How To Survive A Calamity-Chapter 259: Blowing Off Steam

Xavier and i parted ways at the coffee house shortly after. Our last conversation remained vividly fresh as i walked through the streets of the academy.

I'd gotten a lot more information on Alice than i could have imagine, and the crazy part was— everything Xavier said was considered an open secret throughout the academy!

Yes, Xavier wasn't the only one who knew about Alice by some special means. Technically, the whole school was supposed to be.

She had a very unique ability. According to Xavier, while Alice wasn't exactly a power and skill based Awakened, she was a prodigy nonetheless who Awakened a stigma shortly after she became Beta Rank.

Her Talent may have been better than average, but Alice's nature and ability put her on an entirely different scale than others.

'...A Singularity.'

Someone, or something, undefined by the norms. That was one way to put it.

It simply meant, Alice's true potential couldn't be scaled via the typical means.

"No wonder the Academy treats her even more specially than the other Rankers." I used to think it had something to do with her family or background, but her influence was something way more than that.

Today i had been stunned twice by what I heard from Xavier; about the nature and circumstances of Alice, and the mention of a Stigma.

I went to Xavier to seek some answers or opportunity, but now there was only more obscurity and questions.

"Hey, you!"

Just while i was musing silently to myself on my way, an irritable voice called out to me from somewhere.

"Hey!!"

I thought it was annoying and i was too occupied with the thoughts in my head so my first instincts was to ignore it. I pretended like i had just heard the wind amd continued but the voice was persistent and grew more impatient.

"Hey! I said wait, you asshole!"

"Hm?" Finally i paused and turned around. There was a small group of dumb looking male cadets glaring at me from behind.

"Huh? Me?" I looked to the sides ignorantly like there was someone else. I sure as hell was certain these idiots couldn't be calling me 'asshole'.

Okay, well maybe.

The round faces of the cadets instantly reddened.

"How dare you think you can mock us, you bastard?" One said.

"Tsk. I told you this lowlife has grown a pair." Another insulted.

Now that i looked at it, some of their faces did look kind of familiar. They were the same idiots who stuck around Xavier like glue from earlier.

'There's a lot more now...' i counted at least ten heads all glaring daggers at me. A few of them looked a bit familiar, i guess, but i had a feeling they were all from Class C.

"Move."

A particularly burly figure pushed through the crowd of ten with a rough command. A cadet with wide round shoulders and swole build stepped out front.

He was tan skinned and had a square shape buzzcut for a haircuts — typical low level mob boss energy.

There was a dangerously sharp blue glint in his eyes as strolled forward, his massive arms tucked away in his pocket.

Finally, he stopped a few steps away from me and nudge off to the side towards an alley subtly with his chin.

"Step aside." He simply said.

I quietly stared back into his eyes without moving. There wasn't a change in my expression despite his futile attempts at intimidation. At most, i just found it irritating how his fat ass was covering up the sunlight before my face.

Succinctly, i glanced around once more. I could feel the gazes of onlookers turn toward us. Currently, we were in the middle of an open street, and i was currently surrounded by them angry looking guys.

It was obvious what was going to happen, and this was bound to draw lots of attention. So the block head's here intentions was to drag me off to an isolated alley away from the gazes.

Without saying a word back i stepped to the side and walked off towards the alley nearby. Throughout this whole interaction, my hands never once left the comfort of my pockets, and my strides were calm and unhurried.

I could here the footsteps of all ten Cadets follow behind as we entered deeper into the alley.

I only stopped once i could see the wall at the end and spun around quietly, still without a word or expression.

—Step, Step.

The ten Cadets from Class C spread out around me as much as the narrow alleyway allowed them to. And confronting me upfront was the large guy with a buzzcut.

I stared into his brown eyes. "And?"

"You have some guts showing up at our class after what you did yesterday." His voice growled in a low below as colourless hue of Aura hummed from his body.

Just then, a wary voice came from behind him.

"B-be careful! You saw what happened yesterday, he's much stronger than he looks now. And remember the rumours!" One of the ten cadets said; his identity and appearance obstructed by the figure of the tanned cadet that i couldn't see him.

'Rumours?' My brow rose inquisitively and i leaned a bit to the sides to try to get a look at who said that.

—Bam!

But the moment i tried to do so, the huge cadet viciously swung his massive Aura coated fist against my body and into my midsection. There was barely a flash of grey aura in the darkness, the collision rumbled in an almost thunderous sound in the enclosed alley, and i felt a tremor shift through my body.

The cold voice of the cadet came next, dripping with dispassion menace.

"Rumours," he scoffed, "look, at him, you expect me to believe— huh?!"

Before the cadet's edgy monologue could finish, i grabbed his hand, seizing his fist tightly in my grip.

The Class C student gaped at me incredulously, his eyes widening in shock as he realised his attack failed poorly.

"You raised your fist first," i deadpanned, voice flat and steady.

Then grinned very, very slowly.

"Everything that happens after this is self defence."

"You bas—" the large cadet flared, getting over his initial shock and tried to pull back his arm. Alas my grip wouldn't budge an inch.

Before he could think to retaliate properly, i crushed his fist under my hold in a single squeeze. The sound of bones and joints crushing against each other squelched through the air.

"Aarghh!!"

The next moment, the burly cadet who was built like a tanned bear collapsed to ground, crouching with a knee before me. His pained cry was loud enough to make the remaining nine flinch, and sharp enough to pierce through the alley.

But too me, i couldn't be less bothered as i continued to gaze coldly, unsympathetically, down at his quivering body.

"Pathetic," i spat, then sighed. It was the type of sigh that was empty of emotions or meaning and simply came from the depths of somewhere i couldn't explain.

Not once as i spoke did i ever let go of the cadets crushed fist. A small tingle ran through my left arm, tickling my palm, but i ignored it.

"The lot of you chose an awfully wrong time to show your faces to me again. For you at least."

Then a small unamusing chuckle broke from my lips. Well, at least to me it was funny, but to the class C cadets, I assumed not so much.

"I needed to blow off some of the stress eventually," i looked back down at the cadet grovelling before me. "You'll do."

The only reason i let these bastards do as they pleased was to have enough basis to pummel them to my satisfaction!

My right leg snapped like a coiled spring and smashed into the neck of the large cadet below. His head twisted with a loud crack as he smashed into the wall by the side.

Without even glancing to make sure he was still alive, i dusted my palms together and stepped forward with the warmest smile.

"Who's next?"

The remaining nine cadets who were deadbeats froze like rocks. Pure horror and dread painted their expressions as i regarded them a frown from where i stood.

"If you're not coming, then..." I tripped a discarded wooden staff next to me with my feet, raising it into the air and grabbed it fluidly.

The staff was on the lighter side than i preferred and the quality was all but impressive, but this would do.

I'd never forgotten the earliest rules that got ingrained in my mind and soul since Earth; in a dogfight anything can be used as a weapon.

"Don't mind if i do."

I dashed at the nine cadets with a bloody grin bordering on sadistic and savory, twirling the stick between my fingers like it was some playful toy.

Although they were trying to surround me not long ago, they were the ones who looked cornered now.

"Fuck!!"

One cursed out begrudgingly like he had accepted whatever bitter fate that awaited them. But he wasn't given up without a fight it seemed.

A pale magic circle unraveled down his fingers — a Mage — as his expression twisted at his classmates.

"Don't just stand there, your idiots! Cover m—"

But it was too late, i was already upon them, bashing my left knee straight into the face of the Mage cadet and declaring loudly;

"Umu! That's more like it!"