Under the gaze of the full moon that sparkled brightly, trying to impersonate the warming glow of the sun but failing deeply, it shamelessly gave off a cold, freezing temperature with rough winds that made patches of trees dance to a decent rhythm beneath the dim celestial light.
The hissing sound it brought hollowed the restless night as two individuals proceeded to venture out, steadily walking while chatting to themselves in a hushed, carefree manner.
There were two males, with a slight height difference between them. Smiles and chuckles escaped their lips as the conversation deepened under the moon's watchful presence.
One of them halted for a moment, his attention taken by a peculiar gathering of greenery growing from the sides of the cemented walkway near the worn streetlight.
"Eh... What's wrong? Hurry up, we'll be late for curfew," his friend called out to the lost one who had paused behind him.
"Oh... oh... Yeah, sorry. I thought I saw something, but never mind. Let's go, hurry before someone sees us."
"What did you think you saw? Are you sure you're not drunk? Keke... You did have quite a lot of beers tonight, didn't you?"
"Yeah, yeah, but I can still stand, unlike you, who almost fell earlier."
"...."
They kept on talking while stumbling around, unable to walk in a straight line. As the two lads distanced themselves from the patch of leaves, white moon-crust pupils came to light in silence.
The eyes quivered for a moment, then phased away, creating afterimages that vanished in a straight line without leaving any trace behind.
A silhouette was seen, darting from place to place within the shadows—stealth-jumping, overtaking seven steps in one incredible leap.
The figure zoomed through the tall grass, unnoticeable to a single person he passed. Like a motor, his legs moved back and forth, accelerating him quicker like a makeshift engine in motion.
His running pace was about triple the top speed of a normal human, all thanks to the Draconium energy surrounding his legs, powering him to push beyond all natural human limits.
Even a normal ability user would find it hard to reach that speed—unless the ability they possessed was speed-type or something similar in nature.
He kicked off the floor, digging five-inch claws into a tree before quickly proceeding to the top with agile movement and stealth.
'What a wonderful night,' he muttered, taking in the view of the spectacular array of the moon that sparkled at its peak with a radiant hue above.
As a way to test the Draconium energy more, utilizing its uses fully, Victor directed it to his eyes as a start of his experiment.
He wanted to see how far his ears could sharpen beyond what was already possible with his new senses.
Immediately, the energy transferred to the ears. A piercing screech collided with his drums—light yet high-pitched—causing him to wince violently.
It caused blood to leak from his ears as he writhed in absolute, deafening pain that shook his entire body.
However, as quickly as it appeared, the pain and ringing vanished in an instant—him now possessing sonar hearing with terrifying accuracy.
Almost instantly, he picked up something peculiar a few meters away. His hearing was now similar to that of a bat, able to send out sonic waves that bounced off anything within a mile and returned to him as pure information, detailed and real-time.
'Hmm, there seems to be a lot of people gathered in an area. What are they doing there so late?'
The school had clearly announced that curfew time was past 8:30 p.m., and it was already 9 p.m.—way past the appointed time with no exceptions.
The reason Victor was stealthily moving around was to avoid being caught by any of the night guards who now patrolled every inch of the perimeter.
Any student seen outside was rudely electrocuted and sent to the dorm unconscious. It was far more painful than a taser—about five times stronger than normal.
He wasn't interested in feeling such pain at the moment, not after what happened the previous week.
He leaped once more, landing lethally right over a guard who held a baton that discharged 120V AC of electricity—enough to power a single house efficiently.
Avoiding a few more with his incredible maneuvering skills, he reached the intended place quicker than expected and without being detected.
'Either those guys are dumb, or I'm just too good with stealth, hehehe... what a lucky escape again.'
Finally, he got to the location, which was far from the academy grounds—reaching the great wall that surrounded the school like a fortress barrier.
There was a forest in the opposite direction that gave him an eerie feeling, but he waved it off and looked the other way, ignoring it completely.
It was a strange, small building in a totally isolated region. The structure had a shabby look to it—moldy walls that still stood strong no matter how many cracks appeared, despite how unstable it seemed from afar.
Victor stepped closer to the one-story building, where a door prevented him from seeing inside clearly from his current position.
He rested his hand on the red door. The color seemed to be fading, yet the wooden door didn't even have a sign of damage or rot despite its age.
In fact, it almost seemed like it had been put there on purpose and made to look this faded so it wouldn't attract unwanted attention from anyone.
Without any second thought, he pushed it open and went inside confidently, not even pausing for caution or doubt.
The inside was illuminated with a yellow glow, resonating from all four square-foot walls that surrounded him like a box of warm haze.
The room was completely empty, other than another red door that was more detailed than the last, and a tall man standing right at the center, perfectly still.
The man stood with a nonchalant face, unmoving with excellent stiffness that almost made Victor wonder if this was truly a living human being at all.
"Welcome... to Fight Night," the man said, voice echoing through the hollow room like thunder in a tight cave.
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