♛

AS KLIMENTO WAS BEING carried away by the medics, the other brotherhoods continued on with their battle. Busters was on the lead with three flags already placed on their base. Two more, and they'll be able to secure the first rank.

     "Where the fuck is Tanis?!" Master Joker angrily asks while he's pushing brotherhoods off the bridge. "I can't find a single weapon in this shithole. I don't think I'll be able to hold these bastards off any longer." 

     "I think he's on the other side of the grounds. He's with Hans and the others," Brave then answers, easily kicking a student in black who was approaching them with a knife.

     The students cheered for the two jesters who others didn't know were already struggling. Some were simply shocked to see how good they actually were with their offense and defense. I guess they just never realized how strong and how different Jokers' level really was compared to the lower brotherhoods because they're used to having Jokers in rank 6, which is supposed to be the lowest rank in J.S High.

     They forgot that Rank 6 is not a low rank at all.

     "Master Joker!" Someone suddenly called out as soon as Krist and Brave knocked out another student. The two of them then turned around and saw a member of Crazy 8 approaching them, holding a gun with no ammo left inside.

     "Master Joker, Siren sent me here to relay a message," the Crazy 8 stated, making both Krist and Brave look at him with shock on their faces.

     "Who the fuck are you?" Krist asks, but Brave shakes his head and points at the boy's shoulder instead. "That's not fucking important right now. Dude, you're arm's bleeding!"

     "I got shot when I was running here," he casually explains to Brave before looking back at Krist to answer his question this time. "And if you haven't realized it yet, I'm Executive No. 4, Alfred Hawks. I was with Felix earlier, but he's heading to where Tanis Hendrix is now to assist him."

     "Oh yeah, Hawks. Siren told me about the numbers found on your mask," Krist says, leaning close to see the tiny engraved number four on the side of Alfred's mask. "So, Felix is heading to Tanis now? Did you guys find what we were looking for?"

     "No, but Felix found the pattern to the bases. Siren asked you two to help out in case they get targeted. She also thinks it would take a while for the others to guess the pattern, so we have to utilize this before they do," Alfred explains, surprising the two jesters.

     "Pattern? You mean to say he knows where Busters' base will appear next? No fucking way," Krist asks in disbelief.

     "He does. That's why we need an extra hand," Alfred explains, and Krist and Brave look at each other before nodding their heads in agreement, running off to help Tanis and the others with no hint of hesitation.

     While the brotherhoods were heading to Tanis, Busters' leader, Viktor, was standing back to back with the leader of PHD, Kim Hee-joon. Dozens of students in black have been attacking the two powerful leaders since earlier, but all of them had nothing against the king and the prince. Despite having only one weapon at hand, Viktor and Joon were easily defeating them like they were just throwing out trash.

     "Ask your leader to train you better," Joon says with an expressionless face as he slashes a member of Secret Letter with his tiny Swiss army knife. Right after that, he kicks him off the bridge before handing the knife back to Viktor.

     Viktor had bruises all over, and the side of his mouth was even bleeding. It looks like a lot of brotherhoods decided to target him the moment the battle began.

     "You guys are fucking persistent," Viktor says with a sadistic grin, using the army knife to slash the brotherhood in front of him as well before kicking him off the bridge.

     "This is getting ridiculous. I think it was a bad idea to team up with you. We've been engaging in combat ever since the siren was heard," Joon says with frustration while Viktor stands right behind him.

     Viktor laughs in response, and then he looks over his shoulder and says with a smirk, "But doesn't this remind you of our first battle together with Paradox? I think we had sex right after the battle ended."

     "Fuck you," Joon answers back.

     "Oh, you want to switch? I don't mind."

     Joon elbows Viktor's back in annoyance before turning around to face him. Viktor turns around as well, but before he can say another word that would get him punched, Joon grabs the knife from Viktor's hand and pushes him aside.

     Viktor's eyes widened because he was inches away from falling off the bridge. But when he looked back, there was actually a student in black who was pointing a gun at him. Thankfully Joon threw his knife toward him on time, making the shooter fall off the bridge instead.

