The source of Alex's newest, biggest headache was a B-Rank student named Kaelen Thorne. Kaelen was, to put it mildly, a peacock.
He had perfectly coiffed blonde hair, a jawline that could cut glass, and a permanent smirk that suggested he thought he was the main character in everyone else's life.
His family was rich and influential, and he wielded a powerful B-Rank artifact, the [Sunfire Spear], a weapon that could project blades of searing plasma. He was popular, arrogant, and had never known a day of real hardship.
His problem started during a small, supposedly contained Glitch that appeared near the academy's athletic fields.
It was just a handful of slimy, slug-like Aberrations, a simple cleanup job that Kaelen decided to handle himself to show off for a group of first-year admirers.
He had made a grand show of it, spinning his spear and launching flashy arcs of fire, deliberately taking longer than necessary to make himself look good.
The problem was, while he was busy posing, one of the slimy slugs had slithered up behind him.
It latched onto his leg, its gooey body sending a jolt of energy that made his spear sputter and die. Kaelen yelped in a very unheroic way, tripped over his own feet, and fell flat on his back.
The other slugs, sensing an opportunity, began to slither toward him. He was about to go from B-Rank hero to the guy who got eaten by space slugs in front of his own fan club.
That's when Zero appeared.
There was no dramatic entrance. One moment Kaelen was scrambling backward in the grass, the next a silent, black-clad figure was standing over him.
Zero didn't even look at Kaelen. He just looked at the advancing slugs. With a series of quick, precise jabs from a simple metal pipe, he tapped each slug on its central nerve cluster, a weak point so small it was almost impossible to see. One by one, the slugs popped like slimy water balloons.
The rescue was over in three seconds. Zero hadn't broken a sweat. He hadn't even made a sound.
He just looked at the goo on the end of his pipe with what might have been disappointment, wiped it clean on the grass, and then vanished back into the trees without a single word.
Kaelen was saved. But his pride was not. He hadn't just been rescued; he had been made to look like a clumsy child.
The silent, effortless efficiency of his rescuer was a direct insult to his flashy, dramatic style. The story spread like wildfire.
Kaelen Thorne, the great B-Rank, had been saved from a bunch of garden slugs by the mysterious Ghost of Aegis. It was humiliating.
For days, Kaelen stewed in his own anger. He told everyone that he'd had the situation under control, that Zero had just gotten in his way.
He insisted that Zero was a coward, a trickster who relied on cheap shots and sneak attacks because he lacked any real power.
He was a rat skittering in the shadows, not a true Striker who fought with honor in the light. But the more he complained, the more people whispered behind his back. His reputation was turning into a joke.
He decided he had to do something. He had to reclaim his honor and expose this "Zero" for the fraud he was.
That evening, Kaelen sat down at a public terminal in the main student lounge. He dramatically cracked his knuckles, drawing the attention of everyone around him.
He then logged into the official ambassadorsAcademy main campus forum, the public network that every single student and faculty member had access to. He started a new thread, the title written in bold, aggressive letters.
AN OPEN CHALLENGE TO THE COWARD KNOWN AS "ZERO"
Alex was in the cafeteria, not as a customer, but as a worker. It was "Sloppy Joe Night," which for the custodial staff meant it was also "Scrape Sloppy Joe Off The Floor, The Walls, and The Ceiling Night."
He was wiping down a table that was stickier than a flytrap when he overheard the students at the next table talking excitedly.
"...did you see it? Kaelen Thorne just called him out! On the main forum!"
"No way! A public challenge? That's insane!"
"He called him a rat and a coward. He's challenging him to a duel in the VR arena."
Alex paused his wiping, a slow smile spreading across his face. This was getting interesting.
He pulled out his data pad, his fingers leaving a faint, meaty smudge on the screen. He bypassed the official forum and went straight to The Node, where the real conversation was happening. The place was on fire.
Kaelen's post was screenshotted and pinned to the top of every board. Alex read the full text, and it was even more dramatic than he could have imagined.
"To the shadow that calls itself 'Zero'," Kaelen's post began. "You move in the dark because you fear the light.
You strike from behind because you lack the courage to face a real Striker head-on. Your cheap tricks and your metal pipe are an insult to the honor and tradition of this academy.
I, Kaelen Thorne of the House of Thorne, hereby issue a formal challenge. Face me in the official Virtual Reality Simulation Arena.
Let us have a proper duel, a battle of true power and skill, for the entire academy to see. Let us show the students what real strength looks like, not the cowardly jabs of a common thug.
If you have a shred of honor, you will accept. If you refuse, you will prove to everyone that you are nothing but a coward, a ghost who is afraid of his own shadow. The challenge is set for three days from now. Show up, or be branded a fraud forever."
The post was so over-the-top it was almost a work of art. House of Thorne? Alex thought with a snort. This guy needs a hobby.
The forums were exploding with reactions. The student body was instantly divided into two camps.
> User: SunSpearStan
"Finally! Kaelen is going to put this Zero creep in his place! Real power always wins! Go Kaelen!"
> User: ShieldyMcShieldFace
"Uh, I don't know... Zero took out three Aberrations with a pipe. Kaelen got tripped by a slug. My money's on the pipe guy."
> User: ConspiracyCarl
"It's a trap! Kaelen is working for the government! They're trying to lure Zero out into the open so they can capture him! Don't do it, Zero!"
> User: DataGeek
"Statistically, this is a fascinating matchup. We have a fighter who uses overwhelming, flashy power (Kaelen) versus a fighter who uses surgical precision and efficiency (Zero). It's a classic battle of brute force versus tactics. The VR arena will provide a neutral ground. I am preparing graphs."
Alex leaned against his cleaning cart, reading the passionate arguments and laughing quietly to himself.
Kaelen had meant to corner him, to force him out. But he had made a classic mistake, one driven by pure ego. He had framed the fight as a test of honor.
By calling Zero a coward, he had given him no choice but to respond. If Zero ignored the challenge, the legend would be damaged.
The mysterious, untouchable ghost would suddenly look scared. The whispers would start. "Maybe Kaelen was right. Maybe he is just a trickster."
Ignoring the challenge would create more questions, more attention, not less. The fastest way to end this was to accept.
But more importantly, Alex saw the core of Kaelen's being. He wasn't just arrogant; his entire sense of self was built on the idea that his power was superior.
He couldn't comprehend a different way of fighting. He was a cannon who couldn't imagine being defeated by a needle. And that arrogance was a flaw.
It was a bigger, more exploitable weakness than any bug in an artifact's code.
Kaelen thought he was challenging a fighter. He was actually challenging a debugger. And Alex had just found the critical error in his system.
This duel wouldn't be a fight. It would be a lesson. A very public, very humiliating lesson. Alex would make an example out of Kaelen Thorne.
He would show the entire academy that there was a new kind of power on campus. And he would do it in a way that would make Zero's legend even stronger.
He put his data pad away and went back to wiping down the sticky table, a thoughtful look on his face. The Ghost of ambassadorshad been challenged. It was time to show them what a ghost could do.