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Part Eighteen

Appearing from thin air were two young men. When they appeared, they were in the middle of the street a small distance away from the book store.

These two were Nick and Darren.

From where they were they could see the four young men who were making trouble in front of the bookstore. They were two different groups and considering that Nick was able to hear them from where he was standing he was sure they were bound to explode at any moment.

Darren leaned on the brown brick building behind him and yawned.

“Alright newbie go handle the situation. I’ll be right here if you need any help.”

Nick’s walking speed was slightly faster than normal; he wanted to handle the problem before something actually occurred. That would be the best outcome. No one would get hurt; no one would get punished.

Since he found out that being a member of this club means you are one step closer to becoming a special forces agent, he told himself that he would do his best on each case. To him impressing the staff or the students did not mean much, the only ones he needed to catch the eye of were those at the very top.

Nick was not going to go settle the dispute without being prepared; he activated his EXO ‘Providence’ causing his hazel eyes to turn icy blue. Seeing the flow of essence circling through their bodies he was able to determine what type of EXO they had. If any of them activated, their EXO Nick would be able to tell instantly.

“Hey, what is the problem here?”

Hearing that voice, the two groups looked in Nick's direction. When they spotted the red badge on his collar, they knew he belonged to the disciplinary committee. It made them think twice about acting out, but then they noticed the white badge on his left collar. He was a freshman; there would be no need to fear him.

There were four of them, one of him. He definitely would not be able to stop them if something broke out.

The group on the right side of Nick had a well built young man. At his waist were three small daggers. He had a scar on the left side of his cheek. His black jacket was not buttoned up, and his shirt was untucked. He was wearing a purple colored badge on his collar. His black hair was in a style that was not popular in this day and age. It was a pompadours type of hairstyle. Nick thought it looked funny on this guy, but he had to be serious he could not make fun of him.

Nick saw many of these types in his first year of middle school. Those delinquents always caused trouble wherever they went. It was like they lived to torment others, and rules meant nothing to them.

Behind him was another young man who was also dressed the same as the other delinquent. From his posture, Nick was able to tell that the leader here was the young man with the scar on his cheek.

The left side of Nick was a young man who was even shorter than Nick. His short blonde hair reminded Nick of a friend he had years ago. He had his left hand on the grip of his EXO gun. Showing he would react as soon as he felt it was necessary to.

On the right side of him was a young lady, the look on her face told Nick she was scared. Inside her body, the essence that was flowing through her channels were slightly unstable.

For an EXO user, there were times when your ability would not work no matter how hard you tried to activate it. Having your emotions be unstable would cause your flow to weaken. You couldn’t concentrate as you usually would, and due to that, you were less likely to be able to use your ability.

“Apologize.”

The young man told the delinquent group as he looked up at them.

“The little baby should be telling us sorry; she’s the one that bumped into us. Look at this mark on my face. You think I did this? That little bitch hit me if anything I should tell the disciplinary committee on her.”

He turned to Nick and showed the red mark that was on his face.

“See this, that girl did this to me. I believe it is your duty to give out a punishment for this.”

“Is that true?”

Nick asked the other party.

“She only hit him as a natural reaction. We were walking by, and he grabbed her butt. What sort of girls first response would not be to turn around and hit that person. It is like first nature to them.

Then he became all cocky seeing as she took steps back when she saw his face. With that hideous face of his, I would step back too.”

The young man covering the girl explained to Nick what went on. Nick looked at the young lady. The look on her face was not something just anyone could make. Unless you were a world class actor, he doubted anyone else could make such a look unless they were really assaulted.

Nick focused his attention on the two delinquents. When the guy first explained what happened and that he was hit, he just knew Nick would be on his side. Now that Nick heard the other side’s story things changed.

“Alright, I get it. Why don’t you two come with me?”

“Bump that; you side with them just by taking their word? What sort of justice is that?”

“I don’t need to explain myself to you. We will see what the others say and let them decide the course of action, all I'm saying is come with me.”

His voice changed instantly. He would not stand for this, especially from someone younger than him.

“You’re only a first year student, do you really think you can force me a second year to go with you? Dream on!

You want me to go with you? Make me!”

Nick could see the yellow essence in his body go to his feet. A spark shot off his foot; its target was Nick.

