Paladin's Path

"Where the hell did that strength come from?" It wasn't only Cole shocked by Corbin's display of strength but almost everyone in the class thought of it.

Corbin had showed himself to be incredibly boisterous, violent and someone that harboured a great amount of anger for some reason.

Theon didn't know what power to expect from a character like that, maybe something fiery. Many theorists in the last few years have brought up the idea that the powers an awakened person gets is directly tied to their soul and personality. So something fiery would express Corbin just fine.

But there was no element in his attack. It just seemed like a great amount of strength used to smash a growing glacier apart. Like a typical strongman.

"Probably controls force or mass in his body or something like that." Jon spoke quietly behind Theon who didn't notice him there.

*Mass.*

Theon began theorizing in his head before he responded to Jon in a quiet voice not wanting to be caught out again and have people stare at him again in bewilderment.

"There's probably a limit on the amount he can use on his body though."

Jon nodded and then pointed out how he's spotted Corbin hit the gym a lot more than any of their other classmates. Theon recorded that information before realizing that he had not been to any of the school's gyms yet.

Theon's eyes went back to the holographic screen wanting to see what was to happen next between the two boys in his class. As usual there was no sound but that was unnecessary for the moment.

'Starting to think that I had the most boring showing today.'

________________

Corbin moved around like a wild bird, like a hummingbird. He was quick but almost every step of his left a small crater. And he destroyed every shard of ice fired at him that he could get a hold of it.

Lugh was evading by skating on ice and occasionally skidding on hard rock when his control faded.

It was funny to Corbin, watching him struggle knowing in the back of his mind that there is no chance of him losing.

"Time's not going to run out before I pummel you shit head!" Corbin shouted out to Lugh as he was gaining in space on him.

Lugh kept his composed face while moving through the city while trying his best to slow Corbin down.

This chase had went on for a good two minutes now and so he decided to get the real fight on.

As Corbin was running he went past a broken and bent lamppost. Corbin grabbed it while using his power and ripped it out of its holding.

He lifted it up and spun once, then twice and then let it go rushing through the icy air crashing past Lugh as he ducked under it and spun to face him as Corbin ran with the wind to meet him face to face.

"Finally stopped running huh?" To the right was a dead-end and to the left was just more broken down pavement which Corbin didn't think too much on if it was caused by him or not.

He didn't waste anymore time on cheap talk, he blitzed forth and threw his first hit of the day... and missed.

Lugh seemed quick on the uptake and after his dodge he threw a strike of his own which connected but seemed to do absolutely no damage. Corbin added mass to the portion of his body he was being struck at, it was sloppy but as long as he used enough Od to cover a large area it didn't matter.

He grinned at the missed opportunity and this time threw a feint that Lugh ducked under allowing Corbin to strike him square in the face. A powerful hit that sent him straight through the ground floor of the apartment complex he was in front of.

"Oh yeah." Corbin was more pumped up than he had ever been, his face actually had on a smile. A smile of enjoyment at beating one of his own classmates but still a mad smile on his face.

He didn't let up though as he rushed in to stamp on Lugh's body only for Lugh to flip backwards and land on his feat to show an already bruised face with blood rushing down his nose.

Corbin took the moment to laugh before saying... "I don't think I got much time to respond the last day but I do remember you saying you'll make me eat through a straw for a week right?" Lugh was breathing heavily but he shown no fear in his face instead there was a trace of anger.

Corbin continued his piece. "Well lets see who's eating through a straw by the end of this."

Lugh ran left past the elevator and up the stairs.

"Again with this?" Corbin shouted in indignation as he followed.

While Lugh ran up the stairs haphazardly Corbin practically skipped to the beat of his own drum while using his power to crush the steps he was walking on.

"Just know it'll be a hard fall."

Lugh finally stopped on a floor before running through a room at the end of the hall with Corbin lazily following behind him.

Corbin could hear what sounded like things breaking while in the apartment. Tearing it apart in search for something, Corbin didn't know what but he quickened his pace and punched straight through the opening that was barricaded with a table stuck to the edges with ice.

He had seen what Corbin was trying to get to as he broke off the taps by the kitchen sink.