     "Great, now we don't have any fucking weapon," Joon complains before looking back at Viktor with annoyance. "If you're going to be a hindrance to me, I'd kick you off this bridge myself."

     "Sexy," Viktor replies with a smirk.

     Joon was seriously moments away from punching him in the gut for not taking this battle seriously, but then Viktor suddenly grabbed Joon's arm and pulled him towards him, wrapping his arms around him as a bullet came flying towards them. If Viktor didn't pull Joon on time, he would have been shot.

     "Believe me, I'd rather be annoying than angry," Viktor says with a much more serious expression.

     Joon stares back at him, but he immediately pushes the leader's arm away from his waist. "I'd rather you be quiet instead," he says back, making Viktor grin this time.

     While the two were preparing to engage in combat again, a brotherhood member wearing a mask approached them while holding a gun. It was the temporary leader of the rookie brotherhood, the Clan.

     "Master Viktor, this is the only weapon we've seen so far," the member says as he hands the gun to Viktor.

     "Oh! Myko! You're not wet yet, which means you haven't fallen from the bridge like the others. I'm impressed," Viktor replies as he hands the gun to Joon. "So, any update on the others?"

     "Most of them are now assisting Master Tanis. I also heard that a member of Crazy 8 was able to figure out the pattern of the bases," the member named Myko explains, instantly making Viktor and Joon look at each other.

     "Campbell," Joon says, and an excited grin instantly appears on Viktor's face again.

     "Siren really scored a jackpot when he recruited that kid. It would have been such an achievement if I was able to recruit him for the Clan first," Viktor says before turning back to Myko. "Alright, tell them to hurry. We don't have much time."

     Myko nods his head, bows at the two leaders, and then runs off. 

     While Joon and Viktor went back to fighting off the brotherhoods, Felix was now running with Tanis and the others, heading to the base where Busters' logo would appear next.

     "You're sure about this, kid?" Tanis asks while Felix runs beside him.

     "I'm sure. At Gallant's current base, that's where Busters' base will appear next," Felix explains with confidence, and Tanis no longer questions it and just nods his head.

     "Krist and Brave are already clearing the path to the Gallants' base," Hans then explains. "We just have to assist Tanis until he puts his flag down. And then we'll be able to—" As Hans was talking, a bomb suddenly dropped right in front of them, instantly making all of the stop.

     "Fuck," Tanis says, quickly grabbing Felix and wrapping his arms around him so they can take cover. Soon after, the bomb explodes, making Hans and Red fall off the bridge because of the impact. The bomb also released a thick gas that made the area almost hard to navigate.

     Tanis coughs and lets go of Felix, glad that he is uninjured. "You okay?" Tanis asks, his expression still blank, but Felix can tell that he's concerned.

     "I am. Thank you," Felix answers before looking down the bridge to see Hans and Red signaling them to continue. "We have to go. The buzzer will be heard soon."

     "We have to go through this smoke first," Tanis replies, grabbing Felix's hand as they carefully cross the bridge, unaware of what was in front of them because of the thick smoke.

     Felix couldn't help but be worried because he's not the fighter type. If they get ambushed now, he'll have to rely on Tanis's strength alone. But looking at the current state of 'The Serpent,' it was obvious that the Buster's second strongest was starting to get tired too.

     "If you're worried about my endurance, then you don't have to fret. I'm a king, after all," Tanis suddenly says, his expressionless face turning into a confident smirk, making Felix's hair stand because he has never seen someone with such a strong presence before apart from Max.

     Busters definitely is a brotherhood that held the king title well.

     "Alright, once we cross the bridge, I want you to stay behind me," Tanis then explains.

     "W-Why?" Felix nervously asks.

     Before Tanis could even answer the question, the two of them already crossed the bridge. Tanis lets go of Felix's hand, and right after, the smoke disappears, revealing two members of Checkmate standing right in front of them, pointing guns in their direction.

      "That's why," Tanis finally replies before lifting both his hands up, making Felix do the same.

