Chapter 42 Target Practise Finally, the first-year students had gathered in the assembly hall as asked. There was chatter amongst themselves as there seemed to be no sign of any teachers and only the second-year students. It was easy to tell the difference between years with students, as there was a rank embed on their shirt that told the difference. "Is everyone here?" Momo Asked. "Yes, everyone from Del’s class and the weapon’s combat class should be here." "Let’s start the show then." At that moment Momo pulled a piece of string pulling back the curtains reviling what was behind them. As the curtains were drawn, a badly beaten up Vorden was on display, tied to a large wooden plank. Just then several of the second-year students pulled out carts that seemed to be filled with large black circular stones. Momo picked up one of the round balls and held it in his hand. "This here is a metal ball that had been embedded with the power of a beast crystal." Said Momo, "When the earth had found a way to mix the beast crystal with our own weapons, it was a turning point in the war, but what they don’t teach you as first years, is that beast weapons need to be activated with your ability. Once activated they can give out extra power. The higher the beast crystal used to make the weapon, the higher the power." Quinn watching the whole thing couldn’t help but look at the badly beaten up Vorden. He was wondering how on earth Momo could stand there and talk so casually as if he was giving a presentation to the whole class. "So us second years have decided to give you from the beast weapons class and some of you other first-year students a shortcut. Today we will show you how to activate a beast weapon using these balls." That’s when a first-year student raised his hand to ask a question. "Um excuse me, but does any of the teachers know about this?" For a moment there was silence, even the first years couldn’t believe why someone would ask that in this situation. It was obvious that this was being done behind the teacher’s backs. Then a second-year student had come from the side of the assembly hall and immediately punched the student who asked the question in the face. The second-year student repeatedly punched the person until he eventually passed out. "Are there any more questions?" Momo asked. The first-year students stood there silent in fear. They didn’t want to say anything especially after they had seen what happened to the boy who had just asked a question. "Good." Momo said before continuing, "Now to explain, these beast stones here were made with the purpose to help you activate your equipment so, to be honest, they’re quite useless but they are handy for demonstrating. Just like when you activate your ability in your body, you need to concentrate on the ball in front of you. Think of it as a part of your body and focus your ability on it." The stone ball being held in Momo’s hand suddenly went from a black to a green colour. "Now usually your weapons wouldn’t change colour when activated but as I said earlier these balls are you just for the sake of helping you learn how to activate your weapons. Once the colour has changed that means it has been activated and its strength has increased. Now today we will be practising, target hitting." The second-year students then moved Vorden down from the stage and onto the floor with the other first-year students. "The bored here is special you see, even a bullet wouldn’t be able to penetrate through it, only the power of a beast weapon can, so today’s lesson is to throw the ball and hit the target. Simple right?" "What, is this really allowed?" "Won’t we get into trouble for doing something like this." "What do you mean, the teachers don’t care when we got beat before why would they care about something like this now. The second years are doing this only because they know they can get away with it. They have been here longer than us." Momo started to look at the crowd, when his eyes finally had met with Quinn’s. "Oh, I almost forgot, the crazy boy here has been targeting us second years one by one, thinking we wouldn’t notice. Not only did he not head our warning but he completely ignored it and came after us. We dealt with him in this very hall back then but he still didn’t listen. Now, this is a warning to you all. This is what happens to those who try to disrupt the flow in school." The second years then poured out the crates of black beast stones and they all fell out and rolled onto the ground floor. There were more than enough stones there for each student to throw at least one ball at Vorden. "Now who wants to go first." One of the second students said. "Hurry now if no one want’s to volunteer then I will just have to pick one of you." As expected not a single person had volunteered. The students were cruel to those who were weaker to them but not like this. Usually, it would be a case of just better treatment but it seemed like the second years were targeting Vorden. Whatever Vorden had done, he really had annoyed them. "Alright then, you the girl with the brown hair, you go first." The second-year student said as he put one of the balls in her hand. "I... I can’t," She said. "Really, well if you can’t then why don’t we place you on the bored instead?" The girl’s face suddenly sunk. She was only a level 2 ability user and she had taken her fair share of punishment but this seemed too much and she didn’t want to be on the receiving end of it. The girl then started to look to around her side to see if anyone, a single person would stand up for her, but they all looked away trying to avoid eye contact. "Good, you know what to do now right?" As the girl looked at the ball in her hand she started to concentrate. The ball then started to light up the faintest shade of green possible. "To be expected of only a level 2 user, a weak colour. Oh well, not to worry, if you throw hard enough the ball will still hit its target so don’t worry. Now if you hit the boy on the board, we will give you a perfect score." The female hesitated for a bit as she closed her eyes. "Throw it!" the boy said. Knowing that she could delay it no longer. she threw the ball with all her strength, however, the ball was heavy and managed to just fall short of where Vorden was, not even reaching him. "Get out of here." The boy said and the female quickly left. "Next!" The next student was a male, he had the ability level of 2.5 but when he held the ball it managed to change in colour more activating the beast core’s powers. Unlike the female, the boy didn’t hesitate as much, as he had much time to think about what he needed to do. He threw the ball hard and the ball managed to hit Vorden straight in the stomach. The impact was hard and Vorden, coughed out blood over the floor. "You see that, now that was perfect, that is exactly how everyone should throw the ball." Layla and Quinn had been at the back this whole time watching everything. As they were one of the last ones to enter the room and even though Layla had her grudges against Vorden, she knew this wasn’t right. "Those Bastards, how could they do something like that, Quinn go call Leo, if it’s him he might stop this mess." But as Layla turned around to look at where Quinn was, he was nowhere to be seen. "Pick me! I want to give it a try." Quinn said with a smile. standing at the front of the students. Just what was the crazy boy thinking, Layla was stunned as she watched Quinn.