The walk back to the dorm was interrupted by Kelvin's sharp intake of breath. Noah turned to find his friend staring at his tablet, face pale as chalk.
"What now?" Noah asked, stepping closer.
Kelvin wordlessly turned the tablet toward him. The academy's student forum filled the screen, its interface completely foreign to Noah. His eyes widened as he read the trending topic:
[SUNSET SHOWDOWN: Raven (1A) vs Zombie Boy (1B)]
"What is this?" Noah leaned closer, genuinely confused. "We have a forum?"
"Wait," Kelvin looked up from his tablet. "You don't know about the student forum? How do you not—" Understanding dawned on his face. "You don't have a tablet, do you?"
Noah shifted uncomfortably. He'd never been ashamed of his circumstances before, but moments like these made the gap between him and his classmates feel like a chasm. "Miss Harper's salary covers the essentials. A tablet isn't one of them."
Kelvin's expression softened before turning back to the screen. "This is bad, Noah. Really bad. Look at these comments." He scrolled through the feed. "Students from every year are planning to come. There's even a betting pool running." His voice dropped. "The odds are 5:1 against you."
Noah stared at the screen, his mind racing. How had a simple confrontation exploded into this? And 'Zombie Boy'? The cave incident had happened weeks ago. He'd had no idea it had made him some kind of minor celebrity.
Back in their dorm room, Kelvin couldn't keep still. He paced the length of their small room, tablet still in hand, occasionally reading out new comments and growing bet amounts. Noah sat on his bed, externally calm but internally processing everything that had happened.
"You could throw the fight," Kelvin suggested, stopping his pacing. "Just... take the hit early, claim a muscle cramp. This doesn't have to be a spectacle."
Noah thought of his secret companion in the domain, of how he'd been feeding Nyx premium beast cores to help him grow strong. He thought of the mysterious void loot box waiting to be claimed. "No," he said firmly. "I'm not throwing anything."
Kelvin ran his hands through his hair in frustration.The Noah he knew from before the cave incident would have been hiding under his bed by now. That Noah avoided trouble like it was carrying a plague. But ever since that day, when he and Lila barely survived the level 3 beast.
"This isn't like you, Noah. You used to be..." He trailed off.
"Used to be what? The quiet kid who never made waves?" Noah stood up, walking to their shared closet. "Don't worry about me. I got myself into this. Stay back here and let me go handle my own mess," Noah said nonchalantly.
As evening settled over the academy grounds, Noah changed into a simple black hoodie and pants. He could feel Kelvin watching him, concern radiating off his friend in waves. The same friend who'd known him before the cave incident, before Nyx, before the void system had turned his life upside down.
[Time Until Quest Deadline: 15 minutes]
[Current Spectator Count: 247]
"I still think this is crazy," Kelvin said softly as Noah headed for the door.
Noah paused in the doorway. "Maybe it is.But sometimes crazy is all we've got."
The door closed behind him with a quiet click, leaving Kelvin alone with his worries and a forum full of spectators eagerly awaiting the evening's entertainment.
The setting sun painted the academy's western grounds in shades of amber and crimson as Noah made his way toward the old training area. His footsteps echoed against worn concrete paths, each step bringing him closer to the growing murmur of voices carried on the evening breeze.
The academy's stance on student conflicts had always been clear - or rather, clearly absent. In a world where humanity fought daily for survival against Beasts and Harbingers, there was no room for fragility. The philosophy was simple: if you had a problem with someone, you settled it. The academy didn't just allow it; they encouraged it. It was preparation for the real world, where hesitation meant death and weakness invited defeat.
'Just like the Harbinger wars,' Noah thought, remembering Miss Brooks's lessons. 'No rules except survival.'
The old training grounds lay in a depression behind the academy's main buildings, surrounded by towering storage containers and defunct machinery. Years ago, it had been the primary combat training facility until newer, more advanced areas were built. Now it served a different purpose - a proving ground where scores could be settled away from official oversight.
The distant chatter grew louder as Noah approached. Through gaps in the containers, he could see figures moving, shadows stretching in the dying light. The location was perfect - far enough from the regular patrol routes and obscured by the maze of storage units. No authority figure would "accidentally" stumble upon this gathering.
'Smart choice, Raven,' Noah admitted to himself. 'No one to stop whatever you've got planned.'
The crowd was larger than he'd expected. Students perched on containers, leaned against walls, formed tight circles around what had become an impromptu arena. The air buzzed with excitement and speculation, countless tablets recording what was about to unfold.
'At least two hundred,' Noah calculated, scanning the crowd. 'Maybe more hiding in the shadows. News travels fast when there's blood in the water.'
He recognized faces from all years - first-years eager for violence, second-years placing bets, even some third-years watching with clinical interest. This wasn't just a fight anymore; it was entertainment, a spectacle.
As he moved through the crowd, Noah's mind raced through scenarios. He'd given Raven time to prepare, a tactical error he was already regretting. Without access to his newly acquired abilities - the system's conditions were clear on that - he was limited to pure physical combat.
'Second-generation talent,' Noah mused, recalling Raven's boast. 'But what kind? Combat enhancement? Energy manipulation? Sensory type?'
The bigger question loomed: would Raven use his talent? This wasn't a supervised spar with rules and referees. Raven had made that crystal clear. This was about pride, about putting the "talentless" student from 1B in his place.
'I need to think differently,' Noah realized. 'Can't match raw power, can't rely on speed alone. Need to find angles he won't expect.'
The crowd parted as he approached the makeshift arena, whispers following in his wake. "Zombie Boy," they called him, the one who'd survived the cave incident. The name should have bothered him, but instead, he felt a strange thrill.
'Maybe Kelvin's right,' Noah thought, a small smile playing at his lips. 'Death might have changed me more than I realized.'
