Two Strikes For Steven Heracles

"Contestant number five hundred, Steven Heracles has earned a strike for violating the curfew last night. Two strikes left till disqualification"

"Dang it… and here I was thinking I made it" He lamented as he banged his head softly against the door of his room.

He was about to leave the hallway when he heard a door open and Lloyd walked out of it.

"Are you stupid?" He asked Steve as he stood there in the hallway glaring emptily at him.

"Huh? Where did that come from?" Steve replied as he spun around to face Lloyd

"Yesterday, during the test. Why did you help that girl?" Lloyd asked, his calm voice resounding in the quiet hallway.

"This again…" Steve whispered to himself as he clenched his fists,

"Is it any business of yours?!" Steve replied, the irritation was struggling with his sanity in his voice.

"You helped an opponent fool, this is not a place to play Superman, neither is it a place to make friends and go soft. This is a contest where we're pitted against each other, it's all man for himself" Lloyd said, the calmness was still in his voice, neither rising nor falling.

"And who are you to tell me what to do? Just because you're strong you think that every other person is below you? You don't even know my reason for helping her yet you have the guts to stand before me and wag your conceited tongue" Steve shot back angrily

In one split second, Lloyd was behind Steve and whispered in his ear "I only admonish stupid people and you, my friend are the most stupid person I have ever met in my entire life. No matter the reason, an opponent is still an opponent, just like you are to me, if you ever raise your voice at me again. I'll make sure you'll never be able to speak again in your entire life."

Steve turned quickly but Lloyd was nowhere to be found, he narrowed his eyes and gnashed his teeth as he hated the fact that he couldn't even follow Lloyd's movements with his eyes and that Lloyd's aura was powerful enough to be able to keep him immobile as he whispered his threats into his ear.

'He won't be able to put me in such a condition if I'm stronger, I have to level up faster and show him that power is for helping people and not for stepping on people for one's own success….' These were the thoughts in his head as he walked out of the dormitory building. 

'I guess I just made my first enemy'

At the cafeteria,

He met Susan and she asked him what made him violate the curfew that led to him getting a strike but he dismissed it saying that he lost track of time while training. She didn't believe him too but she didn't argue any further.

On his way out of the cafeteria, he was in such a hurry to start his cultivation for the day that he accidentally bumped into someone

"I'm sorry" He said as he turned to apologise to the person. It was the blue eyed pretty lady that he made eye contact with on the first day.

She had turned with an angry glare on her face but when she saw the apologetic look on Steve's face, her gaze softened but she scoffed and left Steve with his words hanging in the air. 

"Is that your new chick?" The voice of the person coming behind him said,

"Trygve…is it…" Steve's words hung in the air when he saw that the person behind him wasn't Trygve at all but a young man with dyed black hair, black tattoos of snakes and swords on his arms and one of a cross on his neck. He was also well built with bulging biceps but Steve was taller because at 5'10, he slightly hovered over the guy before him who stood at 5'8. He evidently belonged to Billy's group since they were the only ones who looked so….dark.

"Why don't you leave the girls alone and focus on the contest. Rumors have it that you're rescuing girls so that you can get under their skirts" He sneered at Steve who stood staring at him at the cafeteria's door.

A storm of rage swirled inside Steve as his brain processed the guy's words but he just stared coldly at the guy before him and controlled himself by clenching his fists tightly. 

"What did you say?" Steve's voice was strained and came out as a whimper, he was obviously trying to control his anger. Suddenly he felt someone grab his arms, he turned and saw Susan holding his left arm while Trygve held his right arm.

"Calm down bro…. he's just trying to get into your head" Trygve said and gently tugged at Steve's arm.

"Let's go Steve" Susan said and unclenched his clenched fists.

"Alright alright…. I'm going" Steve said with a fake smile on his face as he raised his hands in a gesture of submission.

Just as they turned to leave, the guy laughed and said, "Oooh…..Is that the damsel in distress?….last night must've been really funky with the two of you going at it like rabbits"

The people around couldn't help but snicker at this statement

"Ah man… I've had enough" As soon as Trygve heard Steve say this, he wanted to hold his arm but Steve moved faster than him, Susan even noticed that he was faster than he was during the first test.

The rude guy couldn't follow Steve's movements because in the next few seconds that followed, Steve went behind him and whacked him on the back of his head with the book of Litanies that he held which was a small thick cover notebook.

Steve may have gone a little overboard with the hit because it sent the guy flying to the other side of the cafeteria's room, on top of another group's table.

"Don't assume things about me…and don't make dirty jokes about my friends….next time, you'll be leaving with more than a whack on the head" 

Steve said and turned to leave with Trygve and Susan.

"Contestant number five hundred, Steven Heracles has earned a strike for attacking a fellow contestant. One strike left till disqualification" The voice of the umpire rung out loudly as they walked away.

"Two strikes in one day….hehe I'm now a rebel Grandpa" he smiled as he thought to himself

He knew that what he did was wrong but he did it anyway to show those looking down on him that he was stronger than he looked. 

After parting ways with Trygve and Susan, he went to the forest to train and cultivate his mana.

…..

"Good morning contestants!!! Head to the cafeteria for your breakfast and gather at the preliminaries ground for the second test!!" The recurring voice of the umpire blared loudly in all the dormitories as the sleepy contestants stirred awake, Dawn had barely broken.

Steve sat up on the bed, his arms, legs and almost every other part of his body hurt him like hell. He had spent most of the previous day training his swordsmanship skills, cultivating his Mana and studying the litanies. 

He managed to drag himself to freshen up for the morning and go to the cafeteria for his breakfast where he sat with Trygve and Susan. He noticed that some people were stealing weird glances at him but he didn't mind.

"It's probably about what happened yesterday…." He thought as he gobbled up a plate of congee (mild flavored rice porridge).

Finally, everyone was done with their breakfast and they gathered at the place where the preliminaries was conducted. The three grand masters hovered predominantly over the heads of the contestants.

"Good morning contestants"

"Good morning Grand masters" They chorused.

"Congratulations to the 330 of you that have made it to the second test. Keep on trying your best, you are all tomorrow's saviours…" Williams said to the contestants

Steve smiled derisively while thinking,

'Saviours indeed….with *ssh*les like them'

"….So far, Lloyd Ronan is still leading the ranks as the most likely person to acquire the blue pill…" Williams continued

Lloyd's countenance didn't waver in the least, he still maintained his cold gaze even when his name was mentioned. Steve shook his head and smiled softly as he saw some female contestants looking at Lloyd with lovey dovey eyes

"….I don't have much to say today so just put in your best and come out successful" Williams said as he beckoned to the fairies to lead the contestants to the arena of the second test.

As they left, Steve looked into the forest and saw the white reflection in the forest again, meanwhile Susan was ahead of them with her female friends.

"Trygve, can you see that light?" 

He asked and pointed into the forest, in the direction of the light.