The man from the Rising Syndicate ignored Mason’s words. He placed his attention back on the frightened girl who was slowly backing off. She tried to create some distance between them. He didn’t let this happen, getting closer despite her attempts to escape.
This motion kept the tension between them the same, not escalating it nor de-escalating it. This burdened the girl to retain her composure, which is what the man from the Rising Syndicate wants. By keeping the tension in the air, it would slowly wear out the girl’s mind making it easier to force her into doing what he wanted.
Mason had seen this technique countless times and worked for every single one since students who usually intentionally joined the Student Body Committee were either weak-minded people who hoped to find a suitable backing that wouldn’t abuse them or strong-minded people who wished to follow Fiona’s ideals to change the school. Unfortunately, most of the students who joined were the former making this small mental trick very effective.
“What’s wrong? I’m just offering you a place in our syndicate. Who knows what would happen if you got in trouble out of nowhere? Who’s going to help you out?” As calm and composed as his voice sounded, it sounded completely different in this context. He was essentially threatening this girl, forcing her hand, making it seem as if she only had one option.
“Stop that!” Elliot’s voice broke the tension. This made the girl look back at Elliot with a slight glint of hope in her eyes. She hoped that it would’ve been someone important but based on Elliot’s slightly messy uniform, that bit of hope was dashed away. Despite how weak he was, Elliot ran forward, trying to help to the best of his abilities.
“What? Who’s this pipsqueak?” The man from the Rising Syndicate looked over to the person who just screamed. He observed his gait, expression, and appearance, letting him have a preliminary understanding of who Elliot was.
A nobody. Good.
The man looked back at his group with them giving him permission to move forward. With his backing secured, the man ignored the girl and immediately went to Elliot. As Elliot stopped in front of him, he was a head smaller than the man.
“That’s-” An immediate hand grabbed ahold of Elliot’s neck, preventing him from speaking any further.
Seeing him finally act violently, Mason shouted out, “Don’t!” He jumped over the table in front of him trying to stop the man from acting out any further, he then glanced at the two other people who were standing by the booth. “Maria, Darrel, go find Fiona! Hurry!”
Those two students were the same as Mason, weak. They couldn’t fight back against the extremely violent syndicates in school so they huddled up and asked Fiona for help, resulting them in helping out with recruiting new students. If Mason asked them to help fight against the man then they wouldn’t even listen but if it was running away and asking for help then they were all too familiar with it.
Darrel immediately ran away with his new task at hand, he couldn’t stomach violence despite being enrolled here. Finding a way to stop it as soon as possible was his primary goal. Seeing a professor casually enjoying the show with his arms crossed he ran up to him.
“Professor Arnold, please stop it!”
Professor Arnold sighed and muttered something he had always said when someone came to him for issues regarding violence, “As long as nobody dies, there are no restrictions. Darrel, you should really know this by heart by now.”
“But Fiona said-”
“What Fiona said only gets applied if she’s here or they breach the boundaries. Seeing that they’re outside the boundary, that’s not applicable. What’s left is Fiona, so… where is she?” Professor Arnold was getting sick with students constantly asking for help fully knowing what kind of academy this was. “Besides, you’ll get better after a single trip to the clinic. What’s the big deal?”
Darrel gritted his teeth and ran away. Every single time he asked for help, he’d get rejected like this, the professors would ignore their pleas for help and would even go as far as even throw them back in. He knew that Seal Academy was a ruthless place where only the apex predators could thrive but this was too much. Bullying and violence were a daily occurrence here, only by having the protection of a club or a syndicate would one feel safe. Unfortunately for Darrel, with how soft-hearted Fiona was, even if they got hit, Fiona would only use her words to make them apologize. Even so, they would still stop for a while which was already a blessing for him.
Now that an entire syndicate was actively messing with them, Darrel hoped that Fiona would actually make a move so that being in the Student Body Committee would have an actual deterrence against opposing forces. He ran and ran, knowing that this was the only way that this would end.
As Elliot was being grabbed by the neck, he tried to grab ahold of the man’s arm, trying to stop him from choking him to no avail. Mason ran towards the man’s back, forcing him off balance, and letting Elliot go.
Gasps and coughs escaped Elliot’s mouth as he tried to catch his breath. He looked up only to see Mason being overwhelmed one-sidedly. The man from the Rising Syndicate was kicking Mason constantly, his uniform was now covered in dust and grime. Elliot looked around to see that every other club and syndicate was either looking away or enjoying the show, none of them had any intention of helping. As a new student, he finally understood what kind of place Seal Academy was.
Seeing Mason being beaten up in his place, he immediately went forward, as much as he knew that this was a terrible move, he still moved forward. Instead of acting based on rational thoughts and information, he irrationally let his emotions get the better of him, moving forward without a thought other than thinking that this was what he needed to do.
Elliot grabbed ahold of the man’s back, trying to pull him away from Mason. Although the man was slightly disturbed, he placed his attention back on Elliot elbowing his head, trying to knock him out as he could finally brutalize Mason.
