False Heroics

"Hmmmm" Allyssa was gazing at Del who seemed to be studying at a desk on the lower floor. Her eyes were very observant, trying to find something out of place or odd about him.

"Oi, I thought you were supposed to help me learn history." Melinda's friend said this a distressed face. "I still can't remember who the proper sword king was..." He said slightly complaining.

Allyssa swiveled her face to look at him and realized she had somehow forgotten they were studying together. "Sorry, just something has been on my mind." She said apologetically before shifted her body to face the boy.

"Have something to do with those books about projection theory? You and I both know that has to do with talent, it'd be easier to forget about it if you ask me." He said while scanning a page of a book he held in his hands.

"Talent... no that's why I need to keep on looking into it. Never mind that, you said something about the proper sword king yes? Well his suggest that..." She went on to explain and then help him with other things of a similar nature. After some time had passed the boy left the room to go to his own.

Allyssa was left in the room with Del. She looked at him for a few moments. "Is there something on my face? You've been looking for a while now." Del said as he turned his head to look up ay Allyssa. Her face began to heat up and turn red as she looked away from him.

"I have no idea what you are talking about." She said to him quickly. He quickly reached over and put out the fire of her lantern before moving under her covers.

Del chuckled to himself before he went to his own bed and fell asleep.

Allyssa woke up early in the morning and quickly scurried to the end of her floor. She leaned over and quickly saw that Del had already left. He had probably already left to the field. She quickly dressed and gathered equipment before making her way to the training field.

Once she got there she saw a boy who looked like a noble accompanied by a posse of others. He was speaking to Del, and by the looks of it and what she could somewhat here he seemed like he was challenging Del. The posse spread to the sidelines while the noble boy and Del walked some feet from each other.

Allyssa looked at the two as she made her way closer. She had wondered how Del fought since she had never seen him practice any type of skills before.

She finally was near the posse who was watching and stood near them to watch as well. Del and the noble were now looking at each other. One would immediately assume Del would likely lose considering that he wasa commoner which would receive training of lower quality compared to a noble. All the other thought so as well, snickering and commenting on how the noble was going to wipe him out. She looked at Del but noticed no sign of fear, going as far as to look as if this were trivial.

"Tsk, too weak. I wish you were at least on par with me, then I could actually improve that way." Del said in a bored tone.

"Don't be so arrogant, you should know yourself that as a commoner you have low quality skills. That Sulenet simply lacked in her recent training. I am not the same though, you will fall with ease." The noble spoke in an arrogant manner, completely sure that he would win.

"Mm, maybe two of you. No, no less than three would suffice." Del was no better.

"You'll eat your words." The noble said as he nodded over to members of the posse.

Allyssa watched on thinking that Del was asking to get beaten. With his body he had a good chance of beating the noble alone, but the two who were now approaching were much taller than Del. It wasn't a likely fight for him. She shook her head wondering what Del was thinking.

Del noticed Allyssa and looked at her. When their eyes met he gave her a confident smile and winked. He then looked away to pay attention to the fight. The three had already started their approach.

Allyssa ignored the wink and paid mode attention to the faint glow that surrounded Del. Her eyes were more sensitive to manus than others she knew, so she could see the layer of manus that released from Del's body. She thought that he was going to lose even more now. Maybe he was trying to show off that he could control manus to a degree, but as far as she could see all he was doing was uselessly using up his reserves. She shook her head once more.

One of the boys approached Del first thinking he could beat him on his own. Once he was a few feet from Del he dashed forward and made a big swing. To everyone's surprise, Del didn't even move from the spot where he stood. Much rather all he did was raise his arms to block. After the first strike came another, then another, then another.

At first Del looked as if he were getting beat up quite quickly. The punches would go to different spots as the bigger boy realized that Del was going to keep blocking. It looked as if Del wa getting struck, the large hands of the boy seemingly coming into contact with his body each time.

After a small amount if time Allyssa spotted why Del hadn't fallen yet. Del's up failing per body kept on flup and down, left and right. They had all assumed the punches simply pained him too much. It became more and more apparent that the flailing was him using his whole upper body to move his arms to the right spot to block the punches.

This seemed to be using excessive movement and didn't matter since he was still getting attacked, but it angered the attacker as he felt that he couldn't land any real hits. He began hitting harder and harder. The bruises on Del's arms became more and more visible as time passed.

As the large boy was hitting Del he suddenly saw Del adopt a smug smile. "I was thinking you would hit harder." Del pulled all the agro to himself. The next moment the bigger boy pulled his arm all the way back as his hand began to glow a yellowish colored energy that looked rigid. His face was filled with anger and irritation wanting to defeat Del in one final punch.

Allyssa has been watching the exchange between these two the whole time and was shocked accompanied by a gasp when she saw the outcome.

