Taking the same steam train back home, the chaos in the city was still vibrantly red. Vividly so. Although it wasn’t as hectic as this morning, occasional screams for help echoed throughout his journey. Unlike Seal Academy’s unique situation, those people didn’t have the same luxury to heal right back up. Their death was certain.
“It’s still as noisy as ever,” Arin paid his ticket properly this time, using the money he stole from the trio. “Even if I’m inside the train, it’s still so loud.”
The steam train continued on its journey, going up and down multiple districts to stop and open its doors to its commuters. People hailing from all kinds of backgrounds entered this small enclosed space, they all kept to their own selves without stirring up any trouble.
The seats eventually all filled up as even more people entered the train. Arin intentionally spread his legs, taking up two seats as he sat down. Although a few were disgruntled at how Arin acted, he was there first so they didn’t have any real justification to make him make space.
Another set of people came in, these people were actually students of another academy. Arin noticed them as a group of five students, apparently a close group of friends. They were loudly talking to each other while they were outside but once the moment they entered, they immediately silenced themselves.
These five students consisted of two women and three men, they were all roughly aged the same as Arin if not older. They tried to find their own place but seeing that all the seats were taken up, they were all forced to stand up. Arin noticed their uniforms and realized that there weren’t any academies with that kind of pattern around here. As he was deliberating on how to go about it, one of the students saw Arin’s posture and decided to kindly ask him.
“Sir,” One of the men tried speaking to Arin in a hushed tone. “Can my friend sit here? I’m willing to compensate you.”
Arin thought about it for a brief moment as he looked at the group of five people here. Based on the two women’s mannerisms and postures, they weren’t anyone important. Although one of them seemed to have been eying a certain person in their group. He then observed the three men in the group, the one that just spoke to him seemed to be the most outgoing person out of the group but that was just about it. There was the silent type that seemed to be the strongest person in the group but still wasn’t the person that caught Arin’s attention. The last person was the scrawniest one but based on one of the girl’s gazes of respect and reverence, he seemed to be the leader of the group. Even still, the pressure exuded by the group made Arin wary of them.
“1,000 Federation coins,” Arin lightly stated, he was asking for a grand sum that was actually twice the train’s fare. As he said this, he was looking at the man who spoke to him straight in the eyes, while his full focus was on the scrawny kid.
“T-That’s…” He looked at one of the girls and sighed. “Fine, here you go.” He took a few coins out of his pouch and gave them to Arin. He took his time to make sure that the coins didn’t clang that hard, disturbing anyone.
After receiving his compensation, he changed his posture and left a space large enough for a single person to sit on.
The man grinned and faced one of the girls, “Vivian, take a seat.” This girl wasn’t the one that held a gaze of admiration to the scrawny kid. She thanked him and was about to take a seat when Arin stopped them.
The outgoing man was slightly confused, “Sir? Didn’t we agree on letting one of my friends take a seat?”
“Yeah we did,” Arin pointed at the scrawny kid. “He gets to take a seat. If you have a problem then you should’ve specified who took a seat.”
The silent man immediately got agitated, he swiftly came forward to face Arin, bringing the outgoing man back. “What are you up to?” The silent man reacted in a way that further confirmed Arin’s guess.
“Just making sure that I’m upholding my end of the deal,” Arin calmly stated. “You. Sit.” Arin pointed at the scrawny kid and gave his order, commandingly.
“You little…” The silent man raised his hand, intending to strike Arin but Arin snarkily said, “Feel free. Hit me.”
The scrawny kid finally spoke up, he sounded so weak and frail yet the moment he did so it seemed as if his words were the only thing that mattered in the world. “Victor, stop it. I’ll take a seat so don’t blow this up any further.”
The scrawny kid went up and took a seat right beside Arin, what made this scene weird was the fact that the surrounding passengers all looked at them in intrigue. They didn’t care what they were talking about, instead, focusing on what the outcome would be.
