Quinn felt like he was locked in a constant cycle.
Once he was injured to a certain degree, his Blood Bank would automatically activate and heal him.
But even with the Blood Bank, there was no getting out of this one.
The second Quinn had started this fight, he knew this would happen to some degree.
He never expected to win.
Ignoring the pain of the strikes, and instead trying to avoid all of the attacks, he rushed forwards towards one of the students.
This time, two hits hit him from each side, causing two big slashes on his body.
A System screen appeared in front of him.
[HP: 7/20]
However, Quinn didn't care.
His speed was quick, and using the strength in his legs, he was able to move himself forward.
He grabbed one of the second-year students.
He quickly went behind the student, grabbing his arm.
At the same time, he kept one of his gauntlet's claws at the student's neck, using him as a meat shield.
The second-years became more hesitant to attack, afraid that they might hit one of their fellow classmates.
Quinn continued to walk back with the second-year until his back was against the wall.
Mono smirked.
"You and I both know you're not going to hurt him, Quinn." Mono replied. "If you attack too deep and kill him, you'll be in deep trouble."
Mono's smile widened.
"And if you attack too shallowly, then we'll all pounce on you at once, and make you wishyou were dead."
Quinn grit his teeth.
He didn't want to admit it, but Mono was right.
He couldn't kill the student.
And at the same time, the second he turned his back to them, they would take him out. Quinn was left with only one option.
He started to choke the student out from behind, wrapping his arm around the student's neck.
He used all his strength, until the student eventually passed out.
A System message appeared in front of Quinn.
[50 Exp awarded. Exp: 330/400]
'No point in wasting good Exp.' Quinn thought.
As soon as the student fell to the ground, the attacks came out fast and furious from the other second-years.
Quinn was able to block most of them now that his back was against the wall, and he no longer had to worry about getting attacked from behind.
He started dodging a lot of strikes, which made him think he was back at the Agility Test during the Ability Level Placement Test, where he had to dodge holographic spikes that came at him.
However, these attacks were more powerful, and greater in number.
Eventually, he let a strike get in.
A System message appeared.
[HP: 6/20]
Suddenly, the attacks had stopped, and Mono stepped forward with his Beast Whip in his hand.
Seeing the whip again, Quinn remembered how a single attack from that whip had dealt him seven HP of damage.
If he got hit by that even once, it was all over.
And Quinn didn't know what would happen when he dropped to 0 HP, but he knew that right now definitely wasn't the time to find out.
He had no choice.
He would have to use his Blood Bank to heal himself.
Even if the others did see him healing himself, they wouldn't automatically think he was a Vampire.
They'd think he had some sort of Self-Healing Ability.
The problem was that Quinn had already shown abnormal strength. If he then displayed abnormal healing, things wouldn't add up.
He wasn't like Tsukuru.
He had the excuse of having a new-generation Original Ability that nobody else could use.
Quinn showing off two completely different Abilities, while being recorded as having NO Ability, would only lead to Quinn being asked questions.
Just as Quinn was deciding what to do, Mono sensed something, and moved his head at the last second.
As he did, A Beast Stone enveloped in an aura of glitching pixels, came flying through the air, and went past Mono's head.
Seeing it, Mono gritted his teeth.
"Hikiko!" He snarled.
Mono lashed his whip.
It easily sliced cleanly through the Beast Stone.
Instantly, the aura of glitching pixels faded away, and the two halves of the the Beast Stone fell to the ground with a thud.
Mono then heard footsteps approaching him.
As he looked forward, his eyes widened. It was not the person Mono had been expecting.
"Surprise, bitch!" Raten sneered.
"Vorden?!" Mono yelled in surprise. "How the HELL are you using HIKIKO's Ability?!" he snarled.
Raten smirked.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" He taunted.
Mono narrowed his eyes at Raten, him clearly not liking that answer.
"I don't know how you seem to have Hikiko's power, but it doesn't matter. Or don't you remember what happened the last time you and I fought?"
Hearing this, Raten had a dark smile on his face.
"Last time, you weren't fighting me." He replied, confusing both Mono and Quinn.
"And I'm not like Vorden."
Using his copied Video Stasis, Raten lifted two more Beast Stones off of the ground.
He thrust his hands forward, launching the Beast Stones out towards Mono.
However, Mono would simply just step forward, backwards, or turn his body slightly, avoiding each Beast Stone.
It was as if Mono knew where they were going to go.
Then, Raten's eyes widened in realization.
A snippet of Tsukuru's conversation with Mono when they first got "escorted" to the second-year building, right after Mono got punked into smashing his hand into Tsukuru's spiked headband.
"You think Future Sight makes you invincible. You can see what, six seconds into the future? All that means is that I have to wait until the very LAST second to act."
Raten smirked.
"That's right." He replied, catching both Quinn and Mono's attention. "You can see into the future. Well, that's certainly annoying."
Hearing his words, Mono smirked.
"That's right." He replied, catching one of the incoming Beast Stones as it came close to his face.
He clenched his fist, destroying the Beast Stone.
He then swung his whip out, destroying each and every Beast Stone floating in the air without even having to look at them.
"I know every move you'll make, before you can even make it."
Quinn grit his teeth.
He wanted to help.
While Mono had his back turned, he tried to go in for an attack.
But before he could even move, Mono had already acted.
His whip came flying out, and lashed at the ground right in front of Quinn.
"Don't even think about it." Mono replied.
Quinn waited once again for the right moment, and when he thought it was right, he tried to move again.
The same thing happened,
Mono swung his whip out before Quinn could move.
Quinn grit his teeth in annoyance.
'Stupid future sight…' Quinn thought, as he realized that this would be a tough fight.
Mono's Ability was similar to Leo's.
Only instead of seeing a wireframe, he saw after-images.
He could see every motion objects were going to make, the after-images of what each object would do next appearing faded and slightly translucent.
He had seen the Beast Stone's trajectory in a series of after-images, allowing him to move his head out of the way.
In the same vein, he had seen a translucent after-image of Quinn starting to move, showing him what Quinn was planning to do.
It was a strong Ability that took years for Mono to get the hang of.
Like Tsukuru had demonstrated in their first encounter, just because Mono could see into the future, it didn't mean that it helped him in every aspect of life.
Mono's strength, speed, and reaction time all had to be trained to synergize with the Ability.
Even though Mono's Ability was a rare one, it was still widely available on the market.
Not many people chose it for these very reasons.
Raten grit his teeth in anger.
"Who cares if you know what I'm going to do?!"
Raten roared. "All I have to do is do something you can't block!"