-Jace Stinkend’s POV-

I rushed down the hallway and exited the building, heading to the spot of the transaction. I glanced at my watch, two more minutes or I’m late! That Zeref is really peculiar. Running out of class like that to go meet his girlfriend. Hahaa!

“You’re late Stinky, now give me the money.” Tommy, the head dealer of the school ordered. He sat on the steps and was surrounded by 5 of his guys. All thugs like him. I couldn’t believe I was giving him my rent money for something I didn’t even do. If only I was stronger, I would’ve beat their asses by now. They were all seniors, aged 16. Who knows what they’ll do to me behind the school building where no one is around.

“Do we have to beat it out of you, pay back the money for breaking his dagger,” he sniggered, rubbing his hands. This kid was a noble, a fat rich one at that. Even if it wasn’t me, he wouldn’t listen. Gosh! How’d I get into this situation? All I did was dodge his dagger and it flew into a wall and shattered. Why was the thing aimed at me in the first place?

I took out the sac of silver and shook with rage as I handed it to them. Another month of no lunch. As soon as it was in Tommy’s grasp, he smirked. “Well done, stinky. We will go easy on you” he chuckled. What? A wave of realisation hit me. Feeling like a fool, two of his boys grabbed my shoulders and pushed me onto my knees.

“B-But I got the m-money. You said i-if I got the mo-” my body started to shiver.

“Well you’re stupid to think I’d keep my word. You’re just a naïve little orphan” he smirked. I was about to say something but someone punched the side of my face into the ground. “Argh!! NO PLEASE!” I begged and struggled, spitting out the hot blood from my bruised mouth. “P-please don’t! PLEASE!” I cried out feeling a kick to my ribs.

“Stay still Stinky,” Tommy yelled, holding my shirt into his fists and pulling me off the ground. “Lets see how far you can F L Y, stinky” his last words came out in slow motion. I let out my last scream, shutting my eyes. I flew into the air but was caught by someone. A rush of hope filled me as I looked to see who had shown me mercy. My face dropped to see one of his thugs smirking at me. “Nah let’s play piggy in the middle.” he snickered, throwing me back up but this time my feet flew everywhere and I spun like a boomerang, hitting one of them in the face and landing on top of another. “Sorry!” I gasped, knowing I just made it worse for myself. All of them gathered around me and kicked me repeatedly. “STUPID STINKY” Tommy gritted his teeth.

“Its Stinkend.” a feminine voice said. Everyone stopped and turned to see Malia.

“Oooh, pretty.” Tommy smirked, stalking up to Malia while checking her out. A rush of adrenaline coursed my veins.

“DON’T HURT HER” I got up and shoved him to the floor with all my might. I punched his face repeatedly and his arms were flying everywhere to stop me. I was expecting one of his friends to stop me but I could hear their screams behind me. I didn’t question anything and kept punching out my hate.

–Zeref’s POV– (After Jace left)

I sat next to Malia in the canteen and watched as she stabbed into her pasta in delight. “Aren’t you gonna take off the scarf? We are indoors” I said reaching my hand out to take it off. She rolled her eyes.

“Drop it Zeref.” her voice turned frosty as she smacked my hand away.

“Are you okay?” I tried to stay calm and stabbed my fork into my pasta but the whole table shook.

“Zeref!” she, stabled the table, “it’s not a big deal.”

“Then take the scarf off,” I stared at the scarf.

“No. I don’t want to,” she started to become agitated and I knew I was breaking through to her.

“Please,” I said, embarrassed.

“Did you just say please?” she raised her right eyebrow and smirked.

“Don’t change the subject,” I took in a mouthful of pasta.

“I’m not” she gasped. I stared into her eyes pouting like she used to do when we were little. She shuffled uncomfortably and clenched the scarf in her fists.

“Don’t freak out,” she sighed in defeat and I nodded happily.

“Okay.”

She pulled off the scarf a little and there was an evident purple hand mark wrapped around her neck. I put down my fork and my eyes flickered.

“Who did it?” I whispered trying to not ‘freak out’. Her eyes watered as she stared at her plate. I repeated my question, “Malia, who did it?” she shook her head and took in a stuttered breath, putting her scarf back on. She quickly wiped her tears and looked down. My face softened. Although I hated her at first, I grew to really care for her when I was a kid. She was always smiling and carried no evil intent. I didn’t see her for 8 years but yet she was still her same smiley, annoying self. It felt weird seeing her frown.

“It was your dad.” I stated. She instantly looked up, her eyes wide in surprise. “Wasn’t it?” I questioned again. She put down her fork and looked directly into my eyes.

“Zeref, I said to leave it so just LEAVE IT!” she yelled and the whole canteen turned their heads to stare at us. At that, I went silent. She’s scared. I could see the fear in her eyes when I guessed correct. She was desperate for me to pretend like it was nothing like it would help her believe it too.

I sighed and tried to change the subject and all eyes left us. “Where’s Jace?” I asked Malia but the stupid system answered me.

[Sixth Sense is active (Echo-Location) – Range 10 metres]

[Do you want to increase the range to 300 metres at a cost of 30MP/S]

[Yes/No]

I picked ‘Yes’ in confusion. Immediately, I could sense the number of people in the whole canteen. No. The whole school! Each and every one of their locations. Now Jace where was he? I closed my eyes and focused on his mana signature.

“Uhh, why are you closing your eyes like a weirdo?” Malia interrupted.

“Just shush for a bit, I’m trying to sense him.”

“Say less.”

I focused harder. My vision expanded, I searched using my heightened senses for his mana signature. Strange. His mana signature stopped right at the point we all met at. I remembered he did seem a bit tense before running off. Did something happen to him?

