"See? I told you he won't fight back."
Nathan grinned as he shoved the black haired boy deeper into the corner of the hallway.
"What are you waiting for? Hit him!" Nathan yelled, looking back at his friend.
"Bu- But Nathan, what if he tells on us?" Ellum asked, his voice shaking.
He kept glancing toward the hallway entrance as his hands would not stop trembling.
"They might suspend us if-"
"Shut up, man. If you don't want a turn, just say so."
Nathan shook his head in disgust. Without a warning, Nathan pulled back and buried a fist into Verso's stomach.
WHAM.
"Ugh-"
The air left Verso's lungs in a sharp wheeze. The pain was intense and immediate. There was no way that was the punch of a normal sixteen year old. The awakening had clearly boosted Nathan's physical stats significantly.
Ellum watched, his confusion growing as he saw Verso take the hit without any form of flinching or retaliation.
"Is he really not fighting back?"
Ellum knew exactly who Verso was. Actually, everyone at Meridian High did.
Verso was the so called top ranker of the school, the student who had scored the highest in every combat theory and strategy class for three years straight.
To Ellum, seeing the school's best fighter acting like a submissive punching bag felt completely wrong. It felt like this was a trap.
Nathan noticed the hesitation in Ellum's eyes and laughed while pulling back for another strike.
Seeing him readying up for another strike, Verso leaned heavily against the wall to keep his balance.
"I know what you're thinking," Nathan said, glancing at Ellum.
"It's because he failed to awaken."
Nathan stepped closer, and instead of punching him he poked a mocking finger into Verso's chest.
"Do you think the school is going to suspend an awakened student over a loser like him?"
"And the reason he isn't fighting back is because he knows it, too. He's a nobody now."
Verso looked at them talk from the corner of his eye as a mask of indifference covered his thoughts.
'These bastards.'
He had failed to awaken naturally three days ago, and ever since then, his classmates had been lining up to get their revenge.
According to what he had learned after getting beaten up several times, they all hated him for making them look bad for the past few years.
'It's not my fault you guys have shit for brains.'
Verso thought, his eyes locking onto Nathan's smug face.
Anger burned in his gut, but he kept his muscles relaxed. As awakened students, their raw strength and agility were far beyond his current human limits.
If he wanted to win, he couldn't just trade blows. He had to wait for them to get sloppy before he caught them off guard.
"Go ahead. Try hitting him," Nathan told Ellum again.
Instead of resisting, this time Ellum stepped forward, pulling up his sleeves up but something that did not match his body language were his eyes which were darting around nervously.
'He's scared.'
Verso dismissed Ellum immediately. The boy didn't have the stomach for a real fight which made him a secondary threat.
His real target was Nathan. If he wanted the bullying to stop, he had to send a message that would stick.
Nathan turned to Ellum with a wide arrogant smile on his face.
"I swear, you won't regret it-"
He never finished the sentence.
Verso exploded off the wall.
In a blur of movement, he closed the distance before Nathan could even blink. Startled, Nathan instinctively threw his arms up to cover his face.
'Gotcha.'
That was exactly what Verso wanted. With Nathan's guard high and his chin exposed, Verso dropped his weight and drove a lightning fast uppercut into the gap.
CRACK.
The sound of his fist hitting the boy's jaw echoed through the hallway.
Nathan's head cocked back violently, his eyes rolling into his head as his body went limp as he slammed into the floor like a sack of bricks.
Ellum stood frozen, his mouth hanging open in surprise. He looked at his unconscious friend and then slowly turned his gaze toward Verso.
Verso stood over Nathan as he looked at Ellum, a cold smile plastered on his lips.
"So... what do I do with you?"
Ellum's heart hammered against his ribs. He knew from that smile that Verso was not going to let him walk away unscathed.
Panicking, he reached deep into his soul space and pulled his last resort.
"Get him!"
A massive, spectral bull suddenly materialized to Verso's left. Although it was a low ranking summon, at this range it was a battering ram.
The bull lunged forward before Verso could pivot.
"Fuck-"
The bull collided with Verso's side, the impact throwing him across the hallway as he slammed into the opposite wall and slumped to the ground as his vision instantly faded.
Silence returned to the corridor.
Ellum stood trembling, looking at the two unconscious boys. He knew very well that using a summon against an unawakened student was completely prohibited.
"It was self defense," Ellum muttered, his voice cracking.
"It was self defense. It was-"
He kept repeating the sentence, almost trying to convince himself that what he had done was not overkill.
"So, are you going to keep telling yourself that?"
A cold, masculine voice cut through the air. Ellum shuddered, his blood turning to ice.
He slowly turned his head to see a large, imposing man standing at the end of the corridor. It was their combat instructor, Kolden.
"Sir Kolden... he attacked me first-"
"You are in a lot of trouble young man." Kolden as as he walked towards the unconscious boys on the floor.
Hearing the seriousness in his teacher's voice Ellum knew that he had messed up bad. Although the school allowed fight between awakened students, they were prohibited from hurting an unawakened.
But not only had they beaten Verso up, he has also used his summon to attack him.
"Sir please-"
"Save it for later." Kolden said, his eyes narrowed as he looked at the wreckage closely.
"Help me carry them to the infirmary first."