WHY? WHY?! WHY??"his words screaming inside his mind
The word echoed violently in his mind, a repetitive, furious drumbeat. He glared up at the man standing before me, his eyes burning with a defiant, pure rage that threatened to boil over. One of his hands reflexively move to his cheek, pressing against the skin where a fierce, stinging heat radiated from a fresh, brutal slap
The man towered over him at well over six feet, casting a heavy, suffocating shadow that completely swallowed me up. His striking silver hair caught the light, but it was his emerald eyes that held him pinned—scanning him with nothing short of unadulterated hatred. He wore a coat of meticulous tailoring, slashed across the chest to reveal a dark, expensive silk beneath. Pinned to the fabric was a silver crest, flickering beneath the open sky.
’Why the hell is he here? Did he really come all the way down to the academy grounds just to slap me?’
Vale’s fists clenched so hard his knuckles ached, but he forced his muscles to lock. He couldn’t do anything reckless. ’Not yet’. Taking a deep, ragged breath,
’Not yet’ he told him fiercely. Slowly, he lifted his head, forcing his chin up horizontally to meet his freezing, judgmental gaze.
’How had my day devolved into this? Just a short while ago, all I wanted was to sit in the farthest, most isolated corner of the campus café, quietly sipping my coffee to avoid any semblance of conflict’
Yet, without fail, trouble always managed to hunt me down.
A few minutes earlier..
It had all started when Matheus Cronia tried to spite him in public. But instead of throwing the expected, explosive tantrum, he had simply stood up, completely unbothered, and walked over to him with slow, deliberate steps.
"Why are you barking so early in the morning, Matheus?" Vale speaked with a sharp smirk cutting across his lips as he waited for the real show to begin
The blunt remark instantly caught the attention of the surrounding students. Whispers died down as dozens of eyes began darting between the two of us. Matheus clearly hadn’t accounted for this kind of reaction. His casual, arrogant posture cracked for a split second, replaced by a sudden flare of fury.
"You know what, Vale? The way you acted so tough during our first year makes me want to puke," Matheus spat, stepping directly into my personal space. He raised his hand, aggressively jabbing his index finger right at my nose. "How dare you act so high and mighty in front of everyone when you don’t even possess a single shred of mana? Everyone in this academy is tired of trash like you walking among us."
Sensing an opportunity to fully humiliate me, Matheus turned away and raised both of his hands to the surrounding crowd. "Isn’t that right?!"
"Yeah, that’s right!" one student called out, and like dominoes, a chorus of his followers rose up to echo the sentiment, feeding into the mob mentality.
Matheus’s smirk stretched wider, brimming with triumph. To solidify his victory, he gestured toward two burly students standing right behind him like guard dogs. "Do you recognize these guys, Vale?"
Of course he did. They were Vale’s right and left-hand men from his first year. They had stayed glued to his side back then, acting like loyal lacks—right up until the moment my father, the Duke, officially revoked his noble status within the academy.
"These guys were utterly disgusted to be a part of your little group," Matheus sneered, and both of the lacks nodded in eager agreement, desperate to please their new master.
Vale just stood there, watching the spectacle with a cold, detached amusement. A calm, almost pleasant smile touched his lips.
Vale persp
’Wow’ I thought, genuinely amazed by the sheer theatricality of it all. ’What a clever piece of manipulation. He’s trying to use social pressure to mentally pin me down before a fight even starts’
"But i really didn’t have the patience for his psychological games. I wanted something much simpler: to test this body’s physical limits"
Without warning, my arm snapped forward. It was pure, instinctive muscle memory...a devastating guttering punch aimed squarely at his jaw.
BANG
The blow connected flush. Matheus’s head snapped back, and he stumbled into the dirt. A collective, stunned gasp rippled through the crowd before an absolute, dead silence took over the courtyard.
I rolled my wrist, wincing slightly as my knuckles cracked. A flash of irritation crossed my mind. "Tsk. What a weak, fragile body"
Matheus scrambled to his feet, his face warped with sheer, unbridled rage. Humiliated beyond belief, his lips began to move rapidly as he started chanting a spell.
Instead of panicking, I stood my ground, calmly counting the seconds in my head. ’Let’s see how fast you are. Is he going for a third-tier spell?’
As his chant reached its crescendo, a massive, swirling missile of fire materialized in front of him, radiating blinding heat. He thrust his hands forward, sending the fireball roaring from sky to directly toward me.
My mental countdown stopped.’One minute and thirty-four seconds’ I thought, a look of profound disappointment settling onto my face. ’One minute and thirty-four seconds just to cast a basic third-tier spell? Even my shitty little sister can chant this within thirty seconds’
The fiery missile grew larger by the millisecond. Knowing this body lacked the mana to defend itself, I precisely timed my movement, throwing myself backward into the narrow margin of free space to avoid a direct hit. I managed to escape the flames, but the violent concussive shockwave of the impact slammed into my chest, launching me backward.
I hit the ground hard, rolling over several times until my tumbling body abruptly collided with a pair of legs, bringing me to a dead stop.
Instantly, the laughter, the chatter, and the triumphant cheering of Matheus’s followers died. The entire courtyard went ice-cold. I looked across the dirt and saw Matheus; his face hadn’t just lost its smugness—it had turned entirely, horrifyingly pale.
A sharp sense of dread pooling in my stomach, I slowly looked up from the two pristine, expensive boots in front of me. My gaze traveled up the tall figure until I saw his face. It was an image etched deeply into the darkest corners of the my memories. The one man in this entire world I never wanted to encounter.... My father...
Suppressing a shudder, I stood up, casually dusting the dirt and debris off my shirt and trousers. I forced my voice to remain steady.
"Greeti—"
/SLAP/
Before the greeting could even leave my lips, his hand flashed through the air, striking my cheek with enough force to make my vision spin. The sharp crack echoed across the grounds, leaving every student and the newly arrived academy instructors completely frozen in absolute shock.