The ghost system

9 How to fight without a fighting ability

[16/20 Hp]

The attacker quickly got frustrated that he was not landing any hits and decided to lunge at Rhys for his next attack. Rhys smiled as the new attacker's front foot left the ground because that was what Rhys had been waiting for. As soon as the attacker jumped forward to try and tackle him, Rhys used his skill to run straight through the guy and get behind him.

The attacker was completely stricken by what he had seen, the person he was trying to hit moved directly through him like he was some kind of apparition. Before the guy could regain his balance and spin around, Rhys released the skill and punched as hard as he could into the back of the guy's neck. Attacker number 2 let out a pained yelp before falling on top of Attacker number 1, unconscious.

Rhys triumphantly gazed down at the two bodies with his Aura detection and noticed something interesting in their respective auras. In the places they were injured: the first guy's hand and face, and the second guy's neck, their aura in those places were noticeably thinner and less bright. Like the injured body parts were not capable of holding onto the body's aura.

"You!" Sampson growled from a ways behind Rhys. "You're not supposed to have an ability."

Rhys stared blankly back at Sampson. Sampson was not any taller than Rhys, but he was much more muscular and had good instincts which had only been sharpened after growing up in this district. Somewhere along the line of harsh District 12 life, Sampson had grown cruel and hateful and was continuously searching for ways to prove how much better he was than others. Beating up people who looked at him the wrong way and crushing the spirits of those he perceived as happier than him became his greatest pleasures in life. In spite of the tough badass reputation Sampson had created for himself at their high school, Rhys only ever saw Sampson as someone who was deeply insecure and constantly trying to reassure himself by hurting others.

"And yet I have one."

Sampson had seen Rhys's ability this time for sure, so there was no need for Rhys to hide it from him.

"Whatever!" Sampson hissed. "It's nothing special anyway, those guys were just idiots to fall for your cheap pranks." Sampson spat out angrily growing more agitated by the second at the confident look on Rhys's face.

Rhys could only chuckle at Sampson's familiar antics.

"You must be an idiot then." Rhys retorted.

"What did you just say to me?" Sampson's eyes were suddenly set alight by indignation and fury.

"You also fell for it in the beginning, so by your logic that makes you an idiot too." That carefree smile that Sampson hated so much returned to Rhys's face in full force.

'Aura detection' he summoned the skill in his head.

[Name: Sampson Welsh]

[Occupation: Bully/attacker]

[Aura: Fire manipulator (not as weak as the other opponents but still weak)]

Rhys frowned at the weird description the system gave him. He would need to question the system about its Aura evaluation standards later.

"You think you're such hot shit because you got an ability, huh? So what if you can pass through people, that crap is no good in a real fight." Sampson's chest was falling and rising violently as the unchecked anger was spilling out of him after Rhys had mocked him.

"I'll show you what a real ability is." Sampson reached into his back pocket and pulled out a small lighter. Feeling his trusty old red lighter in his hands, he calmed down a bit and was able to regain more control over himself. Above anything, feeling like he was weak drove him insane, and hearing weak people like Rhys insult him had the same effect, but thankfully holding his lighter in his hand always made him feel better.