     "Uchdryd, the bomb you sent us was a cute gift," Tanis says as Checkmate's leader, Uchdryd Rease, approaches Tanis with a smile on his face.

     "I can't believe you guys are working together again. It's giving me traumatic flashbacks," Uchdryd says while pointing his gun at Tanis. "The guy you're with. He knows the pattern, doesn't he?" He then asks, making Felix gulp.

     "Tell us what the pattern is, and we won't shoot," Uchdryd then bargains.

     "And what makes you think that we do know it," Tanis asks back, obviously stalling.

     While Tanis is trying to think of a way to escape the situation, Felix checks the time and realizes that they only have a minute left before Busters' base appears at the location they're heading. They can't waste any more time, so Felix looks back at Uchdryd and the other member of Checkmate again, also thinking of ways how they'll be able to escape. But while Felix was trying his best not to panic, Tanis suddenly leans to him and whispers, "There's a small bomb attached on the bridge's pole. I want you to grab it and throw it at them."

     "Are you crazy?! They're holding a gun!" Felix whispers back.

     "Should I be scared then?" Tanis suddenly asks back, instantly making Felix's eyes widen in shock. Ever since the battle started, Felix has been nervous and uneasy. But not once has he seen Tanis and the others show the same thing. For the first time, he felt great pride, almost like he was proud to have someone like Tanis to be their king.

    His confidence and certainty were definitely contagious.

     "You guys definitely have to win," Felix says with a wide smile as he finally runs towards the pole where the bomb could be found.

     The members of Checkmates were caught off guard when they saw Felix running towards the pole. But before they could even target him, Tanis suddenly whistles at them and says, "Oh yeah, Uchdryd, guns are meant for shooting. But if you don't have bullets, then what's the point?"

     Uchdryd's eyes widened in shock, surprised that Tanis was able to realize that one of the guns was actually unloaded.

     "You sly snake," Uchdryd says as the other member throws the empty gun away. Uchdryd was about to shoot Tanis, but out of nowhere, Tanis jumped off the bridge, surprising the two Checkmates because they never thought Tanis would actually jump.

     Uchdryd and his co-member ran to the bridge to check on Tanis, but as soon as they were on the bridge, Felix approached them with a bomb.

     "That little guy's right behind us, isn't it?" Uchdryd asks his co-member, who could only sigh in defeat.

     "King's order," Felix says before finally throwing the bomb in their direction, instantly making Uchdryd and his co-member fall off the bridge.

     Smoke appears again, and Felix immediately looks around to search for Tanis. Felix thought that Tanis really did jump off the bridge, but when he looked down, he saw that Tanis was actually underneath the bridge instead, holding onto the cable.

     "You're out of your mind," Felix says as he reaches out to help Tanis get back up from the bridge. Their size difference made it difficult, but after a couple of attempts, Felix was finally able to get Tanis back up.

     After climbing back with Felix's assistance, Tanis turned away from Felix so Felix wouldn't see him holding onto his shoulder. After the stunt he did earlier, Tanis ended up spraining his shoulder, so he can barely move his arm now because of it. But while Tanis was massaging his shoulder, a buzzer sound was suddenly heard, indicating that the bases had finally changed.

     "Shit, we gotta go. We only have two minutes before the base changes again," Felix explains.

     The smoke clears, and the two of them spot a bunch of brotherhoods that are guarding Busters' base. Tanis curses, but then he turns to Felix and tells him, "Head to the central island. Hans and Red are probably climbing the ladder by now. When you meet them, head to Viktor and tell him where the next base will appear."

     "How about you?"

    Tanis takes a deep breath and looks back at the brotherhoods before looking back at Felix. "I have a minute and a half left before the base changes again. That's enough time. Now go!"

     Felix nods his head and immediately runs to the central island as Tanis instructed. Tanis, of course, was only acting like he could do it. He knew deep down that he might not be able to make it, especially with his injured shoulder. But doubts weren't going to get him anywhere, so without any hesitations, Tanis finally made a run for it.

