The presence of the Blue streak Dire wolf in the cafeteria was unprecedented.

Rogue’s actions was breaking an unspoken rule amongst the students and instructors of Franseint academy.

Ymir and a few other sophomores stood, this was getting out of hand really fast. And should Dean react, then this would be a disaster.

Vanessa quickly noticed all the attention in the room was on them.

And as much as she did what she did. She would rather Rogue not be hurt by this. After all, she knew how much it meant for him to be here and how much was sacrificed as well.

"R-rogue please...calm down." she begged softly.

Rogue didn’t even look at her as the wolf opened its mouth and blue lightning began to condense in its open maws, aiming directly at Dean.

But Dean didn’t move a muscle, he was just smiling. Very much aware that he’d won.

Right now, it was a matter of how far he could push this boy, even though this was like a field day for Dean.

This was basically how competitive fighting was. Fighters taunt each other to see who would go overboard.

And Rogue? Yeah... he was an unfortunate victim. An easy target by all standards.

"Come on," Dean said, as he spread out his hands. "I’m unarmed. Show me you’re a coward too."

Yeah, that was the final straw. Rogue broke like a twig and the wolf released the ball of concentrated Lightning at point blank.

But as fast as the wolf and Rogue were. The sophomores were faster. Appearing behind and in front of Rogue.

A hand, colder than ice, rested on the Dire wolf’s head, freezing it and the lightning attack in place.

While Ymir blitzed past the tables to stand in front of Dean, her hands were already transformed as she was about to slash at the wolf and its attack.

Rogue’s eyes widened. He couldn’t even speak as even his breathing slowed drastically. And every muscle in his body stopped working momentarily.

Even as a small icy white snake wrapped itself around his neck.

"Cain.." Ymir said with a calm tone. "When did you get here?"

"I was always here," said the white haired boy with golden snake-like eyes. He walked out from behind Rogue like a ghost just unveiling itself.

"I guess even I couldn’t resist the stench of trash," he raised his hand from the wolf’s head and it dispersed into blue motes of light instantly.

The other sophomores just stared in awe after all, Cain was amongst the Top 3 in the class.

He also let Rogue go as well, and the boy fell forward, still unable to move a muscle but Vanessa was able to catch his fall.

"You.. idiot..." she whispered into his ears with a cracked voice.

The incident de-escalated quickly but Amidst all of this, Dean had brought his hand forward in a criss-cross gesture with the Rebound core armor fully formed around his hands and chest.

Ash was also on his shoulder, it had appeared even before Dean tried to summon it. Reacting to the danger.

Cain disappeared just as suddenly as he appeared. Having let Rogue go and after a minute, Rogue jolted up as if he was asleep all this while.

He pulled away from Vanessa’s hold and began walking away. Avoiding any eye contact as he quickly exited the cafeteria as David and the rest of his crew ran behind him.

Vanessa stood there alone with everyone staring.

She looked at Dean. "You might have just destroyed him."

With nothing to say. Dean opened his mouth but Ymir reacted before he could.

She tilted her head towards Vanessa. "No he didn’t. You did. Bitch."

Dean smirked as he turned away even as the armor disappeared. He walked casually to the food line again. Ordered some food, and quickly paid.

Ash kept bouncing on his shoulder as if it was anticipating the meal too.

"I also need some blood, under Von Vermith Astrea. One pint."

The server nodded as she prepared the blood and handed it over to Dean.

Paying for his food. Dean grabbed both trays and gestured for Ymir.

The werewolf who had retracted her claws, walked beside Dean and Ash.

"Thank you."

Ymir patted his back with a stern look on her face. "Good job."

They walked back to Astrea who’d been watching everything.

"That was unnecessary," Astrea said, immediately Dean sat down.

"He needed to know."

"You could have told him privately."

Dean shrugged. As he took a bite from his food, after he slid the second tray to Astrea.

"He wouldn’t have believed me."

"Yeah.." Ymir chipped in. Making her presence known as she brought her own tray to the fray.

<><><>

They ate in silence, if you could call it that.

The women had been staring at each other for the past five minutes. As if they were competing with just their eyes.

One was seeping wine while the other was biting hard on a bone.

Tension was slowly building on the table while Dean did his best to ignore it. But Ash didn’t, it kept mimicking the ladies actions.

The cafeteria doors finally opened after a while and Dean thought the tension would finally die down but to his surprise, the heat was turned on further.

At the entrance of the cafeteria was Marcus. The blue haired boy looked around and gestured his head.

And immediately the two boys who had approached Dean from earlier stood up simultaneously and walked to his side.

Dean squinted. It was as he suspected, those boys were with Marcus after all.

Marcus’s eyes swept across the cafeteria, ignoring the people who watched and murmured.

"He’s back."

"Who is he searching for?"

"Who do you think?"

The murmurs had begun when Marcus finally locked in on Dean’s position.

The boy was mid step and about to approach Dean when he noticed Ymir sitting with him and even Astrea as well.

The boy’s body froze like it was petrified solid.

Dean watched the man attentively, as he saw the moment the boy processed what he was seeing.

The prize of the Argent pack. Sitting with the human who took him out for two days, and humiliated him in close combat.

And to top it off, the Vermith was even in their midst. Casually chatting like they were friends.

How could so much have happened in two days, Marcus mused as he gritted his teeth.

The boys flanking him noticed the sudden pause and tension around Marcus and they moved closer as if they were trying to contain an impending explosion.

Marcus walked towards Dean without breaking a stride as the entire hall followed him to the expected Destination.

He stopped in front of Dean’s table, his eyes moving between the three before stopping on Dean.

His jaw tightened, holding back anger as he saw Ymir even more relaxed.

"Dean Gray," Marcus said.

"Yes?" Dean replied as he put down the fork in his hand.

"I invoke Hel’Khar"

The entire hall went quiet immediately as Ash began expanding while it stared menacingly at Marcus.