Chapter 5 - Tornado of Souls

And so my academic life in MANC officially started the next day.

I had two classes today, Melee Combat I and Introduction to Mind Paths, in that order. I left my room and walked towards the Training Center where the Melee Combat class would take place, a sleek futuristic building shaped like a parallelogram. Courts for various sports encircled the building—football, basketball, volleyball, and even more obscure sports like handball.

As a mandatory course for all the faculties, MANC had divided the students into different sections of around 30 people, and I entered the big gymnasium inside the Training Center hoping that I would be in the same section as Tyler.

Unfortunately, he was nowhere to be seen. There's still a few minutes left. Maybe he's not a punctual guy.

As I saw two other familiar faces in the gathered crowd of students, though, I closed my eyes and cursed under my breath.

Matias and Jewel were warming up together.

I will absolutely get humiliated again, won't I?

Melee Combat I was easily the course I feared the most, even more than the chain class, as I would probably be the absolute worst person in this gymnasium thanks to my my physique, and being in the same section with Matias and Jewel just added more fuel to the flames.

My eyes met with Matias's, and he smirked sinisterly. I could feel the contempt behind his stare, eyes filled with disgust. His confident demeanor gave way to joy as if to say "This lesson will be fun." He told something to Jewel, but Jewel just threw a glance at me and turned back towards Matias.

She probably doesn't even consider me someone worthy of being discussed.

I tried to not let his occasional glances get into my head and waited for the class to start.

Soon after, an energetic guy in his forties with a buzz cut entered the gymnasium, wearing a reflective tracksuit, killing my last hopes for Tyler to show up. He ordered us to line up and with a loud clap of his hands, started the class.

The first few lectures would be on stance and footwork, and we would pair with people to practice—one would shove, and the other would try to not fall. He showed us what a defensive stance looked like, and paired us with the person next to us, creating two lines of students facing each other.

"You will rotate after giving five shoves," he yelled, his voice echoing in the sports hall. "After giving your shoves, you will move down your line and go to the next person, who will be giving you five shoves. You all have different physiques and strengths, so this way, you won't stuck with a pair out of your league and can practice both attack and defense, though the real focus of this class is defense, so don't concentrate on your shoves.

"Last but not least, while I know that using your paths is tempting, you are forbidden to use them. If I smell something fishy, I will take disciplinary action. Now, go!"

My first role was the attacker, and the guy in front of me looked… not that strong. Of course, he still towered over me, but he probably wasn't a Faculty of Body student, as his body looked relatively less athletic than students like Matias or Jewel.

He took a defensive stance and I gave him the best shoves I could possibly give. Instead of making him lose his balance, however, I hurt my own shoulder, pushing my fragile body too much without a warmup. I winced but out of my pride, didn't touch my shoulder or move it to make the pain go away.

I moved down the line and faced a student looking much stronger than the previous one. I took the defensive stance the teacher showed us—placed my left foot behind my hips, toes facing directly straight. Positioning my feet about shoulder-width apart, I bent my knees and waited for the student to push me.

He hesitated in his first shove, and while I lost my balance a bit, I still stood my ground. That hesitation faded away with his second shove, however, and my weak legs immediately gave up under the sudden force applied to my body, and I stumbled backward.

I still managed to stay on my feet, but with the third shove coming my way, I couldn't resist the gravity any further and fell on my ass, my hip bones piercing my buttocks.

I let out a squeal involuntarily, and all the students in the gymnasium stopped for a moment to look at the source of the noise. I was the first one to fall, and with the weird noise I made, everyone watched me with pity and confusion, probably thinking how could I fail in an easy task like this. Matias, two rows away from me, was delighted in my humiliation as he sneered like a snake.

I stood back up and the student in front of me, possibly out of the empathy he felt towards me, gave me two weak shoves, and I moved over to the next person. After five more attacks that didn't do anything and instead hurt my shoulder even further, I came face to face with Matias, who was the one to attack.

