After the battle between Vicente and his friend, Rory, the young Fuller beat his friend, teaching him a lesson.
But after Vice finished beating his friend, he heard Rory cry for the first time ever since he met him.
Rory wasn't crying because of the injuries he had sustained in his fight with Vice, which, by the way, were no ordinary injuries.
Although this was a child's fight, the mana in this world strengthened the bodies of everyone here as they continued to grow up.
Rory had cried over his sad reality. He was a son of a bitch!
He didn't even know who his father was, and his mother was currently working as a pimp who managed young prostitutes in Martell Village.
Darek's group had found out about this and used the truth about Rory to threaten him. If he didn't do just as they ordered, they would tell the whole academy who his mother was.
Afraid of being humiliated even more, Rory had turned away from Vice and Ian and had begun to accept all the recent humiliations.
When he heard this, Vice naturally became furious and promised to help Rory with it.
"Rory, believe me. I will help you deal with these three." Vice assured after hearing all that had happened from his friend.
"How? If we do something, it will be worse." Rory said with tears in his eyes. "At the end of the day, I can't change where I come from."
Vice said seriously. "We will pretend to be distant from each other. But we won't do that. We will use the next few months to prepare ourselves. When we achieve enough, we will act against Darek and his cronies."
"Will it make any difference?" Rory wiped away the tears in his eyes as he asked Vice who had a determined look on his face.
"You will regain your honor. And you'll also be able to show the students at the academy that if they mess with you, they'll have to face the consequences for doing so.
They may make fun of your family background, but will they be able to bear the weight of your fists?" Vicente said seriously. "There's nothing better than violence to settle this situation. Otherwise, you will forever be a puppet for people like Darek."
Hearing this, Rory clenched his fists. He was a child, but given the hardships he had already been through, how could he not understand Vice's words?
Either he would face his inner demons and fight them, or he would never have peace!
"All right."
Hearing this, Vicente extended one of his hands to Rory and helped him to his feet.
After that, the two shook hands with a common goal in mind!
...
Eight months later...
Vicente, Ian, and Rory continued their school life and advanced to class 3 during this period, growing a lot in the past few months.
Ian kept his distance from Rory, thinking that this former friend of theirs wasn't talking to Vice either. But whenever they could, those two would secretly meet to fight together.
But these fights of theirs were much more intense than the ones that were normally fought among the other students of the old class 2 and current class 3 in at the academy.
Vice had greatly improved his skills and could no longer expose his full fighting power to boys of the same class. However, he would use the most he could when he was against Rory, who was taking the brunt of the injuries he had had to endure during these past few months to get better.
Luckily, his mother was rich and could afford the medicines he was constantly taking to recover his body from those bruises and injuries that covered most of his body every time he fought.
Thus, he managed to elevate his strength and also improved his abilities beyond normal to be able to handle sparring with Vice more easily.
In the meantime, Lauren had graduated from the academy and was slowly developing a body with more advanced feminine features, to the point that she was already attracting the attention of young men.
Her parents had already been starting conversations with local families about Lauren's dowry, but nothing had been decided yet.
Usually, the engagement was announced when a girl was at the age of 15, so Lauren's parents still had time to make a good choice regarding her destiny.
Nina was still quite small and could only spend most of her days at home with her mother.
...
After months of secret rigorous training together, Rory and Vice finally reached the final stage of their plans.
On this particular day, when several tests were being held at the Academy of Stars, they met after the end of some of their class' examinations.
As they met in a deserted hallway, the two enhanced determined glances.
"Are you ready?" Vice asked.
"Yes," Rory replied.
He couldn't contain the smile on his lips as his eyes sparkled.
"All right, let's head over to Darek's group. Class 4 has already finished their tests, and the group is in the alley behind the academy," Vicente said, resolute to follow his plans no matter what the consequences would be.
"But will it be okay? My mom won't be punishing me, but your father is pretty hard to deal with," Rory was well aware that he could count on Vice, but he wasn't so selfish as to simply disregard the potential consequences that his friend might have to suffer after this ordeal.
Vice's father didn't want him involved in fights and had already strictly warned him not to participate in anything that involved fights or only punishment awaited if he did.
However, Vice was willing to take the risks and smiled. "Don't worry. Better I get my ass kicked by my father than remain unharmed and not be able to do what I wish."
"Then let's get it over with in one fell swoop!" Rory said before charging straight towards his enemies.
Vice smiled back, appreciating the newfound determination his friend had gained.
After months of working with Rory, Vice managed to inculcate some of his ideas into this boy's mind and help him overcome his fear of Darek's group.
'Rory will be a good member of my team in the future...' Vice thought as he ran alongside his friend, filled with confidence in their shared determination.
...
After a few moments, Vice and Rory appeared at the entrance of the alley where the group of four children were laughing as they talked.
Among them, a fat boy brandished a knife in one of his hands while a restrained animal not far from them was struggling to break free.
In the vicinity of the trapped bird, other knives were stuck onto the wooden targets around that trapped bird, some blades on it stained with a hint of blood.
The other boys in that group were laughing and drinking some kind of beverage as they watched their companions try to hit the bird.
"Haha, give it another shot, Isaac. Let's see if you really are the best and can kill the bird!" Darek encouraged the fatty boy while the rest of them were placing bets.
"He won't make it. Even Boss Darek, the best in the class, can't hit a moving target like that."
"Fatty's not bad with knives. Maybe he'll hit it. I'll bet you 20 bronze coins."
"I'll take it."
Upon hearing these comments and witnessing what these boys were doing, Vice and Rory stopped momentarily, their fists clenched in frustration.
Vice reached one of his hands into his clothes and retrieved a pair of scissors.
He then moved and threw it in the direction of the bird who was flying back and forth, constrained by the space of the chain holding it.
The scissors gained velocity, propelled by the magical particles that increased their speed and power.
Vice could only begin learning spells after his magical awakening was carried out, just like the children around him. However, like any magical being from this world, he already possessed mana in his body, and his actions could be influenced by it.
As he threw the scissors, he subconsciously enveloped them with magical particles, substantially raising their properties.
Therefore, when the scissors hurtled towards their target, the amused boys who had been enjoying themselves lost their smiles as they noticed someone obstructing their activity.
However, even before they could glance at Vice, they saw the scissors thrown by him severing a portion of the chain that had been holding the bird, thus liberating it.