Shobin looked toward Zac with worry written all over his face. "Marty...Will Zac be alright?"

Marty didn’t answer immediately, but his eyes never left his best friend.

Shobin looked at Marty and said, "So you are also worried for him?"

Marty sighed. "Honestly...I’m not worried about Zac."

Shobin blinked. "Huh?"

"I’m worried about Gary." Several nearby students turned toward Marty. "What do you mean?" one of them asked.

"Zac isn’t someone who likes unnecessary fighting. If he can avoid one, he sure will."

"He ignores insults and provocation, and honestly, he doesn’t care what people think about him at all."

"But... There’s one thing he absolutely won’t tolerate."

"His family."

The students nearby quietly listened. "Back when we were in the first year of middle school...There was this classmate."

"He couldn’t stand Zac. Mostly because Zac was more popular, first in grades, and good-looking than him. So every single day he’d find some excuse to provoke him."

"But Zac never reacted. Every time he’d ignore him and walk away without creating any scene."

Marty’s expression slowly darkened. "Until one day...That idiot crossed the line. He started saying disgusting things about Zac’s mother and little sister."

Shobin’s eyes widened. "What happened then? What did Zac do?"

Marty stared toward the arena. "What happened...?" He let out a dry laugh. "Eighteen fractured bones, seven torn muscles, multiple internal bleedings, six broken teeth... and a dislocated jaw."

A heavy silence settled over the students around him. "I was there and saw everything."

He swallowed.

"It didn’t even feel like I was looking at the friend I knew. Seeing him covered in blood... it was like a demon had possessed him."

"And even after the guy lost consciousness... Zac just kept punching him." The students unconsciously glanced at Zac again.

"If a Variant teacher hadn’t stepped in to stop him..." Marty slowly shook his head. "I don’t even want to imagine how it would’ve ended."

"The doctors later said it was a miracle the kid survived." He let out a quiet sigh. "Since we were all minors and the boy lived, the police didn’t pursue the case any further."

"But after that day...no one. Not in middle school or high school... ever talked about Zac’s family again."

He looked toward Gary. "And today, that idiot managed to do the exact same thing."

Shobin quietly swallowed. "So..." Marty said, looking back at him. "Do you understand why I’m not worried about Zac?"

"I’m just hoping someone stops the fight before Gary gets himself killed. I’d rather not spend the next four years at the academy without my best friend."

Shobin hesitated before asking, "Wait... there’s something I don’t understand. He almost killed another student. Why wasn’t he sent to juvenile?"

Marty shrugged. "That... I don’t know. As far as I know, Zac didn’t have any powerful background or patron back then."

"But for some reason, the police never charged him. Maybe they saw it as a fight between kids that got out of hand."

He looked back toward the arena. "I only know one thing: whatever happened that day...is about to happen again."

The students standing nearby exchanged uneasy looks. A few moments ago, they had come looking for entertainment.

But now... Quite a few of them were beginning to feel sorry for Gary.

Among the crowd, Sabrina stood quietly with her arms crossed, her icy blue eyes fixed on the stage.

She hadn’t taken her eyes off Zac ever since she came here.

"Snow." A cheerful voice suddenly came from beside her.

Sabrina didn’t even have to turn around; she already knew who it was. "What do you want, Kelly?"

Kelly grinned. With her pink ponytail swaying behind her and her bright pink eyes sparkling with excitement, she looked completely out of place in the tense atmosphere.

Ever since arriving at the academy, she’d been like that with pure energy.

By coincidence, she had been assigned the dorm room right next to Sabrina’s in the temporary apartment. The moment they met, Kelly herself decided they were friends.

Sabrina, on the other hand, had spent the first few days pretending she didn’t exist and completely ignored her.

But eventually, she remembered something her mother had told her before leaving home. "Try to get along with others."

Reluctantly... She gave up resisting Kelly’s endless conversations and now, whether she admitted it or not... The two had become friends.

Kelly leaned closer with an excited smile. "So...who do you think is going to win?"

Sabrina didn’t hesitate. "That idiot."

Kelly blinked. "The idiot?" A mischievous smile slowly spread across Kelly’s face.

"Ooooh...you mean the one who peeped on you. I didn’t think you’d gotten a soft spot for him now?"

Sabrina’s face immediately darkened. "What kind of nonsense are you talking about?"

