As Cyrus' plan was formulating, a single person stepped out from the amorphous blob of students and made himself known.
"I am the spokesperson for this group as well as the one who brought them all together, my name is Titus and I represent the common student. We have banded together, as one people, in order to seize the resources that will inevitably be held only by a few at the top. I know and understand that this system is set in place to benefit merely the top of this Academy, while leaving the rest of us in the dust picking up the scraps that people like you leave…that! Will! Not! Happen!" said Titus, waving his arms dramatically as if he was some kind of messiah.
Cyrus looked at this Titus with a strange look in his eye but did not let the charade distract him from his ruminations. Instead, with this Titus fellow appearing…his plan now had finished formulating.
"So you gathered the so called 'common' students in order to band together and attain more resources for yourself, how good for you. I assume your goal is the directives that I have stored here?" asked Cyrus simply.
"Correct fiend, we will take that which is ours fr-" started Titus once more, before being interrupted by Cyrus' death stare…literally as he once again infused death essence into his sense.
"You must know what I did earlier to the few who tried to take what I have. Even if you do have enough numbers to overpower me, the first dozen or so will suffer greatly for their trouble. A limb or two perhaps?" said Cyrus as if he were talking about the weather.
A small wave of discontent started to form within the crowd, as getting one's limbs cut off is not exactly a pleasant experience. But Titus caught on to this, and expertly maneuvered to cease its growth.
"Fiend! Do not attempt sway us with your devilish words, sowing discord and disunity into our collective. We know your ways, but we also know that you cannot kill. We have first year members of the Vita department here, so anyone who sacrifices themselves will suffer no threat to their lives until they are brought to the senior members of the Vita department. Not only that, but we know how many directives you have in there…more than enough for our purposes. Those that sacrifice themselves in the line of battle will be awarded a directive from my own gains, on TOP of what they will already earn" said Titus, his voice full of confidence and authority.
Having their fears dissuade and their greed stoked like the fires of a forge, the crowds collective will took over crushing any individual fears or concerns they had just moments before.
Seeing them united even more than before, Cyrus slight smirk turned into a heinous smile.
"How about this then? I have been told by Professor Caligo that anything can be bought with Fidem here, anything at all. Surely I can pay some Fidem to skirt one of the rules once or twice, how about… the rule on not killing? You said it yourself, the system is set up to benefit the few over the many thus it would not be strange for me to be able to do so. Thus, I will say this right now: I will kill the first three people who attack me."
This immediately crushed any form of unity in one fell swoop as waves of discontentment began to form once more, with the crowd's fear and panic starting to spread from one individual to another.
Titus once more attempted to make a move to cease their worries, if he did so surely there would be no way for Cyrus to counter…sadly for him his opponent in this verbal contest was not done yet.
"Hence, I will make a proposition to everyone here. Today I have earned 6 directives from my fights, I will allow all of you to have it with no complaints from me" said Cyrus, as he opened the chest away from the sight of others and pulled out 6 directives one after the other. He then tied them together with one of his leftover pieces of fabric, turning it into a makeshift sling of sorts.
"These 6 directives are my peace offering to you lot, to not bother me again. Whether you follow that is up to you, but remember my promise. I will kill the first 3 people who try to aim for the chest behind me, while these 6 will be yours to keep."
With that, the crowd was completely won over by Cyrus. Knowing this easily, as anyone would who had eyes and a brain, he shot the directives towards the end of the path farthest from him and picked up his chest onto his back once more. Without even needing to witness the mad dash of the crowd towards the directives, as he heard the yells and sounds of confusion loud and clear, he walked down the now cleared path and headed to the gate of the housing complex.
As he left, he heard the sounds of greed turn into confusion, then anger, then the sounds of fighting began to ring out from behind him.
Cyrus, the cause of it all, merely nodded in affirmation.
"Foolish humans, allowing emotions to overcome rationale as always."