"Be careful, Luke," Vivian said, grabbing Luke’s hand as he stood up. "Just do your best."

Luke appreciated the support from his favorite sister, while he ignored the other. Even Scarlett showed more concern than Raven.

"Hey, Kingsley! So we finally get to see that glove in action? Awesome!"

Sarcasm.

"Attaboy! Don’t break a nail out there!"

Double sarcasm.

Luke closed his eyes, tuning out the noise, and ignored it all as he walked to the stage.

Meanwhile, Borg, who had just left the stage did not look happy.

"Now I hate being benched," he told his best friend, Rake. "If I had stayed up there, I could have been the one to have some fun with Luke Kingsley."

Rake only smiled.

Despite the noise, Luke couldn’t care less about the crowd. What actually amused him was the balcony watching them. The Principal, Vice Principal, and Dean.

Were the busiest people in the academy seriously wasting their time just to watch a student with a lifeless hand-armor summon get mangled by a beast?

Stepping onto the stage, Luke looked ahead at his opponent. Chloe Rayman stood there, wearing a malicious smirk he wished he could wipe off with an eraser

A little over a week ago, Luke had indirectly saved Chloe’s life by clearing the Gamma dungeon at New Florence Mall.

Back then, trapped in the theater alongside Jax, Leo, and Mark, she had literally called him a "hero." Now, she was looking down on him, eager to publicly humiliate her savior just to climb the social ladder in an academy full of nobles.

"Crush him, Chloe!"

"Make it quick! Put holes in his bones!"

Luke watched Chloe bask in the praise. She summoned her beast a moment later: a Woodland Elf.

"Ehh? An elf?"

Luke couldn’t believe it.

No wonder the instructor had paired them up!

The Woodland Elf was a bottom-tier Lesser. At 5.1, it sat exactly one point above Montclair Academy’s rejection line, armed with nothing but a rickety bow and a cheap quiver of arrows.

"How ironic," Luke thought. "A bottom-of-the-barrel who barely scraped into this school is trying to mock me for clout!"

As the instructor signaled the start of the match, Luke summoned the Hell Ape Gauntlet.

The hand armor materialized out of nowhere, clamping over his knuckles, bleeding into his fingers, and moulding along his contour until it bound itself to him with a steam hiss.

Seeing the glove appear again, all the students laughed out loud, some even crying. So hilarious!

Luke had put on just one piece of armor while facing a long-range archer who could easily shoot him from a distance before he could even take three steps forward!

"Fletch, Rapid Shot!" Chloe instructed, grinning mischievously. "Don’t even let him get close. Finish him!"

Greeeak... Thwack!

The elf pulled its string, summoned an arrow, and sent it flying at Luke’s chest in a streak of light.

Luke stood his ground and blocked the attack. CRACK!

The projectile shattered into glowing splinters as it collided with the gauntlet. Luke’s arm did not take any damage at all, nor did it budge from the impact.

The laughter from others died immediately. A lot of them were confused how the magical arrow didn’t push Luke back or make him flinch. Things instantly got interesting.

"Keep firing, Fletch! That thing isn’t durable enough for a dozen of your arrows!" Chloe commanded.

The Woodland Elf rapidly pulled its bowstring over and over, sending a barrage of arrows flying through the air. Luke kept his gauntlet raised, moving his arm precisely to shield his vital spots systematically. The metallic thud-thud-thud of arrows hitting his gauntlet echoed through the arena.

While his arm moved reflexively, Luke’s focus wavered. He peeked through the arrow rain at Principal Claris, remembering her warning: lay low, avoid drama, and don’t cause problems if you want to stay at Montclair Academy.

That was his reality.

He wasn’t even sure if equipping the Bluespine Centaur Chestplate counted as defying her orders to lay low, so he stuck to the Hell Ape Gauntlet.

And the gauntlet didn’t make things any better. It possessed immeasurable strength. Unleashing it against a mere 5.1 Elf would kill Chloe’s summon on the spot, violating every rule in the book and bringing a thousand problems to his door.

Luke was left with the frustrating obligation to... hold back just to protect his position in the academy.

But the savage instincts of the Hell Ape didn’t care about school rules! Luke had to actively fight the beast’s urges as he dragged his feet forward through the dirt.

"Wait, is he really blocking all that with just one hand?"

"No way."

"Hey, Chloe! Stop playing around and hit him!" Jax yelled.

Chloe felt the backing of her classmates slipping away.

"You useless trash, stop standing there!" she screamed at her elf. "Fire faster! Put him down!"

Yet, the elf failed to leave even a scratch on Luke. Realizing her summon wasn’t enough, Chloe activated Echo, borrowing the Woodland Elf’s power, and transforming herself into an elite archer as well.

The match instantly became a 2v1 as Chloe drew her bow, flanking Luke alongside her elf.

"Let’s see you block two sides at once, Kingsley!" she shouted, pulling the string taut.

The arrow barrage doubled in intensity. Restrained by the principal’s rules, Luke hesitated, slowing his reaction time. The magical projectiles began tracking him, bending mid-air to find gaps in his guard. Without his Molten Triceratops Mask or Bluespine Centaur Chestplate equipped, his baseline defenses failed him.

Splush. Splush. Splush.

Three arrows curved past his guard, sinking deep into his left shoulder and upper thigh. Luke cried out, stumbling backward.

"About time!"

"Look at him stagger!"

Many students erupted into cheers and laughter at Luke’s injuries. Jax and Leo stood up, clapping in celebration.

Meanwhile, Principal Claris herself watched in disbelief at how apathetic the sophomores were. Only a few felt bad. His sister, Vivian, was already on her feet with balled fists. Nearby, Scarlett clenched her jaw as dark blood dripped from Luke’s wounds.

Luke looked down at the blood soaking his uniform.

"Fuck it," he thought.

He was done holding back just to be law-abiding. Luke stopped fighting the Hell Ape’s desires, letting its buffs flow through him unimpeded.

FWOOOSH!

The elf was naturally agile, but it never expected a human to move so fast. Before the summon could lift its bow, Luke closed the distance and caught its right arm in a tight grip.

"What?!" Chloe exclaimed in shock.

Luke had parried so fast, he captured her elf all of a sudden.

Holding the creature, Luke twisted his right wrist and ripped the elf’s arm clean out of its shoulder socket, as easily as tearing bread.

SPURRT!

Thick blood splashed across the arena and onto Chloe’s face as the elf fell to the ground with just one arm.

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A/N: Thanks for reading!