Koul moved to step toward the boy that was still reeling from shock on the floor.

One side of his face was bruised severely.

His lips were torn and blood was leaking.

Before he could recover, Koul wanted to teach him more lessons. But his friends, some of the other male students, stepped out.

They gathered Koul in a circle, ready to start a fight.

"Hey, just what do you think you're doing?!" One of them questioned angrily.

Their faces were tight and twisted in rage.

"Just because a lowlife like you was blessed with the opportunity to study with us, you now think yourself among us? How dare you raise your filthy hands on him?!"

Koul's gaze tilted slightly at the boy who just spoke. His face silently questioned what the hell they were yapping about.

Because to him, their words sounded nothing more than nonsense.

Quietly, he reached behind his back and pulled out a dagger from beneath his cloth.

Without hesitation, he hurled it straight at the boy who spewed nonsense.

Gasps of shock echoed through the classroom, even from the boy Koul threw the dagger at.

They didn't realize he'd taken things serious enough to use a weapon.

The boy, however, wasn't a mere student without combat skills. He'd trained adequately enough before coming to the academy.

So he dodged.

But the exact moment he moved to dodge, Koul took that as his chance. He launched forward with speed and—

POW!

He threw a resounding kick that sent the boy tumbling through seats.

The impact connected directly to the side of his neck and sent him crashing through the desks toward Hera at the front.

But he didn't fully reach before his body stopped and slumped to the ground. The blow was so severe that he lost consciousness.

Hera pushed herself against a corner, quivering. She knew as the teacher, she had to step in and break the commotion.

But she was scared. She'd never seen Koul this angry and his brutality paralyzed her in place.

She didn't know if at the moment, Koul would even listen to her.

From the corners of his eyes, Koul sighted a female student rushing for the door. He knew she was going to report the matter on ground to get other professors.

So before the girl could reach, he took out another dagger from beneath his cloth and sent it her way.

The dagger narrowly sliced through the air near the girl's face and buried into the soft part of the door.

The girl flinched in despair and staggered back. She turned her head slowly toward Koul and met his cold eyes.

"Do not even dare," he said.

His tone was harsh, and his eyes gleamed with a seriousness the girl didn't dare go against.

"Shut the door."

The command was stern.

With shaky hands, the girl properly shut the door.

Koul turned back to the boys, eyes zeroed on the one on the floor.

"Yes? What were you saying? That Hera is old?"

Everyone was shocked that Koul mentioned Hera's name so casually. Though they didn't really think much of it and thought it was because of the situation.

But Marie knew better.

"I'm pretty sure your mother is older, what should we call her then? A wrinkly hag?"

The shock and gasps were deafening. For someone they considered a commoner to insult a noble woman was something they never knew they'd see, and that too, at this prestigious academy.

They couldn't understand where Koul got his fearlessness from and why he was so angry over the situation.

But Koul's senses had already been overridden with rage. If they were going to go so low to shame and insult his Hera, he'd sink deeper than they could ever reach.

"And I'm pretty certain some of you have someone the same age as Hera, but do they look nearly as good as her?"

Koul raised his foot and pressed down on the boy's thigh.

The boy groaned and squinted, wincing in pain.

"What exactly gave you the idea that you could insult Hera? She is old, you say? Is it because your moron of a father only beds young children that your senses are now warped on the young and old?"

I mean, yeah Hera is mature but which woman likes hearing they're old?

Plus, they not only mocked her age but insulted her dignity.

Koul added more pressure to his foot, mindless whether he'd end up crushing the boy's thigh.

He leaned over, grabbed the boy roughly by his hair and jacked him up.

"Is it the courtesy of your family? For the women of your house to date more than one man. Is that why you grouped Hera in with them?"

"L-let go!" The boy grabbed Koul's hand and fought to yank it off his hair.

But Koul's grip was strong.

