Chapter 406: John Is Aiming for the Grand Prize!

Nikolas snapped, his aura flaring into a violent, suffocating pressure, with lightning dancing around his body.

He roared at the woman below: "I will kill you the very second this war begins!"

"You know better, or perhaps the precious student by your side knows better," Mark’s voice laughed through the cyborg’s li[s. "Killing me isn’t possible. All you’ll be doing is dismantling an empty shell, a disposable toy. There is no real loss to me, hehehe."

"Still, I’ll enjoy doing it," Nikolas promised, his hand gripping the hilt of his sword with white-knuckled intensity.

"Anyway," John said, sensing that he had stalled long enough for the Headmaster’s surveillance to lock onto what was happening here. "Let’s start this club war thing. I’m bored, honestly. We were too lazy to organise a festival for our club’s establishment anyway. Shedding some blood and crushing an established club should be a lively enough way to celebrate, right guys?"

John turned to his friends. Ricky, Luke, and Elena all had evil grins on their faces. They were all deeply worried about Cissel, but they knew John. He would have never risked her life if he didn’t have a plan. And they trusted him.

Even Mond and Ben, who were excited to test out their enhanced powers, looked absolutely ready for a fight. The enemy had delivered itself to their doorstep at the perfect moment. John’s look told them everything they needed to know: they would handle the frontline, and they wouldn’t hold back.

"You heard the RBM Club president! He accepts the challenge!" Mark’s voice suddenly boomed, but it didn’t just come from the cyborg. It felt as if the announcement was being broadcast from every microphone and speaker installed throughout the Military Department and the wider academy grounds.

"The Black Ares Club is now officially at war with the RBM Club! We’ll annihilate these upstarts today! Attack!"

The moment the cyborg roared the command, the world exploded into motion. Galbert didn’t hesitate. He and his thirty elite members moved in unison, reaching into their high-capacity storage devices.

The space below was suddenly flooded with heavy weapons. Massive laser cannons, mobile automatic tanks, rapid-fire turrets, and even huge flamethrowers appeared on the field. The thirty students had brought enough high-tier weapons to level a city block.

At the same time, as if the news had been leaked hours in advance, the surrounding area began to swarm with spectators. Hundreds of students from other departments emerged from the distance, converging to watch the first Club War in centuries.

Below the wall, Nikolas moved like a bolt of lightning. True to his word, he didn’t wait for the club war to conclude. The moment John accepted the challenge, he darted down the walls, dashing towards one single target: the female cyborg.

With one swing of his sword, he decapitated the female teacher. The head spun high into the air, blood spraying from the severed neck.

"Destroy the body!" John roared from the top of the ramparts. "Cyborgs can still operate and self-destruct even without a head! Don’t leave a single piece intact!"

"Nice tip, thanks!" Nikolas didn’t hesitate for a second. He unleashed a barrage of strikes, cutting the female teacher’s body into small pieces until there was nothing that could threaten him or others

Removing one unpredictable variable from the board was a good start, but the battle had only just begun. Seeing what happened to their teacher made Galbert and his gang hesitant, eyeing Nikolas in doubt, fearing he would target them next. Yet seeing Nikolas turn his back towards them, not even sparing them a glance, made the thirty students heave a silent sigh of relief.

John’s friends turned to him, eyes sharp and expectant, waiting for the battle plan that would define their first official act as a club.

"Luke and Elena will stay behind and defend the base," John said casually. He didn’t even put a real effort into crafting a complex strategy. In his eyes, the disparity in power made intricate tactics unnecessary.

"Ricky, you’ll head towards the Sparring Building basement. That’s where that useless piece of trash’s official club base is located. Ben and Mond... You two fight freely. Kill if you feel the need, and crush anyone who dares to set foot near our walls."

John was so nonchalant about the entire situation that he didn’t bother lowering his voice. His strategy was heard perfectly by everyone: his enemies, his allies, and the growing audience of students from other departments.

"Hahaha! Do you think we came here unprepared?" Galbert laughed in mockery, his face twisting with derision. He couldn’t believe John was naïve enough to shout his plan for everyone to hear. "See all this? We prepared for every contingency. We have more weapons than you can imagine, and they are enough to kill you and bring those towering walls down..."

BOOM!

