Aaron's Fight

The arena buzzed with anticipation as Ren stepped onto the fighting field.

His opponent was a second year Esper, a broad-shouldered young man named Darius Kain.

Darius was well-known for his brute-force telekinesis, strong enough to crush steel with a flick of his fingers.

A smirk spread on his face as he looked Ren up and down.

"A first year?" he scoffed. "You're either stupid or desperate for attention."

Yeah, Lucian was gonna get it from him the next time they see each other.

Ren didn't respond to him. He merely tilted his head, his expression unreadable.

The instructor raised a hand. "Standard combat rules. No lethal force." His gaze flickered towards Ren. "You can forfeit if you're not confident."

Ren smiled lightly. "That wouldn't be necessary."

The instructor didn't argue. Instead, he dropped his hand.

"Begin."

Darius wasted no time.

The moment the fight started, he launched forward, his telekinetic power amplifying his speed.

The ground cracked beneath his feet as he threw a punch reinforced with invisible force.

His fist met nothing.

Ren had already moved, his body shifting just enough to let the attack brush past him.

Darius's eyes widened.

He was fast.

Before he could react, Ren tilted his head slightly, and all of a sudden, an invisible force slammed into Darius's ribs.

He was sent skidding backwards, his heels carving deep lines into the ground.

Gasps erupted from the audience.

"Did you see that?!"

"He didn't even move his hands!"

Darius gritted his teeth and steadied himself. His mind raced.

Ren had countered his attack before he even finished throwing it.

And worse, he had done it effortlessly.

Darius's expression darkened.

He wasn't going to lose to a first year, it was downright embarrassing.

He activated his full strength, with a snarl.

The air trembled, as chunks of debris lifted into the air, circling Darius as his telekinesis flared violently.

"I'll crush you," he growled, eyes burning with anger, spittle flying everywhere.

Ren visibly shivered.

Ew.

The floating debris shot forward all at once, aimed directly at Ren.

It was a brutal and merciless type of attack.

Ren exhaled.

Then, everything stopped.

The debris froze mid-air.

The audience fell into stunned silence.

Darius's face twisted in shock.

"What..?"

Ren raised a single hand.

And the frozen debris, turned and the next seconds, it shot back at Darius.

Too fast.

He was too strong.

He had barely managed to throw up a barrier before he was slammed backwards, crashing into the ground.

Dust spread into the air.

A heavy silence followed.

Then, as the dust settled, Darius groaned, he was too embarrassed stand up as he was defeated.

Ren lowered his hand.

"Is that all?" he asked, his tone casual.

[Host, please.]

The instructor announced Ren as the winner while inwardly grumbling about how much expenses he had to ask the Dean for to fix the battlefield.

The audience erupted into noise.

"He won."

"That's insane."

"What kind of Esper is he"

"Do you think, he'll agree to being in our team?"

Even the instructors were watching him with narrowed eyes, as if reassessing everything they thought they knew.

Ren ignored them. He turned on his heel and left the battlefield without another word.

Show done.

As Ren walked off the field, he could feel eyes burning into his back.

"Rennnnnnnn." Lorien called, running towards him.

When he looked, he was going to crash into Ren, he sidestepped making Lorien fall directly onto the ground.

"Hey! What was that, you were supposed to catch me." Lorien grumbled, making Ren look at him as if he was stupid.

Why would he catch him when he looked all sweaty and was practically smelly.

"You know what never mind, where did you learn to fight like that?" Lorien asked, his eyes wide.

Ren ignored him, walking away, while Lorien ran after him and then stopped in front of him, making Ren stop walking.

Ren looked at him with a confused look wondering what he wanted from him.

"Umm I wanted to ask, if you wanted to form a team with me, no other student agreed to join me." Lorien stated.

Ren looked at him, his expression basically saying 'Would they want to partner with you if you're weak'

Lorien immediately understood what Ren's expression was implying. He shook his head and hand, "no no don't think like that, I promise I'm really strong."

Ren raised a brow.

"The other students watched my fight and said I was too uncoordinated so umm, you're basically my last try."

Ren looked around, seeing everyone walking in four or five cliques, looked back at Lorien and then nodded his head.

The standard team formation was five to seven members, so Ren would have to get used to more people around him.

Lorien was happy that Ren said yes, so all the way back to his dorm he was basically jumping around Ren.

Lorien and Ren's dorm were about two buildings apart, so it was easy to walk back together. All through the walk back to the dorm, Ren had a bored expression on his face while Lorien was all bubbly and excited.

Lorien's conversation was basically, 'who do you think we should requit in our team', 'what should our team's name be called', 'Do you think we'll be made to fight monster as first years', 'what's your dorm like', 'My family is this....

They finally made it to their dorm, and Ren could not be any gladder, he practically rushed into his dorm building.

"System, you're in charge of telling me when that loudmouth is around."

The system felt sorry for Lorien, but he answered anyways, [Yes]