ThatKIrcguy
patreon
Breathe Chapter 11: The Bet
🕑 Added 2024-06-03 05:12:12 +0000 UTCSchool, as it turned out, was just as frustrating as I’d remembered. It wasn’t the learning that was annoying, no, that I could easily do on my own. It was the fact that I constantly had to change to a different class several times in a single day.
I was new here and as the teachers announced, I was a temporary student, so I wasn’t going to be staying long. Navigating to the correct class whenever the bell rang was an infuriating endeavor that I’d already failed once already, having entered and sat down in the wrong class.
For my mistake, I was awarded a scolding in front of a full classroom, something that I would have found amusing if I hadn’t been so annoyed by failing to navigate the different halls. It wasn’t even a single day and I already missed killing Grimm with Maria.
It didn’t take me long to realize that Sanctum Academy was simply boring. Sure this was the place where they were prepping students to enter one of the major academies, like Beacon and they were training what amounted to super soldiers, but it all seemed too… contained… safe?
I couldn’t tell how strong the students were from a single glance, but the way they carried themselves seemed too at ease. They weren’t taking things as seriously as they should be.
It was a little unfair for me to think that way. If I’d been born into this world naturally without my memories, I’d likely be just like them… I suppose that’s why their complacency was even more frustrating to me.
Something odd that I’d noticed pretty quickly was that Pyrrha was nowhere to be seen. At first I’d thought it was simply because we had different classes or I’d been placed at a grade lower than hers, but as the day went on, I realized that hadn’t been the issue. She just wasn’t here. Not in her regular school uniform and not in her drug dealer look alike disguise.
The bell rang and I let out a relieved sigh. It was finally break. I just had to get through a few more days of this and then I’d be free to hunt Grimm again.
…Breathe…
I sat down at the end of a relatively empty table and placed my lunch tray in front of me. It was odd, outside of that one teacher that seemed pissed at me for being late to his class, I didn’t have any real interactions with anyone… at least not the students.
It was almost like everyone here was actively trying to avoid me. Strange, because, if memory served, students were normally incredibly interested in new kids and I currently counted as one. It didn’t really bug me that much, at most. It probably had something to do with the students not wanting to get too attached because I was only going to be here temporarily.
“Move,” A male voice grunted.
Looking up, I found the other occupants of the table I’d been sitting at scurrying away. Lunch trays sat abandoned, but were quickly snatched up by a trio of male students who took a seat across from me. Two blondes with one being much larger than the others and a redhead.
“Didn’t you hear me, I said move,” The large blonde in the middle said. “If you don’t… well, then we’re going to have some problems.”
“I’ll leave I’m done with my lunch,” I replied evenly, not bothered by them. Honestly, did the Huntsmen Academies have a problem with bullying, because Beacon’s going to have Cardin soon and now Sanctum has these three idiots.
“You’ll leave now and you’ll leave your lunch behind or Van and Berry over here will take turns rearranging your face,” The large blonde grunted.
I was only going to be here a short time, so I really didn’t want to get involved in crap like this or cause problems, but… at the same time, I didn’t have the patience necessary to put up with these idiots. Picking up my sandwich, I maintained eye contact with the leader of this trio and proceeded to eat it in front of him.
With a growl from the large blonde, the two followers stepped around the table and stood on either side of me.
Watching them with my peripherals, I made sure to keep eye contact with their leader who smirked viciously. When the first strike came, I simply tilted my head, moving it just out of range and continued to eat my sandwich.
After Several more failed strikes, their leader’s anger finally boiled over.
“Just grab the fucker! I’ll do the rest myself.”
Swallowing the remainder of my sandwich, the two Huntsmen in training grabbed onto me and dragged me out of my chair while their leader attempted to act menacing by cracking his knuckles.
“Got any last words to say before Mange knocks you out,” The red head who’s name I assumed was Berry asked.
“Not really,” I shook my head. “I’m just… really disappointed, you know. I spent all my time training out in the woods, fighting progressively stronger Grimm while imagining how tough the students that train in the Academy are and now that I meet you… it just doesn’t measure up to the image in my head.”
“Oh, you’ll see just how strong we are,” the other blonde… Van said. “Compared to us, you’re nothing but trash that needs to be thrown away.”
