When Charles received the punch he had to take a few steps back. His first attack had been thwarted and on top of that he had received a very strong punch from someone he considered weak. He could only wonder how he had done it, did he even know about the existence of the red pills?
However, Arlen felt terribly good after taking that punch.
—But wasn't that the last post?
—How is he doing that to someone in the higher ranks?
—Had he lied about his position?
Charles was getting angry at the comments he was hearing. At a quick glance he saw how Brand wasn't moving, he simply had a smile on his face as he watched Arlen move quickly back towards Charles. Charles to buy a little time again erected a three foot high wall between the two.
—Don't jump!
By the time Arlen heard Kevin it was too late, he had already jumped, but with a difference, instead of jumping to get over the wall, he put one foot on the wall to jump again and get higher. With that movement he saw how a stone pillar was heading towards where he would have been if he had done the first thing, but he dodged it by separating his legs.
Arlen, who had a bit of luck, decided to rely on Charles' trick. He rested one foot on the stone pillar and jumped forward again in Charles' direction.
Charles when he saw the movements felt that Arlen was cheating. In fact, he thought what was happening was impossible. Three months ago Arlen would not have been able to jump over the wall with such ease, or be able to use the pillar of earth to his advantage. He felt that the person being thrown at him was a totally different person.
Charles saw Arlen's figure blocking the Sun from him he realized that if he didn't get serious he would lose and the mere thought of that made him angry, it made his blood burn with rage. From the earthen floor he prepared an earthen pillar with his skill and threw it in the direction of Arlen, who received the pillar by covering his chest with his two forearms.
The blow from the pillar sent Arlen flying backwards and luckily the pillar would only give him a couple of big bruises and nothing serious.
"If you want to do anything else you're going to have to dodge those stone pillars."
After Edgar's advice, Arlen decided to take a couple of steps back and figure out what to do, but Charles wouldn't let him off that easy. Charles moved closer to Arlen and when he was far enough away he formed a pillar that he sent towards Arlen, but he dodged it.
Arlen saw a detail on the ground in front of him as Charles was coming, the ground was vibrating and suspecting it might be Charles' fault he decided to move to the side and next thing he knew there was a stone pillar from where the sand was vibrating to where he was. When he noticed it Arlen smiled. If he could tell where the pillars were coming from it was going to be easier for him to dodge it.
In fact, since he saw the earth vibrating to his left while Kevin was coming from the right, he decided to duck and dodge. So he decided to duck to avoid the pillar and rolled forward to give himself room to get up. But when he turned to face Charles, he was already in front of him.
—I got you.
That was the last thing Arlen heard before Charles punched him in the face with all the strength he had. Which is almost double Arlen's current strength, so Arlen fell to the ground. Charles took advantage of this to sit on top of him and punch him a couple of times before Brand grabbed him again with a hairtail and pulled him off.
—The battle is over.
—Leave me alone, on top of that now the fun was starting. I was just giving him what he deserved for dodging my pillars. The bloodless one was going to find out.
—Do you need help?
It was then that Brand realized that Joshua was there and, turning a deaf ear to Charles, addressed him.
—Which do you prefer, infirmary or director of the combat department?
—Nursing, today and always.
—Then if you can accompany the boy on the floor.
Joshua approached the wounded boy and although he already knew who he was, he could not but smile at the resemblance he bore to his parents.
—So you can smile too.
When he realized it Joshua went back to his usual callous face and pulled Arlen over his shoulder.
—I'm still human.
And he left with Arlen on top of him, who didn't understand anything or why he was being carried like that when he could walk perfectly well, but he let it pass.
—Who was it?
Kevin asked Brand before he left.
—It's someone from IOH who is dedicated to guarding this place and keeping it out of trouble. He'd be bored and probably watch the fight. But you guys go back to your business. I'm not going to be here, but there's an hour left before the end of class, practice your skills as I told you and get stronger. Until you can fight with your bloodline your skills will be your strong point.
And they all nodded and went back to their own thing while Brand went to Charles over his shoulder.
—Let me go, old man. I can walk. Don't disgrace me like that.
But Charles paid no attention to what Charles was telling him and just moved in the direction of Krist's office.
'It looks like I'm bringing out a sack of pride rather than a person.'
And Brand laughed at his own thought.
Not far away, in the woods belonging to the IOH Academy, were the sophomores and seniors of the combat department.
Among them you could see Leo King who entered a big tent followed by two guys who were his right hands inside the academy. Inside the tent 3 other people were waiting for them.
—Welcome leader!
The three people greeted the heir of the King family in unison.
—Well, let's quickly get to the main reason for the meeting. What do you say is going on with the drugs?
One of the three spoke as a representative.
—As you instructed, we distributed them among the sophomores and thanks to their addictive properties we were making money. But today the teachers showed up collecting most of the transactions.
—Are you sure that everyone is complying with the conditions of use?
—So far we haven't had any problems, it's as if the teachers follow us around and show up at transaction times.
So Leo thought for a moment before realizing who might have screwed up until his thoughts turned to his visit to the first-year students.
—I know what the problem is, and of course they were going to relate it to the sophomores... Shit.
A moment of silence ensued until the representative spoke.
—What do we do now?
—How did the others feel about not being able to take the drug?
—We have seen a clear drop in their merits today. We expect more to come in tomorrow, and with a desire to buy even more.
—Any ideas, you two?
—I think it's best to keep transitions to a minimum and do it yourself. They are attacking these people because they are afraid to go to the source of the drugs and cause a war.
—I think the times to expand the drug more freely is going to be at times when the academy takes in more people, during events, every quarter.
—As always, very good thinking. But I won't be able to be the source forever, otherwise it would give IOH and Luca an excuse to come after me. And yet if I only give the drug every quarter I won't be able to achieve my goal either. How many of the people who are members of the other big families were taking the drug?
—Very few.
Leo sighed as he thought about how to act now.
—How many new people are there in the King family?
—30, most of them coming from the same IOH.
—Let's see what you think of the following plan. We will give free pills to those who are in our family and keep the prices for those who are not. With this we lower the number of people who will want from outside, keep the loyalty of the new ones, and little by little those who betray their families for power will appear. Do you like it?
—It seems risky to me, but a solution.
—I agree with him. It seems to me a risky plan and one that will work for the long term instead of short term results.
—Well, life without risk is less fun and, besides, I wonder how the teachers will react against this plan.
—Then it's settled. For the glory of the Kings.
And when one of the two accompanying Leo King said that, then the other 4 repeated the last sentence.
—For the glory of the Kings.