One accurate hit was all Patrick needed to knock someone out. Countless nobodies fell down all around him yet the sheer amount was something he couldn’t handle on his own. In spite of his best efforts, he struggled to fight everyone back. The encirclement was already as small as his range, it was ending soon enough. Mason was holding onto Robert, preventing the nameless syndicate members from taking him away.

“Mason! Is Robert awake yet?” Patrick was nearly on top of both Mason and Robert. He barely had any time to breathe from the constant onslaught of enemies. The piled fatigue from healing Arin’s torturous injuries and running non-stop made his hands shiver uncontrollably. He was in the second worst state of his life.

Mason started shaking Robert’s body, “Not yet! He’s still out!” Mason wanted to help but he was physically too weak to do anything at all. His flimsy and frail body was nothing more than paper in front of the overwhelming horde.

“Dammit! Where’s Fiona?! Elliot should’ve gotten to her by now,” Patrick threw a straight punch in front of him, knocking back a few syndicate members. His muscles locked up in place which allowed one of them to kick Patrick in his liver. He gritted his teeth, this sudden pain let his muscles loosen up one more time. He grabbed a firm hold of the leg that kicked him and elbowed it down, breaking his leg. Patrick sadistically enjoyed this person’s screams as he vented out the pain by continuing to inflict it on others.

He knew that was an inefficient use of his energy but he didn’t care, his body and mind were already exhausted. If he could release all his frustrations then he wouldn’t mind bringing it all out. The syndicate member’s screams made the surrounding people suddenly back off.

Patrick noticed this small change and brought the person he was breaking down right in front of him. He gritted his teeth took the man’s arm and snapped it in half. Even greater screams erupted from the man’s mouth, and the surrounding people backed off even more as they heard one of them cry out for help.

“This…” Patrick saw everyone suddenly back off from him. At last, he could finally catch his breath amidst the entire fight. He let the person whose leg and arm he broke free, falling down on the ground, helplessly.

“H-Help- Ahhh!” The syndicate member tried to reach out with his remaining free hand but Patrick suddenly pressed down on his broken leg, grinding the shattered bone and tattered flesh down. Patrick recalled the same scene where Arin brutally tortured them and tried to apply the same techniques he used on them.

“What are you waiting for? Go get him!” One of the surrounding peons shouted at the other members but seeing the scene in front of them, they suddenly hesitated. “No you go! I’m not going to get abused like that!” Another disgruntled voice argued back.

Patrick deep long breaths as he continued on to grind on this poor bastard’s leg, “Hah… hah… whoever comes near will have it even worse! Try me!” His primal roar made everyone suddenly hesitate. This one action changed everything, they were all fine with a few broken bones and a bit of pain but seeing their potential future be tortured, they didn’t dare take a simple step forward.

This… works? That psychopath knew something about instilling fear, that’s for sure.

Patrick recalled Arin’s terrifying back as he relentlessly and elegantly caused them physical pain beyond what they were accustomed to.

“Gah! Ahhh! Stop it! Please stop- Ahhh!” This random syndicate member was in extreme bouts of pain. Patrick had never stopped crushing down on his injury. At first, he crushed his foot, then his heel, slowly working up his leg as he mercilessly crushed anything solid beneath his feet.

“Stop it! Argh! Help! For fucks sake! Help me!” He was starting to hyperventilate as he was losing his mind in the pain. He was so desperate that he even forcefully used his broken arm to try and crawl away to no avail.

Mason saw Patrick continue on to inflict pain beyond a normal person’s sense and couldn’t help but say, “Pa… Patrick? I think that’s too far-”

“Too far?” Patrick scoffed. “They were going to kill you. Am I really going too far? So… do you want me to stop?”

Mason looked down, clenching his fists. As much as he firmly believed in Fiona’s ideals, the current situation was well beyond the boundaries of common sense. He could only give up his idealistic mindset and let Patrick punish this man to serve as a warning for the others.

Yes.

“No,” Mason’s mind and body had different reactions. He still wanted to be the person that Fiona was, using the power of words to resolve their problems. Even so, he was too powerless to even have a say in this.

