After that dream, Alex could no longer sleep that night, so he stayed up, just practicing his circulation throughout the night to keep growing stronger.
The first day came, and it was time to head to breakfast and then class. He got dressed in the black uniform with a purple-embroidered cross on the back and front.
It seemed like Ace had gotten his size and given it to the academy, so they knew what to prepare for him.
Breakfast was held in the massive cafeteria, based on what the map said, so he headed there. He arrived without issue, but he immediately noticed something.
This cafeteria held all four years of students, and there was a clear and crisp distinction amongst them that showed what class was what class.
But Alex couldn't be bothered by all that. He picked a tray and joined the line, basically vanishing into it because of his small body.
When he got to the top of the line, he placed his tray down, and the lunch lady, who seemed to have seen better days, slapped on the food.
Alex walked away and scanned for a seat, and then he found one—but at a dangerous spot. The seat was very close to the border of the second years.
In fact, you could say it stood on the line, and so no one sat there. But to Alex, he was already giving them way too much respect for even choosing to sit there and not directly on their side.
He walked there, placed his tray on the table, and sat down. He immediately began to eat. The taste was bland and empty, but he gobbled it up.
Unlike him, the seniors got better food the higher the class went, but he wasn't bothered by that. Halfway through his food, he felt a hand on his shoulder.
He paused in his eating when he felt it, and then he continued to eat. With a mouthful, he said, "Be careful where you place your hands." He turned his head, and his eyes met those of the second year who had touched him.
For some reason, the second year felt fear looking into Alex's eyes, so much so that he subconsciously withdrew his hand. But when he realized it, the disgraceful scene had already happened.
If he walked away now, he would become a laughingstock. So, whatever it was that he just felt, he didn't care—he just had to make sure he sent a clear message to this idiot.
"You are sitting in the wrong place, little kid. Wait, you look so tiny, like you don't even belong here. What's your age?" the boy asked.
But Alex ignored him, eating his food as though the person behind him wasn't there. People started laughing at the boy, and he got filled with rage.
He grabbed the tray and dragged it from underneath Alex, throwing it to the ground and causing Alex's food to splatter.
But Alex didn't move. He had already learned the rules of the academy, and in the academy, the use of darkness in self-defense was very much allowed.
Alex was just baiting this idiot to touch him, and then he would let hell loose. Even if this idiot had darkness, he had only gotten it at the age of twelve.
He was definitely more inexperienced with the use of darkness. But Alex? He had it for years and had been practicing.
He might not be able to kill a crawler, but he sure as hell could beat a kid close to death.
When the boy saw that Alex didn't react, he finally snapped. He sent a slap.
"I said get the hell up!" he yelled, his palm getting close to Alex. Alex allowed the slap to collide with his face, but with the collision, he activated his control of darkness.
It wrapped around his fist like a glove, and then small spikes formed on it. He then used dark tendrils like a spring and pushed himself from falling due to the slap.
He came up with a powerful punch to the boy's face. His fist smashed into the face, and the spikes that weren't deep enough to kill dug into the boy's flesh.
Blood splattered on the ground as the boy fell back in pain, writhing on the floor. It happened so fast that people couldn't react.
Alex stopped using his darkness and walked out of the cafeteria without looking back once. The whole place was still quiet as they watched him leave.
Immediately after Alex left, some second years rallied around the boy who got hit. He was barely conscious at this point.
They carried him and immediately took him to the nurse's office to get treated.
---
Inside a dark room, three figures sat in the darkness, their faces hidden, as they watched the screen showing what had happened in the cafeteria.
They watched the whole fight until Alex lashed out and knocked the second year down.
"He is a smart kid. He baited the second year with his actions. He wanted the second year to take the first attack, and anything he did after that would be self-defense.
Even an extreme measure like he used. He devised the plan from the moment he felt the hand touch his shoulder," one figure said.
"He is filled with rage, that is for sure. Is he not the one Ace brought?" a feminine voice asked.
"He is, and his rage is well-placed because what he has seen as a ten-year-old, even in this cruel world, he should never have seen.
Now his mind is twisted and plotting. A ten-year-old should not be plotting so easily, yet he is. It goes to show just how much his mind has been changed," the third figure said.
"We should watch him closely. I have the feeling that we are about to witness the most interesting academy year we have seen in a very long while," the first said.