     Thankfully, with the help of Felix, Tanis was already close to where their base was. Without stopping, Tanis pressed on, running and pushing people away as he got closer to the base. He continued running and running, but as he was getting closer, a member of Red Tigers suddenly stopped him, instantly making Tanis curse under his breath.

    "I have no fucking time for this," Tanis whispers as he looks around, hoping to look for a way out. The member of the Red Tigers was bigger than him, so tackling him would be impossible, especially with the condition of his shoulder. But Tanis simply hoped for the best and still ran toward him, making the Red Tiger run toward him as well.

     The two of them were about to clash, but as they were only inches away from each other, someone suddenly threw a rope and wrapped it around the Red Tiger's neck. With one strong thug, the Red Tiger falls backward and rolls down the bridge.

     "Looks like you needed help," Krist says with a grin, holding onto a rope that he found earlier while Brave stood beside him.

     "What took you guys so long?!" Tanis angrily asks.

     "Scold us later. You only have a few minutes left before the base changes again, so run now!" Brave shouts, and Tanis nods his head and starts running again.

     Tanis's chest was beating fast as Master Joker and Brave held the others off, giving him a clear path so he could finally put his flag down. With his adrenaline going to its highest limit, everything looked like it went in slow motion. Students were cheering, gunshots and bombs were heard in the background, and his heart was practically beating in his ear.

     Soon after, everything stopped. Tanis blinked, and before he knew it, the crowd was up on their feet, cheering for him.

     Tanis looked down and realized that he was successfully able to put his flag down on time. And just a second after that, the buzzer sound was heard, and the base changed again.

     The crowd cheers even louder as the LED screen shows Busters' score of 4 points. They couldn't believe the skill that Tanis had displayed. Both his endurance and strength were definitely something people should no longer question.

     "Those who follow the will of the kings shall walk the path of never-ending victories," Tanis recites before kneeling down and bowing his head, relief finally consuming him after everything he had endured.

     "Tanis Hendrix of Busters, an exit has now been opened. Please step out of the battle grounds immediately."

     "Looks like the battle is getting heated! Will we finally have our first winner?" Alisa Armstrong, the battle's commentator, says she continues to watch the battle without missing a single detail. "But before that, let's look at the scoreboard. Busters is leading with four flags. Checkmate still only has two flags down, as well as the Gallants and Scarlet Letter. Oh, but wait, Red Tigers are catching up with three flags. And then we have one flag for the Revels and Archers. The brotherhoods PHD, BND, Crazy 8, Cigarettes, Jokers, and the Clan have still yet to place a flag down on their base," Alisa explains.

     "The battle is still heated since a lot of brotherhoods haven't left the grounds yet, but once the numbers get smaller, that's when everyone's going to start chasing time. After all, this battle has no time limit. The first six brotherhoods to finish are the ones who will get the next round, so these brotherhoods definitely have to work on their offense and defense in order to win," Alisa then explains further.

     While Tanis was being assisted by the medic, Felix got to the central island in one piece. And just like Tanis expected, Hans arrived, soaking wet after falling off the bridge earlier.

     "Did Tanis make it?" Hans asks, panting heavily after climbing the ladder.

     "He did," Felix answers. "And Red? Where is he?"

     "He's fighting with a bunch of brotherhoods on water. We didn't have much time, so I had to let Marcus and Arjun help him instead."

     "Well, we have to head to Viktor next. He's the last one with the flag. If he gets to place his flag down, they'll win, and he'll have to exit the grounds," Felix says, and Hans nods his head and looks around to find where the crazy king is.

     "There!" He shouts when he immediately spots him on the other side of the battle grounds. "He's still with Joon."

     "Perfect. Their base will appear at that side next," Felix says, preparing to run. But before he could take a step, Hans suddenly grabbed Felix so he could ride on his back.

     "You don't mind, right?" BND's leader asks.

     Felix felt a little embarrassed to be carried like that in front of everyone despite wearing a mask, but he knew that this would be faster. "It's not like I have a choice," he answers instead.

     "Well, I'm pretty sure you won't mind, but an underling of mine would," Hans then teases, but before Felix could react, Hans started running to where Viktor and Joon were.

