A Duel

Mako worked for Sir Derek as a night shift sous chef. He and a couple of other workers spend the entire night kneading dough, baking buns, preparing fresh bread, and finishing pastries, croissants, donuts, etc.

As the bakery was mostly busy in the morning, Mako and his other colleagues had to finish their work before 6 to 7 a.m. also known as the breakfast rush. Since they are only cooks, their job is done once the shop officially opens, and they can go home.

From there the other staff arrives which deal with customers, prep all the different items and man the counters. Mako usually just heads directly to his high school after his shift, since it took him around an hour to reach his high school at the pace of a light jog.

Although Mako wasn't strong on the physical side, he was blessed with decent intelligence which was the reason why Emerald High provided a scholarship program for Mako with the condition of keeping his grades above a certain threshold.

The scholarship wasn't as impressive as one might think as it was a pathetic attempt to harbor a good student who could represent their school. The scholarship only covered his academic fees with him still having to pay extra if he wanted services such as transport, food, and even medical services.

Mako barely made enough to support himself throughout the month with a small amount of money that he had stored on his money card which he had inherited after his grandmother's death.

He didn't want to use his inheritance in his daily life yet as he knew it would cost him quite a bit when he finally finished high school and went to military school.

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"Hey, Mako! Come here!" Sir Derek shouted from the counter.

Even though he was already tired from working an almost six-hour shift, he had a very tough day ahead of him.

Fortunately, Sir Derek wasn't as heartless as his mind perceived him to be as he did give him a free breakfast and a packed lunch of his choice which helped a lot since he had to run halfway across the city to reach his high school.

It was the same morning as any other, people headed to their place of work, offices, or business. Mako was running down a small side street that led straight to the main city road so that he would not have to make so many turns to reach school.

He would often take this route since he would be able to interact with some special people who resided there.

"Hey, Aunt Marie!" Mako greeted an old woman who was opening a flower shop as he ran past her.

"Good morning! Uncle Jacob!"

"How's it going, Big bro Gary?"

"Hi, Uncle Charlie!"

This small street was called Bird's Eye street and it was completely lined with multiple shops that sold a variety of things. This street had a lot of old shop owners and people with no abilities which was why Mako felt comfortable meeting people here who were similar to him.

He would always greet every single person he walked past on the street because they were the only people that he had some acquaintance with as they treated him like an actual human being rather than a powerless, frail, and weak nobody who didn't deserve to even exist.

This; however, was the view of the majority of people who interacted with him, but these people were just simple shop owners who also didn't possess any powers.

These people were the ones who helped Mako by sometimes inviting him to eat with them, or showing him their new products; sometimes giving him something for free, and the older shopkeepers teaching him some life lessons as well as narrating stories about the past times.

These people were the only ones whom he respected and loved from the deepest part of his heart.

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Mako ran as fast as he could and finally arrived at the main road, which was busy with people and cars moving to their destination.

Twenty minutes later, he arrived at the front of his high school, and after taking a minute to catch his breath proceeded to move to his classroom.

The school classes were uneventful as always, and as the final bell rang all the students made their way to the gymnasium hall for the mandatory combat classes that the school had issued.

This was the one aspect that Mako hated as this was an excuse for bullies to beat him up with no repercussions.

The combat classes were issued so that every student had the very basic combat ability before they either graduated to further study in a specific field or join the military.

Nearly 60% of students have the intention of joining the military or a private organization because of their strong ability or physical strength, while 35% of students who have rich parents or strong academic records choose to further study to become scientists or business personnel to live the life of ease and luxury.

The remaining 5% are the people like Mako, who have no choice but to do the mandatory military training if lucky continue to serve in the military, or otherwise use their abilities for jobs; for example, people with the earth ability are often in construction, etc.

Students were allowed to use their abilities during combat classes as the whole purpose of the combat classes was so that the children weren't completely new to the world of the military where knowing how to fight was the least of the skills that are necessary to survive.

