"Fucking hell, " I sigh.
"I don't wanna do this."
"I know it's annoying but you'll have to put up with it if you want strong allies to help you in ending this war," Lucille said.
She was dressed in a black school uniform that looked incredibly uncomfortable.
"So uhh quick question, how the hell are you gonna hide those arms of yours?" Lucille asks.
She gestures at my arms which were currently covered by my hoodie.
"Doc added camouflage panels to my arms and programmed them to adjust the color of my arms to match my skin tone." I explain.
"That's cool, by the way why aren't you wearing your uniform?" she asked.
I was wearing military-issued camouflage pants tucked into a pair of combat boots, a hoodie, and a T-shirt.
" I refuse to wear that shit," I say defiantly as I walk ahead of her.
"Speaking of which why are YOU wearing that shit?"
"Eh, I thought I'd give the whole school thing a try, I literally have nothing better to do," she says as she pulls at her collar.
" These clothes are way uncomfortable though."
"Says the chick who only wears scrubs twenty-four seven."
" Hey say what you want but at least they're comfortable."
We cut the conversation short as we are suddenly approached by some random guy who bumps me as he walks past to stop in front of Lucille.
"Wow, " he said.
"You are a true beauty, my name is Le-"
He starts to say before Lucille sidesteps him without even slowing her pace.
I looked back as she walks faster to catch up with me and burst out laughing when I saw that the guy had frozen like a statue. We ignored him and continued walking until we met with the Vice-Principal who showed us to the Principals office.
"You must be Malcom and Lucille." He greeted us.
"I'm vice-principal Higgins, Principal Vaughn is waiting for you in his office,"
"Principal Vaughn, " I repeat.
"As in The House of Vaughn?"
"Yes sir, The House of Vaughn has run this institution since it was created by our founder, Damien Vaughn." the Vice-principal answered.
I felt like something was off with him, he was being weirdly polite to a student who didn't even bother to wear a uniform to school. I move these thoughts to the back of my mind temporarily as I open the door of the office.
The interior of the office is a mess, there are papers everywhere, stacks of books, and weapons as well for some reason, as we look around the room we hear rustling and a person emerges from the mountain of paperwork where the desk is supposed to be. The Principal's appearance is a bit shocking not cause he's ugly or old or anything but because he's extremely young and good-looking with short white hair, he's got to be somewhere in his mid to late twenties.
" Ah, please excuse the mess," he said flustered.
" I was in the middle of some research and I lost track of time."
He waved his hand and everything in the room started moving, papers organized and filed themselves, books flew back on shelves, and weapons were hung on racks.
"Much better," he said.
"You must be Malcom, the lone survivor of city 8. It's an honor to have you attend this school. Doc has told me much about you and your unique abilities, but I'm a bit embarrassed to have to tell you that you won't be able to learn anything here." he hung his head in disappointment.
"What do you mean he can't learn anything?" Lucille shouts.
"What, is he unqualified or something?"
"The opposite actually, " Principal Vaughn explains.
" This is the first and only person in human history who has fought Michael and his generals and lived, he even left a scar on each of them, on top of that the other teachers and I had a meeting to discuss your curriculum and whom would teach you, when Doc suddenly sent me a summary of his capabilities after looking over it we decided then and there that there is no one within this entire school qualified enough to teach him."
"Wait a minute, the teachers know who I am?" I ask.
"Yes, I apologize." Principal Vaughn answers.
"Were you trying to keep your identity a secret?"
" No, It's just that explains a lot is all." I reassure him.
"And about the schooling, it's okay sir I'm not looking for a teacher, I'm looking for allies."
" I'm looking to recruit the sacred four for a mission."
"And what mission is that?" he asks while sipping his tea.
" It's simple, we're going to kill Michael and his generals ending this war once and for all."
Principal Vaughn suddenly chokes on his tea spitting it out and coughing.
" Is that even possible?"
He asks once he could breathe again.
"If it's not I'll make it possible."
"And why have you chosen the sacred four?"
