixteen people simultaneously was no easy feat, and knowing that unmotivated sack of laziness, he wasn't going to expend that much energy willingly.
Well, I'm not going to judge his teaching style, I couldn't care less about whether he was good at his job or not. If he has nothing useful to teach me then I'll just teach myself, as I had been doing for the past few years. I sighed and fired a couple of shots at the training dummy as it got up after I had knocked it down a couple of minutes ago, knocking it down again. This was really boring.
My I-Watch then received a notification, as the training dummy powered down. I brought up my holo-screen and opened the message. It was from Instructor Satou...
'I'm ending the session early, go gather in Training Hall 11 for the next session after your lunch break, which, finally, I won't be in charge of! You'll meet your new instructor for the teamwork training session there. That's all I need to inform you all of, so I'm done here.'
He must have sent this to everyone. Great, guess I'm done here. I turned off my weapons and headed out the training hall. Sweet, I had an extra fifteen minutes of lunch break thanks to the day's second session ending early, which means that there'll be less of a crowd in the cafeteria right now. I made my way up to the first floor and to the cafeteria, where I was the first to arrive. In other words, I didn't have to stand in line.
I got myself a chocolate cream bun, chocolate milk and a donut for dessert. As I picked a table to sit at, some of my classmates began streaming into the cafeteria. I sat at the table by the back corner, it was nice and cool over here. Usually, by the time I got to the cafeteria, this spot was already occupied. It was right under a vent, so it was a lot cooler than pretty much any other spot in the cafeteria, it was really comfortable and chill, no wonder it was so hard to claim. Hopefully, no one will try to sit on any of the empty seats in this table, at least not until I finish eating.
I took out my earphones and connected them to my I-Watch, before plugging them into my ears and played some music. I then picked up the cream bun and bit into it...hm, could be better, but not bad. Today was the first time I was ordering something sweet from the cafeteria, I was curious to see how they tasted...yeah, these are okay at best, I'll stick to sweets from Delectables.
I then noticed someone approaching me through the corner of my eye. I glanced in that direction to see who it was. It was Suri Patel, one of my classmates. She wasn't the most social person, generally keeping to herself and seeming to have a permanent frown for an expression. Huh, come to think of it, I saw her seated at this table pretty often during lunch breaks...in fact, in the very seat that I had claimed today.
She stopped and stood by the seat directly across me, a slight frown on her face. It didn't take a genius to figure out that she wasn't happy about her usual spot being taken by someone else, but if she asked me to move or something, I definitely won't, even if she asks nicely. After seeming to mull it over for a bit, she sat down across me.
"Mind if I sit here?" She asked, though she said it more like a statement than a question.
Tch, clever...asking that after sitting down makes it awkward for me to say no, well played.
"You don't need my permission," I replied with a shrug.
"I don't think I've ever seen anyone have a meal made up almost entirely of chocolate," She remarked, as she took a bite of her lunch, a chicken sandwich and ice tea.
Grr, don't bother me when I'm eating...I hate being interrupted during a meal, the best way to enjoy eating is to do so in silence and relaxation. Well, I suppose I shouldn't be antagonistic towards her, it's not like she was deliberately doing this to piss me off...
"To each their own and whatnot," I responded half-heartedly, taking a sip of my chocolate milk.
She didn't respond, and a peaceful silence ensued for a couple of minutes. And then...
"So, uh...are those any good?" She asked, a bit awkwardly.
Huh, was she trying to make small talk? No, she seemed like she genuinely wanted to know...she didn't seem like the type who'd be super into sweets, but then again, I doubt I looked that way either.
"Oh, well, uh...they're not bad, I guess. Certainly nothing compared to Delectables-...oh, uh, that's a bakery in-."
"I love Delectables, they've got the best sweets ever-...!" She exclaimed, before trailing off as nearly everyone in the cafeteria turned their heads in our direction, her face red with embarrassment, "A-ahem, sorry about that...I just really like that place is all."
Oh? Now, that, I could greatly respect.
"Yeah, me too."
"Cool...so, when you say 'not bad', is that closer to bad or good?"
If she was a fan of Delectables, then it was only natural that she'd be curious about the sweets here...and I don't mind helping out a fellow sweets-lover.