"You fuckin dumbass. This is a fake building do you seriously think anything works in here."

Corbin sauntered in the room without taking into account its appearance or anything else that may have seemed fishy. And that was his mistake.

As soon as he stepped in the kitchen Lugh quickly turned around with an ice pick in hand and swung it in his direction intentionally missing and striking upwards at... a ventilation shaft.

Lugh has been throwing around large pieces of ice that have been destroyed by Corbin and many of them left huge dips in temperature around the building they are currently in. With that information as well as basic knowledge on how air storage and flow in ventilation shafts is Lugh decided to break the shaft to give him enough cool air to freeze Corbin in place.

Corbin was smart he knew that and once he seen the shaft break open and felt only the slightest bit of cool pressure he stepped backwards and increased a crazy amount of mass into his left heel, more than he had ever done before and he was already feeling the effects of it.

A large sound was heard as the space between the living area and kitchen was blown to bits as Corbin destroyed the ground they were standing on.

'Ignore the pain for now, there's no fucking way I'm losing to this guy.'

Corbin couldn't look around to observe his surroundings properly as it was dark as he was falling but from the signature around him he knew that Lugh was still close to him.

And it was then he could feel what he was evading.

Ice had started to form around him, his waist, his ankles, and his pit area to above his shoulders until a portion on his back extended to hold him in place as he was falling.

'No!' Corbin was one to rage. He raged a lot and it was something his mum would continue to tell him she hated about him, how he was not a more gentle child. And even back when he was younger, back before he had become awakened when Lugh was still at his school, when Lugh's Dad would come collect his son and Corbin's mum would watch the boy that clung to her son.

***"Why can't you act better maybe like your friend."***

They were never friends, Corbin would make that clear over and over again. And now he just had to do so again, shove the person back in his dark corner and leave him there.

His power burst out rattling the bones in his body but he ignored it and punched forward where he felt a connection.

He heard the smash through a wall and in the next moment a hole in the wall as light was pouring in. As the ice fell off of his form Corbin gripped at the wall and pushed forward to Lugh.

The fall was short and wouldn't damage either of them. Corbin tightened his fist and punched at the same area he had hit Lugh at just before. The crushing blow finally made a sound come out of Lugh who had stayed quiet the entire time.

As they fell to the ground Lugh rolled away before he could get stuck under Corbin and be hit with a barrage of punches. He struggled hard to get up but when he finally did Corbin was right in front of him.

Corbin was going to strike again until he was stopped by the chill voice of Lugh.

"Why..." the voice was broken no doubt from the pain he was feeling now, there were no glasses on his face now and he was left squinting, Corbin didn't care if that were from potential short-sightedness or him being too hurt. "Why'd you push me away back then?"

"Finally want to talk about the past now eh?" Corbin certainly wasn't going to give any reasons to.

"Why push me and Lucas around like that back then?" Corbin stopped for a brief second before taking on a face of guilt and resentment before having a look of complete hate and vitriol on his face. "Why would you treat your own cousin like-"

Lugh didn't get to continue as he was then hit with a devastating chop to the throat, before receiving another fist to the stomach, jaw, knee cap to hold him in position before pulling at his arm and punching at his shoulder until there was a clear resounding pop.

"Don't Ever Mention Him You Bastard!" Corbin's voice was loud, not the same way as it is in class or even when he is off-handily screaming at someone it was so loud he was easily drowning out Lugh's cries for him to stop. Corbin was so lost in his own mind that he never even heard the shouts coming from Mr. Adams or heard or even felt his presence behind him before he knocked him out.

Lugh's body hurt so bad along with his throat which felt like it was scraped by the sharp claws of a cat, it hurt him so much in fact that he past out before the medics on standby could even get to him.

Leaving an extremely pissed off teacher tightly gripping the arms of the boy he had just silently knocked out before bringing out a small brown piece of paper with a rune following the corresponding gothic letter 𐌽 on it.

A suppressant seal was stuck on the head of Corbin Monet restricting his Od while he was then kept secured in a basement of the school's main building.