"Me? A soft spot for him? I can’t even stand him."

"He’s arrogant and annoying, and every time he opens his mouth, I want to throw something at him."

Kelly giggled.

"But..." Sabrina looked back at the stage. "As much as I hate admitting it...he does have some decent skills, and I know that better than anyone here."

Kelly tilted her head. "Because of what happened at the temporary apartments?"

Sabrina nodded. "Yes. Every attack I threw at him...He easily dodged them all."

Kelly, with the same playful expression, asked, "You mean..."

"If Gary isn’t at least half as strong as I am..." Sabrina said calmly, "...he doesn’t stand a chance."

Kelly looked back at the arena. "So he isn’t just a pervert... he’s a strong pervert."

"Achoo! Who the hell is talking behind my back?" Zac thought.

Meanwhile, the conversations throughout the arena only grew louder.

"So that’s the guy?"

"The one who peeked at the Ice Queen?"

"Seriously...I almost respect him for surviving."

"Forget surviving."

Another student laughed. "If it were me, I’d have died happy."

A nearby student immediately elbowed him. "Keep your voice down if you value your life."

On the second floor of the spectator stands, a group of second-year students had also gathered.

"I was practicing a new combat skill," one of them said. "Then someone told me there was a Justice Arena match between two first-years. Anyone know what happened?"

His friends shrugged. "No idea. But the instructor will explain before the match starts."

"I just hope they put on a decent show. It’s been a month since we had any academy entertainment."

Another second-year student laughed. "Don’t get your hopes up. They’re just first-years who are basically newborns in the variant world."

"How exciting can this be?"

His friend nodded. "Fair enough. But at least it’ll be something to watch."

On the stage, the instructor’s deep voice echoed across the arena. "Both of you, step forward."

The conversations around the arena gradually died down as both of them walked to the center of the stage and stopped a few feet apart.

The instructor looked at them one after the other. "Identify yourselves."

"Gary Evans. First-year student."

"Zac Delenko. First-year student."

The instructor gave a small nod. "What is the reason for this duel?"

Gary took a step forward. A confident smile spread across his face as he slowly turned toward the students and teachers watching from the stands.

He raised both arms dramatically, as though he were about to deliver a historic speech.

"My fellow students, respected seniors, and honorable teachers."

"It is an honor to stand before all of you today as a student of New Dawn Academy."

"Our academy is one of the greatest institutions ever built. It was the very first academy established after the Apocalypse, and over the years, it has produced countless heroes and legends."

"Many of the greatest figures in history once stood where we stand today." He placed a hand over his chest and spoke with unwavering conviction.

"I trained until I sweated blood every single day to earn my place here. I pushed myself beyond my limits, despite already possessing S-rank potential."

"And at last..."

"I entered my dream academy through my own hard work and talent."

The smile on Gary’s face slowly disappeared as he raised a finger and pointed directly at Zac. "But him? He doesn’t deserve to stand beside us."

The arena grew noticeably quieter as everyone listened. "Do you know why?"

"Because he awakened... an E-rank potential."

For a heartbeat, no one knew how to react. Then the entire arena erupted into an uproar.

"What?! Did he just say E-rank? There’s no way!"

"An E-rank got into New Dawn Academy? That’s impossible!"

"They wouldn’t even qualify for most third-rate academies!"

"Forget graduating. An E-rank can barely reach D-rank."

"What is someone like that doing here?"

The noise swept through the arena like crashing waves. Even several teachers exchanged puzzled looks. Seeing the commotion, Gary couldn’t hide the satisfaction on his face.

"Perfect. This is exactly the reaction I wanted."

"For a moron, he’s surprisingly good at giving speeches," Kelly muttered.

"Yeah," Sabrina replied. "With just a few words, he turned almost the entire academy against that bitch boy."

Gary patiently waited for the uproar to die down before continuing. "That’s right. A trash E-rank potential. Someone like that has no place in our New Dawn Academy."

"I don’t know what tricks he used or whose strings he pulled to get in, but I refuse to watch our academy’s name be stained."

He swept his gaze across the crowd. "Just think about it. What will the other academies think when they learn that we admitted someone with E-rank potential into our ranks?"

Finally, he turned toward the instructor. "That’s why I challenged him today."

"And if I win..." He pointed straight at Zac. "...Zac Delencore will leave New Dawn Academy."