21 Smoke less.

"Woohoo!"

"Man… that must've hurt!"

"That's what you get when you don't know your place."

"Desmond~! I love you~!"

Desmond had his arms spread open, walking around the space in the middle while his opponent was on the ground after a punch. A large grin was dominating his face, looking around. One side of the crowd was cheering for his expected victory, while the other side was a mix of worry and fear.

"As expected of Desmond. He's not ranked eighth in the district for no… reason." The proud student trailed off, seeing that Desmond's opponent slowly sat up.

The quieting cheers and murmurs caused Desmond's brows to elevate. He looked around, only to see the crowd gasping, wide-eyed. When Desmond turned around to see the cause of the crowd's surprise, deep lines instantly resurfaced in between his brows.

"He — he's alive?" a student stuttered while rubbing her eyes.

"After that punch, how was he still conscious?"

"Blood…"

Murmurs of disbelief instantly replaced the cheers. They couldn't believe what they were seeing right now. After all, Desmond didn't hold back, and everyone was sure of that. However, not only did Ike survive the punch, but he was able to get up after several seconds!

"Woah… just what is going on?" another student mused. His voice and eyes underneath his thick eyeglasses swirled with slight excitement.

Meanwhile, as everyone was wondering how Ike survived that punch or whether he was actually a fighter, Ike pinched his nose. He then adjusted it, fixing his slightly broken nose before wiping the blood on his upper lip.

'That was nice…' Ike thought, picking himself up until he was standing at his full height. 'I would've passed out if I didn't harden my face — damn he's strong.' — or rather, Ike was still weak at the moment.

"You're still up, huh?" All the smile lines on Desmond's face faded, displeased that this guy survived the first blow.

"Apologies for grazing your ego." Ike blinked whilst smiling. "Many people are watching and it'll be a shame if the duel ends so soon, right?"

Ike glanced at the crowd, his nose still bleeding with a slash across the bridge of his nose. "Don't you think so?"

There was a moment of silence that followed Ike's remarks before a wave of cheer thundered across the entire quad. Those who were gloomy uncovered the layers of hypocrisy they were wearing as they revealed the excitement on their faces. Although there were still some of them who were thrilled because they wanted to see someone like Desmond lose face.

"See?" Ike snapped his eyes back to Desmond, wiping the trickling blood from his nose with the back of his fist. "That is how you riled up the crowd, Larza."

The vein in Desmond's temple protruded, unblinking. He fixed his malicious eyes on Ike. Earlier, the cheers around here were mostly from his people or those who thought it was the best time to earn brownie points. But now, the cheers were coming from both sides, as if everyone were enlivened to see Ike back on his feet.

"Interesting." Desmond cracked his knuckles while stretching his neck from one side to the other. He assessed Ike and despite the wound across the latter's nose and the smudged blood on his upper lip, Desmond couldn't see the coward Ike used to be.

Back then, Ike would remain curled up on the ground even if he was still conscious. He would keep himself there, accepting all the punches and kicks. Ike would never fight back. He was a loser, after all. The only good thing Desmond could remember about this loser was that no matter how many punches and kicks he would inflict, it would take half of their energy before he would pass out.

In other words, Ike was the perfect punching bag.

"Hah… haha!" Desmond's eyes lit up with excitement. "Right… how could I forget? You have a trained pain threshold when I'm the one who trained you?"

Ike nodded. "That is correct," he returned calmly, shifting his eyes to the young lady behind his opponent's figure.

Holly was staring at him with wide eyes, making him wonder if that was because she was still shocked at who he was or the fact that he was still standing. He smirked at her before his eyes veered back to Desmond.

"Come." Ike crooked a finger, taunting him. "Do that little trick again."

Desmond clenched his teeth and, without a second hesitation, he leaped in Ike's direction to beat him to a pulp. He only planned to send Ike to the hospital where he would stay for another year, but now, he was pissed enough to send him in critical condition.

The crowd gasped once more when Desmond's fist landed on Ike's cheek again. Another punch immediately followed. This time aiming for Ike's other cheek. Desmond launched punches, causing Ike's body to sway. Kicks would be launched from time to time, landing on Ike's abdomen.

The more Desmond's fist landed on Ike's body, the more excited and wicked he appeared. Soon, Desmond was just grinning like a maniac, beating Ike as if the latter's life was meant to be disregarded.

Watching how the duel unfold rendered the crowd speechless. It was undoubtedly a one-sided fight with Ike only receiving every single attack. Ike wasn't even trying to fight back or perhaps, they thought he just didn't have the chance with how fast Desmond's attacks were.

However, none of them showed the slightest worry unlike moments ago.

Why?

Because despite all the blows Ike inflicted, he didn't fall to the ground. Ike just swayed like a weed amid a strong wind.

"What… what's going on…?" a student's shaking voice drifted in the air, covering her lips.

Everyone's eyes were just on Desmond, thrashing someone to death. If this continued, they were afraid Desmond would kill his opponent. Yet no one stepped in, even though the thought of death crossed their mind. The sight of Desmond was enough to scare almost everyone.

Meanwhile, Ashley and Bernis watched the one-sided with grim expressions. Their faces darkened with every passing second.

"What the hell is he doing?" she wondered, irritated. "Why isn't he fighting back?"

Bernis had his eyes fixated on Ike's figure. "He's enjoying it."

"What?"

"Or maybe he's looking for something." He narrowed his eyes; the initial disappointment he had previously felt was nowhere in sight. "Right… there's also one possible reason."

Ashley glanced at him with raised brows. "Like?"

"Fighting back is one thing if his goal is to win the duel like how it was supposed to be done. However, not fighting back and just letting your opponent attack is something else." Bernis, who never ever showed any slight emotion, smirked subtly. "Considering what sort of person Larza is, the longer Ike stands despite his attack, the more his ego gets bruised. Larza might be thrashing that guy like an animal, but that guy is butchering his opponent's pride and ego."

Ashley blinked, staring at Bernis. She raised a finger and pointed at him, making the latter look back at her.

"Did you just smile?" she asked, and Bernis deadpanned. "You did, did you? Also, you called his name! Bernis, don't tell me you —"

"WOAAAH!"

Ashley and Bernis looked back to the window, where they were watching the duel in the quad. Their eyes dilated, unknowingly holding their breath.

In the quad where the duel between Ike and Desmond was occurring, Desmond's attacks stopped. The audience around them looked at the two with shock. Desmond stopped, but not by choice. His punch was stopped when Ike suddenly stopped swaying and then grabbed the former's wrist.

Desmond gazed at his opponent before his eyes fell on the hand clutching his wrist. 'I can't move.' He pulled his hand discreetly, but Ike didn't budge. His mind screamed at him to do kick, but his feet wouldn't listen to him.

Right then and there, with this grip around his wrist, Desmond's body knew everything he would do was futile.

"You are out of shape. Smoke less." Desmond's eyes slowly raised to meet Ike's nonchalant look. "You lost the power at the third punch."

As soon as the last syllable rolled out of Ike's tongue, he pulled Desmond closer to him. Ike lifted his feet, hitting his former bully's abdomen with his knee.

Everything happened so fast that Desmond only felt how his lungs constricted. His mouth fell open before a paltry amount of blood came out. His eyes lost any trace of consciousness when Ike carried out a chopping move on his nape.

THUD!

For a moment, time slowed down for everyone as they watched Desmond fall. When Desmond's body landed on the ground with a heavy thud — face first — everyone snapped back to the current lapse. They slowly shifted their attention to Ike before a resounding roar erupted from the crowd.