“Tch,” Victor sized up Arin, looking at him from head to toe, trying to intimidate him. “Try anything and you’ll die before you know it.”
“Victor. What did I just say?” The scrawny kid weakly enunciated his words but the effect on Victor was visible for everyone to see. “I’m Frederick Gaston, your name is?” Frederick reached out his hand to greet Arin.
“Arin,” Arin accepted his greeting. “As far as I could tell, there aren’t any academies with that kind of pattern on this route to Seal Academy. Mind telling me where you lot came from?”
“I’m not supposed to divulge such information. As for the contents, it’s not my place to say to an outsider.” Frederick kindly smiled and tried his best to entertain Arin’s questions.
Arin smirked, “Guessing from the thick stench of blood, you must’ve gotten some on-field training. Here, in the Western District.” Arin’s menacingly emphasized. “You have no right being here.
This made Victor’s nerves a little more taut as he focused on Arin’s every movement. If he deemed that Arin would make a move, he would strike first, ignoring the consequences of disturbing everyone else.
“Haha, no need to be so threatening, Arin, you don’t mind me calling you Arin, right?” Frederick slightly chuckled. “We had permission to operate this territory. Besides, we just finished and we wouldn’t want to work overtime.”
“You’re here, in the Western District, having your fun. You know territorial everyone gets nowadays with resources being spread so thin.”
“Arin, there’s no need to act like that. We already had permission from the Federation to be here. Besides, it didn’t seem like you were interested in us earlier so let’s just move on our separate ways and-”
“That’s true, I didn’t care earlier” Arin lied then moved his gaze from Frederick, back into Victor who was eying him back. “But you see, someone here threatened me. Now, it is my business. Wouldn’t you agree? Frederick Gaston?”
Arin hid his true intentions by masking them through his temper. As much as Arin wanted to find the truth to this matter, he was genuinely angry at how arrogant Victor was. The only difference between him and Victor was the fact that Arin could actually gauge what was important.
“Woah, woah, woah.” The outgoing man suddenly went in between Victor and Arin. He was afraid of what would happen if they went any further than this. He was especially afraid of how Victor would react since he didn’t have the greatest temper. “Arin, my friend, how about we just… compensate you and you’ll let us go. How about that? That sounds fair?”
“Frederick, you should know who I am by now, right?” Arin just eyed Victor back, taunting him the entire time. That laid-back expression made Victor annoyed, if he wasn’t inside the steam train then he wouldn’t have hesitated to strike Arin’s smug face.
“Who wouldn’t recognize Kian Theo’s son? Of course, I knew who you were. As the child of one of the most prominent Labyrinth Solvers of the City of Sin, it would be foolish of me to not know you.”
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“So do you think I’d need money?”
“No, sir. I don’t think you would,” The entire time, Frederick kept his calm despite Vivian, trembling at the realization of what kind of person was standing in front of her. The outgoing man was also taken aback but followed Frederick’s lead by keeping cool. The other girl looked at Arin in surprise but after examining him, she just sighed in disappointment. Victor’s violent tendencies actually surged when he heard who Arin was, wanting nothing more than to put Arin in his place.
“So, what do you say is a fair price in letting you leave?” Arin went into it. As Kian’s son, he knew a lot of the inner workings of the city. As chaotic and destructive as the city seemed to be, it was in fact, organized crime, tons of sacrifices were needed daily as a preventative measure for the upcoming drought.
There were five main districts, the Northern, Eastern, Western, Southern, and Central Districts. Each district had its own way of ruling their people. This was all except for the Central District where the Federation, the overarching head of the government that controlled how the city should be run was situated in.
In times of peace and prosperity, relatively speaking, every district listened to the Federation as they had the good of humanity’s future in mind. This was all, except for when drastic change. The current predicament was the overharvesting of the Trials within the city, causing there to be fewer and fewer resources to go around.
