"That's so cool. I bet he doesn't even use his full strength to fight this monster! Look how he was just handling it with nothing but his hands!"
The person who said this was Francis, and Mark felt some amusement bubble up from his chest as he heard it! Everyone in school knew that Francis was a large supporter of GHOST! If there was even a single person who liked GHOST more than Francis, then no one has seen that person yet! GHOST was the prime definition of what a fanboy was! He watched all of GHOST's videos and he even bought all the merchandise that some illegal retailers made for GHOST!
That is why Mark was a little amused by Francis whenever he and Francis were confronting each other! What would Francis think if he knew that the person he looked up to so much was actually Mark? Francis would probably spit blood in anger before denying it to his last breath!
"Hey, did you also see the previous fight he had!? He doesn't use any skills at all, and I haven't seen him summon any beasts since he started fighting! I think he can only fight using his hand and his superstrength! That just makes it cooler! I wonder what sort of blessing he has that gives him strength like that! If he uses all of his strength, then he'll probably be the physically strongest man in the world!"
Francis said this with a look of excitement on his face as Mark and Arit finally found a place to sit down. The other people that were at Francis' table all started to argue with him about how there were a lot of other Superhumans out there that were far stronger than GHOST, and he shouldn't call GHOST the physically strongest without any proof! No one had ever seen GHOST before, and he wasn't a part of any of the guilds, so there was no way to measure him against some of the other superhuman brawlers!
Mark knew that they were all right. He wasn't even close to the physically strongest in the world. A high-ranking A-class like Yellow Phantom could probably beat him in a physical battle easily! Mark was just a human who was using his superstrength to fight monsters, and he wouldn't have a chance against strong superhumans who still had their blessings.
Oof!
A small grunt came from below Mark, and Mark looked down to see that he had bumped into a girl as she was passing with her tray of food. The girl that he bumped into was Esmeralda and Francis immediately sighed inwardly as Esmeralda frowned and she looked up at him in anger! She didn't pour her food, but she had almost fallen over from the hit just now!
"Can't you look where you're going, you tall oaf! I almost fell over and threw my food away!"
Esmeralda shouted in anger at the much taller Mark, and Mark just smiled kindly and apologized! He actually made a mistake by not noticing her when she was passing because she was just so small and short that he couldn't help it! Even now, the size difference between the two of them is almost laughable! It felt like Esmeralda was a child trying to reprimand her father! Mark had to force himself to keep a straight face as she kept on glaring up at him!
"Hey, what the hell are you doing to Esmeralda!?"
Mark sighed inwardly as the one person he didn't want to get involved with stood up from his seat and started coming towards them! Francis stormed towards them with an intense glare on his face, and Mark just turned around and stared at him in annoyance as Francis came to stand right in front of Mark's face. Mark felt like smacking Francis across the face, but he just settled for glaring at him.
"What the hell do you want? You don't have to involve yourself in every situation just because you see me there. People will start to misunderstand and think you're interested in me in the wrong ways."
Mark said this to Francis, and Francis clicked his tongue as he felt like spitting blood from the disgusting image that was put in his head! Francis was not going to allow Mark to get away from being punished this time! He was already angry because of the whole situation that happened on the road earlier, and now that this happened, he finally found the perfect chance to beat the hell out of Mark!
"So you want to fight me? Do you think you'll survive against me? I've had training right from when I was a kid to take down people three times my size. You think you can take me on just because you go to the gym a few times a week!?"
Francis tried to rile Mark up with these words, and he hoped that Mark would take and bait and agree to fight! Francis' hero was GHOST, and he was a fan of how GHOST managed to handle monsters that were two or three times his size using nothing but his hands. Francis would do the same things to this fool and show him that he is better than him!
Mark could only stare down at Francis with a look of disbelief in his eyes! Francis had no idea what he was getting himself into here! Mark was someone who always held himself back from acting rashly because he knew he could cause serious damage if he didn't control his strength. But sometimes, things like this would make him want to just smack someone without thinking about the consequences! Some people deserved a good beating for doing stupid things without thinking!
"Hey, that's enough! Can't you see you're blocking the road!? Just let it go!"
A voice shouted from beside the two boys, and Mark looked at Arit as she walked up to them with a look of anger on her face. Arit knew that if she left things as they are now, then it would blow out of proportion for no reason. She only wanted to eat and get out of here, and she didn't want any trouble! She glared at Francis as she came close enough before she took Mark's hand and told him to come with her.
Before she could go anywhere though, Francis pushed her away from them and made her stumble back! He raised his hand to try and smack her!
"What do you think you're doing, bitch! This doesn't concern β"
Grab!
"!"
Francis suddenly felt his heart stop as someone grabbed his hand, and he felt his bone creak under the intense pressure that he could feel on his wrist! Francis turned around quickly, took in a shuddering breath, and stepped back when Mark's wide eyes gazed into his own! Mark looked like a killer at that moment!
Mark was completely pissed! Not only did Francis push Arit, but he had the audacity to raise his hand at her!? Who did he think he was!? Mark now understood that he has been too lenient with Francis all this time. It is because Mark has never done anything to punish the fool that he thinks he can raise his hand at Arit and get away with it!
Clench!
"H-Hey! Hey, let go of me already! Let go, dammit! Hey, stop tightening your hand, I said let go, you bastard! That fucking hurts!"