"You okay, Twig?" His lips curled into a cruel smile. "Need to go to the infirmary?"

I took a defensive stance. "Shut up and do what you gotta do, asshole."

His smile widened, and he gently tapped my shoulder, not even necessarily applying any force, toying with me like a wolf cornering its prey. He did the same for his second shove, but I didn't need to be a genius to know that one of the next pushes he planned to give me would be devastating, as the joy in his face slowly turned into animosity.

He's going to absolutely wreck me. Unless I get a little bonus…

I checked my pain level with a thought.

[Current pain level: Meager.
STR increase: 0 (Total: 1)
DEX increase: 0 (Total: 1)]

There's no way I can increase my pain to high or agony without seriously hurting myself. Or… Is there?

An idea dawned on me, and I smiled.

Sure, the teacher had told us to not use our paths, but how would he know? On my first night, suffering from headaches, I had checked my pain level (which had been high, thus giving me a small strength and dexterity boost) and I couldn't see any physical changes that indicated I was using my path. If they had other means of detection, that would screw me, but I was willing to take the risk.

And with this new idea, I could definitely exploit my path to defend against Matias.

[Veritas,] I thought. [Are you there?]

[Hellooo~]

[Can you play a song in my head?]

[Sure! But even my voice hurts your brain, playing a song may give you unbearable migraines.]

My smile widened. [That's exactly why I want you to do it.]

[If you're sure, fine! What do you want me to play?]

"Why are you smiling, Twig?" Matias smirked and gently pushed me again, leaving only two more shoves. "You enjoy getting touched by me, huh?"

"No," I said, "I thought you couldn't be more pathetic after assaulting a clearly weaker guy than you yesterday. I'm just surprised that you proved me wrong. You're just an asswipe who likes to exploit your rich family, aren't you?"

A vein popped up on Matias' temple, and as he prepared to attack me with his teeth shut tight, I tried to think about a complex song that was fast, but not too fast that could potentially leave me paralyzed.

I grinned from ear to ear as I called out to Veritas. [Tornado of Souls.]

[Umm… By a band named Megadeth?]

[Yep.]

Matias took a step back, clearly planning to give all his strength to this shove. Almost immediately, the first guitar riffs echoed in my consciousness, and an excruciating sensation erupted from my brain, spreading like wildfire around my head and moving me to tears. Each note felt like a saw grinding into my skull, yet, I felt my calves pumping and muscles contracting, my feet pushing the ground with more force than ever.

I clenched my teeth and welcomed the pain like an old friend, and as the song started its main riff, Matias's hands met my shoulders, sending a shockwave around my body.

I lost my balance and had to take a few steps back, but I didn't fall.

I fucking didn't fall.

As tears of pain flowed down my cheeks, my entire body shaking with agonizing pain, I looked at Matias, his mouth wide open like a baby who had just seen his mother's face disappear behind a pair of hands.

My happiness of standing straight was enough to overcome the aching and twitching of my muscles on my face to give him an arrogant smile.

[Current pain level: Agony.
STR increase: 5.6 (Total: 6.6)
DEX increase: 5.6 (Total: 6.6]

[Your charisma score has increased to 6!]

My stats had only increased by 5.6 points, but combining that with my defensive stance, Matias's conceited shove wasn't enough to topple me.

"You fucking cheater," he yelled. "You used your path, didn't you?"

In the blink of an eye, he covered the distance between us, and instead of shoving me, he crouched and swept my leg. I fell flat on my back, air leaving my lungs, my head almost hitting the plywood floor.

I struggled to draw breath as the song still playing in my head. [Stop!]

[Okaaay~]

The song sure stopped, but now I heard a loud, ringing noise, invading my brain like nails on a chalkboard. I thought this was just a side effect of the song, but quickly realized that it wasn't just in my head, as the professor was blowing a whistle.

"You!" He yelled to Matias, as I sat straight, my eyes burning. "I said only shoves!"

"The jackass cheated! What was I supposed to do?"

"Cheated?"

