The Author's POV

"To think you would stoop low enough to actually seriously injure a student just because you couldn't accept your loss..." 

"Hmph" 

Under Donna's overbearing pressure, Gilbert firmly stood his ground. No matter what he did, he believed that as long as he didn't kill Kevin he would be fine...and he wasn't wrong. Glancing at the instructors in the stands, Gilbert knew that if had stepped over his bounds they would've all interfered. 

Seeing their lack of action meant one thing...he was still in the clear. Smiling to himself, Gilbert couldn't help but think

'...They don't have the guts to do anything to me!'

Noticing the smirk on Gilbert's face, incensed, Donna shouted out loud 

"Answer me!" 

Glancing at Donna, with a smirk on his face whilst raising his voice he answered

"What is there to answer? I let the emotions get the best of me and I went overboard..." 

Turning around towards the audience, Gilbert bowed down and apologized to everyone. As he spoke, his voice would occasionally tremble, making it seem like he was trying his best to hold his emotions back. 

"I'm sorry you had to see m-e in such a sorry state. When I-I saw Kevin, I was reminded of a friend of mine in the past and lost control of my e-motions...I'm-m sorry"

As soon as Gilbert's words died down, after a couple of seconds of silence, a wave of support from the crowd came crashing down. 

"We understand" 

"...yeah, it was just a mistake" 

"It's not like Kevin died or anything like that!" 

Sitting down on the stands, I shook my head. Although it looked like the crowd was supporting Gilbert, in reality, they were either people from his faction or people looking to curry favor with them.

Some of the people in the crowd were also those that hated Kevin due to how outstanding he was...In the end, no one particularly cared about what happened to Kevin. 

"Bullshit!

Standing in the air, Donna's enraged shout shook the whole place. Pointing at Gilbert, the purple hue around her intensified even more as the area around Gilbert froze 

"khh..." 

"How shameless can you be!" 

Conglomrating mana into her eyes, Donna prepared to use one of her skills against Gilbert, however, right before she could use the skill, multiple instructors shot from the stand and stopped right before her

"Donna stop!" 

"Instructor Donna please calm yourself down" 

"Please don't do this instructor Donna" 

Staring at the instructors before her in disgust, the purple hue around her didn't decrease one bit. In fact, it intensified. 

As her clothes fluttered in the air, with her shining amethyst eyes, she stared at everyone before saying 

"Good, good, good, is this how low our academy has fallen? Only interfering when Gilbert is in danger but not doing anything when he goes berserk like he had done with Kevin a couple of seconds ago?" 

Under Donna's overbearing pressure, the instructors all tried their best to withstand the pressure as they tried to calm her down.

"Yes we saw, but instructor Donna, please look around you...please calm down and let's talk in a more private place" 

Pointing towards the crowd, one of the instructors couldn't help but say 

"What?" 

Frowning, Donna looked around her...and that's where she saw it.

Everyone within the crowd staring at her with a mixture of different emotions displayed on their face...awe, fear, and surprise. All sorts of emotions appeared on the many students below her.  In the stands, some of the students were sweating profoundly as they breathed heavily due to the residual magical power emanating from Donna. 

"Huuuu..."

Taking a deep breath, Donna retrieved her power and glared at Gilbert. 

"...just because I'm withdrawing doesn't mean I'm letting this go" 

Feeling the pressure around them dissipate, some of the instructors couldn't help but sigh in relief as they thanked her

"Thank you, Donna" 

"Thank you"

"Hmph" 

Snorting, Donna took one last look at Gilbert before slowly descending from the air and making her way towards Kevin who was currently being treated by some of the nurses. 

"I guess the show's over..." 

Watching Donna making her way towards Kevin, I stood up and prepared to leave. 

The fight went exactly as I had written. 

It wasn't a bad match per se, but in the end, it wasn't really that entertaining. 

It didn't take a rocket scientist to decipher the reason as to why Gilbert lost.

The reason why he lost was simply because he was too hell-bent on humiliating Kevin thus becoming careless. 

With Kevin using overdrive in the precise moment where Gilbert was most vulnerable, Gilbert, caught off-guard couldn't defend himself and thus resulted in his loss. Typical scenario if I had to say. 

"Oh well..." 

Briefly glancing at Kevin who was currently in a stretcher, tended by multiple nurses, I followed the crowd outside of the arena. 

'I hope to see you soon Kevin...'

...

A red ecliptical sun shone down upon a land engulfed in flames. Screams of terror resounded throughout the air, as buildings continuously crumbled.

-Rumble! 

The surroundings were in absolute mayhem as the flames that burnt everything down seemed to endlessly burn. 

What used to be a regular peaceful day in a small village not so far from Ashton city, transformed into a hellish scene. 

Humongous creatures with enormous wings and devilish smiles stood in the air as they haughtily watched some humans burn down everything below them. The scene below them was the embodiment of desperation.

Running along the crumbling roads and hellish flames, a couple carrying with them a small child desperately looked left and right, in hopes of not catching anyone's attention. 

"Huff...huff...Honey, quick, over here!" 

Turning left of a building, carrying a five-year-old child in his arms, the male beckoned for his wife to follow him. 

