MRS. MEYERS STANDS UP FOR WHAT’S RIGHT!

"What's going on?" Jackal stepped in, petting a cat in a blanket. Spotting Mayo, he extended his hand for a handshake. "Oh, hey, I've never seen you around before." 

- 'Ding!'

> [Jackal has joined your party!]

"No, you definitely have," Mayo corrected, gingerly shaking his hand. She then blinked. "I-is that Kuro?"

"Y-yes. He kinda fell in the river," Jackal shrugged, struggling to keep the little blue cat from squirming. "So…"

- 'Mrow!'

> [Kuro (cat) has joined your party!]

"Look. Steven and Daseos—that's the guy in the front—are about to fight," Mayo pointed to the silver-haired boy, "We decided on a '3v3' to see who gets the spots… and there's like, three minutes till the next hour," Mayo explained, putting her hand on Zero's shoulder. "So, how do ya think he'll do?"

Zero shrugged, his red eyes staring straight ahead. 

"Right, that translates to: we don't have high expectations!" Mayo nodded, turning back to Jackal, who had also shifted his attention ahead. 

On the root-bridge, two boys stood: Daseos and Stev… Steven? 

- - -

[Loading New Perspective...] [Please Wait...] • • • [Switching Over To Party Member: Steven]

- - -

—Steven, of course, was not looking so great. Why was the bridge so shaky?

[Calibrating… Your current cultivation rank: N/A. You have not even reached 'Gathering Qi'… Your opponent is: Daseos. Cultivation Rank: 'Xia Dantian'. That is four ranks above your current status. 

Well… that seemed—

[Conclusion: Purchasing… ointment [C Grade]... Transaction Success! Purchasing… facial reconstruction surgery [A grade]… ERROR: lack of funds!] 

O-K… 

+ [Extra CAUTION Advised: Please make sure not to get whacked in the facial region too much… as that may damage the contacts!] 

<A little 'support' would be nice!> Steven exhaled, steadying himself as he tried to ignore the pop-up(s). The root bridge beneath him swayed gently, making his center of gravity feel like an unstable pendulum. Daseos stood a few yards away, his posture confident, holding a weapon that looked like chains with a spiked ball attached. Was that a… meteor hammer? 

Remind him again why it was called a 'hammer', because it didn't look like one. His thoughts were interrupted by another notification from Dieze:

['Want me to pull up Daseos's profile?' X]

<No, not that. I'm in the middle of a fight,> Steven ducked, barely dodging the spiked ball that Daseos threw. It grazed his hair, causing a couple strands to fall out.

Dieze pulled up weapon information with another pop-up window: "Your opponent has equipped 'Conundrum Meteor Hammer' [??? Grade] [Heavenly Tier]" 

'Description: This is the 'Conundrum', a Meteor Hammer crafted by a forgotten master during the enigmatic Zhou Dynasty. Upon the channeling of Qi, it can create paradoxical moves. With a core of harmonized Yin-Yang energies…>'

['Do you want the stat bonuses and additional info?' X]

Below, Dieze presented two options: [Y/N]

Trying to dodge the chain from hitting his face, Steven's elbow accidentally tapped the floating [Y], causing the stat bonuses window to pop out: 

'Stat Bonuses: 

Strength +30: Increases the force of each hammer strike, decimating both spiritual shields and physical armor. 

Wisdom +25: Enables a deeper understanding of duality…> 

Dexterity +30: Enhances hand-eye coordination and reflexes…> 

Speed +15: Amplifies agility and reflexes.

[Click to Expand] • • • 

'Perks: Duality Manipulation +25%. Allows the user to combine, separate, or transition between dual-nature energies.'

'Bonus ability: Ethereal Detection +15%. Grants the user the skill to perceive the unseen-'

Before Steven could finish reading the other skill—

"Not paying attention already? You'll pay for that…" Daseos whispered, his voice carried by the wind as he swung his meteor hammer down like a whip.

Steven barely dodged, his illusory steps turning him into a 'motion-blur'. The hammer's chain whistled, missing his face by inches… but it began to circle back. Heart pounding, Steven jumped to the right, and for a second, the subtle ring of his bell bracelet… A faint, shimmering illusion mimicked his movements, causing the chain to catch an afterimage. 

Daseos's royal-blue eyes narrowed. "So, you've improved."

- 'BZT!'

"I-" Steven noticed a buzz in his pockets. "One second." 

He read his phone, before flipping the screen so that Daseos could read it, "Oh, it's Jeanne. She's asking me when we could hang out…"

Color flushed Daseos's cheeks. The cracks in his cool demeanor appeared as he clenched his fingers tighter around the chains, "You've… always been insufferable!"

"I guess I could hang out with Jeanne in my room." Steven mused, the memory of his trashed room flickering through his mind—desk shattered, food splattered on the walls, a wreckage that seemed like the artwork of a furious baby. "No… it got wrecked by someone-" 

"You've deserved it," Daseos snarled. "You lived like trash your entire life… who cares that your room got wrecked? You probably didn't feel anything."

