Archer as he was dragging along a struggling werewolf realized that he was not going to make it to the chemistry labs in time. Stu was fighting back a lot, and the pain was difficult to deal with. Fine then, he would just need to beat him into submission first, then drag him to the lab.

Hit him harder. Archer berated himself as he grabbed Stu by the head and slammed his knee as hard as he could onto his opponent's chin. Then he quickly raised an elbow and slammed it straight into Stu’s eye.

Break him. Archer thought Stu bit onto Archer’s arm. Break him. Archer thought again as he shoved his arm down Stu’s throat, causing the canine to bulge his eyes as he was choking. Archer followed this with more knees to the midsection as his other hand wrenched on one of the beast's long ears. Move. Archer said as he dragged him along the roof.

Stu in his struggle, grabbed Archer by the midsection and tried to dig his claws into Archer. With a grunt of annoyance Archer pulled his arm free from Stu’s jaws and struck him right in the throat. Stu still held his death grip on Archer. The thing hurt, it was piercing skin. So hurt him back. Make him regret everything. He ordered himself. Break him. Make him miserable, destroy any semblance of will. He thought as they neared the edge of the roof. Looking downwards Archer saw it, the stadium where Ran was fighting in.

Create chaos. Make it known, let my existence be known with an exclamation. Archer decided. As Stu howled in pain Archer held onto the scruff of his neck and jumped off the roof straight down towards the stadium. It had been a while since Archer was truly in this type of mood. The pain and struggle turned a switch on inside Archer. His logical mind was telling himself play it smarter, but there was a loud part of him that wanted this fight to get worse.

Archer was named the three-headed monster before as it felt as though there were three stark personalities within him. One including this frenzied, battle-hungry self that was emerging. That side of Archer appeared briefly with the whole ghost possession and against the skeleton boss. But other than that, he was forced to wait his turn as the other got to play. Though there was reason for it, that personality was barely controlled chaos who hungered for combat and, quite frankly, not the one needed right now. But it was the one that Stu was getting.

As they fell past the teacher’s office Archer saw Lilith was busy dealing with a mountain of paperwork. This frenzied state of Archer’s was momentarily subdued as he watched her work diligently. Right. I need to do my job. Archer thought, almost arguing with himself. But the other two have had plenty of the spotlight so let me have a bit of fun while I’m at it. A grin appeared behind Archer’s mask as he bit down on the mouthguard and continued to guide Stu down onto the stadium. Controlled chaos, or something like that.

Stu’s eyes widened as he realized they were falling. He frantically struggled to break himself free howling in rage and panic as he did so. Archer grabbed one of his fang replacements and broke it off.

“Let go! Let go!” He managed to howl out.

Archer snatched Stu’s mouth shut and whispered, “Stay silent.” As they made contact with the roof.

Archer threw the two of them with plenty of force. The concrete and steel structure quickly gave way as they slammed through the sturdy material. In all honesty, the two were lucky. Usually these stadiums have their reinforced shielding installed to make sure the place doesn’t break. But under the assumption of just a regular F-rank fighting, whoever ran the place decided to save a bit of money by not powering the barrier.

So instead of the two slamming through something that had no give usually, they got to crash through concrete instead. As they fell through the roof and into the stadium, Archer had a decent enough view to look at the crowd. Mostly first years with a splattering of seniors. Even as they fell, Archer recognized quite a few familiar faces. Those faces managed to steady Archer’s resolve to keep a cool head.

Taking a deep breath he readjusted his grip to position himself above Stu as they continued to plummet down into the middle of the ring. With a large crash the two impacted the ground and the ring itself shook. Archer made sure to firmly plant a boot onto the chest of Stu and the moment they hit the floor, Stu felt as if his chest collapsed.

There was a stunned silence amongst the crowd watching this intrusion. There was a werewolf and what looked like that masked vigilante that some heard of in the news. These two had been fighting and now interrupted another.

“Amazing.” Luna whispered to herself staring at Archer. She had never seen him in the outfit only described. She felt a mix of fear from his presence, but he was also so damn cool looking standing atop a fallen beast like that.

