Chapter 216: My Rejects, Damn It

The room exploded into chaos.

"Them?!" Raphael shot to his feet, fists clenched so tightly his knuckles turned white, a faint orange glow beginning to emanate from his hands. "Those prissy, silver-spooned assholes? You’ve got to be kidding me!"

"Oh, this is going to be fun," Akari purred, twirling a strand of jet-black hair between her fingers, emerald eyes gleaming with predatory amusement. "Their leader, Julian Valerius, is such a pompous prick. I can’t wait to see his face when he realizes he has to work with the dregs of NVA."

"We should crush them all!" Hikari declared, her fist punching skyward with enough force to create a small whoosh of air, her smile never wavering despite the violence of her words. "Show them real Onyx strength! No fancy moves, just power!"

"B-b-but their teamwork is absolutely f-flawless!" Jacob stammered, clutching his datapad so tightly his knuckles turned white, his face draining of color as words tumbled out in a panicked stream. "Their average CPR scores are literally the highest in academy history! They train together sixteen hours a day! Their recommendation student Julian was a junior national champion in three—no, four!—different martial arts before he even manifested his Aspect! We’re going to get absolutely demolished and then publicly humiliated and then expelled!"

"Good," Skylar remarked, stretching languidly with the satisfaction of a cat who’d found the perfect sunbeam, her purple-pink hair catching the light. "I was worried this whole academy thing might be mind-numbingly boring. At least watching this spectacular trainwreck unfold will be somewhat entertaining."

"It’s a valuable opportunity," Malachi whispered from his shadowed corner, his voice so soft that the entire room instinctively quieted to hear him. "To learn... from the best." The sudden weight of attention seemed to physically press him deeper into the darkness, his violet eyes dropping to the floor.

"That’s the spirit!" Marco boomed, slapping Malachi on the back with enough force to make the smaller boy physically flinch. "We can learn from them, and they can learn from us too! It’s a win-win situation, guys!"

"What could they possibly learn from us?" Juan drawled, collapsing back onto the couch and draping an arm dramatically across his eyes. "I think they’ve already mastered the art of looking down on us from birth."

My eyes met Natalia’s across the chaos. A silent understanding passed between us.

Julian. Celeste. This is our chance.

The connection to Seraphina Vance’s inner circle—our first real opportunity to start gathering information on the

Know Thy Enemy

quest. The timing couldn’t be better.

I felt a sudden weight of eyes and turned to find Noah staring at me with unnerving intensity. She had been a silent shadow in the corner until now, easily overlooked despite her striking appearance. Her gaze was calculating, appraising, as if measuring me against some internal standard.

She finally spoke. "Celeste and the Sentinels do not fail. They do not accept anything less than perfection. We will be expected to perform to their standard, not the other way around." Her amber eyes burned with intensity beneath her short blonde hair. "I suggest we begin preparing immediately. Anything less would be an embarrassment."

Every head turned to look at her—this was the most any of us had heard her speak since introductions. The steel in her voice was unmistakable. She might be wearing our gray now, but her words carried the weight of silver.

"She’s right," Braxton said, pushing himself to his feet with a groan that suggested his body was far older than his years. "For the next two weeks, your training is going to be hell. Not regular hell—special, premium-grade hell that I’ve been saving for an occasion just like this." He cracked his knuckles, the sound unnervingly loud in the sudden quiet. "I’m not going to let my pack of strays get shown up by a bunch of pedigreed show dogs. You might be the rejects, but you’re

my

rejects, damn it."

His gaze settled on me, sharpening to a point. "Nakano. You’re Rank One for now. You wanted to build an empire. Here’s your first campaign." He spread his arms, encompassing the room with a sweeping gesture. "You have two weeks to turn this circus into a functional combat unit. Don’t fuck it up."

I looked around at my new "unit," taking stock of the raw material I had to work with. Raphael, all barely contained rage and wounded pride, a living bomb waiting to detonate. Juan, who couldn’t even stay awake for a full briefing, his brilliance wasted on apathy.

Jacob, who looked like he might throw up at any moment, his eyes darting frantically as if searching for an escape route. The twins, eyeing me with predatory interest, their synchronized movements subtly unsettling. Soomin, shrinking into her oversized uniform, trying to make herself invisible. Isabelle, watching it all with that unnerving analytical gaze, seeing ten moves ahead on a board only she could perceive.

Braxton hadn’t just given me a mission; he’d handed me a lit stick of dynamite and told me to build a watch with it. This wasn’t a team; it was a collection of landmines arranged in a loose circle.

But I’d faced worse odds. And unlike them, I had a System that thrived on exactly this kind of chaos.

I met his gaze, feeling a slow, predatory smile spread across my face. "Don’t worry, Sensei. I love a challenge." The words came out with a confidence that made Raphael’s scowl deepen and Isabelle’s eyes narrow thoughtfully. "By the time we’re done, the Sentinels won’t know what hit them."

"Good," he grunted, running a hand through his disheveled hair. "Because you’ve got a hell of one. It’s not just about winning, Nakano. It’s about proving you belong in the same arena."

He glanced at his watch, grimacing at the time. "We start this afternoon. Three o’clock in the outside training room. I want to see what you’ve got, Nakano. Show me if this morning was a fluke or if there’s something actually worth investing in."

"We’ll be watching too," Akari added with a suggestive wink. "Don’t disappoint us, Leader-kun."