Infernal Entity: Evolving With My Demonic System-Chapter 40: Trouble With The Seniors

Axel stared hard at Rick, trying to understand the words that came out of his mouth. Ares in trouble... How the hell did Ares get in trouble? And what kind of trouble could he have gotten into?

Axel snapped out of his thoughts and asked Rick, "What happened?"

Rick proceeded to explain everything from the very beginning, in detail. How Ares had gone to order lunch for the both of them. How he had taken so long to arrive and the whole confrontation with the three Spectra students.

He also explained how Ares had decided to go head first to confront them.

"Hold on a second... So you’re saying that Ares went to confront three Spectra students? What is he, crazy?!" Axel blurted out.

Axel knew Ares was a strong guy. His powers were a bit odd but it wasn’t uncommon. He was an absorber and as such, anything thrown at him, he can absorb and redirect it, sometimes even amplify it. Similar to what he did with Nile at the test.

But an absorber could only take so much, right? Especially if said powers being thrown at them was from a higher ranked mutant.

Rick still hadn’t told Axel exactly what happened. Just exactly what kind of trouble was Ares in?

—

"Ares, please. Let it go. It’s fine. I’ll find another seat."

Rick stepped in front of Ares with panic written all over his face.

"You didn’t do anything wrong," he said. "You were sitting. They wanted your seat because they thought you were weak. I want to show them."

Ares walked back into the cafeteria with Rick trailing behind him with strides that suggested that he was contemplating going with Ares. Eventually, he decided to slow down and watch from a distance.

Ares spotted the three students, sitting around the table Rick had been forced to leave. They were relaxed. One had his boots resting on the table. Another was laughing loudly, slapping his hand down with every joke.

They looked comfortable and that annoyed the crap out of him..

"You took a seat that wasn’t yours," Ares said boldly as he approached.

The boy with his boots on the table turned to him with a raised eyebrow.

"And who are you?"

"That seat was taken. You threatened someone to get it, didn’t you?"

Their tags were showing boldly on their respective collars, but Ares didn’t seem to care. The three students on the other hand, looked at Ares’s tag and wondered, was this guy brave or just outright stupid?

"You talking about the Lumina kid?" the second student asked.

Ares didn’t answer, then the third student laughed.

"He left on his own. Nobody forced him."

Ares’s eyes hardened. "That’s not how it looked."

The first boy finally took his boots off the table and sat up straight.

"You a friend of his?" he asked. "Oh wait wait! You’re the Spectra friend he was talking about!"

"We thought you were imaginary!"

They all laughed like it was nothing.

"But why is a Spectra hanging out with a Lumina piece of trash?"

"Watch your mouth, dickface!" Ares growled. The smiles from the three Spectras disappeared the moment they sensed hostility. The table went silent instantly.

A few nearby students started paying attention. Heads turned and whispers started.

"You got guts," the first student said. "I’ll give you that."

The third boy narrowed his eyes and asked. "What year are you?"

"First, why?" 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

That did it.

The three of them started laughing again..

"A first year, huh? That explains it."

"What made a first year newbie think he could threaten us?"

"Threaten? I’m just talking. You actually threatened my friend." Ares stated without fear.

The second student stood up slowly, his figure towered over Ares as he stood up fully. That was disturbing because Ares was tall himself. One could only imagine how tall the second student was.

"You walked up to our table," he said. "You accused us. You’re still standing here... sounds like a threat to me."

"Do you even know who you’re talking to?" he asked.

"No," Ares admitted. "And I don’t care."

"We’re second-years. Spectra ranked second-years. All of us."

"So?" Ares replied, wondering why that should mean anything.

"Oh damn... you have no idea what you just got yourself into."

—

"HE DID WHAT?!?!"

Axel shouted as soon as Rick told him the exact trouble Ares had gotten into.

"He confronted second years?" Axel repeated. "Well he might have as well just gone after the Lord of Pyro himself! Why didn’t you tell him they were second years?"

Rick panicked, "I...I didn’t know. We didn’t know! I tried to stop him, but he wouldn’t listen! What’s going to happen now?" He asked.

"Ares picked a fight with our seniors, from what I can tell... he’s in serious trouble." Axel revealed.

---

In the Oval Academy... in any academy really... and even in human society as a whole, hierarchy always existed.

There was always someone above you and someone below you.

In school, that hierarchy was simple and brutal.

First years were at the bottom. They had no authority, no influence, and no protection unless they were strong enough to make one for themselves. Most of them kept their heads down and followed the rules because that was the only way to survive.

Second years sat above them. They had experience, stronger abilities, and the freedom to push first years around without much consequence. Everyone understood this unspoken rule. First years did not challenge second years.

The third years were worse. They ruled over both second and first years, enforcing their dominance through strength, reputation, or fear. By the time someone reached their third year, they were no longer just students. They were enforcers of the academy’s order.

Then there were the fourth years.

They sat at the very top of the food chain. Their words carried weight. Their actions shaped the academy itself. They controlled the lower years openly and bent the system to their will. Even instructors and Oval officers treaded carefully around the stronger ones.

Only a handful of students existed outside this hierarchy. Those who were so powerful or so dangerous that no one dared challenge them. They answered to no year and no rule.

Axel understood this hierarchy better than most.

He had lived his entire life at the bottom, back in Seaside Colony, where power decided worth and weakness invited cruelty. He had learned early that challenging someone above you was not brave. It was suicide.

And that was why the situation with Ares was bad.

Ares was a first year and he had confronted second years.

In the Oval Academy, that kind of mistake never went unpunished.

"Where did they take him?" Axel asked suddenly.

Rick turned his head and pointed south of the school. That led to one place...

"The second-year block."