"I'm looking for people who are young and powerful with a shitton of potential, who fits that description better than them?"
" If you already know of them then you know one of them is the heir to the house of Vaughn." He said with a serious expression.
"Yes your nephew, Daniel Vaugh."
"Can you guarantee his safety?"
"No, I can not" I answer truthfully.
" The one and only thing that I can guarantee is that if he survives he will be more powerful than Damien Vaughn ever was."
Principal Vaughn's eyes light up as soon as he hears this.
"You say you can guarantee this?" He asks.
"The only thing I can," I reply.
"But before that, I have to test them, I want to see just how powerful each of them are and if they can work as a team."
"Well, when it comes to the strength of our students I'm not too worried," He bragged.
"Here at Jupiter Academy, we encourage students to challenge and fight one another. Furthermore, teachers and administrators have to referee, they can only interfere If it looks like someone might die, besides this, we only enforce one other rule; only the strong thrive."
"So that's how you maintain your number one spot," I say.
"You teach your students techniques and have them gain battle experience by letting them fight each other."
"It's impressive that you figured that out instantly." Principal Vaughn said pleased.
"That is exactly how our founder Damien Vaughn ran the school, so it's pretty much traditional. Here, allow me to show you around so you can see for yourself."
As we walk through the halls we see a large crowd in the courtyard.
"Ah, it seems a challenge was issued." Said Principal Vaughn.
"Would you like to observe?."
I look at Lucille who just shrugs.
"Sure why not."
As we get closer to the fight the students partway to let us through and as we pass I can hear them whispering.
"It's the Principal."
"Who are those two next to him?"
"That girl's pretty."
"Are they new students? I've never seen them before."
"Why's that guy wearing a mask?"
"Yeah, and why isn't he wearing a uniform? He looks about the same age as us."
I ignore them as I watch the battle in the center and I notice one of the students looks familiar, he was the guy that tried to hit on Lucille, when he saw us he sneered.
"Now that the Principal's here I can show off my true strength." He boasts.
The student opposite of him is obviously pissed.
"Shut it, Leon," he said.
" I'm gonna break your fucking jaw for how you treated my little sister."
He raises his Magical power and unhooks a large hammer from his back.
"Oh my, so scary."
Leon taunts as he removes his sword from its scabbard he also raises his power and I can tell he is stronger than his opponent.
"This fight is so unfair." I overheard a student say.
"Leon is obviously stronger, why did that idiot challenge him over some whore?"
I chuckle on the inside as both of them take their stance suddenly, they both rush in, and in an instant, the fight is over. Leon cleanly cuts through the large hammer with one swing and as he puts his sword away he mocks his opponent.
"Don't worry about your little sister I don't even remember who she is, so she must have been terrible in bed," He laughs.
"those types of girls are the hardest to remember."
"That was a low blow." Someone yelled out.
"Yeah, no need to kick him while he's down Leon." Another person spoke up.
"If you have a problem with it, challenge me to shut me up." Leon snapped.
Everyone went silent after that. I guess he must be one of the stronger students. Leon looks in our direction once again and glances at Lucille then at me and smiles.
"Principal Vaughn are these two new students here?" He asks.
"Yes they are, why do you ask?"
" I would like to issue a challenge to him." He points at me.
"That wouldn't be smart," I tell him.
"And why is that," he asks.
"Because you're too weak."
The crowd instantly erupts into whispers.
"Did he just say Leon's weak?"
"Guy's got a death wish."
"Who is that guy?"
"Does anyone know him?"
"Leons strong, he's just barely below the sacred four in terms of power."
"That guy must be strong too if Principal Vaughn himself is showing him around the school."
Leon's face became red with anger and he gritted his teeth.
"I, Leon Strauss officially challenge you to a duel." He states.
I look at Principal Vaughn.
"He has officially challenged and unfortunately you can't refuse." He says.
"I'll be observing but only as a referee."
"Fine," I suck my teeth.
"He's not strong enough so I'll have to go easy on him though."
Which just pisses Leon off even more.
