Demons Within: I level up endlessly-Chapter 40: Zero Tolerance

Daniel looked down. His hands were shaking. They were wet and sticky. It was red blood. Human blood.

A few feet away, Bran lay on the white tiles. He was not moving. His face was swollen and purple, a mess of bruises and cuts.

His nose was flattened against his face. One of his legs was twisted at a strange angle. But his chest was moving.

It was a shallow, ragged movement, but it was there. He was breathing.

The silence that had filled the hallway broke. The students who had been frozen in shock suddenly woke up. The noise rushed back in like a wave.

"He’s crazy," someone whispered loudly. "Did you see that? That wasn’t just a punch. The air exploded," another student said, their voice trembling. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

"He used a skill. He used a combat skill on a student inside the halls!" "He tried to kill him. Daniel Rivers is a murderer."

The words washed over Daniel. He heard them, but they felt far away. He didn’t care what they thought.

A team of medics in white uniforms pushed through the students. They forced their way through without slowing.

They carried a floating stretcher that hummed with a soft blue light.

"Clear the way! Move back!" the lead medic shouted. They knelt beside Bran. One of them placed a glowing hand on Bran’s chest.

A green light scanned over the broken boy’s body. "Pulse is weak," the medic reported, his voice tense.

"Severe cranial trauma. Multiple fractures in the facial structure. Potential internal bleeding." "Get him on the stasis field," another medic ordered.

"We need to get him to the trauma unit before his brain swells any further. Move!" They lifted Bran carefully.

His head slumped to the side.

They placed him on the floating stretcher. A blue bubble of energy wrapped around his body, freezing him in time to stop the injuries from getting worse.

The medics rushed away, pushing their way back through the stunned crowd. They left a trail of red droplets on the clean white floor.

Daniel watched them go with mixed feelings.

"On your feet, cadet," the guard holding his right arm growled. The grip on his arms tightened.

These were not ordinary security guards. They were the Academy’s enforcement division. They wore heavy, black power armor that made them look like machines.

The metal fingers dug into Daniel’s biceps. Even with his high Strength stat, Daniel knew he couldn’t break free. He did not even bother trying. The fight had left him empty.

"Walk," the guard commanded. They shoved him forward. Daniel stumbled but caught his balance. He took a deep breath and stood tall.

He walked past the rows of students. Daniel saw fear in almost every face. He saw disgust.

"Look at him," a girl whispered to her friend. "He’s covered in blood. He looks like a monster." Daniel kept his eyes straight ahead.

The guards marched him down the long hallway. Other instructors and assistant instructors had arrived.

They formed a wall between Daniel and the students. They turned a corner, leaving the chaotic scene behind.

The noise of the crowd faded, leaving only the heavy thud of the guards’ armored boots. They led him to the administrative wing.

This part of the Academy was very still and silent.

The walls were grey steel. There were no decorations. They reached the elevators at the end of the hall.

One guard swiped a keycard. The doors slid open. They pushed Daniel inside.

The ride down was long and silent. Daniel watched the floor numbers change on the display. B1. B2. B3. B4. They were going deep underground.

This was where the holding cells were.

When the doors opened, they led him down a narrow corridor lined with steel doors. Each door had a small window made of reinforced glass.

They stopped at cell 402.

"Inside," the guard said. They released his arms. Daniel stepped into the cell. It was small, maybe six feet by eight feet.

There was a single metal bench bolted to the wall and a toilet in the corner. There were no windows. The light came from a single strip in the ceiling, protected by a metal cage.

The steel door slammed shut behind him.

The lock clicked into place, and the sound filled the small space.

Daniel stood in the middle of the cell.

The blood had started to dry. It was turning into a rusty brown crust on his knuckles. It felt tight on his skin.

He leaned his head back against the cold wall and closed his eyes. For a long time, there was only silence. His heart rate began to slow down. The adrenaline was leaving his system gradually, but his mind was still racing.

He replayed the fight over and over again. It felt right. "He deserved it," Daniel whispered to the empty room. "He deserved worse."

