Back in the assembly hall, the group of six second-years continued to fight against Layla and Erin.
At the same time, Tsukuru was systematically taking down second-year students by pelting them with Glathrium balls.
For the second-years, it was the most important game of dodgeball in their lives, as they desperately tried to avoid getting hit.
As another student fell, a girl behind him looked down at Tsukuru.
They exchanged looks for a moment.
"Oh, screw this!" The girl yelled before stomping away. "I didn't sign up for this bullshit! Mono can yell at me all he wants, I don't care! I'm out!"
The nearby second-years watched in disbelief, as the girl abandoned them.
She walked to the far wall and just stood there, arms crossed, as she watched the chaos.
Within the "automap" function of Tsukuru's System, he saw the girl's dot changed from "red" , for "hostile" to "gray", for "neutral".
Back with Vorden, who had now switched places with Raten, he was desperately trying to free himself from the steel shackles screwed to the board.
But it was pointless.
This was a high-strength metal specifically made to restrain even people with STRENGTH-ENHANCING Abilities.
'Shit!' Raten thought bitterly. 'I'm NEVER gonna get out of these things!'
Suddenly, Raten was broken from his musings as he heard footsteps approaching.
A small shadow overcast his lower torso.
Confused, he looked up, and saw Tsukuru standing over him.
Tsukuru looked down at him, an amused smirk on his face.
"Hey, Raten." Tsukuru replied, him being able to tell exactly which soul was in charge via his System's "scanner" function. "Need some help?" He asked.
Hearing that, a wicked smirk appeared on Raten's face.
"Oh, that would be greatly appreciated." He replied. "Get me out of here!"
Smirking in response, Tsukuru put his hand out in front of him.
Instantly, his Haunted Knight materialized behind him.
She reached out and slid her sword on its side through the right shackle, in the space between the edge of the shackle and the bottom of Raten's wrist.
She then forced her sword upwards.
It sliced through the metal like a sharp knife though cheese.
She then repeated the process with the other edge of the shackles.
The cut piece of the shackle separated from the rest, falling down.
Raten smirked as he felt the cold steel on the base of his wrist.
He wrenched his arm out of the newly-made opening of the shackle, the cut piece being ejected as he did.
"Here, let me see that!" Raten replied, grabbing the Haunted Knight's sword by the upper blade, and wrenching it out of her arms.
Surprisingly, she showed no resistance.
Raten repeated the same process with the other shackle.
Finally, he was free.
Raten rotated his wrists, as if he was getting used to the body.
It wasn't very often that Raten got to be in control.
His arms now free, he jumped down from the board.
He looked over at Tsukuru, and placed his open palm on his chest.
Instantly, translucent pixels appeared on Tsukuru's chest, and began to crawl up Raten's arm.
Raten had copied Tsukuru's Ability.
He outstretched his arm holding the sword towards the Haunted Knight, who took it back.
Tsukuru looked up at Raten with a smirk.
"Ready to bust some heads?" He asked.
Raten smirked a predatory smile in response.
"Oh, you have no idea…" Raten replied, cracking his knuckles. "Let's rumble!"
He then began running towards Layla and Erin.
Seeing this, the water user's face froze.
He remembered how tough Vorden was the last time they had fought against him in the assembly hall.
The water user panicked, and threw out two blades of water towards Raten.
As the blades of water flew through the air towards Raten, he twisted his body to the side at the last second, twisting in an odd way, avoiding both blades.
He then looked down, and saw two Beast Stones lying on the ground nearby.
Raten smirked.
Although he had never used Tsukuru's Video Stasis Skill, from what he had seen of it, it seemed to work similarly to the basic Telekinesis Ability.
And Raten already knew how to use that.
His hunch was correct.
An aura of glitching pixels enveloped both his hands, as well as both balls.
However, when he tried to mentally lift them off the ground, nothing happened.
Raten was confused, until he remembered that Tsukuru always used hand motions to use the Skill.
Perhaps mentally controlling the objects wasn't something the Skill was capable of.
Curious, Raten tested it out.