The manus around Del's body suddenly disappeared. Del's eyes which constantly looked glazed over all of a sudden looked as if they were focused. His body which always moved at a seemingly lazy speed seemed to gain a staggering boost. Del shuffled his feet so that hid body moved to the top right. He then crouched low and slid his leg forward. The punch thrown by the boy flew right over Del's head. It looked as if Del were too close to strike at this point, and so rather than a punch he kept an open hand by his body. He then twisted his upper body clockwise. As in twisted his arm and shoulder moved in unison, making him strike the boy's liver with an elbow carried by the weight of him sliding forward, the twist of his body, and the strike of the boy himself.

The boy coughed followed by strained wheezing. He fell over holding his stomach as he groaned in pain. He rolled over trying to stop himself from screaming.

Del glanced at him before returning his attention to the other two. They were in shock, joining Allyssa. They hesitated when their eyes met Del's. They steeled their resolve and went on to fight him anyways, reminding themselves that big guy wasn't even trained as a noble like them anyways, belonging more so to the middle class.

The other member of the posse that was fighting approached Del, then followed by the noble that challenged Del first. The first one who approached came at Del with a kick to his stomach which was flimsy yet quick. Del just managed to catch it with both hands, though he coughed some air as it still made contact. Del pulled his arms outwards twisting the boys leg, making him spin into the floor.

The nobel quickly came after Del with a right straight, though it seemed to lack speed and focused on power. Del stepped to the right and used his left arm to push the arm up and to the side. The noble quickly responded with another punch from his left. Del brought down his left arm and raised his right, entrapping the thrown arm in between in his own which found itself just beneath Del's armpit. With a quick movement Del then flicked his right arm from the bottom and brought it up to slap the noble while his left pushed the arm it held down.

Del then executed a teep kick which struck the noble boy's chest pushing him back and making him fall. Del then back up a few steps. "Whew, almost too easy." He said with a smile while wiping the sweat from his forehead.

He had spoke too soon. He sudden felt his arms press into his body and being crush as his feet left the flood. "Ah fu-" He wheezed as he was crushed by the force that had picked him up. The first boy he had knocked down had recovered surprisingly quickly and snuck up behind Del while he was busy. Considering their size difference Del didn't posses the strength to break out.

The other two boys who were now getting off the floor smiled devilishly, knowing they could finally dish out the beating they had been waiting to give.

For the next one or two minutes they beat Del on the ground knowing that after hitting him enough times while held he wouldn't be standing for a bit. They finally stopped beating him after the couple of minutes and looked at him with satisfied looks. "Heh, a mere commoner as I thought. Take your pack member, I'm done with you. For now." He noble said before taking a final look at Del and spitting at him.

The noble boy took his posse and left, not before sneaking a wink at Allyssa on his way out. Allyssa looked at him disgusted. She looked at Del on the floor with pity and worry. Maybe he wasn't who she thought he was. No, she shouldn't be so ignorant. She had witnessed it, the change Del went under for those few moments before being caught from behind. She then scurried over to Del to see the damage that was done to him.

Upon closer inspection she noticed that he waa bruised just about everywhere she looked. He even had split skin from some of the strikes, though many of the wounds strangely looked as if they had been reopened.

"Ally?!" The voice of a boy rang out from behind Allyssa. She turned back and was surprised to see it was the boy she was friends with, the same who had studied with her the night before!

"Christian!" She exclaimed loudly while staring at him. He was standing where the posse had been, though she could see slight bruising on his face, though they were faint enough to show they didn't mean to truly hurt him.

"Ah shit, I think I might have a bruise." Del said as he started to sit up straight while rubbing the back of his neck.

Both Christian and Allyssa had assumed he was unconscious considering how badly he was beaten. "You're fine right? If you aren't I can go get them again haha." Del smiled at Christian as some blood ran down his lip.

Del sat on a chair looking at Allyssa and Christian while Allyssa was tending to the minor wounds Christian had. They had made it back to Del and Allyssa's room. "So what you're saying is that you were getting picked on by them, and Del happened to show up being brash and made a deal that of he fought they would let you go?" Allyssa said as she was patting Christians head with a wet towel.

Del interjected "I just felt that helping him out would be a bonus, they would have fought me either way."

Allyssa then looked at Del with a concerned look "Then why in the high realms did you take on three of them?"

"You didn't hear me? They needed no less than three to beat me." Del said nonchalantly as he held up a towel to his chin to wipe off the blood.

"Seems like you enjoy showing off needless heroics." She said to him amazed by how high he held himself. Not in a good way though.

"Heroics nonetheless." Del responded with a wide smile as he looked at Allyssa before winking.

Allyssa saw the gesture and blushed before looking away and back to Christian. "Thank you for saving him." She said more meekly this time.

Del waved dismissively. "No need." He said back to her. Christian stayed silent, embarrassed that he got saved by someone else in front of Allyssa.

Del later found himself laying in his own bed. Allyssa had gone out with Christian to get him food from the cafeteria.

"A display of false heroics. A basic method." He said to himself before closing his eyes.