Sylan stood frozen in the center of the rugby pitch, his hand lifting slowly to slap against his own forehead in a gesture of pure, unadulterated disbelief. He stared down at the crumpled, unmoving form of his teammate. Sono was considered one of the top muscle-men in Donto Stern’s inner circle, a human wall of explosive power and aggression who had never been brought down so easily.
In a way, Sylan felt a fresh wave of humiliation. Sono had been taken out even quicker than he had been the day before. He felt like a complete fool for ever thinking that the two of them together could have made a difference against the red-haired monster standing before him.
’Seriously though,’ Sylan thought, his mind racing to make sense of the power gap. ’What is someone like him, someone with those kinds of combat skills, doing in a damned business department? He should be in a specialized military academy or leading a mercenary group.’
"Can you guys just stop this?" Max asked, his voice cutting through the heavy silence of the pitch.
He looked down at Sono’s limp body with a look of genuine exhaustion rather than triumph. "I don’t mind you causing trouble for me personally. I can handle whatever you throw at me. But is there really any reason to keep getting others involved? These are just regular students. Your own classmates."
As he spoke those words, images from his past life flickered through Max’s mind. He saw Abby, Sam, and Jay. Perhaps it was because he had just used one of Jay’s signature wrestling takedowns to finish Sono, but their faces were fresh and haunting in his memory. In his previous life, he hadn’t cared much about collateral damage, but after being reborn, something had shifted deep within his soul.
"When people get hurt who aren’t really involved in the conflict, people who are just around me and forced to see the violence, it leaves a sour taste in my mouth," Max said, his eyes finally settling on Sylan. "I understand that as a subordinate, you might not be able to say much to Donto, but at least try. Use whatever words you can to convince them to back off the other freshmen."
Without waiting for an answer, Max turned and began to walk away. As his boots crunched against the grass, he started to wonder if his current strategy was entirely wrong. Rather than slowly trying to peel back the layers of this university mystery and figure out exactly what the Sterns were up to, maybe he should just go straight to the source. Maybe he should just walk up to Donto and beat the truth out of him.
’Donto is nothing compared to the threats I’ve dealt with so far,’ Max mused. ’I think I’ve been cautious enough. I highly doubt he was skilled enough to pull off the hit on the original Max while someone as capable as Aron was lurking in the shadows. There has to be more to it.’
When Max finally returned to the lecture hall, the room went deathly silent. The students stared at him with wide, searching eyes, looking for any sign of a struggle. They expected to see a torn shirt, a bloodied lip, or a bruised cheek, but Max appeared exactly as he had when he left. He was completely unharmed, his expression neutral and bored.
Without saying a word to anyone, he went back to his seat and slumped his head onto the table, closing his eyes. His mind was already moving toward a final conclusion. If the university’s Wushu instructor had been beaten, and Donto’s primary "business" was simply distributing blue pills to students, then the threat was manageable. It was safe enough to take Donto down; he just needed to decide exactly when and how to strike to ensure the Billion Bloodline’s interests were protected.
The silence of the room was quickly replaced by a frantic, hushed whispering.
"Hey... if he’s back and he’s totally fine, do you think he actually beat up Sono?"
"What? No way, that’s impossible," another student whispered back. "Sono is on the rugby team. He’s like a literal wall of muscle. You saw what he did to Eric and Jono, right? He’s a beast."
"But think about it... you really think someone like Sono would have let him walk away without doing anything?"
"Who knows? Maybe Max just ran. He’s fast, right?"
"Ran away? And then came back to the classroom? That makes no sense. This is the first place Sono would look for him."
"Ah, what does it matter?" a student near the front grumbled, his voice dripping with resentment. "This whole thing is just stressing me out. It would be a lot better for everyone if that damned Max Smith just wasn’t in our class in the first place. He’s a magnet for trouble."
The students weren’t exactly being quiet, and Max could hear every word of their vitriol. He let out a long, internal sigh.
’Maybe it was a mistake for me to come to university,’ he thought. ’I could have resolved the issue with Donto and Randy in a dozen different ways from the shadows. But I thought... maybe I could try out the life I missed. I never got to experience the normal path of a student in my first life. I thought this fresh start would let me see it, but with who I am, I guess things just never go smoothly for me.’
"Hey."
A hand reached out and patted Max gently on the back. He lifted his head to see Jono standing there. Jono’s face was still a mess of bruises, but his eyes were clear.
"I’m happy you’re here, and I’m really happy you aren’t hurt," Jono said with a sincere smile. "I wanted to say thank you again for helping me out the other day. I don’t know what would have happened if I’d stayed on that floor much longer. Listen... ignore everyone else. They’re just scared. None of them have the power to stand up to the seniors, so they take it out on you."
Jono looked down at his own hand, which was visibly shaking.
"And it’s the same for me. I’m terrified. For you, it seems different... you have this strength. I’m not asking you to protect us, I mean, you’re just one person, how could you even? But please, just protect yourself and don’t worry about what the others are saying."
Back on the rugby pitch, Sono’s eyes finally fluttered open. He found himself staring up at a brilliant, cloudless blue sky. As he groaned and tried to lift his pounding head, he saw Sylan sitting on the grass beside him, offering him a cigarette.
"What the heck? I thought the soccer team had a strict ban on smoking?" Sono rasped, his voice sounding like he’d swallowed glass.
"Yeah, well... for stressful times like these, I think even the coach would understand we need a smoke," Sylan said, blowing a cloud of grey mist into the air. "That kid is... he’s something else, Sono."
"Right. I’m guessing you didn’t actually send him to the hospital like you told Donto," Sono said, rubbing his sore neck. "I’m guessing you got your arse handed to you, just like I did."
"Yeah," Sylan answered, staring off into the distance. "I have a question for you. Do you honestly think he’s stronger than Donto?"
Sono paused, thinking of the terrifying, cold power Donto Stern possessed. "Donto is strong. I don’t think there’s a single person across all the sports clubs who could deal with him in a fair fight. But that guy... he’s a complete monster. I don’t think there’s anyone on this campus who can take him out."
Sono winced as he stood up, brushing the dirt from his rugby shorts. "But either way, we can’t keep this a secret anymore. Let’s go tell Donto exactly what happened and see how he wants to handle this ’Max’ problem."