Chapter 5 - Beating
The moment the punch hit me, I tried to dodge.
But that did not work.
The fist slammed into my side with enough force to launch me backward.
I crashed straight into the wall.
BOOM!
"Ah–fuck!" I gasped, every muscle in my body spasming at once.
Pain swallowed everything.
I’d been hit before.
Sparring, training, the occasional stupid decision that ended with bruises.
I knew pain.
But this was the kind of pain that made my vision blur.
My ears rang.
My knees buckled.
For a moment, I couldn’t even tell whether I was still upright or just hanging somewhere between falling and collapsing.
"Y-You still didn’t Awaken your Aspect?!" Reyes shouted, as if I was the one making a scene.
"I-I Awakened your mother, you bastard!" I coughed out, hating the way my voice came out cracked and weak.
Since when could he use lightning?
I glared at him through the haze in my eyes, and for the briefest instant his expression flickered.
It was something closer to panic.
Ah.
So even he realized he’d messed up.
That was comforting in the same way watching a man realize too late that he’d kicked a hornet’s nest.
Technically speaking, it meant the danger was acknowledged.
It did not, however, mean it had gone away.
Awakeners could get away with a lot, but killing a civilian was not one of those things.
Even in a world as fractured and monstrous as this one, there was still a need for order.
The kind that followed people around for the rest of their lives and showed up in reports, blacklists, and very uncomfortable conversations with law enforcement.
And right now, because I hadn’t fully Awakened yet, I was still counted as a civilian.
That made this much, much worse.
Reyes and I had fought before, sure.
We’d traded insults, bruises, and enough petty grudges to fill a small warehouse.
But there had always been a line.
A stupid line, maybe, but a line all the same.
This... This was him stepping over it.
For a second, I thought he might actually come at me again.
Instead, he looked at me once more, and then turned away and ran.
No dramatic villain speech.
He just bolted.
I stared after him, too stunned to even be properly furious for a heartbeat.
Then the adrenaline hit again.
"Oh, I’m going to make him taste hell for this," I muttered, one hand pressed against my side as I tried to force air back into my lungs.
At least my ribs didn’t feel broken.
That was a miracle.
The electricity had hurt more than the punch itself.
Which meant he’d probably just Awakened recently, and his control was absolute garbage.
A first-time Aspect user running on instinct and panic was dangerous.
If he’d known what he was doing, I might have been a lot worse off.
The thought didn’t exactly make me feel better.
It mostly made me feel stupid.
I’d gotten cocky.
That was the truth of it.
I’d felt my body changing after absorbing the crystal.
I’d felt that thin crack inside me opening.
Enough to make me think I was suddenly safer than I really was.
Reality, naturally, had taken that personally.
"Bro!"
Just then, Fu Jun came running down the corridor toward me, his face pale with alarm.
He caught me before I completely lost my balance, throwing one arm around my shoulder to help me stand.
"Did that bastard Awaken?" he asked, glancing toward the empty hallway.
"Look at your state but, why was he the one running away?"
"He panicked after realizing he almost fried a civilian."
Fu Jun clicked his tongue.
"So you didn’t awaken."
"Looks like it."
He looked me over once, noticing the scorch marks on my uniform before sighing.
"You look terrible."
I snorted despite the pain.
"Come on, We planned to eat at that fancy restaurant, didn’t we?" I said, straightening myself.
"You’re thinking about food?"
"I’m thinking that chasing Reyes right now won’t accomplish anything."
I looked toward the hallway where he’d disappeared.
"But I’ll remember this."
For as long as it takes.
We stopped by the infirmary first.
The nurse barely glanced at the report before looking back at me.
Then she looked again.
"What exactly happened?"
"Training accident."
She looked at the scorch marks.
Then at me.
"Sure."
She handed me a couple of painkillers with an expression that clearly said she believed absolutely nothing I’d just told her.
A few minutes later, the dull ache throughout my body had lessened enough for me to walk without looking like an eighty-year-old grandfather.
***
The restaurant wasn’t far from Ironview High.
It was one of those places students only visited on special occasions because the prices were just expensive.
Graduation counted as a special occasion.
Fatty ordered noodles without even opening the menu.
I, meanwhile, searched hopefully for a familiar word.
Pizza.
But it was not on the menu.
Heartbroken, I settled for a baked cheese dish instead.
"You’re still thinking about Reyes, aren’t you?" Fatty asked after a while.
"Obviously."
"So you’re just letting him go?"
"Yes, for now."
I picked up my fork.
"Revenge is a gentleman’s game."
Fatty frowned.
"Is that an actual saying?"
"It should be."
I wasn’t entirely sure.
The alternate me had read too many novels for me to confidently separate famous quotes from complete nonsense anymore.
We continued eating in comfortable silence.
Halfway through my meal, movement outside the restaurant caught my attention.
"Mira?"
I blinked.
That was unexpected.
I’d deliberately told her the graduation ceremony would end later than it actually did.
Hero Agencies loved flooding schools after graduation to recruit promising students, and I knew she’d only end up wasting her time waiting.
So why was she here already?
Before I could wave.
WHOOP! WHOOP! WHOOP!
A piercing siren echoed across the street.
Every conversation inside the restaurant stopped.
Nobody screamed.
Nobody panicked.
People simply stood up, settled their bills, and began moving toward the nearest underground shelter.
"Rift alert," Fatty muttered.
"Let’s go."
I grabbed him and hurried outside, but not toward the shelter.
Toward Mira.
She spotted us immediately.
"I knew you’d come here," she said, sounding far calmer than the alarm.
Well, she was a Hero.
This was practically her office.
Around us, traffic had already stopped as emergency protocols took effect.
Police officers directed civilians toward reinforced bunkers while the Hero response teams had yet to arrive.
Everything happened with almost frightening efficiency.
People had lived with Rifts for centuries.
They knew exactly what to do.
Then, I saw it.
About fifty meters away, the empty air rippled like the surface of disturbed water.
A thin crack spread across space itself.
One became two.
Two became dozens.
Blue light spilled through the fractures as reality slowly tore itself apart.
A heartbeat later.
The cracks collapsed inward, forming a swirling azure portal.
A Rift had opened.