Chapter 8:

Three years later…

“Isn’t that the kid who has 8-star devil affinity?”

“Yea, I think his parents died or something.”

“Yeah, they did. Ever since then he’s been sort of distant.”

“I heard he held the exact same rank in his class for the past few years, right in the middle. Never going up, never going down.”

“Really? Is that even possible?”

“Must be a fluke.”

I sighed, ignoring the whispers. For three years, this had persisted, even after my few weeks off in kindergarten. During the time, I had dropped halfway down the rankings and I couldn’t find it inside myself to try at school. Maximus had also risen to power as the rank one. And I had totally blown off my friends when I came back to school which eventually led them to, in the last two years, give up on trying to get me back. Even Rich, who I thought would always be there for me, left. Though, how could I blame them, I wouldn’t want to be around me either.

I was awoken from my thoughts by a hard shove, catching me off guard and sending me face planting into the wood chips. As I tried to push myself up, I was roughly kicked to the side. Rolling once, I laid out helplessly. Looking at my assailants, I saw it was a few of the new third-graders in my grade. These were some of the kids that were recruited into the school recently this year. Standing behind them and looking down on me was Amber and some of her friends.

Name: Amber

Level: 28

SR (School Rank): 302

GR (Grade Rank): 7

Strength: 25

Power: 34

Speed: 29

During the school year in 1st grade, we had upgraded our inspect skills to show other students’ school/grade ranking, though none of them had the same stat viewer as I did, (with Strength, Power, and Speed).

I had thought Amber was different, like my old friends, from all of the other kids in our grade. I had thought she was one of the ones to not make fun of me for my parents. One of the ones that didn’t talk about me behind my back. Though, I guess I was wrong.

I glanced at Amber, catching her gaze, though she immediately looked away. I frowned as I felt a kick fly into my ribs. Though the kick didn’t hurt all that much, it was the fact that no one would help me that counted. I felt my rage begin to grow. It must have been a combination of the assailants, the big hit of losing all my friends, and the people I cared about.

“Not even gonna put up a fight?” The front attacker said, reeling back his leg for another kick. “I guess the rumors really were true.”

A few of his buddies got up and started surrounding me as I stayed laying on the wood chips. All of them were ranked SR 330 plus, some even lower ranked than the second graders.

“Let’s get him, Ethan,” one of his buddies said as he stepped behind me and kicked me in the spine.

I winced a little in pain, before letting out a small chuckle. I looked up at Ethan, their little group’s leader. He was tall and strong-looking, I could tell why he was recruited by the school.

Name: Ethan

Level: 29

SR: 300

GR: 5

Strength: 30

Power: 25

Speed: 31

“Huh, why are you laughing?” Ethan said, letting his kick loose. “How far over the edge have you gone after your parent’s death?”

The last straw had been pulled, as the kick came at my face, I quickly grabbed it, twisting his leg and bringing him to the floor. His body spun as he avoided breaking his leg, though he landed hard against the chips. I quickly sprung to my feet as his cronies backed up in surprise.

“Don’t… screw… with… ME!” Ethan said, springing up and covering his hands in ice. “I’m the 5th Lord of the 3rd grade, NO ONE MESSES WITH ME!”

Swinging wildly he tried to make contact with my body, though I easily dodged all of his attacks. It wasn’t like I was doing nothing during the few years, I just wasn’t caring about school. I was dead set on becoming stronger to take vengeance on my parents. I thought I didn’t care what people thought about me, though I guess that just wasn’t true. I just couldn’t let these guys keep fucking with me.

As Ethan swung once more, I dodged his fist and shoved him to the side, sending him flying into one of his weak cronies. His fist connected and instantly shot the boy flying into the 3rd-grade structure. He turned to me wildly, eyes blazing and brows curled into a frown.

“Better calm your boyfriend down,” I looked angrily over at Amber. “I’m gonna hurt him badly if you don’t.”

She looked at me with a slight longing and ran over to Ethan. “Ethan! Stop, someone’s already gotten hurt!”

“Get out of my way, Amber!” Ethan yelled, swinging his arm to the side and knocking Amber to the floor.

Although the blow was blocked by Amber’s wind magic, it ticked me off.

“Ethan!” Amber whimpered as Ethan passed her, gunning for me.

Looking around slightly, I noticed a crowd was starting to form. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted Rich, Brett, and Evan. They were looking down on us from atop the 3rd-grade structure.

