Chapter 76 Moments Before The Fall...
The Next Morning ~
Ares got dressed in his academy uniform like usual and walked toward the academy's main building.
And as he was proceeding, he began to reflect on what had transpired yesterday.
"Even though it was unexpected to have Ayla join me, everything went smoothly and worked out well in the end," Ares muttered to himself.
***
Moments Before The Fall Of First-year Faction Leaders. ~
When Ares announced that he would be forming his own faction and the news spread, two students had already reached out to him and requested to join his side.
...And that two students were Eric Gunner and Penelope Benjamin, who previously participated in a mock gate with him.
However, Eric was already on Claude's side, and Penelope was a member of Diana's faction.
So Ares has already devised a plan to deal with Claude and Diana one at a time by using Eric and Penelope as informants to alert him of their activities and wait for the right time to deal with them.
But his plans were swiftly derailed when he was contacted by Ayla, and he was surprised when Ayla volunteered to join him.
She then informed Ares about her plan to deal with all of the faction leaders at once.
Yes, it was by creating that phony alliance.
Of course, Ares consented to Ayla's plan, although he was skeptical that it would not work.
But, to his astonishment, everything went as planned and the alliance was created successfully.
After seeing that everything is going according to that of Ayla's plot, he approached Ziona and convinced her to join in as well.
It was rather simple to persuade her to join him since he simply promised Ziona that she could battle multiple students at once.
Knowing Ziona's battle-crazed mentality, she consented to him without hesitation.
As the Academy hours came to a conclusion, he walked to the location Ayla had given him, accompanied by Livia and Ziona.
While Ayla, under the pretense of strategic planning, halted the faction leaders in the classroom.
And as soon as they stepped into the expansive training area where the meeting was meant to take place, it was Penelope and Eric's turn to play their parts.
"Whaaat! What exactly is Ares doing here? W-Wait T-There is even Livia and Ziona?" With a scared expression, Penelope yelled as her gaze fixed on Ares.
"Whoa! It's Ares The Executioner, run for your pathetic existence or he'll beat the snot out of you," Eric yelled, followed by Penelope, and began sprinting all around the training ground while screaming.
"Runnnnn!!!"
"Ahhhhh!!!"
"...."
"...You just had one job," Ares mumbled to himself as he observed Erics' overacting.
Seeing a big guy like Eric running about afraid sparked a panic among the students, and they lost their desire to fight and began running scared as well, without so much as thinking about fighting back.
Eric and Penelope's objective was to instill fear in the students, which worked very effectively because there was no one to lead or even calm them down.
As Ayla can only stop other faction leaders for a brief period of time, Ares had used this strategy to deal with all the students quickly and effortlessly.
Consequently, Ares allowed Livia and Ziona to start the carnage because there was little resistance from the students and they were mostly just running around.
However, there were some tough kids who attempted to fight back.
But Knowing Ares, Livia, and Ziona's prowess, all of the pupils gathered were beaten to a pulp and tossed all over the training area in a matter of minutes.
"...I just hope they don't get traumatized by this," Ares said, looking around at the students who were now beaten up unconscious.
"Don't worry; they'll be OK ...of course after a few days of nightmares," Irethiel commented.
"...."
After that, everything proceeded as Ayla had predicted, and Ares was chosen as the first-year representative.
And Ares decided to let Eric and Penelope stay with Claude and Diana respectively to keep an eye on them.
While Ayla, on the other hand, will be keeping Lucas in control.
So he could focus on dealing with the 2nd and 3rd-year representatives without being concerned about them.
***
The Present moment ~
As I was contemplating, I arrived at the advisor's training area, where the first period of today's classes was being held.
And as soon as I entered the training ground, Ziona welcomed me with her trademark wide smile, while Kevin just smiled awkwardly.
"Good Morning, Ares," Ziona greeted.
"She still wasn't pleased even after beating all those students so I had to spar with her for a few hours yesterday," Ares murmured as he noticed Ziona's menacing smirk.
