CHAPTER 289: CHAPTER 289.THE MASTERMIND

A young man with chocolate skin and sapphire-like eyes stood calm, straight, with wounds laced across his body, his saber glistening with otherworldly sharpness.

A couple of steps away from him lay a head, separated from its body, in a pool of crimson blood.

The head had an expression of panic and fear on its face, a testament to the emotional state of Farrell before he died.

"The winner of the life and death battle is Lian Yu!"

At the announcement, the stifling silence that pervaded the arena dwindled, giving a meteoritic rise to cheers that shook the whole place.

The spectators had to admit that they had really been taken on a roller coaster of emotions kind of battle.

The only time they had recently felt this same roller coaster of emotions was during the entrance exams of the first years, with equally high stakes that made the battles all the more exciting—death.

Tyrax Tantamount, Xyra, Bryce, alongside others who wanted nothing more than a nosedive of the reputation of the Sword Tribunal Society, had their previous expressions of glee morph into extremely displeased ones.

Bryce, for instance, had an extremely unpleasant expression on his face!

The plan had fallen through!

Damn!

He had only intended to cause Kailen Darkhaven some pain by letting the fellow lose his beloved junior brother Lian Yu, just like how, thanks to Kailen’s appearance in the empire, he had been ultimately left with no option but to eventually wind up as some Vimodial contractor to get rid of him, losing his freedom!

Bryce had never hated anyone more than anything in his life.

If previously he had only wanted to get rid of Kailen because Kailen was going to be a threat and a danger to the Darkhaven fortune and him in the future, now his reason had evolved into a more personal one—pure, unrelenting hatred!

Bryce thought back to when he approached Vesper Locke to help him with something.

Thanks to Vesper, the first ranked councillor, pressure had been put on the President of the Darkhaven Society, causing the fellow to have no option but to "step down."

Bryce had now become the President of the Darkhaven Society, easily.

He now had the power to get rid of Kailen Darkhaven through certain senior-year students who were, at worst, at the Supreme Stage Ascendant level!

Yet, the Vimodial, his contractor, had made it clear to him that the time was not ripe to get rid of Kailen Darkhaven.

At this moment, the Vimodial reminded him of this again, his voice commanding.

"Be patient. How will we get to suck his life force if someone else has to get rid of him?

The life force of a being is only potent when they are alive. The being’s death causes the life force to dissipate and vanish. How can I eventually benefit if another fellow has to get rid of him?

Have you ever seen a Vimodial contractor suck life force out of someone who is already dead?

No! That’s because life force can only be absorbed from living beings, as the dead have no importance to us!"

Cyrus sighed, reigning in his hatred.

"Also," the Vimodial whispered into his ear, manipulatively, "wouldn’t you love it to make him experience the most gruesome death possible, sucking the life force out of him as you look him in the eyes?"

Bryce couldn’t help but feel satisfied at the thought.

He finally managed to calm down.

"But the plan to get rid of Lian Yu fell through."

Bryce had approached Farrell Reaverson discreetly to exchange a few words with him.

Bryce had managed to luckily procure from a mermaid woman in a whorehouse in the capital a few years ago—during one of his lecherous visits—a piece of gossip which stated that Farrell Reaverson, a noble from Atlantis, had been going around harassing a young lady called Anaya, from a normal family, for attention.

This had become a big deal in Atlantis, as the young lady from the normal family should have just submitted helplessly due to his background, as others did, but instead she insulted the fellow and called him a pig, causing an uproar in the realm.

Later, rumors started spreading that Reaverson had gotten under the skirts of the young lady.

The escort had shared this with Bryce, her client at the time, because she found the story simply amusing.

However, on enrolling in the academy, he had found out through some members of the Darkhaven Society during some chit-chat that Farrell Reaverson, a genius runesmith and noble from Atlantis, had been bugging a lady called Anaya.

He’d be foolish not to connect the dots!

It was these two that the escort had luckily told him about a few years ago!

Also, he found out that this Anaya was the girlfriend of the Vice President of the Sword Tribunal Society, causing a perfect plan to form in his mind—one that would at least cause Kailen Darkhaven some pain before he would get rid of him at the appropriate time.

The plan led him to approach Farrell Reaverson.

He had told Farrell Reaverson that he admired his behavior, and that a man should take what was his by force, stating that he admired the fellow for constantly pursuing Anaya.

He further indicated that if he wanted to have Anaya, he had to bait Lian Yu out into the open and get rid of him. Only then could Anaya be his and his alone.

Foolish and shallow-minded, driven completely by his obsession with Anaya and the vain flattery of honey-tongued, manipulative Bryce, Farrell had agreed without seeing through the manipulation, believing that the new President of the Darkhaven Society had simply given him a piece of good advice as a like-minded person.

This had led to the small altercation between Anaya, Kailen, and Farrell at the Holiday Segar block!

Bryce had been behind it all!

When the battle had begun, he had expected things to go as planned.

Yet, it didn’t work as planned! The plan had failed completely.

Not only had he lost a pawn he could have used further for future developments, the Sword Tribunal Society had used this battle to tell several students that their society members were not pushovers easily bullied.

Staring at Kailen Darkhaven and company high-fiving and cheering for their Vice President’s victory, he couldn’t help but sigh in frustration!