♟

AFTER DELIBERATELY CHOOSING THE weapons needed for his victory, Max went to the middle of the battleground, holding BND's flag since Max obviously doesn't have a flag of his own.

     Max wasn't wearing his cap and coat either, but instead, he wore a belt that held onto the different items that he took from BND's weapon stash. He was also wearing the bulletproof vest that Marcus gave him earlier, which wasn't a waste since Krist was holding a gun like what Marcus predicted.

     Master Joker already has an advantage since the battleground is the same grounds that all the brotherhoods use for practice. At the same time, the Jokers' leader has been battling for years. The only disadvantage that he might have is that he's used to battling with a group, and that aspect is something that Max can use against him.

     Max and Krist walk to the middle of the grounds. When they got there, Max looked around the audience, which was the brotherhoods. Some of them looked excited, while a handful of them just couldn't wait for this so-called nonsense to end.

     When Max spots his brother amongst the audience, his brother nods his head and mouths the words, "I'm watching," which automatically made Max smile.

     Max then looks back at Krist who has a serious expression on his face. He scans the leader and notices that he only has a gun and nothing more. If anyone saw this, they might find it offensive and think that Krist finds them too easy. But for Max, it was the opposite. In Krist's first brotherhood battle with Viktor, Krist was using a gun. The fact that he is also using a gun in this battle as well means that Krist is as cautious as the time he battled Busters.

     "Good luck Krist Hyusen," Max says, surprising his opponent.

     Krist scoffs and immediately wears his clown mask. Max wasn't expecting Krist to say anything back, but when Max got ready to turn around, Krist suddenly clears his throat and says, "Good luck."

     Max smiles a little as both of them walk their way to their respective base.

     While they were walking, Viktor suddenly appears on the stage with a microphone. "Welcome everyone to the second Battle of Brotherhoods!" Viktor announces, and only a few of the brotherhoods cheered.

     "On the left corner, we have the prankster, the jester, the baron, the master of all jokes, the joke himself, Master Joker!" Viktor announces, and Jokers - despite the rude introduction from their king - cheer for their leader to show their support.

    "Now on the right corner, we have the serf, the omega, the ignorant and ambitious white uniform..." Viktor pauses and suddenly asks, "What was your name again."

     Max glares at the king, which only made Viktor laugh like he was having the time of his life.

     "Alright, to get a better feel of the battle, here are some quick notes. Bases have a circular marking on the floor. If the opponent steps on your base, the circle turns orange. And if they're able to place their flag, the circle will turn red, which means you lose, simple as that," Viktor explains, and the two finally reach their respective bases.

     "Now for the mechanics of the game. Within twelve minutes, the first person to place their flag on the enemy's base wins. No rules apply for today's game, so do whatever the fuck you want. So, shall we begin our bidding?" Viktor jokingly asks, annoying not just Krist, but the rest of the brotherhoods too.

     "Just get on with it!" Krist shouts angrily, and Viktor hysterically laughs before pulling out an air gun and shouting, "Well then! Let the battle begin!"

     Viktor shoots the gun, and in an instant, Master Joker starts making his move.

     Max takes a deep breath, tucks the flag in his belt, and looks around the grounds. He memorized it earlier since Marcus gave him a map, giving him a vague idea of what he's going to do.

    Max isn't a weapon guy. He was trained in basic combat skills since heirs are usually required to do so if they ever get kidnapped. The only chance he has now is to make a strategy that's good enough to outsmart a brotherhood leader like Krist.

     "Master Joker just threw a smoke bomb near his base!" Viktor enthusiastically announces.

     The area fogs up in the middle of the grounds, blocking Max's view on Krist, which isn't always an advantage since Krist wouldn't be able to see Max either.

     Max uses this as an advantage. He takes out his first weapon, which was a colored smoke bomb that has a timer. Max places the bomb just a couple of meters away from his base, setting the time to eight minutes.

     "Ten minutes. That's all I need to finish this," Max says with confidence before hiding it behind a barrel.

    Marcus said that these smoke bombs were customized for BND's liking. He explained that the smoke bomb inflates to make a sound that's similar to an actual bomb, but instead of a large explosion, it releases regular smoke. Thanks to the pressure that it releases after it inflates, Max had an idea, and that was to place spikes around it. So when the smoke bomb explodes, the spikes will shoot in different directions.

    "The two opponents are both hiding like cowards!" Viktor shouts while laughing like the madman that he is.

    As expected, Master Joker is waiting for Max's next move now. So Max finally leaves his base and runs to another barrel, placing the bomb and setting it to nine minutes and thirty seconds.

    After placing his second bomb, Max makes a run towards another barrel. Sadly for him, the smoke that Krist threw earlier was slowly dispersing, giving Krist a better visual of his target. He points his gun towards Max, and before Max could even cover himself, Krist pulls the trigger.

     Max immediately slides and hides behind another barrel and suddenly felt something burn on his arm. He looks and sees his arm bleeding. The bullet didn't go through, but it scrapped his skin, which was already painful enough.

