POV: Aria Akari
Several minutes passed since Rai went to retrieve his wallet as the three of us found a booth located away from the majority of students within the diner, although despite only a few minutes passing by, I felt anxious as I noticed Rai's attention was elsewhere along our way here.
I wonder if something happened-
"There's no need to worry, Aria. I can assure you that your boyfriend is coming back." Sarah teased casually amidst scrolling on her phone as I felt a slight burn arise within my face from embarrassment.
"Sarah, you shouldn't joke like that as you could easily lead to a misunderstanding." I advised as Sarah chortled while Everett's eyes brimmed with curiosity.
"Wait, you and Rai are dating now?!" Everett asked with a raised tone amidst stuffing his mouth with toast as I noticed the gazes of a few nosy students who sat several booths across from us, causing me to nearly lose my composure from the misunderstanding Sarah had created.
"Nooo! Sarah was just teasing!" I replied with a sigh of defeat as Everett continued to engulf the basket of toast.
"I was just wondering if Rai ran into any trouble as Atticus had placed a target on Rai's back a few weeks ago." I voiced.
"Knowing Rai, I'm sure he can handle his own if the worst comes to worst, but if you're so worried about him, why don't you just call him?" Sarah suggested as I looked down at my phone.
She's right, but it's only been a few minutes, so I could just be worrying for nothing, although…
Tempted, I began scrolling through my contacts in order to find his number, however, several conflicting thoughts arose within my mind as I eventually made the ultimate decision to not call him.
"No, I think I'll just wait." I replied as Everett began choking on a piece of toast, prompting me to hand him his glass of water as he immediately began chugging the water while Sarah laughed hysterically at his carelessness.
I'm sure Rai's fine anyways.
POV: Rai Shinsei
Although this plan to stop me is impressive…
It's bound to fail when you have five incompetent beings who don't have the capabilities to carry it out flawlessly as they've already made their second mistake.
Disrupting their tempo, I rushed towards Jordan and Jacob, surprising the two of them with my sudden advancement, but instead of questioning my unusual actions, they took it upon themselves to continue rushing towards me as the two of them tried to execute a combo attack, however, with a dexterous counter, I dismantled their combo attack within seconds as my adroit display of hand-to-hand combat left the two of them baffled.
Instead of forcing me into the open, where I would be unable to reveal my true abilities, the five of you are arrogant enough to corner me inside of an empty alleyway as you all believe that my defeat is certain because of your advantage in numbers and my restricted space, but unfortunately for you all…
"Are you serious right now?!" Jacob questioned rhetorically as Jordan clicked his tongue in vexation and made a careless mistake by lunging towards me, allowing me to use his own momentum to flip him upside down as I then spun around and smashed my foot into his abdomen with a spinning back kick, sending him crashing into Jacob as the two of them tumbled backwards, entangled with one another as April's torrent of water approached them rapidly.
Your plan is utterly worthless if the five of you are weaker than I am.
"You idiots! Get out of the way!" April shouted anxiously as I leapt onto one of the sidewalls and used it to kick myself off, backflipping onto a nearby closed dumpster as I barely avoided April's torrent of water and watched it wash away Jordan and Jacob into the public area, but as their situation began to spiral out of control, I used their state of panic to my advantage as I grabbed two bags of trash that rested beside the dumpster before repositioning myself within the middle of the alleyway.
Ignoring April, who was much further behind than the two approaching me from above, I noticed Seth charging up a ball of energy within his hand, prompting me to hurl the bags of trash towards him as he wasted no time in destroying both of the oncoming bags with a beam of energy, but as the smoky remains of trash momentarily blocked out his vision of me, I sprinted towards him, leaping onto the sidewall he resided on before scaling it with my momentum alone as I used his blindspot of my approach to my advantage and snuck behind him.
"What-"
Startled and unable to comprehend sudden arrival, Seth had no way of evading my next attack as I hovered my fingers over his torso and landed a one-inch punch into his solar plexus, sending him tumbling backwards on the sidewall until he eventually fell into a separate alleyway and lost consciousness.
"You bastard!" Andy yelled as he leapt towards me, but upon his approach, I noticed his body was enveloped with a clear sticky-like substance, urging me to evade his grasp as I jumped down from the sidewall and repositioned myself accordingly with a swift step-back.
I don't have much time left until Jordan and Jacob return.
In case Seth miraculously regains consciousness, I know now that Seth has a Unique-Type Aspect that allows him to manipulate energy to a certain degree and Andy has a Unique-Type Aspect that involves creating a sticky substance through the pores of his skin, but despite all of this…
Within fifteen seconds, I need to defeat April and Andy.
