“BEGIN!!!!”

The finals begin. An all-out battle royale between two teams with a total of 22 participants in the middle of the arena. It’s tough to keep up with everything so let’s take things slow and see how each battle goes.

At one end we have Luke and Jack cornered by six people. In front of Jack are two guys, a girl to his left and a guy to his right. The two guys in front of Jack are the same people that Dan and others met a few days ago, Martin Rivers and Brian Romans. Even the girl is the same, Brenna Jave. The other guy is a short-haired blondie called Warian Rogers.

Luke on the other end has two people in front of him, a girl named Trisha Fricks and a guy named James Klinger. The girl Trisha who is in front of Luke has bluish short hair and a star next to her eyes while James is bald, has a well-built body and holds a wooden spear.

Luke whistles, “Man, two-on-one, I would have expected more people on the injured man.” Luke says. It seems he is provoking the two in front of him.

“Yeah, I didn’t expect four people on my ass.”

Jack looks around him and sweats.

“Wanna switch?”

Luke asks.

Jack chuckles, “You think I would switch with an injured man? Hell Nah! I got this.” Jack readies himself.

“Aren’t ya getting cocky Jack?”

Brian asks Jack.

“He has always been the brawns with no brains here, even when we were friends.”

*Swish*

Martin kicks Jack but he dodges it.

“Were friends? I thought we are still friends.”

*Swish*

Warian attacks Jack from the back but Jack dodges that attack too.

*Smack*

“Guh!”

Jack gets kicked in the gut by Brenna.

“Friends?! After you joined that new teacher?! You were the one who always told us that you opposed any and all teachers that you would not take anyone but your own father as your teacher.”

Brenna looked angrily at Jack.

XXXXX

I always trained with my mother before her death. Then he came, that old man.

“I won’t train you, kid.”

That’s what he said to me. I tried to argue with him.

“But you trained Carly, why can’t you train me?!”

“That’s because you and her are totally of different calibers.”

I always thought that my sister had greater potential than me and that’s why my father ignored me and decided to train her instead but even I was a stubborn kid.

I did everything possible to get that old man’s attention, argued with him, her sister, became a punk at school, fought with my sister, and even fought with him with all my strength. I couldn’t get his attention...Ever...

So when I came to this academy, I decided that I won’t learn anything from here. I will be a delinquent. At least that way, he will give me some kinda attention.

I did get attention but not from him, the four people that I am fighting right now. All four of them were my first friends since my mother’s death but now that I think about it, I never treated them as friends. I always was that person who said, Martin do this, Brenna do that, Brian is an idiot, Warian is a simp and such things and yet they stuck with me for 6 whole months, right behind my back because I was the only one who never wanted to learn from that bastard Tarand.

XXXXX

*Smack*

Martin hits Jack in the face with his knee.

“We followed you because we admired that rebellious attitude of yours.”

XXXXX

Martin, the man who approached me to follow me, I accepted him without any hesitation.

XXXXX

*Smack*

Jack keeps a hand on his face but he couldn’t protect the back of his leg where Warian strikes.

“I thought you weren’t going to side with anyone. Didn’t you say that?!”

XXXXX

Right before the whole school blast incident, we discussed this situation where what would happen if both the teachers collided and I said that I didn’t care for any of it and I will be on my own. That was until I saw Sir Dan in front of my very own eyes saving every single student behind that blast. I couldn’t help but admire him because he saved us even after he didn’t know who or what we were. He helped us all survive another day. He was a hero in my eyes just like my mother. From that point onwards, I begin craving for his attention.

XXXXX

*Grab*

Brian holds Jack in front of Brenna.

“Why did you do it, Jack? Why did you take a side?”

Brian whispers in Jack’s ears.

Jack smiles.

“That’s because I got the King’s attention and found a true friend.”

XXXXX

When we were training hard for this tournament, all I had in mind was I had to impress Sir Dan. I wanted to be his top man. I wanted to be as strong as him, a hero. That’s why when I saw the lightning I decided to be the first one to run to that place but he just kept on becoming even more heroic.

