The crowd remained silent as they listened to the instructor's announcement. None of them could process the level of brutality Bill had resorted to this time, but it didn't matter to Bill, who was enjoying the satisfaction welling up inside him.
"I was controlling my strength so that this trash could suffer more, but I guess he's even weaker and pathetic than I thought." Bill boasted as he looked at Mako's badly beaten body without a hint of remorse.
Bill still held the Earth bat in his hands, so he thought he would give a final bow so that Mako would remember this moment for the rest of his life; however, the instructor noticed Bill's intention and crushed the earth bat with his bare hands before he could do anything.
"Bill Johnson, stand down, or we will reduce your merit points. This is your last warning!" the instructor threatened.
Merit points... This was the punishment that the instructor could muster up against Bill, even after all he had done to Mako. This was the corrupt and unfair system that Mako had grown up in, where people with power and money got away with anything they wanted.
****************
Impressed by the instructor's strength, Bill chose to leave the gymnasium, accompanied by a group of students who trailed behind him like devoted followers.
The instructor carried Mako's barely conscious body over to the nurse's office.
Mako couldn't understand much of what was going on as he was fading in and out of consciousness, but he did hear the nurse say that since he was on an educational scholarship that didn't include any healing pills, she would have to charge his student card for the use of a healing pill which she quicklty administered along with morphine to help with the pain.
Mako was in a lot of pain, but as soon as the morphine kicked in, he was finally able to relax and immediately fell asleep from exhaustion.
*************
{Inside Mako's Dream}
A young version of Mako was walking back home while wearing a school uniform, or at least what was left of it. His pockets were ripped out, there wasn't a single button left on his shirt, and tears were pouring down his face. His body was badly beaten with bruises and a purple eye.
This was Mako when he was still in middle school, where there was also no shortage of bullies who loved to abuse their brand-new powers.
Mako walked as fast as he could back to his house, but at that time, someone was waiting for him at the door.
"Oh, my dear boy! What have they done to you?!" Mako's grandmother shouted with worry as she embraced Mako, who couldn't hold back his tears anymore.
Mako continued to complain, yet his grandmother lovingly embraced him, stroking his head and kissing his forehead. After a while, Mako began to calm down, and she led him inside.
She gave Mako a healing pill from her medical cupboard and told Mako to take a nice hot shower, and while he did that, she set up the table for lunch.
After Mako came out of the bathroom in fresh, new clothes, his grandmother bandaged all of his wounds, which needed a day or two to heal.
Finally, Mako could be seen happy as he was munching down a feast that his grandmother had made for him as if nothing had occurred and it was a regular day.
Mako would later, after his grandmother died, find out that she also had a rare ability. His grandmother had the Love ability, which allowed her to produce certain hormones and chemicals that soothed a person's brain and relieved their pain.
The hospital's autopsy included every detail about the person. Under the ability box, it was bolded to read:
Patient's Abilities: Love Ability (Level Unidentifiable).
His grandmother couldn't do anything about the pain and suffering that Mako went through almost every day as she wasn't financially stable enough to buy Mako his own Ability Book, but the least she could do was soothe his pain and still teach him the lessons that would stick with him for life.
She always had a saying that Mako could never forget,
"Always remember, Mako, I named you this because I know one day you will become a great man with strength and wisdom, but always remember... "
***************
"Gran-Gran?" Mako suddenly voiced out as his eyes were still closed but slowly starting to open.
He wasn't even able to finish his dream before his body started waking up and pulling him back to reality.
After nearly two hours, Mako finally woke up, his head pounding and his vision blurred. As he slowly regained awareness, he realized he was bandaged in several areas and lying on one of the patient beds in the nurse's office.
"Took your damn time, mister!" a sharp voice called out from a few feet away.
Mako groaned, gripping his head tightly. "Huh… what?"
"I said, took your damn time waking up!" the nurse snapped. "I've been stuck here waiting for you just so I could discharge you and finally go home. The school closed fifteen minutes ago, and I need to get back before my boys finish their martial arts lesson. So GET UP, AND GET OUT!"
This was just the reality of Mako's life. He had expected nothing less, so without a word, he pushed himself up from the bed and made his way to the door.
The healing pill had already started working despite his injuries, and he could at least walk, albeit with a limp, as he left the nurse's office behind.
Everyone was so obsessed with power, status, and money that remorse and empathy seemed to have become alien concepts to most people.
