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"MY NAME IS RIVER Hansen, Sky's twin brother," the man Max thought was Sky Hansen reveals, leaving Max confused and speechless. He couldn't quite process it for a couple of seconds, but when he finally got to connect the dots, Max couldn't help but open his mouth wide from shock.

     "R-River...Sky...twins...Cindy...the funeral," Max mumbles to himself as he tries his best to understand the situation as much as he could.

     When everything finally came together, Max takes a deep breath and composes himself before saying, "I have a lot of things to say, but I want to ask you a few questions first. I hope you'll be able to answer them for me."

     River didn't say anything to disagree with it, so Max starts asking his questions before he misses another opportunity like this again. "The one who we have been meeting here, our new club advisor, that wasn't you, was it?" He asks first.

     "No," River answers with no hint of hesitation.

     "You went to Serenity's funeral, is that correct?" Max then asks.

     River was a bit surprised after hearing the second question because he wasn't expecting Max to know that information, but he eventually nods his head and answered, "Yes."

     As soon as Max heard his answer, he pauses and stares at River for a couple of seconds before finally asking his last question. "Sky...is he Siren?"

     The room falls silent as the two white uniforms stared at each other with intensity. After so much anticipation, River finally opened his mouth to give an answer. As River gave what Max wanted to hear, Max's eyes instantly widened from shock, not believing a single word that this truthful man just uttered.

...

The stadium was jam-packed as the students filled the seats one after the other. Felix and the rest of the members of Omega Society eventually arrived at the scene where they met up with Eren and Payton who were still shocked after what happened.

     "Felix! Where's Max?" Payton asks as the omega society sat beside the other societies.

     "Max is still at the clubroom. He's talking to Sky," Felix reveals, surprising Payton.

     "S-Sky? He's here? He showed himself at the clubroom?" Payton asks with a shocked expression, and Felix could only nod his head as Payton massaged his forehead in frustration. He wasn't expecting all this to happen so suddenly. Now everything's just a mess.

     "Hopefully Max doesn't beat him to death," Payton says before taking a seat beside Felix. "After giving us that shitty assignment, he dared to show himself to us now? He's crazy if he thinks Max won't let this slide."

     "I'm confident that Max wouldn't do anything rash. For the time being, we should be more concerned about what happened between you and the Royals. I thought you just showed them the envelope. Why are they declaring war now?" Felix then asks, frustrating Payton even more.

     "I don't know okay? The prince got mad while Viktor just started laughing, and then they pulled Crazy 8's flag right after. I don't even know why they'd pull it. It's not like Sky's connected to Crazy 8, right?" Payton asks, and Felix couldn't really say anything.

     As others might not know, Felix is a member of Crazy 8, but he's just as confused as everyone else because there's a reason why their brotherhood motto is "What is hidden, cannot be touched."

     Felix doesn't know Siren's real identity either.

     In fact, no one knows Siren's real identity nor does Felix know the other members of Crazy 8. Siren made sure that Crazy 8 never moves as a group other than when they're in a battle. She gives orders and directions separately and individually, so it's rare for the members to meet each other.

     Felix knows nothing about the other members, especially since Siren gave him a separate mission, and that's to investigate the vice president. He's not sure if Sky's a member himself, or if he was only given a mission to spread the rumors. Either way, he should be more careful around Sky for the time being so he wouldn't get any trouble with Siren.

     It's all confusing to him, but one thing's for sure, Siren wouldn't do anything so flashy and careless. She's been concealing their brotherhood's identity from the very beginning. Deciding to do something like this out of the blue will not only jeopardize their oath of secrecy, but it will ruin everything that Siren has planned from the start.

     "Good morning J.S High! And welcome to the first brotherhood battle of this term!" The commentator announces, making the entire stadium cheer while the brotherhoods started to appear one by one.

     "Before we begin our war, we will first reveal the challenger. In a count of three, I want you all to shout 'pull the flag'! Are you ready?! Three...two...one!"

    "Pull the flag!" The white uniforms shouted, and in an instant, the prince's flag, also known as Pretty, Hot, and Dangerous, falls to the ground, making everyone stand from their seats as they shouted in excitement.

     "Now for the challenged..."

     Everyone waited for another flag to fall, and after a few seconds, Crazy 8's flag drops to the ground, making the cheers grow louder. A battle between PHD and Crazy 8 was definitely something everyone is excited about.

     As everyone was getting ready, the rest of the brotherhoods finally entered the stadium, including the infamous Royals. Everyone stood up from their seats and bowed to them as Busters proceeded to the stage while PHD—along with Crazy 8—were asked to head to the armory to get their weapons ready.

     Some of the members of Alpha Society then cleared the middle of the stadium to present PHD's battle grounds. The students started talking with each other, guessing what kind of crazy grounds it would be, but to everyone's surprise, the grounds didn't open. It was just blank.

