There was a snap and whip as the bowstring was released, an arrow whistling through the air toward John, who simply leaned to the left ever so slightly, taking nothing more than a small cut as he charged toward his opponents.

"Idiot! You're rushing to your death!"

There was no response as John stomped his foot into the ground, pushing off with a massive amount of force as he catapulted himself toward his opponents, who'd been caught off guard by the sudden move.

Now that he was in their ranks, there was chaos. John continued to stick to the boy with the spear, who was now practically useless as his weapon could no longer do any effective harm. Even if he tried to swing, John would simply block the attack by grabbing his arm and twisting, causing the boy to yell in pain as muscles reached the verge of tearing. John was rather disappointed that it hadn't done anything more than that, but such was the consequence of dealing with a magic system he didn't fully understand.

Not only was the boy's spear rendered useless, but the other boys were helpless as well. They couldn't swing their swords for fear of hurting their teammate, and the archer couldn't fire for the very same reason. Their main advantage had just been lost.

"You idiot! Shoot your bow!"

"I can't! Why don't you do something about it?"

"How!?"

In just a minute, John had wrestled the spear out of the boy's hand, snapped it in half, and tossed the end with the metal to the side. Taking what was now just a wooden stick, he began to beat his enemy over and over mercilessly. The mana reinforcement stopped any serious harm, but the beating had to hurt. These boys were nowhere near Destiny's level.

Once the boy was on the ground, shaking, John turned around to the others with a gleam in his eye. An uncharacteristic sadistic grin as his hands shook, itching for the next beatdown. It felt good. Really good. Why? He wasn't a sadist. He wasn't fond of beating the shit out of others.

So why was he enjoying this so much?

"Next."

Not giving them time to react, he went on to the next boy and began the same process all over again. Swords were more dangerous at this range, but it didn't matter. They weren't properly trained.

Their teachers were decent, John had to admit. Scholaris was a good school. Scholaris also had yet to teach the students how to fight against someone like John. He was fighting dirty, picking up dirt, spitting in the eyes, pulling hair.

This wasn't a fight. It was a messy scuffle with no holds barred.

"Do you have no honour?!"

"Honour? What the hell is that?" John laughed. "I'm the one who's gonna win, right? Who the fuck cares about honour if you lose?"

"What of your reputation?"

John just laughed again. "What reputation? Does it look like I give a flying fuck about that?"

With yet another boy down, the rest seemed to realize that hitting each other was a risk they'd have to take. Thankfully, none of them appeared to be exceptionally skilled, but John had known that going into the battle.

After all, they were [Side Characters]. As things that were used to advance the [Plot], they were only ever as helpful as they needed to be. There was no way these types of fools would be strong.

"Just get him! No matter what it takes!"

The crowd had gone silent by this point, stunned by the sheer violence of the fight they were watching. One student had already been sent to get the nurse, although that probably wouldn't be needed. No matter how brutal John was trying to be, it was still an ordinary human against superpowered children.

The two remaining swordsmen began to take him on at once, circling around him like vultures stalking roadkill. It seemed they were smart enough not to line up like schoolboys at lunch, instead surrounding him to ensure that one boy was on either side of him at any given time.

John clenched his teeth. They weren't total fools.

"That's it. There's no going back now. We're gonna mess you up, punk!"

They charged, swords raised high. John's eyes flicked back and forth, looking for the right opportunity. They swung in the only direction they could, down, giving John room to dodge to the left. He used his foot to stamp on the flat of one blade, bringing its wielder down to the ground with it. Leaving no room for recovery, he dropped his knee onto the boy's head, knocking him back, stunning him.

The other boy was already swinging his sword again, and John didn't have the time or speed to dodge. A deep cut was drawn right down John's chest, dark red blood spilling out, but he didn't even wince. [Determination] was strong enough that all he felt was a mild sting. Coating his hand with the thick liquid, he flung his arm out, painting the noble's eyes with blood, blinding him.

"Argh! What the fuck?!"

Before he could pass out, John dashed forward, tackling his enemy and twisting his body to use the boy as a meat shield, forcing him to take the arrow meant for him.

