Kenny was horrified. He knew what he should do, what he should do as a loyal friend but he couldn't. The nightmare of John beating their entire school roster singlehandedly all those years ago. Seeing almost the exact same thing happen in front of his eyes was nothing less than fear come to life. Then there was also the knowledge of Alex himself. He knew how strong Alex was. He, of all people, knew. He knew how hard Alex had trained every day to never lose again. The fact that John had destroyed him so brutally, only reinforced in his mind how powerful he was.

John wasn't sure when he came to his senses, all he knew was that he had been in the middle of taking a beating from someone he had done the same to. Someone who wanted revenge. But then he said something. Something that brought all the memories rushing back in a torrent of pain. When he did finally come to his senses, he was still mounted on Alex, hitting him in the face over and over and over. He slowly stopped.

The face of an unconscious and beaten opponent on the dirt only brought back more memories and he clutched his head groaning in pain.

"Uuuuugh." He slowly, numbly, stood up. He sighed, his breath settling over the battlefield like a flag signalling peace. "Healers, both of you, come here and heal him." Elaine was still on her knees, completely terrified and Kenny was reliving perhaps the worst day of his life. Neither of them moved.

"COME HERE NOOOOW!" John suddenly screamed. Both healers flinched and moved forward robotically, pulled forward by an invisible force they would rather run away from. Elaine lifted a trembling hand to John and activated her ability but he swatted her hand away. "Not me. Him." He pointed at Alex with a bloody hand.

Elaine got to work, keeping her head down and focusing on healing Alex. However, the Agwin healer didn't move. "N - No."

Elaine froze. What was wrong with him? Didn't he just see how strong John was?

Kenny mustered up his courage. "I won't let you heal him just so you can fight him again."

John stared at him for a few moments before saying, "I'm not gonna fight him again you idiot but if you don't heal him he might bleed to death before you get to a hospital."

Kenny drew a sharp breath. Alex? Dying? The thought was inconceivable. He activated his ability, summoning orbs of light that floated over to Alex and healed him. Both healers got to work, keeping their heads down.

Elaine was shocked that John had let him off so easily. She was more shocked to discover that Kenny's healing was on par with hers, maybe even better. But those injuries… She suppressed a shudder. Was it even possible for fists to inflict such injuries? Never in all her life had Elaine truly seen a raw fight. After all, low-tiers never fought back and high-tiers stopped once they knew who was stronger. John didn't stop.

Then a golden glow joined them, along with several golden orbs. John had joined them, copying both their healing abilities and healing Alex. "His healing… It's better than mine and the Agwin healer's put together! What rank is he…" Elaine thought. She remembered the first day they met. The disdain she showed him, how she treated him. She cowered even more and hoped he didn't remember. Then the healing slowed down to less than half its pace. She understood instantly without looking that John had stopped and she froze. Did she continue healing or did she stop? Was this some sort of tacit signal to start healing him instead? She didn't dare look up, much less ask him.

"Agwin right?" John asked. Kenny only nodded. Elaine sympathized with him but was glad it was him John was speaking to.

"Get out of here." he said coldly. "Before I really lose it." Kenny grabbed Alex and scampered away with the rest of Agwin without complaint. John turned back to the Wellston students and his cold eyes fixated on Arlo. He walked closer and stopped. For a brief moment Arlo thought he was going to target him and he felt something foreign, something he'd never felt before in his life; fear. However, John just bent down to pick up his headphones, dusted them off, and continued walking past him.

The only person in the Wellston group who wasn't scared stiff at the moment was Seraphina. With an ability level so high, she wasn't as badly affected by John's ability but even she was cautious. To think that this was what he was hiding all along. They followed John back to the train station in uneasy silence.

Waiting until they boarded the train, Seraphina spoke, "So what level are you John?"

He glared at her in response. "None of your business. I won't be using it again anyway."

"What, why?" She asked.

He muttered, "I have a temper problem." John then put on his headphones, sending the clear message that he didn't want to talk. Leaving the rest of them to speculate.

Arlo was stunned by all that he had seen in the past several minutes. He had just seen a cripple, whom he assumed was hiding an ability, suppress an entire field of high-tiers, fight another high-tier - someone who was stronger than him - and thoughts flitted to the fight, how powerful he seemed. Both of them, the king of Agwin and John, who was even stronger. Why would someone so strong hide? There was an order to things, and a high-tier like John should have been in a high place in that order. Yet, he would rather play "Crazy Cripple" instead of doing his job, his duty. It just didn't make sense. He needed answers but John obviously wasn't receptive to questions. He instantly thought of Isen. If anybody could find information on John, it was him.

Seraphina, whose thoughts were already in turmoil were even more chaotic now. Obviously Arlo had planned something but instead of his plans coming into fruition things had gone horribly wrong. Then there was John. At least a few things made sense now, his fearlessness, his fighting abilities, his unwavering stubbornness. He was a high-tier, just like them. In the end, only the strong had the right to act like they did. But why choose to be a cripple? And why was he so against using his own ability?

Remi was taken aback. She had felt sorry for him the moment Arlo's barrier went up. Then came that horrible feeling… Like someone had replaced her blood with ice. Although it was chilling it was bearable. It was nothing compared to what she saw. John had powered up and fought like an animal, showing no mercy to that poor boy. She remembered what he acted like at the restaurant they were at. The way he so viciously and quickly knocked out that girl. Was this what he truly was? Some sort of unfettered beast of violence? Why didn't the others do something about it? No, it was obvious. They were in the same state of fear as she was.

John was barely holding it together. He had quickly turned off any music playing on his headphones but that just made him feel like his skull was being squeezed between each speaker. A dull throbbing in his temples made it seem like something wanted to burst out. His injuries didn't help either. He couldn't breath, his arms, wrists, and knuckles hurt. He still remembered beating his opponent. He swore he wouldn't do that again. He knew it was inevitable but still, he hated doing it. He habitually reached into his pocket for his bottle and shook out a few pills and swallowed them. Then he swallowed the rest and threw the empty bottle to the side.

Regret instantly sank in. Why had he done that. He knew the consequences.

Oh well.

Seraphina walked over to John, determined to get some questions answered. With such a high ability level and without John focusing solely on her, she wasn't as pressured by John as some of the others. Then there was also the confidence that stemmed from a life as a god-tier. Without preamble she walked over to John and asked, "Why are you pretending to be a cripple?" When he didn't respond she pushed his headphones back, causing them to fall and hang around his neck.

She asked the question again and this time John lazily opened his eyes and laughed weakly, "Ha. Doesn't matter." Then he closed his eyes again.

Seraphina frowned, she wasn't going to be ignored. Not this time. She powered up and said calmly, "Answer me John." When he ignored her again she started to use her ability to freeze him, attempting to intimidate him but then she stopped.

Something was wrong. She wasn't sure what it was but her instincts told her something was off. Then she noticed. John's chest was still. A thought smashed into her like the train they were riding: Was it safe to take that many pain pills? She put two fingers over his neck and her fears were confirmed. John's heart wasn't beating.

"C - Call the hospital!" She yelled after she got over her initial shock. The other Wellston students looked over in confusion. "Didn't you hear me?! I said - "

"No..." Seraphina gasped and whipped around to John, who had spoken. "No authorities….Call doc." She quickly took his heart rate again and found to her relief that it wasn't stopped. It was slower. No, it was slowing! Panic set in again and this time the Wellston students were right there with her. Arlo, pale as a sheet took out his phone and made the phone call. Hopefully, they weren't too late.