"...That’s enough."
Damian stood there, holding Mara’s fist effortlessly under everyone’s eyes.
The gymnasium was already starting to gather a bigger crowd – seniors and other first-year students pushing through the doors to see what was happening.
Many commoners from other sections rushed toward their fallen and injured friends, panic and anger on their faces.
Damian’s gaze swept across the scene.
Around forty heavily injured commoners were lying on the ground, groaning in pain. So were bleeding. Others were unconscious.
Lysa, Edrin, and Ronan were among the most injured – their faces swollen, their clothes torn and bloodied.
Damian didn’t say anything.
But his eyes started becoming colder and colder by the second.
Then he shifted his gaze toward the group of over twenty Nobles responsible for this – including Leonard, who stood at the front with his hands still casually in his pockets.
Leonard’s face showed no fear. In fact, he even smiled, as though there was nothing Damian could do about any of this.
Damian’s Aura began to radiate outward, thick and oppressive.
His crimson hair moved wildly in the invisible pressure.
Several students in the crowd gasped and stepped back instinctively.
"What the hell..."
"That pressure... is that really coming from a first-year?"
Sensing Damian’s intent, Mara yanked her fist back and glared at him.
"Don’t even think about it." Her voice was sharp, authoritative. "You, being a Disciplinary Committee mber, have no right to attack students who aren’t using Aura."
Damian stared at her for a long mont.
Then–
"Hehe... hehehe... hahaha... HAHAHAHA!"
Under the stupefied looks of everyone present, Damian first chuckled softly. But slowly, that chuckle transford into full-blown laughter that echoed through the entire gymnasium.
"..."
The crowd exchanged confused glances.
"Is he... laughing?"
"What the hell is wrong with him?"
After laughing for several seconds, Damian wiped a tear from his right eye with the back of his hand. Then he ran his fingers through his crimson hair, his grin widening.
"You are a very funny person, dear Mara."
His voice dripped with mockery.
"Just a mont ago, you were about to smash Ronan’s head in while he stood there without using his Aura. And now you have the audacity to preach rules to ?"
Mara’s expression faltered slightly.
Damian’s smile vanished in an instant, replaced by cold fury.
"And looking around at what happened here... do you think I didn’t hear everything before I stopped you? How ’just’ you and your actions are. Well, what did I expect from a brute like you? Clearly, you have no brain in that thick skull of yours."
Gasps rippled through the crowd.
"Did he just–"
"He’s insulting a third-year student!?"
Damian wasn’t done.
"Tell , Mara – whom did you inherit such defective genes from? Looks like I need to stay far away from the Kestrel Noble family. Who knows? I might contract your stupidity just by talking with you lot."
He tilted his head mockingly.
"Wow~ Never in my life have I co across such a dumb bitch."
Silence.
Utter, suffocating silence spread across the entire gymnasium.
Damian hadn’t just insulted Mara.
He’d insulted her entire Noble House.
The crowd was frozen in shock.
"Did he just..."
"He insulted the Kestrel family!?"
"Is he insane!?"
Insulting a Noble House was no small thing. They held their pride to the utmost importance – entire feuds had started over less.
And sure enough, Mara’s face turned ugly.
Her expression twisted with rage as she released her Aura in full force, the pressure slamming down on Damian like a tidal wave.
Many students in the crowd stumbled backward from the sheer intensity.
"Kneel!" Mara snarled.
But Damian just stood there.
Unmoved.
Looking at her like she was unworthy to even speak to him.
Mara’s eyes widened in anger.
"How dare you resist!?"
She solidified her Aura into her fist and threw a full-powered punch directly at Damian’s face.
The air cracked with the force of it.
But just as her fist was about to connect–
Damian pressed the button on his Aura Jamming Bracelet.
BZZT.
Instantly, all the Aura surrounding Mara’s punch dispersed.
Her eyes widened in shock.
Damian caught her fist effortlessly.
Then, before anyone could react, he yanked her forward by the arm, grabbed her by her ponytail with his other hand, and slamd his Aura-infused fist into her face.
BAM!
Blood sprayed.
Mara’s head snapped back violently.
The entire crowd gasped in unison.
"WHAT THE—"
"HE HIT HER!?"
Damian didn’t stop.
He pulled her down to the ground and kept going.
BAM! BAM! BAM!
His fists, glowing faintly with Aura, smashed into her face again and again.
Mara tried to fight back, but without her Aura, she was just a punching bag.
Blood splattered across the gymnasium floor with every strike.
"Damian!" Edrin’s voice cracked as he tried to stand, clutching his ribs. "Boss, that’s enough!"
Damian didn’t hear him.
His crimson eyes were wild, crazed.
BAM! BAM! BAM!
The sound of fist eting flesh echoed through the silent gymnasium like a drumbeat.
Mara had already stopped moving.
She lay there, her face swollen and unrecognizable, blood pooling beneath her head.
But Damian kept going.
"Stop him!"
"Soone stop him before he kills her!"
But no one moved.
The sheer intensity radiating from Damian was paralyzing.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Damian stopped.
He stood up slowly, breathing heavily.
"Phew..." He rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck. "C-rankers sure have tough skin. Even without her Aura activated, it took that many punches."
He casually fixed his crimson hair, which was now disheveled and streaked with blood.
The crowd stared at him in stunned silence.
So looked horrified.
Others looked... awed.
Damian’s gaze – cold and rciless – shifted toward Leonard and his group of Nobles.
Leonard’s face had turned ashen.
His hands, still in his pockets, were trembling.
And when his eyes t Damian’s crazed, bloodstained expression – he knew.
’I’m fucked.’
Damian took a step forward.
The Nobles behind Leonard instinctively stepped back.
"So..." Damian’s voice was calm now, almost casual. But there was a sharp edge to it – like a blade hidden beneath silk. "Did Micheal never warn you idiots? You dare co after my people? You think I’m dead?"
No one answered.
Leonard swallowed hard, his throat dry.
Behind Damian, the injured commoners were staring at him with wide eyes.
Tears stread down Lysa’s face – not from pain, but from sothing else entirely.
Relief and... Gratitude.
"He... he actually ca..." she whispered.
Edrin, still clutching his broken ribs, looked at Damian’s back with a complex expression.
’This madman... I knew following him is the only way.’
Ronan, blood dripping from his mouth, grinned despite the pain.
"That’s our boss..."
One of the injured commoners – a young girl with a swollen eye – reached out weakly toward Damian’s direction.
"Thank you..." she whispered, her voice barely audible.
Another commoner, lying on the ground with a broken arm, clenched his fist.
’Finally... soone stood up for us.’
The crowd of onlookers was still in shock.
"Did he just beat a third-year senseless?"
"She’s a C- rank... and he’s only E rank... Even without her using Aura, he shouldn’t have been able to beat her."
"That’s insane..."
"Wait, isn’t he the top-ranked first-year? Damian Valcor?"
"The one who joined the Student Council?"
"We commoners really have a leader now, it seems."
Whispers spread like wildfire.
But Damian didn’t care about any of it.
His crimson eyes remained locked on Leonard as he started walking towards him.
Leonard’s jaw clenched.
His pride scread at him not to back down.
But his survival instincts were screaming even louder.
Behind him, the other Nobles were pale, their confidence completely shattered.
One of them, a boy with slicked-back hair, muttered under his breath, "What the hell do we do now...?"
Another whispered, "He’s a monster..."
Damian took another step forward.
The air grew heavier.
Leonard’s fists trembled.
’What the fuck do I do!?’
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