The five students were definitely not here to have a casual conversation with Lucas and his sister, and Keir could tell they were a part of The Loaners group. Four out of the five seemed to be average in size and power, however, one of them stood out from the rest. He was huge, probably around 6'5 in height, short messy hair, and a body that was absolutely huge. He seemed to be leading this small group of thugs.
He was currently holding Lucas above the ground by his shirt collar and speaking, his voice low and intense. "Boss doesn't like it when he has to repeat himself. You and your sister have debt to pay, remember? And yet, you still don't have those credits he asked for." The large boy got even closer to the trembling Lucas as he had more to say, "What if I just broke every little bone in your fragile body, huh? Bet no one in your family can pay for those hospital fees." Lucas was shaking, all the color in his face gone and paled.
However, the large boy felt soft punches and kicks on his legs, but it was inflicting no damage whatsoever, "Let go of my brother, you damn bastard!" The girl shouted while hitting the boy, but it was obvious that she wasn't physically strong, and it made him chuckle, but Lucas was scared for his sister's safety. They were outnumbered and overpowered.
"Tasha, stop!"
The scene seemed amusing to the large boy and he obviously wasn't feeling anything from her strikes, "Guess it runs in the family, hm? Both of you are terribly weak." Tasha suddenly raised her hands and the air around her seemed to pick up. In that moment, a swirling ball of green energy came out as a quick blast, cutting the boy's cheek ever-so-slightly.
The large boy paused and wiped the blood from the small cut with his finger, growing unamused and angry. He raised Lucas into the air and slammed him harshly into the ground, causing a loud bang to ring through the field. Other students noticed, but decided to simply watch and record from a distance, this school was a hell hole. Lucas groaned and could feel his body aching even more as he was already beaten up from earlier, so that slam made the pain increase by a small margin.
Meanwhile, the boy was clearly angry after Tasha's little wind ability stunt, "You bitch! How dare you graze my face?!" He raised his fist into a long charged punch, not caring that the girl was half his size and towered her in power. The punch wasn't extremely fast, due to his size, but it caught Tasha off guard enough to make her freeze, and all she did was raise her arms in fear.
However, just when his fist was about to come in contact with her, a figure appeared and blocked the punch for Tasha. The pair went flying about ten meters away, but the cloaked figure landed on his feet and caught Tasha, who was shocked. "W-who are you?", she asked, and Lucas could vaguely see who saved his sister from being crushed by the large boy.
"K-Ke-" The cloaked figure raised his hand and signaled for Lucas to be quiet. He was confused for a second, but understood that Keir wanted his identity to be kept away from the group in front of them, so he shut his mouth and just nodded.
A few minutes prior
[Quest Alert: The Loaners!]
[Progress]
Note: If you defeat the main boss, the quest is automatically completed
[Rewards]
<200 Credits, Two random item drops>
Keir sighed in disbelief at his new task. The system really did generate quests depending on his situation. But this one just seemed impossible. Regardless of the difficulty, he still needed to rush in and help the two as fast as he could. "Oh! This might be the perfect time to use my new items!" Keir opened the system up once more, and it guided him to a mechanic he hasn't used so far. The Inventory system. When opening the Inventory, Keir could see that it was holding his two new pieces of gear.
[Worn Gauntlets Equipped]
[Tattered Cloak Equipped]
Once that was done, Keir could see the two pieces of armor manifesting onto his body. The gauntlets were as basic as the system had stated, but they fitted his fists and hands perfectly, not hindering his movement much at all. The cloak appeared shortly after and it was long enough to cover his torso, all the way down to his thighs, and it also had a long hood that he could use to cover his face.
"Brush aside the fear and hesitation, Keir." He muttered, "You'll never get stronger if you dodge every challenge…"
ThePresent
Keir gently placed Tasha to the side and looked down at his arms he blocked the incoming with in shock. He felt a stinging pain in his bone after blocking that punch. The guy's speed was slow but held more power than he expected.
[80/100 HP]
"That did more damage than I expected…" He muttered before looking back up and gesturing for Tasha to get back, he didn't want to be distracted while fighting.
"Well, well, well. What a surprise." The large boy took a few steps forwards, followed by the four other students who were with him. "You actually managed to block one of my punches, how cute. Seems like you're stronger than these two." He mocked, earning a few laughs and snickers from the others, a few even mocking the groaning Lucas, who was still attempting to get up. Tasha ran over to Lucas and helped him up onto his feet. He was already beaten up and out for the count, for good now.
"You sure are cocky for someone who swings at the speed of a sloth." Keir said while dusting off his cloak. "Pfft! You must not know who I am." The boy chuckled and put on a nonchalant facade, but anyone with enough brain cells could tell he was growing Irritated. "Let me humor garbage like you! I'm Leon Juicero! My ability allows me to strengthen my body and make myself extremely durable. Even if you land your attacks on me, I doubt they'll do any damage." Leon pounded his fists together, obviously feeling extremely confident in his abilities.
Keir attempted to appear unfazed, but it was all too sudden for him. This cocky guy had a rare ability, one that could essentially negate close-ranged mele attacks, so what was he supposed to do? That was all he had right now. Keir took a deep breath and kept his stance firmly placed on the ground, there was no way he would give in to that old fear again, not with the system.
Leon raised his hand and pointed his finger at Keir, "Enough with the talking. Get him!" On his command, the four other students rushed at him, unleashing their abilities. Keir was right to assume that they were average compared to Leon, because they all had the basic ability of Earth manipulation.
The first two stomped the ground in unison and formed two dirt walls, which both came flying in Keir's direction. He was almost overwhelmed with their numbers but managed to dodge the two incoming walls of dirt before dashing away, thinking of a way to fight back as he didn't have an ability to back him up.
"I can't find an opening!" Keir ran across the field and was pursued by the four students. However, the bunch of fighters noticed a sudden shift in the wind and went tumbling into the ground. Standing next to Keir was Tasha, who had used her wind ability to knock the attacks off course. Despite her small frame, she seemed to have more spunk than her brother.
"I might not be able to fight them head on, but I can help by using my ability." Keir was surprised, but also grateful for having a bit of help as Lucas was just too scared to do anything, so her determination was helpful. He nodded approvingly before rushing back into battle, followed by Tasha and her wind abilities, now he could finally strike back with some help.
Tasha unleashed a few bursts of wind to knock one of the students off balance, and Keir followed it up by kicking them right in the face, knocking them unconscious. He was surprised to see them go down in one blow, but that just proved that the slight increase in his strength stat was more than he thought.
But before long, Keir's ears perked up as the sounds of an earth wall forming pierced his ears. Instinctively, he turned to his right and swung out his fist, destroying the dirt wall with one strike from his gauntlets and increased strength. The attacker was somewhat surprised and attempted to send another dirt wall at him, but Keir found it predictable and dodged with no problem, feeling as if the cloak he was wearing was making him lighter and faster.
He dashed at the attacker and raised his fist in a punching motion, and they took the bait and raised their arms in preparation for it. However, Keir stopped himself mid-motion and swung his foot up, kicking them right into the chin, the force of the impact sending the receiver flying a few meters back and out cold onto the ground. Keir thought he was getting the hang of it, his skills were just sloppy due to the lack of combat experience.
"Dammit! You idiot's are losing against one guy who isn't even using any obvious abilities!" Leon suddenly growled in slight anger, suddenly pushing the remaining two student's aside and stepping forwards himself, the air shifting and growing tense. "Looks like I underestimated this guy again…It's like I have to do everything myself!"