He was expecting the electric spark to hit Nick, but it did not. It completely missed him, but it only did so by a small amount.

The muscles in Nick's legs tightened as he pushed off of the ground dashing towards the two delinquents.

More electric sparks were shot towards Nick, but each one missed him just by a hair.

The delinquent refused to believe that he would miss at such a close range. Even a child would be able to hit such a target at this range. So why was his attacks missing?

In Nick's eyes, he could see the change of flow inside his body as a large concentrated amount of yellow essence was gathering at his hand. It was already too late for the delinquent as Nick was right in front of him.

Nick hit him two times swiftly and the power the delinquent was gathering depressed.

This angered him as all the essence in his hand suddenly vanished. He wanted to launch a surprise attack with his EXO ability, but that was no longer possible. He grabbed the dagger hanging at his waist, but he felt powerless all of a sudden. The world started to turn black, the dagger he just grabbed dropped to the ground. His body fell forward and fell to the ground.

Nick looked at the other delinquent that was still standing there. At one point during the fight he was gathering essence, but then he suddenly stopped. Nick wondered why but he would not bring it up.

Nick grabbed the fallen delinquent by the collar and looked at the other one.

“Come with me, or do you want to resist as well.”

Holding his hands up in the air to show he did not want to resist the delinquent shook his head.

“You two are free to go.”

Nick dragged the fallen delinquent in the direction Darren was, and the other one followed him without a word.

The young male was stunned, everything that happened took less than a minute. It was actually a matter of seconds from start to finish. He was also a freshman, and he did not know anyone that was able to end a fight as fast as Nick did. He asked himself, ‘Is that really a freshman?’

From a sideline point of view, he was able to see everything that happened. However, if he was the one facing Nick he highly doubted he would be able to make sense of what occurred.

If it was not due to his interest in an EXO user's body, he would not understand what happened.

In an EXO user's body, there were sixteen points that could cause disruption to the flow of essence in one's body. Hitting any of these points could either disperse any essence that you’ve gathered or began to gather. Or it could cripple you. Making you unable to flow any essence through that channel again.

If a person hit certain points with an exact amount of force, it could cause the flow in the body stop for a moment. Stopping the flow of essence was worse than disrupting it. Stopping essence was like stopping the flow of oxygen in the body.

The reason that the delinquent passed out was because his body which was used to the constant flow suddenly stopped receiving that flow. He himself would not feel like he was suffocating but that did not mean the same for his body.

Being able to hit these sixteen points at will would make anyone extremely dangerous. He did not know whether to call Nick lucky or a complete monster.

Just that very thought made him shiver.

Back where Darren was at, Nick arrived with two people.

“Well done newbie, you’re not half bad.”

Darren took a quick glance at the delinquent who was still standing, but no one could see what he was doing under his sunglasses.

“That one can go, we only need to take this one with us.”

“Thanks.”

“You’re mistaken; I'm not letting you go because I want to. I’m letting you go because you have not broken a rule. You see that large building over there, yes the blue one. I hear a word about you messing with any females I'm dropping you from that building.”

Darren placed his hand on Nick's shoulder, and they disappeared.

The delinquent was stunned as he stared off to where that blue building was located.

“That thing has to be at least thirty stories high… he wouldn’t drop me from there… would he?”

The three of them appeared in the same spot they left. The long black table had a lot more empty seats.

Darren walked over to his chair, sat in it and placed his legs back on the table. In the exact same way, he was when Nick first arrived here.

“Well done Nick.”

Cassandra congratulated him on his first arrest.

“It wasn’t much. What are we going to do with him?”

“Leave that to me; he’ll get his punishment.”

“How is punishment exactly given? Who determines what type of punishment is acceptable for the crime?”

“That is right, Fred did not explain to you the system we have here. There are two important positions in the disciplinary committee. One is the president; they are responsible the overall direction the committee takes. The other title they are given is the ‘Executioner.' If a crime is deemed too severe, then that is when they take over to make sure the problem never occurs again. The current president may look like he is lazy, and I'm not going to deny it either. But, that position is not just for show. As the president of the disciplinary committee rather than being voted in by the school like the student council. You are it as long as you are the strongest member here.

