The next morning started with the usual routine. Lukas woke up, got ready, and attended his morning classes as scheduled. Elena was noticeably absent from the lectures, which several students whispered about among themselves throughout the session.
During lunch, Marcus sat down across from Lukas at their usual table with a troubled expression clearly visible on his face.
"Elena didn't show up to any classes today," Marcus said while picking at his food without much appetite. "I went to check her dorm this morning before classes started, but she didn't answer when I knocked on her door."
"Maybe she's sick," Lukas suggested while continuing to eat normally.
"Or maybe those girls finally pushed her too far," Marcus replied with clear frustration in his voice. "Kieran said he was going to try and find out what's actually going on."
They finished lunch in tense silence that felt heavy with unspoken worry, and afterward Lukas headed to his afternoon combat class as usual. Elena was still absent, and Professor Kaine made a note of it in her records with a disapproving shake of her head and a comment about consecutive absences being unacceptable.
The training session was about halfway through when Kieran suddenly burst into the training grounds while breathing hard like he'd been running at full speed across campus. He looked around frantically until he spotted Lukas and Marcus among the practicing students, then rushed over to them with an urgent expression.
"We have a serious problem," Kieran said urgently between breaths. "I found out where Elena is, and it's bad."
Professor Kaine noticed the disruption immediately and called out across the training ground, "Voss, what's the meaning of this interruption during class time?"
"Professor, I need to borrow Grant and Fellor immediately," Kieran said while trying to catch his breath. "It's an emergency situation involving another student."
Professor Kaine studied his expression for several seconds and seemed to recognize the genuine seriousness in his tone and demeanor. "Go, but this better be a legitimate emergency and not some prank."
The three of them rushed out of the training grounds with Kieran leading the way at a quick pace through the academy corridors.
"What's going on exactly?" Marcus asked as they followed Kieran through the winding hallways.
"Those Beta Class girls have Elena," Kieran explained while moving quickly and occasionally checking around corners. "They cornered her early this morning near the dormitories and dragged her to one of the abandoned storage buildings on the east side of campus. Apparently some Beta Class boys are with them too, which makes it even worse."
"How do you know all this?" Lukas asked while keeping pace easily.
"I have my sources around campus who keep me informed," Kieran said without elaborating further. "One of them saw the girls physically dragging Elena toward the old buildings and immediately told me something was wrong. I went to check it out personally and heard multiple voices inside along with someone crying, so I came straight to get you both."
They reached the eastern section of the academy grounds where several old storage buildings stood unused and largely forgotten by most students. The area was quiet and isolated, which made it a perfect spot for something like this to happen without being noticed. Kieran led them to one of the larger structures that looked like it hadn't been maintained in years and pointed toward a side door that was slightly ajar with light visible from inside.
Voices could be heard from inside the building, along with what sounded distinctly like someone crying and pleading.
Lukas moved toward the door with Marcus and Kieran following closely behind him. As they got closer to the entrance, the voices became much clearer and more distinct.
"Just admit that you cheated on the entrance exam," one of the girls was saying with a cruel edge to her voice. "Everyone knows that someone like you couldn't have possibly scored high enough for Alpha Class legitimately without help."
"I didn't cheat on anything," Elena's voice replied, shaky and absolutely terrified. "I studied really hard for months and earned my placement fairly through my own effort."
"You're such a liar," another voice said, this one male and deeper. "Maybe we need to convince you more thoroughly to tell the truth about what you really did."
There was the sound of something solid hitting the ground hard, followed immediately by Elena crying out in pain.
That was enough for Lukas. He pushed the door open with more force than necessary and stepped inside with Marcus and Kieran right behind him, all three of them taking in the scene before them.
The sight inside made Lukas's expression harden into something cold and dangerous. Elena was on the ground in the corner with her uniform torn and dirty, her face showing clear signs of being struck multiple times, and her precious notebook scattered in torn pieces all around her like discarded trash. The three Beta Class girls stood nearby looking smug and satisfied with themselves, while two Beta Class boys loomed over Elena with threatening postures that suggested they'd been the ones hitting her.
