"This...is pretty hard to endure.."
Gravel stared at the hard wall in front of him
Cough! Cough!
A mouthful of blood was coughed up in the deathly silent room, he leaned on the wall, breath turning ragged and labored every dragging second that felt like a needle piercing his skull
Detention, that was the place he was in currently, and this place was special in many ways, one was that it prevents death, no one could willingly take their own life in detention. It was essentially a law, a law that prevented one's escape of punishment
Gravel did not know much about detention and how it prevented death or what exact consequences they entail, but now he knew firsthand how painful it was
"I can't believe it...I thought I would just get a slap on the wrist, but instead I got slapped in the face with a salmon, followed up by a truck"
It was a reasonable assumption, after all how could someone make detention really deadly?
But he was wrong, completely wrong at that
"Ha Ha"
Blood trickled from his mouth
He thought back to the reason he was here
"Accursed filthy monster"
Gravel had been tricked by a monster, a colorless one at that, the ones who only have mental-altering kind of abilities that do not physically affect the world, allowing for unrestrained and maximum use of ability with no repercussions tied, though the punishment they get in detention gets tricky
Other times they would turn mad, or experience enhanced nightmares that are realistic to the dot
"It did everything to make me not notice...Cough!"
A mouthful of blood forced its way out of Gravel's mouth
It wasn't like Gravel knew much of Gardenia, however he did know that the colorless monsters were the weakest as said by the teachers he asked
Who were extremely happy to help, calling him some sort of 'genius' and doing all sorts of things to kiss his ass
"That guy sensed my attacks, it must be that sensory or whatever it is"
The monster that had tricked Gravel was likely sensory oriented, while it could change depending on circumstances, a price would always be taken from the colorless when they try to affect the physical world, and the price could be haggled by using an item or a famous bloodline equipment by going to the 'Mercator', for some reason however, the swirling colorless mass did not have any item
"I guess the colorless do have red blood then?"
Gravel didn't really find any other colorless monster except for the one he found since they were quite rare, of course just because they were didn't mean they were strong
They are capable of dodging attacks that shouldn't have been dodgeable unless they had eyes on the back of their head, but other than that, they weren't capable of holding any firepower on their own, with the exception of one singular monster that is
"That thing was genuinely terrifying in every damn aspect"
To the point that it forced a strategic emergency retreat
'But that guy right now.. what did it just do?'
Gravel turned his attention to the wall where the loud banging sounds were heard not long ago
It had been 5 days since him and the colmo (Gravel coined it by combining 'colorless' + 'monster') were sent to detention
"It obviously got punished as well, but what was that bastard's punishment that made it act like this?"
The monster in the room next to Gravel repeatedly banged on the wall, till it abruptly stopped
"No, was it really the wall?"
The banging sounds that were heard were close to the window
"Did it try to break the window?"
Gravel hadn't thought of that, after all, why would you want to break the window? what would you do after breaking the window? there was only an endless void below so what would compel one to break the window?
'It stopped banging on the window... does that mean it gave up on trying to break the glass?'
He didn't know what had conspired on the other side and he didn't feel the need to find out, even if he wanted to find out he wouldn't be able to since there was no way for him to know anyway, there weren't really any CCTV cameras to take advantage of here and use
"Haaah why do they make me wait for that long just because I was killing a monster? Wasn't I basically doing them a favor by getting rid of those pests?"
Gravel had a strong ability, and that ability was the power of short-range teleportation, he could do long range but it was quite difficult to pull off even for him
He was also strong, so physically strong that he was basically a superhuman, this was also due to the effects of his abilities
It took a long time for him to get accustomed to his abilities but it wasn't much of a problem once he learned his limits and how to accurately use his ability to teleport with pinpoint accuracy
Cough!
Gravel coughed up even more blood than before and fell down to his knees
"Hah...hooo"
He exhaled and then took deep breaths
"Kugh!"
His lungs burned with a profound intensity
This burning sensation Gravel felt extended to every fiber in his body, it was a unique sensation, well it wasn't like many people get burned on a daily basis
"How..Cough! Annoying...."
It felt painful but as long Gravel didn't move much he wouldn't feel the searing pain that seeped itself into every crevice of his body
"Out of..every punishment I could've gotten...Ha...I got the worst..one possible for me"
All of his strength was drained and he was barely staying conscious, the burning sensation he felt now was nothing compared when he first got here
At first he was able to sleep soundly with no problem, but the pain quickly intensified and made sleeping unbearable
The pain was stacking and Gravel could no longer stay awake and bear with this searing pain he felt in every pore of his body, he knew he wouldn't die, but being left on the edge of death still felt unbearable
Tok
He laid softly on the ground, laying his body gently down and closing his tired eyes, trying his best in the meantime to bear with the pain shooting needles at him, however his efforts ended in vain
With pain becoming even more sharper than before, it also dug deeper into Gravel's mind, making sure he doesn't forget the pain he feels now
***
"Ugh..."
Gravel woke up, he got up and-
"Agh!"
