CHAPTER 35
"V…Van?!"
Hearing his name being called, Van slowly turned around to see Ray standing amongst the crowd.
His face was a mixture of shock and anger as he stared at his best friend lying on the ground.
Nose bleeding, lips busted, blood trickling down his forehead before rolling onto the floor.
His eyes were moist as he writhed in deep pain.
The bully tilted his head to see the new entry, his lips curling into a knowing smirk.
"Look! Another piece of trash spotted."
Ray wasn't even listening anymore as his body moved on autopilot.
His gaze was fixated on Van's injured body and, soon enough, he was directly in front of his best friend.
He knelt down before him, staring at him again and again.
The more he looked, the more his blood boiled.
Gently, he lifted Van up onto his knees before assisting him to stand on his feet.
"Ar…are you okay?" Ray asked, his voice laced with a slight stutter.
Van nodded firmly despite the forced smile stretching across his bruised face.
"Yes. I am."
"Are you ignoring me, you weak grade 1 human?" the bully thundered angrily as he glared at Ray.
Ray's fists balled tightly, his teeth grinding against each other as fury surged through his veins.
Tilting his head slightly, he stared daggers into the bully.
"You wanted to attack me in the cafeteria. I said nothing. But why did you have to attack Van? What did he do to you?"
The bully shrugged with a lazy smirk.
"He bumped into me."
"But… but I apologised." Van broke down in tears, his lips quivering uncontrollably.
Ray hated this.
He hated it deeply, seeing his best friend reduced to such a pitiful state.
The bully frowned and began stomping forward with heavy steps, glaring at Van and causing the inventor to shrink beneath his gaze.
Completely ignoring Ray as if he didn't exist, he lifted his hand, piercing Van with a cold look.
"Ohoy~ what do you think you're doing?"
Ray's cold voice echoed through the air as he grabbed the bully's shoulder, stopping him in place.
The teen tilted his head backward with a deep frown.
"I'm just trying to teach a low grader some manners. And if you don't step back, you will—"
Wam—!
Ray's fist streaked through the air, colliding with the bully's face with every ounce of strength he could muster.
The impact caused the Aspirant to stagger backward, clutching his face as pain exploded across his features.
Stepping forward, Ray positioned himself directly in front of Van, shielding him completely.
His eyes were locked onto the Aspirant standing a metre away, still holding his cheek.
Flinn's entire face had turned red with unrestrained fury.
"How dare you?! Do you know who I am? I'm a meta-human with an ability!"
"And yet you're only a grade 2.5." Ray shot back with a sneer, his eyes narrowing into sharp slits. "What a pathetic waste of power."
"Hey, Flinn! What are you doing letting a weak human talk trash at you?" one of the bully's friends shouted from within the crowd.
That single sentence pushed Flinn's rage even further over the edge.
"Come on, Ray. Let's get out of here now." Van whispered with a trembling voice.
"Never." Ray replied coldly, his gaze never leaving Flinn. "I'll make sure he pays for hitting you. No matter what. He's not going scot-free. Go see a doctor."
"I can't leave you here. Let's leave. We can't do anything against him."
Ray didn't reply for a moment as the crowd began shouting at Flinn, urging him to do something.
However, Ray wasn't just staring at the bully.
Something was shining in his vision.
A system screen.
[Hostility detected]
[Quest Alert; An annoying Aspirant has messed with you by beating up your best friend. Show him that he made a big mistake in doing that by defeating him.]
[Quest Rewards: +50 EXP]
'Huh? Getting a quest for something I already planned on doing? Marvelous. But I don't think it will be easy regardless.'
Realising he had spaced out for a brief moment, Ray quickly wafted the system screen away from his vision and replied;
"... Nobody is going to walk over us and go scot-free. Don't make me repeat myself. Go see a healer. I'll be fine."
Van hesitated, his expression conflicted as he stared at Ray.
After a few moments, an idea flashed through his mind.
"Fine then."
With that, the injured boy turned around and dashed away from the crowd.
Leaving Ray all alone.
Ray turned briefly, making sure his best friend had escaped safely.
Only after confirming this did he turn back around—just in time to see Flinn cross the distance in a flash, his eyes burning with rage as his fist lashed through the air.
A faint sheen glowed around Flinn's knuckles for a brief instant before the punch crashed into Ray's face.
Blood sprayed out in droplets as Ray's entire body was lifted off the ground and hurled away.
He skipped violently across the hard surface as the crowd instinctively parted to make way.
Ray finally came to a halt, blood dripping steadily from his nose as a message flashed past his vision.
[-2 HP]
'Damn!'
He croaked weakly as he forced himself off the ground, only for Flinn to appear before him in the twinkle of an eye, an uppercut already aimed at his jaw.
Gritting his teeth, Ray slammed his arms into the ground and pushed off sideways like a springboard, barely dodging the attack by the skin of his teeth.
The moment his feet touched the ground, he pushed off again, putting all nine points of agility to good use.
His leg swung sideways, lashing through the air at impressive speed as it headed straight for the Aspirant's neck.
But shockingly, Flinn made no attempt to dodge.
He stood still.
Watching.
Ray's foot smashed directly into his neck.
The next second, a blinding, scorching pain shot through Ray's leg as the bones in his toes cracked under the immense pressure.
A loud clanging sound rang out upon impact.
With a wide smirk, Flinn spun around, his fist arcing viciously through the air toward Ray.
The speed was far too much to evade.
Ray barely managed to cross his arms in front of his face at the very last moment as the punch slammed into him with terrifying force.
'What is this strength? For a grade 2 ability user, he's way too strong. What even is his ability?'
[You have taken damage]
[-3 HP]
"Ack…" Ray groaned as he was sent tumbling backward once more, the impact rattling his bones as intense pain surged through his arms.
His first real fight against a meta-human was not going the way he had hoped.
When he finally came to a stop, his vision blurred slightly as he realised half of his total HP was already gone.
A clear time limit now hung over his head.
Would he be able to turn this fight around?
Or would this be the end?
Only time would tell.