"Well, let's see...the chocolate cream bun could be sweeter, and the bun's kinda dry, the chocolate milk tastes fine but is a bit on the watery side, and as for donut...," I trailed off, picking up my uneaten donut and taking a bite, "...pretty good, actually, the glazed cream's a bit bitter but it's all nice and rich, the dough is lightly sweet and soft, and the caramel on the inside is gooey with a sugary crunch to it...not bad at all."
Oh, crap, I got way too into that, she's probably weirded out by-...huh, actually, she seems to be drooling.
"...I have got to try that," She stood up with a look of determination, heading for the front of the cafeteria.
Well, I'm just about done with my lunch, so I'm gonna go to the classroom, which should be empty right about now. There was over forty minutes left before the next session would begin, so I might as well relax till the time's up. I definitely can't relax here, it was starting to get pretty crowded and it probably wouldn't be long before some strangers decided to sit at this table...and that'd make me super uncomfortable.
I made my way back to the classroom and opened the door...it was empty except for one person, Kiran Sigdel. Unfortunately, that meant that the path to my usual seat was blocked. Asking him to move for a bit wasn't a real option, because he was asleep...and I would never do something as awful as waking someone up when they were trying to get some rest. And besides, he was grumpy and anti-social, I don't think I'd ever seen him talking to anyone in class. Even when greeted 'good morning' or whatever, at most he'd just grunt in reply.
Well, since directly interacting with him is off the table...I'll just jump over him. I bent my knees and sprang up, flipping myself forward to land on my feet, on the chair in the middle of the row. I then got off the chair and sat down in my usual corner spot. Alright, let me just set an alarm for 3 PM...cool, that's done. Time for a quick nap...
...
...
I stifled a yawn as we waited for the new instructor to show up. It was a few minutes past 3 PM, and we were all in Training Hall 11. I was leaning against the wall, feeling a bit drowsy and half-asleep. Maybe I'll just doze off for a little bit...I opened my eyes with a start as I felt a pressure push down on my right foot. Ow, what the-...oh, of course.
"Oops, didn't see you there, Dud...scary death glare you've got there, chill, it was just an accident!" Sneered Tairo, walking past me.
He'd had a few failed attempts to trip me and stuff over the past two weeks, but I managed to evade each time. Tch, my foot hurts, nothing was broken but still...
"."
Okay, I was pretty pissed off, this should alleviate that...
"Alright, that's it...I've reached my breaking point, I've had it with you. Fucking die, you piece of shit," I growled, swiftly pulling out my pistols and firing a barrage of energy bullets at his back.
My shots hit their mark with pinpoint precision, riddling his back full of holes, blood oozing out and deeply staining his clothes red.
"Wh-wha...y-you bastard, you shot me...!"
Everyone else was stunned silent, staring at me with wide eyes. Doesn't matter, none of them will remember any of this anyway...
Now, then...I was really tempted to go for a headshot, but I better not. That didn't mean I wasn't going to enjoy this as much I could though, plus it looks like he was in too much pain to bring forth his Primary Manifestation...
"I've had it with you...," I remarked with a blank glare, firing a shot at his right knee and eliciting a satisfying cry of pain from him, "You made most of my school life hell, just for the sake of it, I'll be damned if I let you walk all over me ever again," I added, before firing at his other knee, forcing him to slump onto the ground, "You deserve to die a hundred times over, and it still wouldn't be enough, you're nothing but a spiteful, narrow-minded piece of trash who gets off on childish bullying, you make me sick."
"P-please, no more- arghh!" He began, trembling with tears in his eyes, before I cut him off with a shot fired at his crotch.
"After everything you've put me through, do you really think I'd ever feel sorry for you?" I inquired coldly, viciously stomping down on his bloody crotch, slowly turning my foot as he screamed in pain.
"H-hey, you should stop this-," Began Alex, before flinching and stumbling back as I glared at him.
Oops, didn't mean to do that, my expression had been stuck in a glare and I forgot to change it when I automatically turned in his direction when he spoke. Everyone was looking at me with fear and indecision...if anyone was thinking about intervening, they knew that they couldn't stop me with Phantom Mode attacks, they'd have to fight for real...and that was making them hesitate. Additionally, they might be in too much shock to concentrate hard enough to maintain their Manifestations.
"E-enough of this! Hey, Kilzachs, I totally get that you're pissed, man, it sounds like you have good reason to be...but don't you think you're going a bit too far?" Andre chimed in, speaking to me in a calming tone to try and reason with me.
