"Welcome every single one of you!" Mono called out to the crowd, "Today, we have a special event. A special message to all you first years. You see, there has been someone going around ignoring the unspoken rules, thinking she could forget the precious system that has been around for years in this school. I am here to tell you that this is what happens to those who do not obey."
The first years began to chatter amongst themselves, taking note of the lack of teachers or adults in the room. Quinn couldn't help but glare at Mono, pure unbridled rage in his eyes.
Mono then looked to a nearby second year, and asked, "Have all the students arrived?"
"Yes, everyone from Del's class and the weapons class should be here."
"Excellent," Mono then nodded his head to a different group of students, and they got to work.
They lifted the barely conscious Erin up to a large board, having her hang by her wrists by chains. They then did the same with her legs, ensuring she couldn't use them. Even as they were doing that, Erin did her best to fight back, pushing against them, and snapping her teeth, but was too weak.
She was effectively on a human dart board.
Then, several second year students pulled out carts that held large black circular stones. Mono walked up to one, and tossed a ball into his hand.
"When the earth found a way to turn the tide in the war, it was from mixing the beast crystals with our own weapons creating beast weapons. What they don't tell you as first years is that beast weapons need to be activated with your ability. Once activated, they give out extra power. The higher the beast crystal used to make the weapon, the higher the power."
Mono then lifted the ball high in the air for all to see, "This here is a metal ball that is powered by a beast crystal. It's used as a training tool to help those learn how to use beast weapons. They're honestly pretty useless otherwise, but they're handy for demonstration. Just like when you activate your ability in your body, you need to concentrate on the ball in front of you. Think of it as a part of your body, and focus your ability on it."
The metal ball in Mono's hand suddenly went from black to green.
"Now normally, your weapons wouldn't change color when activated, but as I said earlier, these balls are just used for learning how to activate your weapons. Once the color has changed, that means it has been activated and its strength has increased. Today, we will be practicing target hitting."
Mono's lackeys then moved Erin from the back of the stage to the front. Mono looked pleased with himself.
"Us second years have decided to give you those from the beast weapons classes a shortcut. With these balls, you'll be learning how to activate a beast weapon sooner than the rest."
A first year student then raised his hand, "Um, excuse me, but do any of the teachers know about this?'
Everyone went silent for a second, not believing that someone could be asking such a stupid question. A few even grimaced at the student's ask.
A second year student then ran up to the first year, and repeatedly punched him until he was unconscious. He almost looked worse than Erin, and everyone just stepped back to avoid getting caught in the crossfire.
"Are there any more questions?" Mono asked, to which the audience responded in silence, "Good, now who wants to be the first to go up?"
The students murmured amongst themselves.
"Is this allowed?"
"Are we meant to hit her? There's not that much space on the board, it'd be harder not to."
"Won't we get into trouble for doing this?"
"The teachers didn't care when we got beat before, why would they care now? The second years are doing this just because they can get away with it."
"Quinn, what do we do?" Layla muttered to Quinn, but Peter responded first.
"We don't do anything. Your friend is strong, yeah? If they were able to do that to her, then what do you think they'll do if we fight back?"
Quinn hated to admit it, but Peter was right in a way. Erin was the strongest person he knew, and she was taken out so easily. He hated how even after learning an ability, he still couldn't do anything. He barely had any mud on hand, and he was still effectively a level 1 in terms of power. He was tired of being pushed around, and he didn't want to cower under those who abuse their strength again.
Quinn looked back at Erin, worried as to what was going to happen next, when a notification sound played in his head.
{Erin} Quinn…
{Erin} If you volunteer, I won't take it personally.
{Erin} I know you won't hit me as hard as the others.
Quinn almost gasped at what she was telling him. He couldn't believe that someone like her would be so willing to submit. It was then that Erin's head lifted up a little, and he could feel that she was looking at him. A slight sinister frown showing her teeth formed on the corners of her mouth.
{Erin} But after you do, hit them too. Take as many down as you can. Catch them off guard.
Quinn couldn't help but smile. Even surrounded by her captors, Erin wasn't going to go down easy.
"Layla, Peter," Quinn muttered to the others, "On my signal, we're going to fight back."
Peter gave him a worried look, but it was Layla who responded first.
"I'm sick of these guys too," Layla said, "I'd rather be beaten than hurt Erin."