Contrary to the man’s expected reaction from his peers, they backed off even further away. Being in that man’s place was the last thing that they would ever want to be subjected to. Seeing how desperately he wanted this to end, he even started bashing his head on the ground in hopes of knocking himself out. A black bloodied bruise appeared on his forehead as he continued to slam it down to end the pain. From his psychotic actions, he finally found peace as he was now unconscious.

“Ugh… Patrick?” Robert finally woke up. The very first scene he saw was Patrick brutally inflicting the same treatment he received from Arin. “What’s happening?”

“Look around,” Patrick felt slightly terrible at how far he took it but to protect his friend, he had to do it. His voice slightly trembled as he asked, afraid of what his dear friend would think of him, “Do you get it?”

Robert saw the terrified and trembling faces of the people around him. He sighed, seeing such a one-sided cruel beating would make anyone react like this. “I understand…” Robert stretched his limbs but the accumulated fatigue made it hard for him to continue being as active as before.

All this entire time, even as the syndicate member was knocked unconscious, Patrick was still grinding away at this leg, he finally reached the thigh bone now. The gory sound of flesh and bone being ground down to paste was spine-chilling to everyone who was witnessing this.

Robert dragged his weary body to right beside Patrick and grabbed his shoulder, “You can stop now…”

“But what if-”

Robert pointed to their terrified faces, “Look. They’re already scared. Stop it.” Although Robert was a bully and beat people up, what Patrick was doing was well beyond what Robert could stomach. He knew that if Patrick didn’t mimic Arin’s moves then they wouldn’t have made it but still, this wasn’t the kind of person he wanted to grow up as.

Seal Academy was a place where the strong prevailed against the weak, violence was almost a necessity. This constant threat of pain was a motivation for everyone in Seal Academy to strengthen their bodies and grow stronger to stop the abuse. With Seal Academy’s unique foundation, students could keep going without any severe consequences, leading them to create terrifying battle-hardened Solvers.

But this… this was just senseless. To inflict pain for the sake of inflicting pain, was nothing less than barbaric.

There were certainly people who inflicted pain for the sheer pleasure of seeing others’ distorted pained expressions. These types of people didn’t have a good experience in Seal Academy as certain clubs and syndicates would take it up as their responsibility to ‘guide’ this misguided person, earning them the reputation of being just in the entire academy.

Even though you can be cruel, there are just lines you cannot cross…

Robert’s friendly reminder cleared up Patrick’s misgivings as he stopped. He stopped crushing the man’s bones and slowly backed off. Patrick looked back at Robert who nodded in approval.

Immediately, Robert shouted, “Whoever comes next will end up even worse than him! Just try us!”

Patrick was suddenly confused at Robert’s conflicting actions. He wanted him to stop but he immediately threatened the other syndicate members.

Robert realized his conflicting morals and actions so he whispered right beside Patrick’s side, “I know what I said. But if it means getting out of here alive, together, then I won’t mind becoming the devil himself.” Robert smiled as he patted Patrick’s back as he tried to gather his remaining strength to stand by himself.

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“Mason stand up, let’s go!” Robert gestured to Mason to help him stand up which he obediently did. As Patrick, Robert, and Mason were taking a step forward, the people in the general direction of where they were going suddenly dispersed, making way for them to leave.

Mason saw this and started tearing up, he was getting out of there alive. The entire time he had been holding it all back as he was in limbo, between life and death but now that he could see him getting out of here alive, he was more than joyed. Knowing that Fiona was on the other side of the horde, the sense of safety that he felt couldn’t be understated.

Robert sighed softly, with Mason slightly crying by his ear, he understood just how stressed he was the entire time, “It’s alright now.” Robert’s calm voice brought Mason back to his senses.

“Thank you,” Mason rubbed the tears running down his face as a relieved expression appeared on his face.

“You want to thank us? Treat us to lunch sometime,” Robert joked around as well, seeing just how far away the Rising Syndicate members were. “We won’t be ordering the cheap stuff.”

“I’ll try…” Mason scratched the back of his head as he just experienced being at the edge of death. This sensation was both thrilling yet at the same time worrying, he had never thought that escaping the jaws of death felt this good.

Patrick saw Robert joking around with Mason and just let it be, they were all too tense this entire time. A few jokes here and there wasn’t a bad idea to bring their moods up. Since everything should be fine now, it shouldn’t be too bad to laugh now.

