As the shards collide with Chad, he lets out a surge of Aura to surround his body last second before the collision. Like thorns, they pierced through the Aura and penetrated deep into the skin, making him wince in pain. Niantha was terrified at the sight. Chad had stepped in front of Niantha, shielding her from the small shards of ice that were sent toward them. "P-President, you're wounded..." she was in awe, unsure how to react to the next attacks that could potentially take place.
Deep breaths, going in and out; dealing with a multitude of sharp needles piercing through your body weren't easy to handle. He managed to not scream out in agony, maybe it's because he experienced worse or how he had to protect one of his classmates. Soon, the ice shards reverted into water, dripping from Chad's wounds, leaving no break for more raindrops to be sent at both Niantha and Chad, with Chad wrapping his arms around Niantha and rolling out of the vicinity. As what happened before, the raindrops turned into ice last second, smashing into the floor where they were directed at.
Without a moment's notice, Chad charged up Aura with his fist and punched the air, sending out a blast of Aura inside the park's playground. On impact, a splatter of rain spread everywhere with a man who could be seen being ragdolled away from the playground. Rolling last second to cushion his blow, he stands on his own two feet. He dawned a black suit of armor in a high-tech design. His cloak was pitch black like the darkness. Lastly, his face wore the mask of a crow, the eye sockets pitch black as if it was staring at you from an endless void. Niantha shuttered in fear immediately, her lips quivering too much to even formulate a sentence. "I-It's t-them... t-they're here."
Chad saw the horrified look on her face, it was as if she was staring at the grim reaper himself. "You know this guy, Niantha?" he queried. She didn't answer, she still rambled utter nonsense to herself as if her mind had shattered under pressure. The crow-masked man coughed, brushing the mud off of him. "I was told that the target wasn't affiliated with any other combatants other than the squad..." he looked at Chad like he was analyzing him deeply. The look of the crow-masked man gave Chad small goosebumps, the eerie air that this man gave, and the fact that you couldn't even get the slightest hint of what was under the mask got to Chad. You could only see the void that sat within the eye sockets of the mask. He pointed at Chad, saying, "Who are you, exactly?" his voice was raspy, and it muffled heavily under the mask. Even then, you could it clearly through the rain that got heavier and heavier by the second. Chad gave off an uneasy smirk, the rain still pattering over his face. "Just an acquaintance," he replied.
The crow-masked man then looking at Niantha announces something out loud. "Niantha, it's me, Cecil. I hope your little game is finished now, I've come to take you back." Niantha teared up and began to whimper under her breath. "P-P-President, leave me, y-you can't beat Cecil..." The situation has gotten more drastic. Chad was wondering who was this man who was causing Niantha this much distress by just appearing. He had one thing that he did know though—this man cannot touch Niantha no matter what.
Building up his determination, Chad took a bold stance with a wide grin of excitement. "Are you a fool? I'd never abandon any one of my classmates, especially when I'm the student council president!" He sounded like a total dork, but he was well set on his words. Putting up a stance for battle, he awaited Cecil to make a move.
As the rain turned into a rainstorm, Cecil got into a fighting stance as well. "Challenging me to a fight? I'll entertain you then. You've piqued my interest as well."
Slowly edging closer, step by step, they awaited for one to attack each other. Time slowed in the moment they stood face-to-face, not breaking eye contact the entire time. "Come on, give your best shot at me." Cecil said, keeping a loose fist. In a short reply, Chad spoke, "Nah, you attack."
"Okay." Cecil says before letting loose a jab straight to Chad's jaw. Avoiding this, Chad took one backstep only to be in the clutches of Cecil's trap. A kick to the shin, right on the tender spot too. Chad staggered, which was his big mistake. Cecil managed to pull off a roundhouse kick with pinpoint accuracy that was directed at Chad's jaw. Landing the blow, it pushed Chad a little bit to the left, with Cecil cementing his leg deep into the point of impact. Before Cecil could retract his leg, it was suddenly grabbed by Chad's hand. It bewildered Cecil, seeing how Chad could brush off his kick so easily. But, through the pouring rains, the true answer revealed itself. Last second before impact, Chad used his arm and infused it with Aura to block the attack. In powerful retaliation, Chad used his arm which was infused with a white, bright, Aura, and smashed his solid fist into Cecil's chest. Cecil slid back in the slippery wet surface of the sidewalk, trailing gushing waters on his way back. Putting his hand on his chest, gripped onto the wound of impact. "So, that was your plan. You purposely took all those blows to leave my guard open. Quite a risky tactic, is it not?" Cecil said, recomposing himself from the blow.