While Mason was within Fiona’s designated spot of protection, the Student Body Committee booth, he couldn’t go forward and do anything violent. Doing so would be breaking the rules, equivalent to killing someone, which had severe consequences that he wouldn’t dare try to accept. As the Student Body President, Fiona had special rights, this was merely one of them.
Their entire plan was to agitate Mason into moving, although there were two other people in the booth, Mason was one of Fiona’s closest people. Causing him harm would be the best way of sending Fiona a message. By letting the other two go, Fiona would be able to see just how worthless her ideals were while at the same time increasing their syndicate’s reputation highly.
They only had the courage to go against such an esteemed club as the Student Body Committee due to one fact, Fiona was too soft. Her mindset of people helping each other instead of devouring each other was too laughable to everyone who had already grown accustomed to the way Seal Academy operates. By taking advantage of this weakness, they would be able to recruit even more notable figures, skyrocketing their syndicate to the top in a very short amount of time.
Their plan wasn’t the most sophisticated but it was the most straightforward. As smart as every single student in Seal Academy was, physical strength and connections were what was being developed. If one had to spend days thinking of a plan to solve a problem that a single punch could solve, why would they even bother using their brains? This ideology was spread throughout the entire school, forcing everyone to adapt to this mindset. Seal Academy was propagating violence intentionally in order to create the strongest Solvers. The weak get left behind while the strong consume each other until only the strongest remain.
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Elliot felt his vision blur as he fell down without any resistance. He could slightly see two figures from the distance, two very familiar figures. A previously terrifying duo was now
“H-Help…” With Elliot’s last conscious words, he said it out loud to those two figures, a tall muscular man and a lean person. “He said… you should help me out…”
Elliot had lied. This was the only thing he could do.
“Tch, this bastard’s implicating us. Let’s go, Robert!” Patrick scoffed, his muscular hands grabbed Robert’s shoulders and tried to go away. He was enjoying the show but now that he was getting involved in something he didn’t want to be in.
Patrick and Robert looked extremely pale but compared to their previously bloody appearances, they were a whole lot better now. All their broken and shattered bones were mended and their blood was refilled right back up. All their injuries were now gone, not even a single scar remained on their bodies. The academy clinic had fully restored their bodies with the only downside being weakness for a day. To bring someone from the edge of death back and the only downside was weakness was something truly marvelous.
Patrick tried to bring Robert along yet Robert stayed still, he knew that this wouldn’t end well if he left right now. “Patrick, there’s a high chance that he’s lying but on the off chance that he isn’t…”
Patrick gritted his teeth in anger, “Now that’s a problem. Bah! He won’t go out of his way to get us. Then again…” As Patrick was riding on his words, the thought of Arin coming back and torturing him was too much for him to handle. The seed of fear had already sprouted into a great tree. Arin was now a figure of unparalleled strength in his mind.
“That spineless coward just told us to help,” Robert also got annoyed now that he had to deal with this situation. Regardless, if Arin really did say that and he found out about this, neither of them would’ve liked what would happen.
Patrick inhaled and exhaled deeply, making the first move. Compared to being tortured by Arin, they would rather provoke an entire syndicate. No amount of pain that they could inflict would ever get rid of their fear of Arin. The man from the Rising Syndicate was about to kick Mason in the stomach one more time when he felt a sharp pain in his chest, sending him back flying.
As the man was sliding on the ground, Robert immediately appeared right above him and kicked him in the head, completely knocking him out. There was even blood going down the man’s head from where Robert kicked him, showing just how much force he used. If Robert used any further force then he might’ve ripped the man’s head clean off.
The previously happy and joyful Rising Syndicate members were now caught off guard. One of their members was suddenly disposed of and it was in such a cruel manner. These two people who showed up were clearly powerful yet at the same time looked pretty weak. Their pale faces and shaky postures made them question why they were able to use so much force.
Even so, no words were needed to be spoken. The Rising Syndicate members all jumped out of their station and ran toward the duo. They had to make an example out of them, showing the rest of the spectators what would happen if they messed with the Rising Syndicate. Although there were only five of them here, including the guy who was knocked out, it was enough to show off their strength.
The first person who got knocked out was unprepared for the sudden double attack from out of nowhere. With the other four ready for Patrick and Robert, they were ready to handle these two with their numbers advantage.
“This is getting bad. What do we do? We’re still weak from healing all our injuries.” Patrick worriedly asked Robert, they were already too deep into it so they might as well go all the way.
“Bring Elliot away, as for the other one, I don’t care about him. We’re running away.” Robert clearly understood that with their current conditions, fighting this was essentially asking to get beaten up.
“Got it.” Patrick took Elliot’s arms and put him on his back, bringing him along. As Elliot was on Patrick’s back, he finally woke up.
Elliot glanced around and couldn’t believe that his lie managed to get him out of this. Although he didn’t hear Robert’s words, he vaguely understood what was going to happen, considering Robert’s posture, they were planning on running away.
