♟

MAX RAN TO THE stadium as soon as Ren and Aki told him about the place where Jokers was originally planning to perform their final act. According to the two princes, Master Joker asked his Jacks to bring Max to the stadium and publicly humiliate him there, which miraculously aligned with Max's initial plan.

     Apparently, lady luck is on his side on this one. But of course, even getting enough luck has a prize.

    Max asked for two favors yesterday. One from his brother, and one from BND.

     For his favor with Marcus, Max told him to lie to vice president Gavriil and ask him to keep the battle exclusive since BND has to settle a score with Jokers. Max knew that Gavriil wouldn't have enough power to decline him since it isn't entirely found in the rules that an exclusive battle isn't possible. An exclusive battle will also be enough so that the Jacks wouldn't be able to intervene.

     As for his favor for BND, Max asked Khian if they could convince their leader to pull Jokers' banner so he can declare a brotherhood battle with them. Of course, Max wasn't sure if Hans de Vries was going to agree to it since Marcus made it clear the BND's leader doesn't recognize Max as someone to be concerned about, but with how things are now, it seemed like his plan played out perfectly.

     "Sinclaire. This is where you stop." Someone suddenly says the moment Max arrives in front of the stadium.

    It was the Griffiths twins. It seems like the vice president's announcement was made official so even the other members of the Elites are involved.

     "I need to get inside," Max tells them.

     "Okay, then face suspension. We're easy to talk to," Dustin seriously answers back.

     "But I—"

     "You two. You are needed at the office by the vice president. I'll handle it from here." A voice suddenly says.

     Max turns around and sees the Elite's secretary, Richard Young. The two twins look at each other, but Richard continued to stare at them intensely that they had no choice but to follow orders and leave.

     Max got ready to explain himself or even try to convince the secretary to let him in, but Richard suddenly turns around and says, "I expect that you won't go inside like how a responsible white uniform should be, but I'll turn around and pretend like I didn't see you so the decision is up to you."

     Max's eyes widened from shock. He wanted to thank him for his unexpected help, but he knew that he would only be wasting time if he did, so he immediately ran inside the stadium without anyone to stop him.

     "Oh wow, the Elites are doing a very poor job in guarding the door. I'm quite disappointed." Viktor says the moment he sees Max enter the stadium where all the brotherhoods were found.

     Boys Next Door, also known as BND, was standing in the middle of the stadium with Jokers. The rest of the members of Jokers were wearing masks except for Krist, and from where Max was standing, he could tell that the Master Joker wasn't happy with the situation.

     "Look who's here baron! It's the toy that destroyed your precious little plan. I'm pretty sure you worked hard and risked so much for it, but it was easily disrupted within a day. Looks like even a white uniform can defeat you." Viktor suddenly announces, immediately making Krist look in Max's direction.

     Viktor was adding more fuel to the fire. He's enjoying all this even though none of this madness would have happened if it weren't for him.

     "You're wrong," Max bravely says as he walks to the middle to join the two brotherhoods. But as soon as he got close, Krist runs towards Max and suddenly grabs him by the collar, his eyes filled with rage. The impact was so strong that Max's peak cap even fell off of his head.

     All of them were surprised, but this time, no one stopped Krist, even Marcus. Max had a brooch that protected him from the brotherhood leaders. But if he's in an enclosed place where there wouldn't be any other witness, then they're technically not breaking anything.

     "You like to play a fool out of me Sinclaire?" Krist asks, gripping on Max's collar even harder.

     "You knew about my plans. You let me make the move first so you could read me, and I was stupid enough to act like you wouldn't fight back. Is this your revenge? I humiliate you in front of the white uniforms and you humiliate me back in front of the brotherhoods?! And you even asked your brother for help?! How low do you plan on going?" Krist angrily asks, but Max doesn't answer him.

     The young heir wanted Krist to calm down first. And when he finally did, Max slowly removes Krist's hand from his collar and finally explains his side. "I planned it from the start. I betted a large amount on you during the first brotherhood battle because I knew you wouldn't appreciate that donation. I wanted you to target me, and your custom became the perfect way for me to get to you."

     "So you're planning to let BND defeat me while you take the victory?"