“The thing is, I’m sure that there are a few people in this Academy that could actually give me a challenge,” I replied, not really paying attention to the blonde. “And none of you are them. It’s just a little… sad, you know.”
“You can really run your mouth, you know,” the large blonde, Mange grunted. “But now it’s time that you shut up.”
The fist that came my way was slow, almost painfully so. Waiting for the right moment, it was finally close enough for me to act.
I tugged heavily on Berry, pulling him off his feet and directly into Mange’s fist. Hooking a foot behind Van, I pushed back, tripping him up, he hit the floor faster than Mange’s punch. Taking a step under his guard, I stood next to him just as Berry hit the floor.
“A pretty sloppy punch if you ask me and I don’t really have much practice when it comes to fighting without a weapon,” I hummed.
“Bastard,” Mange growled, throwing another punch towards me.
Grabbing it, I gave a quick squeeze and saw that his Aura was active. That was good, I didn’t want to accidentally kill him because I hit him when he wasn’t shielding himself.
“You’re doing it all wrong when you punch like that, even a novice like me can tell. What you need to do is hold your arm at your side and throw it forward, twisting it as you hit, like this.” Lashing out, my fist made contact with Mange’s body, flinging him backwards. He tumbled several feet, before his back made contact with the wall, cracking it. Mange slumped forward, his Aura flickered as visible cracks formed on it, before shattering entirely.
Feeling a sense of panic, I kneeled down in front of him and pressed my fingers into his neck, before letting out a sigh of relief when I felt his heartbeat continue without any change to the rhythm. For a second there, I thought that I’d accidentally killed him.
Standing back up, I glanced to the cafeteria behind me and found it silent. Everyone was watching me, some were afraid, some were relieved and some had calculating looks on their faces. I was still getting used to large amounts of people again, so, being the center of attention really wasn’t something that I was all too happy about.
Part of me wanted to shrink away from it, but a larger part of me, the one that had taken on numerous Grimm and wanted more pushed back harder.
“You know…” I began slowly. “This guy… Mange was pretty weak, he and his friends prey on those that he knows won’t be able to beat him and he mistakenly thought that I was one of those people. You all didn’t really care because he wasn’t bothering you, so you let him get away with it.”
I paused for a moment and took in the room. Everyone was paying attention, even Mange’s little friends Berry and Van who were picking themselves off the floor.
“Out there… in the field, you’re not going to have that luxury. Grimm won’t ignore you because they think you’re stronger. They’ll come out in hoards, attempting to kill you and with your bullshit attitude of ignoring a thing because it’s not your problem, they will! They’ll whittle you down until you’ve got no one to help and then you’ll wish that you had paid attention.” I snapped.
“Don’t think that you can lecture us just because you beat Mange,” a girl called out from the back. “Just because you’ve been learning outside of an Academy, doesn’t mean that you’re better than us.”
“It’s true that I haven’t been formally trained in an Academy,” I nodded. “There are many things that I lack knowledge on, but when it comes to experience with Grimm… I’ve got you all beat.”
“Bullshi…” One of the other students began, but was cut off when the doors to the cafeteria slammed open and several teachers rushed in, going to check on Mange while one, an older man with short white hair and a goatee stopped in front of me.
“Well, well. You’ve not even been here for a day and you’ve already broken several Academy rules,” He began. “It wouldn’t surprise me if you’re expelled by the end of the day.”
“They attacked me first,” I shrugged uncaringly. Being kicked out of this Academy wouldn’t be so bad. There was probably a media center somewhere in Argus where I could continue to look up things of interest and I would have a lot more free time to do pretty much whatever I wanted.
“A likely story,” The teacher nodded, before turning towards the rest of the students. “Can anyone back up his claim?”
I could only sigh when no one answered. So long as the thing didn’t involve them, they were content to ignore it.
“I… I can, sir,” a boy answered, stepping forward. “Mange and his friends chased me away from my table and… took my lunch. They… tried to do the same to him, but he refused and then they all attacked him.”
“That’s right,” Someone else, a girl this time said. “Mange is always picking on us because we’re weaker than him and this time he picked on the wrong person.”
