Most people had a tendency to blindly follow the crowd—you could also call it a habit. They habitually went along with the majority, even if they sensed something was wrong. As long as everyone else acted like it was fine, they didn't speak up.
As the saying goes, "When three people say there's a tiger, you believe it." Under this kind of herd mentality—and especially with deliberate instigation, the protests grew increasingly intense.
Faced with the protesters' charge, fortunately, the soldiers managed to hold them back.
Just then, many protesters' phones suddenly buzzed with a notification—though most didn't pull out their phones to check, and in such a chaotic environment, the sound was hard to hear anyway.
But there were always a few onlookers mixed in—people who joined the march mostly to watch the show. They had joined the protest out of curiosity, and it wasn't surprising that such people existed.
Some protesters were even livestreaming.
"Hey family, right now our protest is heading toward the Blue House. I heard several other groups have already arrived there!"
One streamer said cheerfully to their viewers, but then his phone suddenly alerted him of a new message.
Curious, he opened it—only to find it wasn't a text, but a video.
At first, he didn't want to open it, suspecting it might be unsafe. But the frozen thumbnail showed the image of President Isaac, which piqued his interest.
In the video, President Isaac was slamming the table in rage, roaring:
> "Those fools! Absolute idiots, dumb as pigs!"
> "Do they think protesting will force me to step down? Stupid bastards! Once this is over, I'll never implement those policies!"
The video was short—less than thirty seconds—but the content was explosive. Not only was President Isaac clearly visible, but several Councilors were there too. It looked like it was filmed during a meeting.
No one knew who had leaked the video, and its authenticity was questionable—but for it to surface at this exact moment?
That made it real enough.
"Everyone, check your phones!"
"Big news—watch the video!"
As more and more people shouted, protestors instinctively pulled out their phones—and soon they all saw the same clip.
> "Fools! Absolute idiots, dumb as pigs!"
Watching President Isaac spewing insults, calling them idiots and imbeciles—an uncontrollable fury erupted in everyone's hearts.
So this was what they were in his eyes—worthless fools and idiots.
And the promises he'd made before taking office? He'd never planned to keep them at all.
To win their support, he'd lied through his teeth—and saw them as nothing more than gullible idiots.
"Liar! He's a liar!"
"Isaac is the biggest fraud in all of Wyvernia!"
Someone let out a furious, anguished roar.
The scene fell silent in an instant.
But everyone knew—this was just the calm before the storm.
A few heartbeats later—
BOOM!!
An eruption of rage exploded in their hearts.
A flood of residents rushed out of their homes and joined the protest. They had all seen the video. Even those who had initially remained somewhat rational completely lost their composure after watching it.
And the protest groups already gathered at the Blue House saw the footage as well.
"Charge in! Make Isaac give us an explanation!"
Someone shouted furiously, throwing a punch that landed squarely on the face of a Wyvernian soldier.
The next second, the protesters went completely berserk, surging forward to storm the Blue House, clashing violently with the armed soldiers blocking their way.
Although these soldiers were fully equipped and physically far stronger than ordinary civilians, there were just too many people.
Each soldier had to fend off three or four, sometimes even five or six protesters at once—and in the middle of this chaos, they quickly started losing ground.
Some protesters even tried to wrestle their guns away—which, of course, the soldiers couldn't allow—so they grappled with each other in a desperate struggle.
BANG!
A gunshot rang out.
The chaotic scene instantly went dead silent.
Everyone turned toward the source of the sound, and saw a Wyvernian soldier standing there with his gun raised, having just shot a protester—a young man, barely twenty years old, now lying in a pool of blood.
The soldier who fired the shot stammered in panic, "H-he tried to grab my gun! I-I didn't mean to—it just went off!"
The staff nearby sensed the impending disaster and quietly slipped away.
"They've killed someone! They're murdering us!"
"Everyone, send out your Pokémon! We fight our way in, or they'll slaughter us all!"
Before this, despite the fierce clashes, there had been no casualties—so both sides had tacitly avoided using Pokémon. But now, with blood spilled, the conflict escalated instantly.
The Wyvernian soldiers, armed with guns, held a clear advantage—
But then, someone released their Pokémon.
"Charge!"
A protester commanded their Gigalith to plow into the Wyvernian ranks, sending soldiers flying.
Pop! Pop! Pop!
Seeing this, more and more protesters released their Pokémon as well.
Most of them weren't professional trainers—their Pokémon weren't especially strong. But sheer numbers made up for that.
"Stop them! Hold the line!"
An officer roared, ordering his men to deploy their own Pokémon.
In an instant, nearly a thousand Pokémon from both sides clashed in a chaotic melee.
The sounds of battle—explosions, roars, and cries—echoed one after another.
"That Gigalith… something's wrong with it!"
The officer quickly noticed that the Gigalith from earlier had already taken down several Pokémon. His men were Advanced-level trainers, after all.
For that Gigalith to defeat them so easily—
"Leave that Gigalith to me!" the officer roared.
He was certain that the trainer behind that Gigalith had to be at least a Pseudo-Elite—an opponent like that would crush his regular troops if they went up against them alone.
The Pokémon clashing on both sides made the conflict spiral even more out of control. Now, casualties—both human and Pokémon—were mounting on both sides.
Fueled by bloodshed and fury, the situation had gone past the point of no return.
"Inform the President! We can't hold them back much longer!" the officer shouted to one of his subordinates.
He had just realized that there were multiple Pseudo-Elite Trainers among the protesters—his defenses were crumbling.
---
Inside the conference room, President Isaac and the other Councilors could see everything happening outside through the window.
Isaac's face had turned ashen, expression stiff as stone.
He'd seen that leaked video too—some of what it showed were indeed his words, but the rest had clearly been fabricated.
Worse yet, the footage had been recorded inside this very room.
Which meant that either someone had secretly installed surveillance in here—or one of the Councilors had been carrying a hidden camera.
He was completely caught in someone else's trap now.
And with the protest outside escalating into bloodshed—especially during such a politically volatile time—the blame would inevitably fall on him.
"Don't let me find out who did this… Or I'll make sure you suffer a fate worse than death."
Isaac's gaze swept over the eight Councilors beside him—he knew for certain that the traitor was one of them.
But each of the eight wore a different expression, and not a single one said a word.
*****
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