As if something like this is going to stop him. Wu crunched up the paper in his fist before reaching into his pockets. As expected, the communication Cast for Lera was actually destroyed in his desperate attempt to call for help. Now, he was essentially cut off from the outside world. A strange expression formed over his bruised face, and he went to clean himself up in the toilet as Ita returned from her first day of classes. She glanced at Wu briefly, though she didn't say a word and went straight into her room. After wiping down the streaks of blood and stretching out his arms and legs, Wu sat down in his room in silence after grabbing food from the canteen downstairs. Within the college, Charlie's all acting high and mighty and friendly, though everybody knew exactly what happened to him outside. Wu is the perfect example set by Charlie, and the boy that ruled the Ville would gladly use his defiance as a symbol and reminder of his power. The more Wu fought back and struggled, the more satisfying his eventual despair will be. Then, Charlie expected Wu to kneel outside of his room, begging for mercy and forgiveness. He had seen this before. Most students here had. And now, history is repeating itself once again. Ita was smart enough to swallow her pride, but Wu's yet to give in. Replaying every scene of that battle in his head, the chained attacks from the three were nearly flawless in timing and execution, and both the ghostly shadow and the Channeler have some way of sneaking around his shields, with the Caster only revealing a single one of his spells. If Wu is to win, he needs far more information than what he received during the beatdown earlier in the day. However, he knew the attack tendencies of the group and the sequence of Casters initiating, Channeler following up, and the Manifester controlling the fight from range. The next day, Wu braved himself and tried to head out again. He had missed his first day of general classes, and he had no intention to miss again. And there it was. Those trios were waiting for him the moment he tried to sneak out, and another fight broke out. As the Surging Dragon and the Channeler pincered him from both sides, Wu instead charged towards the Caster first, breaking through the Surging Dragon with a high-powered punch powered with the gauntlet and forcing him to take a step back to revert into his defensive stance. That was when the Channeler sent forth a flying chain, hooking Wu in the arm and yanking him back. "God damn it!" Wu cursed, blasting the chains apart before the Caster conjured up a massive ball of flames and bathed him in the heat of purgatory. Wu activated bubble bubble at the last moment, but the ghostly shadow snuck up on him still and strangled him until he passed out. When Wu opened his eyes again, he had already been returned to his bedroom. Another day has passed, and he tallied another defeat. Day after day and at various different times, Wu tried to make his way out of the college, but after seven defeats in seven days, each time more injured than the last, Wu was not able to physically leave his room on the eighth day. As he rolled around in agony, his mind filled with the playback of his defeat as every inch of his body had echoes of pain, someone knocked on his door before coming in. It was Charlie, the architect of his suffering. He casually glanced towards Wu as he snarled at him from underneath his breathe, then, he leaned against his desk. "Hey~" "Screw you." Wu said. "You don't look like you are doing too well," Charlie chuckled, his fingers running along the dusty desk of his, "But come on, let's cheer you up. You have a visitor." Wu raised his eyebrow, and a glimmer of hope formed from within him despite his best attempts at hiding it. A visitor at this time? It must have been... "Come!" Charlie said, holding the door open as Wu struggled off the bed, "You don't want to keep her waiting!" Charlie paced through the corridor as Wu struggled to follow behind him. Then, as they walked all the way up to the front door of the college with a colored frosted glass separating the world within and the world outside, Wu saw the outline of Lera's body, and her black hair with silver streaks. "Lera, right?" Charlie said, "She seems nice." Wu reached a hand towards the door handle before Charlie continued. "She's from Illiol. What a coincidence, my sister is also from there." Wu's hands froze in midair, and he slowly turned to look at Charlie with a level of rage he didn't know he had within him. He felt his head becoming light and his body heating up, and he wanted to execute Charlie on the spot. But...but... Charlie's sister is the one that's strong enough to support whatever the hell Charlie's doing here, and if he alone can make Wu's life the living hell that it is, what could she do to her? "You are bluffing." Wu said, his eyes focusing on Charlie as he didn't waver for even a single moment. "What if I am? What if I am not?" Charlie smiled casually and placed his arms on his hips in a victorious pose, "Are you willing to gamble?" "Wu?! Are you in there?!" Lera's worried voice came through the door as Wu turned immediately to look in her direction. However, the words within him just couldn't come out. He had promised to share everything with her, to treat her as an equal, and to work through whatever obstacles they will face together, but...he just couldn't. He couldn't let the consequences of his own decisions affect how Lera's doing. Charlie simply wanted to break Wu, and it's up to him to not be broken. There is nothing Lera can do, and if she gets involved like this, who knows what will happen to her... Wu bit on his lips so hard that the freshness of that pain and sadness is the only thing that he felt. But regardless of what pain he had, he cannot put Lera in danger. Not after all that's happened, not after knowing what will happen. "I...am fine, Lera." Wu said, tears flowing down his face much to his own surprise. He covered his mouth and tried to still his voice with the vice grip of his fingers, though through the front door, everything became more muffled, "I...just caught a cold. I will be better soon, then I will come visit." "...okay..." Lera said, hesitant as she looked back to her friends that accompanied her