While walking to the cafeteria I notice Phoebe keeps looking at me. Whenever I glance at her she quickly turns away. She must’ve been starving since I’ve been asleep. She’s probably too embarrassed to go eat out by herself. Good thing I offered to take her out!

We arrive at the cafeteria and see only half of the people from the original crowd of candidates present. Connor waves at me from afar to come sit with him.

I grab a sandwich and sit next to him while Phoebe sits to my right. As we sit down I notice Phoebe gets rid of her cutesy girl act and transforms back into her young master persona.

“What’s up bro. That trial was difficult. I felt as if I was going to die when the Ripper started throwing rocks at me and my partner. Hey who’s the babe? Is this your girlfriend?”

If you want to head to paradise then don’t bring me into it! I look back to see Phoebe red-faced. Is she that mad? I better clear things up.

“Erm… this is my partner Phoe- Phineas. He’s not a girl. He’s actually a guy. He was a great help since I could barely scratch the Ripper’s skin.” When I look back at Phoebe she seems to have calmed down albeit looking slightly disappointed.

“Master Phineas! Master Phineas! I have returned with victory for you.” I turned my head to the direction of the voice and saw a man built like a gorilla barreling towards us.

“Ah! Why are you so close to my master? Retreat from him at once you lowlife!” The gorilla-like man bellows at me, throwing spit all over my face.

“Rook! That’s enough. I’ll have you know that this is my partner for the trials. Do not attempt to slander him.” Rook unwillingly sits down next to Phoebe all the while throwing glares in my direction. I just want to eat my food in peace...

As I’m about to dig in I sense danger coming from the left side of my head. I dodge the blow and throw a punch in the direction of the attack. I see a familiar face and stop my fist just before it lands on them.

“What the hell Alissa! Can you tell your maid to stop attacking me!”

“Hahaha. Can’t you take a little joke Cayden?” I try to respond to Alissa, but quickly shut up at her maid’s murderous glare only daring to grumble my complaints under my breath.

Connor looks mesmerized by the two beauties completely forgetting how one of them knocked him out just recently. “Hello ladies. Beautiful roses like you must be nurtured and cared for! I’ll have you know that me and Cayden are licensed gardeners.”

The maid casts a disgusted expression at him. “Who might you be? Move so my mistress may sit next to this man.” Connor reluctantly moves to sit in front of me. Now I have Phoebe on the right and Alissa on the left. Is this some sort of romcom?

“So this is your partner Cayden? Oh dear. You must have had much trouble to carry a load this heavy during the trial.” At Alissa’s words Phoebe’s face turns bright red as her teeth grit together.

“I’ll have you know that I am the third young master of the Delmach Clan! The youngest talent of this generation! Who might you be?” They’re both hovering over me while I eat. I can’t eat my food like this.

“Oho? How boastful. You’re that brat of the Delmach. How cute. I am Alissandra Rosencrawf the true heir to the Rosencrawf bloodline.” Phoebe visibly pales at Alissa’s words.

“Ye- yeah. Well so what! Status doesn’t mean anything at Blood Springs.”

“Oh really? Then why are you shaking?”

Listening to these two argue reminds me of when Ellen and I used to do the same during dinners. Nowadays I hardly see her because of the restrictions placed by her school. I can’t help but smile when remembering those times.

While I reminisce about the past I begin to feel warmth all over my body. It feels sort of refreshing like taking a warm bath after some exercise. It suddenly spikes in temperature until it feels like I’m taking a dip into a pot of boiling water.

“Cayden? Are you alright bro? Your shirt’s soaked.” Connor notices that something’s wrong with me. At this point I can barely speak. All the saliva has dried up in my mouth.

I leave my food on the table and rush to the nearest bathroom. The people on the table look perplexed by my sudden departure. I lock myself into one of the stalls and immediately collapse onto the floor.

Pain akin to a thousand searing knives plunging deep into my flesh attacks my senses. I feel something stuck in my stomach. It’s like weights are inside of me. I grip onto the sides of the toilet bowl and begin to puke.

A mass of black goo exits my mouth and into the toilet. It’s stench is absolutely revolting. It’s as if someone left a corpse outside for a week during summer. A couple more globs of the black goo come out of my mouth before I feel it’s all gone.

When I get up from the floor I notice the heat and pain have disappeared. I find that my body feels lighter and stronger for some reason. I feel like I could take that salamander from before all by myself.

I throw a punch at the wall. A dull thud echoes throughout the bathroom. The wall begins to form cracks where my punch landed. That was made out of hard brick! How did my strength grow so much?

~£#[email protected]& #&a&$ #*p&@&a$

“Huh? Who’s there?” I swear I heard a voice just now. I remember I heard it in the medical ward before too. I better go back to the doctor to see how long the side effects last.

I exit the bathroom into the hallway and start to head back to the cafeteria. As I walk back I find it strange how no one else is nearby. I haven’t seen a single person since I ran to the bathroom.

My senses suddenly alarm me of incoming danger. I step back before a punch whizzes by me. It lands on a wall causing a small crater to form on the brick. My head would have been mincemeat if I didn’t dodge that.

“Oho? Nice reactions kid. Now would you kindly stay still for my next one?” The man in the beast skin stands in front of me. His presence was already imposing on the podium. Now it feels like a real beast is standing in front of me, ready to rip me apart.

“I’ll make this easy for you. If you tell me why you’re here then I’ll send all of what’s left of you to the morgue.”

“Why am I here? I’m here for the entrance exams just like everyone else.”

The man in beast skin’s grin turns into a grimace at my response. “Okay fine. If you won’t talk then I’ll force out the answer from you.”