Soon after, spotting a small house in the distance, the couple quickly made their way there. 

-Clank! 

Using his foot, the male broke through a wooden door that led to the small house and promptly hid inside of the house. 

Placing the child down, the male put his finger on his mouth and seriously looked at the kid 

"Huff...huff...Make sure you don't make a sound" 

"D-ad, what's going o-" 

"Shhhh, please...just remain quiet here okay?" 

Covering the mouth of the five-year-old child, with tears streaming down the side of her cheeks, the woman softly said 

"Please don't make a sound" 

Seeing how serious his parent's faces were, the kid nodded his little head and remained quiet as he laid in his mother's warm embrace. Like that, for the next five minutes, absolute silence prevailed the surroundings. 

...However, the silence did not last for long. 

-Booom!

Startling everyone, a loud explosion resounded near the house they were in. The windows of the house subsequently shattered due to the after-effects of the shock. 

"Get down!"

Covering both the child and the woman with his body, the male ducked down. 

"khhhh...ahhhh" 

A couple of seconds after the explosion rang, a constant ringing sound rang inside of everyone's ears. Struggling, the back of the male was now dyed in red as blood and glass shards appeared on his back. 

"H-oney" 

Trembling, noticing the situation, the wife couldn't help but cover her mouth. Trying her best to not make a sound, she gently caressed her husband's cheeks as hot tears streamed down her cheeks. 

"It's okay I-" 

Just as the male was about to reassure his wife that he was okay, startling them, was the sound of incoming footsteps. Opening his eyes wide, bearing through the pain in his back, he quickly shoved his wife away as he shouted

"Quickly run! I'll hold him back!" 

"No! Johnathan!" 

With a look of grief on her face, the wife tried to protest, but she was promptly shoved by her husband away. 

"Quick! Go!" 

After hesitating for a second, without looking back, the wife with the child in her hands ran out of the house. 

"kukuku, what have we got here?" 

Soon after the woman and the child left, appearing from the other side of the door, a young man with long blonde hair appeared. 

Glaring at the young man, with a thick red hue around his body, Johnathan screamed as he shouted 

"Die you bastard!" 

...

-Clank! 

Entering another house, the woman looked around for anything to hide and soon spotted a small trapdoor. 

"yes" 

-Clank! 

Opening the trap door, she was soon startled when she noticed that the space beneath the trap door could only fit one small child. 

However, instead of despair, a look of relief appeared on the woman's face.

With a look of determination, she placed the child inside of the small compartment. 

"Get in here.."

Though the child tried to protest as he didn't want to be separated from his mother's warm embrace, shaking her head and placing her finger on her mouth, she softly said 

"Here, hide over here. No matter what you hear, don't make a sound...please. Even if you don't see us, please don't make a single sound...mom will go to daddy now okay?" 

"But mo-" 

Staring at his mother, the child tried to speak, however, placing her hand on her child's mouth she shook her head and pleaded

"Please" 

With streams falling down his cheeks, the child eventually nodded his head. Although he didn't understand what was going on, he had remained quiet the whole time. He wanted to cry so many times...but as he watched the raw emotions in his parent's faces as they ran through the streets, he knew that he could only firmly hold his tears back

Smiling at the young boy, the woman gently caressed his cheek before saying one last heartful goodbye

"Thank you...and I love you"

-Clank!

Soon after, closing the trapdoor, the kid's vision turned dark. Thereafter, a couple of minutes after the trapdoor closed, muffled explosions rang out not so far from where he was. 

This continued for a couple of minutes before stopping. Soon after, deathly silence prevailed in the surroundings. 

Crouching down, the young kid covered both his ears with his hands as tears continuously streamed down his cheeks. 

"Mom-da-d, please come back"

"ahhhhhh...hufff...huff...hufff" 

Abruptly waking up, Kevin heavily gulped for air as he tightly clenched onto the white clothes on his body. Feeling a damp sensation below him, Kevin noticed that the bedsheets of the bed he was on were currently soaked in his sweat.

"Ah...shit"

Covering his eyes, Kevin recalled the faint memories of the time he had lost everything. 

...the day where he lost his parents.

At that time he could only powerlessly watch as his parents sacrificed their lives for him...although he had a hunch that they would never come back to him...he still hoped. As a five-year-old back then, he waited inside of the dark place for hours to no end. He desperately waited for his parents to come back and pick him up...however, sadly, the ones that found him weren't his parents. 

...That feeling.

The feeling he had thought he would never feel again resurfaced as he remembered watching Gilbert's fist heading in his direction. He was totally helpless at that time. If not for someone's timely intervention, he would've seriously been injured. 

"I...need to be stronger!" 

Clenching his fists tightly, Kevin wanted to get stronger. The powerlessness he faced against Gilbert and back then...he didn't want to feel that way ever again!

As Kevin tried his best to calm himself down, he couldn't help but recall a conversation he had a couple of days ago

'Didn't I tell you I wanted to make a deal with you?'

Recalling those words, Kevin took a deep breath. 

"huuuu...." 

After a while, clenching his teeth tightly, Kevin came up with an answer

"Never again do I want to experience this feeling again....never again!"