At the assembly hall , all the students has assembled before Zera and the other teachers as Zera has prepared to give her announcement.
"Good morning everyone." Zera said, "You've been assembled here to be informed that the Pilgrim candidate tournament will begin in a few weeks and because of that I want to encourage every student here to do their best in this tournament and the rumble of worth. These nine months of intense training for elites will truly show who and who have what it takes in strength and the representation of Agaroth and since the positions in becoming Pilgrims has become even tighter now that they are taking a few, that's the more reason you have to push harder."
"I must say I've become fond of some of the students here.." Zera said as she looks at Karma for a moment with a smile on her face .
"...And their progress, that's why I believe that none of you will disappoint us or Agaroth itself, so be strong, be determined, show us how worthy you are in the rumble of worth and prove that you deserve not only to be in the tournament but to be a pilgrim as well.. for Agaroth!!"
"For Agaroth! For Agaroth! FOR AGAROTH!!" All the students chanted while lifting up their fist and cheering.
Cloud being moved by the enthusiasm of the environment, gave a grin after the chant and cheer and began to speak within himself
"This is it, the chance to prove my worth. So mother, father and every deceased member of my tribe just wait..I'm going to keep my promise and become the first minor tribe member to become ... a Pilgrim!"
Zera spotted Cloud among the crowd and her smiling visage changed into a more serious and emotionless one.
"Oh and I also have to announce that Cloud won't be participating in the rumble nor the Pilgrim tournament."
A tiny murmuring occured among the students due to Zera's announcement and Cloud himself was surprised by this announcement.
"Huh... But why?!" Cloud asked
"Are you serious?" Zera asked.
Zera comes down from the pulpit and walks towards Cloud.
"You are the lowest among all the students here. One who should have even been given a D but out of pity we gave you a C. You have no talent, no kan and your combat senses are poor; you're practically a joke. You weren't present during the first five months of intense training where some of the students even lost their lives while some left because they could not handle the pressure...You came after these five months when the training became a bit mild, but you still barely survived and passed them,plus don't get me started on your performance in class..."
"But-" Cloud tries to cut in.
"Shut up!" Zera cuts back.
Zera's emotionless face changes to an angry face.
"Do you honestly believe you could compete with this type of performance? Are you from the Dreygar tribe? The Ripar tribe? The Tenplars? The Graundars? The Kenars? No, you're from the Stormwind; a mere tribe of hunting warriors that doesn't even posses a single kan... What are you going to do, pull a blade or any other type weapon to fight the others? Kan nullifies weapons, Cloud! The greater and powerful the weapons, the greater and more powerful the nullification! What else are you going to do? Use your fists? Please your strength and speed is a joke to the weakest kan user. Your mere presence is an insult to ..."
"Zera!" Zotek cuts in while being disgusted at her. "That's enough. Dont insult him because of his tribe. It's not-"
"I don't give a damn about his tribe!" Zera cuts back. "He needs to learn the truth. The harsh reality that he is nothing... Less than nothing and I'm the verge of throwing this mighty disgrace of a warrior's name out of this academy once and for all, which would make him the first student to be officially thrown out of this place by a teacher but i don't care ! Someone needs to put this white haired runt in his place."
Cloud clenches his fist as his face appearance changes to an angry one. The door suddenly opens as Schroeder walks into the assembly to relay his message.
"Sorry for interrupting, but all the teachers are needed by a special guest".
"Huh? Who is it?.." Zera asked
"It's the current Chief of the Tenplar tribe...Chief Tenya" Schroeder answered.
The students began to murmur among themselves, after hearing the revelation.
"A Chief?"
"Chief Tenya..what is she doing here?"
"Whatever reason she is here for, it must be highly important."
Leorona looks at the students and sighed
"Class dismissed."
As all the students were leaving, Cloud and Zera were still glaring at each other.
"Cloud!" Sting called. "Let's go. Don't be an idiot and do something rash."
"Zera...!" Zotek called
"Fine...I'm coming." Cloud and Zera both answered
The both of them turns their backs at each other and goes their separate ways.
In a private room, Chief Tenya was sitting on a chair with her legs on a desk, while the teachers stated at her with a bit of nervousness.
"Um... Welcome Chief Tenya... Uh, how can we help you?" Leorona asked
"Honestly, this is a surprise to us." Zotek said
"Can we get you anything to eat?" Schroeder asked
"If we had known you were coming, then we would have prepared something for you to-" Zera halted as Tenya lifts up her palm as a sign for her to stop.
"My apologies for not alerting you on my incoming arrival." Chief Tenya said, "I just wanted to stop by and see how the academy is training the young ones in becoming Pilgrims. After all this is the second generation of young Pilgrims, created to make our young ones more experienced in battles in case of any wars and to perform special tasks given to them by we the Chiefs, for the good of Agaroth and humanity ...isn't that right?" Tenya smiled.
