The arena. An easier name for the ring of torture. I mean, if I were the King of Silvic High and I created such a place just to prevent school violence, I'd definitely call it that.
King discovered this place a few months ago, a dojo two streets away from school. Not sure how wealthy his parents were, but he bought this place, and renamed it the arena—that, in his sheer attempt to abolish school bullying.
But the rumours had said different. Some claimed that Aria—the hero of low tiers—had threatened the King to see to the abolition of school bullying. And afterwards, Aria had gotten suspended the same week King built the arena.
Something tells me that the Order was responsible for her suspension.
Aria was never a fan of the hierarchy. But somehow, she stood above it. The Order was definitely afraid of her, more or less the rest of the high tiers. And even with all that assumed power, she still chose to be nice to the low tiers. To eat with them and live like them without putting herself in the spotlight.
Under her nose however, they'd built the arena— a hell zone for the low tiers— and gotten her suspended before she could find out about it.
Eventually, the Order still called the shots around Silvic High.
Tyler was expectedly in the ring, beating up another low-tier. Funny, now that I thought about it, I'd never actually seen him fight someone who was his match or someone more powerful than him. And yet, he liked to claim strength, like he actually earned it through hard work and not by picking on people weaker than him.
He was everything that summed up an asshole. And watching him there—grinning as he kept punching that low tier's face—was only confirmation of his identity.
Everyone cheered aggressively as he finished off that low tier. Girls squealed out his name on repeat every time he flexed his muscles. The guys there just kept roaring, demanding more violence.
And luckily for Tyler, his eyes found me. They lay on me and he smiled, dropping his arms to lean against the ring ropes. A habit, I observed.
"Been waiting for you, Ren Mora." He said, signifying for me to climb up the ring.
While I walked up there, four other students dragged the unconscious low-tier out, his blood drawing a gore art piece on the floor. And somehow, everyone tolerated this. The crowd was mostly packed with high tiers, I wasn't surprised that every one of them thought the same— that beating a student weaker than you, was true momentum.
"Scared?" Tyler asked after he must have noticed me staring at the unconscious boy being dragged away. "Don't worry, I'll make it quick for you."
"Why do you do this?" I asked. "Childhood trauma? Does that explain why you pick on people weaker than you?"
Tyler frowned. Apparently, my words had hit a nerve. The moment he clenched his fists in supposed rage, I knew that I just had to keep talking.
"Strength? Is that what you're chasing? You must've grown up with the idea that you'd never actually amount to anything unless you're powerful, right?" I continued, casually kicking the air. "And because they looked at you like that. You wanted to make the others suffer, the same way you did."
"Shut up."
He lunged at me, rage seething in his eyes. But I sidestepped, letting him rush at complete nothingness.
"Oh, so I'm right?" I said with a slight smirk. "You convinced yourself every single time you beat a low tier— that you were stronger than yesterday. That soon, they'd see your true worth, am I right?"
Tyler groaned and rushed at me with fists. I dodged his first attack by a perfect circle dodge, reading his next fist before it could hit me. I grabbed his arm, parried. Then side stepped his next attack again.
"You don't know anything about me." He said, more like a painful groan of anguish. "You're just a cripple."
By now, his fists were starting to harden. He was activating his ability. Surprising. He never used that when he was being cool-headed. And this was the fastest he'd ever reached the brink of frustration. At least the fastest I'd ever seen.
Good.
He reached his right fist again for my face. Catching to parry would've shattered my hand, so I just ducked. And in that same state, I swiped a blow across his gut.
His guard let loose. Two seconds. I gave him a kick in his torso, putting all my formidable force into it. He slid across the floor, and the ring ropes aided his fall.
"You are wrong, Tyler." I looked straight into his eyes. "I am you. The guy who wants to become stronger. Except that, I'm done trying to prove myself to anyone. To deal with issues like you, I must become stronger."
"You...when did you get so strong?" I heard him trying to catch his breath as he spoke. "That's impossible. You are the weakest in Silvic High."
Without any response, I took fast paces towards him, tried for a punch, but he grabbed my arm. Without hesitation, I grabbed his shoulder and threw him off of me. He rolled off a few feet away, barely regaining his balance afterwards.
I didn't wait for that ceremony. I crouched down, grabbed his neck and squeezed tightly, my legs wrapped around his torso.
Unfortunately, that was my opening. His fists came down on my ankle, and I registered a painful crunching sound down there. In my distraction, he pushed me off, rolled himself up over me and landed another punch to my face.
My attempt to block was null. My hands went limp, and my face was flushed. Once, twice. Over and over again. I could feel my head getting hot, excruciating pain welling up in my neurons. And at the moment, I realised that I was taking in his hardened blows more than I normally would.
When Tyler was sure that he'd rendered me immobile, he stopped.
"Bastard. You thought you actually had a chance at beating me." He chuckled. The kind of chuckle that showed his fear of almost losing to me. "I already told you, Ren. You're nothing but a cripple. Against me, you have no significance."
He stood, faced the cheering crowd and resumed his muscle flaunting. The cheers were now wilder. Some girls were probably somewhere around there, ripping off their shirts for him.
Pathetic. Really pathetic.
"Get up." I heard Amelia say.
"I can't—"
"Get up, Ren." She repeated. "You still have some energy left in you."
"Against him, that's nothing."
"Shut the hell up, Ren." Honestly, it was the first time a system was actually telling me to shut up. Not bad. "Your pessimism is a form of personal defence. Winning is supposed to start from the mind, don't you get it?"
"I do.. but—"
"There are a lot of buts in psychological warfare. But survival only provides two options. It's either you beat this fool—"
"...or I die trying."
"I was gonna say or you remain a victim forever, but yeah, I guess that still works." She shrugged, then gave me a set of determined eyes. Harder than anything I've ever seen before. "So, what's it gonna be Ren. The first choice...or the second?"
I stood back on my feet, barely managing to regain my balance. Through blurred eyes, I watched Tyler's show dissolve into surprise the moment the room became quiet.
"He's back up." I heard most of them whisper among themselves.
"That's impossible. Tyler clearly knocked him down."
"I'm impressed. You must've put a lot of training into this fight." Tyler faked a smirk over his surprised expression. "And sad at the same time. You see, Ren. It takes more than a two-day training to actually beat me."
[Skill Levelled Up!]
[Flow State— Level 2]
Without a word, I charged him. Another attempt at a punch. Well, I made him think that. He dodged downwards, and simultaneously when my knee came up for an aggressive hit. His face was crunched, and I knew connect directly with his skull.
That alone disoriented him, he staggered, and I could tell he couldn't quite think clearly anymore. Two more. I just needed two more critical hits to finish him.
I grabbed his collar, knocked my forehead into his, then sent an uppercut up his jaw. He free-fell to the ground, hitting the hard floor unguarded with the back of his head.
I could feel sheer rage in my blood as I walked up to him. And honestly, I liked it. One of his eyes was barely open, and the other had drops of his blood running down it.
"Y...You'll regret this, cripple." He barely whispered.
"Look at it from your perspective, Tyler. The weakest kid in school just beat you. Which, as of now, makes you the weakest. Phenomenal, right." I smiled, squatting down to him.
"And also—" I raised my right fist to his face. "It's Ren Mora."
WHACK!!
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Extra:
Name: Ren Mora
Ability: None (Late Bloomer)
Rank:?
Fortitude: 0.9