A few minutes earlier...
The constant buzz of voices grew louder with every passing moment. After Sunny's antics, the teenagers had completely let loose.
Some loudly defended their manhood, passionately arguing that a man's true charisma had to be proven through drinking. Others heatedly debated who would take the highest position in Void's Order after Grey. Still others chatted about how far they had come since escaping the clutches of the cult.
The laughter grew louder, and the carefree atmosphere became more and more apparent.
At the beginning of the evening, many had stolen glances at Grey, as if they still couldn't quite believe he would let them have fun. Others had been reminded of the terrifying ghost that haunted them every night. But now, all that tension had finally melted away.
Void's Order had officially been born. Their enemies had suffered a crushing defeat. Their allies were growing stronger one after another.
The future seemed bright and clear. It no longer looked like an endless road leading to the grave. Instead, it was filled with new colors.
"Come on, I'm telling you!" Zebra, his face already flushed red, slammed his cup onto the table. "A little more, and our Achilles will be so obedient that he'll be asking Sir Grey for permission just to go take a piss!"
The guys burst into uncontrollable laughter.
"Bullshit!" Achilles bristled as if someone had stepped on his tail. "I'm not asking anyone for anything!"
"Did you hear that?" Kai roared with laughter. "And here I thought he used to claim he'd never acknowledge Grey as his leader."
"That's right," Garen nodded, taking another sip. "As I recall, he even made a condition..."
An odd silence fell for a few seconds, and everyone instinctively held their breath. Even those who hadn't been part of the conversation turned strange looks toward their group.
It was as if someone had tossed a spark into dry grass.
"What the hell are you talking about, you big oaf?" Achilles glared at him. "You were unconscious at the time! What could you possibly remember?"
Alen narrowed his eyes.
"That's right... Garen might have been unconscious, but he's got his facts straight," he said slowly. "Didn't you say that if Grey wanted to make you his subordinate..."
Zebra's grin widened slightly.
"Then he'd have to accept your challenge..."
Every eye turned toward Achilles at once.
"You should stand by your own words. Otherwise, who knows what kind of rumors might start spreading..." Lily egged him on, eager to watch the whole world descend into chaos.
She activated her succubus core ability once again, turning up the pressure even further.
She couldn't wait to see Grey fight at full strength. Since that boy had dared to put her in the spotlight, she would do exactly the same to him without a second thought.
In truth, Lily was dying to see what Grey was capable of. After all, he had seemingly never fought at full strength. She knew he was crippled, but he wasn't nearly weak enough to be completely helpless.
Achilles was a worthy opponent, and even Lily couldn't be certain she would have been able to defeat him before her breakthrough.
Just how strong was the cursed child who, according to the prophecy of the ancient sibyls, was destined to destroy all of humanity one day?
And what would Grey do? Would he demonstrate the abilities of a true "harbinger of night" and "spawn of darkness"? Or would he try to weasel his way out of it and refuse to fight rather than risk embarrassing himself?
The anticipation made Lily tremble with excitement. She didn't even notice Cheryl tugging worriedly at her arm.
Achilles placed his mug on the table and slowly rose to his feet.
"Are you guys serious?" he hissed through clenched teeth.
He wasn't afraid of the challenge and had complete confidence in his own strength, but he didn't want to undermine Grey's authority.
More than that, he knew Grey was crippled and, unlike him, couldn't use mana. In Achilles' eyes, no matter how smart or capable a commander Grey might be, he simply wouldn't be able to put up a decent fight against him.
Achilles would never say it out loud, but he considered this fight beneath him. If not for Lily's subtle manipulation, he would never have fallen for such a cheap provocation.
Grey was a worthy commander who could take care of his brothers. That was enough for Achilles not to oppose him.
He could offer some help as a friend rather than a subordinate. Besides, Grey's training sessions were quite effective, so he had no problem joining his comrades. Still, he didn't consider himself a subordinate in the true sense of the word.
"Fight! Fight! FIGHT!" the crowd chanted in unison. They were having far too much fun to think about the consequences.
Achilles felt his eyelid beginning to twitch.
Things had been different when he made that rash promise.
Back then, he hadn't known Grey.
They had been on the brink of death, struggling to survive in a small hut, when Reus brought in an outsider who demanded their unconditional obedience in exchange for his help. Could anyone really blame Achilles for reacting the way he did?
At the time, Grey had seemed far too arrogant, far too strange and suspicious. Just another loudmouth who did nothing but make grand promises.
Why should he obey someone like that?
He couldn't even bring himself to entrust his comrades, the men with whom he had shared life-and-death experiences, to such a person. And Achilles certainly had no intention of obediently bowing his head at someone's first demand.
But far too much had happened since then.
That boy had fed them, pulled them out of the shit, trained them, saved them, and kept dragging them forward time and time again, even when he himself was ready to give up.
So right now, on the very day Grey had announced the creation of Void's Order, the thought of actually challenging him seemed... highly questionable and deeply unpleasant.
Even Lily's subtle manipulations couldn't fully convince Achilles.
"Well? When's the fight gonna start?" Zebra drawled, barely holding back his laughter.
Of course, he wasn't in the right state to think about the consequences of his words.
None of the guys who still had enough sense to think things through said a word. Cheryl, Sunny, and, of course, Reus were among them.
"Shut your mouth!" Achilles roared, genuinely furious at his best friend's stupidity. Did that idiot really not understand what kind of serious trouble he was causing?