"Well...uh...yes, that's right and I can assure you that none of the future pilgrims will disappoint you or Agaroth" Zera nervously replied.
"Good! Ever heard of Cloud of the Stormwind?" Tenya asked while paying attention to her fingernails
Zera instantly becomes infuriated and slams her palm on the table, shattering it in the process
"THAT WHITE HAIRED BASTARD!"
Zera's instant reaction surprised her fellow teachers and Tenya herself.
"Zera! Control yourself, woman!!" Zotek shouted as he tried to call her to order.
Zera began to emit a blazing aura which made Schroeder and Leorona step back a bit.
"That white haired pig is a disgrace and a pathetic excuse for a warrior and i'll make sure that he is thrown out of this academy personally!" Zera angrily said.
"You will do no such thing!" Chief Tenya angrily objects. "And you might as well learn how to control your tone when you are around others, Missy!"
The teachers began to slightly tremble at the uneasy presence they were feeling in the environment that even Zera's blazing aura immediately went off. Chief Tenya later exhales in order to calm herself down.
"I've met the boy before.." Chief Tenya said, "..And to be honest, he is not that bad. He has a lot of guts trying to join the Pilgrims association despite where he is coming from. After all, Agaroth wasn't built based on who was stronger but on unity instead."
"No. With all due respect, Cloud cannot participate in the rumble or the tournament." Zotek said. "I'm not saying this because of any hard feelings towards him like Zera. Hell, i even disagree with half of all her reasons.
I'm saying this because Cloud does not possess any Kan at all and that puts him in a very dangerous position against others. His fighting style is weak; in terms of strength or speed, he is not even close to an average Kan user and not to mention that in the rumble of worth and Pilgrim tournament, no one will hold back at all which would make it absolutely fatal for Cloud."
"I see... You said his fighting style is weak, right?" Chief Tenya asked.
"Yes." Zotek replied
"Let me ask you something and please be honest with me." Chief Tenya requested.
"Is there any student in this academy that you haven't personally taken your time to teach?"
All of the teachers became mute in Chief Tenya's question and began to stare at her.
"Ah...Well it's settled then." Chief Tenya said. "The problem may have come from his foundation as a warrior but at least he wants to learn despite his flaws and if any of you had taken your time to train him then he wouldn't be as bad as you say he is..."
"But he can't-" Zera tries to cut in.
"Enough!" Chief Tenya furiously cuts back instantly as she instantly emits a purple aura that increased the gravity of the environment a bit, causing the teachers to fall on their knees.
"I didn't come here to argue...Cloud will participate in the rumble and tournament and that's final!" Chief Tenya said calmly despite her angered expression.
Tenya exhales once again in order to calm down and sighed.
"I'm sorry for my behavior. Honestly i can't really control my power when my emotions gets high even if it is a bit which is why I try to stay calm when dealing with things or people."
"No need to apologise, Chief, you're right...", Zera said while getting up along with the other teachers. "We have been looking at Cloud in a one sided manner and I would like to correct that mistake."
The teachers and Tenya were looking at Zera with concern as Zera gave off an evil smirk
"I have a plan..."
The students assembled at the assembly hall as Chief Tenya and the teachers enters the hall and Zera approaches Cloud.
"Cloud, i admit i was too harsh on you." Zera said, "And because of that, I'd like to give you a chance to participate in the rumble of worth but under one condition... You must defeat a fellow student in a fight in order to prove that you are strong enough to participate in it."
After Zera had finished revealing her stipulation, the students began to murmur among themselves.
"Defeat a fellow student?".
"Well it seems fair to me, i mean if he felt that could participate in the rumble and tournament to face off other students then why not show it now that he has what it takes."
"That white head is so doomed."
Zera smirked at the reaction of the students but Cloud didn't seem bothered which added to her happiness
"Now can i get a volunteer ?" Zera asked, "The one who will fight Cloud... anyone?"
A hand sticks out amongst the crowd who appeared to be Van , agreeing to face Cloud
"Yeah I'll fight." Van said. "I wanna see what this white head is truly made of"
Again the students murmured amongst themselves due to Van volunteering to fight Cloud.
"Whoa, you're joking...Van?! Cloud doesn't stand a chance against him".
"He never stood a chance against anyone to begin with".
"You mean the guy that usually picks on Cloud is going to fight him? This is bad."
Zera began to grin at the reaction of students concerning the fight and folds her arms.
"You see Cloud, everyone is against you and no one expects you to win and why would they?" Zera asked, "After all you are weak, fragile and untalented. So why don't you just give up and stop wasting everyone's time, hmm?"
