The impact sent him to the floor, a bout of laughter followed. The book fell off his hand and to the wet floor.
Derek was pissed, he wiped his hands on his pants and looked at the source of the ball. As usual, it was Lancer and his cohorts.
Lancer wasn't the only school bully, but since he had decided to give Derek special attention, the other bullies kept their distance.
No one wanted to get into trouble with Lancer.
Derek picked his book and cleaned the cover on his now soiled pants and continued on his way, but Lancer was quick enough to step in his path
Derek was getting fed up, he didn't sign up for this.
All he wanted was just a peaceful life before he was introduced into a world where hierarchy reigned supreme.
"What do you want?" Derek asked Lancer.
Lancer's answer was a left hook against Derek's chin, the impact sent him staggering back and knocked the book right out of his hand.
Maybe before Derek didn't stand a chance, but he knew that right now he could take at least one person on though he wasn't sure if the result would be in his favour.
Moreover, they were three of them and just one of him. There was no easy way out of this.
Derek ached to fight back, to throw a punch or two. But by now, he already understood how the system worked. If he tried anything stupid it would only get worse.
And he had already broken a few rules today, he wasn't ready to add another to the list. He wasn't sure the headmaster would be so forgiving this time. If only he really knew, he might not have held back.
Lancer taunted Derek and pushed him further back.
"What do we have here?" Lancer smirked and bent down to pick the book. "Boy wonder is a nerd?" He commented laughing like it was something really funny.
He stared at the book hardly understanding the contents except the title on the front page. He threw the book on the floor and stomped on it.
Derek was mad with rage, he flew at Lancer but he barely made it halfway.
There were two restraining hands holding his arms from both sides.
"Still as touchy as ever. Even for a lowly peasant" Lancer commented. He walked slowly to where Derek was held in place like he was in a 3D movie and was enjoying every moment of it.
He punched Derek hard in his stomach. Derek reeled front, retching from the impact of the hit like he was about to spill the contents of his stomach.
Derek struggled to release his hands from the deadlock but it didn't budge. He couldn't even grab his stomach and reel over in pain.
Lancer's continued to punch him all over and with each punch, he could feel his consciousness slowly fading away. Until it all stopped.
Derek was sprawled on the floor outside the first-year block area barely conscious, with bruises all over his face and body.
After what seemed like a really long while, he could see a pair of feet approach him from the school block.
Derek managed to turn his head slightly upwards, he could faintly see someone who looked like Arya coming towards where he lay on the floor.
Arya was torn between leaving the figure which almost looked like a corpse where it lay or going to help out. Arya really didn't like poking her nose in such things. But she knew the victim.
If she could call it that, in all honesty she really didn't know Derek to begin with, even though she felt he wasn't a bad person. They had just been in a group and had small talk on the building roof.
Arya was mostly thinking all these to herself to justify leaving Derek the floor. But she couldn't bring herself to do it.
She had watched most of what happened, but she had refused to get involved. Getting herself involved would have just made things harder for Derek as well as herself.
"Did the floor have a go at you?" she asked as she got closer to Derek.
Derek managed a smile, the little laugh made him feel like his ribs were about to pop out of his chest. This was the first time he heard her crack a joke and she had done it with a straight face.
"Come on, let's get you to the clinic" she said offering him a hand. Derek managed to drag himself up and grab the arm.
But the arm suddenly went limp and Derek tumbled back to the floor.
"Argggh" he grunted in pain. She suddenly released him without warning.
"W- W- What are you" the usually composed Arya was suddenly stuttering, she just saw a strange phenomenon occur right before her very eyes.
It was something he would never have believed if she had heard it from someone else.
The bruises on Derek's arm were covering up on its own, she would have surmised it as a healing ability, only that even the higher ranked healers couldn't heal that fast.
It looked like torn fabric was getting reattached by invisible threads.
Derek raised his arm to his face and he could see his wounds stitching themselves up.
"What the hell are you?" Arya asked again, this time a little bit more composed even though her voice was still a little bit shaky.
"I don't know" Derek answered honestly.
Arya was having a hard time believing this crap, what does he mean he didn't know. This was one of the reasons why she hated getting involved.
She thought she might have as well been better off without knowing something new about a stranger he had only met not more than a few weeks ago.
Derek could feel the pains receding room his body, he slowly stood up flexing his both arms.
Except the cuts on his shirt and pants, he seemed fine. He could still feel a little pang of pain in his chest.
But he could definitely feel his ribs getting repaired. Derek was as surprised as Arya.
'Oh Arya' he suddenly remembered.
He now had to convince her that he didn't know what was going on just as much as she did.