"What did you say?" James repeated, his voice dangerously low as he slowly advanced on Jeremy, his eyes narrowed to furious slits. He needed confirmation that his ears hadn't deceived him.
Jeremy, soaking in the attention, pushed further. "Come on! Everyone knows your mom works at the government hospital. You weren't really brought up well, right?" The creepy smile widened, toxic and satisfied.
"That's IT! No one talks about my family that way!" James roared, falling right into the bait Jeremy had prepared.
James exploded forward, launching himself across the few feet of space, a tightly clenched fist aimed straight for Jeremy's arrogant face.
But Jeremy was faster than he looked. He tilted his head with cold precision, letting James's punch tear uselessly through the air.
Regardless, James didn't stop. He unleashed a frantic, desperate flurry of punches, but Jeremy, a shadow of motion, parried and blocked every strike.
"Come on! Didn't your father teach you anything? Oh! My bad! He abandoned you a long time ago, right?" Jeremy kept slicing at James's emotional wounds, his defense effortless.
"I SWEAR! I'LL KILL YOU!" James screamed at the top of his lungs, his voice raw with pure hatred.
The fight looked pathetic: a desperate student flailing against a master who was simply exercising. But James suddenly feigned a weak punch, creating a flicker of distraction, and then delivered a devastating uppercut with his other hand, slamming it into Jeremy's jaw.
In that single, blinding moment, James tapped into an unknown reservoir of energy. An unprecedented inner power surged.
Jeremy's feet left the floor. His muscular body was flung backward, sailing a shocking fifteen meters before crashing against the lockers.
If anyone had been watching closely, they would have seen James's eyes glow faintly—a fleeting yellow gleam.
A collective, massive gasp tore through the students watching. The scenario felt unreal, a clumsy special effect.
How could the skinny, exhausted teen possibly punch the powerful Jeremy that far?
'How did he punch me this far? I'm a...' Jeremy's thoughts were cut short. James hadn't stopped. He immediately leapt from his position, clearing the distance in two bounds, ready to deliver a catastrophic follow-up kick.
The truth was glaring, James won't back down, now.
But Jeremy was already in motion. He flashed from the crumpled floor, grabbing James mid-air in a move so fast it was barely noticeable—a momentary blink for the spectators.
"You! How did you?! I thought you were just a mere rival!" Jeremy screamed, his voice strained with genuine shock, as he clamped a hand around James's neck.
He flung James toward the lockers, then spat out a mouthful of blood, the uppercut having found its mark despite the quick recovery.
James hit the lockers hard and slid to the floor. Weakened but still blinded by rage, he stood slowly, clasping unto his head. When he pulled his hand away, he saw a wet crimson streak.
Blood was trickling down his forehead from a fresh cut.
The injury was irrelevant. James dashed again, launching another flurry of punches, but the advantage was gone. Jeremy blocked every punch with ease.
James tried his trick again, feigning a punch and delivering a quick, powerful follow-up.
"Your little trick won't work again," Jeremy snarled, grabbing James's fist. But even restrained, the sheer force of James's punch flung Jeremy backward a step.
'He's stronger than he looks like,' Jeremy thought, the realization unsettling.
Before James could pull back his arm, Jeremy seized both of James's hands and yanked them wide. He dragged James close, then delivered a merciless, jolting knee strike to James's stomach.
James was instantly flung back, landing on the floor twenty meters away, screaming and writhing in agony.
'That should have knocked him out! Who is this guy?' Jeremy thought, rubbing his bruised lips.
Just then, a senior student entered the hallway, his eyes widening at the sight of the chaos: the crowd, the recording phones, and the spectacle of violence.
"What's going on here?!" the senior roared, his gaze landing first on James—screaming in pain, his body bloody and battered—and then on Jeremy, standing mostly unscathed with only a smear of blood on his mouth and collar.
The students who had been filming started to retreat toward the exit, their backs turned to the scene until...
*CRACK.*
"AHHHHHHH! FUCK IT!!!" The senior's scream echoed through the hall, a sound of unimaginable, shattering agony.
Moments earlier, the senior had walked toward Jeremy to question him. James, driven completely insane by rage, had slowly climbed to his feet. His hand found a thick, broken, wooden rod discarded in a nearby trash can.
He inched closer, a desperate, final resort burning in his mind. I'll pay him back for his loose mouth and all the pain! James was entirely consumed; the faint yellow glow was still visible in his eyes.
"An eye for an eye!" James yelled, lifting the heavy wooden rod high above his head as he reached the two men.
James brought the rod down with lethal force.
*CRACK.*
Jeremy had seen the motion and executed a split-second, deliberate nudge to the senior, using him as a shield.
The rod struck home. It successfully hit Jeremy—despite his late-minute effort, knocking him out as he fell off his feet and slammed his head heavily against the floor.
But the primary victim was the senior.
The force of the blow had been so immense that the wooden rod shattered the senior's femur. He collapsed, lying on the floor, screaming and weeping uncontrollably as the bone snapped.
James was the only one left standing, the splintered rod still clutched in his hand.
The remaining students turned back, horrified, to see James standing over the two fallen figures.
"I can't believe it! He knocked them out?"
"Is Jeremy still breathing?"
"He's a monster!"
The whispered condemnation was the last thing James heard. His vision swam, turning into a kaleidoscope of red and black.
"What have I done?" James whispered, his fury finally collapsing into raw horror, before he fell unconscious to the blood-stained floor.
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Whew! I think this is the first fighting scene in the story... what are your thoughts?
Like it? Give it a Power Stone.