"David Crez! You're next," announced the homeroom teacher, Alex, his voice echoing throughout the room.
'Why must it be me?' David Crez mumbled inwardly as he approached his homeroom teacher. His hands were behind his back, and his gaze was fixed on the floor. He bowed slightly to Alex before raising his eyes. His gaze met the teacher's cold stare, and a shiver ran down his spine, causing him to quickly look down again.
"Am I to choose my opponent, Teacher Alex?" he asked, trying hard not to stutter, his eyes still on the floor.
"There's no need for that. I've already picked an opponent for you," Alex replied, causing David's heart to skip a beat.
'Teacher Alex picked an opponent on my behalf. This is not good,' David thought as images of his previous spars with other students flashed in his mind. He had lost every single challenge and now thought his homeroom teacher wanted to punish him. What better way than to have him beaten?
"Come forward, Larry Quinn." As the words left Alex's mouth, David's head turned toward the direction where Larry was approaching, and a cruel smile crept across his face.
'Lady Luck remembers me this time around.'
The students split into two groups, creating a pathway for whoever was approaching, their heads also tilted backward.
The room fell silent, except for the tapping sound of a stick as a figure approached. Larry Quinn was clad in a white shirt and white pants, just like the other students. He was barefoot and used a brown stick for guidance.
"I can't believe the homeroom teacher allowed him to fight," Peter whispered to his friend, who nodded in agreement.
"He's just a blind loser. I'm sure he won't last a minute," Peter's friend replied with a smirk hidden at the corner of his lips.
"A minute is an exaggeration," Peter replied, pushing his foot forward. At that moment, the brown stick brushed past his leg and continued forward, leading Larry to Alex.
Larry stumbled, and the stick flew out of his grip. The marble floor seemed to rise up, pulling him into an embrace.
A loud thud echoed as Larry's body crashed onto the hard floor, causing him to groan. The students laughed uncontrollably as they watched Larry struggle to get to his feet.
"Oh, poor Larry. I'm so sorry about that. I didn't see you coming, and I guess you didn't see me either."
Larry's expression turned to anger when he heard the familiar voice.
"You did that on purpose, didn't you?" Larry asked as he struggled to stand, directing his question at Peter. He recognized the voice.
"Peter did nothing. Maybe you weren't looking, or—oh, I forgot you can't see," Peter's friend taunted, and Larry clenched his fists.
They knew he couldn't see and were using it to taunt him. 'I won't take this,' he said to himself as he prepared to strike, but a voice stopped him almost immediately.
"That's enough. Let the fight begin."
David didn't wait for the homeroom teacher to finish his speech before charging forward with all his might. He covered the distance between him and Larry within seconds, pushing out his right fist.
Larry's back was turned to David, but his ear twitched at the sound approaching his head. Swiftly, he bent his head leftward, and as David's fist passed through his former position, Larry launched his own attack.
The students gasped as Larry's elbow connected with David's stomach, pushing him back four steps before he regained his composure.
'What the heck? That hurt,' David cursed inwardly, holding his stomach with one hand as Larry faced him with his arms spread out.
'Why is he so confident? Did he think he could take me on? He's blind, after all. Taking him down should be easy,' David thought as he charged forward again.
This time, he aimed a straight kick at Larry's left jaw. Once again, Larry was able to predict the attack, but instead of dodging, he took the hit head-on.
Larry retaliated with a devastating punch to David's leg, causing it to bounce back, followed by another punch to David's face.
'I'm not falling for this twice,' David thought as he bent backward, causing the blow to pass over his head.
'Oh no, he dodged,' Larry panicked, making a hasty retreat, but it was too late. David's foot brushed against Larry's chin, sending him flying through the air. Larry crashed four feet away, landing on his back.
"And I thought he was going to change the tide today," Peter's friend whispered to him, causing Peter to chuckle.
"That's for the next life. What can an ordinary human like him do? He's nothing but a blind loser," Peter replied as they waited for Larry to get up.
From David's perspective, Larry seemed to be taking an eternity to get up. He wanted to charge in immediately, but he knew Homeroom Teacher Alex wouldn't approve. Alex seemed to favor Larry more than any other student.
After what felt like forever, Larry finally got to his feet with his hands folded, waiting for David to charge again. A slight cut was visible on his chin, and his expression was hidden behind a black blindfold tied around his eyes.
But one thing was certain: Larry was determined to win this fight to prove he wasn't a weakling despite his disability. Similarly, David was determined not to be a laughingstock. Losing to a blind opponent would be a great shame.
David charged at Larry once more, and the students cleared the area for them. He threw blow after blow in rapid succession while Larry took a defensive stance, struggling to block and dodge the attacks.
But Larry couldn't keep up with the speed. The blows came from different directions, confusing him, and he ended up receiving three straight punches to the face and one to the lower rib.
He managed to catch one blow aimed at his stomach, and with all his might, he pulled David forward and butted his head.
Clang!
The sound of metal rang through the room as Larry's head collided with David's. A smile spread across David's face as Larry's grip loosened. David raised both hands to deliver the finishing blow, but Alex stopped him.
Shocked, David turned to Alex with his mouth wide open and his hands still held tightly by the teacher.
"I made it clear that no energy was to be used, and you went ahead and activated your Gaia core," Alex said, staring hard at David, who was now shivering.
Larry realized what had happened: when he had butted David, David had already activated his Gaia core, giving him a stone-like skin. That was why it had sounded like metal.
Unable to suppress the pain any longer, Larry fell to one knee.
"The match is over. There is no winner," Alex announced, releasing David and quickly turning to Larry.
Placing his hand on Larry's forehead, Alex healed him, making the pain disappear and energizing him once more.
"Wait, Zach... did he just heal him?" Peter asked his friend, unsure of what he had seen.
"Teacher Alex seems to favor Larry more than any of us," Zach replied as they watched the teacher turn and leave the classroom.
"David Crez, meet me in the staff room. The class is over," Teacher Alex's voice echoed, and David's eyes filled with tears. He wanted to reveal that Peter had forced him to activate his core but knew it would only make things worse.
"You really impressed me today. Keep it up, Larry Quinn," Teacher Alex said, and a smile formed on Larry's face.
The students murmured among themselves, surprised that their teacher had praised a blind student who had not yet activated his energy core.
"Thank you, Sir Alex," Larry said quietly, but it was enough for the teacher to hear.
Peter's frustration grew. Teacher Alex had never praised him despite being his top student, but he had praised someone who hadn't even awakened their energy core.
'That blind loser... I'm going to show him his place,' Peter thought.