Everyone in the facility was stunned, as it was hard for them to tell what Sty’s goal was. It was clear that he had lost the last match on purpose, so why was he now the one challenging his fellow top ranker, especially one he already outranked?
His action was completely legitimate. The rules merely stated that someone who had already fought was allowed to refuse any further challenges on that day, yet there was no limit to how often someone could challenge others. As long as a challenger didn’t have any severe injuries forcing the teacher to take them away for healing, they were technically free to fight to their heart’s desire.
Usually, only students at the lower ranks would fight more than once, as the strength disparity between them wasn’t overly great. The higher the rank, the bigger the gap became, so fights between high rankers normally resulted in injuries for both sides. However, the situation right now was outside the norm.
Since the rank 7 student had nothing to lose by accepting this challenge, he agreed to it.
“I forfeit the match.” Sty announced loudly, the moment it started.
‘He’s purposely losing to others. Why would he do that?’ Izzy wondered, trying to come up with a reason why someone so close to the finish line would act in this manner. The only one that came to mind was that he might… want to stay. Coming to that conclusion, she looked over to Numba, who looked quite tense.
“It looks like we're thinking the same thing. He must want to stay to mess with us… and by us, I mean me and Gary.” Numba stated, although he wasn't so sure how Sty would deal with Gary after the Werewolf had beaten the Fly Altered in the duel. Nevertheless, he understood that he had to tread carefully in the future.
‘No, I should see this as an opportunity. If he is staying here, then I can't pass this place, until I beat him!’ Numba reassured himself.
As suspected, Sty continued to challenge those lower ranked than him, until his badge finally displayed the number 11. Turning towards Numba he smiled before walking out of the place to his new room.
“Man, that bug guy is seriously weird.” Gary uttered out what had been on the mind of every other student.
The rumours had been correct about the top 25 planning to challenge the top rankers today. Unfortunately, Sty’s bout of challenges had made it impossible for them to enact their plan. Everyone who had beaten the Fly Altered were now protected by the rules and could simply refuse the challenge.
This meant that only the top four could now be challenged. Some of those in the top 25 looked at Gary, yet soon turned their heads. They knew their own strength well enough to understand that they would be unable to beat Sty, so none of them dared to challenge the one who had beaten him.
“Hey, why don't we just go for it?” One of the students whispered to another. “It’s not like we have much to lose. Worst case scenario, we remain at our current rank. Best case scenario, they turn out weak and we can boast our reputation and make it so that the others might not want to challenge us during the next week.”
In the end, rank 15, a lean student who had been spending most of his time in the training room, walked forward and pointed towards none other than Wu Chen, issuing a challenge.
“Me? Hey, Apollo, you saw it, right? I didn’t go looking for a fight, he chose me of his own volition!” Wu exclaimed, jumping up in excitement, over a few of the other students' heads, even kicking off the bald head of another student to help him get to the main stage faster.
“Come on, let's do this!” Wu shouted, ripping his shirt and revealing his body. His hard trained body was already covered in sweat. His body fat was so low that the saturation of his muscles could be seen as he tensed his arms and chest. He wasn't large and muscular by any means, but there looked to not be an ounce of fat on him.
The moment the fight began, the challenger started to transform, and out from the side of his ribs, a pair of extra arms grew out. By the time his transformation finished, Wu was already directly in front of him.
The rank 3 student grabbed one of the freshly grown arms and with a kick up, he bent it in the wrong direction. Wu slammed his foot on the ground, or more correctly on his opponent's toes. It was so hard that the floor beneath actually cracked, and the same was true for the challenger’s entire foot.
Pushing through the pain, rank 15 tried to punch him using his two hands on the other side, but before he could, he suffered a direct punch towards his chest. He lifted his foot, and the student was sent hurtling to the other side, being caught by the teachers just before crashing into the crowd of onlookers.
“... a complete defeat.” Ian uttered, his mouth left open. “It wasn't even a contest and the guy didn't even change into his Altered form either. Looks like they’re not just there because of their position. They actually have the strength to back it up.”
Izzy agreed with Ian. If Rank 3 was already this strong, it was most likely that his two friends were even stronger. Seeing how one of their own had been dealt with, none of the other high rankers came forward to challenge Snow or Wu.
Lunch came and passed, turning into evening. During the meal, there had been only a single question on everyone’s mind.
What would Gary do?!
“Why does everyone expect me to do something?” Gary complained when Ian asked him that very question. The four of them were in his room, getting ready to go to their next training session that Gary had planned for them.
“Because you have nothing to lose!” Ian replied. “You can challenge them without the risk of losing your rank, and it will let you see how you fare against them. If you don’t do it now, you might not get a chance to fight them. I heard that in the normal academy fighting between students isn’t allowed without the permission of a teacher. Are you really going to waste your chance?”
“Well, I don't really care.” Gary shrugged. “Sure, I like fighting, but If it's meant to be, then I’ll end up fighting them some time down the line in the future. I have no grudge against any of them.”
There was another reason Gary wasn’t feeling competitive. He knew that he wouldn’t hold back, even if just for a ‘simple spar’. Seeing Wu in action, the Werewolf understood that he would have to fight all out if he wanted to win. If that was the case there was a high chance of something going wrong. After what happened with Sty he didn’t want to have yet another Billy scare.
The students here weren’t like the Underdogs, or the gang members he had been fighting in Slough. Many of them might be arrogant, but none of them had committed any crimes… at least not that he was aware of.
“Come on, let's go train. You guys don’t want to be stuck here forever, right?” Gary said, walking forward. Opening the door, he nearly collided with the large frame of Apollo.
****
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