"Show me how many merits you have."
The expression of the boar-masked boy instantly changed at Simon’s words, and even those who were watching were in disbelief.
Although Simon only asked to see how many merits the boar-masked boy had, they could all guess where this was going, and they were shocked.
Despite the pain the boar-masked boy felt across his body, he instantly looked up at Simon with wide eyes.
"Why do you want to see how many merits I have? That’s my business and not yours."
Simon raised a brow with an amused expression.
"You wanted to take my life, and now you’re telling me this? Show me how many merits you have and you won’t have to go through so much pain in the next five minutes."
Just as he feared, the boar-masked boy instantly understood Simon’s goal and he began to crawl backward in fear.
"You want to extort me."
Simon took a step forward, then he indifferently nodded and replied.
"Correct."
The fear in the boar-masked boy’s heart and eyes increased. He increased the pace of his backward crawl.
"You can’t do that. That is against the rules. You’re also a slave. A slave cannot extort its master. The clan would punish you or kill you for this."
Simon amusedly raised his brows and chuckled softly as he took another step forward.
"Wrong. There is no rule against extortion in the academy. Even Year 3 Initiates can extort us, though, there are rules that prevents them from going overboard. Besides, what do we have that they’d want to extort from us."
Step
"As for extortion from your fellow classmates."
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"There’s no rule against that."
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"Besides, why do you think the academy would have a rule that protects the clan members from slaves?"
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"Do you think the academy would value an Initiate who could not even defend himself against a slave?"
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"Also..."
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"...You tried to kill me on the academy grounds. That is against the rules."
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"If you want a life and death battle. You have to do that at the battle arena."
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"Fighting is allowed in the academy, but not killing. If you want to kill, challenge the individual to a life and death battle at the battle arena."
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"So..."
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"You see, I didn’t break any rules. You did."
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"And I can extort you as I wish even as a slave. Especially because you tried to take my life."
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Step
"Now, do you want to tell me how many merits you have? Or do I have to beat it out of you?"
Simon stood directly in front of the boar-masked boy once again, and a pressure which could not be described gripped the heart of the boar-masked boy.
His back was against the wall of a building, and there was nowhere left for him to run to.
He was stuck.
There was Simon in front of him, and a wall behind him.
What could he do?
He looked to the left, then to the right, hoping to find something or somebody that would save him from his current situation.
But he found none.
"Hey."
Simon’s voice drifted into his ears, and when he turned to look at Simon. A kick landed on his stomach.
Bam!
Cough!
The boy’s eyes widened in disbelief and pain as the breath in his lungs vanished for a moment.
Step
Crunch
Simon then stepped on the boy’s left hand, crushing his fingers with his boot.
"Argghhh!!!!"
The boy screamed, but Simon’s gaze was utterly and completely indifferent.
"Do you think I have time to waste on you. Show me how many merits you have or I’ll use you as an example so that others would see what happens to them if they don’t do as I say."
Step
Crunch!
Crack!
This time around, Simon used his demonic energy to strengthen the power in his foot, crushing not only the bones in the boy’s fingers and hand, but also causing cracks to appear on the ground.
His fine control over his demonic energy showed itself at this moment.
"Fine! Fine! I’ll show you! I’ll show you! Just stop! STOP!!!"
Simon stared at the boy for a few seconds, then he indifferently raised his leg from the boy’s hand.
None could see his face, but Simon and those watching could see that his eyes were red and wet with tears.
He was in so much pain, and he was worried that his left hand was no longer usable.
’Damn it. Damn it! Damn it all!’
The boy ground his teeth in pain and fury as he stared at his left hand which he could not raise without hissing or cursing in pain.
"I’m not going to ask one more time. Show me how many merits you have."
The boar-masked boy groaned, then he raised his right hand and his Grave Mark glowed.
Crimson demonic letters formed words in the air above his hand, and Simon saw the number of merits the boar-masked boy had along with his information.
It was like looking at someone’s status window.
’Rank 73 and a weekly stipend of fifteen merits. He has ninety six (96) merits in total.’
Simon took a glance at a few other things, causing the boar-masked boy to feel uncomfortable because this was his private information.
He believed that he was the only one that was meant to see this. No other person aside from the higher ups of the clan was meant to see it.
Especially not a slave.
Just as he was about to speak, Simon suddenly hummed softly and spoke.
"I’ve seen enough."
The boy’s eye twitched, but he said nothing. However, he hated Simon with all his heart.
’This embarrassment. This shame. This anger. This fury. This disgrace. I’ll return it to you a thousandfold.’
Simon could easily guess what was going on through the boy’s mind, but he didn’t care.
"Transfer all the merits you have to me. Ninety six merits. Not a single one less."
"Huh?" The boy was stunned.