The "arena" was a cleared space about thirty feet in diameter, marked by scattered glow-sticks that cast an eerie blue light in the growing darkness. Old training mats had been dragged out to cover the hardest parts of the ground - a small mercy that might prevent death, if not serious injury.
Students pressed against the makeshift boundary, tablets raised, eager to capture every moment. Money changed hands as final bets were placed. In the distance, the academy's main buildings stood dark against the twilight sky, authority deliberately turning a blind eye to what everyone knew would happen.
'No rules,' Noah reminded himself. 'No backup. No void abilities.' His hands curled into fists. 'Just me, whatever Raven's got planned, and a whole lot of bad decisions.'
The crowd's murmur suddenly shifted, a ripple of excitement washing through the gathered students. Raven had arrived at the opposite end of the arena, flanked by his earlier entourage. He'd changed too - combat pants, fitted shirt, and what looked like reinforced gloves.
'This isn't about winning for him,' Noah realized, noting the preparations. 'This is about making a statement.'
The system reminder flickered in his vision:
[Quest Status: Active]
[Objective: Defeat Raven without special abilities]
[Reward: Void Loot Box]
[Warning: Significant risk detected]
Looking at Raven's confident smirk, Noah couldn't help but agree with the system's assessment. To win this, he'd need more than just his fists - he'd need every lesson learned in combat class, every scrap of tactical thinking he possessed, and probably a healthy dose of luck.
The sun dipped below the horizon, leaving only the glow-sticks and scattered tablet screens illuminating the arena. In the artificial twilight, Noah could feel the weight of hundreds of eyes on him, waiting to see if the "Zombie Boy" would rise to the challenge or fall like everyone expected.
'Well,' he thought, stepping into the arena proper, 'at least it won't be boring.'
A figure stepped into the glow-stick-lit arena. Noah didn't recognize him, but the way he carried himself - that military-trained posture that came from years of combat drilling - marked him as someone who'd seen his share of fights. The guy in question looked about two to three years older than Noah.
'Second year,' Noah noted. 'Old enough to have authority, young enough to still enjoy the show.'
The makeshift referee cleared his throat, voice carrying across the now-hushed crowd. "Rules are simple because there aren't any. No holds barred. Victory comes by surrender or..." he paused, a slight smile playing at his lips, "incapacitation."
'Wonderful,' Noah thought. 'That could mean anything from knockout to dismemberment.'
The ping of credit transfers echoed through the gathering, digital currency flowing as freely as the whispers. Final bets being placed, odds being calculated, all on whether the "Zombie Boy" would survive his second brush with death.
Raven stepped forward, moonlight glinting off his reinforced gloves. "Last chance to back out, Eclipse. Admit you cheated, and maybe I'll only break one arm."
Noah's response was just a smile - nervous energy disguised as confidence. He could feel sweat forming on his palms, but to the crowd, he probably looked eerily calm.
'Keep talking, Raven. Every word tells me more about how you fight.'
Among the sea of faces surrounding the arena, a familiar blonde head stood out. It was Lila. Much like everyone here, she'd seen the forum announcement too and made it a must to be here.
She watched intently, her usual playful expression replaced by something more calculating.
The truth was the cave incident had left her with questions - how had Noah, with his supposedly useless perfect echo ability, managed to take down a level 3 beast? She'd been there, trapped with him, yet the memory still didn't make sense.
'Show me,' her eyes seemed to say. 'Show me what you're really capable of.'
Far above the excited chatter and nervous energy of the crowd, four figures stood atop a distant container, their presence unknown to the students below.These weren't just any students – they were living legends within the academy, ranked among the elite top 25.
Micah Reeds, ranked fifth, stood at the edge, his position earned through countless victories and an uncanny ability to analyze combat patterns.
Beside him, Kane Wilson, the number 2 in the academy, cut an impressive figure with his shock of white hair and a facial scar that told stories of battles better left unspoken. His mere presence made the massive container feel small beneath his feet.
Sienna Voss, third on the list, stood slightly apart from the others, her gothic attire and dark lipstick contrasting against her pale skin. The infamous Ice Queen of the academy hadn't earned her nickname solely from her appearance – her cold precision in combat had left many opponents frozen in both fear and actual ice.
Leaning casually against a steel beam was Xavier Chen, ranked fourth, his red scarf fluttering in the evening breeze. He watched the scene below with sharp, calculating eyes behind wire-rimmed glasses.
"Quite the interest you're showing, Micah," Kane Wilson, the number 2, said, his tone carrying the boredom of someone who had seen too much to be easily impressed. "This… Noah Eclipse, was it? What makes a 1B student worth our attention?"
Micah didn't immediately respond, his gaze remained fixed on Noah's figure below. "There's something about him that doesn't add up. The cave incident reports were… inconsistent."
"Inconsistent how?" Xavier Chen, the number 4, adjusted his glasses, his curiosity piqued, but Kane raised a hand to silence him.
"A level 3 beast," Kane mused, finally showing a flicker of interest. "Killed by a student with no combat ability. Either the reports were wrong…"
"Or we're about to see something interesting," Micah finished, his voice tinged with intrigue.
Sienna's cold eyes narrowed slightly, the closest thing to interest she had shown all evening.
Below, unaware of the powerful eyes watching him, Noah took his position. The referee raised his hand, the crowd held its breath, and somewhere in Noah's mind, the system silently counted down to the beginning of his quest.
The referee's hand dropped, and with it, the last chance for either of the two to walk away.However,the odds of that happening where nonexistent.
One fought for pride, for status, for what he believed was his rightful place.
The other fought for a mystery box he couldn't explain and a growing suspicion that death had left him with more than just a nickname.
Zombie boy had to step up.