The weight of agony.

Timeless wandered around the hallway, devastated by the news he received of the loss of his parents. He couldn't believe that they were gone and felt a deep sadness in his heart. He had always been close with his parents, and their loss left a void in his life that he didn't know how to fill.

In his state of confusion, he walked back into the hall, and the murmurs he heard gave him a momentary sense of clarity. He gazed around the hall for a while, catching some gazes directed at him in the process which he overlooked as his gaze finally spotted the strength machine on stage and stopped. From his brief glance, he saw that the event had drawn to a close, with the scoreboard still fixed on the screen. Looking at it, he saw that Aman was still in first place, which he had expected.

The supervisors were standing on stage, giving some speeches, but Timeless was lost in thought as an influx of emotion drowned him, as he struggled to come to terms with his grief. A scene flashed through his mind, as he remembered his father and the moments they spent training.

Timeless found himself walking towards the strength machine, to the stares of the entire audience and murmurs broke soon after as he edge closer to the stage.

"What the hell is that dude doing? He's asking for a whooping" one person commented.

"Well, he has courage. I'll give him that" another said.

"Props on his good look too, I'll rate him among the top 5" a female added amidst the murmurs.

"Do you go about rating every guy's look? How do you live with yourself? only strength determines the rule of this world now" someone replied

"I see, you're definitely bottom 5 with that look, that's why you made mention of strength" The female retorted back.

-_-

"I'm staking my money on him getting expelled for such an outrageous behavior or at least given a few months' punishments" another replied.

"Well make up your mind, what are you staking on" someone roared.

"Ahem, pay no mind to me, I was just commenting in the moment," he said as his face flushed for a moment.

Amidst the chatter, a member of Haru Group finally spoke out. "Hey, Haru what do you think that blonde dude is trying to do? Any ideas?"

Haru frowned at the question, seemingly confused himself as to what Timeless aim was. "Let's wait and see what happens, guessing just makes my head hurt," he said

Timeless finally made it on stage with a burning gaze, which was fixated on one thing at the moment; the strength test machine. He only felt a mix of emotions boiling inside him and needed a release.

The guards made an attempt to bar his path as he got on stage but was stopped by the lead supervisor, who had a curious gaze and wanted to see what would happen.

At this point, everyone's gaze was fixed on Timeless as he approached the machine, his image in full display on the Large screen. He walked with heavy steps, As he recalled the face of his father and mother and the moments they shared; the laughter, and the joy of being in a loving home. Finally arriving at his destination, he stood in front of the strength test machine and gazed at it as the memories came flooding back like the tides. Taking a deep breath, he punched the machine with every ounce of strength he could muster. The force of his blow made the machine shake as a series of numbers lit up one after the other, going from 0 and finally stopping at 5.

Everyone in the hall was stunned into silence, as they watched Timeless punch the machine with such raw power and emotion. They had never seen anything like it before and were left in awe by his strength. The score lit up on the large screen, and everyone could see it clearly, Timeless had tied with Aman's record with that momentary show of strength.

Standing on stage Timeless felt a sense of release as he punched the machine, all the pent-up emotions finally finding an outlet. As Tears finally rolled down his eyes unceasingly and his hand hung limply by his side, broken.

An applause finally echoed across the hall, waking everyone from their dazed state, and soon after the entire hall erupted in deafening cheers and applause.

As he turned to gaze at the crowd in its full glory applauding in response to his show of strength, he felt his mind settle. This memory gave Timeless a sense of purpose and he realized that he had to be strong for his parents. He couldn't let their loss defeat him, he had to honor them by continuing to live his life to the fullest and make them proud.

The supervisors looked at each other in surprise, not expecting anyone to reach Aman's score. One of them, a gruff-looking man with a stern face, walked towards Timeless.

The crowd calmed down at the sight of this as they awaited the unfortunate fate that befall him.

"What did you just do kid?" he asked in a hoarse voice.

The hall instantly broke into murmurs again as all sorts of comments poured in.

"I knew he cheated somehow, even the supervisors doubt the authenticity of the score," a member of Haru cohort said with a smirk.

"Hehe, he's surely in for it now" another beside him commented.

Haru stood still with a frown on his face seemingly lost in thought as he refrained from commenting on the matter.

"He didn't cheat we all saw it on screen, but yeah I still think the score was over the top, Isn't he the dude that usually gets beaten up every other day, maybe the fault is from the machine?"

A random dude butted in and was immediately given death stares.

"I didn't do anything special" Timeless replied nonchalantly wiping away his tears, paying no mind to the murmurs.

The lead supervisor stepped forward, clapping his hands, breaking the silence. "Ladies and gentlemen, we have been fortunate enough to witness the magnificent show of strength each of you displayed today, and just now we were given a real treat by our young blonde over there. I'm sure most of you would agree that it was a great way to end the test".

"Despite putting on a remarkable performance, it cannot be ignored that he hit it twice. Therefore, Aman still remains the undisputed winner and will be rewarded for his efforts," declared the lead supervisor.

Turning towards Timeless he said with a smile "As a token of appreciation for your effort, you may make one request within our capabilities and we shall grant it"

With this, we conclude an eventful day with the theme "The weight of agony."

Seeing the lead supervisor confirm the authenticity of the result, the hall became quiet again.

Timeless walked off the stage as he held the tags tightly, feeling a sense of peace settle within him.