"Why is every girl you encounter is as insane as you?" Irethiel inquired.
I actually don't have an answer to that, as I believe what Irethiel said is true.
"I'm still looking for a girl who isn't crazy in this accursed world," Ares replied telepathically to Irethiel.
"Good morning, Ziona. Did you get enough sleep after giving all of the students you beat yesterday nightmares?" Ares said sarcastically with a smile.
After yesterday, I became fairly close to Ziona, and I could now converse with her more comfortably.
"...."
"... I-It's their fault that they're weak," Ziona responded abruptly.
Gulp*
Kevin broke out in cold sweat as he overheard our conversation, unable to forget the spectacle from yesterday of hundreds of students being thrashed and tossed around the training grounds.
"Did you know that the student council has already named you as the first-year representative?" Ziona inquired Ares.
"Huh? When did that happen?" I stated as I had no information about this.
"It happened this morning, they put it on the Academy forum, and it may have already been updated on your special badge," Ziona said.
"...I see, they are rather fast," I muttered because it all transpired after Academy hours and I wasn't expecting them to obtain this information so soon.
"It could be what that Ayla girl was talking about," Irethiel speculated telepathically.
"Yeah, She may have released the information to the student council," Ares responded telepathically.
"So my brother might also be aware of it by now, doesn't he?" Ares grinned as he murmured.
"Oh yeah, I heard the 2nd year representative is your brother, is it true?" Kevin said suddenly with a smile on his face.
'What's the matter with this jerk? Why is he smiling so creepily?' Ares wondered as he noticed Kevin.
"Oh, it's true, right?" Curious, Ziona asked.
"Dumbasses, can't they tell by his name?" Irethiel spoke telepathically.
"You can't criticize them since you are the same as them; you're simply getting a little smarter by sticking with me," Ares remarked telepathically.
"...."
"That's correct, and I also heard your brother is fighting for the third-year representative position," I said.
"Oh, you mean Zerix? I am not on good terms with my family since the moment I was disowned, so I really don't care about him; and you may beat him all you want," Ziona stated.
"Yeah, I'll take you up on your offer, but first let me beat the shit out of my brother," Ares stated with a wide grin.
"Count me in as well," Ziona said, a large grin emerged on her face as well, and they both fist-bumped.
"...."
"...What the hell is wrong with them?" Kevin uttered, his face distorted when he saw Ares and Ziona grinning and fist-bumping.
***
And as we were conversing, Bianca soon arrived on the training ground.
"Good day, How are you all doing?" Bianca greeted us and looked between Ziona and me.
"I heard you guys sent hundreds of students to the infirmary yesterday," Bianca said.
"...."
"It wasn't me," Kevin clarified.
"I know you're not capable of doing that Kevin," Bianca replied.
"I was talking about Ares and Ziona," Bianca continued, glancing at us as we both averted our gazes and looked sideways.
"You guys did a tremendous job, as to be expected from my students," Bianca commented unexpectedly.
"Huh?" we all exclaimed in unison, bewildered by her statement.
"I was incredibly proud hearing the news that you guys fought more than a hundred students at once and came out victorious," Bianca added while smiling brightly.
"...."
"I'm not sure what she would have done if she had known how you handled those hundred students," Irethiel remarked.
When we heard Bianca's statement, we both looked at each other and controlled our laughter before answering.
"Pfft, sure, we fought exactly as you taught us," we agreed in unison with an innocent smile.
"...."
"Okay, considering how hard you guys are working, I'm going to teach you one of my skills right now, but how much you can learn and grasp is entirely up to you.
And to truly harness its entire potential, you must train and work hard," Bianca emphasized.
"...."
We were startled when we heard her because no one wants to impart their skills to anyone other than their disciples.
"Are you serious, Miss Bianca?" Ziona asked.
"Yeah, I'm sure, so go get your protective gear on, because it won't be as easy as you think," Bianca said with a grin.
Hearing her, we quickly changed into our protective gear and made our way to the Arena.
***