"Did you hear that? He's scared! The mighty Achilles is afraid of our boss! Mark this day in history!"
"Go to hell, you bastard Zebra!" Achilles cursed, springing to his feet so abruptly that it was as if someone had poured boiling water over his knees.
A roar of approval erupted from all around them.
"Now that's our Achilles!"
"Give it to him!"
"Come on! Show us what you've got!"
But at that very moment, Grey rose from his chair, and everyone finally remembered there was a second participant in this fight.
A cold sweat broke out across the backs of those who had been shouting. They finally came to their senses and realized what they had done.
What had they been thinking? Had they even been thinking at all? Challenging their leader to fight for his honor on the very day Void's Order was founded? Wasn't their behavior practically an act of betrayal?
Grey calmly glanced at Lily and shook his head in defeat.
"Did you really have to go this far?"
Lily gave him a sly smile. She didn't look the least bit remorseful, even after her little trick had been exposed.
"You created an organization. It would be rather irresponsible of you to leave this matter unaddressed. I took advantage of it today, but what if someone else does the same? Under different circumstances? With different intentions?"
Grey shook his head, looking utterly helpless.
Lily walked right up to him, placed her smooth hand with its purple-painted nails on his shoulder, and whispered in a slightly seductive voice:
"Come now, Mr. Leader of Void's Order. Surely you wouldn't deny someone the chance to fulfill his promise? What about your own authority in front of your subordinates? Aren't you afraid unpleasant rumors might start spreading?"
Her eyes narrowed into two slits, not because she was squinting, but because her pupils had begun to resemble those of a beautiful, seductive reptile.
Lily's movements grew more mature and alluring as she gently caressed the skin on his neck.
Grey even felt her teeth lightly graze his ear.
Of course, no one but Grey could see the obvious changes in her body. To everyone else, it looked like their boss was shamelessly flirting with a girl right before a fight.
Regardless, the awkward scene was far too sensual for their young minds to handle. The teenagers awkwardly looked away, not daring to breathe too loudly for fear of provoking their commander's anger.
"Keep your blood under control, you little devil!" Grey whispered authoritatively, pinching Lily's butt in an attempt to bring her back to her senses.
If Senior had been in control of the body right now, he could have argued with Lily, played along with her little game, shamelessly flirted back, and even put her in her place with a few well-chosen words. But at the moment, it was Junior who was in control.
Although Lily was a close friend of his, and if he was being honest, he even liked her a little. As a true native of Eridania and Catherine's son, he had grown up in a different environment. Naturally, his moral compass was different from that of someone who had immigrated from Earth.
The same two situations, but two entirely different contexts, and therefore two entirely different attitudes.
From Junior's perspective, Lily was trying to manipulate him, forcing him to act against his own wishes. Worse still, she was calling into question the authority he had worked so hard to earn.
Of course, he understood that her behavior was heavily influenced by the demonic blood of a succubus, a race naturally inclined toward such manipulation. But that didn't mean he wasn't angry.
His pride had been wounded, and if anyone other than Lily had been in her place, he would have already ordered them restrained and thrown into a dungeon for inciting rebellion.
Whether she was a Saint or not made no difference.
Grey was confident that with the others' help, they could subdue her without suffering particularly heavy losses.
But the person standing before him was Lily, who still hadn't fully mastered her new powers. So Grey gave her the benefit of the doubt and simply took slight advantage of the situation to even the score a little.
Lily recoiled from him as if his hand had burned her.
Her mind cleared slightly, but a sinister glint appeared in her eyes. She realized her mistake and understood that her actions had been inappropriate, but she still decided to get even with the madman for his audacity someday.
Seeing that Lily had regained control of herself, Grey finally turned his attention to Achilles, who now looked somewhat irritated and impatient.
He was annoyed that Grey had been deliberately ignoring him, though he had also noticed that something quite unusual was happening to Lily.
"Can we get started already?"
"Are we going to use our weapons, or will we keep it to hand-to-hand combat?" Grey asked, looking quite confident.
Their brief exchange made the teenagers raise their heads again.
Now their eyes were burning with impatience and anticipation.
Although they understood that Grey was an ordinary cripple while Achilles was a genuine Centurion-level fighter, this minor detail did nothing to dampen their excitement. Such spectacles were hardly an everyday occurrence, and Grey had already proven his strength on the battlefield more than once. Naturally, their expectations for his performance were quite high.
Meanwhile, a troubled Garen made his way closer to Reus, moving as stealthily as his towering height and barbarian build would allow.
"Hey, Deputy, how badly do you think the boss is going to chew me out?" he asked uncertainly, since he could be considered one of the main instigators.
Whether he had intended it or not, his actions had challenged Grey's authority, and punishment was now unavoidable.
Reus gave his former commander a dry look, silently cursing his stupidity.
"If I were you, I'd prepare for the worst..."
"Come on, it's not like I'm the only one to blame. He can't punish everyone, can he? Or can he?"
"Right, right," Kai chimed in, having somehow appeared beside them. "The boss would've had to accept Achilles' challenge sooner or later anyway. Otherwise, rumors would start spreading that the leader of Void's Order was afraid of his own subordinate..."
Reus took a sip from his cup and looked at the two panicking men.
"Then tell him that when he makes your training even more brutal or cuts your daily rations."
Kai, Zebra, Garen, and Alen all grabbed their heads, feeling as though their lives had been wasted.
...
P.S.
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