    "Shit..." Max curses as beads of sweat stream down his forehead. He then removes his necktie and ties it around his bleeding arm.

     Another shot was fired, instantly making Max flinch. Earlier he was a little confident, but now reality kicked in and his heart started beating fast. But he knew that there was no time to cower.

    After Krist shoots for the third time, Max checks his watch and takes out another one of BND's devices. This time, it was a bomb that releases flower petals. He throws that device towards Krist and runs forward.

    The bomb explodes, but Krist ignores the petals and runs towards Max as well, shooting him again. Max slides to another barrel and successfully evades the bullets with the help of the remaining smoke around them.

     Krist starts shooting as Viktor announces, "Master Joker starts firing carelessly!"

     Max takes a deep breath, not moving an inch from where he's hiding.

     "What is this little toy?! All you're going to do is run and hide?!" Master Joker shouts as he continues to fire towards Max.

     Without doing anything, Max analyzes the situation. Max saw that he was holding a gun earlier, but he didn't exactly see what it was. But based on the sound that his fires were making, Max narrows the weapon down to a revolver.

     Revolvers usually have a capacity of five to six bullets, but he already shot six, and Max is pretty sure that Krist isn't stupid enough to waste all of his bullets in one go, so he probably has one more bullet inside that gun, which helps Max break it all down. His gun has a seven bullet capacity, so he's probably holding a Russian Nagant Model 1895 revolver.

    Max smirks upon realizing it. As he said earlier, he's not good with guns, but he sure does know about them since he accompanied his father once at a gun factory, making Max interested in them.

     "Come out and play little toy!" Krist continues to shout, but this time, he wasn't firing anymore, which means he is saving up that last bullet like what Max expected.

     Max finally calms his nerves down as he takes out his last smoke bomb. He sets the time to three seconds before throwing it towards Krist. The bomb obviously didn't explode, confusing everyone.

    "What the—" But just a second after, the smoke explodes right in front of the Jokers' leader, giving Max enough time to run towards a barrel that was only a few meters away from Jokers' base.

     Max runs as fast as he can when he heard another shot. The bullet scrapes his leg, instantly causing Max to fall. Thankfully Krist didn't have any bullets left, so Max was safely able to crawl towards another barrel.

     "Looks like both opponents are out of weapons!" Viktor announces.

     "Wait, what's this...Master Joker is now running towards BND's base!"

     The announcement surprised Max, but he finally understood what Krist was planning.

     Master Joker wasn't firing carelessly like Max claimed, but he deliberately switched places with Max so he can step inside BND's territory. That's the reason why he targeted his leg after because, in the end, it's going to fall down to who's the fastest runner. And with the injury he placed on Max, the results would be obvious.

     Max suddenly felt cornered as he held onto his bleeding leg. Everything was in slow motion when suddenly...

    "Max! Move!" Marcus shouts, immediately making Max stand from where he was hiding.

     Max removes his necktie from his arm and tied it on his leg instead. He was a couple of meters away from Jokers' base, just like how Krist was close to BND's. So Max starts making a run for it as well. His leg was hurting like crazy, but he ignores it as he practically skips his way towards the base.

    "Sinclaire is also running towards Jokers' base. Well, barely running towards the base. But Master Joker is no doubt closer to victory." Viktor announces, making Max curse under my breath.

      Max's heart was beating faster. Jokers' base was right in front of him. He just needs more time.

    The circular marking on the floor finally turns orange, indicating that Krist has now stepped foot on BND's base.

     Max glances at his watch. "Three seconds," he tells himself.

     "Master Joker might just fucking win this!" Viktor continues to announce.

     Max's brain was completely going blank. He couldn't even feel his body anymore as he ran at full speed, not minding the fact that his arm and leg were bleeding while he couldn't even put a single scratch on Krist.

     But just when everyone was getting ready to declare Krist as the winner, the smoke bomb that Max placed near his base finally explodes, causing the spikes to fly around the area.

     "Whoa! What was that?!" Viktor shouts. Even the other brotherhoods were confused about what happened. "Spikes were suddenly released right after the bomb! Master Joker paused for a second. His arms got caught with three spikes!"

     Max almost starts laughing with joy as soon as he hears Viktor's announcement. He couldn't believe that he was able to time it just in time.

     "White uniform is now taking the lead! But it seems like Master Joker isn't giving up either. He immediately started running again. Now the two opponents are neck and neck. Who will arrive at the base first?"

     "Come on!" Max now shouts as he glances at his watch again. "Ten seconds. The next bomb that I set up will explode in ten seconds."

     Nine.

     Eight.

     Seven.

     Six.

     Five.

     Four.

     Three.

     Two.

     "Master Joker is the wi—"

     And Just seconds before Viktor finally announces the winner, the other bomb explodes right on time, causing everyone to stand in shock.

     "Master Joker stops and covers himself! I repeat! He stopped to cover himself!"

