Chapter 929 (1/2)

After they had surrendered, Randidly walked over and stood looking at the completely placid pool of water that surrounded the arena in the quarry. There wasn’t a ripple to be seen on the crystal clear water. Behind him, the audience was finally starting to wake up from the violence it had just witnessed.

Before him, Randidly let his eyes glaze over as he traced the lines of the revealed bedrock.

Behind him, Donnyton slowly grasped that something had irrevocably changed.

Helen came to stand next to Randidly. “You lost your temper.”

Snorting, Randidly shrugged in acknowledgment. It was not like he could deny it now. The proof of it was too visible. Especially for Helen, who had experienced the ebb and flow of his moods for quite some time.

When Randidly didn’t say anything else, Helen continued to speak. “Are there not other groups who will follow you on this world? This is your homeworld, after all. This betrayal need not be a big thing.”

That earned a scowl from Randidly. Some of the tension returned to his shoulders as he tightened his right hand into a warm fist. But then he sighed, and all of the tension sluiced out of him and into that placid water beneath him. “...you are right. I own a company, or at least I used to. And also there is an Order that I sit at the head of. If all else fails, I’ll be able to influence those organizations to go down the route of images, should Donnyton choose…”

Randidly trailed off. What had they even chosen here? It was one dumb action by one reckless individual. Most of the other details of his relationship with them hadn’t changed. The monolith that was Donnyton can’t be shaken so easily, could it?

But now I know this could happen. Randidly thought sadly. That even now, they need me to protect them from themselves. And without a thought, I stepped in and fixed it. If I continue to protect them like this… they won’t grow. No matter how realistic I make the threat, I spared them the consequences of Stan and Eli’s foolish plan. They will correct, but…

Not enough.

“Probably the Order would be my choice,” Randidly said finally. “It is respected amongst the other Orders. There are individuals there with talent. But it might become a geographic problem, more than anything else…”

The Order would need a base. That base would need to be an area that wouldn’t be politically troublesome by setting up within another Zone, while also having the reach to influence the rest of Earth. Balancing those two issues was almost impossible, considering the current state of affairs.

“Is there a plan for the next challenge?” Helen’s voice softened as she moved past the difficult conversation about Randidly’s relationship with Donnyton. For her willingness to allow this to proceed, Randidly was immensely thankful.

Because, without him even realizing it, Donnyton had always been that avenue to spreading the strength of images throughout the world. That was what he had imagined. And now… well, likely he would struggle to understand what had exactly happened for quite a while.

“No,” Randidly said finally. “Although if my memory serves… you might not get the chance to participate. This next rung… will probably be more about brute force than anything else.”

Helen raised an eyebrow, but Randidly just shrugged.

*****

“So, give me a very short and compelling explanation for why that was necessary,” Mrs. Hamilton said with steel in her voice. Her fingers flexed with all the subtlety of a bear trap being wound open. “If you do not…”

“You would resort to violence without a trial? What happened to the rule of law in Donnyton?” Stan’s face remained an impassive mask even as he had the nerve to snark. Mrs. Hamilton just looked at him.

Small beads of sweat began to form on his forehead. Finally, he broke and shook his head. “...it was a joke. Look, we learned a lot from that challenge. And when Clarissa goes up there for this next one-”

“It’s like you didn’t hear me give you instructions.” Mrs. Hamilton said icily. Currently, the individuals in the VIP box were herself, Stan, Alana, Hank, Clarissa, and the recovering Cortez siblings. Aside from Mrs. Hamilton and Stan, the rest stood like mute statues as spectators for this roasting session.

For the Cortez siblings especially, they seemed frozen by the weight of violence that Mrs. Hamilton was throwing out into the area. Isabella was pale and Mrs. Hamilton hadn’t seen Pan take a breath in almost a minute.

“Trust me-” Stan said, but Mrs. Hamilton had enough. Her fingers twitched again, but this time with a much different purpose. The razor-sharp wires that Mrs. Hamilton had spread throughout the VIP section twisted and sheared off several locks of hair from Stan and took the tip of his ear with them.

Everyone who hadn’t been absolutely still now froze.