Derrick gripped his hand and twisted his fingers until all the fingers were bent at wrong angles. Then he punched him some more until his face became almost unrecognizable.
Cole groaned and spluttered some words.
"Eh? What did you say?" Derrick leaned closer, then he smiled. "Oh! You can continue fighting!"
Then he punched him again. A punch to the rib that seemed to snap something and threw the short guy against the wall. Blood was freely leaking from him at this point, and his mouth was bubbling as he was struggling to breathe.
And yet none of the students seemed ready to stop Derrick. Even his friends didn't make any moves. Instead, their eyes shone as they watched Derrick.
How strong is this new predator? How was he even a predator?
Severin finished eating his food and drink. "So my bet was right. Today, I've released the trailer. Tomorrow, for my debut."
Then he stood up. He made his chair screech loudly on the ground to draw all attention to his side. He looked at Derrick and said in a cold voice, an order: "Enough. You've beat him to my satisfaction. Now come, let's go."
And then he began to walk towards the door without a single hesitation.
Derrick's muscles tensed as if he would disobey. His eyes hardened, but in the end, he let Cole drop to the ground in a crumbled heap and then followed Severin out the door.
The silence was brief, but then the cafeteria exploded once more.
Just what was that? Who is that? Why did Derrick follow him so easily?
But worst of all—how was Derrick able to beat Cole? And not just beat him—he was utterly broken, so much so that he was struggling to breathe.
The Class Four students in the cafeteria cast a calculated look at Cole, and then at the door where Derrick had just left. Seems a great shift is coming.
▪︎▪︎☆☆▪︎▪︎
The next day was the monthly assessment day, and as Severin walked to the arena, he was followed by stares. The news of what happened had spread throughout the school.
What Derrick did wasn't something that happened all the time. It made a lot of people curious to know what the guy was made of.
And the person that seemed to jerk his chain. What Severin did the other day was a calculated move. He clearly gave Derrick orders to let everyone know that he was the one holding the chain. And when the news spread, it was greatly exaggerated.
Now they knew that the weakest student in school might be the one behind the attack on a Class Four student. And he won. Something that shouldn't happen. Something abnormal.
Severin went early so he could see the students of Year One.
Students of all classes—so he could, since his coming—finally see the protagonist. And the main cast that the story focuses on.
The arena was a big thing of stone and steel. Runes of countless shapes were imprinted on the body.
Severin and Derrick entered, and since there weren't that many people, he headed to the biggest platform and sat in the stands.
"This is not the place for your own fighting," Derrick said.
"I know. It's not yet my time. I'm here to watch him." He pointed.
Derrick's eyes widened. "That's Lucas Dawn. The number one of the Year One students. He has the fire Talent Ability. It's basic, but it's so strong!"
Lucas Dawn is tall, with golden hair and eyes. His body was basically made flawless, the perfect mold for a protagonist. Severin had criticized making him so handsome in the comments section a lot of times, but the author had a way of balancing things out.
Due to his very tragic background—where he couldn't protect his siblings during a monster break—Lucas has the flawed ability of looking down on all that are weak and cannot stand them. It's a catalyst that made all the main cast grow stronger with him because he pushes them so much.
It was one of the things that made Severin like the book. The protagonist isn't just pushed by a pure desire to grow stronger. It's a legit PTSD event—the very fear of being weak—that pushed him.
But that alone doesn't qualify him to be the protagonist. Of course, there has to be something unique about him. Like being one of the very few who has the weapon that could actually kill the Aberrant Singularity.
The White Fire. The eldritch creature that's living inside him.
Severin sighed. "...To be very honest, I don't have anything against the main cast. The author wrote them as a hero. They weren't bad. But it'll be very difficult for me to make use of them..."
"...Then I pray, for their own and my own good, that we do not cross paths..."
Severin frowned. In most novels like this, shouldn't he be going around collecting all the lucky events that happen to the main protagonist?
"...But it was a bit different in Legacy of Heroes... Lucky events are hard to come by... One must work hard for their powers. One of the selling points of the book... But... at the end, even the main character won't be strong enough..."
Lucky events are hard to come by, but Severin just managed to know some that are on the way. He chuckled silently to himself as his eyes focused on two people around Lucas Dawn.
One was a red-haired woman, tall, with a harsh look in her eyes. She's the Blazed Lightning, Seris Thorne. She became one of the strongest in the world with her lightning powers.
And then the green-eyed boy with a bow strapped to his back—Jade Callahan, the Sharp Shooter. Also known as the Mountain Tyrant because it was said that he killed all the Mountain Tyrant monsters into extinction to make their bones into his arrows.
Severin could already feel a headache coming as he muttered to himself, "I need to get ready for the main events. The First Arc."