“Malia, I think something’s wrong with Jace, should we go and check?”

“Mhm,”

We both rushed out of the hallway, dozens of students filled the hallways unlike in the beginning. I needed a shortcut.

“I’m taking the window,” I told Malia before jumping out of the window from the 3rd floor.

“Don’t, idiot-” is the last thing I heard before I jumped. I couldn’t be bothered to go through the stairs. They were raided with potheads and I hated the smell. I patiently waited for Malia and to my surprise she was down in 3 seconds.

Malia appeared at the exit huffing and puffing. I smiled satisfied. “I really hate you” she shook her head and huffed.

“Awe, did you think I was dead?” I chuckled.

“Yes… and to my disappointment, you’re not.”

I scoffed at her comment and closed my eyes again but this time I didn’t need to search for his mana signature.

Aaghhh!

A dissipating shout came from the next building. I looked at Malia, she nodded; she must’ve heard it too. We both moved in sync, as we flash stepped to one of the windows. The shouting became much louder now. It was Jace for sure!

“Let me go please! Please!” I could hear him screaming in pain. I turned the corner to see what was happening. Five guys, all in the older years were pushing him around, punching him and enjoying it. The anger inside me grew. Jace’s face was unrecognizable. His lips were busted, and it seemed like he had a broken arm too. Blood splattered on the floor as the biggest guy kicked him to the ground.

“Zeref I can’t watch any longer, I’m stopping them.” Malia whispered moving forward. I put my arm in front of her

“Okay you go in there and just buy time, I’ll take them out.”

She nodded in approval. After a couple seconds we executed our plan.

Malia walked over slowly to the scene of action and spoke something. I was too far away to hear anything but I could see this was my queue to jump in. Malia gave me the thumbs up. Activating my lightning aura skill, the familiar buzzing feeling enveloped my body. Lightning cackled around me and my hair rose. I cracked my neck side to side and flash stepped forward. I could finally release some stress.

The first guy was taller than me and had a strong build but that wasn’t going to be a problem. He threw a fist directed at Malia’s face. She stood cockily with her arms crossed, knowing I would handle it. I chuckled while moving in front of her. I parried the blow to the side, then did a low kick aimed at his left leg. His face changed from a sinister smile to a face of pain as he realised what had just happened. His shin bone snapped and he fell to the ground clenching his shattered leg.

I didn’t have time to break his other leg, as 2 other guys came in all at once using their mana to cover their fists.

“Bring it on!” I shouted smiling, “Lightning Gauntlets.” Gauntlets formed around my fists, they were like MMA gloves, thin but provided more damage. I used these during close combat situations. I activated my Seikuken and got into my Kickboxing stance.

[Seikuken (Level 37) will consume 1MP every minute]

[Lightning Gauntlets (Level 46) will consume 5 MP per second]

Two guys rushed forward, one throwing a straight punch while the other moving around me. I flash stepped around the second guy and threw a right hook towards his chin, knocking him to the ground. My Seikuken helped to fasten my reactions to the punch that was coming from behind me, I grabbed the guy’s fist and spun his body round, then roundhouse kicked his head. I made sure to only knock them out. 2 more left.

I looked to my right, they were conjuring some sort of Flame spell, chanting together. I stared at them and scratched my head. Did they really think a fire ball of that size would do damage. LMAO! It was the size of a boulder at least, but I was confident in my resistance perk against flame mana.

“Flame Magic: Dual Fireball! Hah! Take that you pest!” One of them shouted, directing the flame ball at me. It moved with his command and travelled towards me. I let the flame ball hit my body, but as soon as it came in contact with my body, the flames dissipated.

[You have suffered 20 damage]

“What the- What happened!” The other thug blurted out shocked. Malia laughed, looking at their shocked faces, while proudly smirking. I shook my head, then flash stepped in front of the two amateurs. With a flick of my fingers on their foreheads, their bodies catapulted backwards and slid on the floor unconscious.

The only other conscious thug left was the fatty that Jace was beating the shit out of. I actually felt bad for the guy. I deactivated my skills and moved near Jace and placed my hand on his shoulder. He froze and got off the bully, looking guilty.

“It’s fine, it’s all over.” I said softly. Jace cradled his stomach and spat out some blood.

“Jeez what did they do to you?” Malia spoke in a worried tone and examined his fist. For a second, everything went quiet and Jace was just staring at Malia like an idiot.

“Let’s just go.” Jace let out in a quiet tone, turning around, “What in the bloody- Which monster did all this?” he chuckled looking at the bodies laying limp all over the floor.

“We can talk later, let’s move before a teacher comes.” Malia spoke holding Jace’s wrist.

“I’ll join up with you guys later, I need to do something first.” I said walking back to where the fatty was.

“Mmh, Okay.” Malia understood straight away so she pulled the beaten up Jace down the stairs.

First day of school and I’m already breaking all the rules. I knelt down next to the fatty and slapped him awake. It took at least 6 continuous slaps to get him awake.

“Wh-Who are you? Do you know what you and your stupid friends have done?!” even after all of that beating, this fat noble still had the audacity to speak in that way. I grabbed his collar and released my killing intent.

The pressure in the atmosphere changed as my gravity magic took effect. I could finally see fear in his eyes. My gravity magic only worked with killing intent for some reason, but it was a great addition.

“Listen here, you fat pig! If you ever get close to my friend ever again, I won’t think twice to wipe you out or your whole bloodline. Do you underst-” I stopped mid – sentence, my hearing picked up footsteps. After all this, I did not need to fight or threaten another teacher or student. I knocked the fatty out with a punch and decided to flee.