"True." Steven nodded. "But I like to keep my room clean, keep the trash out, and make sure… that at least one of my parents…"

He looked at Daseos. "Love me."

With a guttural roar, Daseos swung his hammer. It shook ominously, as if holding back darker intentions.

Steven dodged and weaved, but Daseos was relentless. It was like fighting an unyielding tide—each move met with a crushing counter.

Finally, Daseos sighed. "Enough."

In a quick, uncounted second, the meteor hammer twined itself around Steven's wrist. With a powerful yank, Steven was pulled off his feet.

"Know, I wasn't even using my qi, I purposely"—THWACK!— "went"—CRACK!— "EASY"—BAM!—"on you!" Daseos snarled as he threw Steven on onto the root-bridge, over and over again, cracking the flooring, and splintering the wood. Each time, Steven's body wracked onto the bridge with a sickening thud!

Steven's head went numb, a warm trickle sliding down his forehead. Everything spun—soo… d-z-i—z-y~

Dizzy.

Was that spelled correctly? He couldn't tell anymore. 

Finally, with a brutal swing, Daseos hurled Steven onto the mainland. The body of the broken boy landed with a deafening thud, every cell in his body screaming for pain relievers.

Steven gasped, choking on the air as he fought for consciousness. A g-glance back… Daseos on the bridge… silently coiling… his 'Conundrum' back into place.

Daseos looked at his fallen opponent one last time. "Consider yourself lucky," he murmured, before turning away, disgusted. 

- - -

[Steven Fainted!] [0 HP Left…] • • • [Perspective Disengaged.] 

- - -

"Daseos, my man!" one of the guys cheered—

"—W-what is going on here?" A sharp voice called out, as the dust settled on the bridge.

"What are you all DOING?!" The voice belonged to a woman whose dark-colored face was puffy and pulled in a grimace, like someone had spat in her coffee. 

"Auntie, it was terrible. Those students would not allow us to go in even though we had more points!" Nefasi called out. Besides him, Daseos's group put on their best faces. 

"Do not call me auntie in front of students. DO you UNDERSTAND, young man?" Ms. Meyers frowned at him, before glaring at the rest of the students.

"A spectacular show of... what exactly? Juvenile misconduct?" she began, her tone oozing annoyance.

"Mrs. Meyers, this isn't—"

"Ah, ah, ah," she interrupted Jackal, waving her hand as if to dismiss him. "Do you all know what you've done? You guys started an unofficial duel on campus… and worse, look at the wreckage? The school can't just sprout a new one overnight, you know?"

Well, how quaint… the bridge seemed to be filled with holes now. 

Mrs. Meyers continued, "Mhm… mhm. Okay, here's what we're going to do, I'm going to listen to both of y'all sides, and then decide…"

"SO?" She looked at both groups. 

"Mrs… just look at this video." One of the people in Daseos's group showed her a phone recording. "See… they picked a fight with us, and started insulting us, and then got more friends to join, even though we deserved those seats because we had more class points.

"No-" Jackal started. "That wasn't how-"

"SILENCE!" Mrs. Meyers fumed, her eyebrows tightening. "You'll get your turn! Don't be impatient!"

Jackal opened his mouth to protest, but Mrs. Meyers cut him off. "WHAT DID I JUST SAY? Don't even think about it. Naturally, this space is theirs, but I'm curious… Did you guys simply start attacking them over a JACKET?"

"We didn't-" Mayo tried to speak.

"Nasty! Don't you think that was overkill? Look at what you did to poor Elara! Just because you guys wanted her spirit beast jacket?"

"No! IT WAS BECAUSE they were insulting-"

"Oh… don't get me started, that is so hypocritical! WE all eat meat! WE all use spirit-beast stuff. Don't tell me that self-righteousness is what started a fight?"

"AND MY! What is that?" Her gaze flickered to Kuro, who was still a little blue cat, "This is so inappropriate!" 

Mayo opened her mouth again. "You know, a spirit beast. There's nothing inappropriate—"

"A banban," Mrs. Meyers sighed deeply, interrupting Mayo with a wave of her hand. "I cannot, you people really think you can do anything, don't you? We have rules, you know. You guys broke three! And if you want to be a pet on campus, don't ATTEND as a student!"

"Now, class 4, well done!" Mrs. Meyers continued, her voice dripping with sugar. "Daseos, please come get me if this happens again INSTEAD of fighting, but I am so proud of how you peacefully resolved this situation! See, now learn more from… him." She nudged Nefasi a bit. "Your mother would be so disappointed…"

"Please!" She looked back at Jackal's group, "I'm afraid I'll have to deduct more points from your class. 50 points. This is a warning! I'm not going to be so nice next time! Can you guys reflect on your actions!? And I honestly don't know why we admit such under-qualified things… How is the administration running things? See, this is what happens!"

"Ugh!" Mrs. Meyers turned on her heel and walked away, the tight knot of tension she'd left behind slowly unraveling but leaving a foul aftertaste like the dirt Steven was chewing on.

"That nasty…" Mayo said, before looking to the side: 

"Oh no! Steven!"