Chad saw it, how Cecil sounded, and appeared like his attack was just a minor setback. Chad definitely put his all into that blow, so why did it do nothing? Harsh rains, cold winds, punishing assaults, all of these fit into place as something perfectly normal in the eyes of Chad. The flow of battle was going as expected, carving his way to victory. But, deep inside his mind, he knew something was wrong.
It was soon when the answers revealed themselves with Niantha shouting something to Chad. "President, Cecil is using his magic—Water Manipulation!"
"Water Manipulation? That sounds kind of overpowered in this setting..." Chad said, looking at the park being flooded with rain.
Cecil scoffed at the idea of Niantha revealing his magical abilities right off the bat, telling her, "You know, that ruined the whole surprise. What did I expect from a runaway runt like you?"
The questions still arose from Chad. What is the relationship between Cecil and Niantha? How did she know about Cecil's magic abilities? And what was Cecil talking about when he wanted Niantha back? And even if Cecil's ability was Water Manipulation, how powerful was Cecil himself for tanking his attack like nothing?
He knew he should change his approach if he was going to attack Cecil again. Chad's first plan of catching him off-guard didn't work and he also knew that his attacks rendered useless against Cecil.
"He can manipulate the water's movements and change their temperature too, seeing how he turned those raindrops into ice shards... I guess I should play it more safe."
Aiming his palm at Cecil, he released more Aura blasts at him. On collision, they dispersed with Cecil while he casually embraced each blast. Particles of Chad's Aura fizzled away within the rainy skies. Cecil did appear to be physically getting pushed a little bit but also appeared to be taking no damage from these blows. "How durable are you?!" Chad asked. "I'm not durable, you just haven't realized what I've been doing." Cecil said in response.
Chad was out of options. This guy is clearly toying with him and isn't even trying at all. Chad could only do one thing, a thing that saved him hundreds of times in the past. He's pulling out his ace card. "Stop it right there, Cecil... you're going to make me do my ultimate attack!" Cecil paused his movements and asked him out of curiosity what this "ultimate attack" was exactly. Niantha was also deeply intrigued by this "ultimate attack". It was the attack of someone who was easily elected as student council president without any question. A person who exceeded her expectations by showing her new information that wasn't even found after countless years of studying books for a living. This definitely has to be something powerful enough to save them from this terrible situation.
Chad grinned, saying, "An attack that led me to be titled the strongest warrior-" Not finishing his sentence, he ran over to Niantha and picked her up in a princess-carrying position. He then jolted out of there at full speed. Niantha looked at Chad with extreme disappointment. "President, even when I have rain blocking the vision in my glasses, I can still see how pathetic this looks." He continued to run through the rain until they reached his apartment complex. A lady from her next-door porch greeted Chad back home, she appeared to be older than him—around her mid-50's. "Chad, what are you doing back home so late, especially in this terrible weather!" she also sees him carrying Niantha, who seems completely stoic about this situation. "C-Chad, why are you bringing a female into your home!" she screamed in anger, her voice echoing throughout the neighborhood. Chad pulled out his apartment keys from his pocket, unlocking his doors. "Don't ignore me, Chad!" the lady continued to loudly scold Chad as he entered his apartment and locked his doors.
Gently setting Niantha onto a chair on the dining table, he rushes to bring out a dry towel for both Niantha and him. Brushing off his wet hair, he hands Niantha her dry towel as well. "Sorry for the rush, I was just thinking of the best place to hide at." he said, patting himself dry. Niantha drying her short black hair was also considering drying off her rounded glasses as well. She wanted to ask for a cloth to wipe her glasses but noticed how Chad didn't look to be feeling quite well. "I don't want to ask for anything more... he appears to look quite pale."
Chad suddenly collapsed onto the floor of his apartment, making Niantha rush over to Chad right away. "President, what's going on?!" Flipping Chad over, she analyzed his wounds. "The puncture wounds when Cecil first attacked... he's been bleeding his entire time at an immense rate." She questioned why Chad would go so far just to save her instead of just abandoning her at the park. They just met a few hours ago and he was already doing so much for her. "Idiot..." she said to Chad at his complete selflessness. His selflessness was his main cause of being in this state in the first place.
Removing his shirt to begin patching up his wounds, she gasped in a shock. A sight that gave her chills down her spine, something that a normal human shouldn't have. Chad's torso was filled with many different types of scars, amassing to hundreds of scars. The scars were so gnarly that they didn't seem to be simple wounds, more like terrible battle-scars that must've felt like hell to experience.