That Was a Nice Show

Chapter 33: That Was a Nice Show

Lucas was still in immense pain. He continuously coughed hard as he held onto his chest, laying on the ground. He couldn't process what he had learned with the pain he was feeling. What he has in mind was why the pain was so sudden?

The pain remained in his chest like the hole in Vacio's book. But what he said shouldn't be true. It must be a deceiving trap and he won't fall for that kind of stuff.

"Just admit it."

He heard Vacio speak. But as he tried to glance over him, his vision remained black and his ears were ringing with a strange noise. He covered his ears with both of his hands, but the noise wasn't ceasing already.

"You're lying! You're lying!" he became outrageous. "How come the hole on that book and this pain a firm proof? Don't try to coat your lies!"

Vacio stood straight on his ground, staring at the boy in front of him. He smiled as he stared at his helpless state. The pain he had caused him was intense, and he was quite surprised that Lucas has the sense to tone that down. A normal person would just pass out from that.

"Don't lie in front of me, Vacio! Say the truth or I'll burn you!"

Lucas tried his best to stand, but instead, a crawl was what he did. His knees were weakened and his arms were grievously bruised. He also has that pain that he has to endure. He has to, or he will die here.

"With your condition, you wouldn't be able to cause any fire, would you?"

He felt Vacio's breath on his face. Was he right before him? Was he squatting to take a closer look at his bruises? Crap! If only he can create fire, then he can burn his face right away. "You…" he winced in pain every time he tried to move.

"I knew that Coach Clive also died before the incident of the Neo Belleza, and thus he also had the memories of the past…" Vacio extended the bunch of craps from his explanation. "You can ask him what happened if you want to."

Hearing this, Lucas lost his patience and aimed at Vacio, but his punch passed through him. "Shut up, LIAR!"

Vacio laughed his heart out, as he saw that Lucas couldn't even throw a punch at him. He surely can't see anymore since he overused his power. His recklessness will bring him to nothing but a totality of destruction.

"Blaze, don't waste your energy. I don't want you to die already."

His voice was full of disdain. He can hear him. Also, he can feel that he had stood and was staring at him already. What was he thinking? If he wanted to kill him, it was his perfect time to do that. He was helpless and have no strength to retaliate.

"Kill me instead. Is that what you want?" he lamented. He winched painfully as he clenched his hands on the grasses. He felt some of those were removed from the ground.

He heard Vacio let cold air out of him.

In the middle of this, the man revealed one more thing to him: "And when I find the Kin at your school's basement and successfully acquired it, everything will cease to exist and the past life will begin again. Wasn't that wonderful?"

"I don't care!" he firmly shrieked and continued trying to stand up. The pain in his chest had lessened, and he thought it can be tolerable by now. He kneeled on the grassland and held the ground with his right hand. "Right now, I'm alive."

He opened his eyes and a blur vision greeted him. With some effort, he had seen Vacio's menacing face directly staring at him. He started igniting his hands with fire, still willing to execute his resolve of wanting to defeat Vacio. His arms were enveloped with much more heater flames than before, shocking him.

So he can still attack?

He clenched his fist harder and rushed towards Vacio, but in such a time, ArmorBoy came down and stopped him from delivering the crippling blow by his durable armor. It left smoke to scatter all over the place.

Lucas coughed out, as he couldn't see beneath the dust. As the smoke cleared, ArmorBoy was revealed with his armor grievously broken, but then, he was completely fine. Mister Vacio gasped, as ArmorBoy got his hands and ordered for him to flee already.

Lucas' flames gradually faded and he fell on his knees again, as Mister Vacio reluctantly fled away with the ashes of CorpseBoy. The whole area where his opponent was on started to be engulfed with a storm of ashes, then later faded into nothingness.

"That was a nice show."

He heard Vacio before his scent disappeared. Now left alone, Lucas said to himself that he was no longer capable of stopping Vacio now and that his remnant power had disappeared, bidding Vacio a farewell.

Blaze Harper? Why was that name again?

He stopped by the forest to rest and regenerate his strength for him to go home already. He had drained his magic to zero level and he cannot move nor create any fire. If he continued doing something dangerous like this, his power will just fade away to oblivion.

That was the most pitiful situation a mage can ever encounter: to lose his power throughout his life for eternity. He has to be careful next time and prevent his emotions from overpowering him.