here, "Just...whatever you need, call me!" "I will...I promise." The figure stood still and watched on for a moment before turning around and vanishing into the night. Wu pressed his fingers into the glass on the door as Charlie turned and walked away. "God damn it...." Wu stood in place, his teeth grounding together as he dug his nails into his palm, "I swear I will take you down..." Even after the months of training guided by Joseph and Jolyne Atlas back in Varous, nothing could have prepared Wu for what he has experienced so far. As he kept on training inside of his room, strengthening his body and his skills with the gauntlet while visualizing the next battle between him and the trio of attackers, his mind was also plunged further and further into despair. "You thought you were close before?" The Channeler laughed as he knocked aside one of Wu's sudden blasts and kicked him right in the stomach, "Keep on dreaming, and one day, we may have accidentally crippled you!" As if something like this is going to stop him... "Hah! I like the way you struggle!" The Manifester with the ghostly shadow said as the Manifest held Wu's arms behind him before the Surging Dragon struck him right on the chest. As if something like this is going to... "This is such a fucking waste of time..." The Caster said, shoving Wu back with his enhanced moves before the Channeler knocked him out cleanly with a kick, "Why are we even bother working for this?" As if...no...make it stop... Make it stop...Makeitstopmakeitstop! "ARGHHHH!" Wu woke up the next time with tears streaming down his face, and for the first time, his entire body had shut down completely. He commanded his arms to move, but they felt as heavy as if steel chains were tied around his wrists. He tried to speak, but his vocal cords are shot, and he tried to roll around before the excruciating pain shoved him back. However, his tear ducts were perfectly functional. That day, Charlie sent Ita to deliver his meals straight into his room, and the two had a conversation of some sort outside as Wu faded in and out of consciousness, a high fever drowned his consciousness in the ocean of desperation. Perhaps it is all a mistake...perhaps it is all fake...He is no savior...compared to the trained Wave-users of this world...he is nothing, and he has nothing... He should have stayed in his world, and went back to his parents, did his stupid corporate job, and find a smart co-worker to... Wu slept for a few days straight, and he was finally able to move his arms after the thirst overcame his sluggishness. Then, he stuffed his mouth with the leftover food before returning to bed, his gauntlet taken off and hidden in the drawers. Dragging his feet to the toilet and back, Ita watched him move with a pitying look on her face before she headed downstairs. Over the past few weeks, while Wu struggle with his futile efforts, Ita had accepted Charlie's antics. She bore with Charlie's touches and prods, though kept her distance when Charlie's in the mood for something more. Olivia was the first one to accept Charlie, and he often returned to her room after unsuccessful efforts with Ita. Eventually, he lost interest in Ita's body and turned a blind eye to whatever she's doing. During this time, Ita garnered her influence and created a small circle of following of her very own, as the handful of passive bystanders within the college became her new group of friends/harem. On the outside, it still appeared Charlie's totally 'friendly' with Ita, but the sexual undertone of his movements slowly faded with time. Wu may have been broken mentally and physically by Charlie, but Ita's actually doing rather well. She carried the messages of Wu's 'wellbeing' to Lera whenever they encountered one another in the shared classes, and though Lera's incredibly worried, Ita's the one that promised she's taking good care of Wu. Charlie's certainly overjoyed at Ita covering up the true extent of Wu, and he rewarded her with some extra pay, which she used to buy sets of new clothes from the campus store. The luggage's sent from back home eventually arrived onto the colleges, and Ita was finally able to set up her bedroom the way she liked it as Wu had more clothes to be torn apart by the three bullies. Lita also sent him a roll of bread, but by the time Wu undid the wrapping, Charlie, or some of his lackies had already completely ruined it for him. The high fever eventually went down after rampaging through Wu's body for three days straight. That was much-needed time for Wu's body to recover, though the scars and bruises from his fights lingered on. As Wu tried to mobilize his body and reintroduce some movements into his body, all of his joints screamed as if he had played 5 basketball games in a row. No...no more. Wu held his breath and squatted down fully, the sharp pains making him hiss in place. Falling back onto his back, his heart raced as he became covered in a mixture of sweat and tears. I...I am supposed to be the Savior of this world...I am supposed to make Lera proud...I... Wu glanced towards the gauntlet locked away in his drawers, and he pressed himself up. Maybe if he begged Charlie...then all of this will stop, and he will...figure something out in the future... Crawling himself up, Wu slowly trotted to his door when suddenly, he spotted out a note slid under the door. He stomped it hard with his feet, knowing that this is another of Charlie's taunts before he prepared to throw it out of the window. With the note in his hand, Wu's eyes caught the different patterns of writing and the strange sentence structure: , pg. 140. What...is this...a reference? Wu turned the piece of paper around before rolling it up. He was going to toss it out of the window before he hesitated as curiosity overcame his depression. He still has access to the library, and he is still mostly safe within the Ville college. So...let's see what's the deal with this book. This may be another trap set by Charlie, or another of his sick tricks. But none of this matters to Wu anymore. If there is nothing there, Wu will just swiftly go to Charlie's room and surrender. With his will broken and body shattered, Wu reached for the Stories of Legends on the library shelves, only for his life to change drastically once again.