Part-24

  Fear urged him to run, to disappear into the night before Tained sciousness and alerted the rest of Lemon's gang. Unf him for the brutal beating he'd unleashed. But a sliver of something else, a newfound fidence, flickered in his heart.

  He k down beside Tony, cheg for a pulse. Tony was unscious, but breathing steadily.

  Without wasting another moment, James scrambled to his feet and bolted. He didn't dare look back, the image of Tony's crumpled form forever etched in his memory. The adrenaline rush subsided, leaving him trembling and deeply uled.

  What had just happened? How had he dodged Tony's punch with sunatural speed? Where had this terrifying power e from? And what exactly was this "Fire Fly" pany Tony had mentioned?

  He ran blindly through the quiet streets, his mind a whirlwind of questions and aies. The delicious cake sat fotten in his hand, a stark trast to the violehat had just unfolded.

  As he reached the safety of his doorstep, he colpsed against the dasping for breath. He looked at his hand, the ohat had delivered the thundercp sps. It seemed normal, unassuming. Yet, he k held a terrifying power, a power he barely uood.

  James slumped onto his bed, the fotten cake box lying ed on his desk. He was exhausted, both physically from the fight aionally from the rollercoaster of events. His heart hammered against his ribs, a frantic terpoint to the uling silence of his room.

  His gaze drifted upwards, drawn to the familiar blue window h in the er. With a trembling breath, he focused on it, and the details of the "Thundercp" skill flickered ience.

  **Thundercp Skill Details**

  * Skill hundercp

  * Move Type: Sp

  * Skill Type: Attack

  * Cool Down: 0s

  * Rank: F (9/100)

  * Description: It deal 30% of pyer attack power with each successful hit. When ected to the oppo, they will feel like aric jolt c through their cheek.

  The information stared back at him, cold and ical. It offered no expnation for the surge of power he'd experiehe inhumahat had allowed him to dodge Tony's attabsp; It was just a name, a fun, a on.

  A wave of nausea washed over him. He hadn't meant to hurt Tony so badly. The memory of his whimpering form on the grou a shiver down his spine. Was this really him? This brutal, vengeful stranger?

  Burying his fa his hands, James let out a groan of frustration. He didn't ask for any of this. He didn't want to be a bully, a fighter. He just wao be normal, invisible James.

  But normal was gone. The "i st nigh," the Bully System, the strange new abilities – they had irrevocably altered his life.

  He squeezed his eyes shut, the blue window seared into his visiohrough his eyelids. He had to uand this. He had to figure out what was happening to him, how to trol this power before it spiraled out of trol.

  With a newfouermination, James sat up straight. He wouldn't let fear paralyze him. He would iigate this system, this "Fire Fly" Tony had mentioned. He would learhing he could about his abilities and find a way to use them food, not violence.

  He g the cake box, a symbol of normalow tainted by the events of the night. He picked it up, the weight a grounding reminder of the life he was trying to protect.

  Taking a deep breath, James pushed himself off the bed. He wasn't sure what the future held, but he was determio face it head-on. He was no longer just James, the invisible boy. He was James, the boy with a mysterious power. And he would use it to write his own story.