"Don't patronize me. And no, I wouldn't say I've gone too far...I mean, he's still breathing, isn't he? That's still too good for him," I replied, firing at Tairo's shoulder.
"I-if you don't stop, I'll have to...," Andre began, a bit shakily, putting up his arms, "!"
"What is going on here!?" A loud voice cut him off before he could activate his X-Ability.
Everyone turned their attention to the direction of the voice, including me. A look of surprise crossed my face as I saw the person who'd just spoken...what the...? It was a kid.
_____________________________________________
Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Don't forget to vote, and feel free to leave a comment, I appreciate any and all feedback and criticism!
Also, check out my Instagram account @aimdaqs for posts relating to this book.
Join the Discord server, I plan to tease upcoming chapters and future story arcs here, and you can also discuss or ask me any questions about the story and characters. Use the invite link to join:
https://discord.gg/sRbx9VbTVP
Two weeks had passed since I'd started classes at the X-Warrior Academy. And ever since that first day, things had been...pretty uneventful, all things considered. I had initially prepared myself to face a whole lot of condescension from my Prodigy classmates, but to my surprise, it wasn't nearly that bad.Of the fifteen Prodigies in my class, only four of them were openly and spitefully condescending towards me. Namely, Tairo Najimi, Bytra Lichood, Makoto Amano and Misaki Aki. Of the others, Taayin Sharma and Jian Lee clearly underestimated me and didn't think much of me, but they weren't all that condescending about it, they just treated me like I was weak. I could deal with that no problem.The rest of the class was either indifferent or politely friendly towards me, though I didn't get particularly close to anyone, I just acted polite and returned greetings and stuff. Basically, I did just enough to avoid the 'loner' label, but I wouldn't call any of my classmates my friends, at most I'd say they were acquaintances.Classes had been going well, the theory classes were boring but the topics we were made to study were pretty simple so far, passing the written exam shouldn't require anything more than a basic memorization effort. As for XFE training, for now we were just made to fight robotic practice dummies using XFE in Phantom Mode. And finally, teamwork training...actually, the classes for this hadn't started yet. Apparently, the instructor who was supposed to be in charge of it was tied up elsewhere, but he was supposed to show up for the first time today.Instructor Jin Satou was in charge of the XFE training classes, and he'd been given temporary responsibility over the teamwork training classes too. He made it clear that he wasn't happy about it, accidentally letting it slip in his frustration that he wasn't getting paid for the extra workload, and as a result...he had made us all pair up and play badminton using Phantom Mode rackets and shuttlecock during every teamwork training session, with the goal of keeping a single rally going for an long as possible. It was stupid and unproductive, to say the least.The instructor in charge of theory classes was a woman named Joan Anderson, she was a regular Paragon in her early-thirties. She had light blonde hair tied up in a bun, green-framed glasses over dark blue eyes, and a slender, tall build. She was nice enough though seemed kinda on the timid side, and her teaching style was good enough, if not a bit dull.The best part about her classes was that Tairo and the others kept quiet regarding the whole Dud stuff, since they couldn't exactly insult me for being a regular Paragon without offending her since she was a regular Paragon 'too'. Today was a Monday and I was currently in one of the training halls along with the rest of my classmates, towards the end of the second session of the day.We were evenly split up across four training halls, and each of the four halls were segmented into four equal quarters using high-tech barrier technology, for a total of sixteen quarters. We were each placed in one quarter with a handful of robotic training dummies and had to fight them in Phantom Mode. It was relatively productive, but there was only so much you could learn from fighting machines that attacked in set patterns. They were just like video games, once you figure out the pattern, fighting them becomes child's play.Instructor Satou was supposed to be monitoring all of us from a seperate room, and send us directions and advice and whatnot to our I-Watches, but I highly doubted he was actually paying attention. For one thing, keeping track of sixteen people simultaneously was no easy feat, and knowing that unmotivated sack of laziness, he wasn't going to expend that much energy willingly.Well, I'm not going to judge his teaching style, I couldn't care less about whether he was good at his job or not. If he has nothing useful to teach me then I'll just teach myself, as I had been doing for the past few years. I sighed and fired a couple of shots at the training dummy as it got up after I had knocked it down a couple of minutes ago, knocking it down again. This was really boring.My I-Watch