The second position is the vice president. The other name for them is ‘Judge’ as they hear the crime and decide what punishment should be given out. The vice president does not have to be one of the strongest members, but they should be the fairest out of everyone.

Since I'm the vice president, I decide what sort of punishment this guy here will get.”

“And the jury?”

“Every other member of the committee. Since you were there on the scene, you naturally know what took place first hand, and you decide if their crime is worth coming to me or not. If they broke a rule, then you’ll naturally bring them back here.

Autumn over there plays what is happening when a member goes out to make an arrest or stop anything from happening. Here we can watch it as well and see if they actually did anything wrong or if everything was just a misunderstanding.”

Cassandra explained the system of the disciplinary committee as well as told Nick to place the delinquent in the chair that was positioned in the corner of the room.

“You and Darren make a nice pair; I think you two should stick together from now on. He didn’t have a partner anyways since we always work in pairs when we make an appearance.”

Darren looked at her, but Cassandra only smiled at him.

“Nick you can leave if you want, there is no need to actually stay in the room. Today was just a special day as we were getting a new member which is why you saw everyone here today. As long as you are on campus, then you are working. If Autumn sees something getting out of hand, she will notify the closet person.”

“Alright, it was nice seeing you again. Guess we will be seeing each other a lot now.”

Nick left the room.

Cassandra sat down in her chair and looked down at the piles of paperwork.

“Darren, what do you think?”

“Kids not bad, he moved slightly before each attack so it always barely missed him. Also seems that he is able to to hit the sixteen weak points in the body, that alone makes him a valuable asset.

If you’re asking me if he is on the president's level… I'd save give him another year or two.”

Cassandra stopped the movement of her hand which held a pen.

“I wasn’t asking that. Do you think he is good enough to join?”

“That guy in the corner was fairly weak, so it is to be determined. The best way to test the kid out is to let him face a real threat. Are we still keeping track of that terrorist group that's recruiting on campus?”

“I don’t think they plan on making a move anytime soon; we were told to watch not act. Seriously, why do we even keep them around?”

Darren shrugged his shoulders.

“Just haven Brandon hypnotize a couple of them so they’ll act on their own.”

“Honestly it might just be better to have him duel Arthur. The student council president does owe me a favor; I'm sure she would not mind lending out one of her members.”

Darren laughed when he heard Cassandra’s suggestion.

“What's so funny?”

“You’re kidding, right? That kid vs. Arthur?”

Darren held up two fingers.

“He’d last at most twenty seconds. You can’t even compare them, why bother putting them in the same sentence.”

“I don’t know; Nick is a lot stronger than you are making him seem. I have faith he’ll last a lot longer than twenty seconds.”

“Nick? No, I'm talking about that Arthur guy. That kid would crush him easily. Twenty seconds tops, if that kid uses that sword, he carries around ten seconds. That’s only if he is serious.”

“That is a little too biased don’t you think. Sure you don’t like Arthur, but he is not that weak.”

Darren shook his head.

“It is not that he is weak, it is the fact Nick is too strong. You would actually have to see him up close to realize how strong he actually is. Looking through a monitor does not count. And have you seen that sword? That is not just for show.”

When Darren said that Cassandra furrowed her eyebrows.

“I can’t tell you the exact name of that katana, but my eyes would never fool me. That is one of the mythical Katana’s that was crafted by Abel. That guy made twelve weapons, and that sword at his side is one of them. Just look at the symbol on it.”

Darren placed his hand in front of him, and a weapon appeared in front of him. At first glance, you would think it was a sword, but it had the cylinder of a revolver at the bottom along with the grip of a handgun.

This sort of weapon was known as a ‘Gunblade.' Being able to slash and shoot, one could take the fight up close or keep a distance.

“See this mark; it means it was crafted by Abel. All of his weapons have a mark, but his mythical weapons have a distinct mark on them.”

Cassandra just realized that is where she knew that symbol from. She knew it seemed familiar before, but it was one of Abel’s work.

“But like I said if you are comparing him to the president give him a year or two. Comparing him to any freshman in his class is like saying a child will win a fight against an adult. I can’t speak for the other schools, but here in the freshman class I doubt anyone would stand a chance.”