The teacher narrowed his eyes, before sighing and turning me. “It seems that you get to stay for another day. However, if you break a student’s Aura again, I’ll make sure that you’re tossed out on your ass, am I clear?”
“Yeah, sure,” I replied before pausing for a second. I was only going to be here for about a week, but I could probably get a lot more done outside of the Academy. Expulsion might not be so bad. “I didn’t even mean to break his Aura, but it turned out that he was really weak. He must have had some really shit teachers to not be able to take a single punch from me.”
The teacher glared down at me. “Care to rephrase that.”
“I’m just saying that he was so weak that he must not have gotten much training. A moldy block of cheese probably would have taught him better.”
The teacher turned and left in an angry huff. It was a pity, I thought that I might be able to get him to expel me. It seemed that I found something to do while I was here. I could probably ask Maria to remove me from this Academy earlier, but where was the fun in that. This socializing thing wasn’t too bad.
Looking to the students that stood up for me, I was met with their gaping faces.
“What?” I asked.
“Do you realize what you’ve just done?” The girl asked.
“Mouthed off to a teacher in an attempt to piss him off and get myself expelled,” I replied.
“Wow, alright, there’s a lot to unpack there,” The girl muttered. “That was Professor Greene, he’s the teacher in charge of combat training and you’ve just pissed him off.”
“Oh, good. Then maybe this day can be salvaged after all,” I hummed. I might be able to get some real training in today.
“You’re a crazy person,” The girl said.
Well, she wasn’t exactly wrong. “The harder the training is, the stronger I’ll get. Pissing off the combat teacher is honestly a win, win, in my books.”
“Just… I’m trying to thank you for standing up to Mange, but you’re making it really hard.”
“That’s appreciated, but really not needed. The two of you told the professor what actually happened while the rest of the school was content to not say anything, we’re pretty much even.”
“We just told the truth,” The girl replied.
“When no one else would,” I argued. “To me, that puts the two of you several steps above everyone else in the cafeteria. It took bravery and a willingness to involve yourself in something that others would say isn’t your business.”
“Bravery doesn’t get you anywhere with Mange,” The boy mumbled softly.
“Maybe not, but it is something that he lacks. Think about it, he’s only willing to fight those that are weaker than him and he does it with his friends. He bullies those that he knows he can beat up, those are the actions of a coward.”
“A coward that can beat us up,” The girl pointed out.
“If that’s the case, then all you need to do is train until you’re stronger than him.” It really was that simple. Everyone here had access to Aura and had likely been training with it since they were young. All it would take is a little effort and dedication for them to grow stronger.
…PTL…
The rest of the day hadn’t been too bad. I no longer had to worry about being late to my next classes as Ivy and Rust had taken it on themselves to show me around, not that we had that many classes left for the day.
The final class of the day ended up being the one I was looking forward to the most. Combat training with Professor Greene. I eagerly stepped into the training room. The first thing that I noticed was how large it was compared to all the other classrooms, resembling a hockey rink more than anything else, complete with a seating area along with a glass barrier around the main combat area.
“No need to find a seat, mister Calavera,” Professor Greene said, stopping me. “Seeing as you’re so eager to fight, I think it best that you get to go first and ‘blow off some steam,’ as they say nowadays.”
“Alright, let me just go get my sword and I can get started,” I replied evenly. Truth be told, I was excited about seeing how this was going to work. Was Greene going to pair me against the strongest student or was he going to fight me himself… whichever it was, I would meet it head on.
“It has already been collected.” Mr. Greene gestured towards my blade that was leaned against the barrier separating the audience from the ring.
Grabbing my sword, I strapped it to my belt and proceeded to ready myself by loosening my tie, my cuffs and a few of the tighter buttons.
There were undoubtedly some strong students here, but I seriously doubted they would end up being able to match me while I was using a Sun Breathing technique, so I resolved myself to only use those breathing techniques if I felt that I really needed them.
Mr. Greene soon stepped out of the arena and closed a small gate behind himself. The glass barriers soon lit up as another barrier formed, sealing me in. If I wasn’t mistaken, it was made of hard light dust, the same thing that’s used to prevent any large Sea Grimm from being able to enter Argus.