"He used his path!"

"Really? It looks more like you used your own path on him, though."

"Because he's that pathet-"

He shut up with a quick look from the professor. The entire gymnasium fell silent, as they watched the professor approaching us, his hands on his back. He looked at my pathetic state—I couldn't keep my eyes open without tears flowing down like a river, the pain in my head shaking every part of my body violently.

"You okay?" The professor asked, extending a hand.

"Just allergies," I lied, accepting his hand and standing up. "Must be something about his perfume."

The professor pulled me towards him while I held his hand, whispering into my ear. "I understand you feel the need to use your path because of your body, and I will forgive you just this once. There won't be a second time, though, understood?"

"Understood."

He let go of my hand and talked in normal volume. "You are excused, go get some fresh air. Visit the infirmary if you need to. Do you need someone to help you?"

"No, I'm fine," I lied again.

I thanked him and made my way to the bathroom. Each step shook my brain inside my skull, sending unbearable shockwaves of pain down my neck. I washed my face and tried my best to not just hit my head against the wall to pass out and be free of this pain. Yet I endured and left the Training Center, one step at a time.

Normally a ten-minute walk at most, it took me half an hour to go to the shopping square Tyler showed me the other day, and I bought the strongest painkillers the pharmacy had, immediately swallowing two pills without water.

Another twenty minutes and I arrived at my dorm room. The next class was in two hours, so I set the alarm on my watch and buried myself in my comfortable bed. As the painkillers took effect, I smiled and fell to sleep, content with my defiance against Matias.

***

It took every essence of my energy to not surrender to sleep after my alarm woke me up. It was the first class of the semester anyway, could I even miss something important?

But I resisted the urge and left the bed.

[Current pain level: Moderate.
STR increase: 0 (Total: 1)
DEX increase: 0 (Total: 1]

I took the strongest painkillers in the pharmacy, and it's still at moderate. Fuck.

After experiencing what "Agony" felt like, though, the headache I had now felt like a tickle, so I didn't think it'd affect the class today too much.
The Introduction to Mind Paths class was in a park near the Training Center, and I welcomed this change of scenery. This time, students of 20 had gathered around a fancy fountain, and of course, Daisy was there too.

Of course, I'll be in the same section with all the assholes. This new world tries its best to fuck me up.

Our eyes caught each other's, and Daisy immediately averted her gaze, typing something on the hologram her watch projected. I didn't think too much of this at first, but while I was waiting for the class to start, I saw Matias at the other side of the park hastily coming towards me.

I sighed and threw a glance at Daisy, who acted like she didn't even see Matias as if she wasn't the one who informed him.

Matias, with the same speed he had in the gymnasium, rushed towards me. I prepared myself for an attack but instead, he stopped a few inches away from my face, looking directly into my soul.

"Look, Twig." He put a hand on my shoulder. "I know you used your path this morning. If you want to play this game like that, fine. I'll give you a few days so you can perhaps awaken a few more paths—I don't know what kind of path you have, but it certainly sucks if it leaves you like that. Or maybe all those tears and tremors weren't caused by your path, rather, you're just a crybaby."

"And your point is?"

"I'll give you a chance to use your path if you're so passionate about it. Friday night, at the basketball court behind the Training Center. One on one. Paths, weapons—everything is allowed, so you cannot cheat."

I looked around to see all the students watching us, including Daisy.

I'm starting to get really tired of this lesser of the two evil choices. What could I possibly lose if I refused it, though? Should I really care about what these people think about me? At most, they will talk about how I'm a coward who runs away from a fight. So what? My dignity has already been damaged in the Melee class this morning, what would it change if it got damaged some more?

I opened my mouth to tell Matias to go fuck himself, but my pride didn't let me. I knew what to say, but the words couldn't leave my mouth as I watched Daisy and a few more students looking at me with disgust, as if I was some kind of abomination.

So much for not caring about other people's opinions.

I looked Matias dead in the eye. "I'll see you on Friday, then."