Patric Gurney looked at the boy who just made the statement and felt his heart skip a beat. His whole body was bathed in sweat as his mind went into overdrive. Susan Gurney, his sister, who was beside him, noticed his absent minded look and dug her elbow into his ribs, waking him up.
"Pat, you okay? You look like you have just seen a ghost!" she said with concern. Patric looked at her then smiled after a moment, he looked like he was trying to recognize her.
"I'm alright, Sue, just remembering some things," he answered. But his mind was anything but okay. He was actually not Patric Gurney but a middle aged man called Stephen Dongee. He had just chocked to death by a meatball and the next to hing he knew was that he was standing in a queue watching as a protagonist of novel he read made a statement that would later shake the whole galaxy and his sister was one of the story's villianess. She has tried to kill him countless times but he, Patric, has been saving her till the MC got tired and just destroyed Earth when they were there for vacation. As a hero, Tristan McCarthy was feared by villians, civilians and heroes alike because his policy was fight, destroy then don't take responsibility.
When the people saw how destructive he was, they sent X Rank heroes after him and this drive him to become a hero for humanity's core enemies, The Daxtrites. They were Galaxy conquering race that wanted to conquer the Milky Way Galaxy for a long time and with the help of Tristan, they did. All Tristan had to do was fill the whole Galaxy with oxygen and the stars pretty much did the rest! That's just how powerful X Rank heroes or villians are! Patric looked at Tristan and decided here and then that he would be on the right path of history and befriend Tristan McCarthy for his life depended very much on it.
"That guy is such a braggart! Becoming the greatest hero is not as easy as it sounds yet he went and bragged it to the whole planet," Susan said in displeasure. She looked at her brother who was deep in thought and decided to ask him what was wrong. Just then, the screen went dark as the feed was cut. Everyone heard the sound barrier break and looked up only to see a black streak fly across the sky and into the Training Grounds with a bang that threatened the integrity of the whole construction.
"Holy shit, it's the B rank hero, Paledrive! Oh man, it is said he has the best superhero landing next to Armageddon!" a fanboy squeled, making everyone else but Patric start becoming anxious with joy. He was anxious with another thing entirely. He took off into the Grounds, ignoring his sister call out for him. The guards tried to stop him but he suddenly melted inside his shadow, appeared behind them in one of their shadows and got into the arena. He found the place was getting unbearably hot as Tristan stared down at Paledrive. In the book, he was described as a fairly average, red spiky hair, well built, tall young man and he could agree it did him justice. Paledrive was 2.5m tall, black suit wearing man that showed his rockhard muscles with a bloodred spear symbol on his chest. His fists were clenched meaning he was ready to fight. Patric would not let that happen as he quickly got on between them.
"Mr Paledrive, sorry about my friend, he was quite fired up to finally get into the Hero Academy he forgot his manners. I promise this won't happen again," Patric said as he quickly took control of Tristan's shadow. Tristan was quite shocked to feel all the movement from his body was gone and to make things worse, he was forced to bow as an apology to a freaking hero!
"This bow is for an apology," Patric said, his body sweating up a lake. He could feel Tristan fighting for control of his body each second and he was losing. He had to make it quick before he broke lose and fight Paledrive, starting his defiance to the hero system early. Paledrive was satisfied as he nodded and took off and just in time as Tristan broke free.
"What did you just do? I was about to mop the floor with that exhibitionist!" Tristan roared, the temperature rising even more.
"He is a B Class combat hero, with the strength to pull continents and you want to fight him? You are living a pipe dream of that's your mentality. Now be quiet and get out of the arena," Patric scolded him. While he might look calm in the outside, he was quite scared in the inside. He thought he would be burnt to a crisp due to what he knew of Tristan but what happened next blew the socks out of his shoes.
"Fine, just because you bested me by controlling my body, I will respect your strength and listen to you. But if one day you are unable to do so I will break all your bones for today," Tristan said and walked to the next stage. The Interviewer of this syag was impressed by the bravery of Patric.
"What's your name, son?" he asked Patric who suddenly sighed in relief. He looked at the man and let out a weak smile.
"Patric Gurney," he answered.
"That was a brave act you did there, Patric Gurney, for that, I will allow you to go to the next stage. I have seen your ability involves Shadow Manipulation, it belongs to the combat class, good luck," the man said.
"Thank you," Patric said, suddenly even more dispirited. The next stage was where Tristan really shone. His combat sweetness was second to none in this competition. He had actually refused anyone else in his group and he breezed through the whole test. It was later known that he was a D rank in his abilities while everyone else was in E rank, which begs the question, what were they all not doing for the past fourteen years of their lives that he was? Patric sighed in frustration as he dragged his feet to the next stage, anything about his sister forgotten.
Tristan was really happy after that statement of his. He just announced to the whole world about his existence and from now on he would be doing things his own way. Just as he was about to add something else, he heard the sound of the speed barrier breaking then someone landing in front of him. The whole place shook and when the dust settled, he saw Paledrive, a B rank hero who was the Guardian of the school glaring at him. The whole place was filled with cheers.
"What's your name, boy?" Paledrive asked him. His voice was deep and filled with wisdom but to Tristan, it was grating to listen to.
"My name is Kickass because I am about to kick your ass for interrupting me," Tristan answered, his fist enveloped in fire. Paledrive scoffed when he saw this, not noticing the way the temperature all over had risen considerably. He didn't see this teenager as a threat for he has fought against villians stronger than himself and he has won and lost some. The threat of this boy was equal to a mite bite on a steel body, he can't feel it. Just then, another boy came between them and started spewing bullshit. With his strength, he could see this new boy had taken control of the hotheaded boy's body via his shadow. He approved of this boy's attitude and decided to go away in order not to let him suffer anymore for he could see him trying as much as possible to keep the hotheaded boy in check.
To Tristan, the moment Paledrive flew off, he felt unfulfilled. He wanted to feel the strength of a B rank hero even if it crippled yet he was stopped by a boy weaker than him and his body's control taken from him. He wanted to fight this boy to know just how strong he was but then the boy could just control his body once again so he decided to do that later when he knew how to counteract that, that's why he decided to obey him, keep him close and learn his secret then crush him later on. Right now, they were going to the next stage, the combat test. Tristan could not wait to crush them all with his overwhelming strength!