As soon as they left the first year building, Atticus and Kael met with Ember in the beautiful expansive garden.
They had each made this meeting a routine.
Immediately after lectures, the trio would meet in the garden for a short period of about 30 minutes before each of them would feel the itch of not training for so long and would separate right after.
And during these meetings, most times Kael had always left early, leaving both Atticus and Ember behind.
Atticus had always been the one doing the talking during these meetings, as both Ember and Kael were incredibly silent. Each of them spoke only when they wanted to and when it was needed.
Atticus had gotten used to handling just one of them, but with both of them, it was weird.
And just as expected, today Kael had left first, just like the other times. And after a few minutes of speaking to Ember, she also expressed her desire to leave and go train.
Atticus had sparred with Jared intensely today, so he wasn't quite feeling the itch. But regardless, they both separated after saying their goodbyes.
Then Atticus started heading towards the first year leaders' building.
It was already a few minutes to 5, and the expansive garden was bathed in an enchanting golden glow from the sunlight.
Atticus made his way through the garden, glad that there wasn't any stupid interference that appeared today.
Although there were still some students present, the expansive garden was a bit scanty. Most of the students had already returned to their divisions already.
He got to the intended building in under a minute.
And upon entering the ground floor, Atticus had expected to see the hall completely devoid of people as it was already way past the time the lecture ended.
But instead of meeting an empty hall, Atticus was a little shocked to see a group of black clothed individuals standing on one corner of the hall, each of them backing him.
'Hmm,' Atticus decided to ignore them. He started walking towards the elevator at the opposite end of the hall.
But Atticus's steps couldn't help but pause as the individuals all suddenly turned around and faced him.
It was then that Atticus was able to see their full outfits.
'Masks? Really?' Atticus sighed deeply.
There was no need to think or wonder what was happening; he already instinctively knew what was about to happen.
Annoying as it was, he had no choice but to play along for now.
Atticus kept on walking forward towards the group of individuals who had already started approaching him.
As they got closer, one tall and bulky youth among them gestured to the left and right, and in response, the rest of them started moving in different directions, obviously trying to surround Atticus.
And after a few seconds, Atticus abruptly stopped, his gaze landing on the tall figure of the bulky youth standing in front of him.
'About ten and 5 of them are Advanced+ rank with the rest at Advanced,' Atticus's perception worked at full speed as he swiftly and accurately determined the number and each of the assilant's ranks.
Each individual was draped in entirely black, baggy garments that enveloped every inch of their bodies, including their hair.
The clothing was worn in a manner that obscured any discernible body shape, rendering it challenging to ascertain their true form.
'Putting on masks to cover their faces and wearing identical clothing so I won't be able to identify their figures?'
Atticus didn't need to even think to know that each of these individuals was here for him, were up to no good, and most importantly, very well knew his identity as a tier one.
'They covered themselves up so after accomplishing their tasks, I won't be able to identify them.'
"You must be Atticus," the bulky individual standing directly in front of Atticus suddenly spoke up.
'Definitely a higher year,' apart from the fact that his voice sounded unusually deeper than a 15 year old, Atticus knew for a fact that no first year was in the Advanced+ rank apart from 'him' and Kael.
They were all obviously too stupid to realize that their voices could also give out a lot of information about them.
Seeing that they got no response, just as the bulky youth was about to speak, Atticus's voice suddenly sounded,
"I just want to confirm something so I'll be completely sure. You're here to beat me up, but because I'm a first year and you higher years, you want to bait me into attacking first so you can 'defend' yourselves. Am I missing any other thing?" Atticus inquired.
Each of the youths all surrounding Atticus fell completely silent, neither of them expecting Atticus's words.
Even though they all knew how obvious their get up was, the last thing they were expecting was him being so direct. It was like he read them like an open book.
So what now?
Each one of the individuals turned towards the bulky figure standing in front of Atticus, all of them subtly seeking out their next course of action.
Now that Atticus had blatantly pointed out their intentions, neither of them knew what to do again.
If the prey knew he was about to get baited, would he still fall for it? Only a fool would, that's for sure.
But the leader didn't seem to care that Atticus had figured out their plan.
The tiered were incredibly proud people; there was no way they would sit still while someone insulted them.
The bulky youth raised his voice, his words dripping with contempt, "You white haired monk–" but before he could finish his sentence, he found himself hurtling head first through the air at alarming speed.
"Kwkwmm," he attempted to speak, only to realize with horror that every lower tooth and his jaw had been shattered into pieces.
In that moment, excruciating pain coursed through his body as the youth registered the pain.
