I was heading towards the canteen located on the sub-zero level. Rahul accompanied me.

"You know, being assigned the corner seat, I was worried I might end up lonely with no one to talk to. Most of the students avoided any conversation and were busy studying while the friendly ones had already formed groups. The thought of being a loner during one of the most exuberant phases of my life, alone was enough to agitate me down to my core. Now that you are here, I finally have a friend to talk to." This guy sure talks a lot for a loner.

Friend? Is it okay to call someone your friend when you don't know what their hobbies, habits, or intentions are? Humans are really stupid and so was I.

The canteen was big and spacious with a high ceiling. The tables surrounded by chairs were arranged in 4 rows. The canteen was filled with students eating, gossiping and some even studying. Rahul ordered medu vada sambar while I ordered bread omelet. We finally sat down after waiting a few minutes for a table to become available.

"Watching these students with their books open next to their meals gives me a complex." Said Rahul while bathing his medu vada with sambar.

"It's not my style. I have separate time allotted to studies and resting. I try to avoid stressing about studies while relaxing."

"Everyone has their way of studying I guess." I replied.

Every individual has their way of executing solutions to their problems, but the more time you can put into it, the better the results turn out to be.

I took a big bite of my bread omelet. It was too plain for my seasoned palate. I saw the girl with the red panties sitting alone in this student-packed canteen.

"Who is that girl over there occupying a table all by herself?" I asked Rahul.

"Her name is Aishwarya Oberoi. I heard that she is the only heir of a very rich and noble family. I wonder why she is attempting the NEAT exam. Do you know her?"

"No. Why would I know someone like her?"

"She is way out of my league. Enough to make you reject yourself before even trying." Said Rahul sheepishly. That's a weird way of self-pitying.

Bump. A student bumped hard into our table, toppling Rahul's food bowl over. Some of it spilled on his shirt. The guy didn't stop to apologize and kept walking.

"Aaah. Not on the first day. My mom is going to kill me." He immediately pulled out his handkerchief and tried to wipe it off.

"Damn it. It looks like it won't dry off that easily. I'm going to get butchered tonight." I could sense the fear in his voice. Butchering was a little too severe for spoiling a shirt. Are human moms that scary?

"Why aren't you saying anything to that guy? He bumped into our table and wasn't even decent enough to apologize."

"There's no need to go that far."

"That far?" I thought that humans were civilized creatures. Not even apologizing was taking it too far.

"Hey dumbass." I stood up from my chair.

"Huunh!?" The guy turned around raising his right eyebrow that had a scar on its end.

I was quite tall for my age as a human. But this guy was still a head taller than me. He had a sturdy muscular physique and his well-built muscles were visible through his untucked shirt. His sleeves were rolled up his broad forearms. Probably does a heavy workout daily.

"Asura. What are you doing?" whispered Rahul.

The boy was bigger in stature and had a strong aura. No normal college student would dare to go against him. Even though I was a human now, I still had the pride of the demon king. I can't back down now.

"Apologise to Rahul." I demanded.

The guy stepped towards me and looked me in the eye. He seemed to get bigger as he got closer.

"Are you seriously asking me to apologize?"

"I am not asking. I am ordering. Just apologize and I will let you go."

HaHaHaHa. He started laughing, "You will let me go?" He repeated in a mocking tone.

Rahul grabbed my hand and pulled me down beside him. "Hehehe. He is just joking. It's no big deal. Nothing a simple wash can fix eh?. I apologize for causing you trouble." He bowed down his head.

"Why are you apologizing?" I grabbed his shirt and pulled him back up. "The only one who should be apologizing is him"

"It looks that Mr. Bigshot here has a death wish. Did you hit your head on your way to college?. Coming late, declaring to crack the exam in one try and now this. Keep this behavior and your 2 years here will turn into hell."

Our quarrel had begun to gather some audience. Students started to gather around us. It was no use to teach this human manners.

"Hell on earth?" I laughed. "I was born in hell you imbecile." my voice laced with pure contempt I looked straight into his eyes as a habit of mine. You can't even begin to imagine what it's like to be there. The heat will make your soft human flesh burn to ashes in an instant. When your body dissolves your soul will stay right there for the demons to ruin every single happy memory you had in your little pathetic life"

The whole canteen was completely tongue-tied. Everyone had their eyes locked on us. The arrogant big guy who stood in front of me from a minute ago now stood straight like a statue without moving a muscle, the fierce look in his eyes was long gone. His face had turned pale and his eyes were now wide open, gawking at me.

It worked!? I have seen this reaction. What's happening? I only did it as a habit of mine. Does this mean that I can use my powers? But humans can't use mana.

"Aaah." The guy held his head with both his hands. "What was that? My head feels heavy." He shook his head left and right. "What did you do?"

He can speak in that state. That's impressive.

"We don't have to do this. So just apologise and let's end this here."

Slap. He slapped his right cheek and the sound it made showed that he didn't hold back.

"End this? The only thing that will end this is my fists!"

He snapped out of it? I guess I was imagining things. There's no way that I can use mana with this basic human body.

The guy charged towards me. He is quick. In an instant, he was right in front of me. I quickly took a defensive stance. His fist came at me in a wide arc. He was quick with his feet but this was nowhere close to the speed that I am used to. I crouched and easily evaded the punch. 

I used the momentum to counter-attack and I was successful in landing a punch on his abdomen. Aaah. His abdomen was as hard as a brick wall. I ended up hurting my fist. How much did this guy train his body?

I withdrew and put some distance between us. But he chased right after me. Once again he threw a punch at me, aimed for my face. He was surprisingly fast for a teenage human boy. Just before he could land the strike, I managed to catch it with my hand.

Wait. What's happening? Why isn't his punch stopping or slowing down? It smashed straight through my block and hit me on my right cheek. Aaah. I fell flat on the floor face first.

My head feels dizzy. Did the punch hit me that hard or the impact of falling on the floor caused this? Why is the floor so soft? It feels like my body is sinking into it. I remember this feeling. The right side of my face felt numb and very cold. I opened my eyes. I saw a fan rotating above me but the height of the ceiling was not as high as the canteen.

"Ah. You are finally awake."

I turned my head to see Rahul sitting next to me.

"Where am I?" I asked.

"We are in the college clinic."