There was a click as the floor opened up and a dozen Atlesian Knight Androids were raised up on a platform. They all took fighting stances, several of them had their arms morphed into blades while a few had Gatling guns and the rest kept their hands as regular fists.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I muttered as the Androids surrounded me. This is what Sanctum Academy was using to train their students. Initially, I’d been planning on not using Sun Breathing in order to keep from seriously hurting my opponent, but now I felt that using it would be a waste.
I wasn’t sure how strong these Androids were, but with my current stats, I should be able to beat them.
…
Coal Calavera
Semblance: Gamer Lite
AP: 8750/8750
STR: 34 => (191.25)
DEX: 40 => (225)
CON: 49=> (275.6)
AUR: 70 => (175)
…
There was a loud click as the Gatling guns began to spun and I moved. Rushing towards the nearest Android, I drew my blade and stepped past its guard, swiftly beheading it.
Bullets began to fly towards my position, but I was already moving. Aiming to finish this fight as fast as possible, I rushed around the arena, slicing through the Androids as I passed them until I finally circled around to the ones with Gatling guns.
Picking up one of the broken Androids with one hand, I used it as a makeshift shield to absorb bullets as I rushed forward and finished off the rest, before dropping to the floor.
“That was a massive waste of time,” I sighed. This was supposed to be a combat school and yeah, if I had to fight these things when I first started training, I could see myself struggling, but now… they were just laughable at best. “Is that it?” I called out.
I glanced towards the observing class and was met with silence. Maybe it was just me, but that honestly felt too easy. This Academy was supposed to have trained Pyrrha Nikos, the strongest Huntress in training at this current time that earned the nickname invincible girl. Surely she had to fight tougher things then these Androids.
The floor opened up again, but this time the thing that was raised was much larger. A massive Android that was shaped like a spider and was bigger than an Ursa Major stepped forward and I grinned.
“That’s more like it,” I grinned and rushed forward, dodging several much more powerful blasts.
Reaching the spider droid, I had to duck under one of its swings and brought my blade down, aiming for one of the leg joints. There was a loud clang as my blade made contact and failed to cut through the reinforced metal.
Seeing a blow rapidly approaching, I rolled forward and much like with the Death Stalker, I stayed directly underneath the droid, keeping out of its reach, only for the droid to drop down, aiming to crush me under its enormous weight.
Darting out, I rolled to the side in order to avoid a strike from one of its legs. The spider droid was definitely one of the trickiest things I’d ever had to fight. It wasn’t giving me any time to think and was constantly keeping me on my toes. Atlas had certainly put a lot of effort into making this Android, it was a shame that I was going to be destroying it.
Spotting the light red glow at the center of the machine, I tightened my grip on my sword and darted forward.
“Sun Breathing: Sunflower Thrust”
-50AP
The tip of my blade pierced through the reinforced metal at the center of the Android and sunk in to the hilt as I landed on its chest. Pausing for a moment, I jumped back, pulling my blade free and watched the spider droid cautiously as it stumbled forward. It took several steps towards me as the energy drained out of it, before ultimately collapsing onto the ground at my feet.
Flicking my blade to the side, I sheathed it and glanced over the students, before my gaze locked on to Mr. Greene who was watching me with a stunned look on his face.
“You got anything a little tougher than that?” I asked, feeling more relaxed than I had been earlier. “Because, I’ve got to say… that was fun.”
…Breathe…
I sat across from the principal of Sanctum Academy, a woman of tanned complexion by the name of Jasmine Salonga… A woman who looked just as confused as I was. We were likely both wondering the same thing. Why the hell did Greene drag me here and insist on a meeting with my guardian.
Seeing as I was only a temporary student that was officially registered under a retired huntress, this Academy didn’t have much say over me. Sure they could kick me out, but outside of that, there was nothing else they could really do.
“Alright, what happened?” Maria asked loudly as she entered the office. “You didn’t kill someone, did you?” She shot me a glance.
“Well, there was a moment where I thought I killed a guy, but it turns out I just knocked him out,” I chuckled awkwardly. “But that was earlier, so it probably isn’t about that.”
Maria raised an eyebrow, but ultimately didn’t press the issue. “So what’s this all about then?”
“Hell if I know,” I shrugged.