Everyone in the room turned to look at the newcomers, and the atmosphere shifted immediately.
"Well, well," one of the girls said with a mocking sneer spreading across her face. "Look who decided to finally show up. The great Lukas Grant coming to rescue his pathetic excuse for a teammate."
"Let her go," Lukas said calmly, though his eyes had gone completely cold in a way that made the temperature in the room seem to drop.
One of the boys laughed with false bravado. "Or what exactly? You think you're going to fight all five of us by yourself? There are five of us and only three of you, so the math doesn't work in your favor."
"I won't ask again," Lukas said with his voice dropping to a dangerous level that carried clear threat. "Let her go right now and leave this building, or you'll regret what happens next."
The second boy stepped forward aggressively while cracking his knuckles. "You think you're so tough just because you managed to get into Alpha Class? Let me show you what happens to people who stick their nose where it doesn't—"
He didn't get to finish his sentence. Lukas moved faster than any of them could properly track and his fist connected with the boy's stomach with enough force to lift him slightly off the ground before sending him crashing backward into the wall behind him, where he collapsed in a heap and didn't get back up.
The entire room went completely silent with shock at how easily and quickly that had happened.
"Anyone else want to try?" Lukas asked, his tone remaining perfectly calm despite what he'd just done.
The second boy's eyes widened with genuine fear, but he tried desperately to maintain his bravado and pulled out a practice sword from his belt. "You'll pay for that, you bastard!"
He charged at Lukas with the sword raised above his head in a clumsy overhead strike, but Lukas simply sidestepped the obvious attack and grabbed the boy's wrist in mid-swing before twisting it with precise and controlled force. The boy screamed in pain and dropped the sword as his wrist was forced into an unnatural and extremely painful angle, then Lukas swept his legs out from under him and let him fall hard to the stone floor.
"Stay down if you know what's good for you," Lukas advised coldly.
The three girls looked absolutely terrified now as they realized they were completely and utterly outmatched by someone who could take down two older male students like they were nothing. One of them tried to make a run for the door in panic, but Marcus quickly moved to block her path with his arms crossed.
"You're not going anywhere until we sort this entire situation out," Marcus said firmly.
Kieran had already moved to Elena's side and was carefully helping her up while checking her injuries with worried eyes. "Are you okay? Can you walk on your own?"
Elena nodded weakly while tears continued streaming down her bruised face, though she was clearly in pain.
Lukas turned his full attention to the three girls who were now huddled together defensively and looking at him with genuine fear written across their faces. "You've been harassing her consistently for over a week now. Spreading false rumors about her, stealing her belongings, destroying her property, and now this. You crossed a line today that you shouldn't have."
"We didn't mean for it to go this far—" one of them started with a shaky voice.
"I don't care what you meant or didn't mean," Lukas interrupted coldly without any sympathy in his tone. "You're going to go directly to the academy administration right now and confess everything you've done to Elena. Every single incident, every act of harassment, every rumor you spread, everything. If you don't do exactly that, I'll personally make sure Professor Kaine and the headmaster hear about this situation in explicit detail."
"And if we refuse to do that?" one of the girls asked while trying to sound brave but failing miserably.
"Then I'll handle this situation my own way," Lukas said with an expression that made all three of them take an involuntary step backward. "And trust me when I say you really don't want to find out what that means."
One of the girls, the one who seemed to be the ringleader, suddenly straightened up with false confidence and spoke with a shaky but defiant voice. "You can't do anything to us. My brother is part of the Disciplinary Committee, one of the student organizations responsible for handling problems and issuing punishments in this academy. He'll protect me from any consequences, so your threats are meaningless."
Lukas looked at her with an expression that could freeze water. "The Disciplinary Committee isn't above the faculty and administration. If anything, your brother's position makes this worse for you because he'll face consequences too if he tries to interfere with a legitimate disciplinary case. Now get out of here and do what I told you, or I'll drag you to the headmaster's office myself."
