Chapter 27: Are You Not Entertained?
Noah looked up just in time to see Ben turn away from him with a sneer, blood still dripping from his clawed fingers. His voice rose, loud and proud.
"Are you all watching?" He shouted to the crowd. "Are you not entertained?"
A small section of the crowd, the Gold and Silver students, cheered, while the others looked on with murmurs of excitement.
"This is the difference between Gold and Stone! This," he pointed at Noah’s bloodied form, "is the reason we’re separated right from the beginning!"
The stands rumbled with low murmurs, students leaning forward, drawn by the theatrics.
"We’re not the same!" Ben barked, his voice carrying easily across the arena. "You all wanted to believe it, didn’t you? That effort could make up for potential. That some nobody from the gutter could rise and challenge us."
He turned in a slow circle, his arms raised as if addressing the entire academy. "Stone-tier trash like him should never dream of standing beside us."
"That’s why they start at the bottom. That’s why they stay at the bottom. This system? This order? It exists for a reason."
Noah clenched his fists, the cuts along his arms throbbing. The pain was there, but so was the heat. It simmered beneath his skin like a boiling kettle about to burst. His breath came heavier, slower.
Ben’s voice grew louder, feeding off the attention.
"They want you to believe in fair chances and rising through ranks. They want you to think you can claw your way to the top with nothing but stubbornness and luck."
"But this," he jabbed his clawed thumb over his shoulder toward Noah, "is what happens when someone weak tries to climb a wall meant to keep them out!"