"What's with you and always trying to make me look small, huh?" Cloud asked while clenching his fist. "Ever since I got here, you've always been picking on me and it's getting old... Really old Zera! No one expects me to win, so what?! I didn't push myself on survival based on what others think of me. Whether you look up to me or look down on me, i always keep pushing and struggling to survive no matter what, that's just who i am and who I'll always be..So let's go!!" Cloud exclaimed as he turned around to face Van.
"Stop right there before you make another move." Zotek said before Cloud and Van could engage each other, "You know I've been thinking about this fight and truly, I do believe it is fair for him because he believes he can participate in the rumble and tournament but Van, since you're so confident that you could easily crush him then how about this: You win if you can knock out Cloud but if Cloud should land one hit just one hit on you... Then you lose!"
"No problem. As if this white haired bug could even touch me to begin with" Van said while stretching his arms.
"Alright then, Begin!" Zotek ordered.
Cloud charges towards Van to punch him but Van easily averted it and punched Cloud in the face instead which sent him flying to a wall and seemingly left him out cold, filling the air with so much silence that even a toad's croak could easily be heard.
Zera smiled and sighs with her eyes closed.
"Just as I expected, Cloud was going to make a fool out of himself. Well then the winner of the match goes to-"
"Hold up, I'm not done fighting yet!" Cloud cuts in while getting up.
While everyone was surprised at Cloud still being active, Van gave off a sadistic smirk.
"Oh? Good for you." Van grinned." This means I can get to hurt you even more!"
Cloud charges once again at Van but ends up being smacked around by Van with his fist. Cloud tries to retaliate with a punch but Van grabs hold of Cloud's wrist and twists his arm, landing a knee on the belly and hammer fisted Cloud . Cloud tries to tackle down Van but got intercepted with a knee to the belly and elbow on the back at the same time and tossed Cloud to a wall again.
Cloud still tries to get up but a lilac beam pierced his shoulder which made him to scream out in agony , turning out to be Van that shot it while pointing his finger at Cloud and giving off a sadistic smile.
"Hornet light." Van sadistically smiled.
Van began to shoot out numerous lilac beams from his fore finger at Cloud while laughing sadistically at his actions. Sting, being pissed off with Van's actions, tries to interfere but he was held on the shoulder by Chief Tenya which made Sting calm down, after seeing it was Chief Tenya.
"This bastard truly makes me sick." Sting said within himself, "He isn't after winning.. No, he could have easily ended this a long time ago but he just wants to inflict pain on Cloud. Though I'd admit, despite Cloud having a little advantage against Van...the odds of this match aren't in Cloud's favor".
After Van had stopped firing his beams at Cloud, Cloud began to cough and pant for air but still got up to fight.
"Oh, you still want to fight?" Van asked sadistically, "I've got another trick to try on you."
"Whatever." Cloud said, "Like i said before... I'm not done fighting yet!!!" Cloud shouted as he charges towards Van.
Cloud manages to avert Van's fist engulfed with lilac aura and tossed a black stinking piece of cloth at Van's nose which instantly made Van to scream while covering his nose.
"My nose! My f**king nose!!"
Leorona giggled at the sight of Cloud's actions while Sting stared at Cloud with a wtf face.
"That cloth... Don't tell me.." Sting said within himself.
Sting recalls earlier as Cloud was in a forest, using a skunk's bottom to spray a piece of black clothing and wrapped it up with multiple pieces of clothes while laughing like a mad scientist as thunders were striking in the sky.
"That is a dirty move, yo..." Sting said within himself after remembering the incident.
Cloud charges with a battle cry and lands a punch Van's belly while he was still screaming concerning his nose which shocked everyone except Karma (who seemed emotionless as usual) and Sting and Tenya (who happened to give a smile at just took place ).
Zotek walks towards the exhausted Cloud with a scowling demeanor and grabs Cloud by his wrist.
"There you have it, your winner... Cloud of the Stormwind!!!" Zotek announced as he raised Cloud's arm.
This brought a wild cheer among the students which made Cloud grin, while Sting and Tenya were clapping happily for Cloud.
During the cheering, Schroeder noted the look of anger and disbelief on Zera's face.
"You little sh*t!" Van said as loses his cool and violently punched Cloud which sent him crashing on a wall and also began to savagely pummel Cloud with his fist.
"Van, that is enough!" Zera said while restraining Van and pulling him away from Cloud, "Have some dignity in your loss!"
Van manages to slip away from Zera's hold and at high speed, he advances towards Cloud and lands a brutal punch on Cloud's belly, causing him to vomit blood mixed with contents of his stomach.
Cloud's vision became blurry but just as Cloud's blurry vision quickly wears off, he sees Van with glowing lilac eyes and Van instantly attacks with a face punch.