The final noble stared at the bloody battlefield and dropped his bow.

"I- I surrender."

"Haah… haah… good to know."

His head was starting to feel light. Just because his pain resistance had been jacked through the roof didn't mean his body wouldn't suffer the consequences of the damage he took. The blood loss was getting to him, and the wound in his chest wouldn't close on its own. He quickly took his scarf off, wrapping it around his body, but a cut like this wasn't something he could bandage.

"Prota, can you-"

Right. She wasn't there anymore. Come to think of it, hadn't he promised her that he'd be less reckless?

"Ah, shit," he mumbled as he began to succumb to unconsciousness.

~~~

"You what?!"

Draco Wynton stood in the school hospital, staring his subordinates down.

Even within the noble system, there were ranks to how powerful one was. For example, while the Royal Family of each country was the highest in power, there were still Dukes, Earls, and Barons. Dukes held more power than Earls, who held more power than Barons.

How said ranks were achieved was determined by several factors. Things like donations to the Royal Family, contributions toward society, the amount of land owned, and the number of knights commanded were all part of the equation. Even within each tier, there was still a clash of power.

And the Wynton family stood at the top of the human Dukes.

So it made sense that Draco had a bunch of foolish young boys and girls following him around as if he were a god. Anything from poor peasants looking to curry favour in order to find a job after graduating, to children of nobles who'd been ordered to develop good relations with powerful families, they were all sucking up to him.

Even if you had no need to suck up to nobles, they still held immense power over you. Children had family outside of the school that could be threatened. Even if that was something nobles had no control over, people could always be threatened with rumours being spread, or a guarantee that they'd never land a job anywhere.

Power was something that was not easily erased.

So even though the five boys sitting in bed were nobility, they were still cowering at the figure of Draco looming over them.

"There were five of you. And you lost?!"

"He- you told us he had no mana!" one of the boys cried out. "That was a lie! He was clearly using mana reinforcement!"

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"You dare to speak back to me!?"

The boys flinched as Draco's growl rose in volume to a shout.

"The fact remains that you. Nobility! Those who should stand above mere rats in the streets! Lost to a singular fly who barely has any mana at all!"

"B-but-"

"Shut up!"

Draco's eyes were bloodshot as he took heavy breaths, visibly trying to calm himself down.

"I will give you one more chance. One only."

"Y-yes! Anything!"

"Research him. Find out whatever you can about him. I don't care how, but if I do not get satisfactory results, I will have your families destroyed, do you understand?"

He stormed out of the room without waiting for a response. Normally, his knight or mage would've been there to try to appease him, but with no servants allowed, Draco was free to rampage as much as he wanted. Stomping through the halls, he bodied anyone who was foolish enough to get in his way, and the people went silent as he got close.

"You… you… still!"

His face flushed with anger as he remembered the humiliation he'd felt at John's hands.

"You continue to pester me!"

~~~

John's own hospital room was surprisingly just as chaotic as the noble's room had been, and although he was being pestered for taking such severe injuries, it was out of concern and not out of anger.

"Seriously, I don't know what you were thinking," Destiny sighed. "John, you don't have mana! Even if you are a good fighter, one on five is a little too much, don't you think? Or do you just think Scholaris is full of fools?"

"Both," John muttered.

"Well, I'd lecture you more, but…"

He looked to the door, where frost was beginning to gather at the bottom.

"I think you'll get what's coming to you. Good luck."

"Hey, hold on just a minute-"

The door burst open, and a furious Prota stormed into the room. Her eyebrows were curved downward into a frown, but more than that, her lips were pouting, something John had never seen before. He was in for a world of pain, probably.

"Well, I'll see you later," Destiny said with a hidden smile as he left the room.

John was left alone with his sister, but it didn't feel like that. It was more like staring death itself in the face.

"John."

"Hey, look, I-"

"You said you would be careful."

John flinched. "Look, it was useful, ok? I didn't lose a limb or anything, the doctors helped me, and-"

"Why?"

The cold aura radiating off of Prota intensified. This wasn't a joking matter. She was truly upset about John's actions.

