"Fight, fight!" The students cheered loudly. Everyone watched with excitement as the two young men used their abilities against each other, despite the risk of expulsion from the school.
One of the students, the instigator of the fight, wore a varsity football jacket; he had a typical gelled short haircut privileged kids used for style and a cocky grin. He was using an A-level wind ability his family's money bought for him to blast at the other student.
The other student fighting back wasn't as well off as the other boy. He wore badly worn-out clothes from thrift stores and had long, unkempt, ratty hair. He dodged the winds, desperate to avoid getting his skin sliced, but he couldn't fight back properly without his weapons.
"C'mon, Little Raven. What, can't fight back without your precious little blades, not so tough now, huh?" The mockery the rich kid gave out was as lame as his haircut to the other boy. Ash hated his taunting, especially being called Little Raven.
Ash Raven, that was his name, and for now, his curse at school.
"C'mon, c'mon, gotta get that last-minute wing clipping done before the end of the day. Try to make it interesting. Or do you prefer to cheat as your deadbeat brother did?"
Hearing that, Ash's eyes turned red. Insulting his older brother was a weakness he couldn't ignore. He charged at the jock, full of anger, even as more wind blades flew his way, ignoring the pain from being hit. He refused to back down now until he had the jock's fat neck in his hands.
The jock didn't realize that Ash didn't honestly need a knife to fight back. During his run, Ash saw a student nearby with multiple pens in his shirt pocket. He raised a hand, and the pens flew in his direction. A wicked smile spread across Ash's face as he threw the pens at the jock.
Usually, everyone would laugh at such childish antics, but they were fools to think that. The pens shot out like bullets, piercing the jock's legs and making him squirm in pain. He fell to the ground, trying to hold himself up by one leg. He barely managed to lift it before Ash stepped in front of him, a pen aimed at the rich kid's eye.
"How'd you do that?" He asked, shaking as the point of the pen almost touched his iris.
"Dumbass! Did you think I just needed an actual knife to use my ability? I have Grade C-level telepathy and a Skill book on knife proficiency. Basically, as long as I have an object that can be used like a knife, I can use my Skill." Ash continued to hold the pen close to the rich kid's eye, fighting back the urge to jam it through and end him.
The thought of stabbing him in his stupid eyes was satisfying after everything he'd endured from him in three years of his school days. But he wouldn't do it. He wasn't going to stoop that low; he couldn't live with himself if he threw his life away on this person. He threw the pen aside, grabbed his belongings to leave, and everyone near him backed off to avoid getting stabbed or just vexing him.
Everyone who could have blocked his way cleared a path for him immediately. Even though he was classified as a Level 5, he was still strong enough and angry enough to fight back without problems. You could only poke a mad dog enough till it bites back.
The teachers and security finally arrived after the chaos had settled. As usual, they coddled the rich jock and blamed Ash for everything.
"Mr. Raven, what have you done now?" a teacher asked before getting the facts straight.
"Me? I did nothing. He started it. Look at him and look at me. Who looks more beat up?"
The teachers looked at both of them. Even with minor puncture wounds from the pens, the jock's injuries were slight, easily healable within a couple of hours or days.
Ash had multiple cuts and bruises on top of the ones that hadn't healed yet from a previous fight with the jock's lackeys, and his clothes were ruined. It was clear who the real victim was.
"He's lying, sir. He got mad when we touched his bike and went off on us. He's just crazy."
Ash snapped, angry at that accusation. It wasn't that the jock damaged his bike, but it was his brother who owned it originally.
"Screw you, meathead! You didn't just touch it; your trashy girlfriend spilled a latte on it, and your friends kicked it for laughs. How do you have the nerve to say I started this when you did that?"
The security team examined the bike. The evidence was clear: it was defiled with a cheap latte, and the tires and frame showed scuffs from their shoes. The lead teacher hesitated to admit it, but Ash was right. Yet, the jock came from a wealthy family, and Ash was an orphan with a bad reputation. Who would support him?
"Mr. Raven, even so, you shouldn't have resorted to violence. It's barely the first week of your senior year, and you're fighting. You can't tarnish the school's reputation like this." Ash clenched his teeth, tired of being scolded for nothing. The jock smirked as he got away with everything once again.
Ash had had enough. He hadn't done anything wrong, yet he was always the target.
He grunted in frustration and continued to head for the bike. The teachers tried to stop him, but the look in his eyes made them reconsider. They could feel the faint bloodlust in Ash's eyes.
The students near his bike stepped back; they wanted no part of him. Once he was close, he reached in his saddlebags for the knives the jock had mocked him about.
Ash was fortunate to have three gifts: one to consume Ability Stones like the telepathy stone he used earlier, another to learn skills from Skill books like his knife proficiency, and a third linked to Divinity Arts, blessed martial skills. Unfortunately, he had no access to a divinity scroll or weapon linked to learning the arts, so that choice was unavailable now.
Still, even with those gifts, he was bullied like it was a graduation requirement, all because of rumors about his brother's last tour of duty, which claimed his life and ruined his credibility.
Ash tried to wipe the coffee stains from the seat. His irritation boiled over; he used one of disposable throwing knives in the bags and punctured the tire of the jock's expensive BMW.
"What the fuck? My car!" The jock screamed.
"Mr. Raven! What are you doing?" the lead teacher yelled.
Ash flipped him off in response.
"Bite me! That was payment for my bike, Bastich! Keep the knives as your change" He started the bike up, did a 180 spin, and sped off in the opposite direction. He threw a few more knives at the car until it looked like a pincushion. Since he didn't use them on students or on school property (as it was in the parking lot across the street), he broke no rules under the Government mandate's Level Laws, which allowed the use of abilities freely for self-defense or within good reason.
Ash left with a satisfied smile, feeling he'd had enough nonsense for one day.