"Shit why did I do that it hurt like hell."
Zeke stood still watching the Hollow tumble away, his shoulder aching slightly before he turned toward the Darius and his team who still standing in a loose defensive formation. Their faces were pale, eyes wide, clearly running on fumes, but all of them were undeniably shocked as they looked at Zeke.
"Back off."
"Catch your breath I wanna test out somehthing." The five nodded absentmindedly still somewhat dazed at Zeke's timely arrival. "If I need help, I'll call out."
They watched as he turned back to the Hollow who was blown away.
The creature growled, brushing off shattered branches from its shoulders with unnatural, jagged movements. Its skin shimmered like obsidian glass, cracked in places where bark had cut deep.
"Hey bud." Zeke tilted his head slightly. "I've had a pretty shoddy day so far. How bout you?"
The Hollow snarled in response, clearly not having the intention to reply, not that it could anyways.
Zeke added, with a wounded tone. "I came all this way just to meet you, and you're not even gonna greet me?"
Behind him, one of the boys whispered, "Is he serious? or just a little crazy"
Another murmured, "Does he have a hero complex?"
Hearing the comments from the students, Zeke's expression darkened. The grin faded. His eyes sharpened, his brows lowering into a focused glare. His whole demeanor shifted.
"You guy's are no fun, I'm just disciplining a junior." He sighed heavily before turning back to the Hollow. "Guess I have to come over there and teach you the importance of greeting your seniors."
A pulse of something cold and violent expanded from his body, the product of his latest breakthrough, his aura. It expanded out pushing away small rocks and leaves from the vicinity, although it wasn't much, the fact that his aura could affect physical objects was very impressive to the other students, normally one had to use mana in a spell or with a technique to give it physical properties. The five students gasped, the breath caught in their lungs, instinctively taking a step back, their faces filled with shock and awe.
The Hollow roared angrily, it eyed Zeke with disdain.
SSSSSSSHHNK!
The sound of a blade sliding free from its sheath echoed unnaturally loud in the forest. It glinted faintly in the scattered light, Zeke's hand grasped the hilt.
"Shit."
He held the sword in both hands, trying not to let his shoulders tense.
"I've never used one of these in a real fight. I only grabbed it because it looked cool.'
His knuckles were white against the cold hilt of the blade, a sign that his grip was too tight. His stance too wide, to begginers it looked pretty cool but to a trained swordsmen it looked like shit, infact Zeke was sure they would side with the beast if they saw this scenario.
"Okay. Just remember what Ethan showed you. Basics. Just the basics…"
The Hollow lunged forward.
Zeke swung wildly, steel scraping the armour-like skin with a screech. The Hollow pivoted, claws leaving trails of blood down his ribs.
"Ahh shit go easy on me its my first time" He tumbled sideways and rolled to his feet in a spray of dust. "Hehe, that's the second time I've said that this week, leaving home was a great idea."
His movements were crude and sloppy but it didn't matter, one of Zeke's core beliefs was to "If it works, who cares?" and his swordsmanship was basically the direct translation of that, in other words, it was shit.
The creature spun back around to face him then rushed forward again.
Zeke stabbed out instinctively, his blade grazed the Hollow's body, though he wasn't sure what part he knew it must've done some damage as it howled in pain, but soon after it retaliated with a swipe of its arm. It's claws caught his shoulder, ripping through a few layers of skin. Blood seeped through the wound. He hissed in pain, stumbling back, his already shredded clothes were now comepletely falling apart.
Fabric tore down his side, dangling off one arm before falling entirely, revealing a lean, muscled frame littered with healed scars and slashmarks. The boys watching grimaced, cussing under their breath complaining about how this crazy guy actually got to have a main charecter moment. The girls looked away, their faces flushed slightly, although it wasn't their first time seeing a man shirtless, Zeke's toned frame paired with all the scars seemed to catch their eye's.
...
But it wasn't the muscles that caught the professors' eyes.
From their high viewpoint, Lira's eyes narrowed as she saw the scars etched across his back and ribs.
