The Mech Lord

"Bang!"

A thunderous noise rang out as Leo and Duke\'s fists crashed into each other. The incident took people by surprise. No one had expected that Duke would make a move.

The impact shook the two and they were forcefully separated from each other.

"Whoosh!\'

Leo\'s feet skidded down the ground as he was pushed back all the way towards the external reinforced walls and crashed into it.

"Clang!"

It was painful, and his steps faltered as he went down onto one of his knees. But, it was still better than his ache in his shoulder.

Leo was feeling a sharp tearing pain in his shoulder. It almost made him scream, but held it in. It seemed that Nora was not joking when she asked him not to use the Battle arm at full capacity and take it lying down.

On the other side, Duke had his eyes wide open as he looked at his feet. There was actually a slight trail of feet being pushed behind. He was actually forced back.

This was basically impossible for someone like Aiden. He shouldn\'t be strong enough to do something like that.

It was true that Duke had held back in that attack but it was still enough to rival the strength of a Lv 10 awake. And, there was no way that Aiden had crossed Lv 10 or achieved it. That would just be absurd.

\'What\'s going on?\' Duke frowned before staring at Leo. He knew that something was up with these guy. Was he trying to hide his strength? But, he was still weak, just what could he even achieve even if his true strength only amounted to this much.

\'Just when will you learn to give up...\' Duke looked at Leo as his face turned unsightly. He had always hated this thing about Aiden from childhood.

Most people around weren\'t aware of what just had happened. All they saw was Leo being sent flying away with a single punch. So, they didn\'t think there was anything odd with it.

Duke walked up to Leo who was still down on his knees as people looked at the two in surprise.

"Are you hiding your strength?" He muttered in a low voice which was audible only to him and Leo.

"Does it look like that?" Leo raised his head and showed him his face which was covered in sweat.

A frown immediately appeared on Duke\'s face, and his expression turned ugly, "Why do you have to struggle so much? Why do you insist on being here this weak?"

He suddenly raised his leg and kicked forward.

"Bang!"

Leo looked at the leg beside his head hitting the wall behind, and then turned to look at the guy.

"You are unsightly….so scram while I am still being nice…"

Leo\'s face turned ugly and a vein popped up on his forehead. This guy sure was behaving like he owned the place.

"It\'s fine if you guys want to give it a go. But, don\'t break the rules here. " Instructor Ethan\'s voice rang and the two turned their heads to see him looking towards them.

"I am sorry, Instructor. I am willing to face any punishment that he wants." Duke responded calmly as he looked at Leo with a smirk on his face.

There were rules everywhere and so was the case in the Academy here. But, the rules were usually lax here as the authorities were trying to create a competitive environment around the campus.

One could see this by the situation right at hand. Duke attacking like that without any prior agreement of a fight between them was considered a violation of rules. But, this was just in name. The authority would not come forward to punish him for such action until the other person in question complained.

And, in most cases, people didn\'t complain.

It was a common saying that these rules were only for people of the other Department and not for the one in Military Programs.

After all, these people were being nurtured to take important positions in the Military. Even the weakest among them would be getting the rank of the captain.

There was no such thing as complaining on the battlefield. This was how they were being taught. You had to face all kinds of situations. So, if one tried to hide themselves behind these rules and regulations to protect themselves, they would be looked down upon.

A weak soldier was still a fine, but spineless one was not.

But, Leo obviously didn\'t understand this.

"Do you want to take any action, Aiden?" The Instructor shifted his gaze from Duke to Aiden. Normally, points were deducted as punishment if someone were to be break rules, but now that Duke had passed the chance to Aiden to choose. It would depend on him.

[This b*stard…nya..] Aiden grinded his teeth in anger. His pride as Noble and son of a hero, wouldn\'t allow him, how could he get back at him using an easy way like this. This would be an embarrassment for him.

And, it was obvious that Duke knew of it as well and hence threw that condition out.

"Sure, if you are really regretting it, I would fulfill your wish." Leo spoked in anger, ignoring Aiden\'s values. It was clear that he had snapped like the time when he had first kicked the nameless guy.

People shouldn\'t mess with quiet and nice guys. These were the people who were the worst when angered.

[What are you doing-nya?]

[We can\'t do this! We are Aristocrats, a military family! We have our pride-nya!]

\'To hell with your pride!!\'

Leo wasn\'t listening in anger.

Duke on the other hand frowned, seeing him reacting in a totally different way from before. But, the people in the stadium just let out a wry smile. They had already seen how Aiden had changed over the past weeks.

He was no more than a thug now who didn\'t care about stuff like pride and their cultural norms. In more fitting words, he didn\'t remember them.

It was weird but people had slowly started to accept it and treat him like a newbie and member of another race in their head. This was not in a discriminatory way but just not be offended by his actions as he clearly wasn\'t aware of what he was doing himself.

"This is fun, I heard he had forgotten everything but to think it was that bad…" Ronnie laughed looking at the scene on the field. When he related the current raging Aiden to the previous calm, collected and cold perfectionist guy, there was a contrast difference. Hell, it didn\'t even seem that the two were the same person.

Serina just shook her head while Rebecca looked at the scene with a frown on her face. She couldn\'t understand what was going on. Earlier she had felt that Aiden was the same guy, but now it felt that he was someone else again.

"He really doesn\'t follow the norms.." Christina looked at Leo with interest. She seemed a bit fascinated with him.

"People have been a bit patient with him if you ask me. But, now that he has messed with Duke. I bet it will begin to happen…" Serina sighed.

One shouldn\'t go against the flow, because there was a chance of getting crushed.

Leo had done the same now.

Only God knew how many students and Instructors were going to be offend after this incident.

…

"You really have fallen so low?" Duke sneered at Leo. He knew that the guy had fallen long ago, but at least he still could sense some pride within him. But, this action of his had sure changed his perspective.

\'Does this guy have some kind of problem with his head?\' Leo asked internally. \'He is the one who sneak attacked me and he dares to say that to my face!\'

[You are a human! You obviously won\'t understand our line of thought-nya!]

[Just don\'t do something to harm him. It would make me look pathetic! People will think that I need to use such methods to get back at him-nya!]

Leo frowned after Aiden put it in that way. And, the break in his thought process helped him to calm down a bit.

He then turned to look at the Professor and asked, "I don\'t want to see his face for the next three days. Is it possible?"

"Sure.." The Instructor casually nodded, and pulled a paper bag from somewhere and with holes in it for eyes and mouth. "Will this do?"

When the people around saw it, there faces twitched.

Leo looked at the paper bag and nodded. But, the moment he did so, he felt an intense surge of hostility from Duke, and he was honestly taken back. He went easy on the guy and yet he was still glaring at him as if he had murdered his father.

The Instructor slowly put the paper bag on Duke\'s face as the guy clenched his fist in anger and his body shook.

The entire place went silent, and Leo could see that people\'s faces had turned ugly.

\'Something feels off..\' He muttered inwardly.

[...]

Even Aiden seemed to have gone silent.

\'What\'s wrong?\'

[What\'s wrong my ass-nya!!] Aiden suddenly shouted in lamentation.

[That thing is put on traitors in the Military before execution-nya!]

Leo\'s eyes immediately widened and he finally realized what was going on.

Ignorance could be bliss for somebody and curse for another.. The saying really seemed true today.