Chapter 10: Prove Your Godly Potential
On the day of Lucas' proving.
Many of the White Day High's students have gathered around the school's gymnasium, wanting to catch a glimpse of the action.
Principal Lyns didn't stop Lucas with whatever plan he has in mind but she canceled all the training this day to hold the occasion.
In her words: "Lucas, you think proving yourself having Godly Potential is easy? Hard work would never be enough. You need to possess a high amount of magic power and agility to sustain it. Also, you were just a transferee and your skills were newly discovered. But still, show me the extent of your skills. I'm rooting on you."
Lucas didn't let any objections arise. He respectfully bid Lyns farewell and headed to his apartment with Moon. The usual habits he was used to —sleeping, scrolling through phone, waking up— wasn't the habit he ended up with that night.
He went inside the comfort room early on the daybreak to relax himself. He stood right before a mirror and rinse his face with tap water.
"Lucas," he said to himself in the mirror, "you'll have to make things worth the risk for your future. This was your first step to prove your purpose. Step carefully."
A cold sensation traveled from his hands onto his face after he have rinsed himself again with water. He rested his arms onto the sink and stared at his reflection, wearing a shower robe.
Right now, he was in the conference room beside the auditorium. Only meters away, he can hear the cheering of the students outside. Groups were huddled in the corridor and through the main hall of the ground floor. They were waiting for the scene to start, as Lucas stared at them behind the one-sided mirror.
Now, only minutes were left for Lucas to prove his Potential. All the students made their wild guesses on the outcome of this show. They were pointing to the prompter of Lucas posted before the auditorium and discussing him all around.
"You know what? That Lucas Martin was just a transferee last week. I don't know where school he came from, but I'm suspicious about him."
A student whispered to her friend.
"For real? That boy became a cynosure all of the sudden! He was from Aspho. He also got Winter into a pulp! I guess Lyns was backing him up. Mister Vacio also went there to get him back at Aspho!"
"He refused Mister Vacio's offer to be back at Aspho. If I were him, I would be very willing to accept it. Not because Aspho was a huge school, but it was recognized as the best."
"Look at him now. Boastful to himself as Godly? If he's Godly without even proving something, how would we address those previous winners of the tournament?"
Following this, all of them doubled over with laughter. Some would be excited and started cheering over him. From those groups, almost all of the crowd started conversing.
Lucas remained calm. If he wasn't made for this, then he won't be. That was as easy as that. He walked steadily outside the conference room. Lots of students jeered over him once he was revealed.
All sorts of emotions and looks were given to him. This was not a joke. It was indeed a very brave move he commenced that he started to doubt if he can persistently uphold.
As he started to go upwards with the stairs at the sides of the auditorium, he started to witness a tan man in a neatly pressed suit. He was sitting before a long table. It was Mister Vacio.
With a small mic in front of him, he stared at Lucas and said, "Lucas, you really think you have the potential of Gods, huh? Well, dream on. But if you're unwilling, you can go quietly with me back to Aspho."
Cheering has gotten louder. The students were hyped after seeing Lucas savagely retorted by Mister Vacio.
Lucas remained cold. "You'll see God Potential soon."
Most of the people gasped in shock, some didn't pay attention to Lucas at all.
Seeing Mister Vacio remained unmoved, he retorted again. "There won't be a God other than me."
Mister Vacio gave him a sight of delight. He didn't expect Lucas to berate him in front of all those Whites with them; his expressions unreadable.
"Yes. You have the guts, but don't come whining for my help again if things turned out worse for you." Mister Vacio turned his anger into a loud laugh. His voice had gotten real sinister.
Well, that was just nonsense. Staring at him in contempt, he made his way into the stage of the auditorium.
His walks were narrowed. As he panned up towards the auditorium, he saw Principal Lyns beside Mister Vacio with enough distance. Tumbler with her name was next to her, a microphone with its stand, and a crocodile-skinned bag on her left.
After her was a 30 to a 40-year-old haughty man he never met. He didn't know who he was, and where school he belonged. But it was very likely that he belonged here in White Day High.
As he continued walking, he witnessed Shad Cagney at the far left edge of the table. His expressions were stiff and bored. After it, he noticed the whole gymnasium in sight.
It was left crowded, rumbling with their loud cheers and voices! He can see all of them at once with his altitude. He left heavy breaths out before shaking his body as if preparing himself.
"All of the students…"
The voice of the emcee rang out from the microphone to the speakers all over the gymnasium.
"Please be quiet and welcome a student that will prove his very skills! Let's all welcome a Fire Starter with his spoken Potential, Lucas Martin!"
