Ronnie takes action

This wasn't the plot.

This wasn't what he had envisioned!

How the fuck did things get out of hand that bad?

Not only had his plan royally backfired on him, he had literally enriched all his opponents and his nemesis Damien!

"Fuck!" Ronnie Quentin cursed again in frustration.

With what had happened right now, Damien and the other faction leaders were going to become instantly popular!

They would be trending and the fight would go viral.

Many people would be clamoring to join their factions or befriend Damien!

What he had orchestrated to be a humiliation had played out to be an elevation for his opponents and Ronnie was totally livid about it.

The plan had been foolproof!

What was supposed to happen was Damien and the other people who received CP today being robbed of every CP in their account.

He had even specifically mentioned Damien and given so many details, indirectly painting him as the main target. Thus Damien would suffer the worst humiliation of it all.

What he hadn't accounted for was that the other faction leaders would appear to back Damien up and they were actually able to beat up those seniors, all thanks to Damien!

Everyone knew that Damien's strange, unnoticeable and invisible attack which caused people to have piercing headaches or even make them dazed was what made the fight one-sided as it had been.

The seniors had been beaten down like little kids, almost as if they weren't a level above Damien and the other faction leaders!

"What now?" Ronnie muttered, taking in deep breaths to calm himself down.

Anger wouldn't give him the results he needed.

He needed to focus and plan his next steps.

Perhaps the only thing he counted as a win in this botched plan was that Damien and the other faction leaders had to reveal quite a huge part of their strength.

He would study their fight over and over again to glean information on their fighting styles, especially Damien.

And speaking of Damien…

Who knew that weird mind attack of his could attack five people a level above him simultaneously and even keep them dazed for a few seconds?

Damien had truly hidden himself deeply!

What he feared was that Damien would certainly have hidden many of his attacks and trump cards.

He knew Damien had a Space element and no one had ever seen him use it yet.

What if his mind attacks were even more powerful?

Apart from causing mental shocks and traumas, could it also create illusions or even allow Damien to wipe people's memories?!

Ronnie shuddered at the very thought.

Damien was too big of a threat to be left alone.

He had to make sure that he suppressed him and prevented him from becoming an even bigger threat.

Or even get Damien to join him.

If Damien indeed was able to have a technique which allowed him to mind control people or create illusions, it would be extremely crucial for his plans.

But currently, Damien's popularity had blown through the roof!

Even other second year students would be reluctant to fight with Damien now.

What could he do?

While he was deep in thought, one of his lackeys walked into the room. "I've got some news for you, boss."

Ronnie raised his head to see who had interrupted him while he was deep in thought.

A slim but well-muscled guy with wild jet black hair and orange slit-like pupils, just like a serpent stood in front of him. 

"What is it this time?" Ronnie asked in apparent dissatisfaction.

The snake-eyed guy smiled and replied, "I've heard that those second years who were humiliated today have been served letters of dismissal by the Vice Chancellor. They are to leave the school in twenty-four hours."

"Hmm? That harsh?" Ronnie blurted in apparent shock.

The Vice Chancellor almost always didn't interfere in the dealings of students; whether robbery, scams or bullying.

She always left the task to the law enforcement squad who only arrested students if they caught them in the act directly.

Those caught would be locked up in the Confinement Center for a couple of days and also be penalized heavily.

Now, not only were the current offenders not taken to the Confinement Center, they were directly being kicked out of the school!

The pinnacle of humiliation and disgrace.

Hm…

This could also work in his favor.

These five people were past zero and in the negatives. No one would accept nor give them respect as Awakened.

Their records had been stained and the only hope for them, if they still wanted to become stronger and receive training, was by either joining the Underworld or becoming bandits and pirates.

With how low they had fallen, even the Dusk Organization would want to have nothing to do with them.

That's where he came in.

Instead of waiting for, what was his name again? Right James,

He could use these five to start setting up the groundwork for his secret force now.

He just had to make them disappear, become ghosts and receive new identities which wouldn't be traced to their real identities.

Ronnie's gaze became intense with excitement and he turned to Nigel, the snake eyed boy.

"Monitor those five. Once they leave the school, tail them and tell them you have a deal for them from the Quentin family.

I don't think they'll be foolish enough to refuse it.

Once they agree, let me know then I'll see what I'll do next," said Ronnie.

Nigel nodded and left the room.

Silas then placed a call on his comm.

After three rings, the person picked up. "Hello young master Ronnie. What may this old man do for you?"