Before Galbert could finish his sentence, John disappeared from the wall. He dashed with such explosive speed that he looked like a blur, crashing directly into the centre of the heavy weaponry the Black Ares Club had assembled. Once he landed, he activated his absolute defensive ability.

He didn’t bother using any flashy ability; he simply began waving his sword in wide, brutal arcs, shattering the steel and laying waste to the laser cannons and tanks as if they were children’s toys.

"Stop... Stop him! Fire! Open fire now!" Galbert shrieked, taken aback by the suddenness of the assault. It took him several precious moments to grasp what was happening. John had jumped into the middle of the very weapons they had painstakingly smuggled into the academy.

Each member of the Black Ares Club had exerted significant pressure on their families to secure these high-tier weapons. And now, John was easily and effortlessly destroying them like they were made of thin paper and cheap scrap metal.

The moment Galbert shouted, his henchmen snapped out of their shock. The weapons roared to life. Those closest to John retreated in a panic, terrified of being caught in the crossfire of their own setup.

The attacks landed in a deafening crescendo. A huge billowing cloud of dust erupted, accompanied by the crackling of electricity and the secondary explosions of ruptured fuel cells. And yet, atop the wall, not a single one of John’s friends moved a muscle to help. Not a single one even looked worried.

Luke had already informed Ben and Mond that nothing in this world could truly harm John. The two new recruits were still fresh to John’s out-of-this-world fighting style and weren’t sure if Luke was bluffing or dead serious. Yet, seeing Ricky and Elena standing calmly, watching the carnage as if they were enjoying a fun movie, made them hesitate to move down to help.

Then, out of the dust and fire, John emerged.

He was completely unscathed. His academy uniform had been cut to shreds in several places, revealing the lean, corded muscle beneath, but his skin didn’t bear a single scratch. To the audience watching from a distance, he didn’t look like a student anymore; he looked like a war god emerging from the forge.

John wasn’t interested in killing the students just yet; he simply moved to destroy the rest of the annoying metallic pests they had brought. In less than five minutes, amidst the frantic shouting and weeping of Galbert’s men, John finished the job. Every precious turret, tank, and cannon lay in a heap of smoking scrap metal.

"I’ll leave the rest to you," John casually said, turning his back on the devastated Galbert. He looked toward the distant audience of hundreds and shouted with a fierce, resonant voice, "The RBM Club doesn’t fear any challenge! If you see yourself stronger than the trash we just crushed, then step forward and sign your death warrant!"

"We aren’t defeated yet..." Galbert roared. The pain of losing his weapons, and the weapons of his most loyal subordinates, made his heart bleed. He already promised everyone that he would shoulder the expenses and handle the repercussions if any of the weapons they brought got damaged. Hearing John’s words was the final straw that broke his sanity.

"You will be, soon enough," John smirked evilly. He didn’t bother giving the pathetic enemies another glance. He turned around and began walking calmly toward the Military Department.

"You do know this is going to be a total overkill, right?" Just as he took a few steps away, Ricky dashed down from the walls, ignored the terrified and enraged lot of enemies, and joined him. He glanced back at Ben and Mond, who were currently cracking their knuckles. "Those two... They’re actually scary now."

"We need to send a clear message to all our enemies lurking in the shadows," John shrugged. As he spoke, the first heart-curdling screams began to rise from behind them. Ben and Mond had started their barrage. "And if our enemies are willingly setting up the stage for our rise, why wouldn’t we warmly welcome the gift?"

"Gift?" Ricky looked sceptical, raising an eyebrow while stealing a glance back at the one-sided massacre erupting at the club walls. Ben’s tornadoes were throwing students like ragdolls, while Mond’s blue flames were turning the ground into glass.

"Are you sure this is a gift? We’re going to end up killing or crippling half of them. We won’t gain anything but a disciplinary punishment."

"You weren’t listening to the rules Nikolas explained," John chuckled, his eyes gleaming with excitement. "The Black Ares Club is an academy-wide club. And under the Club War rules, the winner takes it all. Their privilege, their assets, their influence... It all becomes ours."

John didn’t need to say another word for Ricky to grasp the magnitude of the play. The realisation hit Ricky like a lightning bolt, and he broke out into a carefree, boisterous laughter that John smiled in return.

Without realising it, Galbert and Mark had handed them a massive gift on a silver platter. They had tried to trap a lion, only to realise too late that they had handed the lion the keys to their own home. John didn’t intend to say no to such overwhelming generosity.