"Prota. You can't just play it safe all the time. I know we don't have [Resets] anymore, but…"

The cold aura subsided a little.

"If I'd known this would become such an issue… ok, we've drilled it into your head that I'm weak. But I'm not, like, a coughing baby. You're not my mom. I'm supposed to be the parent in this relationship, right?"

She backed off a little more.

"You can't stop me from getting hurt. It's going to happen. All we can do is… well, mitigate the damage as much as possible, I guess."

"...why?"

Her voice was shaky, but John understood what she meant. He sighed, grimacing.

"I had to send a message."

"Message?"

"Look. There are bullies in this school, ok? It's stupid, but they exist. I don't want to deal with them. So right now, I have to let them know that fucking around means finding out, and finding out means getting the shit beat out of you."

"Bullies…"

Prota thought back to her time on the streets. Kicked, abused, spat on, chased away, starved and exhausted. Were those people bullies, then? Did they do all that to her because they enjoyed it? Because it gave them satisfaction?

John sighed, sitting up. The healing they'd done had stabilized him to the point that he felt he could move around again. Still, the nurses had insisted that he get at least a day's worth of rest, so it seemed he'd be stuck in here for a while. Well, not that he cared.

"You can't protect me from stuff like this, Prota. When I asked you to be my protector, it was… ah, what am I saying? You can do what you want. It's fine."

Prota climbed into his bed, curling up beside him. She really had been worried. She was supposed to protect him. How was she supposed to do that while separated from him? How could she fulfill her role when he was off doing stuff like this?

Back in the Town of Beginnings, she'd always been with him. She'd done her best to protect him. If he'd been injured, it was usually due to a situation out of her control.

But this was a place where she could easily fill her role. If she went all out, it would be relatively easy to deal with these students who'd experienced but a fraction of the hell she'd gone through. So, in a way, this was more frustrating than anything else. But John's logic made sense. She couldn't be there for him at all times.

And he was right. In the end, he was stronger than her if he needed to be. Hell, he was probably stronger than the headmaster if he needed to be.

Now that she thought about it, this was John they were talking about. Despite taking the easiest route most of the time, he was someone who wouldn't make such a stupid decision that he'd get himself killed.