The combat classes were mediocre at best with very little teaching going on and the bullies who had already learned an ability thanks to their parents finally had the opportunity to use them against weaker and powerless opponents like Mako.

Mako was never a good fighter, but even though he lacked a buffed physical body and strength, it didn't stop him from enjoying the sport.

Fighting was one of the most paid-to-watch sports in the current era as it was basketball or football in the olden times.

There were huge arenas made that would put the great stadiums of the past to shame which could hold a few hundred thousand people at most whereas the current areas were so massive that they could easily hold millions of people.

The main fighting ring would be encompassed in a huge glass dome that was thick enough to block any rogue abilities that might hurt the spectators, but the dome also doubled as a lens as it would magnify the arena; the more you were far away from it.

That glass dome was a revolutionary invention that changed the way of sports forever because now, whether you were spectating up close or far away, the fighting arena would look the same regardless.

All the students at Emerald High had various abilities, but most of them were of the basic elementary types as they were the most common ones available and the cheapest to buy.

Five basic elementary abilities were Fire, Water, Earth, Lightning, and Wind. Of course, this was a drop in the bucket compared to the number of abilities discovered by humanity as there were too many to count.

Currently, on the main fighting mat, a boy and a girl were having an almost equal battle as they both had level 2 abilities and were able to defend and counter each other well, but abilities were only one aspect of the fight as the boy was not that good at physical fighting as compared to the girl who was fighting like a karate master.

The boy kept trying to paralyze her with his lightning ability but the girl was always quick to dodge and recover, while also utilizing her wind ability to improve her agility.

After a bit of back and forth, the boy decided to launch a massive lightning bolt that couldn't be dodged so easily, but it would take a few moments to charge. The girl took advantage of the situation by closing the distance quickly using the wind to give her a boost and landed a crisp right kick straight on the boy's face instantly knocking him out.

The crowd erupted in cheers as the girl made her way back to a group of girls who were constantly cheering and chanting her name.

Mako was not interested in cheering at all; rather, he was more interested in learning, he found the girl's fighting style unique and decided to take some notes in his notebook that he brought while also internally dreading his turn and secretly praying that his sparring partner will take it easy on him.

"Next up! Mako Grey Vs Bill Johnson!" The Gym instructor announced.

***************

*Thud!* *Thud!*

It felt like a mountain just crushed Mako's heart. Bill Johnson was the son of the army veteran William Johnson and their entire family used the Earth Ability as their representative ability.

Bill was one of the people Mako hated the most as he was like a master of bullying, and didn't shy away from hurting people physically with his ability and mentally with his repulsive language.

As the two boys made their way to one of the rings to commence their duel, The crowd of students cheered for the one-sided beating which Mako was not looking forward to.

Mako was super scared and even though his gym clothes were padded so that he wouldn't get hurt that much, he knew that this beating would most likely take a couple of weeks to heal on its own.

"I hope you are ready to become minced meat!" Bill shouted as he cracked his knuckles, preparing to show no mercy while also showing a sadistic smile toward Mako.

Bill was a tall 6 ft boy with a decent physique which was still extremely good for a high school student. He had curly ginger hair that was kept short brown eyes and a threatening facial expression.

Mako was sweating profusely while cursing his luck internally to be paired up with Bill of all people.

Students all over the school bullied Mako from time to time, some did casual bullying like calling names or embarrassing him in front of others while people like Bill used their abilities to physically hurt him.

It had been like this since the first time the students learned from the teacher that Mako had no ability.

This was also close to the time that Mako had lost his grandmother as it was a very delicate time for him, but that didn't stop people like Bill who still beat and humiliated him at every chance he got.

It was the worst time in Mako's life that had scarred him for life, but Mako powered through it; albeit, barely...

The instructor stood in between Mako and Bill and announced the rules once again that were mandatory before any match.

"Students ready?" The instructor finally announced as Mako readied himself.

"Fight!"

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