7 “I am Death.” (Edited)

The spacious hall was silent upon noticing Patrick walking in, the children, from front to back, shockingly stared at the 6'6" tall Patrick as some even distance themselves from his intimidating figure. Even the woman on the podium paused her action as she focused on Patrick in the distance, she couldn't help but express with open mouth and widened eyes. She was the new teacher and this was her first time doing roll call; of course, she had read the profiles of the children in the orphanage, and had seen Patrick's portfolio too. But seeing Patrick in real life left her speechless as he was completely different from the picture in the profile book. His handsomeness even leaving the woman in the dust if compared.

"Isn't that 'master brainiac? How does he look so different? Did he apply makeup on his face or something?!"

"Who knows, maybe he had a facial surgery, he seems even taller too."

"Did you guys hear? They say he was ambushed by William and his boys this evening, that's why they have been laughing all this time."

"Bro, are you blind? Look at him, does he seem like someone who was attacked. And besides, everyone in the orphanage fears him, the only way Williams and his boys can hurt him is by using their Awakened abilities, but they wouldn't dare since that's a capital offense."

"Hey, shush! Before he sets eyes on us!"

A group of sixteen year old boys gossiped as they stared at Patrick. Patrick stood at the entrance as he watched the hundreds of kids and tens of teachers staring at him, he had a calm and unbothered face with his hands in his pockets. Ignoring the group, Patrick unhurriedly walked and stood in the back row, his position not far from William's group, since he was the tallest in the orphanage, he didn't need to stand with his age group, and besides, everybody already knew him.

Williams and his group stared at Patrick with confused eyes as they exchanged glances, Maxwell couldn't help but murmur.

"Is it just me, or does that guy look taller than he was today? He's even taller than William, who is 6'3" tall."

"Huh?! Now that I think about it, you are right, he indeed got taller."

"Ahem! Good evening everyone, I am Miss Spike, your new Mana practice teacher, and I will be conducting the roll call; but first, are there any questions?...

The woman on the podium asked, her voice soft and feminine, she held down her iPad, expecting a question from the children, but contrary to her expectations, the groups remained silent. Miss Spike sighed and raised the iPad, she continued.

"Very well then, We will start with the roll call: please remain quiet as the other teachers conduct the counting."

The woman spoke, even though she didn't use a mic, she was loud enough where everyone could hear her. With the woman finishing her words, the other teachers on standby, began walking among the children as they counted, accounting for all the children. A teacher passed by William's group as he also walked by Patrick, upon passing Patrick, the teacher slightly murmured "Good evening, Boss" and continued counting the other teenagers.

Patrick slightly nodded to the teacher, he was used as to the salutations and reacted a little, as he knew he was theme reason most of the teachers were still working in the orphanage. But then, Patrick heard one of Williams' boys, Thomas, whispered beratingly.

"Hey! You! Didn't you see us? I used to think you were strong since everyone feared you, but it turns out you are just a weak shit with big brains, but now we know you are weak, we will be bullying you till we leave the orphanage-....

But before finishing his words, Thomas watched as Patrick turn in his direction, Patrick's action instantly causing Thomas to halt his sentence. Thomas met eyes with Patrick as he instantly bowed his head, his hands trembled in fear, his face wet with sweat, and his eyes widened in dread, he couldn't help but murmur.

"Who the fuck is that?! Why did I feel such fear from exchanging glances with him? Is that really Patrick?"

The other boys noticed Thomas' silence, Williams had a frowning expression as he stared at Thomas, although instant, he had seen how Thomas retracting his gaze after staring at Patrick, Thomas was clearly intimidated, as he couldn't stop trembling. But suddenly, the boys noticed Patrick standing next to them, Patrick's action causing the four boys to flinch with caution. But before any of the boys could speak, Patrick stared them down like looking at insects and spoke, his masculine voice leaving dread in the boys' hearts, even Williams.

"Bully me? First off, lets get one thing clear, dimwits; you didn't bully me, I allowed it; and do you actually believe your pathetic Awakened skills could scare me? I know over ten forms of Martial Arts and know the very acupuncture where your Mana resides, I could have crippled and killed you a thousand times if I wanted to. But since killing kids goes against my principles, and crippling you was the same as killing you, I let you go. But push your luck and will end up becoming defenseless mortals."

Patrick was like a king warning the peasants, his words full of authority and arrogance. The boys held panicked and sweaty faces as they trembled with fear, even though they were Awakened, they were still inexperienced teenagers, and since Patrick was already mentally matured, his words were like an elder talking down on children.

Seeing the dreadful faces of the kids, Patrick sighed as he spoke.

"It's quite difficult dealing with children, hours ago you were boasting of your powers and kicking me, but now you cower and tremble with fear, pathetic. I am a magnanimous person, so I won't punish you, but for your arrogance and disrespect, you four shall wet the bed every night for the rest of your lives. That should be a reasonable payback."

But then, something caught Patrick's attention as he looked up at the ceiling, he quickly assumed his impassive face and stood upright, completely ignoring the four boys in their terrified and frightened stupors. Despite seeing Patrick falling out of line, none of the teachers interrupted or reprimanded him, on the contrary, they didn't even look in his direction, they were like employees afraid of meeting their boss' gaze. Patrick opened his lips as he spoke.

