Kayden was wondering just what had happened. Just what on Earth had Paul been through during the previous day that ended up putting him in the current condition he was in? Thinking more about it, his mind then wandered towards the two other students who were above him in rank and power, those two students being Shawn and Kayla. Kayden was wondering whether or not one of them was responsible for putting him in his current condition.
'I doubt that Shawn had a hand in this. Seeing him this morning, he seemed to be just as confused as I was as to what was going on. Moreover, I don't think the two of them have any issues to begin with. They always seem to get along with each other,' Kayden pondered.
'However, I can't say the same for that witch. For a while now she's been going around kidnapping students just because she believes that they may be working for the Shade. At this point, I shouldn't be surprised if she had assumed that Paul was perhaps working for them as well. Who knows, maybe one of these days she would go after Shawn as well.'
Looking at the injuries on his body, Kayden couldn't take his eyes off all the bruises and cuts. However, there were barely any burn marks on the body, something that he found quite strange, thinking that a certain student was the one responsible for Paul's current condition.
'I guess I'll just have to ask him about what happened once he wakes up. I just hope that whoever attacked him is someone that I can deal with. I'm not ready to go against that witch just because he got beat up badly this time around,' Kayden thought to himself, entering the academy's infirmary and placing Paul's unconscious body on top of one of the beds there.
He then went on to tell the nurse what had happened, before exiting the infirmary and heading for his first class for the day. Kayden still had his daily life to go about. He would just have to come back to the infirmary at the end of the day to check up on his roommate. Since Paul would be absent from classes due to his injuries, the staff and high-ups wouldn't give him any punishment.
Kayden had made it to class early that day, and while classes were going on, he couldn't stop listening to the students who were gossiping about the event that had taken place the previous day during the magical weapons' class. The fact that one of the strongest second years had chosen to attack them out of the blue was something that the first years couldn't stop discussing during the class.
He was doing his best to focus on the class, however, from the corner of his eye, he could see Kayla having her head on the table, her hands covering her face. Seeing her this way, he could only think of one reason behind it. As a matter of fact, he knows that he would've felt a whole lot worse if it was his cousin or someone else dear to him who had ended up in the same situation as her relative.
'This must all be stressful for her, getting caught in all of this… as much as I hate her guts, that doesn't mean I'm okay with seeing her or others in her current condition. I'm not a monster or anything like that,' Kayden pondered, switching his attention back onto the holographic tablet plopped on top of his desk where he would write down pieces of information that the teacher was throwing at the class.
During the class, Kayden hadn't spoken to anyone. They were all more interested in their respective business, however, today, Shawn was someone who seemed far more interested in what was going on with the students than he usually would. It all started yesterday, when he had witnessed Henry attack the first years. That day, he had sensed something.
'Though I hope it's not what I think,' Shawn wondered, his eyes fixated on the holographic tablet on the desk in front of him. 'His energy, something about it, was quite off yesterday. I've sensed his energy before, during the inter-student competition, and it was quite different back then as well. Just what on Earth is going on?' He was doing his best to keep up with the teacher's lecture, while also pondering about the attack from the previous day.
Meanwhile, a certain red-haired student was struggling to concentrate. His mind would constantly drift towards the incident from the previous day-the time when he had been taken hostage by a deranged student's minions. He was just on his way back to his dorm room, when a bunch of random students had appeared seemingly out of nowhere and attacked him. The rest is history at this point in time
'Kayden, why on Earth are you willing to work for a psychopath like that? Have you forgotten what all these rich brats are like? They don't care about people like us. They will walk all over us, crush us, abuse us all, do whatever they please for whatever stupid reason or excuse they may have. At the end of the day, they're nothing but rotten bastards who care about nothing but themselves.
'People are out there putting their lives on the line to save innocent civilians from the aliens. My city is even amongst those which are being attacked by the Shales. The moment I realized this, I knew I would have to push myself far more than I've ever done before just to gain strength,' his mind then wondered back to the time when he first met up with the student named Kumon.
'I will grow stronger, I will defend my family from danger, and I will defeat you, Kayla, and force you to learn your place. This world has no place for a spoiled, arrogant brat like you. Mark my words,' he thought to himself, his eyes gazing towards the back of the Titan one, which was hunched forward as her head faced the desk's surface.
Seeing this, the teacher wished to reprimand the student for disrespecting his class, but stopped himself upon realizing just who this student was. He was well aware of Kayla and her outstanding performance at the academy so far. He decided to overlook the fact that she was busy sleeping as he proceeded to continue with the class.
'Tsk. Leech,' Zain thought to himself, his lips curling back in disgust. 'Just admit that you're being lenient on her because she comes from a rich family, not because she's a star pupil. If she's hardworking, then what does that make me? I've been doing whatever it takes to keep my grades up and I'm always active and working hard during the other classes. Yet, I know what would happen if I ever dared to fall asleep during this man's class,' at that moment, Zain was fighting the urge to curse at the teacher.
'What am I supposed to do if Kayla or whoever is responsible for beating up Paul, decides to go after Shawn or one of my other friends, instead? Marcus, Dan, and the others, they could all be in danger from whoever it was that had attacked Paul,' his eyes then swept across the classroom, glancing at each and every student present.
Though he barely knew anyone, he was well aware of their intentions and, to a certain extent, what they were capable of doing at the academy to each other. These students were here to learn to be the future defenders of humanity, but under the social rules and heirayset in place, it's practically killed or be killed in the environment they are made to live in.
He couldn't stop thinking about who it was that must've attacked Paul the previous day. Though he couldn't rule out Kayla as a suspect, there was still the possibility that a bunch of students had band together to take him out. One of the reasons he was thinking this was because he had seen that Paul's rank had changed upon lying eyes upon his battered and bruised body which lay unmoving outside their dorm room in the morning.
If Kayla was responsible for it, then it would mean that one of her minions had taken over his rank, becoming the new Titan three of the first year students. From where he sat, he was unable to lay his eyes on the watches of the students he believed to be working for Kayla. A couple of them had their hands in front of their bodies, blocking his view of their wristwatches, while others had their wrists placed beside their body, allowing Kayden to have a good look at their score and rank.
'Since I can't see all of their watches, I can be sure whether or not they're responsible for what happened to Paul. For now, I guess I'll just have to wait till the class is over and confront her about the matter myself. I'm sure she'll tell me the truth, since she was the one who dragged me into this whole conspiracy business in the first place,' Kayden had come to a decision, though he couldn't stop thinking about other things as well.
'I'm going to kill that white-haired bastard!' Kayla screams internally, raising her head from her desk.
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I hope you all enjoyed the chapter.