then received a notification, as the training dummy powered down. I brought up my holo-screen and opened the message. It was from Instructor Satou...'I'm ending the session early, go gather in Training Hall 11 for the next session after your lunch break, which, finally, I won't be in charge of! You'll meet your new instructor for the teamwork training session there. That's all I need to inform you all of, so I'm done here.'He must have sent this to everyone. Great, guess I'm done here. I turned off my weapons and headed out the training hall. Sweet, I had an extra fifteen minutes of lunch break thanks to the day's second session ending early, which means that there'll be less of a crowd in the cafeteria right now. I made my way up to the first floor and to the cafeteria, where I was the first to arrive. In other words, I didn't have to stand in line.I got myself a chocolate cream bun, chocolate milk and a donut for dessert. As I picked a table to sit at, some of my classmates began streaming into the cafeteria. I sat at the table by the back corner, it was nice and cool over here. Usually, by the time I got to the cafeteria, this spot was already occupied. It was right under a vent, so it was a lot cooler than pretty much any other spot in the cafeteria, it was really comfortable and chill, no wonder it was so hard to claim. Hopefully, no one will try to sit on any of the empty seats in this table, at least not until I finish eating.I took out my earphones and connected them to my I-Watch, before plugging them into my ears and played some music. I then picked up the cream bun and bit into it...hm, could be better, but not bad. Today was the first time I was ordering something sweet from the cafeteria, I was curious to see how they tasted...yeah, these are okay at best, I'll stick to sweets from Delectables.I then noticed someone approaching me through the corner of my eye. I glanced in that direction to see who it was. It was Suri Patel, one of my classmates. She wasn't the most social person, generally keeping to herself and seeming to have a permanent frown for an expression. Huh, come to think of it, I saw her seated at this table pretty often during lunch breaks...in fact, in the very seat that I had claimed today.She stopped and stood by the seat directly across me, a slight frown on her face. It didn't take a genius to figure out that she wasn't happy about her usual spot being taken by someone else, but if she asked me to move or something, I definitely won't, even if she asks nicely. After seeming to mull it over for a bit, she sat down across me."Mind if I sit here?" She asked, though she said it more like a statement than a question.Tch, clever...asking that after sitting down makes it awkward for me to say no, well played."You don't need my permission," I replied with a shrug."I don't think I've ever seen anyone have a meal made up almost entirely of chocolate," She remarked, as she took a bite of her lunch, a chicken sandwich and ice tea.Grr, don't bother me when I'm eating...I hate being interrupted during a meal, the best way to enjoy eating is to do so in silence and relaxation. Well, I suppose I shouldn't be antagonistic towards her, it's not like she was deliberately doing this to piss me off..."To each their own and whatnot," I responded half-heartedly, taking a sip of my chocolate milk.She didn't respond, and a peaceful silence ensued for a couple of minutes. And then..."So, uh...are those any good?" She asked, a bit awkwardly.Huh, was she trying to make small talk? No, she seemed like she genuinely wanted to know...she didn't seem like the type who'd be super into sweets, but then again, I doubt I looked that way either."Oh, well, uh...they're not bad, I guess. Certainly nothing compared to Delectables-...oh, uh, that's a bakery in-.""I love Delectables, they've got the best sweets ever-...!" She exclaimed, before trailing off as nearly everyone in the cafeteria turned their heads in our direction, her face red with embarrassment, "A-ahem, sorry about that...I just really like that place is all."Oh? Now, that, I could greatly respect."Yeah, me too.""Cool...so, when you say 'not bad', is that closer to bad or good?"If she was a fan of Delectables, then it was only natural that she'd be curious about the sweets here...and I don't mind helping out a fellow sweets-lover."Well, let's see...the chocolate cream bun could be sweeter, and the bun's kinda dry, the chocolate milk tastes fine but is a bit on the watery side, and as for donut...," I trailed off, picking up my uneaten donut and taking a bite, "...pretty good, actually, the glazed cream's a bit bitter but it's all nice and rich, the dough is lightly sweet and soft, and the caramel on the inside is gooey with a sugary crunch to it...not bad at all."Oh, crap, I got way too into that, she's probably weirded out by-...huh, actually, she seems to be drooling."