CHAPTER 58: KEN’S OBSERVATION

The moment Suki hit the ground, the entire hall fell into a heavy, charged silence. Dozens of Class 1 students stared wide-eyed, unable to process what they had just witnessed. Even the Class 2 students exchanged uneasy glances, their earlier confidence shaken by the fact that a restrained first-year had just outmaneuvered two of their own.

Xeno’s face twitched.

Then it twisted entirely.

Rage contorted his features, the calm smirk he usually wore replaced by a look of pure, boiling fury. His jaw clenched hard enough that a vein bulged along the side of his temple. He stepped forward, each footfall loud and deliberate, echoing across the stage as if the ground itself feared him.

He stopped in front of Jelo, so close that Jelo could see the trembling in his hands, the tremor of barely restrained anger.

"So you are strong, are you?" Xeno hissed, his voice trembling with fury. "You beat Liam, you beat Suki, you think that makes you special?" He leaned closer, eyes burning with venom. "You think you can beat everyone?"

Jelo said nothing, chest rising and falling with heavy breaths, his eyes still sharp despite exhaustion gripping every muscle in his body.

Xeno’s lips curled into a cold, cruel smile. "Good. Then your next opponent should be easy."

He snapped his fingers sharply, the sound slicing through the silence like a blade.

Two Class 2 boys at the hall entrance straightened immediately, dragging someone forward from behind the doors. The moment the person came into view, a ripple of confusion spread through the Class 1 crowd, quickly turning into shock.

Atlas.

His arms and legs were tied, wrists bound tightly behind him. His clothes were disheveled, his normally calm expression replaced with exhaustion and frustration. The boys hauled him forward mercilessly, pushing him up the small set of stairs to the stage.

Jelo’s heart seized, the fatigue in his body momentarily forgotten. His eyes widened, breath catching in his throat.

Atlas.

They untied him roughly, ropes falling to the floor in limp coils. Atlas staggered a step forward but regained his footing quickly, lifting his head to look at Jelo with a mix of disbelief and worry.

Xeno placed a hand on Atlas’s shoulder, gripping it with cruel amusement as he turned to address the hall.

"Since you are so powerful, Jelo, your next challenge is simple," he announced, his voice dripping with satisfaction. "You will fight him."

He gestured to Atlas.

"And you will defeat him."

Ken had been watching everything from the moment the Class 2 students forced the first-years into the hall. When he first saw Jelo tied to the pillar, limp and unconscious, something inside him twisted, the instinct to jump in before anything worse could happen.

His hands had curled into fists, and for a moment he genuinely considered standing up, marching to the front, and tearing Jelo free, even if it meant taking on every Class 2 student in the room.

But he didn’t.

Not because he didn’t care, but because he saw something in Jelo’s eyes when he woke up. Something sharp, something cold, something dangerous. The kind of look that didn’t belong to a victim, but to someone who had decided the outcome long before the fight even began.

So Ken stayed put, forcing himself to wait.

The moment Liam stepped forward and Jelo fought back, Ken’s doubts evaporated. Every blow Jelo dodged, every counter he delivered, every shift of his weight and flare of energy told Ken exactly what he needed to know.

Jelo wasn’t trapped.

He was sending a message.

A brutal, public one.

With each Class 2 fighter that fell, Ken’s initial worry transformed into a steady confidence. He leaned back in his seat, exhaling slowly as he watched the stage. If anything, he almost felt sorry for the second-years who kept stepping forward like arrogant sacrifices. They had no idea what they were challenging.

So he didn’t interfere. He didn’t shout. He didn’t move.

Jelo could handle this.

But then Xeno snapped his fingers.

And Atlas, bound, bruised, dragged like a hostage, was brought onto the stage.

Ken’s entire body went cold

He straightened instantly, hands gripping the seat in front of him so tightly the wood creaked. His heart pounded against his ribs, panic flooding him.

He knew exactly what Xeno was planning.

When Xeno announced that Jelo would be fighting Atlas next, Ken felt a tight wave of panic rise in his chest. He didn’t stand or shout or react outwardly, but inside, his nerves jolted awake.

This wasn’t the direction he expected things to go. The earlier fights were already pushing boundaries, yet they still followed a kind of pattern: Class 2 student steps forward, underestimates Jelo, gets beaten. But bringing Atlas in shifted everything, and Ken immediately knew it wasn’t going to be straightforward.

He kept his eyes on the stage, watching Atlas stand there with his wrists freshly untied. Both Jelo and Atlas were rank F, at least on paper. They were supposed to be at the bottom, the ones still trying to figure out their own abilities. But after what he had just witnessed, Ken couldn’t take those rankings seriously anymore.

Jelo didn’t move like an F rank. He didn’t resist like one either. His stamina, his reflexes, his techniques, even the way he adjusted in the middle of battle all pointed toward someone far above the classification he had been given.

Rank E definitely. Maybe even low D.

Ken let that assessment settle while his eyes shifted between Jelo and Atlas. If the two really fought, the outcome was uncertain for reasons that made him uneasy. Jelo, pushed into another fight, could easily overwhelm Atlas without even meaning to.

He was already tired, already running off adrenaline, and spontaneous decisions in that state could lead to someone getting seriously hurt.

But there was also the other possibility. What if Atlas wasn’t as weak as everyone assumed? What if he had something hidden, something he hadn’t shown anyone yet? If both of them unleashed unexpected strength, the fight could turn messy fast.

Ken’s jaw tightened slightly. Another thought crossed his mind, one he didn’t like but couldn’t ignore. Jelo might refuse. He had every reason to. And if he did, that would bring a different set of problems entirely,