But then, he thought about the other students. He had exposed his power. He had used [Forceburst] and [Shadowsteps] in front of everyone.

He had broken the one rule he set for himself, which is to hide his strength. Hours passed. He didn’t know if it was day or night.

His stomach rumbled, reminding him that he hadn’t eaten for days now. Finally, there was a sound outside.

Click. Hiss.

The steel door slid open. Bright light from the corridor flooded into the dim cell, making Daniel squint.

He expected a guard with food. Instead, Instructor Yara Baldwin walked in. She was not wearing her grey combat armor.

She was wearing a dark blue uniform with silver buttons. In her hand, she held a datapad with the report the assistant instructors had submitted about the incident.

Two armed guards stood alert outside the door, their hands hovering near their stun batons, ready to strike if Daniel moved.

Baldwin didn’t say anything at first. She just looked at him. Her eyes were not angry. They were something worse. They were disappointed.

She walked over to the opposite wall and leaned against it.

"Do you know what you have done, Daniel?" she asked quietly. Her voice was calm, but it had a hard edge to it.

Daniel sat up straighter. He looked her in the eye. "I delivered justice," he said.

His voice was dry from dehydration.

"Justice?" Baldwin scoffed. "Is that what you call it? You nearly beat a student to death in the middle of the hallway. You broke his skull. You broke three of his ribs. He is in a coma, Daniel."

"He’s lucky he’s alive," Daniel said coldly. "If the guards hadn’t stopped me, he wouldn’t be." Baldwin’s eyes narrowed. She tapped her datapad.

"You used combat skills," she said. "On Academy grounds. Against a student who was not fighting back. She paused.

"You attacked an unsuspecting student," Baldwin continued, her voice rising slightly.

She stepped closer, her boots clicking on the metal floor. "We have rules here," she said firmly.

"We call it the ’Sacred Rule’. The Academy is a place of order. Conflict is allowed, yes. We train killers. But it must be regulated. If you have a problem with someone, you challenge them. You go to the arena. You fight with honor."

"Honor?" Daniel laughed bitterly. "You talk to me about honor? Bran doesn’t know what honor is."

He took a step toward her. The guards outside tensed, stepping into the doorway.

Baldwin held up a hand to stop them. She didn’t flinch.

"Bran killed my team," Daniel said. His voice shook with suppressed rage. "He didn’t even fight them. He trapped them. He locked them in a cave full of spiders and blocked the exit. He listened to them scream and he just walked away." Baldwin’s expression softened slightly.

She saw the pain in Daniel’s face. It wasn’t the face of a madman. It was the face of someone who was grieving.

"That is a serious accusation," she said slowly. "Very serious. Murdering a teammate is a capital offense. Do you have proof?"

"Proof?" Daniel shook his head. "I wasn’t there but I felt it."

He tried to kill me too. In the forest. He tried to use a dark ritual to steal my talent."

Baldwin sighed. She looked tired. She rubbed her forehead with her fingers.

"Daniel," she said softly. "Without proof, it is just your word against his. And right now, your word is the word of a violent aggressor.

You are the one covered in blood. You are the one who attacked a boy in broad daylight who was unarmed."

"So I should have let him go?" Daniel asked.

"You should have come to me," Baldwin said. "You should have reported it. We have telepaths. We have truth-seekers. We could have investigated him."

"I see potential in you, Daniel," Baldwin replied. "I saw your kill count. I saw the Elite you took down. That Wraithfire Fenrir... that was impossible for a level 3. You are strong. You are a weapon."

She pushed off the wall and stood tall. Her face became hard again.

"But a weapon that cannot be controlled is dangerous to everyone. It is dangerous to the wielder, and it is dangerous to the army. We cannot have students attacking each other in the halls."

She walked to the door. "You will stay here tonight," she stated. "The Academy Board will meet in the morning. They will review the footage. They will review your records. And they will decide your fate."

The door slammed shut again . The heavy locks clicked into place. Daniel was alone again.