Chapter 87: Rising
Kurt continued to dash through the bleachers of the school's gym while Hugh chased after him tearing everything in his path into pieces.
"Why are you running little dude!!?? Are you scared!!??" he shouted while picking one of them and throwing it at Kurt as if it was a baseball.
The young prince leaped while spinning around and shredded the object with his metal claw.
"You're scared! Aren't you!!? Just admit it! This power terrifies you! You should give up and accept it already! Become like us!!"
"Do you ever shut up!!??"
Hugh then leaped into the ceiling and began to destroy the roof in order to make it fall apart on top of Kurt.
The boy just started to dance around the falling debris trying his best to avoid getting hit when suddenly Hugh himself dropped from above and made him lose his balance with the impact.
Hugh saw the opportunity and imprisoned Kurt under his gigantic palm against the floor.
"Gaargh!! Godammit!!" the boy cried. That was the second time his back had been smashed against a solid surface. Kurt was really starting to miss his healing flames by that point.
"Say it!!" Hugh roared, "Say that you want this!! Say that you want this power!!"
"Oh, my God! I'm so sick of hearing you talk about this garbage!!" Kurt shouted while raising his claws to open a gaping wound on Hugh's hand while enduring the pain on his back.
Hugh pulled his arm away, freeing Kurt in the process, and began to heal himself up, closing the wound.
"You really are disappointing me, little dude..."
"Oh no, what a nightmare..." Kurt replied sarcastically.
The two were about to engage in battle once again when suddenly a loud scream of pain came out from the pit below the arena.
Hugh and Kurt flinched with shock from the loud noise and locked their gazes into the hole that lead into the dungeon.
In a matter of seconds, a strange figure began to climb out from it while releasing an unnerving chuckling sound.
"What the hell is that now...?" Kurt asked while watching the figure.
It was about as big as a horse, a strange creature covered in black scales with the shape of a salamander. Its body has a series of red stripes as if to indicate that it was some kind of poisonous being.
If it wasn't for the fact that it had one single eye instead of two and two long red horns on its head, it could easily be mistaken for a giant black lizard.
"I did it..." the being laughed. Both Kurt and Hugh recognized its voice, "I did it!! I did it, I did it, I did it!!!!"
Kurt couldn't believe what he was hearing, "That voice... Park??"
"Hahahahaha!! Behold my greatness, you fake dragon!!" Park screamed while pointing at Kurt with his claw, "This is what a real dragon looks like!! Hahahahaha!!"
Even Hugh seemed surprised about this development, "So you really did it, huh?"
"That's right, my lord!! It was all thanks to you!! Just like you said!! I took that fool's life and my body immediately began to change into my true, beautiful form!!"
Kurt's chest began to tighten up, "Took that fool's life?? What are you talking about??"
Park raised the corner of his lips and revealed his fangs at Kurt, "Evans!! I wasted him!!"
"Evans...?"
"Pffft!!! Hahahahaha!! Look at that!! You didn't even know his name!! That guy really was completely worthless!! Hahahahaha!!!"
While Park continued to laugh Hugh tried to clear up Kurt's head, "He's the guy I sent to ambush you on your first day of school... The shaved-head dude."
"Wh- What..." Kurt's eyes began to open themselves up, "Y- You..."
"Oh, grow up, brat!" Park complained, "You didn't even like him. Don't pretend that you care about some piece of trash like him getting thrown out."
It was true that Kurt never liked the boy. He did try to set him up to get attacked by his friends and tortured Dorothy.
But still, was that enough reason to not care about his death? Should Kurt start dancing and laughing like Park right now?
He gave a small glance at the boy in his dragon form, a big smiling grotesque reptile enjoying its new body while celebrating the fact the someone died right after being the one that caused it.
This is what Hugh wanted Kurt to become? This is what it meant to be a dragon?
Kurt clenched his fists and began to glare at them, "You two make me sick..."
"Hihihi!! Someone is mad!" Park mocked again before looking at Hugh, "My lord! Let's just wrap this up! We already proved that we are in the right! The prince looks like he can barely stand for much longer while you still look as big and powerful as ever! I'm sure everyone already knows by no- Guaaaghhh!!"