     "All clear!" The leader of the alpha society announced, shocking the white uniforms.

     "PHD is battling Crazy 8 with a blank battleground?" Felix asks with disbelief, suddenly growing anxious. He was about to stand from his seat, but just in time, Max arrives at the scene, stopping him.

     The omega society looked at Max, expecting to see him have bruises on his face since they thought he and Sky would have brawled in the clubroom, but it looks like Max was fine.

     "Max, where's Sky?" Payton asks with a worried expression.

     Max takes a deep breath and sits beside Felix. "He had to leave. Apparently, something came up," Max explains to them, confusing his clubmates. Max didn't want to explain further, but before he could say anything else, he notices Felix and unconsciously asks, "Felix, what are you doing here?"

     Everyone was confused, especially Felix. When Max saw their reaction, he eventually realized what he said, so he didn't change his expression or act surprised so he wouldn't get caught.

     "W-What do you mean? Where would I be if not here?" Felix asks, mentally making Max curse.

     "I forgot. He doesn't know that I know he's a member of Crazy 8." Max thought to himself before clearing his throat and saying, "Well I thought you'd be looking for Ari and Ervin. Didn't I ask you to do that before you guys left?"

     Felix furrows his brows and answers, "N-No, you didn't. You only told me to head here with the rest of the omegas."

     Max acted confused so he just laughed it off and said, "Is that so? I must have forgotten to tell you since I was busy with Sky earlier, but I guess that's fine. They might be with their other clubmates too."

     Felix was still confused, but he thankfully doesn't say anything anymore as the members of the Elites went to them, asking for their bets. Payton and the rest of the members of Omega Society placed their bets, and when it was Max's turn, he looks at the screen first. Surprisingly enough, the bets were almost equal between PHD and Crazy 8. Max thought Crazy 8 would lose the bet, but it seems like they also have a lot of fans, especially since Crazy 8 rarely battles.

     "Mr. Sinclaire. Your bet please," Dustin says as he shakes the tablet that he was holding. Max looks back at him and clears his throat before finally placing his bet. PHD was the group that he picked, adding 25,000 dollars to their name to widen the gap, which was something that the others weren't surprised about anymore.

     Dustin thanks him and proceeds to move the other student as the brotherhoods who will be battling for the day start walking out of the armory.

     "To begin the battle, let us all give our respect to the challenged, the unbreakable princes, Pretty, Hot, and Dangerous!" The commentator announced as the white uniforms shouted from the top of their lungs to show their support. Since they're also the challenger, two of their members had to stay with the rest of the royals, leaving them with 8 members so they could have equal members with Crazy 8. Max also noticed that none of them carried any weapons except for Kim Hee-joon who was carrying a gun.

     "The prince must be really pissed to be only carrying that gun and choosing a blank battle ground." Payton comments, making Max and the others look at him.

     "What do you mean by that? You think he's confident?" Max asks him.

     "Think? No, I know he's confident. Hee-joon is known as the greatest shooter among all the brotherhoods, not just in J.S High but in all the houses, considering how he's the only one with a 99.9 percent accuracy. If you see him holding his personal gun, you know you're screwed." Payton explains, leaving Max speechless.

     Right after that, the brotherhood wearing masks appeared.

     "Now for the challenged, the mysteriously elegant marquis, our house's rank 4, Crazy 8!"

     The white uniforms continued to cheer as Crazy 8 made their entrance. Max immediately started counting them, and when he realized that they are eight of them, Max furrowed his brows in confusion. He stared at the members, checking if he counted it wrong, but when he still counted eight, his eyes widened from shock and realization.

     He slowly looked back at Felix before looking back at the members of the marquis.

     "There's more of them...there are more than 8 members of Crazy 8." Max thought to himself.

     Max realized that besides Felix, there might be more members of Crazy 8 who you'd think are just regular white uniforms, but in fact, they're the marquis. If this was the case, how many more members do Crazy 8 have? How does their brotherhood even work?

     "The bets are all in." A voice announces, and the white uniforms automatically looked at the screen to see who had the highest bet. Though it was already obvious, everyone still cheered when they saw that Pretty, Hot and Dangerous got the highest bets with $85,000 compared to Crazy 8 who only had $57,000.

     "PHD has the highest bet. They are given the ten-second advantage."

     As obvious as it was, the members of PHD didn't even react to winning the bet. They just went to their spots, standing in a diamond formation like they knew exactly that this was going to happen. Crazy 8 on the other hand started talking to each other first before standing in a formation themselves.