     Max was about to answer, but then Hans - BND's leader - suddenly stepped in and answers for him, "Sadly no. We called for a formal battle so we could all gather here, but thanks to the vice president, there are no other witnesses, which means there are technically no reasons for us to follow rules."

     "What do you mean?" Krist confusingly asks.

     Max takes a deep breath and suddenly points at Jokers' leader as if it was a sign of his declaration of war. "I will take you on myself Krist Hyusen. I will be your opponent."

     Everyone in the stadium became silent, even Viktor. But after a couple of seconds, Krist's laughter fills up the quiet stadium.

     "You gotta be kidding me!" He shouts. But when he notices that no one was laughing with him, he finally stops. Krist tries to grasp the situation. He then looks at BND's leader and asks him, "You agreed to this Hans? I didn't know you can be easily pushed around like that by a white uniform."

     Hans didn't look quite happy by what he heard, but he kept his composure. "I didn't want to accept so easily, but after my brothers explained to me the benefits of accepting this, I eventually agreed. Why would I throw away such an advantage?"

     "You're an idiot." Krist comments.

     "Why? Are you scared to battle with me Master Joker? Perhaps insecure?" Max then asks, and Krist's mood instantly becomes serious.

     "Insecure? Why would I be?"

     "Well haven't you noticed? The more Jacks you have means the more insecurities you have. You're trying to cover how weak you are. You're feared mostly because of what your underlings have done to other students. If I ask you what you've done that's worthy enough to label you as a Baron in this great House, what would you be able to answer me?"

     "Oh enough with this bullshit!" Krist suddenly shouts, his anger reaching its highest peak. But Max doesn't budge. He wanted Krist to know that he wasn't going to back down so easily.

     So Krist takes a deep breath and brushes his hair back with his fingers. "You're full of talk. If you want to battle me so badly then fine. I'll accept it." He finally answers.

     "Good. And since there are no rules, we can do whatever we want. But the mechanics are still the same. Whoever places the flag on the enemy base wins." Max adds, and thankfully Krist was finally taking it seriously as he nods his head in understanding.

     "You want to call for backup at least, little toy? You can choose anyone you want. I'm a nice guy after all," Krist then asks.

     Max shakes his head to decline the offer, surprising Krist. But before Krist could even say anything, Max immediately explains himself. "I might not have sent you the right message Master Joker, but I see you as an outstanding leader who has taught Jokers the essence of brotherhood. That's the reason why I accepted your Jack-in-the-box because I knew you were going to go full out regardless of who I was. But for what it's worth...you are not low because of your rank. You stand low because you decided on your own that that is how you'll always be."

    Krist was taken aback by what Max had said that he wasn't even able to answer him immediately. Even his brotherhood was taken aback after hearing those words from the white uniform. Everyone in the House of Kings has always treated them like they don't deserve to be here. But for Max, it felt like it was the opposite.

     When he finally got his composure back, Krist touches his chest and declares, "Then I will battle on my own as well."

     The Jokers obviously didn't like the idea, but they knew that they had no choice since their leader had already made his decision.

     "Splendid idea! Don't you think my prince?" Viktor suddenly butts in.

     Kim Hee-joon looked like he was bored to death as he sat on his throne beside Viktor. But to at least answer the question, he lazily nods his head, making Viktor laugh while clapping his hand in amusement.

     Jokers, BND, and Max were ready to step out of the ground when Cj - Cigarettes' leader - suddenly stood up from the bleachers and suggested, "Isn't this a little boring? Shouldn't there be a catch at least? Simply declaring a winner and a loser isn't fun at all."

     "I agree with sir Mills. There has to be a catch so that both parties will battle seriously," the leader of Crazy 8 then adds, surprising Max a little because he suddenly heard a woman's voice for a second there.

     Max wasn't expecting that something like that was going to happen, but when Krist asked him if it was okay with him, Max had no choice but to agree to it.

     "Fine, since you started all this, you choose your stakes," Krist then says.

     It was all on Max now. The stakes should be high in order for both of them to do their best.

