"Is this the guy who beat your a**?"
The guy who spoke was almost a foot taller than any of the students and was evidently very strong. He wasn't exactly handsome, like Billy, but he did have the body of a model. Maybe an athlete, Noah guessed. Since he's with Billy, perhaps he's a soccer player?
And he wasn't the best dressed of individuals either. He even had his shirt untucked and his tie loose, which was odd, considering the school was extremely strict when it comes to uniforms.
'So he's most definitely an athlete.' Noah furrowed his eyebrows. Only an athlete would have the courage to walk around the school while wearing his uniform in such an untidy manner.
"Yeah, that's him." Billy nodded his head as he pointed at Noah with his good hand, his gaze burning with fury as he stared at him.
The giant and Noah locked eyes. 'Huh, that's new.' Noah was surprised that he was able to keep his head up and not look away. He hadn't lowered his head when he locked eyes with the giant, which is what usually would've ended up happening.
Perhaps it was because he had bigger things to worry about. Or maybe it has something to do with him being almost invincible.
Either way, Noah was enjoying this newfound confidence that he was exuding.
"Oh my god! Is that Adrian Nascimento?!" The students began murmuring to themselves, staring at the tall youth with curious eyes.
'Adrian Nascimento?' Noah, who had overhead some of the students whispering the tall guy's name, raised his eyebrows. He had never seen this person until today, but he was familiar with that name.
Adrian was part of the school cycling team, and the reigning champion of the junior cycling tournament that was held last year. But he was famous across the school for a different reason.
The reason he was so well known in the school was because of his former teammate named Ederson. Ederson, who was also part of the cycling team, had been jealous of Adrian and apparently tried to get him kicked off the team by hiring a group of local thugs and beating him up.
But what Ederson didn't know was that Adrian was extremely good at fighting dirty, and a few hours after he extracted the information of their employer from the thugs, Ederson had been admitted to the nearest hospital, unconscious. Both his knees were broken, and his face had been beaten until it was purple and unrecognizable.
He never returned to the school, and no complaints were filed. That was how everyone, including Noah, came to know of Adrian.
"Did you seriously get beaten by this little twerp?" After staring at Noah for a few more seconds, Adrian turned his gaze towards Billy and spoke in a rather blunt manner.
"What? You think my eyes made a mistake or something?" Billy looked irritated. "He's a lot stronger than he looks. I'd be a lot more careful if I were you."
"No you wouldn't," Adrian snorted. "You can never be me."
"Ahem.." Noah coughed, and the two athletes shifted their gazes at him. "It's wonderful to meet you, Adrian. But if you really want to fight me, then I suggest you wait until school ends. I do not want to get in trouble like last time."
"Oho? And you think you have the authority to make the decisions here, little twerp?" Adrian said, smiling.
"Yup." Noah said quietly, "And I'd think it'll work out well for you as well. You definitely wouldn't want your reputation to be ruined after publicly getting your a** beat by a 'little twerp' like me. So I suggest you back off for now, and we'll pick this up after school ends."
------------ BEAST SOUL ------------
"...."
The entire classroom fell completely silent.
"No f*cking way! Did he seriously just say that?"
"Holy sh*t! This is totally crazy. What the hell is going on?"
"And he said that to Adrian, for f*ck's sake!"
After the brief silence, the crowd of students exploded into chatter. Everyone was surprised by the words that came out of Noah's mouth. Even Noah himself was surprised by what he just said.
'Did I really just say that?' He couldn't believe it, but he had to. Just a few days ago, he was being bullied at school and was on the verge of ending his life. But just a couple of days later, Noah was standing up to someone who was infamous for sending another student to a hospital!
Noah couldn't be more proud of himself right now.
Perhaps the unfortunate events that happened to him weren't exactly unfortunate at all? Maybe they were blessings in disguise. Who knows? Noah didn't really care. He felt like he could do anything.
"Ha ha ha ha.. Congratulations you little twirp." The roaring laughter of Adrian Nascimento silenced the crowd, and as everyone's eyes were glued to the sinister expression on his face, they couldn't help but feel a chill run up their spine. Adrian stared down at Noah with a chilling smile and said, "You've just made me really angry!"
Whoosh!
Adrian's fist moved. Ferocious acceleration. Tremendous force. Adrian knew how powerful his punches were. He had done this a thousand times. Even the strongest of men were knocked out by a single punch in the forehead. It was the same punch he had thrown when he ambushed Ederson. It had to work.
BAM!
Adrian's fist hit Noah square on the forehead, resulting in a loud noise. A solid punch. Adrian could feel it. Any normal person would be out cold by now.
However, Noah was anything but normal.
"What the..." Adrian stared at the little twerp in front of him, standing straight even after receiving his punch. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. No one could.
"Not again…" Billy looked horrified as he mumbled to himself.
'Woah, that was insanely fast!' Noah thought to himself. He was planning to try and dodge the attack, but before he could even blink, the fist had already struck his forehead. Perhaps it was because he was just not used to fighting, or maybe it really was a fast punch. He wasn't sure. But he was glad that he had superpowers. He knew that he would have been knocked out the moment the fist struck him.
'Now, I should probably fight back..' Noah then turned his gaze towards Adrian, who looked like he was in shock.
Adrian was caught so off guard that he froze for a full second, and Noah used the chance to whip his fist forward.
BAM!
Noah's fist smashed against Adrian's ribs, and all of a sudden, the world flipped for Adrian. He was flung backwards in the air, before he fell and smashed his head down on the floor.
'I did punch him lightly..' Noah's lips twitched as he watched Adrian squirm in pain. He didn't wish to get called into the Principal's office for another warning, which was why he had put minimum force in his punch, so as to not injure Adrian.
But it looked like he had to focus more on controlling his strength.