VILLAIN'S RISING

-Thwack!

-Thwack!

Two simultaneous punches landed on Liz’s unprotected abdomen making her choke on air.

It’s been thirty minutes since her fight with Sam started. And at first, she thought that the fight would result in an easy victory for her.

How could she not think that? She had landed two of her most powerful blows on him within the first few seconds, but now the situation was looking way too grim for her.

Her body was full of bruises and her stamina was already exhausted. She couldn’t even keep her ability active and it was taking all of her strength to stay on her feet.

“Are you enjoying this as much as me, love?” Sam asked with a grin before dealing another blow to the defenseless girl in front of her.

-Thwack!

Another punch landed on Liz’s solar plexus. The force behind the blow was so strong that her legs gave up and Liz fell to her knees.

“Cough! Cough!” Violently coughing, Liz tried to get up but her body had no strength left in it.

For the past 30 minutes, she was enduring continuous merciless assault from the black-haired boy that she decided to challenge. Needless to say, she was regretting her decision now.

“That’s it?” Acting disappointed in the girl, Sam mockingly asked. “You decided to challenge me with this? Did you think I was this easy?”

Sam stepped in closer and gripped Liz’s head strongly so it couldn’t move. He pulled back his arm, intending to deal the final blow and end this sorry excuse of a fight.

It was one-way slaughter more than a fight. Liz was so weak right now that she couldn’t even properly defend herself. This fight was just Sam’s one punch away from ending in his victory.

Without waiting for another moment, Sam threw his arm forward with his fist clenched. He didn’t even need his ability to come out victorious.

However, before his fist could hit Liz’s face, Sam sensed an attack coming his way so he instantly jumped a few meters back from his position._.

-Swoosh!

-Swoosh!

-Swoosh!

Three stones passed by with an incredible speed where Sam was standing earlier. The speed the stones traveled made them look more like bullets than stones.

That astonishing display of ability made Sam turn his neck to his right side where the stones came from.

On his right, Sam saw a boy. He couldn’t see his appearance clearly as the boy was wearing a handmade ghillie suit that he had seemed to have made himself.

“I was wondering when you’ll make your move,” Sam smirked after seeing the boy who had attacked him. “I noticed your presence a while ago. But you took this long to make a move.”

However, the attacker didn’t utter a single word and ran off into the forest.

Sam knew he was obviously trying to lead him into a trap and although he could easily outsmart and outrun him, he chose not to.

Diverting back his attention to the lady waiting for him, Sam turned his neck in front of him to face Liz.

To his surprise, Liz wasn’t there. She used her remaining to run off when she got the chance to.

“Sigh,” Sam couldn’t help but sigh. If he wants to he can just track her down but ultimately he decided to play safe.

There were 3 more days remaining and Sam just needs a few more points to pass the threshold.

Even though passing this stupid exam wasn’t serving him any ulterior benefits, he just didn’t want to perform any community service.

He’s a God! These things are below him!

Shaking his head, Sam hopped on the tree beside him and started moving from branch to branch again.

*

“Are you okay, Liz?”

“I-I’m fine, thank you for saving me, Luke.”

Luke, the boy in the ghillie suit who saved Liz from Sam, gently supported her by her shoulder as she sat down on the ground with a tree’s trunk acting as her backrest.

Luke intentionally jumped in to save Liz, he had no wish to fight Sam.

He was moving through the forest unnoticed when he heard a familiar sound. As someone who had been always watching Liz since the time she entered the Academy, he instantly recognized the voice to be hers.

Without a second guess, Luke moved toward the source of the voice. But he didn’t make a move instantly.

He waited and watched his soon-to-be opponent. Although seeing Liz getting beat up like a rag doll made him want to jump in soon as possible, he tried his best to control himself and waited for the perfect moment.

His dad had taught him how to hunt. He remembered him always saying, “If you wish to hunt a predator then strike when it’s about to hunt, that’s when they are at their weakest.”

Although Luke wanted to act sooner and he knew his opponent was just potential [A-Rank] while he is potential [S-Rank], he still proceeded with caution.

He had been a hunter all his life, honing his survival skills and his instincts to their utmost best. And when those instincts told him to proceed with caution, he listened.

And for listening to his gut feeling, he was rewarded. He didn’t expect his attack to fail but to his surprise, it failed.

