Beast Driven

Fall

Although Kayden had his own problems to deal with, the same could also be said for his friends. One of the was finding it hard to accept the fact that both of his roommates had been severely beaten and sent to the infirmary. He feared that something similar might happen to him if he wasn't careful enough.

Carter now had the entire room to himself for the time being. He was kind of glad about it. His roommates weren't exactly the friendly kind of people. So far, his experience at the academy had been nothing but torture. Plus, making it worse was the fact that he couldn't get in touch with his family to seek moral and emotional support from them.

The only people he had to share his pains and struggles with were himself and his friends. Still, he thought it would be best to focus more on himself for the time being. There was the match coming up in less than two weeks from today, plus, there was that expedition that would be happening half a year from today. He couldn't afford to slack if he wanted what was best for him.

During his free time, which really wasn't much to begin with, he would train using his magical weapon from the class. Luckily, students were allowed to take weapons from the class and practice with them during their free time.

As long as they didn't damage the weapons and returned them once they felt like they didn't need them anymore, then they wouldn't get into trouble. Carter's choice of weapons was a samurai sword, and he decided to practice with it to get used to using the weapon.

There would surely come a time that these post-class training regiments would come in handy. Since he was the only person in his dorm room today, he decided to practice there instead of heading to the magical weapons class to train.

'This school is a lot more dangerous than I honestly expected,' he thought, swinging the swords. It hadn't even been a week since the first years had arrived at the academy, yet things were already quite dangerous.

So far, six students had been sent to the infirmary, according to the information being passed across by the other students. Carter was afraid that, one day, it might be one of his friends that would get attacked and badly injured. Or worse, he might end up becoming the next target.

'The reason for all of this is because of this stupid ranking system!' he yelled in his mind, glancing at the watch on his wrist. 'If only this a academy didn't go out of their way to create so much competition amongst students then we wouldn't have to constantly be watching over our shoulders in fear of getting beaten to a pulp.'

He was upset by the situation. This was a decision that all military bases chose to take. The Shales had ravaged humanity, driving them towards their end. If it wasn't for the first people the world came to know as ability users, then no human would've been left alive today.

It was because of abilities that humanity had been able yo put up a fight against the aliens' magical powers. Due to the severity of the current global situation, the military couldn't afford to send slackers onto the front lines of war in the future.They needed people who were strong enough to handle the wriggers of a world war.

To achieve this, they switched up a system to grade each students abilities and talents, giving them ranks in accordance with what their capabilities are, knowing full well that it would breed unhealthy competition amongst the students. They purposefully created an environment where only the the strongest can survive.

Carter knew this, and didn't want to end up at the mercy of a student far stronger than him simply because he was weak. His Boulder Class ability was one that allowed him to create and control lava. With the help of the abilities classes, he hoped that he could make this ability of his as strong as possible.

There were all these things set in place to help produce the best students from the academy. Carter still felt like he needed to do something else. So he left his room and headed off to meet up with Blake.

Upon entering his dorm room, he saw that Blake was doing the exact same thing as he was, trying to get stronger as soon as possible. Not wanting to waste much of his time, he decided to get down to the point as to why he was here.

"Ever since we came here, it seems like the students are doing whatever they can to quickly climb the ranks. Although no one has challenged me yet, I want to make sure that I'm as strong as possible when that happens. So along with those classes, I was hoping if you and I could maybe have regular sparring matches at the Arena."

Blake seemed to be taking in everything Carter was saying. "Sure, man. No, problem. So when do we start?" he asked.

"Are you free right now?" He asked. Blake looked back into his room and saw the axe he left on the floor.

"Sure. I'll just keep on practicing once I get back," he agreed to follow Carter to the place known as the Arena. As the two were on their way there, little did they know that they were being watched.

"Haha! This is perfect! Now we can kill two birds with one stone! Well, kill two birds with five stones," a boy said, looking back at the four other students behind him. Plus, with the help of this guy, they'll never see us coming."

The Arena was a large room in the academy, just like the classes meant for combat, abilities, and magical weapons. Just like the school library and other facilities such as the gaming room, it served a unique, important purpose.

It was the place where matches between students were officially held. And also, it could be used as a training ground for students whenever they wished. For this sparring match, Carter and Blake agreed that they would used their abilities and nothing else.

"You ready?" Blake asked. Carter nodded in response.

Blake then charged forward while Carter did the same, and the battle began. With Carter's lava ability, he could either create lava out of thin air, or turn anything related to earth into lava. With this, he turned the area around him into lava, making it so that Blake couldn't come near him to attack. Seeing this, Blake nearly burst out laughing.

"Dude, have you forgotten what my power is?" he asked. The next second, and Blake's body immediately caught fire. Using his ability, he coated himself in a thick layer of flames almost as hot as the pool of lava before him.

'If I can match the heat of his ability, then I won't have to worry about it affecting me and I can fight him like normal,' Blake thought. Pumping more Mana into this tactic, it wasn't long until he achieved his desired results.

Hee needed to be quick because his Mana was depleting at a faster rate. It wouldn't he long until his ability cancels itself out. Running forward, he raised his leg to deliver a round house kick. Seeing this in time, Carter raised his arm and grabbed the leg midair, though it didn't do much to slow down the attack.

'This guy has a higher rank than me,' Carter thought. The kick had hit it's mark, sending him skidding across the ground. Though not as painful as a kick from an instructor, Carter quickly got back up to his feet, but before he could regain his balance properly, he received another round house kick.

It seemed like this one hurt a little more than the first one as Carter was finding it difficult to get back on to his feet. Blake basically walked on the lava without feeling even an ounce of pain. Not giving Carter a chance to get back up, he kicked him in the gut, causing him to spew out blood.

Then, raising his leg, he stopped it against Carter's head, making sure not to use his full strength this time. Grabbing him by the throat, he lifted him up and threw him in the air, before jumping as well and kicking him in the stomach, sending him shooting straight into a wall.

With eyes wide from the pain, his body fell and hit the hard floor with speed that caused some of his broken bones to shatter against his skin.

"Sorry if I wasn't easy on you," Blake said, walking towards him. However, Carter had lost consciousness the moment his body hit the wall.

"I guess I'll have to pull my punches next time," he scratched the back of his head before picking up Carter and placing him on his shoulder. Meanwhile, the students who had been following them couldn't believe what they had just seen.

'This dimwit just made our job a whole lot easier for us,' the leader of the group thought to herself with a wide grin on his face. In her hands, a glow could be seen.

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