SSS Void Ascension: I Devour All Elements

With no sign of Reginald’s shot, someone checked toward the target. He raised a thumb upwards.

"Dead center."

There was a small perfectly circular hole at the exact center of the target. And the cut was clean. The crowd watching exploded.

"No way!"

"That’s assassin level precision."

"How did he even see that distance?"

The girls watching nearby approached Reginald. "That was amazing. How did you do that?"

"Your precision is insane," another boy said.

Reginald rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "It was just practice," he laughed awkwardly. He started rolling his shoulders, obviously not knowing what to do with girls around him.

Killian looked genuinely impressed. Even his Piercing Scorch wasn’t that accurate, and he wouldn’t have made such a clean cut.

"I practiced with animals, you see." Reginald explained to the girls. "They are more sensitive than humans so I try to make my shots quieter, but still sharp."

That actually made sense to Killian. After all, precision wasn’t talent but repetition. Being able to make thousands of attempts was what greatly differed talent from hard work.

"Okay, we should leave now..." Killian turned to leave, but the boy from earlier stepped in front of him.

"Now your turn." The boy smirked.

"No." Killian frowned. "How many times do I have to tell you?

"Do you think you are better—"

"My element is fire, okay?" Killian interrupted him. He pointed at the seats behind the targets. "I could destroy school property."

The boy laughed. "You’re going with that? You keep talking like you’re some monster. Why do you think you’d destroy anything?"

Killian genuinely didn’t know how to answer that. He had literally destroyed a stage recently and Evelyn said he blew up in the forums because of that and got nicknames.

It’s fair if they didn’t know that, but he didn’t want to cause another stir. The boy yanked his arm aggressively. "You Dragon Dorm people are—"

Before Killian reacted— and he really planned to send the boy flying away from him since he couldn’t keep his hands to himself— he heard a loud sound.

BAM.

Killian’s thoughts came to pass when the boy flew across the air after a gust of wind slammed into his chest.

The other wardens hurried backward several meters. And everyone turned to Reginald, who stood beside Killian.

Reginald had a smile on his face, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes.

"You should relax. If someone says no, forcing them isn’t going to make you cooler." He folded his arms. "Also, you’re glad he didn’t hit you. You would have been burned down to your underwear."

Several girls laughed, and the boy’s face turned red from both anger and embarrassment.

Reginald turned to Killian. "I took your time. Let’s go."

Killian sighed, glancing back once at the target one more time. "If they think Dragon Dorm students aren’t special, why are they so desperate to prove it?"

Reginald opened his mouth, then closed it. "Good question. I don’t even know why I let them get under my skin."

Killian’s eyes remained on the target. Somehow, he could still see residue of mana from Reginald’s last invisible attack. He raised his hand, and a small fire gathered in the middle of his palm.

"This should work without using a skill, right?" He asked himself. He noticed Reginald move away, but didn’t react.

Killian didn’t aim at the target, but traced the path Reginald’s wind had taken moments ago. The fire sped forward, and the lingering traces of wind caught the flames, before slamming on the target.

It was still not clean but it was precise. At least it took out the whole target head entirely. Killian dropped his hand when the crowd gasped.

Reginald stared, then started clapping.

"Your fire followed the oxygen left in my wind. That’s actually insane," he laughed. "You basically manipulated part of the wind element."

Killian looked back at the burnt target thoughtfully.

"I didn’t know I could do that," he admitted. His senses had gotten sharper and his evolution was the only thing that could come to mind.

"Well," Reginald grinned, placing one arm across Killian’s shoulder. "It seems we would make a pretty good team."

Killian couldn’t disagree. The two eventually headed out of the courtyard, oblivious to the awestruck stares they received.

They arrived at the cafeteria areas before the matches began. The place buzzed with noise from students discussing rankings, awakenings, and fights while trays clattered constantly around them.

Killian checked the time and he only had exactly one hour before Evelyn’s match.

While grabbing food, Killian suddenly spotted Theodore seated at the far side of the hall with his gloomy younger brother quietly eating beside him.

The last time he met them, he barely spoke properly. ’Maybe I should at least greet them. We are all from the Olpha Region here.’

"I’ll be back," he told Reginald, before he changed directions and walked toward their table casually.

Theodore noticed him immediately, then looked away.

Killian still walked to them. "Hello," he said.

The younger brother looked up first and quietly returned the greeting. "Hello."

Theodore remained completely silent.

Killian stared at him for a second longer before sighing internally.

"Well," he muttered while stepping away again. "I did say something to him."

Reginald looked between them curiously once Killian returned to the table. "Do you know them?"

"Sort of." Killian sat down with his tray. "We are from the Olpha Region."

Reginald lowered his voice. "That younger one always looks like someone insulted his entire bloodline."

Killian bit down a smile. Ephraim did have that exhausted face.

Reginald glanced back toward Theodore. "But I actually saw the older one acting friendly around the A-Rank students from the other schools. He’s kind of a big deal from your region, isn’t he?"

Killian raised a brow. ’Is he? I just know him as the Director’s son.’ He hummed. "I don’t know him like that."

"Honestly," Reginald continued while leaning back on his seat, "I expected him to end up in the Dragon Dorm too. But he didn’t so I figured his family probably paid people to reduce the attention on him."

That caught Killian’s attention. He knew almost nothing about Theodore and Ephraim apart from their mother and older brother, George.

So it began to bother him that the person telling him all these was someone from another region.

"You weren’t aware of how disconnected you are, were you?"

"He is just a rich guy," Killian ignored the Void’s remark and addressed Reginald. He looked back toward Theodore. "Most people won’t swarm him just because his mother is the director. Or because his older brother is an A-Rank Warden."

Reginald suddenly paused. "His brother is an A-Rank Warden? Damn. He probably got coached well. No wonder he was also one of the top scorers."

Killian froze.

He dragged his eyes from Theodore to Reginald. "Top scorer?"