___________

Incident report: Combat Injuries of Lugh O'Hara

Date: 13/09/2018

Report prepared by Elara Morgan

Position: Head Medic staff at Paladin Program XXX Branch

Facial impact: Sustained powerful blows to the face resulting in severe facial bruising and fractures of the nasal bone. Substantial blunt force trauma. With blood streaming from his nose suggesting significant soft tissue damage contributing to impaired breathing.

Repeated blows caused minor fractures in the facial bones.

Chest impact: Fractured rib and damage to the patients spleen which came as a result of multiple blows irritating previous force.

Throat injury: Tracheal bruising with no fracture.

Stomach and Jaw trauma: Corbin's punches to Lugh left internal abdominal bruising as well as jaw contusion. These injuries further contributed to Lugh's compromised physical state.

Knee cap injury: Strike to the knee cap caused contusion and strained ligaments.

Shoulder dislocation: The critical hit to the shoulder damaged surrounding ligaments.

**Overall Condition.**

The cumulative injuries led to extreme pain throughout the patients body. His throat left dry due to extreme use from the pain. But will make a speedy recovery with the medical staff on board.

XXX

Elara Morgan has seen her fair share of brutality, but she certainly had not expected it from a first year so early on. But this incident had reminded her of and incident similar that happened a couple years ago with the now third year Arian Wyatt who many of her peers as well as the students have called the strongest within the school.

Elara remembers him going through a lot of troubles with family then but not getting any more information as it wasn't relevant to her at the time.

This situation in front of her was much worse. The patient in question Lugh O'Hara is and has been unconscious for the past three hours with an angry Caleb Adams dropping by every hour to check on his state.

Elara was the head doctor at this school and with her special ability she could heal a persons body with no risks to herself like other people naturally do.

"One of the firsts years seems to have a similar ability if I'm right." Elara looked impressed after reader the power of Juno Darby. *Pluto: a clay like substance that can be used to heal people.*

There was more to it of course but Elara understood that people naturally didn't like giving out information on their powers to begin with but she was glad to see there was a student of her capabilities within the first years as the second years had none in their year.

Healing abilities were rare.

"Elara." she was broken out of her thought process by her superior,

"Jun." Elara was still a good thirty years older than the woman she calls boss. But right now she could understand that people were not thinking very highly of her thanks to the training trials that had just led to the severe injuries of a fifteen year old boy.

Elara was one to hold her emotions back, this came with the experience of being a paladin.

"You knew those two boys didn't get along and you still made sure they were pit against each other."

"Yeah you can skip that." That was the problem, Juniper Fay did not care. She was someone that to everyone else seemed so self absorbed and not care in the slightest as long as she gets results. It rubbed many the wrong way but Elara knew that she most definitely cared for the safety of the students... she just showed it in an incredibly harsh way.

"I just got past Caleb and all his damn complaints I don't need any from you." she sighed a deep heavy sigh before looking over the boy and then spoke again. "Even I didn't expect it to go that far."

"What were you expecting then?"

"You know. Usually after some people just fight it out they end up resolving their problems. Of course its not instantaneous or anything but..." Jun thought on it for a moment, thinking on what she saw on display earlier. "That look certainly wasn't in Corbin. He was radiating pure hate and then just went crazy toward the end of his assault"

Elara had watched the footage, that wasn't required but she had always liked knowing what got her patients in the state they ended up in.

"I think him having Greg as team leader will be good."

Elara was shocked by that. She thought for sure that after such a brutal and wicked display their was only one option for the boy.

"You plan on allowing him to stay, no expulsion."

Jun snorted, not in a way that signalled she found anything funny just more so that it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Look I know he's rough around the edges..." Elara gave her a look that she was now stating more than the obvious which brought out another sigh from Jun. "Really rough around the edges, but a talent like his just being out in the streets is dangerous. We can still monitor him and if necessary bring the law down on him instead of let him out on the streets and get himself in more trouble."

"That may be so but if being a paladin is what he seriously wants then the logical thing for him to do would be to start over."

"Kids won't always thing logical." The two of them stopped talking as they heard a slight moan coming from the patient on the hospital bed along with slight movement.

