The next morning, Duke woke up late and, after getting fresh, went inside the academy, where he saw Veronica in the main hall.
Veronica: So Duke, how was the mission… did you see anything new?
Duke: It was fine…
Veronica: Then next time, come with me, understood?
Duke: No-no, sister-in-law, I'm fine like this… I get nervous.
Veronica: Oh, I'll be there with you, you don't need to be scared.
Duke: No, I'm fine alone…
While they were talking, Gia also came there, and her gaze towards Duke seemed to have changed.
Veronica: Gia, where are you going?
Gia: I'm going home, I've been called for a family meeting today.(In reality, she wanted to tell her family head about Liam.)
Veronica: Oh, in the middle like this… did something happen?
Gia: Oh, nothing major happened, just a meeting between two families of Sector A, so I'm going.
Veronica: Alright, I'm also going towards the Question Hall, I need to ask something about my mission.
Gia: Which mission have you taken?
Veronica: Oh, nothing big… just need to hunt a monster that keeps sneaking into the west side tribes and has killed 4 vampires so far. And it's a Level 4 wild lion… I'm going to get more information about it.
Gia: Good luck… I'll be going then.
Then Gia waved goodbye to Veronica and Duke and left towards the Mirror Hall. As soon as she left, Veronica also walked away, leaving Duke alone. Duke thought that today he would go to the Smith Hall to see and register.
He was just about to reach the Mirror near Smith Hall when he saw Marius and his family members running towards the Vampire Hall. Duke stopped them and asked:
Duke: Marius, what happened? Why are you all running to Vampire Hall?
Marius: Jerry got into a fight with Jude… and they have decided on an official fight. Everyone has gathered there, the fight is happening in Vampire Hall… come quickly, you too.
Duke also went with them towards the Vampire Hall, which usually remained quiet but was now echoing with excitement and voices. Everyone was standing around the fighting ring.
In the center of the Vampire Hall, Jerry and Jude stood, glaring angrily at each other. All members of the Falcon family were present there, along with Queen, Elle, Laila, and Nicholas Joseph of the Joseph family, as well as all of his companions.
Duke and Jerry came near the ring with their family members, where Blake was standing, looking visibly worried. Jude and Jerry were both at the Beta level, but Jude was a 1st grade Beta and Jerry was a 2nd grade Beta. This meant there was a one-grade power difference, enough to give an upper hand in the fight.
As Duke approached Blake, his gaze went to the front, where Nicholas Joseph was looking at him with a devilish smile. Duke quickly realized that Nicholas had started all this. He then asked one of his family members what had happened.
Falcon family member: Jerry and all of us were wandering outside the academy hall in the market… when Jude, who was standing with the Joseph family boys, deliberately came near Jerry and started insulting you… about Queen and your relationship. Jerry warned him not to say such things, but he kept talking badly about you. Jerry got angry too. Things escalated to the point where Jude asked Jerry for a match, and since Jerry was already angry, he said yes… and by the time we went to find Blake, they had already registered it.
Duke: Oh… so this match is happening because of me.
That boy: Yeah, you could say that.
Smiling lightly, Duke walked into the ring, where the referee was explaining the rules — that the match would stop as soon as blood came out, and if someone stepped out of the ring, the opponent would win. At the referee's call of "stop," they had to stop immediately, and unless the opponent said "yes," defeat wouldn't be accepted. The referee was always an old student at a higher level than both fighters.
Seeing Duke come in, the referee looked at him and tried to stop him, but Duke kept walking until he stood between Jerry and Jude. Standing in front of Jude, he said:
Duke (with a slight smile): Looks like you and your friends have a big problem with me… so why don't we settle this between us? What do you say?And he looked towards Nicholas and his friends standing behind Jude.
Jude (who wanted this): Yeah, why not… absolutely.
Duke: Then back out of this match, and then we'll have our own match… how about that?
Jude: Yeah, absolutely, why not…
Then Jude told the referee that he accepted defeat. The referee declared Jerry the winner. Then Duke took out his token, handed it to Jude, and said — send someone to register it. Jude didn't want to miss this chance, so he took the token from Duke's hand and gave both their tokens to the friend sitting behind him, saying with a smile — go and register our fight.
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