“Are you ready to meet your makers?” asks the boy’s tenth opponent cockily after he strutted out to meet the boy, chest pumped up and all warlike. Looks this first junior Ouroboros member who has come to challenge the boy didn’t notice anything strange from the boy’s previous fight.

Perhaps he thought the boy got lucky and managed to land a punch on his ninth opponent, taking advantage of his over-eagerness. In the mind of this Ouroboros member, his victory is already assured and the boy’s defeat has also been sealed.

“Yes.” the boy answers him calmly. “Are you?”

“…”

The smug older student couldn’t find anything to say back but he is still confident he could defeat the boy and take his life.

Master Cahris clears his throat and loudly declares “THE DUEL STARTS NOW!”

The boy’s tenth opponent starts attacking immediately, he launches a flying kick aim at the boy’s chest. The boy dodges the kick with extravagant movement and doesn’t retaliate in return. He could have just sidestepped the kick with minimal effort and knocked out his opponent who was sailing through the air, the older student would have lost consciousness before his body hit the ground.

But the boy chooses not to. He intends to keep on the weak flailing struggling-hard-to-win-with-one-arm facade for as long as he could in order to lull his many Ouroboros opponents into a false sense of security. He won’t drop the act until there are only a few of them left, but by then, it would have been too late for them to do anything about it.

The boy’s tenth opponent lands after his first kick failed to connect and immediately launches a second backward thrust kick at the boy. You sure like kicking, don’t you? smiles the boy inwardly although his face is a fake mask of panic and despair. The boy knows this particular Ouroboros member enjoys kicking his opponent's ribs in, usually those who are smaller than him and couldn’t fight back.

The older student sees the boy’s “miserable” expression and becomes bolder and bolder with his attacks. He launches kick after kick against the boy, all of them narrowly missing him until finally one front kick successfully connects with the boy’s left shoulder and sends him spinning in the air.

The crowd of onlookers clap, whistle and cheer. This is the first time they see the boy gets hit, most of them are sure the boy’s defeat is within sight.

What none of them failed to notice is the look of disappointment and puzzlement on the face of the boy’s tenth opponent. He had felt his kick connect but there was no satisfying crunch that is usually associated with feeling of bones breaking.

It looks like he managed to jump back in the last minute, the older student thinks. No matter, I’ll just-

The boy’s tenth opponent didn’t get the chance to finish his thought. A spinning kick materializes out of thin air and made contact with his lower left chin. The kick is weak, but it has enough power to rattle the older student’s brain and makes him lose conscious while still standing.

The spinning boy finally lands with a thud in front of his upright opponent. The crowd half-expected the older student to continue his attacks, kicking the boy lying on the ground and stomping his head in. But the boy’s tenth opponent is strangely silent… and unmoving.

The boy slowly gets up and sighs. “Can’t you be a good upperclassman and fall over by yourself?” he murmurs resignedly while extending his left arm and pushes the older student lightly with his fingers. The boy watches as his tenth opponent falls backwards like a tree being fell down.

The boy suddenly realizes that his surrounding area is quiet. He looks up and sees the crowd is in shock, their mouths wide open to convey their disbelief.

Shit! the boy thinks. Was it too much? Everyone, even Master Cahris and the paramedics seems to be in a state of stupor.

Oh come on! The boy screams silently inside. I was holding back!

And indeed, the boy’s tenth opponent got off easy. The boy knows Kick Guy greatly enjoys bullying others. Some of his victims were even crippled by his attacks which include kicking, stomping, grinding and trampling.

On any other day, the boy would have sent Kick Guy to the infirmary with both his legs broken, to hell with what his snobbish noble parents would have to say. But for this particular occasion, the boy only needs to knock him (and his many Ouroboros friends) out.

The making-them-unconscious part is important because of his upcoming study lesson with Rolfe Primero. Once he has finished fighting the entity, the boy is sure he will not be in a state where he could effectively defend himself.

Which means that any member of Ouroboros could kill him in his weakened condition if given half the chance. Ironically, the only member of Ouroboros that the boy could count on not to kill him in the open is Master Haithur. That man would never risk his reputation or get his own hand dirty in order to kill one measly boy. Not in public or in front of so many witnesses anyway.

The boy needs to take out at all twenty-seven Ouroboros members before his fight with Rolfe Primero, making sure they are unconscious or are in no condition to assassinate the boy. Too many left would spell doom for the boy as he could offer little resistance due to getting thrashed by the entity.

If there are only three or four members left, the boy could probably count on Headmaster Joss, Master Wes and Master Cahris to hold them back, provided they are alert enough to assist and protect the boy. But if there are five or more Ouroboros members still standing, it’s going to be a feeding frenzy. The boy will be chum in the water, with sharks circling around him, out for blood.

They wouldn’t even need to wait for Master Haithur to give them the go-ahead signal. That’s just how smart and scary those fuckers are. No hesitation or fear at all to kill someone in cold blood and in front of so many people. Which is not surprising because all the most loyal and fanatical members of Ouroboros are at the back of the line while the cannon fodders are at the front.

Ah, screw it, the boy thinks. Let the chips fall where they may.

“Master Cahris?”

“TH- THE DUEL IS OVER!”

The male teacher doesn’t even bother making a 10 seconds count. He immediately signals the next person to step forward. Meanwhile the paramedics quickly put the boy’s tenth opponent on the stretcher before dumping the unconscious student beside his also comatose friend. They ignore the glares of nearby elite students, choosing instead to focus on the task at hand.