The whole stage started to rumble, with almost deafening screams. Many of them booing Lucas, stating he can't prove it. Some shouted, stating their support and hope.
Lucas finally stepped into the middle of the stage.
"Lucas! Lucas! Lucas!"
The crowd became aggressively stronger. Booing and cheering almost left Doll and Moon deafened at the sidelines.
"You know what, Moon? I was nervous about this." Doll stood in the middle of the crowd, with Moon on her right side. "How can he prove it?"
Lucas saw both of them and smiled.
Moon sighed as he smiled back at Lucas; the crowd was quite deafening! "Lucas was a surprising man. Maybe, you will be shocked at some point." Moon whispered. "I am a bit nervous, too. Let's just watch."
"Prove to us your Godly Potential," the emcee shouted. "Do your best, Lucas Martin!"
The emcee walked offstage and the lights on the stage went off. It was pitch black for Lucas' eyes.
Suddenly, spotlights from all directions trained in on him, making it difficult for him to maintain an open eye. He squinted to remain seeing the crowd. He can't see anything. Being in the middle of that spotlight and being surrounded by darkness, it felt like he was the only one present.
He heard a voice coming from the panel in front of him. "Are you ready, Lucas?"
He turned his head in that direction and a dreamy light followed his gaze. He can see those four people at the panel that was sitting amidst the dark.
The person who spoke was Principal Lyns. She stared at him with the same expression of rooting for him.
He nodded in response. "I am more than ready."
"Madness!" Shad Cagney swore hardly. He lifted on his glasses and had his hands clasped. His long and wooly, black jacket was folded neatly, as he sat comfortably on his seat.
"As this peasant wish," Mister Vacio rang his voice out. "Start whenever you'd like to."
The light on the panel dimmed and he was left alone amidst the dark once again. This time it was different.
Well, this day was really different from any other day. He didn't need to hold back and had to be completely focused. He remained quiet, imagining himself inside eternal darkness.
The lights on the stage have gotten aggressive. The light directors playfully danced the lights and focused them on Lucas. Different intensity, different colors. The dynamics of the lightings were commendable.
Not just the lights but the music as well. A live band that was hidden from the crowd was playing various instruments to hype up his performance. They started with upbeat, rock instrumentals.
Being far from ready, Lucas started by setting his hands on fire!
"Woah!"
Many of the students were left shocked. There was an immediate commotion from the audience but Lucas decided to ignore them.
He jumped and glided towards the edge of the stage. The light spread everywhere at the auditorium that lit the curtains that were curled all over the roof.
He stared atop the stage's ceilings and the students were shocked to see a huge hula hoop burning with fire. With his arms and hands burning, he settled as it was now right before his eyes.
A ring of fire.
The audience remained calm and started watching with anticipation. The ring of fire was now finally at Lucas' location, hanged by a metal wire at the roof. It was controlled by harness managers doing their jobs inside the studios.
Lucas, with his arms still burning, rushed towards the loop and passed inside it safe and sound. He landed nicely, shocking Mister Vacio at the panel.
Lyns started clapping, so as the audience. She was glad at what she was seeing. She shared a stare with the man with the haughty aura. They leaned and mumbled at each other as if discussing something.
Now, he laid his hands and held the burning loop. The directors controlling it pulled the loop upwards and it flew with Lucas. Being elevated, Lucas swirled and bunged at the loop many times, each having a flamboyant. At times, he would hold the loop with one hand, still being able to balance himself.
Many significant students were watching him, especially Winter. Steel, Zanc, and Maru were there too. Nath, Ghaile, and Scottie were all scattered.
Lucas swung. After that was another swung, completely different from the first one. He kept holding the elevated loop. But Lucas was just starting. He burst his whole body with fire!
"Lucas called it FireMan!" The voice of the emcee was heard.
Almost everyone was excited about what will happen next. The group of two to three who were booing him at the start now became silent while watching him. Being able to execute such stunts required a huge amount of time practicing all of that and massive magic power.
Lucas proudly blasted amazingly blinding fires, utilized by his hands. Right now, he began feeling the exhaustion of overusing his skills. But it has to end with such time he had planned.
He started to burst fire and ate it, shocking all of the panel, including Mister Vacio who never expected such a move.
Being not able to retract their shocked emotions, Lucas suddenly sput out the flames he ate and created fireworks along the whole above head area of the gymnasium.
Those fireworks were breathtaking. Lucas then blew fire from his mouth, like a dragon from movies. That move created some flares and enormous blazes.
Doll and Moon were shocked. It was obviously new to Doll and Moon. The careless Lucas that was being expelled now became an intricately careful one.