"Wait…" she whispered, curiosity evident. "What are those? I've investigated him multiple times, he has never been in any fight's, nor participated in gang activity."
"The world is still at odds with powered individuals, there are cases like this all the time... it was probably his parents" The Headmaster shock his head slightly.
...
Below, Zeke rolled his shoulder, blade still in hand, unaware of the many eyes watching him.
"C'mon…" he muttered. " Eighteen years with these legs and you're still tripping? Pathetic."
The Hollow charged once more, faster this time.
Zeke sidestepped, the beast shot past him but not before he swung his blade down. The sword bit deep into the monster's back leg. It screeched and collapsed in the soft dirt. Before it could recover, Zeke gritted his teeth and swung again, this time at the front leg. The blades edge rang against bone, and the limb was severed in a brutal, splintering crunch.
The creature howled, staggering. Dark ichor splattered the ground, evaporating into a mist like substance before Zeke could get a better look at the substance.
Zeke staggered too. He could feel every breath now, his ribs screaming, arms burning, legs shaky. Blood dripped steadily from the gash on his side, soaking his pants.
But his eyes were still clear, the excitement at his new power was still clearly visible.
The blade began to move cleaner now, cutting through the air with a sharp whistle. His stabs grew tighter, refined. He flowed instead of stumbled. Still crude, but learning way faster than most people.
Each missed swing was a lesson. Each failed dodge was a deadly reminder.
"I think I'm getting better, holy shit, if I had a system would I have an above average intelligence stat?."
The Hollow backed up, panting, eyes gleaming as they eyed Zeke, it reared up for one last charge.
Zeke stared it down, chest heaving.
They rushed each other.
The beast jumped towards Zeke, in responce he stabbed forward with the sword, not aiming for anything in particular but based on the movies he had been watching normally the enemy just falls onto it and dies.
Puch! The sword dug straight into the beast but before it could get any further it got stuck, "Shit, it's probably stuck between two bones", atleast thats what he thought, he hasn't learned the anatomy of these beasts yet, "Stupid school should've sent us here after they taught us how to fight."
"Ahh come on you little shit." His hands locked on the hilt, trying to yank it free.
The Hollow, still stuck on Zeke's sword saw that his prey was so close, so it swung its mouth towards Zeke who was trying to pull his sword free, it's mouth stretched open unnaturally, but then it froze.
A glint of silver flashed.
Zeke pushed forward with his left hand, the dagger in it went through the roof of the monsters mouth with a wet crunch, straight through its skull.
The creature twitched once, then collapsed on Zeke like a puppet with its strings cut.
The five students, having watched the whole fight saw the monster fall on Zeke, they stopped dead, from their point of view Zeke just died, they all paled, but noticed that there was no movement coming from the two. They had only walked a few steps closer before seeing the dagger protruding from the Hollow's head… and Zeke, crouched beneath the beast, arm still raised holding onto the dagger.
A moment of silence.
Zeke shoved the creature off him and stood slowly, swaying slightly.
Then just for good measure he stabbed it a few more times, grumbling, childish fury in every movement. "Yeah? Still not gonna greet me?" He spat out a mouthful of blood.
He gave the corpse a lazy kick, then dropped to the ground beside a nearby splintered tree, breath ragged.
"Asshole…" he mumbled under his breath, soft, but cutting through the silence.
"You should've just said hi."
Silence again.
Then a strangled sound came from one of the students.
Laughter. Short and shocked.
...
Above, the teachers stared.
"He's… a bit crazy," one whispered.
"No," Another one replied, watching closely. "He's a genius. Look at the growth. The aura. The technique shift mid-battle, move him up a few ranks on the list."
Lira stared down, frowning. "He's reckless."
"But he is good," the man finished. "Very good."
...
Zeke sat quietly, chest heaving, blood dripping everywhere, gear torn to shreds, but his eyes were razor sharp as he glanced at the group approaching him.
His body was completely done so he didn't bother to greet them, he watched on, his eye's bright.