Ophelia: “Two villains…”

Wayne: “Hey wait! Where are you going??!”

Alyandrea: “…Ophelia. These are professional villains. You shouldn’t--”

Ophelia: ”I…I watched you DIE Alyandrea. When your head was taken off, I…

And now that I hear Noel is probably surrounded, I…I can’t stay here! Even if I cause Mr. Abrams to worry, *clenches fist* I don’t believe my strength will hinder him. All I need is one, single punch…that’s reason enough to go.”

Ian: “I won’t let you!”

Left without many choices left, Ian pounced on her leg!

...

Unfortunately, she kept moving. In fact, she didn’t even feel him grabbing onto her. If she had not watched him outright launch his body frog style, then she might’ve sped up her pace, inadvertently harming him.

Ophelia began stomping her way towards the forest – completely unhindered by the extra baggage clinging to her thigh. Just as everybody worried over their next action: Alyandrea stepped forward.

Alyandrea: “Ophelia…you couldn’t even handle facing off against the two that attacked us inside of the girl’s dorm. I get that you had no choice but to fight once I died – but can you, do it? Now that we aren’t…you know, can you handle going back to that state of mind, where you’re forcing yourself to hurt others? Because if not, then you’d better stay here, out of the teacher’s way. Going into ANY battlefield with half-assed resolve will only make things worse!”

Ophelia slowed her steps until arriving at a halt. She was unable to control her shaking wrists and puddy-like legs – the memories haunted her far too much.

There was a man once touted as a hero. He was extremely popular. Everyone that saw him worshipped him, adored him…everyone except her. She never understood why she drew his attention. Far too many adults wanted to be with him, given their reactions while passing by. Yet, for some strange reason, he tried to rape her. He CHOSE her, and all she did was pass by the man and his fans without returning a wave. She remembered his bloodshot eyes, the bags of powder dropping from his pants after he started to undress at night, at her apartment. And then…

That ’rapist’ masquerading as a hero…

But...was it an excuse to kill?

Today, another incident occurred. The pure power of her punch left everything before her, unmistakably and irreparably shattered.

Today, this morning, the fist which she wielded was one filled with anger. Once again, she threw a punch with only rage on her mind and once more – that punch caused complete misfortune. If Mr. Abrams wasn’t around to stop the tenth King’s bulleting momentum: Ophelia would have another corpse weighing on her conscience.

The pressure from that punch shattered Harvey…the expectations of the masses, and the entire arena itself. Without meaning to, another troublesome scene was created by Ophelia’s inability to control her temper.

And she didn’t even bother to CONSIDER the fates of those attackers who fell to her punch. No. It was too much, pushing it out of her mind was the very reason she has yet to collapse in tearful, sorrowful misery. Today was simply too much. On this day alone, she committed more sins than her mind cared to bear.

Seeing her freeze up, Alyandrea felt both happy for her words managing to get through, as well as growing traces of pity. Despite what the muscular girl’s appearance would lead one to believe, she was acting far too timid as of late. Aly suspected there should be more to her story – which further amplifies the sense of satisfaction Aly was feeling. She felt genuinely justified by her choice – stopping Ophelia from reaching Noel was really the best course of action. Mr. Abrams will grab the villains and hopefully, the other two won’t be in any serious danger.

Wait a minute…other two?

.

.

.

Alyandrea: “AH! Wait one moment. If Rise and Noel helped you two to escape…and YOU Leos, mentioned Rise saved you from a super-speedster’s attack…

Then wouldn’t that imply…”

One student managed to quickly pick up on what she was about to say. Ever since he bore witness to Ophelia’s devastation, his previously closed mind that placed the 10 kings onto the highest pedestal of their school – drastically opened.

A mere non-combatant applicant blew apart a 5 miles long stadium. Ophelia was a clear-cut example to the studious elite of what monstrous talent the world harbors – SOME such talents who live completely untouched and undiscovered by Herotopia’s Hero Society. Possibly even under the radar of Villain Haven’s scouts.

Elijah: “It…would mean that…Rise is capable of holding his own against a man with superspeed? That’s what you’re insinuating, right?”

Alyandrea: “IF this guy was tellin’ the truth! Doesn’t it sound that way?”

Leos: “…Mmm. Those two were moving too quick for us - all I saw was a blur. He saved my life, so I didn’t want to say anything, but he’s…that guy is extremely fast. Almost as fast as the top three in the orientation games’ ‘Speedster race’ if I had to compare. I could only keep up with them a little bit, but the blurs began overlapping and I couldn’t keep my eyes open.”

Elijah: “Wait, if Rise stayed behind because he was confident in his strength...then what about Noel? Why did he stay behind? Could…could HE have a secret too?”