"I am one of the strongest students in this school, no this city, I am a genuine genius with unparalleled skill, you are nothing," he says, as he reaches for his sword he releases a powerful wave of magic power.
"Compared to weaklings like you I am a god." He said condescendingly.
"What you are-," I move in front of him, grab his sword, and hold it to his neck all before his fingertips could even touch the hilt.
" - is annoying." I finish.
The crowd explodes into chaos.
"What the fuck was that!"
I heard someone shout.
"I didn't sense any mana just now."
" I never took my eyes off him, yet I didn't notice he moved until after he said something."
"Who is he?"
"So motherfuckers is teleporting now huh?"
"Do you think that chick is as strong as him?"
"Is he as strong as the sacred four?"
"Did he even use magic?"
I remove the sword and put it back in its scabbard.
"Lucille I'm bored," I call out.
"you wanna go somewhere else?"
"Sure, where to?" she nods.
"I'm thinking cafeteria."
"Read my mind."
As we walked away Leon got more and more pissed off.
"YOU FACE THE STRONGEST AND YOU SAY YOU'RE BORED!!??" he roars.
" JUST WHO THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE!!"
His magical power shoots through the roof and he charges me, the other students barely have time to dodge before he attacks. His blows are sharp, continuous, and clearly aiming at vital points. He was unleashing enough power to crack the stone tiles at our feet.
Not like it matters anyway.
His continuous attacks ended and the students started whispering again.
" Oh no, did he kill him?"
" Of course he did no one can survive an all-out assault on that level."
As the dust cleared I was still standing there unscathed.
" So are you finally done or do you think you have a few more left in you?" I ask while brushing the dust off my clothes.
"W-what the hell" I heard a voice tremble.
"There's not a scratch on him."
"How strong is this guy?"
"Fucking monster!"
Even Leon started looking a little nervous but his anger quickly took over once again and he ripped off one of the rings he was wearing.
"I was originally saving this for a rematch against Damien Vaughn." he said.
"But every fiber of my being is telling me to use it to end you here and now."
"Soo- you gonna use it or what?" I ask, just to piss him off as much as humanly possible.
"FUCK YOU!!" He roars.
He crushed the ring in his hand and instantly a massive amount of magical energy was released, all of which went pouring into his body.
"This is all the mana that I've been storing away, it's about two years' worth of power." he explains like a dumbass.
"This is my true power." he states, his eyes glowing with energy.
"Bask in my glory, you pathetic weakling!"
"Ughh.." I sigh heavily.
" Just hurry up and attack, and make sure that you use full strength cause if you don't-"
I grab the blade that was aimed at my throat and easily shattered it into a million pieces.
"-your gonna regret it!" I finish, my voice full of excitement.
Leon jumps back to get space but I close the distance easily, my fingers lightly touch his chest then I make a fist, when it connects Leon is immediately sent flying back. He hits a wall and falls unconscious when it collapses on top of him.
The other students were horrified.
They looked from Leon to me as fear started to spread among the normal students. They erupt into chaos.
"Leon got destroyed!"
"HOLY SHIT!!"
" WE'RE FUCKING FUCKED MAN!!"
"HE'S GONNA MURDER ALL OF US!!!!!"
"I think I just shit my pants."
The screams started to spread.
"Now Now students I think it's time for you all to head to class." Principal Vaughn silenced the crowd with a single sentence but as they headed to class you could hear the whispering resume once more.
***********
A few hours later.
Leon, who was taken to the infirmary, suddenly wakes up in a cold sweat. he looked around and was dumbstruck, he had trained so hard, fought for so long, clawed, scratched, and bit his way to the top but now? Now he saw the perfect foundation he had been building all these years destroyed and crumbling away, all because of him.
He remembered the moment Malcom sent him flying and was immediately filled with an unyielding rage.
"If I don't kill him soon," he says to himself through gritted teeth.
"I'll never catch up to them."
He gets up and grabs his phone from his jacket pocket and dials a number. It rings a few times before someone picks up.
"I have a job for you."