This forced their hands, causing them to hold hostile intentions towards the other districts, trying to bring the others down while increasing their value so that the Federation wouldn’t abandon them.
Then again, due to the Western District’s unique way of handling things, it wasn’t subject to such care.
Having an outer force intrude in their territories, was none other than a bad sign of things to come. After seeing outsiders exuding the stench of blood, Arin needed to find something to tell his father. This could be something that would help him out in dealing with what the future may pose to them.
The situation wasn’t as clear and cut, however, Arin hadn’t gotten anything too vital out of his father. This was as much as he knew for now. There was something brewing up in the future so he had to show off in Seal Academy to increase his father’s reputation in order to gain more connections to tide through the sea of troubles that were coming their way.
“It seems like you already had something in mind,” Frederick willingly gave in. “What do you want from us?”
“Tell me the truth, what did you do in here? Tell me and I’ll let this pass.”
Frederick’s calm expression turned solemn as he seriously said, “I can’t tell you that. It’s strictly confidential but if you must know, it’s something the Federation approved themselves. Arin, you don’t need to pry into this, it’s not something the likes of you should know, you’re not worthy of knowing this.”
“The likes of me? Ha.” Arin leaned back carefree, crossing his arms. “Then what should I do to show that I’m worthy?”
“Stay out of it. There’s nothing wrong with what we did and there’s no benefit to learning it. We’ll get off at the next stop so I appreciate your company but we need to go.” Frederick saw that the next stop was only a minute away and got ready to leave.
The other four members of his party nodded along with Frederick’s decision, even though Victor was visibly angered, he still listened to the party’s leader. The steam train stopped and everyone got off, following Frederick’s lead. Victor looked back at Arin and gestured his thumb lining his neck.
Arin failed to glean any kind of information from them. He knew that even if he followed them, it wouldn’t have mattered since he was certain.
If I tried to fight against them then without a doubt… I’ll die. I can take one down but they’re too strong. Especially that Victor…
Arin banked entirely on the steam train’s own rules and regulations to stay alive this entire time. He knew that he wasn’t the strongest person but he was decently confident that barely a few could match him yet to find three people that were at par with him on the steam train made his blood boil, considering that Frederick and Victor were so strong that he couldn’t even fathom their full potential, Arin’s ego was slightly shattered.
“At first, it was Fiona… then it was five random people… fine. Dad, you might be right. Going to school might not be so boring after all.”
Arin silently rode the steam train back home. A few disappointed grunts were heard from the surrounding passengers as they didn’t get to see what would actually happen if they truly went above and beyond what the steam train tolerated. Such a taboo wasn’t so easily breached if one valued their life.
I wonder how many more terrifying geniuses are waiting for me to trample on them. That can wait… first things first. Growing stronger, much stronger than I already am.
~~~
Maria, a person that Mason asked to search for Fiona ran to the dean’s office. They had full access to this part of the academy as they were 2nd-year students. She immediately banged on the door, desperately trying to hope that Fiona was there.
Dean Alabaster was confused at who was banging so loudly, “Come in.”
Maria slammed the door wide open as she saw Fiona drinking a cup of tea while discussing her next edict in detail with the dean. After Fiona saw Maria’s trembling figure she immediately put down her drink and went over to support her.
“Maria, what’s wrong?” Fiona’s voice gave Maria a sense of comfort as she nearly broke down in her arms. “Maria?”
“T-The Rising Syndicate’s beating Mason and another kid up! You have to stop them! They were in a really bad state when I left them!” Maria teared up as she explained the entire situation.
Fiona heard everything and faced Dean Alabaster, “Dean-”
Dean Alabaster raised his hand, “No need, Fiona. Go on, we’ll talk about this at a later date. Your club members need you more right now.”
“Thank you, Dean!” Fiona immediately ran away as Dean Alabaster started waving. She already heard from Maria that it was at the Student Body Committee booth so there was no need to bring her. Right now, time was of the essence, if she was too late then Mason might be in too much pain.
