Descending Into A Novel-Chapter 35:Slap On The Wrist

Seeing Troy get beaten up, Raymond felt an unbelievable amount of schadenfreude.

Zachary’s fist landed another right hook right into the face of one of them. With a sick, crunching sound—he staggered backwards again, clutching his jaw.

Despite Zachary not using any mana, these guys were surprisingly durable as well despite only being G- rank.

He wasn’t sure why Zachary wasn’t using any mana, but it was a good thing since he hadn’t triggered the academys safety systems. Too much mana in any unauthorized place would raise an alarm.

After suffering from another one of Zachary’s punches, Troy finally exploded. "Enough! What the hell are you two doing?!"

They all backed away from each other slightly, each breathing and panting like a dog. Although Zachary looked much better off then the three of them.

"You think you’re going to be safe after this?! I’m Troy Depont! I will have you killed for daring to even do this to me!"

Zachary stoically replied, "I don’t care. Trash like you all wouldn’t understand why I dare to do this in the first place."

’I understand why you dare to do this in the first place you bastard!’

Although he was probably issued some kind of quest by his system, such a thing wasn’t even necessary for Zachary!

There’s a reason he was chosen by the Hero Building System after all. This guy’s personality was just naturally like that!

Raymond suddenly understood how his own readers felt whenever Raymond wrote about some stupid action of Zachary. At the time, he had just shrugged it off.

But now, he really really understood. Seeing someone do something stupid was just infuriating!

He sighed, out of the four system users he knew. Zachary was easily the dumbest one!

Naturally, he was at the top of the list.

"What is there to understand? As the superior awakened, I naturally have a right to do whatever I want with weaklings!", his brows were furrowed. Confused on what Zachary was trying to say.

"It’s because of that, that is exactly why you wouldn’t understand."

This brief intermission was quickly over, the two of Troy’s cronies quickly rushed at Zachary again. Their arms, outstretched as if they were trying to grab him.

"Hold him down! I’ll show you what exactly it means to be a Depont!"

His fists soon glowed with a dim green aura, extremely faint but anyone with some knowledge of awakened could easily recognize that fist art.

Raymond’s eyes widened, using something like that in a fight like this?

And Zachary still showed no signs of trying to use his mana! Was he under a restriction or something?!

Seeing Troy slowly approach Zachary again, Raymond quickly realized that this fight had escalated far beyond what it should have.

"DIE YOU STUPID COMMONER!"

His sloppily thrown punch should have never hit Zachary, but with how tied down he was with the other two. He could only struggle as his arms and legs were locked down.

Zachary closed his eyes, finally drawing upon his mana to reinforce himself. Trying to break free before he was hit.

But the attack never hit.

Slowly opening his eyes, he found a silhouette standing in front of him. His white hair fluttering slightly.

"Raymond?"

Swiftly redirecting Troy’s fist elsewhere. Raymond quickly followed it up with a punch right into the chest. The power generated from his movements would have been enough to punch through a wall.

His fist snapped forwards, burying itself deep into Troy.

Zachary may have been limiting himself for whatever reason, but Raymond wasn’t that nice of a person.

Mobilizing his mana, his knee sent Troy flying backwards with a sickening crunch—landing on his back.

Turning around to face Zachary, his arms quickly found two new targets.

Grabbing the first one by the collar of his uniform, Raymond picked him up slammed him into the ground. Landing with a significant thud. It would have crippled him but Raymond was making sure not to injure him too badly.

Knocked out cold from the slam, he quickly fainted. Foam coming out of his mouth as he lay there on the ground.

"W-wai-

Finally, he grabbed the last one by the neck. Lifting him in the air, his fingers desperately clawed around Zachary’s grip.

Lifting his right arm, he reeled back slightly before punching him as he was being choked.

His knuckles stung slightly as he continued hitting him, over and over again.

Seeing the whites of his eyes, Raymond released his grip. Causing him to land on the ground like a sack of potatoes.

Looking around, he could see all three of them were sufficiently ’educated’.

"Thanks..."

"Shut up. I’m calling for a teacher right now. Don’t say anything to them when they show up, let me handle it."

...

"Amanda Syric. Zachary Golde. Raymond Vance. Care to explain what exactly happened here?"

Raymond’s voice was still, his face completely blank as he narrated what happened. "I witnessed a case of Troy and his two friends bullying Amanda, unable to control my emotions. I angrily decided to start attacking them in order to help her. I deeply apologize and will accept any punishment the academy gives me. Zachary was only a bystander who was dragged into our fight."

"W-wait! That’s not what ha-

Zachary suddenly felt a sharp pinch on his back, looking at Raymond. He spotted an eerie smile on his face.

"What I just said is exactly what happened, Zachary is completely innocent. Right Zachary?"

"U-uhm y-yes?"

She looked at each of them, her gaze sceptical.

Camila sighed in exasperation. She knew for a fact that Raymond was definitely lying, but the academy had no surveillance systems set up in the area where they had fought—so they were forced to take Raymond’s claims as the truth.

Although they had several measures to determine what happened. The academy had swiftly sent a notice to not punish Raymond for fear of him being dissatisfied with the academy.

Troy and his two friends were currently also being interviewed. But she knew very well that they would likely be dismissed as well.

She turned to Amanda, who was standing there blankly. "Amanda, tell me truthfully. Is what Raymond just said what happened? You don’t need to be scared, just answer truthfully."