Park then got interrupted by Hugh smashing him with his massive red claw, almost turning the boy into a pancake.
"My- My lord!!?? What are you-"
"Oh, would you just zip it?" Hugh ordered while glaring at him, "Also, don't try to teleport, or I'll crush you."
"Gugh!!"
"This is your last chance, little dude... Kill Park... Or I will eat your two buddies down below..."
""What!!?"" both Kurt and Park gasped.
"See, this is the thing about trying to be the good guy... Doesn't really matter if you take away my hostages from me, I can always just get more. The whole world is my hostage when you try to care so much about lives..."
"Hugh... You can't be serious..."
"I've been serious ever since the day I meet you!" he responded, "I've been doing nothing but try to help you open your eyes! We live in a cruel world, and the faster you accept these rules, the faster you will start tasting true victory!!
Bad guys will always win over the good guys... Because they cheat! They play dirty! They use everything and everyone at their disposal in order to win! Doesn't matter who gets hurt in the process!
If you want to win, you gotta be one of the bad guys too! So stop trying to be the hero!
Be a dragon!!"
Kurt stood there frozen hearing Hugh's speech. It was the first time he heard the lad sounding so serious compared to his usual playful tone.
Leaving aside whether or not he agreed to his mentality, what should he do about Park? If he didn't kill him, Hugh would go after Nala and Trevor. And even if he didn't, tomorrow he might be going after someone else. Anyone in the school could be his next hostage.
Evans already lost his life because of this whole silly game. Who knows who could be next. Gaby, Sarah, Dorothy. How was Kurt meant to solve this situation?
Just like Hugh said, playing fair wasn't helping out that much. Gaby had to face a two-on-one battle and got out of it with her body almost collapsing. Saramin was also caught in a setup and who knows what would have happened if it wasn't for her second form kicking in.
And Trevor and Nala? The two were still down there and Kurt had no idea if they were safe or not.
On top of that, Park was the cause of so many of these unfortunate events. All because Kurt didn't fit his image of what a 'true dragon' should be like. And he even killed someone.
"So, what will it be, little dude?? This stupid lizard or your two friends? Your call..."
"I..."
"Stooop!!" someone began to scream before Kurt made his decision.
It was Trevor, who had finally emerged from the hole with Nala by his side. Both of them were looking pale and covered in sweat while breathing heavily.
"Please, no... No more deaths, please!!!" Trevor begged.
"Trevor...? What happened??" Kurt asked while coming to his side.
Trevor dropped on the ground while trembling and began to hold onto Kurt's school uniform while covering it with his tears, "Kurt... I... I couldn't save him... He was right there and I let him die!! I was right there and I let someone die again!!!"
Kurt glanced at Nala waiting for some explanation but the girl just looked as bad as her brother, "Trevor! Trevor! Calm down!! It... It's not your fault!"
"Yes, it was!! All because I was weak!! I'm not like you, Gaby, or Sarah!! I can't protect anyone!! I let them all die!!! I let them all die!!"
"Trevor! Please! Who died?? Who are you talking about??"
Hugh began to chuckle while watching the scene, "He means the kids that were offered to us..."
Kurt turned around even more confused while Trevor and Nala twitched.
"Offered...?"
"You saw how Park over here turned into a dragon after killing Evans, right? Well... How do you think I got to be a dragon as well? Or Lars? Or Annie? All the children of the emperor need to face a ceremony to help awaken their dragon forms at an early age!
The royal family must always be strong! No matter when or how!"
This time Kurt was the one turning pale, "So... You three... You all... To children??"
"That's right... And ghost boy sobbing all over the floor over there almost was one of them... But in the end, he was spared, because your mommy, lady Sabiri, wanted someone to watch over you once you entered the dragon school."
"What... My mom is involved??"
"Man, you really are clueless... Did you really never found it strange that this chubby was so obsessed with following you around everywhere and keeping you away from trouble? You were being played, boy! He was hired to hang out with you! And his price was being saved from the ceremony!
He's the boy who lived... While all the others got to die!"