His thrashing about and struggle to get free severely annoyed Koul. It irritated him that rather than beg and acknowledge his mistakes, he was putting up a fight.

Koul's eyes burned with a searing heat that even those close could sense.

"Stop thrashing about and remain still!"

THWACK!!!

The boy's head came crashing into a desk the next moment which left everyone wide eyed.

Koul had mercilessly slammed him face first into the hard desk.

His face burst with pain, and his features broke with blood trailing down. His body went limp instantly.

Before Koul could do anything further, a student grabbed his hand and pulled Koul to face him.

"Hey stop it already! If we all activate our abilities and decide to attack you, do you think you could get out of it?"

The student's brows were wrinkled and drawn tight together as he glared at Koul. His grip was locked tight around Koul's wrist.

"You went as far as insulting his family which should already be a punishable offense, and now you've done this."

Koul freed the unconscious boy from his grasp and his body slumped to the floor with a low thud.

Then he raised his gaze to look at the boy, a small smile plastered across his face.

"Hmm? Who said that insult was for only him and his family? I meant to refer to all of you though," he smiled calmly.

But although he appeared calm on the surface, the storm of rage within him was boiling.

Hearing this, the boy's face twisted more in anger, wrinkled beyond mere expression.

But Koul didn't give him a chance to speak or act. He continued.

"Insulting your families should already be a punishable offense, you say, but what about the insults at Hera?" He questioned.

"Why? Is it because she's a commoner? So you deem it fit to insult her? And you see me as a low life so it's a punishable offense to talk back at you nobles? Heh! Hypocrites."

Koul chuckled briefly but ceased the next moment.

"You said if you all activate your abilities, I cannot handle you all. But what are you waiting for? Get on with it."

As soon as he said that, he called to Shado.

Shado wasn't just a mere shadow. He could be used as all sorts of weapons and many more things.

Because shadow is full of many capabilities, and could take any form, Koul had learned to integrate Shado into his own body.

That is, he had learned to weave some parts of Shado into his own body, rather than just have him dwell there, thereby sharing Shado's strength and senses at will.

As he called to Shado in his mind, Shado knew right away what to do.

Without emerging, Shado transformed one of his arms into long, tiny wriggling strings within Koul's body. Then he proceeded to weave them into the muscles in Koul's arm the student was gripping.

Koul's arm bulged and tensed in response as Shado's strength merged with his.

Instantly, he twisted his arm to free it from the student's grip. Then he took a hold of the boy's arm in return, twisted it painfully to the point of breaking.

And slammed it down onto the hard desk.

AARRGHH!!

A loud scream tore from the boy's throat. He crouched to a squat and held his hand in agony.

His eyes were red and tears were seeping from it.

His wrist appeared severely swollen, red with the bone poking out. Seeing this sight, the boy broke out in sheer panic.

"I don't know, I'm really mad right now. But maybe a sincere apology from you all to Hera might quell a bit of my rage."

Koul's head was thrown back, his hair falling over his face with sharp, irritated eyes.

He was frustrated as well as enraged.

The other students recoiled quietly, putting distance between themselves and Koul, while the boy Koul almost broke his hand was still reeling from the pain, which further irritated Koul.

He leaned forward to hover over the boy.

"I did say an apology might do good to ease a little of my anger, did I not? Why do you keep crying instead of doing the actual thing?"

Koul reached out his hand to grab the boy but a piercing voice interrupted him from behind.

He turned to see who it was.

It was Lanice, a young girl with short ginger hair.

Amid the commotion, she had remained calm since the beginning and merely watched. She didn't seem to mind whatever was going on but now, she thought Koul was doing too much.

She rose from her seat and approached Koul with slow steps and a calm face.

"This should be enough now," she said.

Koul's eyes narrowed with annoyance, irked by her daring intervention.

Noting the displeasure on Koul's face, she extended her hand and a sword materialized on it.

"But if you want to keep this going, then I'll be glad to humor you," she said.

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