The weight of his presence combined with the casual way he'd completely dominated two older male students made the threat feel very real and immediate. The three girls looked at each other with pale faces before nodding frantically and hurrying out of the building while tripping over themselves in their rush to escape.
The two boys were still on the ground, one completely unconscious and the other clutching his twisted wrist while groaning in pain. Lukas looked down at them with those same cold eyes.
"You two will also go directly to the administration and confess everything about your involvement in this. If I find out either of you tried to hide what happened here today or tried to retaliate against Elena in any way whatsoever, you'll regret it for the rest of your time at this academy. Am I making myself perfectly clear?"
They both nodded frantically and scrambled to their feet before limping out of the building as quickly as their injuries would allow.
Once they were finally alone in the abandoned building, Lukas turned to Elena who was being supported by Kieran's shoulder. Her face was badly bruised with a split lip that was still bleeding, and she looked absolutely devastated both physically and emotionally.
"I'm so sorry," Elena said through her tears while her voice broke. "I really thought I could handle this situation on my own without bothering anyone. I didn't want to be a burden or seem weak to everyone."
"You're not weak for being targeted by bullies," Marcus said gently while moving to her other side to help support her weight. "Those people are just cruel and pathetic."
Lukas walked over and began carefully picking up the scattered pieces of Elena's destroyed notebook from the floor. "We need to get you to the infirmary immediately so they can treat your injuries properly, and then we'll report everything that happened here to Professor Kaine."
"I don't want to cause any trouble for anyone," Elena protested weakly.
"It's already trouble, and it ends today," Lukas said firmly. "This has gone on long enough."
They carefully helped Elena out of the building and across campus to the academy infirmary, where the healers immediately began treating her various injuries with healing magic and medicinal salves. While she was being cared for, Lukas went directly to find Professor Kaine and reported the entire situation in complete detail without leaving anything out.
Professor Kaine's expression grew progressively darker and more furious with every word he spoke, and by the end of his report she looked genuinely enraged in a way none of them had seen before. "Those students will be dealt with severely and immediately. This kind of behavior is absolutely unacceptable at this academy under any circumstances, and I will personally ensure they face appropriate consequences."
She immediately marched toward the headmaster's office to report the incident at the highest level, and within an hour all five students involved were summoned for emergency disciplinary hearings. The girl who'd bragged about her brother being on the Disciplinary Committee found out very quickly that her connection meant nothing when faculty members were involved in the case.
That evening, after everything had been officially reported and Elena was resting comfortably in the infirmary with her injuries being monitored, Marcus and Kieran found Lukas sitting alone in his dorm room.
"That was incredibly intense," Kieran said while leaning against the wall. "I've never seen you move that fast or hit that hard before. Those guys didn't stand a chance."
"They deserved what they got," Lukas replied simply.
Marcus looked at him with a complicated expression that mixed guilt and newfound respect. "I was completely wrong about you earlier this week. I thought you didn't care about Elena's situation at all and were just being cold, but maybe you were just waiting for the right moment to actually act."
Lukas didn't bother correcting that interpretation since it was close enough to the truth. He'd known Elena was dealing with harassment, but he'd also known that interfering too early might make things worse or undermine her desire to handle it herself. But when the situation escalated to actual physical violence and torture, that was when the line got crossed and action became necessary.
"What do you think will happen to those five students?" Kieran asked curiously.
"Probably suspension at minimum, possibly expulsion depending on how serious the administration takes this," Marcus said. "Especially since they were literally torturing another student in an abandoned building."
The situation wasn't completely resolved yet and there would likely be more fallout in the coming days, but at least Elena was safe now and the people responsible would face real consequences for their actions.
[You have been idle for 5 hours]
[+5 to all stats]
[Current Stats: Strength 280, Agility 280, Mana 280, Endurance 280]