The silence in the room was nerve-wracking, all eyes were focused on the two boys staring each other down.
"You don't have to do it if you're scared," Dennis' eyes trailed towards the badge on Musue's chest, "Scum like you will only fight when it benefits you after all"
Damian growled and took a step forward but a hand landed on his shoulder. Helios looked down at him.
"Are you sure about this?"
Damian looked at him for a moment before he shrugged the hand off and continued walking forward. Adrian met him at the entrance to the ring. He didn't say anything to him, he only stared at him for a short while before climbing down and allowing Damian to enter.
Damian took off his shoes, collected tape from someone at the side, and began rolling it around his palms.
"It seems the challenger has called on a new opponent! Someone we haven't seen in the ring before is going to be coming in for the first time!!"
Damian snapped off the tape once he was done rolling them up and then he turned around to face Dennis.
"Didn't think you would be so easy," Dennis said with a smug smile, "I guess you can't expect trash to have standards"
"Shut up and fight," Damian seethed. Dennis grinned and then got into a fighting stance. He put his two hands in front of him and lowered his center of gravity. It was a strange sight to Damian, but he didn't think too much about it. His head was clouded with anger and rage.
He hated this. This monster inside of him that he couldn't get rid of. He hated the fact that people saw him as a weak target, just something to take their anger out on. He was going to prove to them that he wasn't just some weakling.
"Begin!" The announcer shouted and Damian shot forward, aiming to land the first blow.
That was the only mistake Dennis allowed him.
At first, the crowd had cheered the fight on, excited to see a new challenger. But as time went on their expressions changed from excitement to surprise and then to outright shock.
Dennis slammed his fist into Damian's face. He grabbed his head with both hands and pulled it down, slamming his knee into it and making it bounce back like a ball. He kicked Damian in the abdomen and Damian bounced off the rope of the ring.
"Hey... Hey.." one of the spectators said, "Is this even a fight?"
Damian coughed and brought up his hands to block a kick to his head. It made his hands throb painfully and his head rng like a gong as his glasses finally flew off his face. He bent down, trying to avoid a follow-up punch, but Dennis just changed the punch to a kick and sent him into the ropes again.
"Is that it huh!?" Dennis said while walking towards Damian, "I thought you wanted to fight!"
Dennis grabbed Damian by the shirt and slammed his fist into Damian's face. He then tossed him over his shoulder.
"Is this what you call a fight!?" Denis shouted while looking down at Damian.
"Hey…" the announcer called while coming forward, "…I think that's enough"
"Get back!" Dennis shouted at him, startling the announcer out of the ring. He then looked at Damian.
"Is this all a member of the hades faction can do!? I thought you were all battle-hungry! Stand up and fight!"
Damian planted his fist on the floor and coughed. He then began to raise himself slowly.
"He's getting up?" One of the spectators said, "Is he mad?"
"I don't think I could take that much punishment and still get up. Doesn't he know he's outmatched here?"
Damian grunted as he finally got to his knees, "I don't care what you think about the Hades faction. But I won't let you insult me! Not now!" Damian looked up with mad eyes, "And not ever!"
Dennis' expression turned to one of fury and he reared his fist back in anger, "Like you can do anything about it!"
Damian screamed as he charged to his feet and reared his hand back. A black flame flickered to life on his fist before it increased and covered his entire fist in black flames, "I said I won't let you!!!"
BBBOOMMMMMM!!!!
The impact blew smoke over the entire stage and all the students waited with baited breaths to see what had happened.
"Now, come on," A voice said from inside the smoke, "Aren't you boys taking this a bit too far?"
The smoke cleared to reveal Helios holding both fists in his palms. He still had a smile on his face, "I think we've had more than enough excitement for one day." he said before turning to the announcer.
The announcer quickly scrambled to grab the microphone, "The fight club is now closed for today! Thank you and make sure to avoid the windows as you go out!"
The students murmured amongst themselves as they filed out of the room, until only Helios, the two boys, and Adrian were left.
Damian tried to pull his hand back in anger, but Helios held on to it tightly. He tilted his head down till he was looking at Damian from above his glasses, staring him down with a blank look. Damian growled and then finally calmed down before Helios let go of both their hands and clapped.
"Nice showmanship, both of you," he said. He then turned to Dennis, "You're suspended for one week"
"WHAT!?"
