Rei started to feel even more worse rather than being better as people had somehow managed to find out the details of the incident, worsening his situation as every time he walked in the hallway of the academy; the people would either stare at him in fear or immediately run away as if he was the monster that got Haruki, Hinata and Erika killed.
"Monster."
"Why is he still here?"
"Is the headmaster insane for letting him stay?"
"Just don't look at him."
"Fxck. Gotta get out of here if I don't wanna die early."
"Man… I gotta wait until he's out."
"Murderer."
"Incarnate of the 'Fallen' indeed."
"You reckon that's he's just the 'Fallen' and not a vessel?"
"Possibly but I don't wanna risk provoking him, I might get killed immediately."
The male could only try to distract himself by focusing with his own thoughts but it only became worse since their words had clearly embedded into his mind no matter how much he had tried to remember that it wasn't his fault and how Sylvie told him that everything just went wrong with something that they couldn't control.
"It's my fault…" Rei thought to himself, "It should've been me who died…"
He was walking around the long hallway, body numbing as Rei detached himself from reality and the stares that were given to him. The male didn't even realise that he had arrived when Elliot called him out since she had just arrived.
"Senior?" Rei uttered he finally came to his senses, looking around to realise that he was about to walk further from the classroom. "Sorry. I got distracted." He said before entering, Elliot looked at him with pity as he allowed his tardiness although it wasn't an excuse for this behaviour but it had to be done especially when one is under a stressful and emotional situation.
"Alright. Let's begin." The male nurse said before conducting the lesson as Rei started to feel much better with no gossip that he could hear from every corner.
Despite being focused in the middle of the class, Rei couldn't help but worry for Sylvie's safety. After all, the female was powerless at the moment and people may take the chance to hurt her if they find out.
The male clenched his fists as he wished that her condition wouldn't be revealed yet since she may not be able to handle the pressure and hate against her. After all, mid-tiers, low-tiers, high-tiers or god-tiers will always find a way to put someone below them to boost their confidence and ego.
"Class is over." Elliot said as it concluded their chemistry lesson in which Rei packed up his stuff before heading off to the cafeteria to meet up with her.
There was a bad feeling in his guts that he should go quickly as Rei listened to himself. From walking quickly, dashing to sprinting immediately. He couldn't shake off the feeling as his worse thoughts had become true after hearing one of the people when he passed by them.
"Looks like he's heard of the fallen goddess being picked on then…"
Rei arrived as he saw Sylvie's fallen state against the wall with a group around her, the male immediately went in to kick one of the people that he recognised during the second day of having his status revealed. Malcolm Miller, a noble who had a mid-tier prowess that allowed him to shift his body to defensive or offensive form which focused heavily on main stats of the gauging prowess system.
"Looks like Prince in shining armour just arrived. Get him!"
The male immediately tried copying their prowess but seemed to have difficulty since he was still adjusting to the spiritual energy that he had for now since his body was boosted with the ancient being's energy.
While he could copy them, the amplification was more difficult since holding a copied prowess was harder than putting the output and execution into the ability itself.
"Damnit… It's too much…" Rei grunted with the copied prowess either working or not working as he was getting his ass beat although he was more focused on defending Sylvie while focusing on just putting them away from her.
"Fxck off!" He punched one of the lackeys that followed Malcolm as they stumbled, clearly understanding the difference between them despite Rei being injured and overwhelmed.
"Enough."
A voice broke it apart, Rei immediately looking to where it came from as he saw a male with green hair. "What are y'all doing?" They said before stepping between him and the group, "You shouldn't be doing this."
Rei knew something was off when was immediately punched right in his guts which he didn't even have to react as he coughed violently, deactivating his prowess as he let go of the copied prowess immediately.
"Fxck…" he grunted as Rei tried to stand up before being held by his hair. "Let your senior teach you alright?"
The male knew that he couldn't fight anymore and he felt the hard fists landing on his face. Rei couldn't even defend himself as he was pinned down with the green haired male above him.
"Look." He said in which Rei did as he struggled desperately to get out of their grasp, watching the group approach Sylvie with smiles on their faces.
Rei felt powerless as he tried with all his might to get out but couldn't make any progress. His powerlessness all over his mind as Malcolm's hand had Sylvie's head, her tears flowing as the others were just laughing while the male was slapping her.
"If only you were strong. Then maybe you'll be able to fend them off without even trying." The green haired male mocked before letting go of him as he immediately ran away as if they had seen something.
Malcolm and his group had half of their body encased and trapped in ice. "Wha-" They couldn't even get to finish their sentence as Eunji's presence alerted them all.
"Of all the things that y'all be doing. You instead do something useless and childish." The strawberry blonde said before picking Sylvie up while Rinka helped Rei to get up.
"Rinka. Make sure their injuries are worse than these two." She commanded while sending a glare to Malcolm's group before heading off with Rei and Sylvie.
The short orange haired girl didn't even grin but just did her job as she manifested a large amount of blood needles before striking it all down onto the group's vital points.
She didn't care if she got suspended for putting them near death's door but the way the students in the academy started to act because of Haru's hierarchy then nobles and upper class attending the academy for their own status.
"How disgusting…" Rinka muttered before leaving after watching them struggle and whimper with their injuries.
...…
Sylvie felt so humiliated, unable to fight back or to avoid the fight especially when the passive ability of her prowess had always allowed her to have a good perception of time and accelerated reaction time.
"It's best to stay at the dorms with me and Rinka for the meantime. I'll ask headmaster Sho to allow you with us since it's better than leaving you all to yourself." Eunji said as she was patching her up in a separate area to Rei which confuses her but had to ask.
"Why is Rei in a private room rather than being in the infirmary?" Sylvie asked which got Eunji to freeze up before signing.
"To look after his mental health. I've heard from Eri that Rinka had been observing him for quite a while now even before the incident." Eunji said which worried Sylvie as she continued, "According to them, he's on his limit especially with the isolation then the blame going at him. It's a matter of time until he breaks down which would be a high risk especially when he's a vessel where we wouldn't know if the 'Fallen' would be influencing him or not."
Sylvie clenched her fists, "W-Will he be okay?" She asked which Eunji had to answer her truthfully despite how harsh it was.
"I'm not sure but it's probably gonna take a lot of time for someone to recover. Especially when they're still in the middle of their long recovery." Eunji answered, implying that she knew about Rei's therapy from before which surprised the magenta haired girl but didn't say anything about it.
A couple of hours later where Sylvie was being treated and looked after by Eri and Elliot, a sudden wave of spiritual energy hit the entire place. The strawberry blond female immediately dashing out since it was the same atmosphere and aura that belonged to the 'Fallen'.
"Shxt! Did the 'Fallen' take over?" Eunji thought to herself before arriving at Rei's private infirmary room as she entered.
But to her disbelief, it was the total opposite of what she expected. Rei had his body covered in a golden yellow hue although what was more shocking was a razor sharp glass then the blood dripping down on his arms then neck while also a stain on his chest then stomach.
"Did he-" Eunji was cut off when she heard the voice of the ancient being.
"Oh, you're here. Now help me heal this brat." It said with a mouth manifested out of Rei's cheeks.
...…
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