Victor got up before deactivating his privacy screen and headed over to the door. He knew lunchtime was about to start, so he activated his communicator and began texting his friends plans on where to meet. He entered the corridor after confirming a meeting place with his friends. At that moment, Victor looked up and saw Doak, who was leaning against a wall further down the hallway, staring at him.
Sensing something wrong, Victor turned around, walking in the other direction. There he was faced with Kera, just a few steps in front of him. Before he could make a decision on how to deal with the situation, he felt an arm sling itself over his shoulder as the smell of body odor filled his nose. From a distance, one might mistake the two for friends who had known each other for a long time. Reflexively, Victor ducked to escape Doak's grasp while simultaneously driving an elbow into the side of his assailant.
Doak didn't budge in response to the blow as his arm exerted strength like a vise, not allowing Victor's escape. Weirdly enough, Victor's elbow hurt much more than he anticipated, almost as if he had struck a wall. As if expecting that pained reaction from Victor, the smile on Doak's face bloomed brighter as he pulled Victor closer.
"We got a feisty one, huh? What's your name, bud?" Doak asked, wearing an obviously malicious smile.
Instead of responding, Victor made another attempt and struggled out of Doak's grasp. In response, Victor felt a strong blow strike his right side and heard the sound of a couple of ribs breaking.
Doak retrieved his fist before he spoke again. "I asked you a question, you know? It's rude to ignore someone you know."
Victor coughed in response while attempting to pull air into his lungs. He was no stranger to pain, as all students engaged in combat training since the age of 5. But the incident was one of the few times he had attempted to fight someone outside of a sparring match, so he was a little bit slow in reacting in the face of danger. Victor continued to remain silent as he attempted to trip Doak, knocking him off balance. The attempt was futile, as Doak was prepared and quickly retaliated with a smack to the head, sending Victor's vision spinning.
"Come on, you just gotta answer a couple of my questions, and I'll take you to get healed, all right? Let's start with introductions. We did ours earlier, so it's only fair you reciprocate, right?" Doak smiled, as if he hadn't just broken Victor's ribs.
As if to make his point, he pulled Victor closer, pressing his shattered bones into his lungs.
"Victor." Victor spat out the words unwillingly while grimacing in pain.
"That's the spirit." Doak smiled as he relaxed his grip on Victor just enough to lessen the pain. "Come. Walk with me."
With Doak on his right and the silent Kera on his left, he had no choice but to walk wherever they wanted, which made for quite an awkward scene for Victor considering Doak was actually half a head shorter than him.
Now that Victor was closer to them, albeit unwillingly, he noticed a lot more about their appearance. Doak was missing one of his bottom molars on the left side of his mouth, and he could see tattoos peeking out from underneath his shirt. Victor glanced over at Kera and noticed that multiple of her fingernails were blackened and chipped. Although she looked relatively unassuming, he noticed she had a scar running down her neck.
The pair guided Victor halfway down the hallway before a voice interrupted them from behind.
"Stop. You're not going anywhere."
Victor was surprised. Besides his friends, he wouldn't really expect many students who would stick up for him in this situation. Not because they weren't brave, but just with his reputation... They would expect him to be able to figure something out.
When the three of them turned around, Victor was surprised to find he didn't recognize the owner of the voice. Based on his sickly demeanor, Victor could tell that this newcomer was another one of those transfer students. He had dark brown hair and strong cheekbones. He gazed over with a dark cunning in his eyes, yet somehow he looked even younger than the other transfers he had met so far.
"Leave him alone. Unless it is a Duel you want."
Doak and Kera gave the newcomer an incredulous look before exchanging silent glances. Doak scoffed before giving an annoyed response. "Are you trying to play hero? We already have him. What would we even be dueling for?"
"You have him? According to what contract? It doesn't look like he signed his life away within the minute you walked up to him. If he had, I wouldn't be able to do this."
Right then a notification appeared before Victor's eyes.
[Dueling Proxy]
[Game Description: Rufus has offered to duel Doak as your champion.]
[Price: 5 White Ability Promotion Shards]
[Rewards: None]
[Punishments: The loser has to offer up 10 White Ability Promotion Shards to the winner...]
There were other punishment conditions, but Victor didn't bother to read them. His eyes skipped to the bottom of the menu, where he was presented with one option.
[Create Game?]
Victor instantly accepted without hesitation. In response, he felt the sensation of the world tightening ever so slightly around him. Instantly Doak's arm was repelled, and Victor's body fell to the floor, causing him to wince.
[Waiting for opponent to accept...]
Doak gave Rufus an angry glare. "If you want to fight, then fine. I can always use more white shards."
[Match accepted]
Doak rolled up his sleeves as he took large strides toward his opponent. Doak sent a punch to the face, which Rufus ducked under, causing Doak to follow that up with another punch that was also smoothly dodged. Embarrassed at missing two attacks back-to-back, Doak started to punch faster and more recklessly, yet none of his attacks managed to land, causing him to overextend himself. Seizing that chance, Rufus timed his movements just right to catch Rufus's hands and trip his attacker, sending him crashing towards a wall and smashing into it face first.
A loud bang echoed down the hallway. Victor quickly glanced up at the classroom nearby. He knew the teacher was inside, but why didn't she do anything to stop the fighting?
Doak got back up and shook himself off before lunging forward and launching into another round of attacks, which Rufus adeptly evaded while occasionally counterattacking. No matter what Doak tried, he couldn't seem to land a single strike. Eventually Rufus managed to press and pin Doak to the ground. While Doak's face was still unbruised, an unwilling expression lingered on his face as he seemed to make a decision.
"It's not worth it." Kera called out. At those words, Doak seemingly calmed down before signaling his defeat.
The two combatants then got up and brushed themselves off. Doak gave Rufus and Victor a long look while suppressing his anger before silently joining Kera and disappearing down the hall together.
Once they were out of sight, Rufus turned to Victor with an uncaring look on his face. "Alright, time to pay up."
Still lying on the floor, Victor groaned. "Pay?"
Rufus revealed a slightly annoyed look. "The price for me to be your champion? The five white shards?"
Remembering the notification that appeared before his eyes, he groaned. He had accepted just to get out of the previous situation, but it seems he would have to read the fine print next time.
"Uhhh, well, the thing is, I don't actually have five white shards. Can I pay you back tomorrow?" Victor revealed honestly.
However, Victor's honest plea was met with a spark of hostility. "Do you think I'm stupid? I know about the daily quest, so don't play dumb. And you couldn't have lost them that quickly. Class just ended, and those punks were definitely the first to get to you."
It looks like Rufus didn't even consider the option that Victor had already absorbed two of his white shards. Still, Victor couldn't give up something he didn't have, so his only option was to negotiate.
"Seriously, I can only give you three today. I promise I'll get the rest to you tomorrow."
Yet at those words, Rufus's hostility only grew. "I don't know why people keep thinking they can get away with scamming me. Not only that, but I just saved your ass. How ungrateful can you get? Lucky for me, there are measures to deal with scum like you. I usually hate doing this, but you deserve it this time."
Rufus activated something, and Victor felt the world closing in on him, as if the bounds of reality themselves were crushing him. Victor struggled to maintain his consciousness, as he got the feeling something was being squeezed out of him. He sensed the shards he earned today leaving his possession, lessening that strange pressure, but thereafter, he was wrung completely dry, and the torture just continued with no sign of stopping.