"Kurt...?" Gaby whispered while approaching the arena after seeing one of the students being sent flying by one punch from her boyfriend, "What... What was that?"
The red-haired lad was almost as confused as her. He never knew he was able to display so much power like this.
"I... I lost control for a moment... I'm sorry!" he replied while staring at his arm and noticing some of the bones were broken from punching Hugh.
He raised his head and realized that some of the students were showcasing glimpses of fear in their eyes. They kept trying to avoid eye contact and even tried to step away from the arena to make some distance between him and them.
"This dude was this strong all along...?"
"Was he holding back against Gaby?"
"Guy's crazy... Better not get too close..."
"Freaking weirdo. Every day is something different with this one."
"He said he was coming after us. Should we transfer?"
"What a freak..."
"So bizarre..."
"He's dangerous..."
Their mumbling continued on and on, and each word felt like a blade stabbing his skin.
Gaby noticed his distress and tried to grab his hands, "Hey. What do you say we go for that study session?"
"The... The session?"
"Yeah! We'll ask the teacher to let us out earlier! I'm sure she won't mind! Let's..." she looked at the crowd of kids again, all glaring and judging the boy with their gazes, "Let's get out of here."
Kurt glanced at Leon for a moment and noticed that even he was shaking from his presence. Kurt could feel that the boy didn't want to get anywhere near him.
"I didn't mean to-"
"I know." Gaby stated while caressing his cheek, "Trust me, I know... Let's just go."
"Y- yeah, let's-"
"WAAAAAAAAIT!!!!" a voice suddenly echoed through the area.
Kurt and Gaby turned around with shock as they looked for the source and noticed Hugh waking up and cleaning the dust out from his body.
"Wait, just a moment! Were not done yet!" the tall lad declared while walking towards the two with a bright smile, "The fight is not over! I didn't even get to throw a punch!"
Gaby glared at him. It was his fault that all the students were treating Kurt the same way they treated her, "What do you want? You got out of the area, you lost! Just let him go!"
"Mmmm..." Hugh grabbed his chin and began to form a thinking pose, "Is that okay with you, little dude?"
"Wha...?" Kurt mumbled.
Hugh began to form a malicious smile, "I mean... You know I can always send more of my friends to do more... 'Investigation' on you, right?"
Kurt felt something snap inside of him, "What...?"
"This girl is your friend, right? Maybe I should 'investigate' her as well? Yeah, that could be fun! I could send maybe ten, twenty, maybe thirty of my guys to do lots and lots of 'investigation' on her? You remember how well it turned out last time, right?"
Gaby tried to understand what he was saying but none of his words made any sense for her, "Kurt, what's he talking about?"
Hugh leaned forward in order to match the height of his head with Gaby's and began to stare directly at her, "You're the number one here, right? I never realized how tiny you were... Would you like to have some fun with me after school?"
Gaby just rolled her eyes and ignored him, "Come on, Kurt. Let's go..."
The boy did as he was told and began to walk away from the arena while being dragged by the hand by the purple-haired lass.
"You think I'm bluffing? You think I haven't done this before?"
Gaby suddenly stopped moving once she felt that Kurt wasn't walking anymore.
"That's right, buddy! I have a lot of experience with this type of thing. Just need to send out the orders and next time you see one of your friends you probably won't even be able to recognize them!"
Kurt gently lifted his arm and slowly pulled Gaby's hand away from him.
"Kurt?"
"I usually like to ask for them to do something about the face. The face is the first thing you see when you meet someone after all! But it's also fun when we try to place the wounds somewhere nobody can find them! It's like a game of trying to spot what's wrong with an image!"
"Kurt, he's just trying to mess with you. Don't listen to him!"
Trevor and Dorothy finally arrived as well and saw the boy looking at the ceiling while his hair covered his eyes as he continued to take deep breaths.
Hugh noticed the small grey owl and began to smile like a little kid, "Oh, hey! It's that pet I heard so much about! I wonder if I can make a hat out of its feathers! I bet it would look sick!"
Kurt finally could no longer contain himself and proceeded to stare at Gaby, "Give me one second..." he whispered in a cold tone, "I'll be right back."
The boy then began to march back into the arena and stood right in front of Hugh while glaring daggers at him.
"So. Got a change of heart?" Hugh asked while crouching and grinning.
Kurt simply raised his fist and launched a punch at Hugh in the same area from before, only this time the large lad managed to catch it with his palm.
"Not so easy the second time, is it?" Hugh asked while lifting Kurt's body and smacking him against the ground with full force.
"Guaaaghhh!!!"
"Kurt!!!" Gaby shouted with horror.
"Gotta say, that was a good punch!" Hugh commented while casting a shadow over the boy with his huge size, "Probably one of the best ones I've seen! Wha's your secret?"
Kurt covered himself in healing flames and simply stood up again while still holding his glare.
"You don't talk much, do you?"
"I have nothing to say to you..." Kurt announced.
"Oh, come on!! Don't be like that!! We have so much in common after all!"
Kurt launched another punch at Hugh, who reacted by raising his palm to block it, but Kurt's attack turned out to be a faint and he simply pulled back before switching to his other arm and smacking Hugh in the stomach instead.
"Uughhhblargh!!" Hugh gasped while having an entire fist shoved into his torso.
He was suddenly brought to his knees while holding his belly.
Kurt did not stop. Now that Hugh's head was closer to the ground, the boy raised his foot and stomped his skull into the floor.
"Gaarghh!!"
Images of the things Hugh said began to take form in Kurt's head. He kept thinking about this guy and his friends coming after him, or Dorothy, or Gaby, or even Trevor, and doing God knows what with them.
