"Bullshit. I just beat Leo Skyfang without effort. You beat me without effort. No one can improve so drastically in a few minutes"
"I held back"
"I've experienced enough to know when someone is holding back. You aren't skilled enough to hide in front of me"
"Want to spar again?"
Dawn was tempted. Mr. Leo was acting too confidently. She really liked him but she also found the overconfidence over the top.
'Huh? I like him? He's cute, but it's not lust like that right?'
Dawn set up a domain around her and a barrage of fireballs flew at him.
"How boring. Just pushing them back at you again is no fun. Let's try something else"
Taking a single step, Skyfang was directly in front of Dawn. Beyond him, nothing else was moving. He, the Sprinter, had directly employed the concept of Space to bypass the domain. Since his reactions were a league above anyone else's, the panel only seemed like he had used the concept of Time. Hugging her, he took another step and they were standing on top of the ruins of where she had originally 'defeated' him.
"Dad?? What are you doing here. Don't stop me. I'm not a child an— huh?"
She thought that her dad had come out of nowhere so that he could keep his baby for a little longer, but then she realized what actually happened.
"HuWhat?????"
She continued hugging him for long seconds before he stepped back, looking in a different direction, bored.
"You lost"
Then he disappeared and Dawn was stunned.
The city was vast and crime could be found anywhere. There was a mugger on the 8th floor of a giant hotel.
"Stay back. Stay back. If anyone gets near, I'll shoot her!!!!"
A pale looking middle-aged man was slowly backing away from the police even as the woman in his arms struggled against his grasp. She bit him, kicked him, punched him, slapped him, and achieved nothing. He was too strong and had evil intentions.
She was relieved when he suddenly stopped. Then she became worried when he started to shake. She knew the gun had a silencer but since he was surrounded, it was impossible to kill her quietly and make a clean escape.
Then she heard the shells hit the ground.
'Huh? Shots were fired but I'm still alive?'
She struggled to turn her head around and what she saw utterly stunned her. A young man that could be confused for a mature boy had easily caught the bullets. They bent upon contact with his fingers and the shell fell off. Being a Rogue herself, she recognized Precision, Criticality, and Speed. To stop a bullet though, you needed the Advanced trait Reflex trained in life and death situations.
The young man seemed to try to hard to be honest. Without how strong his fingers looked to her, he really only need Speed. Where did he come from? Only the door behind them was unlocked and it led to the fire escape and a set of stairs that touched the 1st floor. Did he saw them from below and rush here.
That wouldn't explain what happened though. Experts like that wouldn't normally intervene in petty crime.
Did he just feel bored?
"You.. Who the fuck are you? How did you do that? How the fuck did you stop my bullets with your own bullets?"
Huh?
What did the mugger just say?
Stopping a bullet with another bullet was even more impossible relative to stopping it with just your fingers. But the resulting police conversation dumbfounded her.
"He stopped 5 quick shots with 5 of his own a-"
"He walked forward and"
"Caught them with his fingers"
"Then he held the mugger in place with those same ones"
The woman looked at the young man's fingers and saw that they were indeed clamped onto the mugger. He was pale. Whether it was from the grip or the shock, she had no idea.
Then the mugger flew forward, at the police, who were caught off guard. Somehow, he had rearranged the mess he had caused and also landed perfectly handcuffed.
"I'm so sorry. I mugged and held this woman at gun point. I'll accept my punishment"
The mugger was pale and everyone thought he had been coerced into a confession. They intended to question the young man but he was gone.
Skyfang was sprinting across rooftops madly. It didn't matter if they were higher or lower. With a single leap, he landed perfectly. He wasn't stopping crime but having fun inflicting terror on those who were insane. Breaking a broken mind was interesting. Either they would be completely broken or reform their ways. He wondered if a completely broken mind could still be repaired. He would try and find out.
"What a goody two shoes. I guess I have no choice but to attend. Fucking conscious"
When he arrived at the academy, Jayo Hindenbrook immediately antagonized him after recovering from his shock. The boy accused him of wasting his parent's money and the academy's time. Skyfang only responded with a punch to the chest which sent the youngster flying dozens of feet into a window.
He casually dodged a rubber bullet by stretching his neck to the left. He caught the bullet when it was a few inches behind him and used it to deflect dozens more bullets.
"Good. Excellent. You're a wonderful student. Sorry for the aggression"
That was a lie a group of veteran instructors made up to hide their utter shock and horror.
"Just now. I saw multiple Rogue and Warrior traits in use. He wasn't even paying attention when he did it. Who is this young man though?"
"You've never seen him before. I thought if he got past the entrance, he'd be a student here"
"I have no doubt he's a student. Quick. Check the front"
*Ring Ring*
"Yes? Instructors?"
"Who checked in just now?"
"What do you mean? No one"
The call hung up as soon as they picked it up.
"How did he get inside the school when there's only one entrance? There's a forcefield the covers the air. It's impossible to go through it without triggering the alarm"
"Go after him. Don't arrest him. Just try to figure out what's going on"
Skyfang immediately became aware that several men and women were now monitoring him from the distance but he didn't care. What could they do to him? Just for fun though, the Sharpshooter incapacitated one of them without warning.
The ricochet came from inside the school. It went through the crack in the window and made it way through the building before coming out a vent from slightly behind them.
They were alarmed but quickly calm down. It wasn't an intruder. It was the boy. He had someone angled the shot in such a way that it came from him but there was no proof. They even calculated the angle but stopped dead in their tracks when they found a lack of evidence that anything had been manipulated.
"Why? The building is spotless"
"Was a shot even fired?"
"But who else could engineer such a shot?"
"Without evidence, we can't pin anything on him"
"Keep watching him for now. He doesn't seem to have malicious intention"
So the group dispersed but Skyfang didn't care. He was watching with amusement as Jayo crawled out of the window with trembling legs.
Then he just simply looked at something else. There was a gathering in the far east and he just left to watch. People were criticizing him but he paid no mind. If they wanted to fight him, they just had to say so.
"Wait. If this is the first time you've been here, not only are you late, but you've disregarded the honor of the academy"
An instructor in his class stepped up and made a bold statement.
"So what should I do?"
"Accept your punishment"
"What kind of punishment?"
"Are you serious about doing it?"
"I am"
"Just like that?"
"If doing the punishment makes you happy, just tell me"
"The instructor was dumbfounded by how nonchalant this student was"
"Ok. 1. Write an essay detailing how important it is to maintain studies for a WMR"
"Done. Here you go"
The Sprinter casually wrote a 100 page essay in the moment it took Skyfang to say done.
"Uh. 2. You have to apologize to the academy, your instructors, and fellow students for wasting their time"
The instructor was so caught off guard that they just released the second step immediately.
"Pass. If you want me to do that, make me plead mercy. Else. Give me the 3rd step"
The new kid had so easily accepted the punishment but also seemed to pick and choose the ones he would do.
"If you're unsatisfied. Just create a new 2nd step"
Silence.
Pause.
Time passes incrementally.
"Uh. No. I won't compromise"
"Then do something about it"
"What should I do?"
"Why are you asking me? You're giving the punishment. I'm free to accept or refuse it"