Kurt stared at Trevor and Nala with complete disbelief. Neither of them said anything to deny his words. The two just kept crying while trying their best to avoid looking directly at anyone.
The fact that this whole thing was being broadcasted for everyone to see only made things even worse.
"You see what I mean now, little dude? You only win in life if you play dirty! The boy only survived because he let others die in his place. And you only got a friend because mommy pulled some strings behind your back!
Lies! Deception! Sacrifice! This is the real world! You really want to be the only non-monster in a world filled with monsters? Just give up already and join the club!"
Kurt looked once again at Trevor. He never saw the boy in such a sorry state. So scared, so hurt, so affected by everything around him.
"I'm so sorry, Kurt..."
What was he even apologizing for? For pretending to be his friend? For hiding the truth? For letting those kids die?
Just how much pain was Trevor keeping in this whole time? All this agony that Kurt completely failed to see. All because he was afraid of getting too close to him, afraid he might hurt him.
How could he not realize that someone by his side needed him?
Kurt then bent down on one knee and for the first time in a long time, retracted his metal scales, began to focus, and unleashed his flames in order to heal Trevor's wounds.
"K- Kurt...?" Trevor gasped, "Your flames... They're back!!? How..."
Kurt finished treating him and gave the boy a hug while starting to sob himself, "I'm so sorry for not noticing it... I should have been a better friend!"
Trevor could not believe what he was hearing, "You... You still see me as a friend?? Even after all I did?"
"Of course, silly!!"
Kurt couldn't help but compare Trevor with Hugh.
Hugh claimed that he was trying to help him realize what the real world was like, but he was doing that by harming innocents and causing so much needless pain in the process.
Trevor did what he did because he was being ordered, but in the end, all he did was stay by Kurt's side and be his friend.
One did horrible things with good intentions, while the other did good things with selfish intentions.
But at the end of the day, were selfish intentions enough reason to deny a kind act?
When one comes down to it, all intentions are selfish. Gaby wants to be strong so she can rescue her family, Saramin wants to be strong because she doesn't want to be defeated anymore, his mother hired Trevor because she wanted someone to take care of her son, and Trevor himself, he just wanted to live.
Kurt himself was also pretty selfish. He ran away from home because he was tired of feeling he wasn't needed. Compared to the rest of them, who was him to judge?
Being selfish is not a crime. The only problem is when that selfishness started to cause harm to others. And what harm did Trevor really caused?
"Come to think of it..." Kurt mumbled while wiping his tears, "We never ended up going to that study group... Did we?"
Trevor tried to hold back his cry, "The... The study group?? N- No... We didn't..."
"How about we go tomorrow? All of us?"
"Right... I... I would like that..."
Trevor wondered how Kurt could forgive him so easily. When he first heard about the truth during the emperor's party, the boy felt insulted, disgusted, betrayed. He looked at Trevor as if he was an enemy. But this time? The only thing present in his eyes was sympathy.
The only reason Kurt got so angry with Trevor before was because he never heard his side of the story. Of course if he knew the full truth he would forgive him. That's the kind of person Kurt was, but Trevor was so ashamed and so scared that he kept hesitating on opening up to him
If only he had been honest from the start...
Kurt then looked at the short-haired lass who was watching everything with her palms over her mouth and trying to hold back her weeping, "How about it, Nala? Want to go as well?"
"S- Sure... Let's all go..."
"Great! It's set then!"
Hugh could no longer stand watching that scene and began to roar while picking up Park and throwing him at the bleachers, completely trashing it into pieces and knocking him out cold.
"Idiots!! All of you are complete idiots!!! This world is gonna eat you alive when you least expect it, and when I try to offer a way to survive, you just ignore me!!?? Do you even understand the favor I'm doing for you right now?"
Kurt began to burst into flames, spreading his healing fire over to Nala and Trevor, making all the damage they received from their escape from the dungeon completely vanish. The two brothers finally stopped crying and stood by the side of the prince they swore to protect.
"Sorry, Hugh... But we don't agree with your methods..." Kurt mumbled.
"There are no other options!!"
Kurt exchanged glances with his two allies and conjured his metal claws again before assuming his battle stance, "Then we will create one!!"
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone