章 16: Volume 2 Episode 10
Outside the Practical Zone.
2 hours earlier.
A meeting was held between Ms. Mirium Vance and Leslie Johnson.
"You need to choose Lin Hamill first."
"Is he supposed to be the first target? I thought we should start with the less influential rich families and move up the ranks."
"You can do that after beating Lin Hamill first. The first thing we have to do is to prove a point. We need to provide a statement to the school that we can't stand by the discrimination that is happening at the school. In order to do that, we have to defeat a member of the Hamill Family. Lin Hamill is currently the most prominent amongst the youngsters, and defeating him with an overwhelming victory is enough to prove a point. Don't worry, I'll back you up if the administrative body comes after you. The ways of the school definitely need to change. They're forgetting the fact what made the academy special in the first place. It's time we remind them." As Mirium explained the plan with her long speech, Leslie couldn't help but sigh.
Miss Mirium had always been an open supporter to eradicate the inequality faced by commoner students during the admission process, as she repeatedly fought with the board members during the meetings held between them, even getting banned from one of the meetings for threatening to attack a fellow faculty member.
She had been highly supportive of the commoner students, helping them with encouraging words and supporting them during tough times. She even helped Leslie during the difficult times when he was depressed over not getting admission in the class he desired.
'Don't worry, we'll just have to make B - Class into A by ourselves,' is what she said at the time. As he thought about it, he couldn't help but smile a bit.
Miss Mirium, who had noticed that Leslie hadn't been focusing on her speech for some time furrowed her brows and gave him a smack on his head.
"Listen now would you! Don't you realize how important the matter at hand is?" She berated Leslie who was in pain from the smacking he received.
"This is very serious. You do realize you have to win against him in an overwhelming fashion right? No close cut victories. Well, from what I heard, he was only level six when he joined the academy. It's said that he only awakened as a gifted only recently, though I think that part is actually bullshit to make him look good. I mean nobody awakens at the third test anymore. They were even thinking of abolishing a third test. Anyway, that kid didn't even take the entrance test and jumped straight to the admissions. I heard he even threatened a fellow classmate with his family power apparently."
"I know, but I shouldn't beat the kid too hard right? I mean no matter how lazy or rich or entitled he might be, in the end it's the fault of his parents who brought him up for him to grow up in such a way, right?" Leslie answered.
Mirium looked at Leslie for a minute, causing him to get flustered. Then, she sighed. "You know, sometimes I think you're a bit too nice. You have to know when to be cold too. Otherwise you might get hurt. Keep that in mind."
After talking to Leslie, Mirium walked to the Practical Zone building. She had to get there before the students from A - Class arrived. She had to make sure to put on a classy show, for she had a feeling that the one-on-one combat was sure going to be a hot topic this time around.
*********************************************
Practical Zone Building 01.
Present Time.
"I choose Lin Hamill."
Leslie pointed at Lin, and everyone in the crowd turned to look at him. They were surprised that the first student who the Challenger picked was a member of the Hamill Family, one of the most powerful families to ever exist in the country. It almost seemed like a declaration of war. As students whispered amongst themselves about what the challenge meant as a whole, Lin Hamill seemed to be amused with the whole incident. The challenge obviously had an underlying message strung along with it, but he could also notice hesitation on the challenger's face, almost as if he didn't want to challenge him.
'Was he forced to do so? Maybe Ms. Vance forced him?'
He thought about the various factors that might result in forcing Leslie to fight him, but he didn't know for sure. And he wasn't that invested in the mystery to try and solve it. Moreover, he had another matter to hand at the moment.
Lin stood up from his seat and moved towards the ring in a carefree manner, making others think he didn't even care about the fight itself. As he stepped foot in the ring, Mirium Vance stood in front of them and explained the rules.
"This is a knockout match, and is a form of practice for the upcoming school tournament and so shall have similar rules as well to make you freshman feel accustomed to the competition. As this is just a friendly match, the match shall end when a participant is knocked out without suffering too many injuries, when a participant gives up, if a participant appears to not be able to take the opponent's attack and finally, if a participant steps outside of the ring. All the reasons said before will result in the said party to be considered to have lost, and it shall be the final judgement. Are both the participants ready?"
Finishing the explanation, Mirium looked at both the participants, who nodded at her as she signaled for the match to start.
Both the fighters started moving around slowly, trying to read the opponent's moves and powers. They appeared to take the match seriously. So did the students spectating the match, as this was their first time being a part of the competition itself. They were all nervous, but at the same time, they were excited.
The B - Class students however, were looking a lot more serious. They were looking at the fight as if their lives were on the line. It was understandable as Ms. Mirium and their class leader had encouraged them to fight the system that they were bound to. No longer will they be held down by the rules that the society declared as valid. No longer will their roles be decided or influenced by their pockets. Most of them in the class had gone through a lot to get to where they were. They had been promised a revolution. A revolution to overthrow the corrupt class system that existed in all academies. To bring back the academy to its roots once more. To not let anyone define who they were for them. And this fight was supposed to be a declaration of it. This was going to be the spark that ignites it all.
As both fighters moved closer to each other, Leslie told Lin, " I don't want to hurt you. So I'll make it as quick as possible."
Lin, who was baffled by the opponent's words for a second, smiled in return.
"Funny, that was supposed to be my line. But now that you've taken it, I have no choice but to say the opposite."
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