The young brown haired youth was shivering slightly as if she was scared.

Amanda nodded, "Y-yes teacher, Raymond is telling the truth. Those three were bullying me when Raymond stepped in. Zachary is just an innocent bystander."

She sighed even harder. The academy had really gone in the dumps lately.

"Fine. The three of you should go back now. If something like this happens again. Just call for a teacher, don’t try to just handle it yourselves."

Waving them off, the three of them quickly left her office with Raymond in the lead.

Once they had walked far away enough from the office building, Zachary finally said something. "Thank you Raymond. But why didn’t you just tell her that it was me? That way you wouldn’t get into trouble!"

Amanda intervened before Raymond could answer, "...Raymond is a never before seen talent in the history of the world. He wouldn’t be punished for something like this. If it was you however, you would be guaranteed an expulsion."

Zachary gritted his teeth, "But still! Those three were in the wrong as well! How come they aren’t getting punished for it?"

"...because Troy is from the Depont family and his two friends are subsidiary families under the Depont family. The Depont family is one of the strongest families, and they provide lots of funding which is essential to the academy."

He looked reluctant, "But still..."

"Get over it already. The world isn’t fair. If it won’t be fair for me, then I just need to make it unfair for everyone else. The fact that we got off scot-free is good enough already.", Raymond’s voice quietly interrupted him.

Zachary clenched his fists, "So we should just keep letting things like this happen? Let the world be unfair over and over again forever? I don’t want to live in a world like that!"

"Then become stronger you dumb bastard. The academy doesn’t want to touch me for fear of provoking retaliation from me in the future. Same thing goes for Troy. If you were the same, you could change the world how you wanted as well."

The two of them fell silent with that.

Approaching the dorms, Raymond soon split off from them. Heading towards the special class dorms while Amanda and Zachary both went to the class D dorms.

Before Amanda and Zachary both also went their own ways, she quietly turned to him.

"...thank you.", she muttered.

"It’s fine, next time it happens. Call me, I’ll beat them all up again."

"...i will. See you tomorrow. Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

....

BAM BAM BAM 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

Raymond could feel his own anger slightly cool off, his knuckles were reddened from his continuous punching of the wall. The skin peeling off with blood flowing and his feet hurting slightly.

But he wasn’t angry at Zachary, or Amanda or Troy. He felt anger at himself.

Even as he kept hitting the brick wall, he cursed himself. Over and over again.

These movements, ingrained into his very body. Each punch and kick a perfect, textbook example of the Von Mez Fighting Style.

He felt his own anger flare up again after previously cooling down. His memories of his past resurfacing from where he had buried them.

He was panting hard, clenching his teeth to the point he felt as if they would break.

Blood dripped down onto the floor, forming a small puddle around him.

He had told himself he would forget this. That he would remove all traces of this part of his life from himself. To live how he wanted, yet why was he still using this damn fighting style?

’Worthless. Weak. Flawed.’

Gripping his hair, he punched the wall again. His fists stinging slightly. Another perfect utilization of the Von Mez Fighting style. Domineering, flawless, and most importantly ruthless.

He hated it, the feeling of this fighting style. It made him sick to his stomach

knock knock

He heard a knock on his front door.

"Raymond...?"

Ellen’s voice came from behind the door. He didn’t know when but the academy had already fixed it.

"Raymond? Are you there...?"

"...what do you want."

She pleaded with him, "Open the door. Please."

Taking a deep breath to calm himself, he opened the door.

Instantly, Ellen grabbed him by the shoulders. Her multicoloured eyes meeting his briefly as she looked him up and down.

She quickly found his self-inflicted wounds.

The blood leaking everywhere was probably what gave it away.

Rubbing her fingers over his knuckles, Raymond flinched slightly at her touch, the stinging intensifying as she grazed the wounds with her fingers.

Pushing him onto a nearby sofa, she pulled out a medical kit from who knows where and slowly bandaged his hands.

Taking care to not touch the injuries too much, she quietly applied it. Wrapping it around his hands methodically, as if she had done it hundreds of times before.

The silence between them was suffocating. He could practically feel the curiosity she had, and her worry.

"...you aren’t going to ask me what’s wrong?", he asked.

She shook her head, "If you don’t want to, its fine."

"...thanks."

The two of them remained quiet for a while. The silence was still there but it had became more gentle—comfortable even.

"Lift up your legs."

Raymond had forgotten about that, his several kicks causing the skin on his shin to fall off—making him bleed profusely.

His walking had smeared blood all over his floor. He would have to clean that up soon.

Lifting up his legs, he hissed slightly as she applied some sort of medicine onto his wounds.

"It’s rubbing alcohol, it helps to clean wounds and kill bacteria."

"...I know."

As she wiped the blood off his legs, he clenched his fists in an attempt to withstand the stinging pain.

"...thank you."

"It’s fine. Just tell me when this happens next time."

"...okay."

Carefully securing the bandages, Raymond flexed his fingers and legs—making sure he could still move comfortably.

"It’s going to take me a while longer to help you form your core."

"That’s fine."

With both his hands and legs wrapped, she checked over each one again.

She warned him, "Don’t move around too much, and don’t try to hit anything again."

"...I know."

With that, she stood up. Getting ready to leave as she put everything back into her medical kit.

He grabbed her arm, an unknown feeling rushing through him. "Wait."

"Don’t go yet...just...stay with me for a bit longer...please?"