"Hello uncle Smith. About what I told you earlier on… how far with the preparations?" 

"It has gone smoothly and everything is in place, young master. Everything is done," said the voice on the comm.

Ronnie smiled gleefully. "Very good. I'll be moving on to the next phase of the plan. If everything goes according to what I'm thinking, I'll be sending some people your way. Please see to what we've discussed."

"Yes young master," the voice replied.

Ronnie then cut the call.

He had done what he had to do. The only thing that mattered now was for him to have loyal ghosts who answered to him alone, who would do his dirty work for him.

Ronnie knew, well, he had been told and he had even seen firsthand, that to climb to the pinnacle of power, the foundation was built on blood and bones.

The Quentin family seemed normal on the outside, a typical rich family owning multiple businesses, having people in government positions, having a family member at the pinnacle of individual power, being charitable and all.

Deep inside though, a lot of unmentionable things had been done to get them where they were today.

Ronnie understood and knew what had to be done.

His plans were grand. 

If others heard him speak of it, they would see him as insane.

There was only so much support the family could give him and Ronnie wasn't planning to rely on them either.

By keeping his grand ambitions to himself, he would portray to everyone on the outside that he was an amiable, hardworking genius, not snobbish like other rich kids from big families.

Behind the scenes though, he would ruthlessly eliminate those who hindered him to his goal.

His hidden forces would be his dagger in the dark while he would portray himself as the light outside.

He learnt this from the best, his own father who also learnt from the best, his father Sky Lord Quentin.

They understood the rules of the awakened world and used it in their favor.

No matter how talented you were or how genius-like you were, you could never thrive alone. Others could shoulder your dirty work for you.

If you killed, it should not be traced back to you.

Unless you had the power and backing to prevent retaliation.

His uncle hadn't understood this as well as his father, that was why he was buried six feet under.

Ronnie didn't want to end up like his uncle.

His ambitions were too grand.

**

Damien decided to go home and buy the techniques later tomorrow. The amount of CP he had now demanded that he rearranged his budget. 

Now, the CP he had in total was a whooping sum of 4,125 CP!

His CP problem had been solved for now.

If he planned and sorted everything out, he would be ready to break into the peak level of the Enlightenment realm even before the start of the ranking battles!

By then, he would have learnt lots of techniques to guarantee his chances of clinching the top spot in the rankings.

Hank and Frank weren't around.

They had sent him a congratulatory message on winning the fight and that they had to go and check out something urgent.

They wouldn't be back until nightfall so Damien was all by himself once again.

Still having a smile plastered on his face, he walked into his room.

**

"This is the end of the road for us dawg. We're fucked for sure," Max sighed as he heaved a little suitcase, dragging it behind him forlornly. 

Next to him, Pedro Leon, Berg, Itakura and Mustapha had similar forlorn expressions as they walked with bowed down heads to submit their school bracelets.

They wouldn't be needing them anymore. 

The similarity of their predicament had brought these five boys together.

Well, their injuries also played a role in it too.

With swollen and bruised bodies and faces, they looked as if they had been mauled by beasts.

Berg could hardly walk without holding his gut and wincing. His face was red, puffy and swollen and it hurt like hell.

And as for Itakura? His style of walking was comical to say the least. He hobbled along with wide legs, careful not to aggravate his sore family jewels.

Pedro Leon had angry red bruise marks all over his body as he also limped along. It was now that he was truly feeling the aftereffects of Damien's beating.

Mustapha and Max had the hoof prints of Annie Golding's pet kangaroo all over their bodies as they hobbled along, wincing in pain. 

They were the only ones who understood each other's pain.

"I can't go home. My father will kill me," sighed Itakura.

The others shook their heads. They were done… the school was certainly going to send their guardians a message to inform them that their wards had been dismissed from the Imperial Institute.

They couldn't bear the shame of going home.

Dejectedly, they submitted their school bracelets and walked together out of one of the school's many exits.

Their exit was noticed by many but they didn't care.

The pressing issue at hand was what were they going to do and where the fuck were they going to go?

Due to their embarrassment, they chose to walk into the open wilderness where students went most often for their missions.

It was a dangerous route to take.

Though they knew the city was safer, their shame and state prevented them from entering a well populated area.

The stares and looks of derision would be unbearable!

It was this decision though, which allowed them to notice that they were being followed.

Pedro Leon whipped his sword out and narrowed his eyes as he scrutinized the surroundings. "Whoever you are, come out!"