He started to wonder about his team; if Moon and the rest were alright as they head back to the school. Did the rest of the kidnappers hinder them? He had only seen ArmorBoy and not the girl who tormented Doll. Also, what Vacio had told him. By recalling what just happened and what he learned about his identity, he can still feel a dull pain in his chest.

How did something like that happen so coincidentally? Was it true? Hmph. He can only heave a sigh of relief. At least, that man had left.

He will pay for what he did to him…

There should be a day…

Vacio.

Mister Vacio was approached by CorpseBoy, witnessing the injuries on his body. But before the skeleton can continue his step, all of Vacio's wounds disappeared instantly. CorpseBoy was shocked.

"How can Mister Vacio do that?" CorpseBoy asked as he stared at the now-healed Aspho Principal.

Vacio stared at the brutalized BladeGirl, and the weakened ArmorBoy before replying to what CorpseBoy asked.

"There is no one capable of stopping me anymore, and that any hesitation I have had dissipated…" he stated with pride, as he stood on a nearby ground elsewhere at the forest. "Let's continue our plan —to conquer White Deity and get the Kin— with the side goal to incapacitate that hindrance Lucas!"

The birds within the area started flying cockily after what Vacio had said. As CorpseBoy accepted these orders, Mister Vacio presented one more request for him:

"Give me new clothes. Some clothes that are more befitting an AVACIOUS for me!"

CorpseBoy smiled as he started to walk. Vacio followed him as they headed off.

The stars in the night sky were relaxing.

After Lucas resided in the middle of the forest for the rest of his day, he came back to the school and was spending the night at the School's Infirmary once again. He can't sleep that night and didn't have the time to see the rest of his team —if they went here safe and sound. Also, the thing in his mind kept rewinding and rewinding still.

What was Vacio planning? What was the Neo Belleza he had said that occurred 700 years ago when he was Blaze Harper? Also, he miscalled White Day as White Deity. Was it also something from the past?

Multiple questions came into his mind as he tried lulling himself to slumber. But given that series of questions, he has a lot of time to deal with that until the rise of the sun. What time was it already?

He tried spotting the clock at the wall but the room was dark and all he can see was the moon and the stars from the mirror beside him. He was bandaged again and will be treated tomorrow early in the morning. The medicines were said to be at Ghaile's house, and the girl wasn't here already when he barged in.

It was his luck that he regenerated his powers in time and went back to school. He thought that the moment he couldn't see anymore was his ending. The loss of his powers had contributed to the fear that he only felt for the first time: the fear of dying.

As the sun rose and made its way through the sky, another day came for Lucas to spend.

Tuesday.

He woke up with his bandages replaced by some fresh ones, so he went outside and prepare for his training. His White Day's Uniform has hung already at the Infirmary, which made his way through much faster and smoother.

He headed out and walked through the hallway. He didn't know that he slept that long that it almost felt a lifetime. It felt strange walking through this hallway again. Usually, people will stare at him with their sharp eyes but this time, this place was deserted. Will something bad happen again?

He ignored it and headed to his training room. It took him minutes of walking before reaching the end of the twentieth floor and sighed as he reached his destination. Unfortunately, a cart didn't appear and he has no choice but to walk. When he arrived at the training room, he immediately started training.

He used a tool called the real-life simulator so that he could have genuine weapons in different forms to try to hit him relentlessly. He had set it to the highest difficulty so it will give him enough time to spend with. As the simulator began throwing knives and daggers at him, he started evading them by ducking and squatting. Some were small enough to be burned by his flames.

Despite his previous injuries, it was fun to train inside this room. He was nearly injured many times by those blades as they continuously struck him from different directions in the training room. But it was rather fun than scary. Coach Clive had shown him how to evade those blades by instinct.

Instinct was the most crucial trait that needed to be acquired by a fighter, said by him. If they rely on instincts and had mastered its correctness, any danger will be resolved easily, and the fighter's life within the tournament ground will be assured safe. The tournament was, as he always heard, said to be a battle of life and death.

Lucas got some cuts on his legs and arms in the first minute of training. After he got adjusted to the speed of it, he managed to evade most of the blades. It was dangerously difficult and thrilling at the same time. It was like playing volleyball to a person that didn't get tired of serving the ball to you. The only difference was instead of a volleyball, knives, and blades were instead thrown at Lucas.

Only Coach Clive was allowed to train with this level of difficulty but he won't learn how it feels if he didn't try this. To think of it, Coach Clive was mentioned by Vacio on the last day… He said that Coach Clive knew something about his Blaze Harper identity. Was it true?