He raised his leg once more and began to stomp the huge student over and over again.
"Guaagh!! Kuugh!! Arrgh!! Kaargh!!! Uughh!!"
The students kept watching as Kurt acted like a mindless beast punishing Hugh with extreme prejudice, but he didn't care. The only thing in his mind right now was making sure his friends would never be harmed because of him.
Suddenly Hugh's entire body began to set itself on fire and every single one of his wounds started to close.
"What??" Kurt gasped.
Hugh suddenly stood up and grabbed Kurt by the neck.
"Kekekekeke!! That's awesome, bro!! You're the best!! I knew you would be fun, but not to this extent!!" the grinning giant laughed.
Kurt raised his fists and smacked the arm that was holding him from both sides, causing Hugh to flinch and release him.
"Ughh!! That's it! That's it!! Give me more! More!!"
The lad landed on the ground and began to feel disturbed by Hugh's behavior, "The hell's wrong with you??"
"I'll tell you what's wrong with me!!" Hugh lifted his fist and tried to drop it on top of Kurt like a hammer, but the lad managed to evade it with his reflexes, "Sixteen years in this world and not once I managed to find someone that could prove to be a challenge for me and my awesome powers!!"
"This world...?"
Hugh kept throwing punch after punch but Kurt could see them coming from a mile away and evaded them all.
"I was pretty sad when I found out the top two students were a pair of stupid chicks! I was never into picking fights with girls, even in my old life!"
"Old life??"
Kurt tried to kick him in the abdomen and even managed to cause him to flinch, but a group of flames suddenly appeared and fixed his wounds again.
"That is, until you showed up! An outsider like me! Able to regenerate like me! And even skilled at fighting like me!! My dude!! Where have you been all my life??"
Hugh then shoved his fist into the ground, causing a small earthquake that made Kurt lose his balance.
The boy jumped to avoid falling and ended up getting his leg grabbed by his tall classmate.
"What the heck are you talking about?? Who are you??" Kurt asked while trying to free himself.
"Still don't get it?? I'm like you, bro!!" Hugh raised his fist again and smacked Kurt's entire body with it, setting him flying, "I'm a guest, and a son of the emperor!!"
"Guaaaaghh!!"
Kurt rolled on the ground like a barrel and hurried to apply his healing flames in order to eliminate his wounds.
Hugh began to approach while stretching his arms, "And I'm really... Really... REALLY, bored!"
The large lad raised both hands and to Kurt's and everyone's surprise, transformed them into a pair of dragon claws.
"What the hell?"
"He can use his second form!!"
"I never knew that!!"
"Dude's a beast!!"
It sounded like Kurt's classmates were just as shocked as he was.
"Pretty cool, huh?" Hugh asked while glancing at his own claws, "I hardly ever get a chance to use those! Never found someone strong enough to make me need them!"
Kurt stood up and cleaned a bit of blood from his mouth.
"Anyway, this has been fun! Let's play again some other time, little bro!" Hugh declared while raising his claws and swinging them down on top of Kurt.
"KURT!!!!" Gaby shouted again.
She had simply been watching the whole thing all this time wondering if she should jump in, but just as she was about to, Kurt lifted his palms and grabbed Hugh's claws with little to no effort.
"Eh!?" Hugh gasped. He tried to pull his claws away by Kurt's grip was stronger than he expected.
The boy lifted up his face and once again aimed his intense glare at Hugh.
"I have... A lot of questions right now..." Kurt whispered.
Right after that, he leaped from the ground and kicked Hugh's chin with a spin.
"Ouugh!!" Hugh cried as one of his teeth was sent flying
"How can someone else from another world be here... Why do you have the same talent as me... How are you the emperor's son... So many questions..."
Hugh tried to free himself but Kurt just kept holding his arms and used his grip to launch him into the ground.
"Gaarghh!!"
"But by this point... I just couldn't give less of a damn even if I tried... I can't stand looking at your face or listening to your annoying voice for one second more!"
Kurt then walked on top of Hugh and began to bend his arms.
"Hey, hey, hey!! What are you-"
"So I'm just going to say this once, and you better listen to me very carefully..."
The entire class watched as Kurt continued to hold Hugh's arms as if they were a pair of twigs.
"Do not touch me or my friends!"
"Dude, wait, stop-"
The red-haired lad was about to break both of Hugh's arms in the most painful way possible right in front of his classmates when suddenly...
'KURT!!!'
[Huh!?]
He was suddenly stopped by Dorothy's voice and noticed the owl staring at him.
The lad gazed at her and was reminded of her words from before.
'Don't make me watch my little boy turn into a bully.'
[Dorothy...]
'You're better than this! Don't let them get to you!!'
Kurt glanced at Hugh one more time and kept thinking about all the damage he could do should he try to pull the same stunt from before again.
'Come on, Kurt!! You're better than this!!' the owl insisted.
Kurt glanced at her again and simply smiled in return.
[No, I'm not!]
'Kurt, wait!!'
The kid then began to pull down Hugh's arms in order to break them, but someone suddenly appeared behind him in order to stop him before going any further.
"That's enough, my boy."
"Eh!?" Kurt gasped.
The entire class was suddenly on its knees in order to show their respect towards the one who had just appeared. A tall man with long red hair that resembled many of Kurt's facial features and showcased a gentle and calming smile.
"D- Dad!!??"
Lian Garen patted him in the head and gently removed his hold on Hugh, "I know you two are having fun, but I rather you don't take things too far when playing with your brother!"
"My- my brother!!??"