Just as the last bits of the remaining Rising Syndicate members were giving way, Patrick’s and Robert’s faces suddenly turned white, standing still where they stood. The entire situation where they were almost killed wasn’t as terrifying as this moment right now. A figure of unsurpassed strength with an aura of dread surrounding him showed up. When they saw him, all thoughts and feelings of resistance and escape were drowned out by the crushing sensation of fear.

A casual expression appeared on this person’s face as he dragged a body that was on the edge of death by his ponytail. Right behind him, Elliot was shivering the entire time, being enshrouded by an aura of pure terror the entire time. He had seen this person torture Noland using techniques he had never even thought possible before.

Noland’s previously proud expression was a far cry from his currently twisted face of despair. His limbs were turned and twisted into ways that his limbs shouldn’t bend. His face was cracked and battered, almost making him unrecognizable. His body was drilled with numerous finger-sized holes yet oddly enough, these holes didn’t spew blood. His mouth was wide open with his jaw dislocated, there was only a single tooth remaining. His eye was visibly dug out, with a stream of blood going down his face, making it seem as if he was crying.

Arin threw Noland’s brutalized body right at the Rising Syndicate members. Seeing their boss be thrown at them, they instinctively tried to catch him but with their poor handling, they only made his injuries worse.

An unholy scream erupted from Noland’s mouth as he expressed just how much pain he was in.

“Boss Noland! We’ll get you to the clinic!” One of the syndicate members recognized who he was and tried to pave a path.

Even with his exaggeratedly torn body he still tried to warn his people, “Run…”

They didn’t hear Noland’s initial warning, “Boss Noland… did you say something?”

“Run!” Noland mustered everything he could, even as he screamed this word out in pain he still persevered. “Run away! That’s a monster! Leave me! Run!”

“Impressive,” Arin was honestly astonished by how much grit Noland still had. “You can still scream in that condition, respectable.”

The syndicate members didn’t even hesitate to follow Noland’s orders. They had already seen how brutally mangled his body was, to be kept alive despite experiencing these injuries was a miracle in itself.

Arin saw a huge army run away in fright. He had already heard the entire situation from Elliot’s mouth so he had already prepared for this.

Arin passed by Patrick and Robert’s frozen bodies, “Good prey.”

When Mason locked eyes with the monster in human form, he also shivered in fear. He knew who Noland was, he was one of the core members of the Rising Syndicate, so he had relatively high strength and great connections, to be beaten like that without being able to fight back just showed how horrifying Arin’s strength was.

Robert felt conflicted with this, he tried to break through the oppressive fear controlling his nerves, “C-Can you let them go? I-I think they got the message…”

“If this was later on the year, of course, I would them go,” Arin patted Robert’s shoulder. “Unfortunately, this is the first day of the academy, I’ve got to make a big impact.”

Arin firmly inhaled a deep breath and yelled out, “If you stand still then I won’t cripple you!” However as expected, not a single person stood still. “Well, I warned you.”

Arin disappeared from their sight as he ran at the nearest syndicate members and broke one of their legs each, just enough to prevent them from running away. As those people who were closest to Arin were crippled, the nearby syndicate members suddenly realized that if they didn’t do anything they would be suffering the same punishment. With Arin’s earlier reminder, those near him immediately stopped running and stood still, hoping that this would actually stop this monster from crippling them.

Arin upheld his own words and didn’t go after the people who stopped dead in their tracks. This caused a domino effect of people suddenly stopping dead in their tracks, causing Arin to run ahead of them, going after the people who were still running. If they all ran away, Arin would at most get a hundred before they were all too far away to reasonably chase. Fortunately, his small tactic forced most of the students to stop dead in their tracks, letting him catch everyone.

“Go back! Bring those who I crippled along with you!” Arin yelled out and everyone who stood still obediently listened to his demands. “Anyone who doesn’t listen will also get crippled!”

There were actual onlookers watching the entire scene as Arin singlehandedly forced five hundred people to listen to his demands. His dirty tactic worked on a much deeper level. By showing Noland, their leader, whom they had seen as their superior completely devastated in both body and mind, he was able to showcase what happens if they were caught. By setting this seed of fear into their mind, he forcefully grew this seed of fear by actively forcing them to choose to sacrifice their comrades for their own safety.

