"Come on, on your feet." The person holding Ashton said and pulled him up with just one hand, "You two as well. Get up and start walking."
As all of them were forced on their feet, Ashton got his first look at the person who was holding him down. Well, not his face but the uniform he was wearing. It was completely black with golden accessories laced around it.
'The DC... well, I'll be damned.' Ashton shook his head.
The DC or the disciplinary committee/council was a student body that was bestowed authoritative powers to maintain discipline on academy grounds. They were even allowed to hold trials and punish the offenders by themselves but it was never actually implemented. At least not that the students were aware of.
Other than that, there wasn't much Ashton knew about them, just like he didn't know how the hell they were able to get there in the nick of time. On top of that, he was surprised that his [Perception] was not able to sense them at all. Well, at least not until his attacker had already planted his head to the ground.
As for the one who had him pinned down, he was not an ordinary guy whom Ashton could have defeated even with all his genes active. Why? Well, because the man was already on level 25, which made him the highest levelled student Ashton had seen in the academy.
Other than that most of the guy's information was hidden. Even the detection skill was not able to get much about him. The enigma coupled with the person's uncaring attitude made Ashton break a sweat.
He didn't know why, but his insides were screaming at him to not annoy the man in any way. It was somewhat similar to how he felt when the Mistress revealed her true strength to him. But on a much lower scale.
Standing at 5'11" feet tall, the man had elbow-length burgundy coloured hair that he wore as a high ponytail. His entire body mass was comparable to a Roman gladiator. He wasn't wearing the complete uniform and had the sleeves of his blazer missing.
Thanks to the missing sleeves, Ashton could see that the guy's arm was covered in innumerable scars. Some of them were made from claws while most of them appeared to have been left behind by a sharp object like a knife or sword.
Although his arms were covered in scars, the biggest scar of them all was on his face. It looked like a scar left after getting burned. It started from the right temple and stretched all the way down to his neck. Ashton wasn't sure whether the scar ended there or not as the rest of it got covered by the person's uniform.
"What are you waiting for? Get moving." The man gently pushed him ahead.
However, for some reason, the Gruntas were not receiving as gentle of treatment as he was. Ashton wasn't sure whether the other DC members weren't aware of their identity or they simply didn't care enough about it.
'It could be because I'm an S ranker and they are not.' Ashton thought.
His hands were zip-tied behind his back. It wasn't like that could have stopped him from freeing himself. Ashton was confident he could break his constraints. But since he didn't want more trouble and they weren't as uncomfortable as he had expected, he decided to leave them on. For now.
Since the DC chamber was located within the administrative building, which happened to be next to the Hostel, the trip was as short as one could have expected. But the short distance didn't make it any less humiliating.
Well, not for Ashton but for the Gruntas who felt as if they were thieves who had been caught stealing and were now being paraded through the city. Ashton, on the other hand, was enjoying their misery.
Since they were the ones to attack him, he felt like them getting humiliated was a consolation prize for him. As he was not able to get a hit on either one of them. There was another reason why he wasn't as distraught as the Gruntas.
He was an S ranked student. Which meant his punishment, if he would be even given one, for causing trouble on campus wouldn't be half as harsh as the punishment the Gruntas would have to face. Also, since they were the ones to instigate the fight, he would not have to take any blame either.
"Wait here."
The man sat him down on a comfortable chair right outside the DC chamber while the Grunta's were made to sit on the opposite end. The council members then left them there.
"This is so humiliating..." Nick mumbled as soon as the council members were out of earshot.
"Is it? I'm having a lot of fun, to be honest." Ashton said with a wide smirk on his face.
Nick did not say a word but made sure to express himself by flipping Ashton off.
"Wow, your fingers are really as small as your ego." Ashton scoffed.
Much to Nick's dismay, his face turned red with amger. But as soon as Nicole touched his arm, all of his rage disappeared. It almost felt as if she had used some kind of magic to calm his nerves. And she had done it right on time as well, as a moment later the man who had been subdued Ashton reappeared in front of them.
"All of you, get inside. The Council President will now decide your punishments."
Ashton was the first one to go inside. He had expected a bunch of third years present there... but boy was he wrong. Some seniors were present there, but so were a couple of professors. One of which was Amaira.
As for the second professor, Ashton had not had the opportunity to him yet. However, judging by the looks he was giving him, he did not seem to be happy upon seeing him for some reason Ashton did not know about.
'Why am I having a feeling that I've been set up?'