Lost Origins: SS Ranked Awakening-Chapter 54: Loss

Kieran stared at Richard who had just walked in and while throwing the mischievous smile he hated at him, his emotions conceded beneath his stoic face.

"Let’s begin, shall we?!" The instructor said before pushing himself to his feet and facing the three of them.

"I have to say, I’m quite satisfied with the new stock" he started, referring to them.

"But, there’s a problem. And it’s you two!" August said, facing both Richard and Kieran.

Kieran understood what he meant, but he saw no use pointing it out. It might not have been obvious since they rarely encountered each other, but one could easily tell that Richard and Kieran had something against each other if you managed to see them in the same space.

"The thing is, while I find joy in your feud, I still need you two to have a level of understanding towards each other, for the sake of cooperation" August continued.

"We understand each other alright!" Richard interrupted. You could see him holding in the urge to rush out.

"And I know there’s no way you’d just come to terms with each other, so I’m going to give you guys an easy way to solve this issue, for the sake of the team" August said, ignoring Richard’s earlier interruption.

"And what is that?" Derrick who stood with his eyes shut at the side asked, finally joining the conversation.

"Good question...eh? Whatever your name is! Since you are part of the combat division. It’s quite clear how this matter should be solved!" August said and Richard’s smile widened. This was what he was hoping for, after all.

Kieran on the other hand still had an expression as still as a frozen lake.

"When do we do this then?" He asked the instructor.

"Well, normally you aren’t allowed to fight each other without submitting a duel request with the consent of both parties and the agreement of the management, but since I’m here, we can just pass it off as a class exercise! Yeah, that should work!" He said, muttering the last part to himself.

"Right now?" Derrick asked from the side.

"Why not?" The instructor said and Richard’s smile widened even more, things were going his way after all.

"But don’t you think it’s too boring to just fight? I don’t think just beating him to a pulp is going to settle things. Why don’t we place a wager!" Richard suggested, barely holding his bloodlust in.

"Sigh...!" The instructor sighed before his aura took a sharp change, making them feel like there was a blade placed on their neck.

The cocky smile on Richard’s face vanished instantly, replaced with cold sweat while Derrick’s eyes snapped open immediately and while Kieran looked to remain the same but his heart was beating furiously in his chest.

"You seem to have misunderstood something. This is just a way to vent a little bit of your anger. I don’t care who wins or loses, you fight because I say so, and after this you two are going to work together like best friends because I say so..." The instructor said in a barely audible voice that sent shivers down the backs of the three recruits in the room.

"Alright, position yourself!" August said, back to his lazy and uninterested self.

Kieran and Richard made their way to the center of the room, facing each other.

"You have no idea how much I’ve waited for this. Don’t worry, if you stay down where you belong like you used to, I might consider making it less painful!" Richard tried taunting Kieran.

"There’s the bastard I remember! You ran your mouth so much I felt worried when you became so silent the past few months. Good to know you’re still a dirty bastard!" Kieran retorted, making Richard’s face mangle in hate.

"Tch, you’re going to regret this." Richard muttered seeing the sly smile that crept up Kieran’s face. He a battle of words to that fucker.

Seeing that the two of them couldn’t hold it in any longer, August gave the signal and they immediately rushed out towards each other.

’The last time was a fluke, I’m going to end you this time’ Richard thought, evading Kieran’s first punch while landing a solid hit on Kieran’s gut.

Contrary to what his expectation of Kieran falling the floor, groaning due to the hit, Kieran pressed forward with another attack like the he wasn’t hit at all.

"The fuck is on with him?!" Richard thought, feeling Kieran’s fist on his face.

At the side, the instructor watched as Kieran went on, throwing attack after attack without bothering to block any of Richard’s attack, tanking them all with his body. With this he managed to catch Richard off guard and had gained the upper hand for now, but....

"This is going to end soon!" Derrick said from the side, he attention was focused completely on the movement of those two.

"Hmm, it was a nice approach, but it’s not enough" the instructor agreed with Derrick and at that moment the tide of the fight changed.

"DON’T TEST ME, BASTARD!!!" Richard shouted, pushing Kieran back.

Kieran didn’t go back to attacking immediately. Something had changed, there was a reddish flare at the edges of Richard’s eyes and the temperature of the room seemed to have gone up by a notch.

’His ability?’ Kieran thought before diving back in, his speed faster than before.

’Nice try’ Richard thought.

He could feel that Kieran’s speed and the power behind his attacks had increased, but it wasn’t enough to win. If that was all he had left, then he had to say, he was disappointed.

Spreading his legs apart, he got into a horse stance position and before throwing a punch to Kieran who was about to reach him.

BAM! CRASH!!

Kieran was hit in the gut and his figure crashed to the other side of the room, breaking the weapon stand over there.

"It’s over!" Derrick said, looking at them.

"No, not yet!" Richard said, walking to where Kieran laid limp, he couldn’t move a muscle in his body. The center of his clothes, where he was hit, was burned and there was a burn mark present on his body.

Picking his limp body up, Richard started throwing punches at his face.

BAM!

"You stupid fuck!"

BAM!! SPLURT!!!

"Bet you thought you mattered!" He said, Kieran’s blood splattering on his face.

BAM!!

"Do you know what I had to face because of you this piece of shit!!" He said, his punches getting heavier and heavier.

He left Kieran’s battered face and moved on to the rest of his body. Throwing him down, he went to his knees and started raining his fists, a crazy expression on his face.

On the side, Derrick watched with a hard face before speaking up when he couldn’t take it anymore.

"STOP!"

Not getting a reply from Richard, he took a step forward only to be blocked by the instructor.

"He’s in a trance, he’s going to kill him at this rate!" He said to the instructor.

"....." August said nothing, just watching the brutality unfold.

"Ahhhh-" Richard gave a short shout before falling to the ground, the instructor at his back, looking at his fist that glowed red, not just from the blood of Kieran.

Meanwhile Derrick stared at the instructor, his pupils constricted. He couldn’t capture how the instructor had made it to the other side in an instant.

’What the hell was that?!’ The thought, still in shock. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

Unlike Kieran, he had been exposed to the world of the awakened since he was a child, but this was the first time he had seen something like that.

"He’s going to wake up soon. Do what you will with him, I’m taking this one over to the infirmary" August said to Derrick, before vanishing with Kieran.

Meanwhile, Derrick stared at the unconscious body of Richard who laid on the floor.

"The fuck am I supposed to do with that piece of shit?" He muttered before leaving the building, leaving Richard laying on the floor.

......

"What did you do?" Danzo the head chef asked August in a deep tone, while looking at Kieran that was behind him on a sick bed.

Now that all the blood on his face had been cleaned up, you could see how bad his face was, battered and swollen.

"Nothing! They had a minor scuffle....ahhhh.." August said, letting out a loud yawn with tears at the corner of his eyes. He just said so like the head chef wasn’t looking threateningly at him.

"Take your trouble outside, there are patients here!" The doctor with the forgettable face said to August when he saw Danzo about to lose it.

"Eh? What did I do? I’m not th—" August wanted to complain but was interrupted by the head chef.

"Be careful August, unless you don’t want you don’t want your life anymore!" Danzo gave a final warning before leaving the infirmary without even glancing at Kieran.

"That bastard is really lucky we were in an infirmary!" He muttered while walking through the hallways.