They looked over to see that Lugh wasn't awake but he was in motion, with no bruises on him and all his bones fully healed including his dislocated arm being propped back in place you wouldn't even know he had been injured.

Jun took a step back as she didn't want to be mistakenly heard by the boy.

"Obviously Corbin won't just get away with this. His punishment will be harsh and if he doesn't get his act right, he'll be facing the judicial system."

Straighten up or be thrown into a system where they force you to act right.

"So what is being proposed?" Elara asked, she wanted to be sure of the direction the boys future may be going. Even though he was violent and rude she still didn't want a future ruined despite any earlier claims she may have made.

"First he'll be put on suspension as well as be getting put on the **Red List**." Jun paused for the second time during their conversation but it wasn't a cease for thought. "Then the brat will be with Marc for counselling until he believes he's fit to continue or I say otherwise."

Elara didn't particularly like the latter punishment. She along with everyone else knew Marc came from the Bureau and with little evidence pointing to Theon Abara also coming from there they never really liked the fact that people supposed to be there allies like the BPA could be so sketchy.

She knew that Marc had a licence for such a position but she also knew of his ability and didn't believe for one second Marc wouldn't resort to harsh and sick methods to *Make sure the boy is fit for being a paladin.* Before Elara could ask that herself.

"I'm not allowing Marc to go full psycho or whatever the Bureau usually allow him to do. He'll act as a proper counsellor so don't you worry."

That settled her heart only slightly. Elara knew of the might of the laid back woman in front of her and that most people would simply comply with her after she gave a sound order but in the deepest corners of her heart she couldn't help but worry for the boy she was so ready to condemn and ridicule.

________

"That was brutal." Theon said while hanging around a courtyard area outside of a giant superstore that was on the school's campus. He and Jon had decided to go after class.

"Yeah it was it kind of makes me understand why some people in the class shy away from him now."

Theon was more worried by how long it took Jon to realize something that seemed to simple.

"He certainly didn't hold back." Theon had to agree. "Wonder why he hates him so much?"

Theon shrugged since no answer came to mind that hasn't been theorized by some of his classmates already, but then he remembered one answer that came up by someone surprising, Aaliyah had said it in passing.

"He's just got his head too far up his ass."

Jon knew what he was getting at and laughed as he sat on the bench they had walked upon. As they sat back and enjoyed the orange view painted by the sky Theon thought on something that was starting to bug him since earlier.

"Jon. What would you do if someone hated you that much." Theon was thinking of the constant shaking of Elena from earlier in the room, the anxious look in her eye was mixed with more than a crippling anxiety, it was also filled with pure vitriol. Hidden from those that would take a glance at her and simply think that she's a coward that shouldn't be in the program.

Jon looked up and tilted his head. "Well if it was the old me I think I'd go looking for a fight first and maybe talk it out never." The old him wasn't sounding too promising to Theon but he bit back and let him continue. "But as I am now, I'd want to see if I could mend that the best I can."

Jon kept looking at the sky with a solemn gaze, an honest answer. That's what Theon felt he had gotten from him. A first real look at what Jon is, what he wants.

"I think from a normal persons perspective one could say that I used to be a bad person. maybe I still am." Jon's voice sounded so different from before. Before it had been so snarky and unbothered by everything around him. But now it sounded almost too emotional until it was brought back up to a steady pitch. "But I truly do want to be better."

Theon didn't know what to say, he was just looking at the boy with blood orange orbs staring right back at him in a dazed emotion.

Theon thought on his benefactor in this moment, Victor wasn't someone Theon could say was emotional. No he was strict and rational leaving Theon unprepared for what to do now.

His gut was wrenching and there was a sensation similar to a great force trying to draw his attention elsewhere but he ignored it.

Theon didn't know what to say, but what came out had certainly shocked both him and Jon leaving them both speechless and thankful there were no people passing by them.

"Were you an assassin?"

.

.

.

The silence was deafening, both boys stayed still staring at each other with unusual looks on their faces. Jon not knowing whether to answer and Theon wanting to take back his statement as mere joke but not wanting to open his mouth again in case of another mistake.

Jon looked up to the sky again and his face changed into a smile before a short breath of air escaped his mouth.

"Yeah."