"You know what you did," Helios said, "Augmenting your fist with lightning in a fight is against the rules. I felt it"
"But he did it too!" Dennis said, "I saw the flames!"
"Yes, but he doesn't know the rules. I'm sure he won't do it again" he looked towards Damian, "Am I right?"
Damian huffed and then turned away. He began limping away from the ring.
"I won't be back," Damian said, "You can shove your fight club"
Helios smiled as he watched Damian leaving, he knew he would be back. There wasn't a single person who felt the atmosphere here who wouldn't come back for more. It was addictive, like a drug. And now that he had felt it, Damian was addicted.
-----
Damian opened the classroom door and Persephone immediately gasped as she turned to him. He had a deadpan expression on his face as he moved towards his seat. Bandages were decorating his face and his arm had one long bandage wrapped around it.
"W-What happened?" She asked in shock.
Damian looked from her to Adrian and noticed the hard look Adrain was giving him, desperately telling him to lie. It was obvious she was not in the know about the fight club. And Damian was no rat.
"I fell down some stairs"
Persephone blinked.
Adrain smacked his forehead.
Damian groaned internally. Even he knew that was bullshit.
"But we don't have stairs…" Persephone said.
"I meant I hit my head," Damian quickly said, trying to cover up his prior slip up, "Must've hit it harder than I thought. Hahaha…."
Persephone looked like she wanted to argue, but the door to the classroom opened and Helios walked in with his usual swag. He paused once he saw Damian, "You look like shit,"
Damian growled at the man. Helios continued to the desk, "Morning everyone." he said, "The principal and I read your reports about the fieldwork and I must say; you all are very lucky to have come out alive at all"
"Maybe if we had more training…" Adrian began
"But the principal knew you would all be able to handle it, so there was no danger at all," Helios ignored the affronted sound Adrian made and continued, "I'll leave you to your classes for today. But before I go, is there anything you want to ask me?"
The three students were silent and Helios smiled while bringing his earbuds out from his pocket.
"Well then, I guess I'll be seeing you"
He turned around and began leaving the class, but just as he opened the door, someone else entered the room, crashing into his chest.
"Ah!" Callista said as she used Helios' chest to hold herself up. Helios looked down at her with a raised brow.
"You okay?"
Callista's eyes widened once she heard his voice and she immediately jumped away from him, "H-Helios!"
"Yes, that's me…"
"I-I'm so sorry... I-I didn't see you there and I was in a hurry and I just…." she covered her face with her hands and groaned, "I'm such a clutz,"
Helios laughed softly and began walking out, "it's fine Callista. I'm sure the kids are waiting for you"
Callista quickly jolted, "R-Right, the kids!"
She quickly entered the class to find three pairs of eyes looking at her curiously. She blushed and averted her eyes from theirs, "H-Hello everyone. U-Uhm...Ajax has something to attend to today, so he asked me to cover the first period for him. I hope you don't mind,"
They were all silent and Callista suddenly realized the absurdity of asking their permission for something like this. She hugged her books to her chest and made her way over to the desk. She looked up and began looking around the class.
"I know it's sudden, but I'll be… Oh my god! What happened to you!"
Damian smiled awkwardly and scratched the back of his head as Callista suddenly came down from the elevated platform and grabbed his hand in hers.
"You're hurt! What happened!?"
Damian blushed crimson, "U-Uhm it was nothing. I just hit my head while training"
"Training? You shouldn't be pushing yourself so hard!" she looked him in the eye, smothering him with so much care and concern that it made his heart flip, "What will you do if you hurt yourself even more"
"Don't - don't worry, I'll be fine. I'm strong, you know"
Someone snorted from the side and Damian turned and glared at Adrian. He saw Persephone looking at him with a calculative look, and when their eyes met, she huffed lightly and looked away.
Damian blinked in surprise.
"W-Well if you're going to take care of yourself, then I guess that's good. But please don't push yourself too hard"
Damian nodded slowly and then breathed a sigh of relief as she let go of his hand and went back to the desk.
"Uh.. so we already spoke about the Titanomachy in our previous class. So today, we are going to be discussing something new," she clicked a button and the projector board turned on, showing the topic of the day, "The elder gods"
Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades, Damian's brain supplied almost immediately.
"Zeus. Poseidon and Hades are the three elder gods and they were instrumental to the fight against the titans…"