     "Alright then. If I win...you will disown all your underlings, remove their brooches, and strip away all of their merits. You know your Jacks don't give a damn about your brotherhood. All they care about is the title and the power it gives them. You won't really lose anything." Max tells him.

     Krist pauses for a second before asking back, "And if I win?"

     Max looks around the stadium to observe all of the brotherhoods who were watching him. This is one of Max's biggest chances to prove himself to them. If he loses on his first obstacle, then they'll definitely never see him as an equal.

     "I'll openly accept my defeat and leave J.S High for good. You can do whatever you want after." Max answers, and everyone practically gasps from shock. Even Kim Hee-joon who has been looking bored since earlier became wide awake after hearing what Max just said.

     "That's very tempting," Krist says. He looks at his brotherhood, and all of them were nodding their heads in approval.

     Krist smirks and finally answers back. "That seems fair. Let's not waste any more time then, little toy...let's play."

...

Max was at the armory with Marcus. He obviously doesn't own any weapons since he's not a member of a brotherhood, so BND was generous enough to provide some for him.

     "You want to use a gun?" Marcus asks while Max stares at the guns found in the glass case. In a normal battle, a member of Beta Society would be here to assist him, but since this isn't anywhere near normal, Max has the freedom to choose anything he wants.

     "I know the basics of how to use a gun, but I'm not entirely good at it so I'll pass," Max answers.

     "Then follow me. BND's weapon stash is here," Marcus says next, and Max follows behind him.

     The two siblings were silent and awkward, so as they were walking, Max decides to break the silence as he says, "You're quite calm about all this. You think I can handle this?"

     Marcus doesn't say anything until they arrive at BND's weapon stash. He continues to stay silent as he hands Max a bullet-proof vest. "Krist isn't the best shooter among the six leaders, but he's good. He'll use that as an advantage against you."

     "Marcus, are you—"

     "You have to make a strategy. Since this isn't really a brotherhood battle, the battleground that you'll be using is the one we use for practice," Marcus says instead as he points at a map that's placed on top of a table. In the map, you can see two circles on opposite ends which indicates the bases. The entire battle ground was made of white flooring and blue neon lights like what you see in sci-fi movies. There were also boxes and barrels that one could use to cover themselves.

     "These are the other weapons that we have," Marcus says, showing Max shelves and shelves of different weapons.

     Max finally had enough since Marcus has been ignoring him since the moment they got here. So he clenches his fist and looks at his brother with his arms crossed before seriously saying, "If you want to say something then say it now."

     "If I tell you to stop this nonsense then will you do it?" Marcus immediately asks back, finally making Max stop.

     Marcus massages his temple and leans on the table before looking at his little brother. "When you asked me for a favor yesterday I almost declined it. I know your worth more than anyone in the world Max, which is why I wanted you to enroll here. But when I once again saw that picture of you helplessly tied up, I realized how wrong I was. I shouldn't have involved you in all this in the first place. Uncle was able to convince me and told me that this was the right thing to do, but I realized how stupid that was. We shouldn't have placed all that pressure on you."

     Max takes a deep breath and brushes his hair back with his fingers. He knew that Marcus was going to feel like this after what happened, but he also has to understand that he shouldn't be blaming himself because of it.

     "You know for the past years, I've never really wanted anything. As a boy who everyone thinks has everything, I felt empty. As a Sinclaire and as a Lemieux, all I've ever known is to follow in my parents' footsteps and do exactly what they've done. But after my time here in J.S High, I've finally felt like I wanted to do something on my own, and you know what that is?" Max asks.

     But without waiting for Marcus's answer, Max continues, "It's to reach the top as Max and prove my worth. So continue to trust me Marcus, and I'll give you the J.S High that you dreamed of."

     Marcus doesn't say anything after what Max said. He stands straight first and walks towards his brother before looking at him in the eye.

     "You asked Krist if he'll be able to answer you if you ask him what he's done that's worthy enough to label himself as a Baron in the House of Kings. If I ask you the same question; if I ask you what you've ever done that's worthy enough to label yourself as the most powerful heir amongst all of us, will you be able to give me an answer?"

     Max takes a deep breath and stares back at Marcus with full determination. "If you want to know what I'll be able to answer you...then watch me."

- END -