He fully knew why they were acting out, with Arin’s terrifying figure, even he would feel threatened. Considering how Arin acted, he wasn’t a person to be messed with.
They were beaten so badly that they were at death’s door, this was taking into consideration that he wasn’t angry with them, he only did it as he required.
“Wait… bring Mason…” Elliot gritted his teeth. If he was going down this route then he would go all the way.
Patrick wanted nothing more than to smack Elliot in the head, they were already in trouble but this bastard was making it even harder for them to run. Even so, they listened obediently.
“I got him! Run!” Robert picked up Mason from the ground and brought him up. He did it so roughly that he didn’t care how uncomfortable Mason felt, fully focusing on speed as an unfortunate fate awaited him if he was ever caught.
Patrick and Robert were running at breakneck speed with four Rising Syndicate members on their tails. If they were caught now then there was no need for imagination for what was to come.
“Back off or I’ll run you over!” Patrick roared at the top of his lungs. There was already an encirclement of students, clubs, and other syndicate members watching the entire show. With Patrick’s menacing threat, a pathway opened up for them.
The four Rising Syndicate members didn’t seem concerned at the fact that they were running away, in fact, they didn’t even mind letting them go. If they didn’t catch them today, there was always tomorrow. However, to keep up appearances, they kept on chasing them, letting the entire academy know that they messed with the wrong syndicate.
At full speed, Patrick was slightly slower than Robert even though they were carrying along another person. “Robert, where do we go?”
“How the hell should I know? Keep running!” Robert knew that it was only a matter of time before they were caught. He kept trying to think of ways to stop it but as much as he wanted for it to end, there was nothing he could rely on. The professors didn’t care, in fact, they encouraged it, as long as there were no casualties, it was free reign. As for the other students, they were new students and they had no backing right now.
“Mason! You know where Fiona is, right?”
Mason meekly said, “After she finishes the morning assembly, she should be in the dean’s office, finishing up their deal.”
“God dammit! Where is it?” Robert’s temper was rising by the moment. Based on his information, the dean’s office was in an area that was only accessible to the second-years and above. They wouldn’t be able to reach them at all since it would be breaking school rules. Even so, this was their greatest chance in getting out of this predicament.
At this point, Elliot asked, as much as he was still struggling with dizziness he asked, “What about Arin?”
“Did you get hit in the head too hard? There’s no way we’re going to that psychopath! You didn’t experience it first-hand so you wouldn’t understand how scary he is!” Patrick screamed at the top of his lungs, wanting nothing more than to drop Elliot down as a sacrificial lamb for the slaughter.
“I’d rather take my chances with Fiona. Mason, where is it? Tell us! Quick!” Robert felt an ominous feeling right behind him and looked back.
When he did so, he saw nothing at all. Not even the people that were following them closely were to be seen. In fact, there was no one around here at all. This made them uncomfortable, extremely so.
Mason noticed that there was no one here as well. Mason realized that this was a common tactic that a certain syndicate liked to employ and shouted, “Run! It’s the Rising Syndicate! They already surrounded the area! They’re isolating us! Take a right turn here!”
Patrick and Robert immediately listened to Mason and took a right. This pathway went to even more empty booths, further making them feel even more unsettled. Tensions were high, every moment that they wasted was a moment closer to experiencing hell.
“Wait! I just remembered Fiona was still in the assembly hall talking with some of the promising students. She went out the same, trying to personally recruit some of the students!” Elliot shouted his lungs out. A figure sleeping on a bench appeared in his mind, an extremely desperate option for them but one that Elliot calculated to be their greatest chance. Although he felt bad, he’d rather choose the option that was more realistic.
“What are you talking about? And why did you say this just now?” Robert felt something odd so he confirmed with Mason, “Mason, does Fiona usually do this?”
Mason recalled how frequently Fiona advocated for people to join her cause so this wasn’t too far with how Fiona would’ve reacted, “That’s exactly how she’d react.”
“Fine! Do you know where she is right now?” Patrick grumbled but still listened.
“It’s the opposite direction from here. It’s a straight line from that point on! Trust me!” Elliot felt his heart race, he was lying to both Patrick and Robert but this was their best chance. Rather than hope for a person that they didn’t know where they were, he’d rather take his chances with Arin.
Both Patrick and Robert stopped in their tracks, immediately running back out in the opposite direction. As high-tension as this situation was, Elliot accurately judged what they needed to do to survive. A quality that was important for a Solver.
From the distance, a man with a ponytail slightly chuckled, “That was close, a few more steps and you would’ve fallen for it. Now you’re heading straight for that guy. And I can’t let that happen. Men, go in.” This man snapped his fingers as he relayed all the information to his subordinates.
“At your command, Boss Noland!” Numerous figures came out of the shadows, closing in on the boundary of their entrapment. At this rate, before Patrick and Robert could get to him, they would be stopped dead in their tracks.