Alyandrea: “Pffft! Hahaha~ Oh man…are you serious? He’s barely 5 feet tall, maybe not even! How’s the kid going to fight – punch away at their kneecaps? Karate chop their love handles?? He’s 12!”

Elijah: “Then Alyandrea, please explain to me what I fail to understand. WHY did he choose to stay behind? I can’t logically think of a single valid reason that wouldn’t place him as a liability for Rise…assuming Leos is telling us the truth.”

Leos: “…”

Alyandrea: “Anything could explain that. You heard how stuck-up and prideful he was acting at the assembly, remember? If he’s like that in front of students, teachers and reporters, then why WOULDN’T he get overconfident with Rise putting his life on the line?

Personally, I think he just had that ‘there must be something I can do…!’ moment. He wanted to help even when it would hurt Rise’s chances. An act of recklessness.”

Elijah: “I guess…”

Aly: “Not every decision we make has to have some steely, calculative reason behind it …We ARE allowed to make mistakes.”

Wayne: “Not when our lives are on the line…”

Aly: “…

…True. Very true. I hope the kid’s alright.”

Brennan: “Why does nobody care about Rise’s wellbeing?”

Ophelia: “…”

Li Shun: “Um…Uh…”

Alyandrea: “I DO care…a little...but we JUST met today and all this shit happens. ‘Sides, if Leos was right, then he can handle himself against a villain. Noel obviously can’t.”

Ophelia: “…I’m sorry. I should have been worried for both of them, instead of just Noel.”

Wayne: “Don’t worry. We—”

Cass: “You don’t know if Rise is somebody that needs worrying. It sounds like it isn’t all that big of a deal for complete strangers to not worry for one another.”

Frieda: “I dunno. I think the opposite…isn’t it normal to be worried for someone you don’t know? Like, if you’re on the sidewalk and you see somebody getting mugged—”

Saphy: “Ohh! Yeah, yeah! I get you! Like, worrying about a grandma or grandpa carrying too much even though they aren’t YOUR grandma or grandpa!”

Alyandrea: “Well, I don’t feel all that emotionally invested since he has – or MIGHT have, the strength to protect himself. Noel on the other hand…he’s just a harmless middle schooler. A. Middle. Schooler.”

Leos: “(Haha! If she knew the truth, I wonder how she’d react.)”

Oliviera: “…”

Ian: “Y’know, if only a certain SOMEBODY whose name I won’t mention…but sounds a tad like Boliviera and ALSO HAPPENED TO BE THERE, would actually confirm or deny Leos’s tale for us… then we’d at least have some reason to accept or refute his claim.”

Leos: “…*Stares*”

Oliviera: “…Hey don’t look at me – I got bludgeoned in the head(I think it was the neck actually, but this works for me. Hehehe~) so my memory’s still really, really fuzzy. Besides, I only remember Noel saying for Rise to be careful when a sharp thingie was gonna hit him from behind. Nothing useful for you guys at all.”

Ophelia: “…(You’re strong, right Noel…?)”

…

Meanwhile, a clear flowing energy glued to a military grade combat knife acted as its devout protector – shielding all that may potentially damage it.

.

.

.

It didn’t hold up very long. Powerful fingers, one index and the other a thumb respectively, forced indefinite cracks throughout the blade before crushing his target’s weapon. Very little resistance was felt in response.

{I didn’t have such an easy time with them. This teacher…He isn’t normal. From my classmates to my teachers, there are a lot of weirdos around me today.

But…if he thinks I’ll let him steal my target, after what this bastard did to Leos AND after I spent energy wearing him down…then he’s got a lot of nerve…!}

*BOOM!*

*FWOOSH!*

Not even 4 seconds pass the moment One’s blade broke apart, yet a cold, metallic point pierced the outer layer of skin of One’s nape.

*Vwish!*

Before his family – crafted needle could dig any farther in, Noel found himself staring at Rise, the needle missing from his hand, and a long, black cane absorbing his entire line of sight.

*BONK!*

It was an ordinary whack. Honestly, it didn’t hurt him at all. But a few milliseconds after the initial strike landed – the twelve-year-old high schooler’s vision grew softer. Wearier.

His hearing faded.

Followed by his nose completely numbing out.

Noel felt like his body gradually turned against him. It continued until the only sensation left he could muster was his sense of touch. The ability to ‘feel’ is quickly reaffirmed the moment his body collapsed on the dirt floor, before even that, is stolen from him.

Mr. Abrams: “That’s enough, kid. The rest is mine to clean up. You can take a nap for the time being until Ms. Daisy arrives to heal you. (CAN she heal him, I wonder? He’s from the 10 families. Hmm. Well, no harm asking her later.)”

---