Arin now had a grasp on their hearts and minds, the foundation had already been set. When they listened to his words, they subconsciously placed him above Noland, whom he had completely overwhelmed. Now it was time to begin.

Patrick and Robert were resting by the side, sitting on a bench when they saw the entire horde that previously swarmed them obediently follow the devil that decided to own them. They felt conflicted about what was about to come.

Arin huddled everyone up and glanced at the surrounding students, “Can anyone tell me what the Rising Syndicate has done? You, girl.”

From one of the onlookers, a visibly happy face appeared on a maiden’s face. Laughing at the current events unfolding before her. Her repressed anger had bloomed into a tree of vengeful delight. Once Arin specified her out of the crowd, she happily obliged.

She came right up to Arin, “Thank you! I’ve never thought that they would actually get what they deserved! Hahaha! As for what they’ve done…” She glared at the bunch of people who were in front of her, her repressed thoughts were now able to be said out loud with Arin’s lead. “They tore apart my syndicate! They broke apart our members, forcing some of us to join their ranks. Despicable!”

Arin gestured to one of the people from this massive group to come out. After seeing that no one actively volunteers, he set up a small despicable tactic of his own, “If no one comes up then I’ll choose one of you. Don’t think I’ll be as merciful.” Arin’s eyes glared at the group of people who were already terrified of him. And as expected, one of them was thrown out from within the group to serve as a sacrifice.

This person seemed extremely scared of what was to come. He obediently followed Arin’s words and came before him. He was nearly hyperventilating at the myriad of possibilities of how he was going to suffer.

“Here,” Arin sighed and took the man by the neck, and forcefully dropped him in front of the girl. “Vent. The only rule is you can’t kill him.”

“Hahaha!” The maiden immediately kicked him in the stomach, furiously venting her anger. “Don’t mind if I do!”

The man who was dragged along actually felt extremely relieved, compared to being brutalized by Arin, the maiden’s attacks were soft, almost unnoticeable even. He quietly took everything she had to throw at him, feigning pain from time to time.

Arin didn’t even need to say anything else as another man showed up, “I have something against that syndicate!” From the side, multiple people started lining up and speaking about their grievances.

“As do I! They oppressed our club, forcing us to give them all the funds that the academy bestowed upon us! Forcing us to pay out of our own pocket!”

“They stopped us from getting any members! Preventing our syndicate from growing!”

“We were threatened that our parents would get fired if we didn’t do their bidding!”

Arin smirked, his plan was working. There was no reason to dirty his own hands when there was an extremely easy way of handling this matter. He had already extracted all the information he needed from Noland, letting him create this grand plan in his mind.

From the Rising Syndicate members who were forced to take on the pain, as much as it pained them. They would rather get beaten up by these random people than take Arin’s fist. Seeing how merciless he was in making Noland in that state, their decision was already a foregone conclusion. As for escaping? The seeds of fear that implanted within their hearts had already fully sprouted, besides running away seemed like a worse idea than just standing here and taking it.

Arin heartily laughed, “Well then? What are you waiting for? Go for it! Vent all your frustrations and sorrows!” Arin immediately saw numerous people find their own targets and battered them continuously.

Arin quietly went back to the group. There was no need to say anything else, everyone already knew their places in this play. If they did anything out of the script then they had to answer to Arin, an outcome they didn’t even dare consider.

“Oh yeah, I almost forgot about him,” Arin faced Elliot. “Go find Noland and bring him to the clinic. He’s almost dead. If you wait any longer then he might not make it.”

He then faced Robert and Patrick, “You’re more skilled than I thought. You’re going to be useful.”

Previously, Elliot had lied about them serving under Arin but now that very lie had turned into reality. Such was the cruel twist of fate.

They faced Arin’s back, awestruck, as he slowly left the entire scene he had orchestrated himself. With chaos and destructive right behind him, he walked off satisfied with his creation.

With a few moves and words, an entire group of people was one sidely being pulverized and beaten down while another group furiously unleashed their repressed anger.

Such a day would later be noted down within the annals of Seal Academy’s history as the ‘Descent of the Mad King.’