"There you are, my little test subject."

At another location in the orphanage, at the roof top of the teacher's living quarters, Mark stood in a fighting stance as he faced two black-masked assassins, he had a tranquil expression and breathing, not even indicating he is in a fight. On the opposite end of Mark, the two assassins breathed heavily as they stood their respective stances, one of the assassins had a shocked expression as he asked his comrade.

"I thought he was a D-rank Awakened, how is he holding off against two other D-ranks like us? Was the information incorrect?"

"That doesn't matter now, let's hold him off as long as possible, the others will be here soon, then killing him would as easy as squashing a bug."

The other assassin spoke as he raised his daggers over his head, he then exploded with black energy as he launched at Mark, his comrade flashed from his location as he also launched at Mark.

Mark stood a calm but cautious stance as he watched the two assassins launch at him, the next instant, his body became iron as he also darted at the assassins. Both party clashed as two Mana-coated daggers aimed at Mark's throat, instinctively dodging, Mark caught one of the daggers as he forcefully swung at one of the assassins, but with their fast speeds, the assassin easily evaded the attack, sending a kick to Mark's face after. A clang sound echoed as another dagger struck Mark's face, but it bounced off him since his body was made of iron.

Then, the fast assassin flashed behind Mark as he aimed two crossbows at Mark's head, the arrow edges had thick black energies which seemed extremely powerful, with a trigger-pull, the arrows were fired. Mark noticed the black energy on the arrows as he expressed with widened eyes, he quickly turned around as he raised his arms to black, but to his surprise, Mark watched as the two incoming arrows easily pierced through his arms like a hot knife going through butter. The arrows continued as they also pierced into Mark's chest, but since their momentum was reduced, the arrows were left rooted in Mark's chest.

Mark made a grunt as he quickly distanced himself from the assassins. Seeing Mark's painful reaction, one of the assassins spoke.

"Did you think we would come without preparations? We know everything about you, Mark Willis, from the day you were born to today, the day you will die. Those are the poison cloud energy arrows, specially made by us, they can pierce through anything, even your iron-skinned body. So prepare to die, Mark Willis."

Finished speaking, the fast assassin knelt as the dagger assassin stepped on his shoulder and jumped in the air, he had two daggers in hand as he aimed to impale Mark's skull. But as if realizing something, the assassin expressed with shocked eyes, he saw Mark standing without a single wound, it was as if he wasn't attacked at all, on the contrary, Mark held clenched fists as he stared at the assassin with killing intent.

Then, a punching sound reverberated the scene as one could also hear the breaking sound of bones. Mark heavily punched the assassin's chest and head as he sent the latter flying into the distance, falling on the ground, the assassin spat mouthfuls of blood as he struggled breathing, the next second, his eyes rolled over and became white, he was dead. Seeing his dead comrade, the other assassin burst our with an even deadlier killing aura as he resentfully stared at Mark, Mark held a calm expression as he also stared at the assassin, he then spoke.

"What, you didn't come here expecting to return alive, did you, because you will be disappointed. And just like you, I also came prepared, even if I fought you a thousand times, I would have still won. So how about you stop wasting my time and come die for this old man?"

Mark raised his hands as he made a 'come here' gesture to the assassin, as if that was his last straw, the assassin's eyes became deadlier as he flashed at Mark, his speed fast enough to disappear from Mark's perspective. Then, a series of clangs began resounding on the roof top as the assassin attacked Mark with tens of arrows, the arrows bouncing off Mark's body and falling to the ground, but mixed within the tens of arrows were the black-energy arrows from earlier. Mark only focused on the black-energy arrows as he evaded and redirected them from him. As Mark cleared the arrows, he also studied the assassin's running pattern, suddenly, Mark heavily clapped his palms together, his clap creating a loud metallic noise as the high-pitched frequency caused the assassin to halt his running and hold his ears in pain.

Without hesitation, Mark ran behind the assassin, gripped him from the waist and did a 'WWE' back slam while applying all his iron-body weight, a loud boom resounded as the assassin's neck instantly broke. As is not satisfied, Mark turned and raised the assassin's body in the air, he then gripped the assassin's head mid-fall as he mightily crashed it against his iron-knees, the assassin's head bursting after as blood sprayed all over the scene.

"Two down, let see how many more are there."

Mark spoke as he drank a blue liquid from a small bottle, his arms and knee completely covered in blood, looking like he was the assassin himself.

At the children's quarters, the lead assassin stood on the roof top with an ear piece, he seemed to be on the phone with someone.

"There are too many of them, we can't capture over a hundred children with just the four of us."

-"I understand. Well, they are just kids, and this might draw some attention, but that place is too important to let the government discover it first. Kill everyone and burn down the orphanage, make it seem like an accident, I will handle the media and the officials. And remember, leave no loose ends.-"

"Understood."

The instant the assassin dropped the call, he flinched as if noticing something, he turned around as he saw a figure standing in the distance, the arrived figure was tall and had silver hair. The assassin squinted his eyes as he stared at the silver-haired person, with a cautious expression, he assumed a combative stance as he spoke.

"You are not the security guard, and you are not an Awakened, but I feel intimidated in your presence, so, who are you."

Patrick stood in the distance with hands behind him as he watched the assassin speak, he had an impassive face as he spoke.

"I am death."