Chapter 15 - 15: Roll It To Win It

Harvey can't help but grit his teeth as he took a glance towards Van from time to time.

"Come one, man", he whispered as he glanced at the kneeling Van.

Harvey was about to turn his head forward, but then he noticed a ball of fire heading towards him.

"!!!", his eyes widened in shock as he quickly dodged to the side. It was a good thing that he was glancing behind, if he wasn't, then the ball of fire would surely hit his back.

"What the hell, man!?", he shouted as he looked at the student who threw the ball of fire at him, "Don't you care about the rules!?"

"Rules?", the student smirked, "What rules? No one said we can't attack each other!"

"What?", Harvey furrowed his eyebrows. And as soon as he said that, he heard a loud explosion on his right side.

"What the…", Hervey's eyes widened as he saw what was happening around him. Students attacking one another, blocking each other's paths.

And it just so happened to be that someone else was blocking his path as well. Harvey could not help but slightly reveal his teeth as veins started appearing on his arms.

"Haha!", he laughed crazily as he slammed his arms towards the chest of the students that was blocking his path, heavily slamming him to the ground in the process. "You want war!?", he shouted, "I will give you war! Taste my Planet Buster Omega Arms!"

And so, Harvey rammed every poor soul that blocked his path to the ground.

Beatrice could not help slightly chuckle as she saw Harvey looking like a boar as he knocked down the other students.

She still had a huge lead on the race, she had already passed the halfway point and there was only like a 4th of the field left. Sweat was already forming on her face as she could feel her SP slowly draining to the minimum.

She once again glanced at Van. And as she saw him kneeling on the ground, she could not help but feel sorry for him.

"...I will help you as soon as I finish the race", she whispered. But right now, the goal was already only a few meters away from her.

She was almost there.

'Only a few more!', she howled in her mind.

"Fu--!"

But then, she heard a weird passing sound suddenly coming from beside her. It was then followed by a golden spark that made her blink.

And to her shock, she saw someone rolling in front of her like a ragdoll. A ragdoll rolling straight to the finish line.

"Wha… Van?"

***

A few seconds ago,

"Let's f*cking go"

Van let out a deep breath as he pushed himself from the ground and started running.

"!!!"

Everything was a blur. And the only thing that he could see for sure was that the goal was definitely closer than it was before… by a huge difference.

And with the goal and finish line getting closer, so was the wall.

"F*ck!"

Van started to panic as he instinctively activated [Time Perception]. He definitely did not want to look like a splattered bug from hitting the wall, he thought.

And just like that, everything seemed normal.

He felt like he was running at a normal pace. The only thing different was that everything else beside him was slow.

He then looked at Beatrice, who was now beside him. Beatrice's eyes were slowly turning towards him, but before it could even reach halfway at looking at him, Van was already only a meter away from the finish line.

Van immediately slowed down and canceled his [Time Perception] skill. And with the thought of him wanting to stop running, the wings on the side of his feet instantly disappeared.

The sudden change of momentum made Van violently trip on the field, rolling his way until he passed the finish line.

Van looked at the ceiling in front of him as soon as he stopped rolling. His breath was heavy, but the smile on his face could not be hidden.

"Van!?"

"Ah! Beatrice, did you see that!? I won!"

Hearing Van's words, Beatrice's eyes quickly looked to the side as her lips pressed together. But after a few seconds, the disappointment on her face vanished as she looked at Van with a smile,

"Congratulations", she said. Her eyes then suddenly widened when she realized something.

"V...van", she gulped," Your arm!?"

"...What?", Van slowly turned his eyes towards where Beatrice was pointing to, only to see his arm twisted in a weird way.

"...Oh"

***

Sarah, who was watching on the sides, could not help but stand up once again as her eyes slightly trembled while looking at Van.

Her breathing slowly became heavy as she took a gulp.

'...Now I know how', she thought. She was not sure about it, but she now has an idea of how Van's father died. If his power really was what she thinks it is, then that would explain how the insides of his father's skull turned into mush-- it convulsed, most probably shaken by Van.

She once again sat down and placed her hand on her chin. It was decided. She would put all of her resources into observing Van. It has been a long time since she got as excited as this.

Could it actually be possible that…

"He is… one of them?", she muttered as she let out a deep sigh.

***

"Van bro!? What in hades' name was that!?"

Harvey immediately rushed towards Van as soon as he finished the race, not even caring about his position, "You were faster than a centaur!"

"...I don't think a centaur is even close", Beatrice could not help but sigh as she shook her head.

"What was that though!?", Harvey continued to raise his voice as he got near Van, "What kind of System do you-- What the hell is wrong with your arm!?"

Seeing Van's arms twisted in a weird way, Harvey slightly stepped back as he winced.

"It must have twisted when I rolled on the ground", Van chuckled, "It is fine, this pain is nothing much", Van said as he smiled.

"Move! Move!"

Harvey was suddenly pushed to the side as a woman in white robes ran towards Van and kneeled in front of him.

"Try to relax", the woman said in a soft voice as she pointed her palms towards Van's broken arm.

Her arms then glowed in green as Van felt a warm soothing feeling on his arm.

And in just a few seconds, his arm was back to normal.

"As expected of the academy!", Harvey could not help but gasp in awe, "It almost healed instantly!"

The female healer, however, blinked numerous times as she stared at Van's arm.

'This…

...It healed too fast'