He neglected it and evaded the upcoming swords and daggers. Some were small but some were lengthy and sharper than the others. He didn't notice the time while he was in the training room. He almost collapsed to the floor when the last round came to an end. He heard the metallic sound of the knife that fell on the marble floor.

He was panting grievously as his hands rested on his knees. His sweat dropped one by one on the floor as his eyes were looking at each of them. He was drenched with his sweat where even his pink hair was sticking on his face, being messy again. His legs were also shaking because of exhaustion. Unfortunately, the wounds it caused him started to sting.

He smiled, though. Well, that was fun. But he has to be treated already. He also hasn't seen Moon and the rest until now. He needed to check over them to know what happened.

He turned off the simulator and fixed himself. He removed his shirt and got his towel to wipe his sweats and blood that was smearing from his shoulder down to his chest. His scars have grown many in numbers. He put band-aids on the deepest wounds. He ducked and unzipped his bag, picking his oversized shirt, and dressed before leaving the training room. He glanced at the clock by the wall— it's almost time for lunch so he rushed himself in tidying up.

His mood had gotten better because of the adrenaline rush brought by the physical training earlier. But it then suddenly was replaced by pity when he saw Moon standing by the hallway he was walking through.

"That was a nice show."

His voice was remorseful. It was no denying it. Did Moon watch him train?

"Moon," Lucas greeted him, as he held his backpack tighter. "What's wrong? Where's the rest?"

"The Headmaster was at the Office. Doll returned home and his father has to give you a favor for what you did. Congratulations on saving Doll!" Moon informed and tapped Lucas' left shoulder, before walking through the hallway as he walked past before him.

Lucas looked back at Moon, feeling that there should be something wrong with him. What just happened when he was away? Never mind. He continued his way and decided to go to the Office.

Inside, Headmaster Nova, Principal Lyns, and Doll were sitting on the sofas there. "Lucas, ain't you know we're waiting for you?" the Headmaster greeted him with the same apathetic expression. What was the matter?

"Have a seat." Principal Lyns said before clearing her throat. "Nice job, Lucas, as always."

Lucas sat on the sofa beside the wall. He just smiled and waited for them to speak. What will happen? He didn't wear the school's uniform since he trained himself. Also, he was bruised. Was it embarrassing?

"Lucas, Dad had decided that he was willing to give you a favor," Doll spoke. Her face was completely fine. No bruises can be seen through her body. "What do you want?"

Lucas knew that he has to distance himself from Doll. By examining how his cousin had been behaving lately, it probably was because of her. Extending the relationship he has with Doll will just add to his cousin's problem. He stared at Principal Lyns with an unsure eye, but the Principal just made him smile.

"Lucas?" Headmaster Nova waited for him to answer.

"Headmaster, all I wanted to prove was that I still have a meaning in this world," he calmly replied. "Apart from that, I don't want any things in particular."

He started to feel uncomfortable. Was it an under-the-table deal? Crap! He hated this.

"Also, I wanted to be selected at the selection and represent our school," he continued. "but that seemed impossible."

Principal Lyns sighed as she gazed at him. "What about we start the Skill Selection as soon as possible, Lucas? Do you agree?"

"It's up to you, Principal Lyns," he replied. "You're the School's Principal, afte—"

"You're a nice guy." the Headmaster had interrupted him. "I wanted you for Doll. You're the same age, ain't it nice?" he added as he glanced at her daughter.

"Dad!" Doll warned, feeling embarrassed.

So was it the deal? He stared in nonchalance.

"After all, that Moon ain't have right to lay a hand on you, Doll." the Headmaster continued. "I said that if he ain't save you, he ain't receiving any hope from me —from you!"

"But, Headmaster—" Lucas abruptly interrupted. "What… what if I wish Moon to have a chance with your daughter?"

He felt that all of them were staring at him by this time. He bowed his head and decided to act as if he hasn't said anything.

Headmaster Nova cleared his throat. He looked over him. Was the Headmaster tensed? What was he thinking? Did what he said offended him?

"You know that I owe you something, Lucas. You saved my daughter, but you ain't be giving me hard time."

Lucas just faked a smile.

It may be favorable for him, but he will never be so ruthless as to take this offer as an advantage that will hurt his cousin, Moon. But to be honest with himself, at the first moment he had seen Doll inside that bus, he was really captivated.