Mako was still quite injured and in pain, but he was now strong enough to walk. Not wanting to piss off anyone else that might still be around like that old watchman near the school gate, he quickly got his things from his locker and silently made his way out of the school.
By 4:30 pm, the sun had dipped low enough to bring a coolness to the air, yet it still illuminated the surroundings quite well.
Small kids could be seen kicking a ball on the side of the street as Mako slowly walked by them.
Mako remembered playing with his grandmother all day when she was still alive and had some strength. This memory, plus his dream in the nurses' office, was enough for Mako to tear up again, but he stopped before making a fool of himself in public.
"I love you too, Gran-Gran, and I will never let you down. You can count on that," Mako said to himself before resuming his walk back home.
He couldn't run home since his injuries still hurt, and even worse, he now had to pay back the school for using one of their healing pills.
Clenching his teeth in anger, Mako stopped near an ATM and inserted his card to see how much he was charged for a healing pill.
{1x Medium Tier Medical Healing Pill}
{-800 Credits}
The singular healing pill made a massive dent in Mako's savings, and Mako had no choice; the amount was automatically deducted from his account.
He never wanted to duel Bill or be beaten to a pulp, but he had no choice in the matter. Now, he was forced to pay the school for injuries caused by their flawed system.
Mako was very careful with his savings, as he wanted to save enough before enrolling in military school. So, seeing such a large amount deducted for a simple healing pill hurt him a lot.
With nothing he could have done, Mako swallowed his anger and continued slowly making his way back home.
****************
[9:00 pm]
*BEEP!* *BEEP!* *BEEP!*
Mako snoozed the fifth alarm while still in half-sleep mode.
He had struggled greatly to reach home given his condition, but as soon as he did, he bolted straight to his bedroom and immediately went to bed as he was completely exhausted from his night-time job, school, and, of course, the beating he took in the combat class.
After another twenty minutes, he finally woke up and decided to freshen up a bit.
During his sleep, the healing pill worked effectively, mending many of his injuries. As a medium-tier pill, it provided a faster healing rate than a low-tier one. However, because the pill was still only medium-tier, not all injuries were fully healed yet, particularly the piercing wounds on his back.
Mako removed the majority of his bandages and cleaned his body, which was still caked with dust and dried blood from the duel.
He was worried that he wouldn't be able to finish his school assignments today. He got home so late that all of his free time was consumed by sleep, and he had to leave for work at the bakery again at around 10:30 p.m.
Usually, Mako would be home at about 2 p.m., and he would sleep for about 6 hours before waking up, completing his assignments, eating dinner, and making his way to Sir Derek's Bakery by 11 p.m.
As Mako finished washing his face, he looked up to see his still-messed-up face in the mirror's reflection. All he could feel was anger and disappointment within him because this wasn't the only time that events such as today's duel had occurred. In fact, they were quite common, but never to this degree.
Bill's disgusting insults and the crowd's cheers echoed in his mind. Mako's thoughts raced with strategies to counter Bill, noticing numerous flaws in his opponent's fighting style. However, these were just ideas, as despite Bill's clumsy approach, Mako lacked the strength to capitalize on those weaknesses.
Mako kept repeating Bill's words to himself over and over, and in the end, he agreed with them because, in reality, even though they were harsh, they were true.
"You're a failure!" "Trash!" "Pathetic!" "Loser!" "Weak!" "Waste of space!"...
Anger started to well up inside him once again as he kept staring at his face in the mirror.
*GLASS SHATTERING*
In an attempt to vent his frustrations, Mako punched the mirror with all his might.
"AHHHH!" Mako screamed in pain from the glass shards cutting his hand all over, even though it was his fault.
"Stupid...stupid...stupid!" Mako cursed at himself as he tried to carefully remove the shards of glass from his hand and stop the bleeding.
******************
After somehow managing to remove the glass shards and poorly wrapping his hand with the used bandages he had just taken off, Mako looked back up to where he had punched the mirror.
"Huh...?" Mako said as he noticed that there was something behind the mirror.
"What's that?"
**************************
Author's Note: Hey guys! Universal Power System is one of my favorite projects, and I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I have enjoyed writing it. This is my very first work, so expect some amateur writing and a few slips. However, I always try to learn and correct myself so I can create a more coherent narrative. I hope you guys enjoy it. Don't forget to check out my other works!
Come say hi to me on Discord: https://discord.gg/TvjkrdnbE2