The Ghost System - Chapter 41

Sampson’s arrogant grin, the pleased smirks on his friend’s faces, the muffled whispers from the crowd below, every snide remark and sideways glance was boiling up inside Rhys. The new heart inside his chest was beating to an abnormal rhythm. It was contracting and expanding at random intervals, quickening and then slowing down, almost trembling in fury and influencing Rhys.

They were looking at him like he was weak, like he was someone they could easily get the best of. Maybe because he had just woken up from a coma they had convinced themselves that he was not in his best form. Maybe it was his personality that stopped people from respecting him; he was not loud and dominating like Sampson or cold and severe like Connor, he didn’t inspire fear in others the way they did. He thought the other students would get the picture after he killed a guy during the tournament, but it seemed that was not enough.​​

Word of him collapsing during the tournament and being rushed to the infirmary, and then again falling into a coma for days had probably washed away any notoriety that he had earned. He had let these fools forget how scary he was, and now he was going to remind them.

Rhys glanced towards the entrance of the gym. The doors had long since been shut and soldiers in full gear were stationed there. They looked calm as if they had the situation under control, but that wasn’t enough to go by. If the intruder was outside the gymnasium, then whoever it was wouldn’t be able to see Rhys use his power, but if he was inside already… His eyes instinctively darted around the crowd but he only saw the grey and dark green military uniforms. There was no way to be sure.

He wanted to fight. He wanted to give each of them the thrashing of their lifetimes. He wanted to create a scene so bloody that none of the onlookers would ever forget. But then again, he was acutely aware of the erratic rhythm of his heart and the flood of malicious emotions filling his mind, thoughts and feelings that weren’t his own. He was certain that his heart was doing more than beating weirdly. It was influencing him somehow…

He couldn’t let it cloud his judgment. He needed this situation to be over with as soon as possible. He could accept one of the matches and immediately forfeit, but if he learned anything from the tournament he knew that a forfeit counted as a loss and he would be dropped in rank just as the loser of the match would be.

Even if he accepted the match he did not know how many others Sampson had convinced to challenge him. He could be stuck fighting there all day if Sampson arranged numerous other groups of ten. What if his plan was to tire Rhys out so that he would be as weak as possible when Sampson finally decided to challenge him. Not that that would work since Rhys’s new heart would take over if he ever got too tired.

“What’s wrong?” Sampson and his goons snickered. “Scared?”

Murmurs from the crowd below grew in volume. Rhys could feel them looking down on him, their scathing eyes were passing judgement on him and his resistance to fighting.

Rhys stared at Sampson’s gleeful face and had the sudden urge to destroy it. That smile was disgusting, it made him want to break things, people even. His heart thundered in his chest.

“Let’s stop with all this crap…” his words came out much calmer than he actually was.

Rhys gestured to the line of ten students who he knew he could easily tear to shreds. He thought about taking out his anger on them, but he thought of someone better. “There are ten challengers here so I’m obligated to pick one to fight… But why don’t we just have a duel first?”

The crowd stilled. The students were shocked by Rhys’s sudden bravery to challenge Sampson after he looked so reluctant to fight one of the guys of a lower rank. The thought of watching a match between two A rank students sounded much more interesting to them and their excitement collectively increased.

Rhys saw Sampson’s cocky bravado disappear at his suggestion. The whole reason Sampson set up these ten challengers was because he didn’t want to fight Rhys himself, he wanted to test him. He wanted to be able to find a weakness that he could exploit later on.

“They can challenge me afterwards if they’re still feeling up to it…” After all, the best was to kill something was to go after it’s head. Rhys did not have the luxury of wasting time and exposing himself to the intruder. He would just go straight for Sampson and be done with all this mess.

Sampson’s mouth twitched in irritation. He could feel the situation slipping from his control as the crowd below grew more excited to see a match between him and Connor.

Rhys turned to the instructor, he wasn’t actually sure what the rules were for a same-rank duel. The instructor preempted Rhys’s question and explained.

“Before the match, the two parties must agree upon a set of terms that will take place in the event of their loss or victory. I want to remind the both of you that death and torture cannot be terms.”

“Okay then!” Rhys was chipper as he thought of a fitting punishment for Sampson. What would humiliate him? What would teach him a lesson? Rhys smiled when he thought of the perfect term.

“If I win, Sampson has to go to the F rank for the rest of the year.” Sampson was prideful more than anything else, being in the worst rank surrounding by people he deemed as losers everyday would make him furious.

“Wait!” Sampson snapped indignantly. “I haven’t agreed to anything-“.

“What’s wrong? You scared…?” Rhys mimicked Sampson’s words from earlier and watched with a satisfied grin as Sampson’s faced pursed like a prune. His pride would not allow him to turn down Rhys’s challenge, not in front of so many people, not when he had set Rhys up to be challenged in the first place.

Sampson muttered his agreement through gritted teeth, “Fine.”

Rhys loved seeing the sour expressions on Sampson’s friends’ faces. They had tried to use the large student body as a way to pressure Rhys into fighting in front of them, but now Rhys would use it against them.

“I want the same term, you’ll also go down to the F rank if I win. ” Sampson’s forehead creased in frustration, nothing was going as planned.

The students on the platform stood still in a daze for a moment because things had taken a surprising turn, but they quickly realised that they were in the way and rushed down the steps to join the other students below.