She just needed to have a little more faith in him.

~~~

Despite getting off the hook with Prota, John wasn't out of the fire yet. A week after the incident, he was called to Lupin's office for a talk.

"Am I being expelled?" John said quietly.

"Hmph. As much as I'd like that, you've done nothing against the rules. Yet. And since this has nothing to do with your skills, you can't be expelled for this."

"Then why am I here?"

The wolf glared at John, his aura flaring, forcing the cocky boy to shut up for a moment. He got up, pacing back and forth as John sat on a chair like a meek little schoolboy.

"I want to know why you did it."

"Did what?" John frowned.

"You know exactly what it is I am referring to."

"No, I don't. Are you talking about the fight? That was a fair duel that was accepted and agreed to."

"You cannot expect me to be so foolish that I would believe that was nothing but a simple duel!" Lupin growled. "All five of those boys were nobles of lesser degree, and the manner in which you fought served to humiliate them. There was an enormous disparity in your skills. Don't you think I know what a lesson looks like? I'm a teacher, boy!"

A bead of sweat dripped down John's cheek. He wasn't just going to get out of this with an easy excuse. Hell, he didn't even know what he was in trouble for. Sure, he'd given those boys a lesson. Was that bad? Was it against the rules?

"So I want you to tell me. For what purpose did you provoke that fight?"

"Me? What makes you think it was me?"

"No sane individual would accept a five-on-one duel. But five boys would easily accept a challenge from a singular boy. It should be an easy win for the many, especially against the few. But they lost. And no one would accept a duel if they thought they were going to lose. You still think me a fool, do you?"

A small frown was beginning to form on John's face. Lupin was smart. Whether or not he was a genius remained to be seen, but he wasn't just a naive or gullible [Character] who believed whatever they were told. This old wolf was examining the situation and drawing his own conclusions. He was just missing one piece to the puzzle, and that last piece was John.

One last piece, and the puzzle would be complete.

"Why don't you just ask them?" John pointed out. "The other kids. Unless you already did that?"

"Do you think they would answer me honestly? They, a group of nobles, lost to a commoner. No matter how many rules regarding status we implement, they are raised with the mindset of superiority. It is not our place to beat it out of them."

"...then why are you asking me?"

Lupin sat back down at his desk, his fingers clasped in front of him as he leaned forward.

"Because I have a feeling that someone like you isn't afraid to speak their mind. As you've proven many times. And so your arrogance will likely outweigh your cautiousness, and you will end up telling me what I want to know."

John felt as if a weight had just been lifted off his chest. He wasn't necessarily in trouble. Lupin was expecting him to answer honestly. Sure, he might still get punished, but he no longer had to play the mind-reading game. Lupin wasn't looking for a specific answer. He was truly and honestly looking for what had happened.

"Well, I'm sure you're familiar with hazing. Uh, sir."

"Of course."

"And you've heard the rumours that I'm manaless?"

"...yes."

"Then what do you think would happen to me?"

"Why not report this to the teachers, then?" Lupin pointed out. "We have rules for a reason, you know."

"You said you're not stupid, right? Then you know what happens."

Lupin sighed, leaning back as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

"I've had this conversation so many times… yes, boy, I'm aware. But you have no family to keep safe, yes? And I've heard, you've already developed something of a reputation as an adventurer. You even have ties with the royal Elven family. Surely, you are not feeling threatened by these boys."

"That's not the point."

"Then what? Do you think yourself a champion of justice, seeking to right the wrongs of this academy? Do you believe yourself to be a vigilante, striking fear into the hearts of evildoers?"

"What? No," John laughed. "That would be crazy. No, no, it's really nothing like that, trust me."

"Then what?"

"Self-satisfaction," John said simply. "It felt good. Plus, I sent a message. I let everyone know that fucking around means finding out. I don't want to deal with this whole power hierarchy thing. I just want to go to class, you know?"

"Your actions may have the opposite effect."

"Then I'll just keep fighting. Eventually, I'll lose and have to listen to the one who put me in my place, or there'll be no one left to fight. Either way, it works out. Or are you telling me to stop?"

A rare smile formed on Lupin's face. It seemed he'd been incredibly amused by the boy in front of him.

"A very interesting answer. Very well. You may head out. And you don't need to worry about those boys in particular. You won't be seeing them again, at least in this academy."

"Hey, hold on-"

"No. Expulsion would've happened no matter what, even without your corroboration. We may have our faults as professors, but we should aim to fix those, even if it may not fully atone for our sins."

John paused, his eyes flicking down in thought. A sense of respect washed through him for a moment.

"You know? You're not all that bad."

"I'm pleased to know your assessment of me has improved. You may leave now."

~~~

"You what?!"

"We were expelled…"

"For what?"

Draco was furious. Having come back to his cronies for results, he'd instead found that they'd been expelled from the academy and were to leave immediately. He didn't care that they were gone, but the work he'd assigned them wouldn't yield any results like this.

"Abuse of power…"

"That's ridiculous! What are you abusing? All you did was exercise your right as a noble!"

"That's- that's not what the professors think-"

"Those fools? You care what they think? You're nobles, for Celeste's sake, not cowards! Get out of my sight before I beat you so badly you'll never show up anywhere ever again!"

The boys slinked out of the room like beaten dogs, leaving Draco fuming once again. The report from his family had come back, and it was sitting on his desk, but that didn't make him feel any better.

John didn't have any family. No parents, no brothers, one sister, but the noble was already aware of her. He had very little history. Very little past. The only things of note in any records were that he used to run a bar, which made no sense to Draco, considering John's age, but the records were the records.

There was no family to threaten. No future to take away. And Draco knew from experience that John would not hesitate to threaten his life should something ever happen to Prota. The roach was dangerous. An insect, sure, but a poisonous one, one who would bite back if stepped on.

His lip began to bleed as he bit down, literally shaking with rage.

"John Quarta… I'll get you. I swear."

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