Chapter 33: Thor

The stadium crackled with tension as Aiden's opponent stepped forward. His very presence seemed to hum with power, electricity sparking off his fingertips in casual arcs. His name was Marcus Reyes, but no one called him that anymore.

He had earned a different name.

Thor.

Aiden watched as Thor made his way onto the battlefield, the crowd parting for him instinctively, as if afraid of getting shocked just by standing too close. He was built like a war god—tall, broad, and carrying the effortless confidence of someone who had never lost. His long, golden hair only added to the myth, flowing behind him as if he controlled even the air around him.

A+ Grade Electric Manipulation.

A+ Grade Super Strength.

A+ Grade Super Durability.

The perfect storm.

Zik exhaled through his nose, watching from the sidelines. "Aiden's got a real problem here."

Tobias nodded, arms crossed. "Yeah. That guy's been winning every match in a single punch. No one's even lasted more than five seconds against him."

The announcer's voice boomed through the stadium.

"Fighters, take your positions!"

Aiden, ever casual, rolled his shoulders. Thor? He simply clenched his fists, lightning wrapping around his knuckles like living chains. He wasn't playing around. He wasn't here to drag this out.

And the moment the fight started—

BOOM.

A single punch. Faster than the eye could track. A fist coated in raw electricity crashed into Aiden's face with a sound like thunder.

The crowd gasped.

The ground beneath Aiden cracked.

The referee looked ready to call the match—

Then Aiden sighed.

Not staggered. Not injured. Not even singed.

He rubbed his cheek like someone who had just been hit with a light breeze. Then he blinked up at Thor, unimpressed.

"...That it?"

Thor's expression froze.

The crowd? Silent. Dead silent.

Even the referee, who had been mentally preparing to go home early for once, felt his soul leave his body.

Zik slapped his forehead. Tobias just started laughing.

Thor took a step back, electricity crackling violently around him as his brain tried to process what had just happened.

"Wait, wait, wait," he muttered. "What just—"

Aiden stretched, yawning. "Oh, yeah. Should probably mention—"

He held up a single finger.

"One, I'm completely immune to electricity. It does literally nothing to me."

Then he held up a second.

"Two, I've got impact diffusion. Meaning blunt attacks? Also do literally nothing to me."

Thor's eye twitched. "You're joking."

"Nope."

Thor clenched his fists again, veins in his forehead starting to bulge. "I hit you with a full-powered, A+ grade, electrified punch."

"Yup."

"And it did—"

"Absolutely nothing."

Aiden gave him a thumbs-up, like a teacher congratulating a student for figuring out a tough math problem.

Thor's pride shattered into a million tiny pieces.

The referee put his hands on his knees, staring at the ground. His hope for a quick match? Gone. His dreams of going home early? Dead.

He should've seen this coming.

Zik and Tobias? They were dying of laughter on the sidelines.

Thor, meanwhile, was having a full-on existential crisis in the middle of the battlefield. He had never needed more than one punch before. He had never needed to think before.

Now, for the first time in his life, he had to actually come up with a plan.

And it sucked.

Thor's mind was racing.

Two months ago, he had finally broken into the A+ grade. It was supposed to be a game-changer. The jump from A to A+ was massive—an entirely different playing field. He had been waiting for the perfect moment to showcase his true power, to make people stop talking about Tobias for just five minutes and recognize him as the second top dog in this school.

But now?

Now he was stuck in the dumbest fight of his life.

100% attack power.

0% damage.

It wasn't even a fight—it was a joke.

Thor looked at Aiden, frustration in his eyes. "How am I supposed to win this?"

Aiden raised an eyebrow. "How should I know?"

Thor's eye twitched. "What do you mean, 'how should I know'?"

Aiden shrugged. "I mean, why would I tell you?"

Thor clenched his fists, electricity flaring up again in irritation. "Because you're the one making my life hell right now!"

Aiden chuckled. "Yeah, and? Figure it out."

Thor sucked in a deep breath. His entire strategy had been shattered in a single punch. He had no idea what to do next. He glanced at the referee, hoping for some kind of divine intervention.

The referee, looking about one second away from retirement, pinched the bridge of his nose. "Aiden. Attack him already. stop stretching this fight "

Aiden, stretching his arms behind his head, grinned. "Nah."

"Why?"

Aiden rolled his shoulders. "Because I'm made of rubber."

The referee's eye twitched.

Aiden smirked. "Also, it's funny watching him panic."

The referee took a deep breath, resisting the urge to strangle a student. Then he turned to Thor. "Use something sharp."

Thor blinked. "...Wait. That's genius. You're a genius."

Aiden and the referee exchanged glances.

Thor nodded to himself, confidence returning to his face. "Yeah, yeah! Something sharp! If blunt attacks don't work, then I just need to use a blade or something!"

He looked at the referee expectantly.

The referee's soul left his body. "You—are you serious—"

"Yeah, just gimme something sharp!"

The referee almost walked off the battlefield right then and there. Instead, he took a long, deep breath, staring at the sky as if asking whatever god was watching why he had to suffer like this.

"Break the ground."

Thor blinked. "Huh?"

The referee exhaled sharply. "Break the ground. Find a sharp rock or something. Just—just end this already."

Aiden, watching the referee mentally unravel in real time, whistled. "Man, you really wanna go home, huh?"

Thor's fist came crashing down, shattering the ground beneath him. He grabbed the sharpest-looking chunk of rock he could find, gripping it tightly.