Lucas carefully executed each of his every moves. Even his breathing was planned professionally. But his panting intensified. He felt that he needed to endure his exhaustion.
As Lucas continued showing his power, the lights have suddenly gone off again. All black. He had all the time to breathe normally. It was planned to keep up with his relentless moves.
It was a technique that was taught to him by his foster father when he was a child: taking breaks isn't wrong but helpful.
Yes; it was true that Lucas has a foster father that taught him how to fight and defend himself. He wasn't shocked when he realized this last days that it was his foster father who taught him how to use fire as one of his defenses. Subconsciously, he had used them while studying at Aspho High in a wrong way.
That made him expelled.
It has been seconds since he started to hear the murmuring of dismayed students all over the gymnasium. The panel was waiting for something to continue. The music had gotten stripped down. Only the double bass kept playing some melodies, though not heard that much into a subwoofer.
Gradually building up the music, hi-hats were tapped at each beat to keep the rhythm alive and moving.
"Now," the emcee grimly announced, "let's turn off our Celsius and Fahrenheit counter." he continued. "From now on, let's count for Lucas' Kelvin!"
A circle of fire was seen at the stage. It was still pure black at the place. Amidst the dark, someone handed over a microphone at Lucas. With one hand continued creating that circle of fire, his right hand held the microphone and started panting.
"Fire supplied us heat,"
Lucas was heard. He was like speaking robotically, with the speakers having clipping with his audio.
"It also gave us energies." he continued. "I will use that energy to make you all be shocked!"
Music with exciting tunes started to be played. All instruments played at once, but the drums stood out from the rest. The kick drum and the floor toms created pumping sounds that resonated inside Lucas' chest.
It felt like a heartbeat soundtrack that made the students even more excited. The rumblings lessen and all of their eyes were just staring at the small circle of fire from before. It was sparking. Until the lights opened, showing Lucas amazingly raging with fire.
It was overpowering that even Lucas felt that he was slightly burning. But it doesn't matter. He had kept up with his panting and decided to rev things up.
He even showed levitating them on the air. Fires of multiple shapes, it was like Lucas had supremacy with his fires. It paid him off with this feeling of satisfaction. Now, he knew that the last part of this execution will come to commence.
Multiple cardboard enemies appeared and started scaring Lucas. Acting surprised with those made-up enemies, Lucas stepped back and started to form a large mass of fire between his palms.
He unleashed those flames and thus defeated those cardboard enemies with one strike; he showed his battling skills!
But before the end of this show, he had saved the best for last. So many of the previous cardboard enemies started reappearing again, now tripled their previous number.
Circling Lucas as if scaring him, Lucas kicked them one by one that caused them to be taken out. With some of them left and distant enough for his reach, he touched the floor of the stage and lit all of those remaining cardboards with a fire shockwave. It was sent rushing through the whole auditorium. Those cardboards were burning and slowly turned to ashes.
Lucas smiled as he panted relentlessly. The light on the stage turned back to normal.
Finally.
The people inside the gymnasium cheered over Lucas, but the cynosure appeared shocked all of a sudden. Sounds of impaired footsteps followed. True gargantuan students appeared, circling Lucas in a horrifying manner. They were looking like those movie monsters. They held metallic baseball bats that were readied to annihilate him.
Where did they come from?
Lucas didn't know. It may be a surprise for him, so he kept his cool and began forming fires again on his hands. The school surely planned all of this to start revving things up when all of it was done.
Those multiple men swiftly came from behind Lucas while gripping their bats, and began rushing towards him with multiple blows.
Lucas evaded the attack by jumping, but after another, he was hit by something on his back. He fell onto the floor and felt some air inside him have lost. He coughed hard after receiving the blow.
They were strong, and Lucas had to raise his defenses just to keep up with them. They kept doubling in number.
He tried his best to stand up. He looked back at the crowd and they were in full sympathy. They were confused if it was still part of the stunt.
"We will determine if the glory bestowed upon Lucas was worth honoring," they spoke.
"We were from Aspho High to ensure your lost."
That statement drove Lucas to keep pushing. It wasn't a part of his Godly Potential thing. No one knows that it was out of the plan! But Lucas has to try his best to win at this rate.
He stared at the panel and saw a wide smile on Vacio's face. How dare he send things like this without his consent? He was making sure that he will fail!
But Lucas kept pushing!
All of them, talented and strong men, showed no signs of backing down; delivering multiple attacks at a quick pace one after another.
Once again Lucas was amazed at the fact that those men were extremely powerful, even without dropping a single sweat. He held his right hand that was too exhausted to keep up with the fight.
If things continued like this, Lucas wouldn't be able to prove his Godly Potential.