Nickyle's movements were imperceptible and unstoppable.
The student that commenced this confrontation, the one with an uncontrollable mouth that spoke before understanding the situation, found that his face was viciously gripped and then slammed into a wall headfirst.
As his body slumped to the ground, his head dragged against the wall, leaving a trail of blood.
The other two immediately realized that something was most certainly wrong.
But before they or Elissa could react, these two students had their faces seized in a similarly forceful grip and were yanked into the air before being slammed into the ground.
Bang!
Under their heads, a small crater formed under their head, and blood seeped out, dying their heads red and forming a small puddle…
They were unconscious now.
No one made a sound.
Nickyle groaned and glanced at them one last time before retreating into his room.
Anon's head vanished from the students' view as he returned to his bed.
Naturally, the rest of the students obediently listened to Elissa and quickly learned about the special program.
Whether some were filled with indignance, or others felt that it was unfair, no matter the feeling, no one was daring enough to voice their thoughts.
As time passed, word inevitably spread, about the six geniuses, and about Nickyle's actions. When they thought that Nickyle would be reprimanded or disciplined, they waited, waited, and waited.
Evidently, the rules were nonexistent.
Oh, well no killing…
More accurately, a stellar fighter should not kill another stellar fighter, and there should be no acts of reproduction between students.
When returning to his bed, Anon attempted to enter the dreamworld once more, but he could not.
Today, due to the orientation ceremony and whatnot, there were to be no classes.
"Nickyle was odd..." Anon thought aloud.
Not just his overly aggressive actions, but it was obvious from his appearance too, that there was something wrong.
Sickness…
Anon did not get sick at any point in his life.
But this wasn't special.
Even though mutated diseases saw the birth of much more dangerous diseases, even the average earthling now, rarely, if ever, suffers from sicknesses like a stuffy nose and fever.
As for stellar fighters, like Anon, like Nickyle, sicknesses should not be something that they experienced in their life.
'More importantly,' Anon swiftly forgot Nickyle and smiled, 'Initially, I predicted that with the gravity room, I might just be capable of breaking this bottleneck.'
Instead, such a prediction, he soon realized, was overly undermining the greatness of the gravity room.
'Maybe by in the middle of August, or even, at the end of this month,' Anon thought, 'Once I enter the second world, I can catch up to Seth, at least, somewhat. Who knows, there might be some surprises with my Inevitable End.'
Thinking like this, he began a round of cultivation.
Since it was a day-off, they were forbidden from entering places like the combat hall, instead being told about things such as, resting the spirit is just as important for nurturing it as cultivation is…
Like this, time passed.
Lunch came and went, and it was here that the students began understanding a little bit about the camp of ten thousand.
There were only two cafeterias, one on the third floor of the male dorm for the top thirty students, and the other in the female one.
Only after the thirty students had their lunch would the students from the other dorms with lesser rankings be permitted into the dorms and enter the cafeteria.
More importantly, much less these lesser ranking students, even those thirty students did not get lunch today.
Anon was focused on cultivation.
Even though he knew that this act implicated others, he did not care.
On a different note, neither Cassius nor Felix had crossed paths with Anon, but the official rankings were released, so Felix was able to learn of Anon's existence, and his entry into military zone #91 at an earlier date.
More than that, he learned of Anon's influence.
It was a complex feeling.
In one hand, he was happy for this friend of his, but at the same time, there was a thick layer of envy.
More than that, at this moment, he was undergoing his own hardships too, so Anon's success truly brought a complex feeling.
Until now, he remained unknowing of the changes that had undergone in the psyche of this 'friend' of his.
Change…
Anon did not change much, but it was a subtle change that was simultaneously obvious for those that knew him well.
Yet, how many people truly knew and understood Anon?
But this change...
For example, he was thinking of Nickyle's oddness earlier.
When changing the subject, he didn't think like, 'Well, this doesn't concern me,' as he would have normally thought in the past.
Instead, it was akin to his thoughts on Nickyle reaching an absolute threshold, and so, he simply skimmed past his previous focus on Nickyle.
Anyways, compared to his previous persona, this was only a slightly subtle change, so it did not really matter...
Once more, time passed.
Dinner arrived and departed like a gust of wind, and it was time for sleep.
Again, Anon did not go to the cafeteria, so no one had dinner.
Well, no student at least.
Military zone #91's staff had a field day with the excess food.
On the other hand, Anon went to bed, but did not sleep.
He stared into the darkness for an unusual length of time.
When his eyes closed, he entered the lands of dream, but he did not suffer from any nightmares.
He had no dream.
It was like any other dreamless night.
And yet, he jumped out of bed, pressing his hand against his chest, therein, his heart thumped erratically.
"I… did not… have any nightmares..."
Breathing in deeply, Anon exhaled a cold breath and maneuvered to the edge of the bed before standing to his feet.
Sighing, he approached the window and manually opened the blinds.
The skies were dark, not red.
The moon was red, not grey.
Anon's eyes slowly widened.
It wasn't due to the surprise he felt towards the change in the world, but because of his eyes themselves.
He felt like...
They were a hassle.
So he poked at them and dug them out.
Blood trickled down his cheeks but he was not bothered.
With his hollow eye sockets, he stared into the palm of his hands, at his golden orbed eyes.
He then squeezed his hands tightly.
His eye sockets, previously hollow, regained that pair of amber gold eyes.
Anon's gaze shifted as he saw himself in the window mirror.
As he examined his reflection, he also perceived an unusually tall creature standing behind him.
Anon's head only reached this figure's shin as most of the entity's body phased through the ceiling, and still, Anon looked up and stared at the creature's face.
It was past the ceiling, but he could see.
It was covered by a thin layer of spatial contortion.
But, when perceiving Anon's gaze, the creature's head tilted and turned as it bent down and opened its mouth.
The spatial contortion solidified and cracked as a black hole appeared.
Right after, a hand larger than this entity descended from the dark sky.
This hand went onto squash the creature, causing its body to explode into black gooey substance which splashed onto Anon.
Rising from his bed, Anon did not scream out, and his body wasn't sweating.
He had suffered a nightmare for the first time in a while, but he just stared into the darkness in a daze.
Unknowingly, tears welled up in his eyes as he stared at the empty void.
Trickling down his cheeks, they fell onto his blanket.
Glancing at the wet spot formed by teardrops on his blanket, Anon voiced in a not-so-scared tone, "I am so scared that I cry, and still, I feel nothing, scaring me more. Am I even scared?"
He spoke to the wet spot as if it was a sentient entity.
"Sometimes I wonder what I am."
"Humans are chaotic."
"Devils are malevolent."
"Angels are good."
"But I am not chaotic, nor am I evil, neither am I good, so what am I?"
"More than that... what is chaos?"
"What is malevolence?"
"What is goodness?"
Anon tilted his head, confused, "Can't good be corrupted? Can't malevolence be purified? Can't chaos be quelled?"
"Yet, is good, good? Is a good angel an evil devil? Is a chaotic human a neutral universe?"
The wet spot disappeared, so he turned his gaze to the void, "What am I afraid of? So, what… If I'm nothing, then I'll become everything."
"If I'm not, then I'll become."
Something in the void asked, "So, what are you, Anon?"
Anon chuckled.
He turned to the void.
The voice had originated from every direction.
"You know it, why ask?" Anon's tone was odd.
It wasn't shaky, like the voice of someone previously in tears.
There were no perceptible emotions like confidence or even an act of indifference.
"I want you to say it." The dark said this in a commanding tone.
"I am…"
"I Am…"