Entering the Old Academy Building, and the first trial

Well, here I am. Going to a place I never thought I’d go to, but someone has to save those guys. For the most part I’ll be on my own for this. Eve isn’t here so all I can do is hope the ward stone holds up, will I be able to handle a ghost with my current abilities? Well, I guess that doesn’t matter now. Right now I should focus on-

“SLOW DOWN YOU CREEEEEEEEPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

...I take back what I said before, I’m not going into this alone. With the addition of the very annoying girl on my back, I have one partner for this venture.

“Sorry for the bumpy ride, do try to hold on!”

“YOU SAY THAT NOW! YOU LLUUUUNNAAAATTTTTTTTTIIIIIIIICCCCCCCCCC!!!!!”

I continued to run just like that, with Nina cursing my existence as she rode on my back.

****

“*Huff huff* You bastard! How dare you treat a lady like that!”

“You should be lucky I didn’t charge extra for the fast pass.”

Nina began glaring at me while I thought about our current situation. The current time is 7:35pm, meaning the gang still inside has been stuck in there for nearly an hour. I can’t even begin to fathom the horrors they’ve faced during all that time. For now let’s-Hmmm? Why is that there?

“Nina, I remember you said the door was locked. Was it to this extent?”

“What are you-WHAT THE HELL IS THIS!”

The door to get inside was covered in chains and locked, there were so many on there that it was almost comical.

“These weren’t there before, something is wrong. Was it those ghosts?”

“Yeah, something malevolent is at work here.”

Nina couldn’t perceive it, but I can. The chains were covered in hazy dark mana, like Nina said, those ghosts must be up to something.

“Dammit! Alright I’ll undo those chains, hopefully it doesn’t take-”

“That won’t be necessary.”

“What! How are we supposed to get in then!?!”

I walked up to the door, and readied my fist. You kidnap my classmates and now you’re trying to stop us, you idiot spirits really know how to piss me off!

“GO TO HELL!”

I punch the door in, causing it to come off the hinges and allow us a path of entry. I couldn’t help but notice my increase in power, what’s weirder is that it feels like I’m still getting a bit stronger. I’ll ask Eve about it later, for now let’s- Oh right, I forgot about Nina.

“Hey Nina, prepare to head-Why do you look stupified?”

Nina watched in awe of my punch just now, her mouth hung open to the point where a fly could head in. Upon hearing my voice her jaw snapped shut, she then trembled as she tried formulating words.

“U-Um! Hey Thomas, when did you get so strong?”

“Don’t worry about that, just come on.”

“Yes!”

We made our way inside, I kept looking at my hand and took in just how strong I’ve become. If I keep up at this pace I should be able to-

*Rattle Rattle*

Huh? By the time I looked to my left it was to late, my left arm got tangled in chains and I ended up getting dragged into the gymnasium.

****

“Damn, what the hell is this!”

The chains pulled me into a wall, and began to bind my whole body. Luckily, perhaps due to the mana circulating in me, the chains didn’t hurt me. I looked around, only to be shocked that Nina was nowhere to be seen. Did I get pulled into another dimension? Before I could ponder further, a being in a black tattered robe appeared. The entity was pulling a basketball cart alongside them, after reaching the half court line they stopped moving and opened the cart. I took a moment to look above me, only to realize the hoop was above my head. Dammit, I’m about to be used for target practice. The entity did just that, they took out a ball and took a shot. The shot missed and I got hit in the head, I couldn’t tell because of the hood obstructing their face but I’m pretty sure the bastard was laughing. They kept going and this time they didn’t care about the rules, my body started getting hailed on by balls launched by this robed lunatic. The pain is bearable, but I can’t keep getting wailed on. I got to figure something-

“Why are you sitting there idiot, do something!”

Well there she is, after disappearing for a moment Nina has finally reappeared. Where is she though? I looked around the gym and noticed a girl wearing a cheerleader uniform. It was one of the ones meant for warm weather, with a sleeveless top and a short skirt. In that uniform was a red faced Nina, looking like she could die of embarrassment. I couldn’t help it so I started snickering, this managed to catch her attention.

“Bastard! Don’t you dare laugh at me!”

“How did you end up like that in the first place?”

“When I tried to follow you some weird black smoke got me, next thing I knew I was here dressed like this. What’s worse is that I can’t control my body, I’m being forced to do this stupid cheer routine!”

Luckily my mouth isn’t bound, so no worries there. Still, why would Nina’s uniform get altered to a cheerleader outfit? Does it have something to do with this ghost?

“Nina, do you know anything about this guy?”

“I’m trying to remember the notes I read over when you ran us all the way here! So far none of this is ringing any bells!”

I see,so she’s got nothing. However, there’s a clue in the fact that she's wearing the cheerleader uniform for the old academy. That being the outfit for the purity ponies, with a uniform draped in bright red. The current silver seal academy has a new sports team, the Silver fleece Sheep. Maybe this thing was an athlete back then, In that case there’s no harm in fighting back a little. I began to fight back against the chains. I could feel them losing their strength as they fought against my body, at that moment another ball came flying my way. Finally with the chains losing their strength I broke free and grabbed the ball before it could strike me. I looked at the entity that’s been wailing on me for the past two minutes, I’m going to enjoy this.

“Alright asshole, let’s see what your face looks like!”

I chucked the basketball at the ghost, it managed to hit them right in the head and knocked the robe of their head. Not gonna lie the moment I saw that thing’s face, I wanted to say it looked better with the hood on. The entity was the ghost of a guy missing his right eye, the guy started glaring at me and removed the robe he wore. I wasn’t surprised to see the basketball uniform of the old academy under his robe, his build was bulkier than Bernard’s.

“Wait a minute, it all makes sense now!”

I looked at Nina who realized something. I decided to ask about her discovery.

“What’s up Nina!”

“I know who this guy is, he’s Cheating Champ Marcus!”