“Rich! Brett! Evan!” I laughed loudly as Ethan ran at me in a sprint. “I KNOW YOU CAN HEAR ME!”

I felt the old memories of friendship with the boys, and something inside me clicked once more. I had made a huge mistake the past few years, keeping them away. Wouldn’t everything be easier with people at my back, people I could trust?

I took a deep breath and shouted up at my friends, “I’M BACK!”

I saw the expressions on their faces shift from grim to smiles.

“DON’T LOOK AWAY FROM ME!” Ethan yelled as he jumped at me, his whole arm covered in ice. “I’M THE 5TH LORD, RESPECT ME!”

“Huh,” I looked at him, my arm covering itself in black scales. “Haven’t they told you, I’m the Devil of Lotus, Previously known as, The 1st Lord.”

My fingers grew into the long blades, similar to the ones I had created by combining mine and my friends’ power when we fought the behemoth. During my time not caring about school, I really had been training. I had been training really, really, hard.

The crowd around could only watch as I seemingly disappeared, reappearing in front of Ethan as he neared. Crouching low, I let my fist loose, crushing into his gut. Twisting my hand as I pushed forward, it was as if he stopped in mid-air. His upper and lower body lurched forward as his stomach went back. A split second later, his body was sent flying, skidding across the wood chips twenty feet away.

Holding my armored arm in the air, I looked around the crowd. No one spoke, they only stared in silence.

“Anyone else want a go at me?” I grinned, looking around the crowd of Kindergarteners to 3rd Graders.

Name: Atch

Level: 28

SR: 415 > 300

GR: 29 > 5

Strength: 38

Power: 29

Speed: 42

Still, no one said a word. I looked over at Rich, Brett, and Evan, and nodded. They nodded back, grinning. Turning over to Amber, I let my armor dissipate, the scales flaming black and disappearing.

“I told you someone would get hurt,” I said, making a “tsk” sound with my tongue before turning back to the structure.

Heading inside, the guards made way and I walked through the multicolored structure that I had entered back in Kindergarten. As I began to near the tower, I was met with a sudden uncertainty. It had come to my attention once more that I had abandoned them for two years, I wasn’t exactly sure how they would feel.

“Atch!” I heard Rich yell from up in the tower. “Atch! You’re finally back!”

There was a blur as Rich landed gracefully on the wood chips near me, jumping from the tower ledge and into the structure. Brett and Evan landed seconds after.

“Rich, everyone, I’m so-” I started, looking at the floor, before getting cut off.

I felt a hug, then two more. Looking back up, I saw Rich, Brett, and Evan circling me.

“Guys,” I started breaking into tears. “I’m so sorry for pushing you all away.”

“We’re sorry too, Atch,” Evan said, also breaking into tears. “We’ve been waiting for this day for two years.”

“We should’ve done more to support you,” Rich said. “It’s all our fault that it turned out this way.”

“Yea, I’m sorry, Atch,” Brett said, as everyone took a step back.

It was my first time getting a good look at everyone in the past two years. They had all grown up slightly, losing a little bit of their baby fat.

Rich’s hair had grown out slightly, though it was still as messy and spiky as ever. It also looked like he had grown taller, standing nearly an inch above me. However, he still had the same, round, old glasses.

Name: Rich

Level: 30

SR: 292

GR: 4

Strength: 31

Power: 25

Speed: 28

Brett’s hair, on the other hand, had gotten darker in color, ever so slowly getting closer to a brown from a near blond. He and I had both grown about the same amount, staying around the same height.

Name: Brett

Level: 32

SR: 279

GR: 2

Strength: 26

Power: 35

Speed: 30

Finally, I got a good look at Evan. He had grown exponentially, growing an inch or two taller than Rich. His head was as square as ever, and his short hair hadn’t changed a bit.

Name: Evan

Level: 30

SR: 291

GR: 3

Strength: 29

Power: 33

Speed: 25

Although my level had fallen behind those of my friends, it seemed like my stats stayed on par, if not better.

“Atch?” I heard a voice from behind me.

Turning, I looked over to see Maximus. He had grown as well, though it looked as if he had put on a few pounds as well. His hair was now buzzed, showing off his strong square features.

Name: Maximus

Level: 33

SR: 278

GR: 1

Strength: 37

Power: 33

Speed: 29

“Maximus, I’m back, no need to hold the rank 1 any longer,” I grinned, walking up to him for a hug.

“Huh?” He frowned, taking a step back. “Hold on, I became the First Lord through these years of hard work.”

