The group of three of the students, Tsukuru, Quinn, and Layla, ducked down, and hid behind a nearby tree.
That's when they saw two people enter the forest.
And all three of them recognized one of them.
"Riley." Tsukuru gritted out, his eyes narrowed in fury, and spitting out the name like it was poison. "Of course."
"Hand over your credits, now." Riley growled. "Otherwise, I'll dig you a grave right here, and no one will ever find your body."
Tsukuru clenched his fists in fury.
He snapped his head at Quinn.
"You've already fought two." He replied, referring to the fact that Quinn had already defeated both Kyle and Riley. "I've only fought one. You mind?" He asked.
Quinn stared at him for a moment.
He then sighed.
With one hand on his forehead, he used his other to wave at Tsukuru, signalling him to go.
As Tsukuru began to walk out towards them, Riley continued to speak.
"Hey, do you want a beating?!" Riley snarled. "Pass over your credits! NOW!"
He grabbed the student by his collar, and held him up against the tree.
"But I only get 10 credits a day." The boy complained. "Their mine. This isn't fair!"
Riley's eyes flared.
"Fair?!" Riley yelled. "When has this world EVER been fair?! Blame the people at the top for not looking out for us!"
It was then that Riley heard a voice from behind him.
"And how are you ANY different?" Tsukuru asked.
Riley spun around.
It was him.
The midget in the hoodie with the affinity for daggers.
A dark expression appeared on Tsukuru's face.
"Look at you." He snarled. "The second you get even an ounce of power, look at what you do. You become just like those at the top. Don't use them as an excuse and a shield to justify you being a piece of shit!"
Back behind the tree, Layla began to step forward, eager to help.
Quinn put his hand on her shoulder.
As she looked up, Quinn gave her a look that told her to stand down.
"He said that he was going to handle this." Quinn replied.
Back with the others, Riley clenched his hand into a fist.
"You…" He growled. "I've been waiting for you."
He put two fingers in his mouth, and let out a whistle.
Instantly, two more students ran into the forest from the park.
Riley smirked.
"Think you can take on all three of us at once, punk?!" Riley sneered.
Tsukuru looked at all three of them.
Then, his head snapped to the tree.
He was about to speak, when a thought occurred to him.
He couldn't call Quinn "Quinn".
It would completely blow Quinn's cover, making him wearing a mask pointless.
He needed to think of some kind of codename or alias for him.
It was then that the perfect name came to his mind.
Tsukuru grinned.
"Hey, Night Demon!" He yelled, catching both Quinn and Layla's attention. "He brought company!"
Hearing the name, Quinn's eyes widened.
Layla glanced over at Quinn.
"'Night Demon'?" She asked.
Quinn let out a sigh.
"Well, it's better than him just straight-out announcing my name." He replied.
He reached into the back of his bag, and withdrew the Knight Gauntlets Tsukuru had given him.
Putting them on, he felt his strength increase, as his Strength Stat increased from 11 to 15, due to the Beast Gear's "+4" Strength bonus.
Additionally, Quinn put the free Stat Point he had gained from drinking Tsukuru's blood into Agility for a slight strength boost, raising it from "11" to "12".
As he looked down at them, he saw his mask in front of him.
Looking down, he saw Layla holding out his mask to him.
She looked at him.
"Don't forget this."
Quinn took the mask.
"Thanks." He replied, putting the mask on his face.
Just because Tsukuru didn't need to hide his identity didn't mean that Quinn was in the same boat.
Quinn walked out from behind the tree, and stood next to Tsukuru.
Riley smirked.
Despite the fact that Quinn was wearing a mask, Riley had made it perfectly clear in the canteen earlier that he knew exactly who he was.
There was only one"kid with black, curly hair" who was ALWAYS hanging around with Tsukuru.
His smile widened, as anger flowed through him.
Riley remembered how Quinn had tackled him down in the canteen this morning, and had almost taken a bite out of his neck with those sharp fangs of his.
"Well, well, well." He sneered. "This day just keeps getting better. I get to get revenge on both of you punks!"
Tsukuru and Quinn looked at the two boys running at them.
Suddenly, an arrow shot out of the woods and hit one of the two newcomers in the knee, causing the boy to fall down to the ground.
The other newcomer went to his downed friend.
"What happened?" He asked.
It was then that he noticed the arrow in the boy's knee.
"What the? Where'd this arrow come from?!"
Tsukuru saw Quinn use this opportunity to dash towards the downed student.
Tsukuru smirked, and activated his Ability.
He created three copies of his "Black Obsidian Dagger", which appeared in the air to the right of his right arm.
He then used Video Stasis on them to make them hover in mid-air.
'This Skill says '5 meters'.' Quinn thought. 'So show me what you got!'
As soon as Quinn was within range of the boy, he activated his Blood Swipe Skill, swinging his hand down towards the boy.
A line of red energy came surging out of Quinn's finger tips, and hit the student in the chest, causing a claw mark to appear, but wasn't enough to knock him out.
"Blood Swipe! Blood Swipe! Blood Swipe!" Quinn muttered, swinging his arms wildly, shooting out three more Blood Swipes.
Each blow hit the student dead-on in the chest, with multiple claw marks appearing.
Eventually, he collapsed to the floor.
It seemed that the Blood Swipe Skill had no cooldown.
As long as Quinn had HP, he could activate the Skill.
Instantly, two System messages appeared in front of Quinn.
[HP: 11/15]
[An opponent has been defeated. 50 Exp awarded. Exp: 95/200]
Suddenly, Quinn heard the noise of three objects whizzing past him, whistling in the wind.
It was followed by three distinctive thunk noises.
The boy next to the student Quinn had just defeated suddenly felt three instances of piercing pain shoot through his body.
Looking down, he saw daggers piercing his left shoulder, right rib, and left thigh.
Back behind the tree, Layla's eyes widened.
'Holy crap!' She thought to herself.
She looked down at her bow, feeling suddenly inadequate despite her years of training.
The boy stood there for a moment, shocked, before he spat out blood, and fell to his knees.
He heard footsteps approaching him, and a shadow loomed over him.
Looking up, he saw Tsukuru smirking over him.
He watched as Tsukuru activated his Ability once again.
He created three more daggers that floated above him.
Tsukuru swung his harm down, and the daggers shot out like arrows.
This time, the boy felt the piercing pain in his back, as all three daggers hit home, embedding themselves in random locations on his back.
The boy collapsed, next to his friend.
A System message appeared in front of Tsukuru.
[An opponent has been defeated. 50 XP awarded. XP: 95/200]