Mono began speaking again.
"Hurry, if no one wants to volunteer, then I'll have to pick one of you."
Quinn's hand shot up, and he spoke out in as loud of a voice as he could, "Pick me! I don't mind having a try!"
Mono's eyes went to him, and he nodded to gesture to Quinn to come up on stage. Quinn of course followed along, and got on the platform, grabbing a ball. He held it in his hands, and focused his ability into it. He just learned the earth ability very recently, so it took him a moment to focus his energy into it, barely managing the ball to light up a faint green.
Mono was wondering what Quinn's goal was in all of this and kept a close eye on his actions. It was him that Erin was hanging out with after all.
"Hurry up," Mono demanded, "When we ask you first years to do something, then you need to do it."
Surrounding Quinn, there were a total of eight second year students standing at the edge of the room, four on each side. Next to Erin, there were two more students. Level 2s. Perhaps Quinn could attack them first. When looking at Mono, there were two level 4s next to him. If he fought back against them, then it'd hurt like hell, but he was used to it.
"We have these powers for a reason, right?" Quinn began, as he began to slightly dent the ball with his ability, "It's to protect ourselves and our close ones."
Denting the ball wouldn't do much, but it was something he wanted to do. A small act of defiance to spit in the face of the enemy.
The students in the crowd began to murmur, and Peter started to crouch to avoid eye contact with any of the second years.
That was when Quinn stared at his intended target, the level 2, "I've been beaten up hundreds of times already. What's one more?"
That was when Mono's eyes widened, and then the ball came flying at his henchmen. The level 2 stumbled back as the dented ball hit his face. Everyone was dumbfounded as they saw the sight in front of them. Quinn then threw another ball at the other level 2.
"Don't just stand around, get him!" Mono shouted at his lackeys standing next to Erin.
Both of the level 2 students ran towards Quinn, there were too many fists to dodge all of their hits. Before a punch was about to hit his face, an arrow shot through the student's hand. They all looked to the direction of where the arrow came from, spotting a brunette girl holding a bow.
"Why would you help him?" Mono said, "If you don't help him, then you'll be free from participating. This applies to everyone else here."
Layla prepared another arrow, "Why should we listen to you? Just a second ago, you hurt one of us for asking a question. How can we trust a word you say?"
"Fine, you don't want to help? Then attack them all."
The two level 2 students stopped attacking Quinn, and focused their attention to the others in the crowd. One of them prepared water to form around their hand, and swung it out towards Layla. She quickly ducked down, which had hit a handsome boy with black slicked back hair behind her.
"You know, I've always wanted to try out fighting humans like you," Fex began to take out some string before throwing it towards the water user's arm, that was when he realized his choice of words, "Wait, I mean—!"
Fex then swung his string down, causing the water used to slam onto the floor, "—Dudes with blood and stuff!"
Fex then began throwing his string around, slamming the two second years into each other. Layla was in awe at his ability, she saw his watch stated a 1, but yet every string swung seemed to have far more expertise into them. She wondered what his story was, especially with the comment about fighting humans, but she couldn't wonder for long as another second year came her way.
"Crowds… Not exactly the best for me," Layla muttered, as she pulled back 3 more arrows behind her bow.
With some of the second years occupied, Quinn took this chance to run towards Erin. However, right as he made it to her side, about to try to free her, a thin long object lashed at his side. He fell to the ground, holding where he was hit.
"Fuck—" Quinn cursed under his breath. It hurt so much despite it being a singular attack.
When he looked back, he saw Mono walking up to him holding a beast weapon whip.
"You've caused so much trouble," Mono said as he flung back his whip, "But no matter how much you may have caught us off guard, you're always going to be a weak level one."
Erin weakly lifted her head up, watching the confrontation. Why was he now fighting so hard for her?
{Erin} I thought you were going to hit me first! What are you doing?
Both Mono and the level 4 student surrounded Quinn, and he gritted his teeth, determined.
{Quinn} I may not like you, but I hate these guys even more.
A surge of energy hit Erin as she read those words. She couldn't let Quinn get hurt further while she stood by and watched. This fight was far from fair, and seeing such a fellow high level abuse his power in front of her just further told her that she needed to act. She tugged at her restraints, but she wasn't strong enough yet.
{Erin} Quinn, get me out of here. I'm going to need blood.