A crowd of students gathered in one of the secluded areas in the non leader's section of the academy campus.
This same crowd numbered exactly 100, and each of them looked haggard and pathetic. Their hair was unkempt, with most of it oily and sticking to their faces.
Some of them even displayed signs of malnutrition, many of their stomachs rumbling. It was quite obvious that they hadn't been eating well.
Their clothes were filled with stains, and with one look at the students, one would know for certain that they weren't friends with hygiene.
It would take an individual with a significantly strong will and the ability to withstand foul stenches to stand within this crowd and not immediately feel nauseated.
These gathered youths were the same 100 youths that a certain red haired youth had used to kick-start his payback at Atticus. The 100 youths he had secretly tortured and enslaved.
Although Atticus had initially planned to play everything cool after he had first found out about the enslaved 100, everything changed when Aurora had been attacked.
It became abundantly clear that the unknown perpetrator not only meant business but also had multiple plans in store for Atticus and his division members.
Atticus's decision had been happily supported by the other Ravenstein youths who had from the start wanted to lock the 100 students away and throw away the key.
After Atticus made that decision, the following events had been instant. Each of the 100 youths had been thrown out of the campgrounds, forced to live on the other side of the camp walls.
No buildings had been made for them, and they weren't even allowed access to eat in the mess hall. Basically, their standard of living went from good to terrible in an instant.
With no access to the mess hall, they had to source food for themselves, and the same was true for other amenities. The barracks had constant running water, even hot steamy water, and this was all for free!
But with access to that gone, they were literally forced to survive in the wilderness. They had been incredibly lucky that they still had experience in hunting, and most importantly, their weapons and armor; otherwise, they would most definitely starve.
Many would call that brutal, but from the very beginning, Atticus had always been brutal.
All of them stood at the corner, the dissatisfied murmurs of the crowd echoing around the area.
And after a few minutes of impatiently waiting, each of them spotted the figures of multiple youths all dressed in black attire that covered their whole forms and masks on their faces, approaching them.
The murmurs of the crowd immediately quieted down as each of the black clothed individuals started spreading out, each of them standing on different sides of the crowd, surrounding them.
The youths displayed no surprised expression on their faces as they saw these individuals; they were obviously already used to this situation.
This had always been how their enslavers had related to them, completely clothed, covering their faces.
Till now, not even they knew their identities, but because each of them had signed an academy contract with one of them, the only thing they knew was one and only one name of a student among them: Dennis Ruthor.
Many, especially those who already knew that the perpetrators were a particular red haired family, would be shocked at this name.
Why were they enslaved by a youth whose name was mentioned for the first time ever?
That would be because our mastermind Dell was paranoid. He had chosen to be careful.
He didn't want the name Alverian known to them, even though they were under a contract. So he had enslaved one youth in his division and then asked said youth to serve as the contractor for the academy contract.
The murmuring crowd immediately quieted down as one of the individuals stepped up to face each of the gathered youths.
He had an average height of 5 feet 6 inches and he radiated a certain sort of aura that many would deem as annoying.
No one needed to even tell the gathered youths; they all knew they would end up hating this youth.
The youth was currently wearing a white mask with a smiley face.
The youth suddenly turned his gaze backwards and nodded towards a random student also clothed in black attire.
The student nodded back, his shoulders slumping as he suddenly spoke, his voice resonating across the area, "I command you all to kneel,"
The gathered youth didn't seem to understand what was going on, each of them turning their gazes and looking at each other.
But as though on cue, their artifacts suddenly lit up as tendrils of lightning snaked out of them, instantly electrocuting each of the youths.
No one needed to explain what was going on anymore as each of them immediately sunk down on both knees, swiftly kneeling down.
The youth with the annoying aura nodded his head in delight, clearly reveling in the moment. And after a few seconds, he started addressing them,
"Listen up! Here are your new orders!"
Each of the youths couldn't help but put on despairing looks as they heard this.
It was very obvious already that these people were targeting Atticus.
They all still hadn't recovered from his anger the last time, and these people actually wanted them to do another thing?
Each of their forms started trembling hard on the floor.
There was no one in the academy who didn't know that the Ravensteins were currently in a war and also, the Ravenstein brutality.
They all basically lived with those white haired monsters! If they were to cause another disturbance in the division, wouldn't their lives in the academy be over?
The subtle sounds of sobbing suddenly filled the space followed by the sound of youths sucking in their mucus.
The black clothed youths surrounding the area watched with cold gazes as each of the students on their knees suddenly started sobbing, drops of tears falling on top of the grass.