[Desmond Adhira's POV]

My face... what the hell happened? It wasn't just my face. My entire body as a whole seemingly grew a lot larger compared to the scrawny kid I was previously.
The surprising feature of all was my abs.

I have abs.

6-packs.

As I try to comprehend how I came to have this physique, the door to the restroom burst open.

More accurately, someone kicked the door wide open as someone's body slid across the toilet.

It was a white robe freshman followed by a group of mages whose ranks were a mix of yellow and green. There was a distinct footprint planted on the chest of the white robe mage.

"Huh, who the f*ck are you?"

The one with blond dyed hair asked while raising his eyebrows as he closed up to me, chest to chest. Are they bullies? He appears to be the leader of this clique.

"Whatever. Leave while I'm in a good mood."

He scoffs while pushing me away and going back to the student who was on the ground.

"Yo, I kept you waiting. Let's continue where we left off," the guy said while his friends laughed along with him as the blond-haired guy took his spell and started casting a spell.

[Earth Launch]

Part of the ground floor shot up, causing a small wall to be shooting out from the floor causing the white robe student to launch into the air back to the bullies. As he flew towards the group of bullies, 2 of them were already in position as they readied themselves as if they were kicking a ball but instead of a ball, it was a person.

I shouldn't get involved... was what I told myself but my hands already grabbed the hood of the bullied student as I yanked him towards my direction, causing the 2 bullies to miss their kick entirely.

'Crap. So much for keeping a low profile.'

Veins popped out from Blondie as he raised his voice while he smashed the sink with his feet.

"What are you doing?" he glared while raising his mana explosively.

"Sorry. It just seemed like he was going to fall," I replied with a dumb look on my face as I scratched my cheek nervously.

The blondie chuckled as he relaxed his posture,

"Sure. Just like how I happened to cast this," and cast his spell.

[Freezing path]

Bring forth the ice element that freezes everything in the direction it is heading.

Higher-ranked mages can control the direction of the ice path freely.

Mana Requirement: 3rd Magic Circle
Mana Consumption: Low

In one instance, a projectile flew towards me and the bullied student, freezing the surrounding area and lowering the temperature. Snapping my finger, I spend a small spark of lightning in return, aiming it at the projectile.

Mr Jenkins's absurd fighting style of negating his opponents's magic by exerting the exact amount of mana is, to be very honest, impossible. But if I were to use his method and launch a spell that is more potent in nature element,  it shouldn't cause an explosion and it should just overpower my opponent by a little.

Both our magic clashed, causing a weird mixture of mana warping yet because of me focusing more on the lightning itself, thankfully, it did not cause an explosion due to the mana clashing violently. But there was the problem of the lightning.

A small spark was supposed to emerge. But because of whatever's happening to me. My mana output was just....a little stronger than before.

BOOM!!

That "small" spark ended up striking the group of bullies along with the door to the male restroom, destroying it and blowing a hole through the walls of the hallway.

'Crap. I'm gonna be in trouble.'

The blonde one tilted his head and watched the hole I created with curiosity. While his goons were in shock and denial, he alone stood and smiled.

"Not bad, you little f*cker."

He raised his wand, causing the mana in the atmosphere to rumble, in response to his threat, I raised my mana output to match his. The male restroom started rumbling as the wind pressure surrounded the restroom while sparks of lightning started pouring out of my body, zapping now and then.

Ultimately, all of it stopped when the disciplinary committee came along and stopped the fight, sending us to the teachers for the mess we made. I even got an earful from both my sister and my grandfather due to the mess I made. By the time they finished scolding me, it was already dark outside.

'I'm so hungry, hopefully, there's still food by the time I reach back my dorm.'

With food being in my head since I was forced to skip lunch, I grabbed my bag in a hurry and rushed back as fast as I could.

With the island of Elderwinn being this big, normally I would need a broom to fly over to where I was living. But I left my broom back in my room as I spent my entire holiday training in the training grounds. Because of that, the only way I can head back is with the use of public bus transport.

'Shit, I'm left with 5 minutes for the last bus.'

With time being short, I picked up my speed, pouring mana into my legs which boosted my overall speed to rush through the school courtyard and make it to the bus stop.

But before I could reach the bus stop, someone interrupted me.

THUMP
***

Desmond's concentration shifted immediately due to the violent vibration of the mana in the air. Halting himself, he kicked off the ground in panic, narrowly avoiding the person attacking him.

Desmond pulled out his item box that held the gauntlets and greaves but before he could equip them, the stranger who attacked him flicked their wands as the item box, which was in the shape of a cube, flew upwards and landed right on their hand.

Walking out from the shadow revealed a girl in a yellow-robed mage, her age seemingly similar to his and her ethnicity is that of an Asian girl. Several students were of a different race in Elderwinn, but he was never interested in them as he was bullied, plus he avoided everyone until now. The girl who attacked him was very pretty but that was not his concern now. He wanted to know why he was being attacked.

"Relax. I'm not here because of what happened in the afternoon. What I want to see... is that martial art of yours." The girl said as she tossed Desmond's item box back to him.

"Martial Art? Just for tha,t you attack me out of now___" Desmond replied in frustration when suddenly the girl sent a kick flying straight into his face, forcing him to raise his arm to block it.

He did manage to successfully block it but in return was sent flying a few feet from where he stood.

"Come on. Show it to me. I'll let you even use the gauntlet and greaves." The girl proudly challenged Desmond as she raised her hand, jeering for him to do something.

"Fine." Desmond realising there's no way out of this, equipped his gauntlet and greaves, raising his guarp.

But before he could bring his guard up fully, something landed right on his ribcage, causing him to cough out easily.

"Come on, that's only the first kick. Show me the power you used before." The girl said before shooting a [Spinning Back Kick]. However, Desmond was ready this time as he placed his right hand on top of his left, pulling a [Crossguard] and blocking her kick.

From there, he grabbed and pulled the girl's leg in as he raced in throwing a [Right Roundhouse Kick].

The girl realising that she was in danger, immediately threw a left-push kick straight at where Desmond was kicking and boosted her kicks with wind magic as their leg collided. The result was the girl being able to escape a dangerous situation at such a disadvantageous position.

"Not bad."

"You too," Desmond replied while pulling his guard up once again.

"Really... the way you 2 fight are too similar..."

"What?"

"Forget it. See if you can block or counter this then." The girl yelled as she took a huge step back and placed herself lower to the ground.

As she placed her legs down, flames started igniting along her feet as she started her attack, spinning her entire body and focusing on her right kick.

'It's coming!' Desmond braced himself choosing to raise his elbow near his body as that was where the kick was seemingly going to land. Only for her to spin once again as the fire twirled around her body as if they were dancing along to her movement the kick this time landed on his face, hitting it cleanly along with the fire that was rotating around her ankle.

THUMP

Desmond who was completely caught off guard, ended up being knocked out unconsciously. But before his mind faded into darkness, he could remember the girl panicking as the last word he heard from her was:

"Oh, Shit."

And the last thing he thought to himself was that, that was a beautiful kick.