Chapter 26 - Classroom Chaos

Archie left the auditorium, hands in his pockets with his bag on his back. He had a little smile on his face as he made his way to his classroom. 'I wonder if I'll be yelled at for missing class.' Archie said to himself, wondering what'd happen if he just walked into class as if nothing had happened. He reached the door of his base classroom after two minutes of walking, but as he went to open the door, he pulled his hand back. It wasn't that Archie was afraid. He just wanted to crack his knuckles before entering class.

Archie opened the door to his base classroom with a neutral expression, walking into the class at the time of 12:45pm. Archie was met with a scornful expression provided by his History teacher, Mr Kaitul, upon sitting in his seat. "Well, if it isn't the dumbass who broke his leg playing football." Mr Kaitul mocked Archie, raising a small amount of laughter from those who didn't see what Archie did in the auditorium and earlier that day. Archie disregarded the backhanded insult as he pulled The Wordless Warrior out from his bag. "Hey! No reading in my class, Stein!" Mr Kaitul yelled, to which Archie rolled his eyes in response, opening his book anyways.

Mr Kaitul was a divorced man who enjoyed nothing more than watching children suffer. You could say he couldn't pull any women after the divorce. He walked over to Archie, standing right in front of his desk with a grimace on his face. "I'll be taking that." Mr Kaitul deadpanned as he attempted to grab The Wordless Warrior from Archie's hands. However, Archei pulled the book away from Mr Kaitul's large hands before he could lay even a single finger on the book. The class stared at Archie in awe as they watched him continually avoid Mr Kaitul's attempts at pulling The Wordless Warrior away from him, even standing up, holding the book just out of Mr Kaitul's grasp.

"Fine then. If you want to play this game, I'll have to get serious." Mr Kaitul announced as six swords of ice formed around Archie's neck and pointed towards his soft flesh. Archie's pupils shrunk in size as he stared at the constructs of ice, feeling the cold air that they exuded against his neck. He shivered as they appeared to get closer, holding the now-closed book in his right hand away from his body. "Now, Stein, if you don't want me to bring these blades any closer, I'd suggest handing over the book." Mr Kaitul said with a smug grin plastered on his face. His system was conveniently named "The System Of Ice Blades", so it perfectly described the situation.

'Fat chance.' Archie told himself as he smiled, dropping The Wordless Warrior onto the desk. Mr Kaitul's smile grew wider as he believed to have succeeded in his goal. However, his smile quickly grew into a scowl as Archie grabbed two icy swords in front of his neck, quickly slashing forward to shock the teacher. He chose the ones at the front of his neck so he could swing forward without getting stabbed. Mr Kaitul leaned backwards, narrowly avoiding Archie's slash, the cold air breezing past his legs. He stared at Archie with a piercing glare, using his system to end this. After all, Archie had just attempted to stab him. Archie watched as the ice swords pulled backwards slightly, his vision blurring as he anticipated the blades' impact. The swords rushed forward, the whole class gasping at what they were watching their teacher do. However, none of them had the guts to do anything to stop it, so it seemed like an open-and-close case for Archie. He closed his eyes, accepting his fate, as it appeared that there was nothing he could do.

That was until the blades of ice flew away from Archie's neck the second they got close enough. Everyone watched as the swords flew away randomly. Mr Kaitul gasped in shock. Archie opened his eyes, noticing a cyan glow around his body that quickly faded before anyone could understand what had happened. 'My armour...' Archie realised, his eyes widening as he understood what had happened.

Archie smiled, staring at Mr Kaitul while returning the glare he had received earlier. Archie took a deep breath, exhaling as he got into a running stance. Mr Kaitul created six more ice blades, the old ones fading away as if they had never been there. 'Silent Speedstep, activate!' Archie said to himself, achieving a speed nobody in his class had seen before. Not even Mr Kaitul could keep up with Archie at that pace, so Archie used that fact to his advantage, grabbing one of the blades of ice Mr Kaitul had created as he bounced off the back wall of the classroom using his speed. He ran through Alexis as he did this, who kept an eye on him to make sure he didn't die.

Archie soared overhead, nobody seeing him until he appeared behind Mr Kaitul, one of his blades in his right hand. Archie lifted his arm above his head to slice through Mr Kaitul's head, bringing a look of shock to his classmate's faces. He swung the sword down, turning it at the last second, so the flat side of the blade hit Mr Kaitul's head, shattering the blade into pieces. Mr Kaitul froze in place once the ice hit him, turning around to see Archie with the hilt of one of his own swords in his hand. Archie wrote something on the blackboard at the front of the room using a piece of chalk that rested beside it.

"I win." Mr Kaitul read out loud as Archie sat down in his seat, picking up his book and putting it in his bag. "Oh, don't think you've won yet, Stein. I still have one advantage over you, despite what you just did." Mr Kaitul told him with a smile on his face. 'What could he be talking about?' Archie wondered as he felt something push through his back and through the chest. His eyes widened as he looked down at his sternum, a blade of ice covered in blood meeting his gaze. He looked behind him, and two of his classmates were holding the handle of the sword, a fearful expression in their eyes. "People without systems are weak, and you know that. They have almost no rights, and nobody would care if one died. I can do this to you, and I'll get away scot-free." Mr Kaitul explained, his smile growing wider. Alexis just stared at Archie from the ceiling, eyes widened.

Archie closed his eyes, a smile growing as he tried to laugh. He was met with an expression of confusion from his classmates. "Huh? What's so funny, Stein? You're dying, and you're trying to laugh? What kind of insane person are you?" Mr Kaitul asked Archie, who just stared at him in response. Archie stood up with his bag in his right hand, his left hand shaking somewhat and walked over to the chalkboard, writing two words on it. "Fuck you." Archie wrote before leaving the classroom to head to the medical bay again, blood dripping from his wound and the blade. He left a trail of deep crimson blood on the floor, garnering the attention of anyone who was roaming the halls. Nobody stopped to check up on him, and he wasn't using Alexis' healing abilities for whatever reason.

[Automatic System Notification]

[Status: DEFINITELY NOT HEALTHY]