“Good luck.” Aria whispered as she passed by Rhys. “Not that you need it.”

“Cripple him.” Connor said loud enough for Sampson to hear.

Rhys laughed, he was planning to do just that, maybe worse. He thought back to the time he chose not to kill Sampson in that alleyway, he didn’t regret that decision, but he knew now that he should have given Sampson a more sever beat down. He should have done something more memorable that would have scarred him for life and lessened that superior attitude.

The root of the problem was that Sampson still thought that Rhys was someone he had a chance against. He didn’t. He never would, ever again.

The instructor stopped towards the edge of the platform and raised his hand up high in the air and held it there for a moment, drawing in everyone’s attention. He suddenly swung his hand downwards and commanded the two boys. “Begin!”

Rhys chuckled darkly as he put his hands into his pockets and slowly stepped towards Sampson. Each step felt too slow, he wanted to be running at the guy, charging at him and ripping his head off, but he restrained himself for tactics sake.

It was already working because he could see Sampson getting nervous. The guy was fighting off the urge to step backwards and avoid Rhys’s advance.

A flicker of a grin flashed on Rhys’s face when Sampson hurriedly reached for his lighter in his pocket.

He chose to fight Sampson for two reasons: firstly, Sampson was the one organising these challenges for Rhys so going after Sampson and beating him directly was the fastest way to get rid of the annoying challenges. Furthermore, if he inflicted enough damage he could warn off the others from challenging him ever again. Secondly, he chose to go after Sampson for the sake of the intruder coming after him.

Sampson’s fire ability, rather the way he used his ability and created huge flame tunnels that could swallow up an entire alley, meant that Rhys’s entire body would be engulfed and hidden from sight within the fire. Any onlookers wouldn’t be able to see his body while he fought Sampson. Sampson’s fire was actually the best chance he had of remaining undetected by the intruder.

Rhys grinned a little wider as the familiar click of the lighter sounded on the large platform. Fire blasted out from the lighter, roaring as it surged forward and engulfed the entire stage.

[Spectral form used +5 Exp]

The instructor dove off the platform at the last minute, just avoiding being burned to a crisp. Some unfortunate individual shrieked as the instructor landed on him.

The crowd surrounding the stage screamed in terror and ducked for their lives as furious flames came too close to them for comfort. Students who had the barrier creation skill quickly put up force fields around themselves, and those with energy abilities used their powers to shield themselves from the fire.

The heat was hellish and singed the eyelashes and eyebrows of those standing too close to the platform. The students ran further back into the gym for safety from the heat, they stood in awe and marvelled at Sampson’s fire. He was far above the level he should have been at his age, a prodigy.

Sampson concentrated with all his might. This was the biggest, hottest, and most powerful flame he had ever been able to make and he was proud as hell, but he wasn’t sure if it was enough to burn Rhys. From watching Connor he knew that Rhys skill wasn’t perfect, if he could get his flames to hot enough he could burn Rhys again.

He had been working on his flame amplification ever since the tournament when he had seen Rhys’s real power. Sure Connor was scary with his electricity, and there were a few other notable people in the A rank, but Sampson only cared about Rhys.

He hated to admit it; he probably would never say it out loud, but he knew that Rhys was stronger than him. And that fact had been driving him crazy ever since Rhys beat him up in that alleyway. He had been training like a demon to try and strengthen himself. The training produced this result.

He needed to catch up to Rhys. He needed to get stronger than him. He needed to train. He needed to have a breakthrough. The humiliation and frustration of being pummelled and led by someone he once threw around for fun was bad enough, but being left alive when he knew Rhys could have easily killed him that day was much worse.

Sampson grunted as pain surged through his head. This was a warning sign that he was pushing his ability too hard. He hadn’t figure out how to steadily and continuously shoot out this great flame but he couldn’t stop now. Not until he knew that his fire could burn Rhys.

He stared straight into his fire, he could barely see anything through the flames but he wouldn’t dare let up. He would only stop when he couldn’t make flames anymore.

The question ‘why’ filled his dizzy head. Why did Rhys not kill him that day? It would have been so easy and Sampson was sure that Rhys hated him… So why did he let him live?

He knew Rhys enough to know that he wasn’t a saint, not some 17th district prissy who preached about love and respect thy neighbour… So why did he act like one that night?

Sampson grunted in pain as his head throbbed and his hands shook. He was loosing control.

He bit down on his lip, using the sharp pain as a way to refocus.

He gritted his teeth thinking about Rhys. The guy liked acting all high and mighty like he was better than anyone else but he was just a screwed up bastard who left his grandfather in District 20 to go to the MCP and get stronger. While Rhys was here fighting him, his grandfather was all alone left to deal with all the gangs and robberies by himself. A new wave of rage coursed through Sampson at the thought of Rhys’s grandfather trying to fend for himself without Rhys.

“Selfish!” He grunted through his pain. His fire roared even louder and the flames burst to an even bigger shape. Sweat dribbled down the sides of his face and it felt like his heart would explode.

He suddenly thought back to his school days, it was primary school before everyone’s parents signed up for life long debt in order to get their kids cores. It was a time before power mattered and kids chose friends based on compatibility and not fear. When Rhys was the happiest little kid in school and had loads of friends, while Sampson was always alone in a corner, watching Rhys from a distance and wishing that he could he like him.