From the dean’s office to the courtyard where the recruitment area was held took Maria quite a while to traverse. As for Fiona, it only took a mere few minutes to get there. She immediately used her fastest speed to get there as soon as possible.
Please, Mason. Please be safe.
These few minutes of her life felt like an extremely long time, she had promised her people that if they joined her then she would try her best to protect them. If she failed to help Mason out then wouldn’t it be betraying the trust of the people who believe in her? With her reputation on the line, Fiona still held the thought of whether Mason and the other kid were safe.
From the distance, she could see that a massive fight was happening. She gasped at how this could even happen. It was a courtyard-wide fight with hundreds of people beating each other up. Although it wasn’t as brutal as how Arin fought, it was even more chaotic.
Fiona gritted her teeth, as much as she wanted nothing more than to go and help Mason out, this deserved her attention more.
“Stop!” Fiona raised her voice, trying to catch the crowd’s attention yet her shout was drowned out by the grunts of pain and joyful sounds of flesh hitting flesh. Fiona didn’t have a weapon as she thought didn’t need to, this oversight made her regret her decision entirely.
“Everyone! Stop! Stop this senseless fight!” Fiona raised her voice even more. She finally caught everyone’s attention. She finally felt relieved at the sight of everyone finally stopping.
“What’s-” Before Fiona could even finish her sentence, a voice yelled out from the crowd, it was the very first girl that Arin incited, “Shut up!” She then proceeded to beat the person in front of her even more.
“Yeah, shut up! You haven’t done anything! Go act like an idiot somewhere else!”
“Leave us alone! So much for your idea of wanting to help each other! What a joke!”
“They deserve it! You looked away when we needed help but you’re actually stopping us from acting in the name of justice!”
Voices of discontent echoed throughout the courtyard as Fiona saw that the fight that she thought was occurring was actually a one-sided assault from one party to another and the victims in this scenario were actually the Rising Syndicate members. This confused her as she thought that the Rising Syndicate was actually the one at fault. So why were they the ones being abused by everyone else? This was a maddening scene.
“What is… even so! You can’t keep being this violent!” Fiona ran up to right beside the closest person who brutally kicked and punched this helpless Rising Syndicate member black and blue. She took his hand that was in the air and stopped it.
“Get your hand off… me…” Fiona accurately hit his pressure points, painlessly knocking him out. She tapped the five other students beside her that was one-sidedly attacking the Rising Syndicate members. Five bodies immediately fell unconscious, going into a deep sleep.
She continued this on for a while in such quick succession that she had already knocked out 1/10th of the raging students before they managed to notice her. Fiona saw the rest of the students immediately run away, in fear of what Fiona might do in this situation.
Seeing that at least the violence stopped, Fiona felt slightly at ease that she managed to stop it before anyone actually died.
“504 Rising Syndicate members… how did they all get beaten up this much?” Fiona was wondering what was happening. This was completely contradictory to her expectations. As she was in deep thought she finally remembered her initial goal, saving Mason.
She was about to run when a familiar voice shouted from a distance, it was Mason, “President Fiona!”
“Mason…? Are you okay? Thank god!” Fiona immediately came up to him, trying to see if there were any injuries on his body but failed to see anything. “Oh, and you two…”
Mason realized that Fiona hadn’t been introduced to his saviors yet, “This is Patrick and Robert. They saved me when those Rising Syndicate members started beating me up. There was another person too, Elliot, but he’s bringing someone to the clinic to get healed up.”
Fiona felt the tension in her heart that was building up this entire time ease up, “What happened? Why are so many people in the ground?”
Robert was resting the entire time so he finally managed to gather enough energy to talk, “A monster woke up.” Robert and Mason proceeded to explain to Fiona how everything happened in detail. This only pertained to this exact situation, as to what Arin did back in the hedge maze, he would rather not talk about it.