Chapter 16: Break A Rule

Superior Healing, Superior Strength, or whatever the hell those feelings were that Stanley got from time to time; those had to be his true powers.

Stanley wondered if in fact his powers hadn’t actually awakened, but were in the process of doing so, which was why he was showing signs of it without actually having it.

That was perhaps the case for why there was no activation ritual either. But then, which of the three would end up being his true powers? If one of them did, then what about the other 2? What were they?

In the end, he wasn’t even sure if any of them would actually end up becoming his powers. After all, never in his life had he heard of someone showing signs of power without awakening it immediately.

Awakening was supposed to be like the flick of a switch that turned on the light. There was no way it could be like a tap that took time to release the full flow of water.

“Don’t worry,” Bradley said after seeing his brother’s face. “We will figure it out soon enough. Just wait for after the assembly.”

Stanley nodded and went to the assembly that took place in the training field. Over a hundred people were already there, with more joining by the minute. Not all Defenders were there, but every single trainee was there for certain.

Stanley found his way to the third-year trainees and got into a line.

“Oh, look who we have here. If it isn’t our batch’s highest-scoring trainee,” a young man spoke from behind Stanley.

Stanley didn’t even have to turn around to know that it was Desmond who was behind him. “What do you want, Desmond?” he asked. “I don’t have time for your nonsense.”

“Oh, nothing, nothing,” the young man said as he came in front of Stanley. He had an elongated face with a sharp nose and short brown hair. He was taller than Stanley by half a head, so he looked down on him when he stood close to him.

“I was just worried about you, you see. You used to be so good, but after you were hurt, you can’t fight at all. Since you don’t have any powers, at this rate you might have to go and work on the farm very soon,” the boy said with a sad expression on his face.

Stanley couldn’t help but feel disgusted looking at the person in front of him. “Keep your worry to yourself, I don’t need any fake ones,” he said.

Desmond’s face changed into disdain as he scoffed. “Hmph, fine. I can’t wait to see your downfall, you damned Dull. I will make sure you don’t pass the third year of training, so you will be forced to go work on the farm your whole life. Then, you can die there, just like your mother did.”

Stanley didn’t realize when his fist swung. It did so on its own and arrived at Desmond’s face. However, instead of hitting him, his fist went right through his face, surprising him for a moment.

He balanced himself and looked around to search for his brother. It had been him that had just used his powers.

“Hah! You just tried to hit me,” Desmond shouted. “He tried to hit me.”

“He did,” Bradley’s voice came from close by as he appeared. He looked at his brother who was clearly angry. “What are you doing?”

“He spoke about mother,” Stanley said angrily.

Bradley sighed. He pat his brother’s shoulders and said, “Don’t fall for such obvious baits. He’s clearly trying to make you hit him outside of training to break the rule.”

Stanley grumbled, but he couldn’t say anything to that. He knew that if not for his brother, he would have most likely been in big trouble right now. 𝒆𝙣𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝙚𝙩

Fighting in-between trainees themselves was considered a taboo in of itself, but a Dull hitting someone Awakened was even more severe. If Stanley was found guilty, he wouldn’t even be warned at all. He would be directly expelled.

“He tried to hit me,” Desmond shouted, gathering the attention of the people that were gathered there.

“He tried to hit you, but he didn’t,” Bradley said. “Calm down.”

“No, I won’t calm down. He tried to hit me,” Desmond shouted. “Teacher! Teacher!”

The people were starting to gather around to see what was happening, and it caused Stanley to cower a bit. Was it really going to be a problem?

“There’s a difference between hitting you and trying to, isn’t there?” Bradley asked. “You haven’t been hit, so calm down.”

“No, there’s no difference. I won’t stand until a teacher brings justice here,” Desmond shouted.

“There’s no different, you say,” Bradley said. “Did it hurt when my brother tried to hit you?”

“What? No, it did not, but—”

*SLAP*

Bradley suddenly slapped Desmond in the face so hard that he didn’t even realize that he had been hit. It was only after the burning pain followed that he realized what had happened.

“Did it hurt now?” Bradley asked.

“Y-y-you—”

“Bradley? What are you doing?” someone from the crowd asked.

Bradley put his palm up to stop the person for now. “Tell me, did that hurt or not?” he asked.

Desmond started tearing up from the pain as a red palm print appeared on his left cheek.

“See, you’re crying. It does hurt,” Bradley said. “So it’s evident what my brother did is different from hitting you, isn’t it? Which means he broke no rule.”

Bradley stood up. “No need to crowd up, it was just a little confusion that has been settled,” he said with a smile before turning toward Desmond.

His face suddenly turned serious and his voice full of hatred.

“Speak about my mother like that one more time and I will make sure you never speak again.”

He then pat his brother on the shoulder once and walked away.

Stanley stood there with sparkling eyes, hoping that someday, he could be just like his brother as well.