Cassia on the other hand, only watched with complete horror towards Archer. If she knew that Archer was going to be here she would have never listened to him and come here. Was this all a warning to her? That Archer could not be stopped? She continued to watch on with horror unable to tear her eyes away from Archer, she needed to see what happened next.

“It’s him.” Mercy whispered out loud.

“Who?” Jarold asked.

“The guy from back then. The vigilante.” Mercy said as she grabbed for her blade.

“You brought that with you?” Jarold said in surprise.

“I’m always prepared.”

“Fascinating.” Lothar said staring at the faceless man.

Ran and Igor both now took pause from their battle to look at the two intruders, both of them were on either side of them. Archer still firmly pinning Stud down took a moment to look through everyone in attendance. Head slowly turning across to view every single person.

Stu on the floor was surprised by the lack of pain, only a stabbing feeling in his chest, which was better compared to seconds prior. Though the lack that came with his entire body feeling numb, he couldn’t move. All he could do was offer up a gurgled growl towards Archer, one last act of defiance, to show that he wasn’t afraid of death.

Before the growl could even complete, Archer gazed back down at him. As Stu prepared to be hit again, Archer instead gave out a loud battle cry. It was ear-piercing and inhuman. Like a broken power generator mixed with a dying banshee that filled the room causing many to plug their ears.

It was a frightening and painful sound in general, but for Stu it shook something inside of him. Or at least the bestial side of him. Stu found himself unwillingly reverting back to his human form. His metal claw attachments falling off his hands. As he struggled to make sense of what just happened he started to cough up blood. The aftermath of what he took was catching up to him now.

Archer had no time to waste and grabbed Stu and carried him over his shoulder. No doubt people have recovered from the shock of his entrance and now were going to try and grab him. He momentarily looked behind him and locked eyes with Ran and offered him a half nod before pulling out a small smoke bomb and activating it just as Mercy leapt down along with a couple of the teachers.

With one quick strike of her sword, Mercy blew the smoke away and to her disappointment, she found Archer missing, again. Clicking her tongue in frustration she then glanced back towards the two combatants.

“What are you two waiting for? Continue.” She said as she strode back to her seat.

“What?” Igor said looking confused.

“You two can still fight can’t you? This fight isn’t over until one of you is unable to continue.” Mercy said as she noticed the teachers who had jumped down move to a different location and begin to discuss among themselves.

“Th-that’s correct!” Liliana said recovering quickly from her surprise, “After a brief interference both fighters are still fine, and they may continue the combat!” The crowd began to cheer on for the fight to continue. Some had money riding on this and they wanted a proper conclusion.

“This is ridiculous.” Igor muttered staring at the crowd that chanted for the fight to continue. No matter, the pill was still working and Ran was on his last legs. When he turned back around to his opponent, Ran was now missing. The next thing Igor felt was something striking him in the back of the head.

“Glrrgghkk!” Igor sputtered out as Ran slammed his sword into the back of his head. Stumbling he barely caught himself from falling on all fours only to be struck again. In the exact same spot. Then he felt heat up where he was struck.

“Oh my god!” Liliana could be heard shouting, “The protection is about to break!”

“If that thing breaks Ran wins!” Emmra said excitedly jumping up and down.

“That’s not possible.” Annaxia said watching from the sidelines. There was no way that loser was going to win.

“Come on Ran!” Luna and the others continued to cheer.

Swinging at Igor again, Ran forced Igor on the retreat. Head still dizzy, Igor needed to collect himself, he needed distance. He was so close to beating Ran, with that pill he was so much stronger, he just needed to hit him once. Ran was exhausted, Igor just needed one hit. Igor just needed to wait as he stumbled backwards for reprieve.

Then his foot caught in the crater that Archer and Stu made earlier. He was frozen in place and all he could do was stare at the incoming blade realizing that he could not move in time. Damn it. Igor thought right before it connected with him and the world then went black.

"Igor is out! The winner is the F-rank Ran Almer!" Liliana announced, not quite believing her own words.