     Krist expected that spikes would catapult towards him again like the last one, but to his surprise, it only released a blue-colored smoke. A mistake that he should have been able to calculate if he had more time.

     But just like that, Max practically throws his body towards Jokers' base, causing the circle on the group to turn red. He then takes out BND's flag before finally placing it on the flag holder.

     Siren sounds were heard. And as Max was trying to catch his breath, Viktor stands from his seat and announces, "The white uniform wins!" 

     And like the first battles, Jokers' banner once again falls.

...

"The nurses will arrive soon, don't worry," Marcus reassures as he helps Max stand on his feet. The rest of the brotherhoods were already gone, and only BND and Jokers were left at the gym. Luckily for them, Max represented their brotherhood, so his win is their win, which means they gained something than lost something.

     While waiting for the nurses to arrive, Max spots Jokers kissing their banner like what they did during their battle with Busters. Max removes Marcus's hand from his arm and limps his way towards the Jokers. When Jokers saw Max approaching them, the brotherhood surprisingly gave way so that Max could face their leader.

     For a moment, Max felt something different.

     It was like he was finally facing Jokers as an opponent.

     "What? You gonna make fun of me?" He asks the moment Max stopped to stand in front of him. But instead of answering him, Max showed him his hand and said, "Good game. You play well Krist Hyusen. I hope next time we could play fairly again."

     "I can't believe I got beaten by a white uniform." He says with an annoyed expression. But to Max's surprise, Krist grabs his hand and shakes it. "But you played well too. You won fair and square so congratulations."

     "Thank you," Max answers. Krist was about to say something, but Max immediately adds, "For the congratulations, and for deliberately trying your best not to directly shoot me."

     "What the hell are you talking about?"

     "I've seen you battle before Krist Hyusen, and the fact that you have a permit to use a gun means that you're not a lousy shooter. A direct shot would have given you your victory, but you didn't. I would normally be mad, but regardless, you still gave it your all, so thank you for that, and for battling a mere white uniform like me." Max says, and Krist suddenly looks away from the young heir, making Max chuckle.

     Max doesn't say anything anymore and turns around to take his leave.

     "Viktor told you didn't he? He told you my plan," Krist suddenly says, making Max stop in his heel. He then turns back around to face Krist and tells him, "I don't know your past well, but I know you're angry, and Viktor is one of the causes of such rage. But it is never right to force a destructive emotion on others, especially on people who don't stand a chance against you."

    "You don't know anything," Krist answers him.

    Max nods his head to acknowledge it. "I didn't say that I did, didn't I? And besides, if you did continue with your plan, my entire family would definitely do something about it. I don't even care what this school's motto is."

     Krist chuckles, but then his expression changed like he was contemplating whether or not he should say it. 

     "It wasn't my plan," he finally opens up. "My Jacks felt like you needed a scare because of how you've treated them, so I just agreed. I didn't know it would come this far."

      "At this point, you should remove the 'my' before the word Jacks. You know damn well they don't care about you, and you know they're the only reason why your brotherhood is hated. Remember your first battle with Busters? The moment you lost your Jacks started leaving the stadium like they were embarrassed. They didn't even wait for you," Max reveals, making Krist look away because he knows about it too and he knows how their Jacks treat them.

     "You don't need hundreds of them. You only need a handful of loyal ones and..." Max pauses and looks at Jokers who was standing behind Krist. "And your brothers who take pride in what you do."

     Krist looks back at his Jokers and suddenly turns red, making Max give out a small smile thanks to the leader's reaction.

     "Oh, and that gun of yours," Max then says, pointing at the gun that's tucked underneath Krist's pants. "It's quite old so I realized that it's your personal gun."

     Krist confusingly takes out the gun and looks at it, "You're here to judge my gun now too?" he then asks.

     Max grins and answers him, "No. But I didn't know you were close to the original owner. That explains a lot."

     Krist's eyes opened wide from shock. "H-How did you—"

     Without waiting for Krist to finish, Max walks away. And as he was walking away, he looks over his shoulder and looks back at the Jokers's leader, "Don't forget about our bet Master Joker. I'm counting on it!"

     Marcus jogs towards Max as the nurse arrives. As they were walking away, Krist suddenly shouts, "Sinclaire!"

     Max doesn't turn back anymore but Krist continues anyway. "I never wanted to hurt anyone. It was never my intention, but it got out of control. The Jacks were out of control. You might not believe me, but my brotherhood isn't as low as you think."

     Max smirks as Marcus helps him sit on the wheelchair that one of the nurses brought in. Without saying anything, Max points at the ceiling while the nurse pushes him away.

     Krist and the rest of the Jokers were confused for a second, but when they looked up, they realized that they actually placed cameras on the ceiling for the prank that they were supposed to do to Max earlier.

     It was supposed to broadcast Max's humiliation, but it seems as though it was able to broadcast the real Jokers. The ones without the pretentious clown masks. The ones who are proud to hold the title barons.

- END -