Sam easily dodged his attack and even revealed that he was aware of his presence all this time.

That was the moment Luke decided to act as a distraction and ran into the forest. He had set some traps beforehand and he was hoping that Sam would follow him to the traps.

But Sam was cleverer than he had originally thought. He didn’t follow him.

He was worried if Liz got the chance to escape but his worries were calmed when he found Liz deep in the woods.

He helped her and brought her to his hideout.

Although it was just a cave near a river, Luke had carefully thought of the location. On his back he had the cover of mountains, on his side, he had the cover of the forest, and on his front, he had a running source of water.

A perfect yet not too obvious hiding spot. Worthy of someone who has been honing and learning the art of hunting all his life.

“I can’t believe it! How can someone be so cruel to another person?!” Luke voiced his outrage.

“It’s fine, Luke.” Liz answered while shaking her head before acknowledging her fault. “It was me who decided to surprise attack him first. I underestimated my opponent and I paid the price for it.”

“Yes but…” Luke wanted to retort but he knew arguing about someone’s behavior who isn’t even present with them will get him nowhere.

“Nevermind, let’s get you some food first.” Dismissing the subject, Luke turned to walk toward the cave.

Before he could walk even a step, however, he felt a hand grabbing his back.

“Why did you save me?” Liz questioned while grabbing Luke’s ghillie suit from behind.

Luke, whose face was still covered, pulled back the hood of his ghillie suit and answered: “Because I like you.”

That was a straight confession. Luke was handsome. He had deep green eyes and reddish-brown hair. On top of having an athletic body, he had this charisma that could make any man feel threatened.

He was perfect. Any maiden would be out of her mind to turn him down, but Liz wasn’t any maiden. She kept silent while looking down at the ground.

Luke, however, didn’t take this to the heart and began moving again.

However, before he could take another step again he was made to stop. This time, he heard a loud explosion in the background.

-Boom

“What was that?!” Liz asked, clearly on edge.

Luke went on high alert too. He didn’t see anything unusual while coming here. There was no way other students had found this spot already. So what was going on?

-Boom!

His worries turned into anxiety when the sound of the explosion grew closer. Luke discarded his ghillie suit and revealed the tight body-fit combat uniform he was wearing.

He activated his ability and got ready to fight whoever was coming there.

“Get inside the cave and do not come out.” Luke instructed Liz, who was in no shape of fighting.

“I can’t leave you!” Liz refused.

She was clearly against the idea of leaving Luke on his own but the situation wasn’t looking in their favor.

-BOOM!

As the sound of the explosion grew closer, Luke yelled at Liz to get his point across.

“Go now! And do not come out in any circumstances! There is a hidden passage I prepared in case of emergency, use that to escape if things go south!” He said.

Gritting her teeth, Liz nodded forcefully. “Please stay safe!”

Those were the last words she uttered before running off to the cave.

Luke stood there and waited for the next explosion or a movement to occur but what met him was a dreadful silence.

Suddenly the silence broke when a body shot at him out of the woods. Luke instantly activated his Telekinesis ability and used it on the incoming flying body to change its trajectory so it would not hit him.

-Thud!

The body fell a few steps to the side away from Luke with a high thud sound.

Luke turned his head to look at the person’s body that had fallen and found it to be someone he knew.

He remembered that kid got in trouble during his first day in the Academy. Although he wasn’t from the Warrior Class, mostly everyone in the Academy knew about him and his duel with the Akima clan’s young mistress.

“Rightwill?” Luke called the boy out. “Are you okay? Who did this?”

Although he was asking questions and showing concern, Luke was still facing the forest from where the boy had flown out of nowhere. He was still high in guard.

“Ge-Get ready… H-He’s coming!” Getting up on his shaky legs, Micheal pointed toward the forest.

As if waiting for that cue, a person stepped out from the cover of the woods and revealed himself before Luke could react to Michael’s words.

The person who had stepped out was Lucas. He was grinning like a maniac. His grin disappeared when he faced Luke, however.

“Who’re you?” He asked with a frown. “Actually you know what? Nevermind. You aren’t important. I was asked to take out that Rightwill boy, so I’ll just do that.”

“T-Take me out? Who the fuck ordered something like that?” Micheal asked with a cracking voice. It was clear that he was exhausted.

At that question, Lucas grinned again.

“Who? Just think of it as the will of God.”