The crowd watched in disbelief as they saw the D-rank student lose to someone as low as an F-rank. What in the world happened? Did they cheat? Was Igor poisoned? Was Ran given enhancers? Was the school simply wrong with Ran’s ranking? But if they were wrong with something as obvious as an F-rank then what else could they be wrong about?

Electa Cowen watched from her VIP box alongside the other teachers. She had a small smile on her face as she spoke aloud, “The F-rank is quite the chaotic rank this year.”

“Indeed.” Phil said watching as several teachers had already left the stadium both from the crowd and here in the box a few stormed off in search of the intruder. Though Ran’s teacher Professor Blackowl continued to stare down at Ran with a massive frown.

“Don’t worry Principal, we’ll find those two intruders.” One of the other teachers said to her.

“Inform me when you discover anything.” Electa said with a nod, “But with that I think we should prepare for the F-ranks to be involved a lot more than we expected.” She said watching as Ran was mobbed by his friends.

“You did it! You did it! You did it!” Emmra chanted as she shook Ran.

“Ow, wait my ribs still hurt.”

“Sorry!”

“I knew you could.” Selena said, looking at Ran full of pride.

“I almost didn’t, honestly that weird interference sort of saved me.” Ran said unable to hide his joy from the victory, “Though I have no idea where who and what they’re doing now.”

***

Archer tossed Stu quickly onto one of the desks inside the lab as he quickly began to dig for everything he needed. Ratios ran through his head as he estimated what was needed to stop the worst of the side effects.

Archer turned Stu onto his stomach for a moment and hit him in the back forcing him to spit out a large mouthful of blood and clearing his airway. Quickly. Archer thought as he began to mix everything into a single vial.

This won’t feel great. But it will keep him alive. Archer thought as he dug through a first aid kit and took an empty syringe from it. He quickly shook the vial with his other hand at rapid speed until all the substances mixed together. Definitely not medically approved. Archer thought as he found a safe spot to jab the syringe in and inject a new cocktail into Stu’s system.

Stu’s eyes rolled into the back of his head as he passed out and Archer wondered for a moment if he killed the poor man. Checking his pulse he felt it, weak but there, and Stu let out a groan. Good he’s breathing. Archer thought breathing a sigh of relief.

Archer got it just in time too, as he heard footsteps closing in on him. They were teachers, they probably would call an ambulance for Stu… right? Archer would’ve wished to carry him over to the hospital himself but in the middle of the day that was impossible. Besides, Archer couldn’t say that Stu shouldn’t be left for dead for what he’s tried. But he was stopped and now he was completely helpless and should be tried for his crimes, if he can survive past his detox.

Archer quickly opened the window behind him and jumped out vanishing as he landed into a tree just as the teachers found Stu. As Archer let them deal with that mess, he changed his outfit back into his uniform and wandered his way back towards the main school gate after waiting a few minutes for things to settle.

As he did so, he passed by a very upset Dominic Bent cursing as he loudly complained about the fight, “I bet five thousand on that fight damn it! Shit, now we need more money.”

“Um, actually brother I bet a little bit on Ran.” Rosaline said quietly.

“You what? How much?”

“Just five hundred.”

“It was twenty to one odds! I just got back my earnings!” Dominic hollered, “Where’s the money?”

“I haven’t cashed the ticket in yet.”

“Give me that, I’ll be back home in a few days. Don’t worry about me.”

“Understood brother.” Rosaline said sounding rather upset.

“Hmm.” Archer thought as he listened in on the conversation. There was something he needed to ask tomorrow. He also felt his phone buzzing with several different messages. He had a lot of explaining to do.

Archer let out a groan as he rubbed at his sides. Those claws hurt. Sliding his fingers underneath his undershirt, he felt his half-dried blood from where the claws dug in. The wounds sealed up already but it was concerning that it pierced his sides even with his jacket protecting him. He needed his real gear now, both sets, none of this prototype stuff, it was becoming apparent. If he was going to make an impact he was going to need better equipment.

Still, Archer felt happy that Ran actually won. He knew he could, but the fact that he really did it was still a happy surprise. That Ran might just change the school. He quickly texted the group chat that he would meet with them for dinner and decided that today should be a celebratory one.