“One down, twenty-six more Ouroboros members to go.” murmurs the boy as he surveys the line of students in front of him.

********************

“Eighteen *huff down, nine *huff more to go.” pants the boy as he watches the Ouroboros member in front of him goes down with a punch to the face. Altogether, he had fought twenty-seven opponents, both normal elite students and members of Ouroboros.

Nine left, come on. You can do it, the boy thinks as he gasps for air. He isn’t even faking it this time. The boy really is practically running on fumes. It seems he has nearly reached the limit of what his body and new found powers can do. And what’s worst is he’s getting hungry too.

And I had just ate a big lunch, laments the boy. It looks like his body and mind requires a huge amount of food to function properly. I guess I don’t have to worry about getting fat, the boy continues to pant.

The boy wonders if he had miscalculated something somewhere. It’s hard to gauge how far he can go if he has never pushed himself to edge before. Knowing certain things and having the ability to calculate probabilities could only get you so far. The rest depends on experience.

And how do you get experience? the boy quietly asks himself. Why, by making bad decisions of course. Ahahaha… The boy quietly laughs at his own bad joke, a lame attempt to cheer himself up.

No matter, the boy thinks as he steels his resolves. Only nine Ouroboros members left. He could breeze through them easily, maybe asks Pigtails Girl politely to get him some food. Then rest for a bit before Rolfe Primero shows up. There’s still a lot of time left for the boy to prepare himself in order to meet the entity, thank the Gods.

“THE DUEL IS OVER!” declares Master Cahris. He has long abandon counting to ten. The male teacher’s experience with the boy has taught him that once the boy wants someone to stay down, that person would stay down.

“Are you okay?” Master Cahris asks the boy quietly, concerned with his sluggish movement and heavy breathing. The paramedics meanwhile are carrying the latest victim of the boy and laying him to rest outside of the courtyard together with the rest of his comatose brethren. Altogether there are nineteen unconscious students lying side by side, they look like they are about to be buried in a large grave, victims of a mass killing spree perpetrated by a deranged murderer.

“Of course I’m okay. Why wouldn’t I be?” smiles the boy while trying to wipe his sweaty forehead with his only working arm. “Everything is going perfectly according to plan, like clockwork. What could possibly go wro-OH SHIT!” screams the boy unexpectedly and loudly.

“What? What is it?” the male teacher is suddenly alarmed by the drastic change in the boy’s behavior.

“OH SHIT OH SHIT OH SHIT WHY IN THE FUCKING HELL IS THAT FUCKING GUY FUCKING EARLY SUDDENLY!” a long string of expletives continues to erupt and flow uninterrupted from the boy’s mouth. He could literally out-curse a pirate.

The crowds’ interest perks up as well. They are getting bored after watching the boy fell down opponents after opponents calmly and composedly without even slowing down. And now that the boy is in a state of panic, the onlookers are curious to know why.

“THERE’S LIKE 30 MINUTES LEFT!” screams the boy before finally turning to the line of students in front of him.

“Hey you nine Ouroboros shit-stains! Your father is a male one-bronze coin prostitute! And your mother is his pimp! Fucking come at me right now! All of you together, at the same time! Come on! Teach me a lesson in manners!” shouts the boy at his remaining challengers.

To their credit, the nine students managed to remain fairly rooted where they stand and kept their rising anger in check. They know something terrible is about to happen that’s driving the boy hysteric, and they would only do the boy a favour by engaging him early.

“Oh Gods, it’s over. I fucked up. We… humanity is screwed…” the boy falls backwards and lands on his ass, the strength from his legs has run out. “It’s coming…”

“What’s coming?” asks Master Cahris, his voice noticeably at a higher pitch. Whatever’s spooking the boy has got to be bad news and doesn’t bode well for everyone else around him too.

“HIM!” the boy who is sitting on the ground points to the crowd to his left, or more specifically, to someone who is approaching the crowd from behind.

The male teacher wonders who it is, and when the crowd of onlookers parted right down the middle like some prophet had divided the sea, Master Cahris finally gets a good look at him and immediately understands the boy’s dread.

The entity walks leisurely towards the boy and the male teacher in the middle of the courtyard. His pace neither too fast nor too slow, but to the boy and the rest of the people watching, for every footstep it felt like a hundred years has passed.

The Class 6A student finally arrives in front of the boy who is still sitting on the ground. He looks down at the boy and says to him

“I am here to give my guidance to my underclassman. Are you ready to receive it?”

Taking the boy’s silence as consent, the diligent student continues speaking

“Lesson number one. The best laid schemes of mice and men… Often go awry.” says Rolfe Primero with a smile.

********************

Question: What are the chances of me surviving my encounter with Rolfe Primero with no Ouroboros members present (Master Haithur excluded)?

Answer: 10% survivability.

…

Question: What are the chances of me surviving my encounter with Rolfe Primero with nine Ouroboros members present (Master Haithur excluded)?

Answer: 0.01% survivability.

Shit….

********************************************************************************************

Saw this yesterday.

http://postimg.org/image/oa3iuyl5l/

I'm surprised no one picked up on it earlier.

********************

Fuck it. I'll just release the chapter as it is and wrap things up tomorrow." Sorry again :(

"Demon Hero Reaper Saviour" will be back after a two days break so I could rest and enjoy the weekend.

If you have any questions, constructive criticism, suggestions etc: feel free to leave them in the comments. Like if there's something you feel is forced or screams plot-holes. Your comments actually help me write more than you think.

Thank you.