He felt a piercing pain shoot up and surge wildly within him, it was intense, It felt like hot coal was poured on him
Struggling to get up, he grasped the desk next to him and balanced himself before sitting on the chair
"I-I need a slight break"
Gravel did not know how many days had passed since he fell asleep, his eyes remained unfocused, threatening to fall unconscious once again
The monster on the other side was still quiet, eerily quiet so
"Hua...just what the hell is it doing?"
He thought at first that it might have already gotten out but he quickly dismissed the idea since there was no way to confirm if that was true or not
Gravel looked at the hard wall for a few moments, then he turned his attention towards the lectern
"..."
On that lectern was a piece of paper, it kept track of how long someone stayed in detention
The paper was deeply embedded into the lectern, making it hard to see it unless you specifically go up to it
'However, those who break the 3rd rule can not check the time, after all it is a more severe punishment'
Gravel remembered the words that Carlos had spoken to him
'Hm? the 4th rule? if someone breaks the 4th rule, the least of their worries should be detention'
Carlos had given him a lot of useful information, so much so it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say Gravel's brain overloaded with the sheer information drilled into him
"Hooo"
Taking a deep breath, Gravel started counting from 3
'Three'
His fingers drummed on the desk, he still felt the pain but it was a habit of his to do this
'Two'
Gripping the edges of the desk he got ready to sprint to the lectern to minimize the pain he was about to feel
'One'
He raised his buttocks slightly from the seat, a burning sensation enveloped his entire being immediately, he clenched his jaw tightly, so tightly he started grinding his own teeth together
'Go!'
He shot up from his seat and bolted to the lectern, he couldn't teleport due to abilities being restricted in this space, but sprinting before the pain got to him was possible
"Nnn!"
Gravel's eyes widened in pain, he screeched, barely holding his scream in
Gripping the desk closest to him, he started to slow down and make his way to the lectern
Step
He took a step forward, his entire body screamed and convulsed erratically at the pain he felt
Drip
'Blood..?'
From his mouth a drop of blood fell to the floor, it didn't seem significant at first but-
"Urgh!"
Gravel clenched his stomach, it rumbled and churned as if something was eating it from inside, vomit welled up in his mouth
"Ug!"
Gravel leaned forward and started vomiting everything that was inside of him
But it wasn't vomit that came out
"O-Oh that's not goo-Cough!"
He violently coughed up blood...again, the blood was added to the giant puddle of blood that was vomited out
Gravel felt dizzy, his vision swirled, his breathing turned heavy, but that was only for a few moments
"Hup!"
Knowing he wouldn't die in detention, Gravel stood up and-
Step!
Took a step forward toward the lectern
There wasn't any reason for him to be doing this, but Gravel knew that not knowing how much time remained would keep on gnawing at him and eventually turn him crazy
It was better to check now than later when the pain would only be more unbearable than before
Step!
He was only a few steps from reaching the lectern, his shoes were soaked in his blood
Cough!
He begun to cough up small drops of blood again, Gravel almost fell face down to the wooden floor due to the sudden cough
His head spun and his lungs grew heavier and heavier with each passing second that passed
Gravel couldn't drag this anymore, he had to reach the lectern In the next step, however he was currently disoriented, weak and already drained of strength
'Just how long did I fall asleep for, the pain is getting more and more unbearable by the second'
Taking a deep breath that made his lungs burn with even more intensity
"Huap-!"
Gravel took a leap of faith, In a instant his legs had already crossed the lectern, he didn't miss the opportunity and grabbed the lectern firmly with his hands
Coughing up blood again like he was donating it, Gravel steadied his breathing as much as he could and his bloodshot eyes locked at the blood soaked paper that was caused by him
Almost the entire paper was stained with blood, but the most important contents of the deeply embedded paper still remained untouched and readable
[Time Remaining]
Gravel's eyes then widened in astonishment
[00:03]
Three seconds were all that remained
[00:02]
"I fell into a coma for"
[00:01]
"An entire month?"
Even he couldn't believe it, falling unconscious he could understand happening to him, but falling into a coma for a entire month?
Apparently, there should of been a teacher who should have forcibly woken him up or done something else, in order to avoid something like skipping the entire sentence by falling into a coma
"There's no way they were lazy and forgot? Right?"
Obviously Gravel's punishment was still permanent. It would always be engraved into him like a curse, which was bad for him, since it significantly weakens him and his power
But Gravel already knew that this curse was going to function slightly differently from how it worked in detention
He didn't know how, as anyone who gets sent to detention gets a punishment fitting for their ability
[00:00]
'I guess I'll find out'
Gravel then disappeared, as if he had never even been in the classroom in the first place
The room turned quiet, the quiet bloody and wrecked classroom created by rage was left all alone, only silence seeped into the floorboards
Tick
The only thing that accompanied the lonely classroom, was a soft rhythmic ticking coming from a clock
The clock ticked and toked closer and closer to the inevitable day, biting the crumbs of time that remained