He appears in front of me before I can react. He grabs me by the throat and slams me onto the ground. How did he close the distance between us so fast?

I try to escape from his grip, but I’m unable to. It feels like his hands are metal clamps. I can’t move one inch when he’s on top of me.

“Tell me why you came from the East?” He grabs my hand and holds my index finger. “Every wrong answer and I’ll break one of your fingers.”

I manage to choke out a response. “I don’t know... what you’re… talking about.”

“So be it.” I feel a searing pain in my hand. He bends one of my fingers until its tip reaches my knuckle. I can see the bone sticking out of my finger. The sight of my bent finger makes me nauseous.

“I’ll ask again. Why have you come from the East?”

“I don’t understand?”

CRACK

This continues until all the fingers on my right hand are broken. “You’re a tough one aren’t you? Let’s see how long you last until you break?”

I have no time to answer him. My mind is spent on halting my regeneration process. I have to bide my time until the right moment. If I reveal my regeneration now then I would lose my advantage.

“Staying silent are we? How many bones are left until I move on to your legs?”

BEEEEP

The man in beast skin reaches into his pocket and takes out his holocube. He answers a call from it. “This is Corvus speaking. I’ve captured a rat from the East. I’m currently in the process of interrogating.”

While he’s talking on the phone I release the restriction on my healing factor allowing it to freely heal my injuries. I can feel each individual bone being put back into place.

I activate the lightning inside me. Instead of spreading the lightning throughout my body, I concentrate it all into my arm.

My arm feels like it’s going to explode. I launch a fist right at the jaw of the man in beast skin. He flies through the air and crashes into a wall. I scramble up from the floor and get into a fighting stance.

All that’s left of my arm is some bone with pieces of flesh clinging to it. Pieces of viscera litter the floor. The pain nearly causes me to pass out. I can still hold on though.

The man in beast skin climbs out of the wreckage and rubs his jaw. “So you say you aren’t from the East? Wasn’t that a body refinement technique you just used there? Or is it one of your taboo skills?”

I still have no idea what he’s talking about. Body refinement? Taboo skill? What the hell does he even mean?

The man in beast skin takes a half-step back. Shit. He’s about to attack. I raise my hands in front of me to defend myself.

The man’s body flickers before appearing in front of me. He throws a punch at me. I block the blow with my good arm. I feel the bones in my arm break. I take several steps back before I can stabilize myself.

This isn’t going to work. My regeneration has a limit. I need to find a way to break through. “Sheesh. You still say you aren’t from the East? You’ve probably experienced a lightning tribulation already with that body of yours.”

Lightning tribulation? It clicks in my head what he means. It’s the lightning I took a year ago from the Ripper. It seems similar to the lightning he’s talking about since mine also strengthens my body.

“Keep your eyes on who you’re fighting kid.” While I’m distracted the man in beast skin strikes at me again. I’m knocked into the air. He catches me midair and throws a flurry of blows at me.

My rib cage is fractured. One of my lungs is punctured. I taste something sweet in my mouth. Is that blood? It’s difficult to breathe now. My mind goes hazy from the pain.

I grit my teeth and focus. I circulate the lightning in my body. As I’m doing so I notice some of it seems to be attracted to a place in my abdomen. It’s like something is siphoning all the lightning in my system.

The man in beast skin continues to wail on me. My regeneration is having a hard time keeping up with his attacks. My limbs are bent at unnatural angles. My movements begin to slow.

The lightning within me continues to be sucked into my abdomen until a marble-sized orb is condensed. It shines a purple light within me.

The lightning orb starts to spin. Each rotation causes strength to fill my body. My injuries begin to heal faster than before. His hits don’t feel as strong anymore. My wounded arm from before is now completely healed.

The man in beast skin launches another punch at me. I manage to catch it this time and fling his body away.

“Haha! There’s your strength! Show me more of it! Let’s have another round kid.”

The man in beast skin jumps off of the floor. He takes the beast skin off of his back. A grizzled face greets me. A scar runs along his cheek. His eyes observe me like a predator watching its prey.

“The name’s Corvus. Think of me as a passing senior teaching a lesson to his juniors.”

“My name’s Cayden. I swear one day I’ll become a hero of justice and you’re not going to stop me here!”

“Ha! Great conviction kid!” Corvus takes a step back. His foot propels him forward at inhuman speeds. I can see him now! I take his punch and return one to him.

A dizzying amount of hits fly through the air. The wind around us picks up as the dust on the ground is thrown everywhere. The only sound to be heard in the hallway is our strikes hitting each other's bodies.

Both me and him forget about defense. We exchange attacks without care. Injuries start to pile on my body. Corvus staggers from each of my strikes. I bear the pain and continue to trade blows.

In the next few minutes I’m drenched in my own blood. Both my fists have long had their bones broken. My regeneration has given up at some point. The lightning orb has grown dimmer. I feel like a light breeze could knock me over.

In front of me stands Corvus. He looks no different to when the fight started albeit looking slightly tired. He’s like a large mountain. No matter what I throw at him, he’ll never react.

“If you can’t tell me what I want, then maybe one of your friends would be easier to persuade.”

My mind blanks out for a second. I feel as if something inside of me is released. I hear the same voice from before, but this time it’s clearer.

Papa~ Papa~

My body begins to expand. Muscles burst out of my shirt. Veins pop out on my forehead like miniature snakes. I grow as tall as Corvus. My vision turns red as rage consumes me.

“This is new?” Corvus takes a step towards me. The grin on his face doesn’t change from my transformation.

“I- I- I-“

“I what?”

“I’LL TEAR YOU APART!”