His hunch proved correct, for as he lifted his arms up, the two Beasts Stones lifted up into the air, as well.
Raten thrust his hand forward, sending the Beast Stones flying like cannonballs.
However, the attack was easy for the water user to block, as he formed a wall of water to black the attack.
As the Beast Stones entered the wall, they got swallowed up by it, losing all momentum, and falling to the ground.
Seeing this, the water user smirked.
However, it was at that point that he heard a strange cry fill the air. It sounded like a mix between a bird's cry, and that of a human woman.
Confused, he looked straight ahead.
And when he did, his eyes widened, as he saw a woman with long, red hair and feathers wings growing out of her arms flying straight at him.
And kneeling on the girl's back was Tsukuru.
Tsukuru applied pressure on his back foot, and jumped off his Harpie's back just before she collided with the water user.
The Harpie impacted with the water user like a human-sized wrecking ball, knocking him backwards, and causing him to fall on the ground on his back.
The water user let out an "oof!" as he fell, feeling the wind being knocked out of him.
On impact, the Harpie arced upwards, flying straight up like a curving rocket, and maintained her spot high in the air above them, flapping her wings to remain airborne.
"What the hell just hit me?" The water user groaned, as he began to get up.
However, it was at that point that a Glathrium ball enveloped in an aura of glitching pixels shot out like a cannonball and clocked him square in the stomach.
The water user's body lifted slightly up in the air, before falling back down; this time being knocked unconscious.
Instantly, a System Message appeared in front of Tsukuru.
[50 XP awarded. First time defeating a Level 4 Ability User. Bonus XP will be awarded. First-Time victory bonus: 60 XP. XP: 290/800]
As the student fell, the second-year student on either side of the now-unconscious water user instinctively looked forward and down at Tsukuru, who was standing a few feet in front of them.
That was their mistake.
While they were distracted, Raten sent a Beast Stone hurtling towards both of them, clocking them square in the face.
Instantly, the two second-years fell back, unconscious.
While the first- and second-year students continued fighting in the assembly hall, a small group consisting of Sergeant Shizuka, Sergeant Faye, and Peter were sprinting down the hall.
Peter gasped, as he struggled to keep up with the two Sergeants.
Sergeant Faye glanced over at Shizuka.
"This would be faster if I went bymyself!" She replied.
Instantly, Shizuka's gaze snapped over at her, a look of pure rage on her face.
"Not a chance!" Shizuka snarled back. "If little Tsu-Tsu's there, I'm coming too!"
Hearing this, Sergeant Faye sighed, and narrowed her eyes.
'Hikiko Tsukuru.' She thought. 'You'd better be in one piece. Otherwise, Shizuka's gonna burn the whole second-year building down!'
Back in the assembly hall, the remaining three Level 4s who had originally been fighting against Layla and Erin all exchanged looks.
Not only was this now a four-against-three, but one of them was Vorden, who had been ripping through second-years like tissue paper the last two times the second-years had fought him.
Erin and Layla, meanwhile, had their gazes shot upwards, staring at the Harpie flying a good ten feet above their heads.
"The heck is that thing?" Erin asked, her eyes narrowed.
In another section of the assembly hall, the second-years had Quinn completely surrounded.
Mono glanced over, and saw Tsukuru and Raten having just defeated three of the six Level 4s who had been fighting Layla and Erin.
He grit his teeth in anger, as he glared at Tsukuru.
"Just wonderful." Mono muttered bitterly.
As Quinn tried to step forward out of the encirclement of second-years, a wind strike came out towards him.
He managed to lift his hand to block the attack, but at the same time, another slash was felt on his back.
A System message appeared in front of him.
[HP: 12/20]
The attacks continued, using a mixture of Abilities, but most of them were weak, elemental ones, such as Level 2 Earth and Wind users.
However, when he was being attacked from all sides, the attacks were adding up.
Quinn continued to block strikes coming from the front of him, but was still getting hit on all sides.
System messages kept popping up in front of him.
[HP: 11/20]
[HP: 10/20]
[HP: 9/20]