Lunch break at Orion College felt unusually quiet.
Zain and Orion sat in the corner of the canteen, eating silently, as the dull clatter of trays echoed around them.
Then… the air shifted.
Heads turned. Conversations halted.
A group walked in — commanding attention with every step.
Mahir. Tastin. Imanji. Mash. Rui.
All five approached Zain and Orion without hesitation.
Mahir stopped right in front of Zain, his tone calm but his eyes sharp as blades.
> "None of this makes sense anymore," Mahir began.
"I hated Alice. And you beat him. That should've made me hate you too... but it didn't.
There's something in you I didn't see in him."
He paused, then continued, voice turning cold:
> "But raiding my drug den ?
That was a mistake."
Zain stood up, slow and deliberate, like a shadow rising.
> "So what?" he said quietly.
"What are you going to do to me?
Kill me?"
He took a step forward.
"Then I'll kill you too."
The entire canteen froze.
Imanji couldn't hold back anymore. He snapped at Mahir:
> "I told you! This guy's disrespectful. Dangerous."
Orion's eyes narrowed.
His voice was a quiet dagger:
> "It's your mouth that needs to be shut, Imanji."
Imanji turned to Mahir, voice rising:
> "Are you really going to stay silent?
We already defeated Crescent.
We stopped Skull Fire from pushing in during the Hadith Invasion!"
Orion scoffed.
> "Stopped?
You lost 10% of your land during that invasion."
The words hit hard.
Mahir raised his hand. The room silenced.
> "Enough," he said flatly.
"Zain. Stay out of our business.
Don't get curious about things that don't concern you."
With that, Mahir turned and walked away.
His crew followed.
The whole canteen had been watching.
Zain and Orion didn't say a word.
They picked up their trays and quietly returned to class.
---
Later That Evening — On the Way Home
Zain broke the silence first.
> "I think it's time we fight Skull Fire."
Orion turned to him, eyes wide in disbelief.
> "Shut. Up."
"Don't even think like that.
They're the strongest gang in Rebel Town."
Zain smirked.
> "So what?"
He looked up at the clouds above, like he could already see the battlefield beyond them.
> "There are five gang cities in this world.
And Rebel is one of them.
Just like Colosseum has Hellborn,
Rebel has Skull Fire.
They're right next to us."
---
At Night — Orion's Room
Books were scattered across the desk.
One was open. Orion read aloud, brows furrowed.
> "There are five gang cities in the world.
Places where the government holds no control."
He listed them, one by one:
> 1. Colosseum
2. Enswe
3. Ottawa
4. Kobe
5. Rebel
He looked up.
> "Each city has one ruling gang.
Except Rebel and Kobe — they're divided in two parts."
Orion flipped the page and continued:
> "Rebel has two zones:
Hadith, which controls 45% of the land.
And ITFE, which controls 55%."
He glanced at Zain, voice deadly serious:
> "And the strongest gang in ITFE is Skull Fire.
Don't even dream about going to war with them."
Zain yawned.
> "Your lecture over?"
He stretched, already walking toward his room.
> "I'm going to sleep."
The door closed.
Orion stared at it for a moment.
> "He's serious," he muttered to himself.
The war drums were silent.
But everyone could feel it:
Something big was coming.