...I have got to try that," She stood up with a look of determination, heading for the front of the cafeteria.Well, I'm just about done with my lunch, so I'm gonna go to the classroom, which should be empty right about now. There was over forty minutes left before the next session would begin, so I might as well relax till the time's up. I definitely can't relax here, it was starting to get pretty crowded and it probably wouldn't be long before some strangers decided to sit at this table...and that'd make me super uncomfortable.I made my way back to the classroom and opened the door...it was empty except for one person, Kiran Sigdel. Unfortunately, that meant that the path to my usual seat was blocked. Asking him to move for a bit wasn't a real option, because he was asleep...and I would never do something as awful as waking someone up when they were trying to get some rest. And besides, he was grumpy and anti-social, I don't think I'd ever seen him talking to anyone in class. Even when greeted 'good morning' or whatever, at most he'd just grunt in reply.Well, since directly interacting with him is off the table...I'll just jump over him. I bent my knees and sprang up, flipping myself forward to land on my feet, on the chair in the middle of the row. I then got off the chair and sat down in my usual corner spot. Alright, let me just set an alarm for 3 PM...cool, that's done. Time for a quick nap.........I stifled a yawn as we waited for the new instructor to show up. It was a few minutes past 3 PM, and we were all in Training Hall 11. I was leaning against the wall, feeling a bit drowsy and half-asleep. Maybe I'll just doze off for a little bit...I opened my eyes with a start as I felt a pressure push down on my right foot. Ow, what the-...oh, of course."Oops, didn't see you there, Dud...scary death glare you've got there, chill, it was just an accident!" Sneered Tairo, walking past me.He'd had a few failed attempts to trip me and stuff over the past two weeks, but I managed to evade each time. Tch, my foot hurts, nothing was broken but still..."."Okay, I was pretty pissed off, this should alleviate that..."Alright, that's it...I've reached my breaking point, I've had it with you. Fucking die, you piece of shit," I growled, swiftly pulling out my pistols and firing a barrage of energy bullets at his back.My shots hit their mark with pinpoint precision, riddling his back full of holes, blood oozing out and deeply staining his clothes red."Wh-wha...y-you bastard, you shot me...!"Everyone else was stunned silent, staring at me with wide eyes. Doesn't matter, none of them will remember any of this anyway...Now, then...I was really tempted to go for a headshot, but I better not. That didn't mean I wasn't going to enjoy this as much I could though, plus it looks like he was in too much pain to bring forth his Primary Manifestation..."I've had it with you...," I remarked with a blank glare, firing a shot at his right knee and eliciting a satisfying cry of pain from him, "You made most of my school life hell, just for the sake of it, I'll be damned if I let you walk all over me ever again," I added, before firing at his other knee, forcing him to slump onto the ground, "You deserve to die a hundred times over, and it still wouldn't be enough, you're nothing but a spiteful, narrow-minded piece of trash who gets off on childish bullying, you make me sick.""P-please, no more- arghh!" He began, trembling with tears in his eyes, before I cut him off with a shot fired at his crotch."After everything you've put me through, do you really think I'd ever feel sorry for you?" I inquired coldly, viciously stomping down on his bloody crotch, slowly turning my foot as he screamed in pain."H-hey, you should stop this-," Began Alex, before flinching and stumbling back as I glared at him.Oops, didn't mean to do that, my expression had been stuck in a glare and I forgot to change it when I automatically turned in his direction when he spoke. Everyone was looking at me with fear and indecision...if anyone was thinking about intervening, they knew that they couldn't stop me with Phantom Mode attacks, they'd have to fight for real...and that was making them hesitate. Additionally, they might be in too much shock to concentrate hard enough to maintain their Manifestations."E-enough of this! Hey, Kilzachs, I totally get that you're pissed, man, it sounds like you have good reason to be...but don't you think you're going a bit too far?" Andre chimed in, speaking to me in a calming tone to try and reason with me."Don't patronize me. And no, I wouldn't say I've gone too far...I mean, he's still breathing, isn't he? That's still too good for him," I replied, firing at Tairo's shoulder."I-if you don't stop, I'll have to...," Andre began, a bit shakily, putting up his arms, "!""What is going on here!?" A loud voice cut him off before he could activate his X-Ability.Everyone turned their attention to the direction of the voice, including me. A look of surprise crossed my face as I saw the person who'd just spoken...what the...? It was a kid._____________________________________________Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Don't forget to vote, and feel free to leave a comment, I appreciate any and all feedback and criticism!Also, check out my Instagram account @aimdaqs for posts relating to this book.Join the Discord server, I plan to tease upcoming chapters and future story arcs here, and you can also discuss or ask me any questions about the story and characters. 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