"The measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."

— Martin Luther King Jr

———

"Yosh. Combat."

Kenshin pumped his fist.

His classmates shook their heads, but each wore a smile. Kenshin might have been the most vocal about his desire to fight, but the fighting spirit was shared by all of them.

Zeke watched his students. The energy they pulsed through the room was endearing. He didn’t know where the old man had found these little monsters, but it certainly hadn’t been a cradle. He had noticed it from the start—with the bloodline the Winchesters carried, they must have faced a tumultuous adventure before Nox found them. That was why he had tried to get them to ease up, even if he lazed around on the sidelines.

It had been a successful endeavor.

He really did have the foresight and charm needed to pull this off.

Hmph.

Who else could do it other than him?

Countless others, perhaps—but they were not named Zeke Vaughn, were they?

Zeke smiled internally.

CLAP.

The clap had become his signature quirk since he had become a professor.

The group stared at him with anticipation.

"Has anyone noticed how hard thinking is?"

Zeke grinned like he had just said something brilliant and ridiculous at the same time. The students offered exasperated smiles. Their professor was doing it again—changing moods as though someone had flipped a switch.

"Mm, that’s right," Kenshin nodded wisely. "Thinking is quite hard. That’s why I prefer not to think most times. I just act."

"I didn’t think you even had a brain," Dean nudged him with his elbow, a teasing smile on his face.

"Ahem." Zeke called attention back to himself. "I’ve been thinking. For your first use of the Crucible, it shouldn’t just be a one-on-one fight against each other. It should be something memorable. Something grand."

He paused, letting the anticipation build.

"And what would be more memorable and grand than fighting me?"

"Really?" The students asked, eyes wide.

"Yes." Zeke spread his arms. "The grandeur of this place can only be utterly comprehended by having a battle where you fight a being of my magnitude."

"Aren’t you too boastful?" Virelle teased.

"Bah. I can see your undying wish to battle me. So I’ll grant it."

"Christmas came early."

"But there’ll be rules. Limiters. More for me, so you can enjoy this fight."

He ticked them off on his fingers.

"One: I’ll be dumping my trait that makes me inviolable against weaklings. Two: I’ll be dumping my immortality."

He smiled at their expressions.

"Worry not. Even without my immortality, you will not be having an easy fight. This fight is for you to grow—limiting any of your abilities would be counter-productive."

"That’s all?" Nyssara asked, her eyes gleaming.

"Yes." Zeke tilted his head. "Do you think me weak because of my limitations?"

A baleful aura spread from Zeke. The students dropped to the floor. Their expressions were ones of dread as their bodies failed to listen to them.

"Your first goal is to stand from my pressure and begin the attack that would lead to your inevitable defeat." His voice was calm, almost conversational. "I had many thoughts as I began this little experiment. You would attack with fervor, you would lose, then we would begin. But contempt?"

He let the word hang in the air.

"Did you believe immortality and inviolable defense are all I have? Or did you think I would get annoyed and add more limits to myself? That I will just do." His voice hardened. "I will limit my abilities to only using the abilities that lie in its archives. I will not copy any of your abilities."

He looked down at them, his gaze sweeping across their prone forms. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

"So show me. Do you really think of your professor as one you can defeat? Do you see me as those little trials you faced in your little life?" His voice rose. "I will take it upon myself to show you children that when you believe you’ve reached a mountain, you will look up to find that there is a mountain higher than mountains."

He straightened, his presence filling the white space.

"Children, rise and face the being who will shape you into form."

A pause.

"ZEKE VAUGHN."

---

It was a semi-calm moment. The class was finally getting what most of us wanted: we were going to fight our professor, even if it was a version of him that had placed limits on his power.

But I knew we would not win that easily. In my hubris, I decided to exploit what we had come to tag as a quirk of our professor. I would have Nyssara rile the professor so he would take his ability out of the picture. He had mentioned an ability that allowed him to copy other abilities that his eyes had seen—via displayed abilities or status sheets. With that nerf, we would put up a better fight.

It was a safe plan. We even had his favorite class rep enact it.

But who would think that would insult him?

Nyssara normally wouldn’t have made that mistake. She shouldn’t have. She was deserving of pride—she was talented. And with the limits he had placed on himself, she would be able to survive now.

Yes. The class all had that moment of pride. The allure of besting him held strong. And it simply spilled out as contempt.

How would he deal with us? That was our collective thought as we believed we were practically handed our win. But what rational thought did not provide for us was the certainty that the man had. He limited himself despite having knowledge of our abilities and still held assurance of victory.

Well, I had calculated it. Samuel had as well. But we attributed it to confidence in his abilities—confidence that would reduce if we got him to take it off the table.

But this...

The pressure that had come off after he had noticed our contempt. How had he noticed it? Why had we held contempt? Why were we that scared? We had been assured of our lives—death was not an option in the Crucible.

His aura overrode common sense.

At the end, we had achieved our aim of getting him to limit himself. But I kind of wished he hadn’t. Something told me he would be a lot more ruthless now that he had placed more limits on his being.

I looked at my classmates and gave a wry smile. I would take the helm, linking our minds together so we had the best vantage—especially with Sam’s precognitive ability.

Bismillah.

I am definitely taking this out on Nyssara.

Rhaegar smiled as he watched the close-combatants rush toward Zeke. Zeke had released the pressure he had placed on them.

---

{Why did you do that?}

Zero asked as Zeke watched the children pressed to the ground beneath the weight of his aura.

’Tell me, do I look forgiving? Does the fact that I’ve only shown nicety to people make me good? Do you believe someone of my person would have awakened the trait [Pride] if I was a pushover?’

’I foresaw the chaos the Winchesters and Kenshin would bring—the chaos of lesser yet interesting magnitude that the rest of the class would bring. So I took an interest in them.’

’But did they take my smiles as a chance to rile me up? Their petty plans did not escape my notice. Do they think they are the only ones with cool abilities or potential? Rats dared to hold me in contempt?’

{Your anger is justified to an extent,} Zero replied, {but deceiving yourself is just stupid. You were insulted, yes. You will beat your superiority into them, yes. But you’re a good fool—one who cares for these little beings you’ve come to teach. That’s why you’re still going to teach them. That’s why you’ve kept them in the Crucible. Alongside the fact that you can’t even keep a grudge for something so minuscule it’s beneath you. And again—these kids are your ticket to fun.}

Zero knew what kind of person Zeke was. The little display was just the immediate outburst of his anger. Once he had enthralled himself in battle and gotten his dopamine pumping, he would care not for the children’s mistake. Though he might resort to petty things. But the extreme was quite far from Zeke. It was reserved for the worst of the worst.

To people he had taken interest in, they could only deal with the bark and no bite Zeke.

Still, these kids were up for a beating. Zeke would make sure of that. At least it would be one interesting thing for him to see—it had been a while since the lazy bum had done anything interesting.

According to Edward Elric a lesson without pain is meaningless.

And Zeke would deliver the lesson with pain.