After the assembly, the rondu year students were having their combat skill practice in the school training room. Sharank was there, as he was in rondu year, and Joshua was also present, doing his usual training. Since it was the first day for the alpha year students, they were exploring the school, and some of them happened to be in the training room. Coach George, the training room coach, saw the alpha year students as well as Joshua and thought to himself, "How about I make the first-year students spar with Joshua? He is weak anyway, so the first-year students will beat him. It will be a great confidence booster for them."

  He called Joshua over and said, "How about you have a sparring session with one of the first-year students? It would be great training for all of you."

  "Sure, Coach. I would love to have one," replied Joshua.

  Coach George then called the first-year students and asked which one of them would like to spar with Joshua.

  "I would love to, Coach," said Patil, one of the first-year students.

  "Okay, let’s begin then," said Coach George enthusiastically.

  Joshua and Patil squared off against each other in the battle area of the training room. Joshua threw some fireballs at Patil, but Patil swiftly dodged them.

  "You’re fast, Patil, but can you dodge my fast-paced, quicker fireballs?" Joshua challenged.

  Joshua threw his quicker fireballs at Patil, but they exploded in midair before they could even touch him.

  "That’s weird. These quicker fireballs worked while I was training. Why are they exploding in midair now?" Joshua thought to himself.

  Patil started walking closer to Joshua while he was shooting his fireballs, but they kept exploding in midair before reaching him. Suddenly, Patil stopped, and just as Joshua was getting ready to throw another fireball, a sudden explosion struck Joshua, pushing him to the ground.

  Joshua got back up and wondered, "Where did that explosion come from? I didn’t see Patil launching it at me. It suddenly appeared. If I can’t shoot my fireballs, I will just hit him with my fire punch."

  Joshua’s fist ignited in flames, and he rushed towards Patil to deliver a punch. But before he could get close enough, another explosion struck Joshua, sending him flying back. This explosion was even more powerful than the previous one.

  "You must be wondering where those explosions are coming from," said Patil with a smirk. "That’s my superpower. I can cause explosions at random locations, anywhere within a 15-meter radius from me. The closer the distance, the more powerful the explosion. I calculated the distance between us by exploding your fireballs, and once I had it, I caused a small explosion on you to confuse you."

  "That was foolish of you, Patil, to reveal your secret. Now that I know how your power works, I am going to defeat you," said Joshua.

  Joshua began moving randomly at high speeds, using his fire blasts as thrust. "I can’t focus on his location to cause an explosion. He keeps dodging them due to his nimble movement," Patil muttered in frustration.

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  Seeing the battle, Coach George thought with surprise, "I’ve never seen Joshua move this fast. Has he improved his speed through training? I would have never expected this."

  Joshua rushed towards Patil to deliver a fire punch. Patil tried to counter with an explosion, but Joshua dodged it, got behind Patil, and landed a right hook followed by a left cross and a right uppercut. Patil jumped back to distance himself, but Joshua quickly closed the gap and continued the assault.

  "If I keep this up, I think I can get my first win. But I’ve got to finish this off quickly before I run out of energy. This time, when I punch him, I’ll use my strongest move—the Flamethrower Blast," Joshua thought.

  Patil thought, "I can’t keep taking these punches. I have to take a risk. The next time he hits me, I’m going to cause an explosion at point-blank range. Even if I get hurt, I can’t lose, especially with the girls watching."

  Joshua rushed towards Patil to deliver his most powerful move, while Patil prepared to take the hit and retaliate with a point-blank explosion. But before Joshua could lay his fist on Patil, Coach George trapped both of them in separate force fields.

  Coach George angrily shouted, "What’s wrong with you both? Were you planning to severely injure each other? It was just a sparring match. You didn’t have to go all out, especially you, Joshua. Patil is young, so he might not think straight, but you’re in the senior year. You should have been more careful and mature about this."

  "I’m sorry, Coach. I just got overexcited because I thought I could get my first win. I won’t repeat it again, Coach," Joshua replied.

  "Anyway, you’ve improved, Joshua. I didn’t think you would. Keep it up, man," said Coach George.

  Joshua replied with a smile and a thanks. Patil came toward Joshua and said, "That was a very good sparring match. Sorry if I went overboard, but you’re pretty strong, Joshua."

  "Thanks, man. You’re really strong too. I had a lot of fun," said Joshua enthusiastically

  Seeing Joshua being praised and smiling made Sharank very angry. He furiously marched towards Joshua and told him to meet him at the school grounds, and Joshua agreed.

  After school, Joshua went to the school grounds and saw Sharank waiting for him there.

  "Hi, Sharank. How was school today?" Joshua said, waving his hand.

  "Shut up with the small talk. I didn’t call you here for a chit-chat. I want you to realize that you are useless and hopeless because you were born weak. Don’t get your hopes up just because George and some sloppy alpha year student praised you," replied Sharank.

  Joshua calmly said, "Sharank, I know I am useless."

  Sharank angrily interrupted, "Then why do you stay at the school? Why do you look so happy all the time? You should be disappointed because you’re a waste of space."

  "Sharank, despite being weak, I train because it’s the right thing to do. Being the best or being the worst doesn’t matter to me. What matters is doing the right thing, and that is training so that I can help innocent people, even if I’m weak," Joshua replied.

  Sharank, enraged, shouted, "That’s enough. I will show you what true power is. Come on, let’s fight."

  Sharank turned his body into fire and said, "I will show you that I am better than you at using fire powers."

  Sharank threw fire blasts at Joshua. Joshua tried to dodge them, but they were too fast, and he was sent flying back, landing face-first on the ground. Despite the pain caused by the fire blast, Joshua tried to get up.

  Sharank said angrily, "Stay down. Why do you keep trying? You were born weak. You have no hope in this dog-eat-dog world."

  Joshua got up and said, "Sorry, but I won’t give up, because that is the right thing to do."

  Sharank, now engulfed in rage, shot a huge fire blast, bigger than the previous one, causing Joshua to be pushed to the ground again. But Joshua still got up despite the severe pain.

  "That’s it," said Sharank, and he turned his body into nuclear energy, preparing to shoot a nuclear blast at Joshua. But before the attack could reach Joshua, he fainted from the damage caused by the previous fire blasts.