"100 laps around the field."
As soon as Arlder said this Luck's heart sank, he didn't go through the preliminaries with them so why did he have to serve the punishment as well?
He looked towards Arlder hoping to be exempted but from the face he was giving it was obvious that he was going to serve the same punishment.
'Damn.'
The students took to the field and after stretching they all began their punishment.
"Why do we have to jog when someone got the answer right?" Luck asked Layla who was jogging next to him.
"Because it's Noah"
"Huh?"
"It is kind of expected that Noah would know the answer, if he had answered earlier Arlder wouldn't have known threat the rest of us were blank."
"And why didn't you and the rest of them know?"
"It wasn't taught in the preliminaries."
"But Glasses knew the answer."
"Yes, he did."
"That's why you should read your books! Now we have to run 100 laps because you guys refused to study." Luck said, upset that he had to go on what he considered to be an unfair punishment.
Then things got worse.
The heat of the sun increased 3 fold smiting the students with all its might, whatever energy they tried to conserve with their slow strides was suddenly washed away by the hot sun and the students began to pant.
"I can't do this for much longer." Layla complained, she was already slowing down and Luck had to reduce his pace to match her.
The loose strands of her dark purple hair were matted on the skin of her sweaty face and she took heavy breaths.
And she was not the only one, most of the students were now slowing down as well. Everyone was feeling the effects of newly added factor the intensity of the sun.
And the field wasn't helping them either! Having to hop past stones or overgrown weed at times even made it harder to jog around the field but they still kept going either way.
It was not as though Luck was not fatigued or feeling the effects of the sun, in fact he was currently getting cooked by its rays but he still maintained his cool.
'I can't be caught looking unfresh!' He thought to himself.
Ahead of them a girl he recalled was called Diana suddenly fell down flat of the field and the other students ran past her.
'This is great!' Luck thought. 'Someone dropping out is sure to start a chain reaction that would cause other students to drop out as well!
And he was right.
Moments later…
"Ahhh my legs feel so weak." Layla screamed pretending to be at her limit and dropped to the ground. Luck applauded her in his head.
'Yes! Yes! Now others follow suit.'
And just like that the other students began to drop one by one until only two students were left jogging. Ella and Luck.
Finally! Once she stopped running he would run for about 10 seconds and then stop, even though he didn't finish the race he would still look good.
But after running 10 more laps Ella was still going.
'What is wrong with this girl?!'
At this point Luck's feet were burning, he could feel the full effects of the pyruvic acid build up in his muscles which caused him to slow down a little to mitigate the pain. But he could not go on forever, and he would not stop first.
His shirt was already soaked by this point and his breath was becoming shaky, he could not maintain this facade of indifference for much longer, he needed Ella to quit or he might end up completing the track.
'The worse possible conclusion.'
He looked over to Ella, it was clear that she was in a deplorable state. She was breathing heavily and her legs shook with each step, she was utterly exhausted but she still kept pushing forward with her entire focus on the road in front of her.
'Why are you doing this to me?!' Luck wondered, his legs would definitely be sore after this.
Along the way something extremely lucky happened! Ella tripped and Luck knew that this was the golden opportunity he had been waiting for.
Everything seemed to move in slow motion as Luck observed Ella. 'Just a little more.' Luck thought as her knee approached the ground. When she inevitably fell he would stop and offer her a hand ending the race!
'T–that is genius!'
But unfortunately for him in the blink of an eye, Ella regained her footing and catapulted herself forward.
'What the f–.'
•••
Arlder smiled as he watched Luck and Ella race through the field, the rest of his lazy students had already crawled their way back to him and were now gulping down bottles upon bottles of water. He would think of a punishment for them later.
Initially he had planned to start the class with Noah alone but to his surprise Noah decided to wait until they could all learn together.
And that was why he was now overseeing the punishment.
Unlike the other students from where he stood he could clearly see Luck and Ella as the pushed forward.
He liked the competitive environment the two of them were beginning to develop after all one of the fastest ways to develop is to have someone who consistently pushed you to get stronger.
Although this might not affect Luck much, he was sure it would have a huge effect on Ella.
He turned around to Layla who had obviously faked her fall, she wasn't even trying to act any more, she just sat there watching Luck and Ella go.
'Maybe I should give her alone an extra punishment?' He wondered briefly before refocusing on the Field.
At this point Ella and Luck had already reached their limit but neither wanted to stop first. Frankly it was amusing.
Ella almost tripped at a point but after looking over to where the rest of her classmates stood she caught herself and increased her pace.
'I guess her reputation was also one thing that was pushing her.' She sprinted some distance but that was all she could do before she slipped once more, from where Arlder stood he knew she wouldn't be able to catch herself like she did the last time, she had no energy left.
For whatever reason he didn't want to see her fall.
Within seconds Arlder was in front of her and the force of her sprint sent her into his arms but he stood firmly preventing her from falling, her sweat soaking up his shirt.
"You did well," he whispered.
Luck on the other hand finally stopped running, giving a huge sigh of relief.
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[A/N]
I really loved writing this chapter I hope you enjoyed reading it as well, what did you guys think about the entire race? Lol.
I am competing in WSA2024, your support will mean a lot!
Thanks for reading!