     "Hold onto me and cover your head!" Hans shouted, and Felix immediately did what they were told.

     Hans continued running towards the leaders, avoiding those who were trying to stop them. Thankfully, Blade spots them and starts assisting them with his bow while Kim Hansol of BND delivers a bunch of arrows to him, arrows he stole from a few members of Archers earlier.

     "How many arrows do you still need?" Hansol asks.

     "More," Blade replies with a serious expression, and Hansol can only sigh and run off to find more for the now serious prince.

     "Hurry guys...we don't have much time," Blade whispers to himself before shooting a brotherhood member who was about to grab Felix.

     Thanks to Blade's assistance, Hans and Felix got to where Viktor and Joon were without any worry.

     "Oh, my duke! You fell off the bridge?" Viktor suddenly asks when he notices that Hans is actually wet. Right after, he started laughing, almost making Hans punch him in annoyance.

     "If we weren't in a crisis right now, I would have pushed you off this bridge," Hans threatens, and Viktor finally stops laughing.

     Viktor then looks at Felix, who is riding behind Hans's back. He was about to say something to him, but then, out of nowhere, someone started shooting at them.

     Viktor immediately grabbed Joon and covered him. Hans tried protecting Felix too, but his leg got shot, instantly making him lose balance. He stumbles back, and before he can even react, Felix slides off him and falls off the bridge.

     "Felix!" Hans shouts.

     "The Clan's base!" Felix shouts back before finally falling into the water, indicating that Busters' base is going to appear next to the base where the Clan's logo is.

     Hans curses and holds onto his bleeding leg, while Viktor lets go of Joon and turns to the other bridge to see which bastards started shooting at them earlier.

     "I-It's the Clan's base...you have to...move," Hans says, removing his necktie so he could tie his bleeding leg with it.

     "Are you okay?" Joon then asks so he can help Hans, but Hans pushes him away and shouts, "Don't waste any more time. Move!"

     Joon took a deep breath and looked at Viktor, who was glaring at a group of brotherhoods who were staring back at them from the other bridge. It was the rookie brotherhood, the Revels.

    "Viktor, we have to go now," Joon says, pulling Viktor's arm and forcing him to look away from the Revels.

     The two of them were heading to the Clan's base thanks to Felix's observation, but because of what happened, the others also heard about it, so they were heading to the Clan's base as well to stop Viktor from putting his flag down.

     "Those bastards don't know how to quit!" Viktor shouts as he continues running with Joon. But while they were running, a bunch of brotherhoods started shooting at them again. Despite trying their best to dodge it, Viktor got scraped on the shoulder, while Joon got hit on his arm.

     "S-Shit," Joon stops, holding onto his now bleeding arm.

     "We're not gonna make it like this. You have to run to your base. I'll hold them off," Joon says as he slowly pulls a gun out of his pocket, which was the gun that Myko gave them earlier.

     "Bullshit. I know what you're planning. I'm not leaving you," Viktor replies, angering Joon.

     "You have to fucking put your flag down first so you can leave this battle grounds for fuck's sake!" Joon shouts. "They're targeting you, Viktor! If they shot you with that bullet, you won't be able to put your flag down, and you're going to lose. You cannot fail here, Vi. Do you understand me?"

     Viktor doesn't answer, so Joon aggressively grabs him by the collar and asks him again, "Do fucking understand me?!"

     Viktor clenched his fist in anger, but then someone started shooting at them again, immediately making the two duck and cover.

     "Run now! I'll hold them off!" Joon shouts for the last time before pushing Viktor away from him.

     Viktor didn't want to move, but he didn't have any choice as he finally started running towards the base where their logo would appear.

     Joon stood back up and looked around to find who was shooting at them. When he saw that it was two members of Revels who were on another bridge, Joon immediately started shooting at the bridge, breaking the cable and ultimately making the bridge tilt.

   The members of Revel fall off, and Joon looks back to see Viktor still running. He then looks around and spots a bunch of other brotherhoods chasing after Viktor, so Joon takes a deep breath and closes his eyes. As soon as he opened them back, he immediately started shooting at their legs, not even missing a single shot.