“I believe that I can answer that,” Greene stepped in. “I’m the combat instructor for Sanctum Academy and during class today, Coal here destroyed several powerful Atlesian Androids.”
“We’re not paying for those,” Maria shot back quickly. “You were the one that had Coal fight them, so you should be the one held responsible.”
“I… there appears to be a misunderstanding. I don’t want you to pay for the Androids,” Greene replied. “I want to ask you to fully enroll Coal into this Academy. He has displayed himself to be highly talented and those talents need to be nurtured here in order for him to become a proper Huntsman.”
“I see,” Maria nodded before turning to me. “What do you think of all of this? Do you want to stay on at Sanctum Academy?”
“Nope,” I replied immediately. “Most of the students don’t care about anything that’s not directly effecting them. The teachers get angry and berate you at the slightest drop of a hat and you’re expected to just stand there and take it or else you’ll get detention or some form of punishment, there was a bully that no one bothered to do anything about until today and if that spider Android was the strongest thing they had for students to train against, then I really won’t be able to improve my skills any further here. Partway through the day, I actively began trying to get myself expelled.”
“There you have it,” Maria said. “Coal’s not going to be fully enrolled here. We’re going to be staying a week and then we’ll be moving on.”
The principal hummed as she regarded us. “What I’m hearing is that you don’t feel properly challenged in this Academy, is that true.”
“That and I don’t have the patience to deal with most of the students and teachers,” I replied.
Jasmine’s eyes snapped to Greene. “And the fight?”
Mr. Greene stepped forward and placed his scroll on the table. A video of my fight with the spider Android was already playing.
“He didn’t lose a drop of Aura. He was toying with it,” Greene explained. “When I had Pyrrha fight it on the weekend, she struggled with it.”
“Hah, you tried to do the same thing with the Death Stalker, but it didn’t work out so well this time,” Maria laughed as the video got to the part where the Android tried to squash me.
“It was a lot smarter,” I hummed. “But it wasn’t as fast.” Fighting the spider Android had felt much easier than fighting a Death Stalker… although, I fought the Death Stalker before I’d mastered Total Concentration Constant which gave me a sizable boost in my physical abilities and a massive one when it comes to recovering my Aura and physical stamina.
“You’ve fought a Death Stalker?” Jasmine asked.
“And killed it,” I nodded. “Among other types of Grimm.”
“If the students and teachers bother you, then allowances can be made,” Jasmine explained.
“Sorry, but I’m still not interested,” I replied. “Fighting Grimm doesn’t just improve my skill and make me stronger, it also gets rid of one more monster that might kill someone out there.”
“I see,” Jasmine hummed as she glanced at Maria and myself. “Then why are you in Argus when you could be out there fighting Grimm?”
That was a good question and one that I didn’t have an answer to.
“Just meeting up with old friends,” Maria replied.
“And would these friends be in the weapons forging business?” jasmine asked.
“That would be none of your business,” Maria snapped.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I seem to have touched a nerve there,” Jasmine remarked as she folded her arms in front of herself. “But I do believe that I’m right. You’ve come to Argus in order to get your apprentice a proper high quality weapon forged.”
“Wait, really? That’s why we’re here?” I asked.
“I was hoping to keep it as a surprise, but yes,” Maria replied, glaring at Jasmine. “I’ve been looking around to see who would forge a weapon for a reasonable price.”
“Sanctum Academy would be happy to pay to cost for any weapon that you choose to make so long as you stay on,” Jasmine stepped in. “But I suspect that you still won’t be interested in that offer, so how about this. There’s a tournament coming up and I would like to have you apply. If you win, then we’ll pay the cost for your weapon and you can go on your way. If you lose, then you have to stay in Sanctum Academy for at least another month and if you really haven’t improved by then, you can leave and we’ll still pay for your weapon.”
That was a pretty good deal, but on the chance that I lost, could I really afford to spend an entire month here when I could be bettering myself elsewhere? Then again, I would be getting a weapon out of the deal either way. One much better than what I currently had and at no cost to Maria… I guess the choice was made already.
“I’ll do it,” I said. Holding out my hand, Jasmine took it and we both shook. “You better not go back on this when I win.”
“I like it when my students are confident,” Jasmine smirked.