Only then will I be able to escape.
Scouring the area for anything useful, I noticed a shabby retracted umbrella leaning alongside a nearby trash can, rousing a smile from me as a wave of deja vu suddenly struck me.
I am forever grateful to you, Nyx.
Picking up the unopened umbrella, I began spinning it around my finger until Andy leapt towards me and tried to strike my face with a crippling blow, but with a quick side step, I weaved his heavy punch and tried to knock him out by smashing the umbrella into his head, but Andy had blocked the umbrella with his forearm as I noticed it was stuck to his skin, preventing me from removing it as even with a forceful tug, the umbrella wouldn't budge.
How annoying.
"You're finished!" Andy shouted triumphantly as with all of his strength, he tried to smash his fist into my jaw with a devastating right hook, but to his dismay, I had released my grasp from the umbrella and weaved his lousy attempt of a finishing move as I then struck his chin with a sharp uppercut, knocking him unconscious as I noticed a firm blast of water approaching me, prompting me to grab the umbrella from Andy's arm amidst his fall to the ground as I then opened it and used it to block April's oncoming attack.
With the air being frigid due to the naturally cold weather, the impact of her attack created a cloud of mist within the alleyway as I used it to hide my presence, leaving April unnerved as she scoured the area frantically in order to find me, but using my umbrella as bait, I hurled it towards her as a distraction and in the moment she directed her attention towards it, I appeared within her blindspot and knocked her unconscious with a knifehand strike to the back of her neck.
With the exception of Jordan and Jacob, the other four were now unconscious, leaving me with the opportunity to escape from the area as I scaled one of the sidewalls and jumped on top of the ramen shop with the intention of traversing the rooftops until I gained enough distance away from them, but as I prepared to leap across to the next rooftop, I noticed a familiar face within my peripheral view as it was none other than Atticus, who bore a malevolent grin as he dashed towards me with his Aspect already active.
Atticus?!
He hid his Aspectual Force, so I was unable to sense him beforehand.
Are you telling me that he was waiting up here the entire time?
Am I supposed to believe that he anticipated me escaping?!
Unable to react properly, Atticus had grabbed my face with the palm of his hand, his momentum carrying the both of us from on top of the rooftop and towards the stone pathway below as upon nearing the ground, he used the back of my head to cushion the impact, creating a head-sized crater within the pathway as his chaotic entrance frightened many students passing by.
"You've surpassed my expectations once again." Atticus remarked as he crouched over me, pinning me to the earth with his grasp over my mouth while a curious crowd of students began to gather around the commotion as if they were like a moth to a flame.
"You're ranked two hundredth within the academy and yet, you're telling me that not only were you able to escape from three low-rankers and three mid-rankers unscathed, but you were also able to land a few attacks on me during our scuffle? A feat like that should have been impossible considering that I'm Atticus Fuchai, the successor of Lake Fuchai and a member of the Elite Ten."
"The difference between our strength as well as our social status should be night and day and yet, I find that hard to believe as not only is there not an ounce of fear within your eyes, but the fact that you're still conscious from having your head bashed into the earth proves that statement to be false, so tell me, Rai Shinsei…"
"What is it that you're hiding?" Atticus questioned with a perturbing grin as his grasp along my mouth had tightened, burying my head further into the earth as I struggled to find a reasonable solution to the madness unfolding before me.
This isn't good.
Not only is Atticus a member of the Elite Ten, but he's also a noble.
I had already suspected it, but I don't know what to do as of now.
In order for me to escape from his grasp, I would need to exert a tremendous amount of force, but in doing so, the fact that I'm a false ranker will be revealed to the public and even if I wanted to escape, I absolutely cannot afford to gain anymore attention, especially from nobles.
"So you decided to remain silent. Very well then."
"I'll make this a memorable experience for you." Atticus affirmed with a malicious grin that stretched ear-to-ear as he pulled his fist back with a ridiculous amount of aura surging around it, intending to mangle my face beyond belief once again as my mind scrambled for an answer.
Damn it!
Am I really out of options-
"That's enough, Atticus." A soft, cold tone uttered as Atticus's fist came to an abrupt stop, hovering only a centimeter away from my face, but amidst his sudden hesitation, I noticed cold sweat beading across his forehead as his once violent demeanor was nowhere to be found.
"What are you doing here?" Atticus questioned, but despite his outward appearance being relatively calm and collected, his composure was in shambles as he was beginning to perspire with fear and the being that frightened him to such an extent was none other than Selene, whose presence alone silenced the crowd around us as her cold amethyst eyes remained solely on Atticus.
Selene?