“What?” I said, slightly confused.

“I’m not gonna hand my position over, you’ve gotta take it from me, in the next event.” He replied, grinning. “I ain’t going down without a fight, prove yourself to me once more.”

“Oh, is that what it’s gonna take?” I laughed before looking him dead in the eyes. “It’s on, Maximus.”

“I guess so, Atch,” Maximus turned around and exited the structure.

I chuckled as he left, feeling slight rage boiling through my blood.

Turning to my friends, I asked them, “What’s the next event?”

“Oh, it’s capture-the-flag,” Evan said. “I believe the team captains are Brett and Maximus.”

“Yea,” Rich nodded. “Though it also means we’ll be split up, I guess those of us on Maximus’ team will have to throw the game.”

“No,” I cut him off. “I want to win this fair and square, else he won’t acknowledge me.”

Rich grinned back up at me, “That’s what I hoped to hear from the 1st Lord.”

“I’ll make sure to pick one of you guys first,” Brett said, looking at Rich and Evan. “Maximus won’t pick Atch so I shouldn’t waste a pick on him.”

“But... what if he does pick Atch?” Rich frowned. “Then what?”

“Ah… we can’t risk that, can we?” Brett nodded. “I’m not sure.”

Before we could finish our conversation, the school bell rang out and we had to split up. I headed with Rich over to our classroom while Brett and Evan went the other way. After sitting down in our seats, I noticed Amber glance over to me, barely making eye contact before looking away.

”Okay class,” Mrs Z started. “As you all know, we’ll be playing capture the flag today.”

The class erupted into cheers of excitement, it seemed like everyone was excited to play.

“For those of you who haven’t played before, I’ll explain the rules,” Mrs Z said. “First of all, the captains will be Maximus from our class, and Brett from the other class. There will be a coin flip between the two captains, the winner gets the first player pick, loser gets two picks directly after, then both players will take turns picking players.”

I looked around the room catching Rich’s gaze, he nodded back to me. If Evan lost it would be for the best, Maximus would get one of the Lords and we would get two including me. Though if he picked me… I wasn’t sure what would happen then.

“The rest of the game is simple, the first team to capture the other team’s flag wins. Both flags will be at the top of each respective team’s castle.”

She paused and looked around the room for questions before Kenny raised his hand.

Name: Kenny

Level: 27

SR: 322

GR: 11

Strength: 31

Power: 20

Speed: 19

“Yes, Kenny?” She asked.

“Uh, how are we supposed to get the other players out?” He asked, putting his hand down.

“Oh, that’s right, good question,” she said. “Like the other team-on-team games, you will each have health bars. When those deplete, you will automatically be transported to the other team’s jail.”

“How do we free the jail?” A girl asked, confused.

“It’s simple,” Mrs Z grinned. “You need to get inside the jail and unlock the cell. Each team should probably have around… let’s say, 3 jailers, just to be safe.”

There was a pause as people waited for more questions, but there were none.

“Okay, follow me, children,” Mrs Z said, leading us out of the classroom.

We walked through the playground, entering the garden of portals. It felt slightly nostalgic, passing by all of the portals that we used throughout the years. I even saw the fresh-faced kindergarteners going on their first run into the slime world. It was finally time for me to start trying again, prove to everyone that I hadn’t lost my touch.

Entering through a large, grey, swirling portal, we appeared in what seemed to be a large dungeon. The other class was already here, I saw Brett wave from across the room to me and Rich. I waved back, as did Rich, then we proceeded to sit on one of the many stone benches.

Mrs Z walked up to the front of both classes and voices hushed. Pulling out a gold coin, she rested it on her thumb.

“Brett, Maximus, come up,” she said, looking at each of the crowds.

There was shuffling of feet as two bodies popped out of their seats and headed to the front. The crowds watched in silence, anxiously awaiting the coin flip. With a light ding, the coin flung a few feet in the air, before Mrs Z snatched it, and covered it on the top of her left arm.

“Maximus?” She asked, looking at him.

“Tails,” he grinned over to Brett.

“Heads, I guess,” Brett smirked.

Mrs Z lifted her hand, “Tails! Maximus’ pick.”

Maximus grinned looking over my direction and smirked. I felt the anxiety kicking in, was he about to pick me? I prayed, prayed that I would be on Brett’s team. I really just needed to smash Maximus’ teeth in. He pointed his finger directly at me, and I felt a shudder. It was over, exactly what I didn’t want to happen, happened.