     "Now for the mechanics of the battle. Within twelve minutes, the first brotherhood to place their flag on the enemy base wins. Any weapon is allowed except for the weapons listed on the screen. Long-range weapons are only allowed for those who have permits. And the body part with the X mark is the part that cannot be targeted. If no one gets to place their flag on the enemy base when the twelve-minute count is over, it is an automatic draw. The brotherhood that does not follow the rules will automatically be disqualified, leaving the opponent the winner. Good luck, and let the best brotherhood win."

     As usual, a white uniform runs to Viktor's side, holding a case that contained the king's gun. Viktor, who was lazily watching the battle, not even worried about the rumor that's about to spread, takes the gun out of the case. He then pulls out a handkerchief and starts cleaning it.

     "The battle will begin in 5...4...3...2..."

     Right after the countdown, Viktor pulls the trigger. Everyone cheered, but as soon as the gunshot was heard, the lights suddenly turned off, making the students gasp from shock instead.

     "W-what? is the power out?" Max confusingly asks, trying to see better.

     The students were about to turn on the flashlight on their phones, but then the commentator, Alisa Armstrong, announces, "We request that all students keep their lights off. I repeat, we request that all students keep their lights off."

     As soon as they heard the announcement, Max's eyes widened from shock as he says, "It's part of their battleground...the princes purposely made their grounds dark. How on earth is he going to shoot?"

    They couldn't believe what was going on. Even Crazy 8 was surprised since they weren't expecting that there wouldn't be any light at all. The entire stadium was quiet as the large LED screen at the front changed, showing the 10-second countdown for PHD's advantage.

    The countdown starts, and the first two seconds were extremely silent. But as soon as the number 8 was shown, a gunshot was suddenly heard, almost making the white uniforms gasp and flinch.

     Each second that passed was a gunshot that no one could even see. No one knew what the shots were for, or what was happening at the arena, but as soon as the countdown was over, the lights turned back on. Everyone squinted and even started scratching their eyes to adjust to the sudden light, but as soon as they saw what was at the battle ground, everyone, even the other brotherhoods, was left speechless.

     "No fucking way..." Felix says in shock, standing up from his seat to get a better look.

     Max looks at PHD's base and finds them at the exact same position as they were in before the lights turned off. But when he looked back at Crazy 8, he couldn't help but cover his mouth from shock.

    All the members of Crazy 8 were on the floor, all of them groaning after getting shot in the leg.

     Max couldn't believe it. Within those eight seconds, in complete darkness, Kim Hee-joon perfectly marked them and shot them with great precision. It made Max realize how different the princes...no, the royals in general, are compared to other brotherhoods. They're a different league on their own. It's no wonder they're so feared.

     "He just shot them all. He's a fucking monster," Payton says in disbelief.

     Everyone watched as one of the members of PHD handed Hee-joon their flag. Joon drops his gun on the floor and starts walking towards Crazy 8's base with no struggle.

    Siren, who was holding onto her bleeding leg, tries to stand with all her might, but for some reason, her legs felt numb. "S-Siren...the bullets have some kind of...numbing effects," one of the members explains, making Siren curse in anger.

    The circles on the ground start turning orange, indicating that Joon was getting closer. Siren was still trying to stand, but when she looked up, she saw Joon now standing right in front of him.

     The prince looks down on Siren and stares at her before kneeling down to level her. "It seems like you've been enjoying playing dirty recently...Siren. Do you have any idea how long we've been trying to search for your real identity?"

     Siren stares back at Joon and replies, "Go to fucking hell."

     "You've been too greedy Siren. If you thought you could be one of us by playing dirty then you're wrong. Just because your brotherhood got into the house of kings, doesn't automatically make you one..." Joon pauses and pushes Siren away so he could finally put their flag on Crazy 8's base. But just before Joon could do so, Siren turns to him and suddenly asks, "Sinclaire...he's the one who told you about that rumor, didn't he? Have the royals fallen so much to the point where they rely on a white uniform now?"

     Joon pauses upon hearing what Siren just said. He slowly turns to look back at him, and as soon as Siren saw his expression, he instantly felt terror. The serious and cold look that Joon always has on was now plastered with an intimidating grin.

    "You really are Viktor's bitch," Siren manages to say, only to make Joon grin even more.

     "If you know, then you better be careful because I bite more than I bark." Joon declares, sending a shiver down Siren's spine.

    "You fucking psycho."

     Joon chuckles and stares at Siren's face for one last time before saying, "By the way, your mask is slipping a little...Siren. Your voice is lower than usual. Where did the graceful and elegant marquis go?"

     As soon as Siren heard what Hee-joon just said, she immediately covered her mouth in shock, making the prince grin even more.

     Kim Hee-joon doesn't say anything anymore as he finally turns back around, making the circle on the ground turn red. He then places their flag on Crazy 8's base, and right after, a loud siren echoes inside the painfully quiet stadium.

     "The winner for today's battle...Pretty, Hot, and Dangerous!"

- END -