This is it. If electricity and blunt force won't work, then piercing damage should—

He lunged at Aiden, driving the jagged stone toward him with all his might.

Aiden, still grinning like an idiot, simply muttered, "Harden."

A faint shimmer passed over his skin, and—

CRACK.

The rock shattered into dust against Aiden's body.

Thor froze.

The crowd went silent.

Even the referee flinched.

Aiden stared at the pulverized stone in Thor's hand for a moment… and then he just lost it.

He clutched his stomach, doubling over as he burst into laughter. "No way—no way—you really thought that was gonna work?! BAHAHAHAHA!"

Thor took a step back, feeling a creeping sense of dread as he looked around.

More and more people started laughing.

At first, it was just Aiden.

Then it was his friends.

Then random students in the crowd.

Then the entire arena.

Even the announcer let out a chuckle.

Thor's face burned with embarrassment. He had just gone from potential second strongest in the school to school-wide joke in record time.

He turned to the referee, desperate. "You knew that wouldn't work, didn't you?!"

The referee exhaled through his nose, looking completely dead inside. "I hoped it would work."

Aiden wiped a tear from his eye, barely able to breathe between laughs. "Dude. Dude. You broke the ground with one punch. You're a human lightning storm. And your big idea was… picking up a rock?"

Thor clenched his fists, feeling humiliation sink in deeper and deeper.

He hated this.

He hated how easily Aiden was toying with him.

He hated how everyone was laughing at his expense.

But most of all…

He hated that he had no idea how to turn this fight around.

Thor wiped the sweat from his brow, his pride hanging on by a thread. He had to say something, anything to salvage this. He looked at Aiden, desperation in his eyes.

"Listen, man. Just—just let me win. I mean, think about it logically," Thor pleaded.

Aiden raised an eyebrow. "Logically?"

"Yeah! I'm the second most powerful in the school, right? Shouldn't I be the one representing us?"

Aiden just stared at him for a long moment before bursting out laughing again. "Are you an idiot?"

Thor twitched. "What? No, I'm being serious!"

Aiden shook his head. "If you can't even beat me, then how are you the second strongest?"

Thor gritted his teeth. "Because—because your powers aren't fair to me!"

Aiden rolled his eyes. "Ohhh, so now it's unfair?" He spread his arms wide. "You being a powerhouse to everybody you punched so far—that was fair?"

Thor hesitated.

Aiden smirked. "Yeah. Thought so."

Thor clenched his fists, frustration boiling over. He wasn't going down like this. "This is life for you. Survival depends more on luck than your build. Deal with it."

Aiden's smirk faded, and for the first time in the fight, he actually looked serious.

"Fine," Aiden said, rolling his shoulders. "Then let's see how long your 'luck' lasts."

And with that, Aiden attacked.

Thor braced himself as fists came flying at him. Every hit was a storm of pain, but he refused to fall. If he couldn't win, then he'd at least endure. He had to.

Because if he gave up now, then what was the point of everything?

He clenched his jaw, his vision swimming, but he kept swinging back. Wild, desperate, furious punches that didn't even faze Aiden.

But he didn't care.

He wouldn't stop.

He wouldn't quit.

He couldn't.

Thor's fists swung wildly, each one weaker than the last, but his mind was somewhere else.

He wasn't in the ring anymore.

He was back in his childhood home, staring at the flickering ceiling light of a run-down apartment. His mother was working two shifts back then, always exhausted when she got home, barely able to smile when she saw him. His father—well, there wasn't one. Not one that stuck around, anyway.

Thor was never special. Never the smartest, never the fastest. Just another kid scraping by, blending into the background. No one ever looked at him twice.

Until his powers awakened.

It wasn't some grand moment of destiny, just a fluke in gym class. A punch that shouldn't have knocked his opponent out cold. A single moment that made heads turn. A single moment where people actually noticed him.

From that day on, he was Thor. The powerhouse. The bruiser. The second strongest in school.

And now, if he lost this fight, he'd lose everything.

The title. The reputation. The respect.

It would all vanish.

They'd laugh at him. Call him a joke. Not Thor the powerhouse—Thor the fool.

And what was left after that?

Nothing.

Nothing at all.

His fists kept flying, but they were getting slower, sloppier. Aiden dodged effortlessly, barely trying anymore.

Thor gritted his teeth. "I won't lose," he growled under his breath.

Aiden sighed. "Dude, it's over."

Thor ignored him. He couldn't stop.

Because if he stopped, if he fell, then he was nobody again.

Just another nameless, forgotten kid.

Aiden took a step back, his fists lowering as he watched Thor continue to throw punches into the empty air. His body swayed, covered in bruises, his knuckles bleeding, but he kept swinging.

The arena was dead silent. No more laughter. No more jokes. Just the crackling hum of lingering electricity and the heavy scent of burnt air.

Thor had been unconscious for a while now.

And yet, his body refused to accept it.

Aiden exhaled, feeling a strange weight settle in his chest. He had fought a lot of people before—some strong, some weak, some who fought because they liked it. But Thor was different. He wasn't just fighting to win. He was fighting like his existence depended on it.

"…Damn," Aiden muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. "You really didn't wanna lose, huh?"

The referee hesitated before stepping in. He looked at Thor, then at Aiden, then at the broken mess of the arena, before letting out a long, exhausted sigh. "This is a lot of paperwork."

Aiden glanced back at Thor. His legs were shaking now, barely keeping him upright.

Then—finally—he collapsed.

And for the first time in his life, Aiden didn't feel like celebrating a win.