     When it seemed like Viktor was going to make it, Joon sighed in relief. But it was way too early to celebrate because Joon noticed that another member of Revel was chasing after Viktor with a gun.

     Joon points at his target and pulls the trigger, but then he realizes that he no longer has any bullets.

     "Shit," he curses.

     Joon thought that Viktor could at least be able to handle that one brotherhood member, but then he noticed that this particular student in black wasn't shooting at Viktor at all as he chased after him, almost like he was making sure not to waste his bullet in case he missed.

     At that moment, something inside Joon sparked.

     "H-He has the bullet," Joon says. "He has the bullet!" He then shouts.

     Viktor overhears him, so he looks back and spots the Revel chasing after him. Joon thought Viktor would stop running, but he didn't. Viktor was already so close to the base. If he just puts his flag down, then it would be over.

     "Don't stop. Whatever happens, don't stop," Joon says as he starts running to the Revel so he can tackle him down.

     But as Viktor was running, another member of Revels appeared on the other bridge and started shooting at Viktor. Viktor got hit, but even though he was already covered in blood, he still didn't stop.

     Viktor ran and ran. His eyes focused on the base that was now in front of him. His body was also aching all over, but the crowd continued to cheer on him.

     "Our king! You can do it!" They shouted.

     Viktor's heart started to beat faster as he was now clenching onto their flag. A bunch of brotherhoods were chasing him now, some shooting him as well. But thankfully, Siren and the others arrived on time and started assisting him.

     "Run, our king. Run!" Siren shouts, blocking those who were trying to stop Viktor.

     Viktor turns back and finds Siren, Cj, and Hans blocking the bridge, making sure no one gets to him.

     "Don't turn back, you asshole! Just go!" Cj then shouts back, blood oozing out of his mouth, too, as he was being punched by a bunch of brotherhoods.

     Viktor ran faster and faster as the cheers were heard in the stadium. Even the students in the lower houses were cheering, some even looking emotional as they had never seen such teamwork from other brotherhoods before.

     The buzzer sound was once again heard, and at that very moment, Busters' logo appeared in front of him.

     "For J.S High!" Viktor shouted.

     "We shall conquer!" The white uniforms in the stadium suddenly shouted back, their loud voices almost making the other brotherhoods stop whatever they were doing because of how shocked they were to hear such a powerful chant.

     With all his might, Viktor jumped towards the base and finally placed his flag down. And in that very moment, siren sounds were heard, and every single white uniform in the bleachers stood from their seats and immediately started jumping for joy.

     "Hell yeah!" Viktor shouted as he also started jumping up and down in excitement.

     "First winner...rank 1, Busters." The robotic female voice announces as Busters' logo appears on the screen.

     Everyone was celebrating, the cheers only distracting the other brotherhoods who were still trying to finish the task. But as Viktor continued jumping, he turned back around and suddenly saw that Hee-joon was actually standing right behind him.

     "Joon?" Viktor called out, but Joon wasn't moving.

     The cheers in the crowd slowly started to quiet down as Viktor immediately stood in front of Joon. As soon as he faced him, Viktor's eyes widened in shock when he saw that Joon was actually bleeding all over.

     "H-Hey...what the hell did you do? I told you, didn't I? You don't have to catch every bullet for me. You still have to put your flag down. PHD is next. This isn't over yet," Viktor says as Joon looks at him with a smile.

     Joon reaches out to Viktor, and then he leans close and suddenly whispers something in his ear.

     "N-No matter what...h-happens...p-protect our house. P-Protect the s-students...of J.S High," Joon whispers, instantly making Viktor's heart drop.

     "The bullet. You took...the bullet...for me?" Viktor asks, his hands almost shaking. But when Viktor looked back at Joon, blood started oozing out of Joon's eyes, and as soon as Viktor saw it, his strong aura practically suffocated everyone at the stadium, terrifying everyone who was in the battle grounds.

     Like Viktor said earlier. It's better to have him annoying...than angry.

- END -