He decided to even take care of Umba’s daughter, he sat near his enemy until they died and he even gave his enemy a burial. That was when I knew that I decided to follow under the right man or at least that’s what I thought.

XXXXX

“Let’s give Jack the time of his life, what do you say?”

Brenna raises her hands which holds a lightning ball.

“You know what this is Jack? It’s a ball that will multiply the pain from even a single flick thousand times greater and I am going to insert it right inside you.”

Brenna smirks evilly.

Jack smiles, “Oh if it’s just pain I think I can take it.”

“If you say so.”

Brenna smirks and puts the ball inside Jack’s chest.

There is an instant reaction to the ball,

“GYAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!”

XXXXX

“JACK!”

Luke turns around but he is soon interrupted by a barrier that appears in front of him.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

The barrier was put none other than Trisha herself, “Where do you think you are going?”

“Tsch!”

XXXXX

“Oh no, this is bad!”

Izumi who is fighting Valerie and Kaileen looks at Jack.

“Don’t get distracted, Izumi!”

*Smash*

Kaileen smashes her fist to the ground.

Izumi readies herself, “Tsch!”

XXXXX

While everyone seems to be fighting, Dan and Tarand are still standing in the middle of the ring.

“Are you not going to help your precious student?”

Tarand asks Dan.

“I think he will be quite upset if I help him.”

Dan replies to Tarand’s question.

“Is that so?”

“That is how it is.”

XXXXX

Jack falls on the ground from great pain.

“Take him out of the arena boys. We don’t want trashes who just talk near us. I believe he has got the satisfaction he needed.”

Brenna says.

Martin and Brian move to pick up Jack.

XXXXX

Back when I was training in Carliva and Sir Dan told me to train under the King, the King asked me an intriguing question.

“What is it that you seek, young one?”

That’s what the King asked me.

“Hmm?”

“You know you won’t get his attention just like that.”

The King spoke to me like he knew what was going on in my mind.

“You want his attention but why do you want his attention? You want to follow that man but why do you want to follow that man? Do you admire him? Do you want to be like him? Or maybe you just want to be beside him fighting along with him. That’s what you are thinking, right? But have you ever thought why?”

The King knew that I wanted to be just like the person. The question of why I wanted to be like him...Why I looked up to Dan ThunderField as a hero never popped in my mind? Was it as simple as him saving my life? Or was I just looking at someone who could notice me just like how my mother noticed me.

I looked at Luke who Sir Dan trained personally. I looked at him and thought about why I couldn’t have the same personal training as Luke. That’s why when I was training with Luke the other day I questioned him.

“Why is it that you follow Sir Dan?”

He replied to me.

“I follow him? You are wrong about that Luke. I am not Sir Dan’s follower.”

“What are you to him then?”

I asked him.

“What am I to him?”

He smiled and answered.

“Of course, I am his friend just like you and all the other students that are close to him. He considers us a family and so does I. You are family to Jack.”

That’s when I got my answer.

The reason why I was always satisfied with this bunch of idiots was that...I yearned for a family and that’s what I got.

XXXXX

“Rise within me, Orochi.”

Calm before the storm.

*Spark*

Martin who was making his way to Jack was stopped in his tracks by lightning that strikes in front of him.

“What the-“

Jack gets back up.

“Impossible! He should be feeling immense pain in his body! There is no way he can still be standing!”

Brenna’s face sweats. This clearly was the first time that she went up against someone who can withstand her attack.

“JACK!”

Luke smiles as he looks at Jack gets back up.

“Concentrate on your fight, Luke. Don’t worry about my fight.”

Jack says.

He walks towards the four who are standing in front of him. The immense mana that Jack was leaking was felt throughout the stadium.

“Father...Is that really Jack?”

Carly asks Jake.

Jake smiles.

“That indeed is Jill’s boi.”