"Oh, but your group doesn't like me. They made me spend up to 21 billion CU dollars and called me useless. You said you would protect me, yet you let your so-called group humiliate me."
Matthew sounded aggrieved as he looked at Ava.
Ava froze.
Then she slowly stepped back and looked at the original and new members of the Legion Group.
"I was already looking for a way to end this club."
Her voice was suddenly soft.
"Now I have a reason."
"What do you mean? Who do you think you are?" Lora's sister snapped. "This group is for students to have fun. If you don't want it, then get lost. Do you think the group can't survive without you?"
Ava's expression remained calm
Smack!
Her palm struck the girl's face.
Again.
And again.
The girl's head snapped sideways with every slap until she stumbled and fell to the floor, her face swollen and tears gathering in her eyes.
Ava slowly dusted her hand as though she had touched something dirty.
"Bring your sister here."
She looked down at the girl.
"And I'll slap her along with you."
Ava grabbed her by the hair and pulled her head up.
"You want to take what is mine?"
Her voice remained strangely soft.
"Fine."
She looked down at the girl's hand.
"Then you have to leave one of your hands behind."
A faint smile appeared on her face.
"Sounds like a good offer, right?"
Ava stepped on the girl's hand.
The girl screamed.
Ava's grip on her hair remained firm until she finally released her and stood upright.
She looked around the hall at the members of the Legion Group.
"I built this group from scratch. I spent hundreds of millions funding it. The old members left, and they picked you guys to replace them."
Her eyes swept across the crowd.
"Yet look at this nonsense."
Nobody dared speak.
"I backed this group to be equal to the Student Affairs Group and the main Student Council. I wanted you to have limited access to social events, social standing, sponsorships under my mother's company, connections with the country's associations of music, dance, art, literature, poetry, and rare artifacts."She paused.
"Royal family banquets. Meetings. Free learning opportunities with old Noble families—opportunities that money or connections alone can't buy."Her smile disappeared."I even arranged for you to receive a free card carrying the government logo, one recognized throughout the country to give you higher privileges."
Ava slowly looked around the hall.
"And you guys actually bullied the guy I'm chasing."
For a moment, nobody moved.
Then Ava suddenly burst out laughing.
The sound was cheerful.
But somehow, everyone felt chills run down their spines.
The blonde girl's legs gave way beneath her.
"We were just having fun," she stammered. "We didn't mean anything. The whole purpose of the ten groups is to have fun. We didn't think they could actually do anything to us."
Her voice trembled.
Meanwhile, Nyra had already disappeared into the crowd, desperately trying to hide herself among the other students.
Ava was wearing a deep-red, off-the-shoulder cropped sweatshirt that slipped completely off her right shoulder, revealing a white strap beneath.
The cropped design highlighted the high waist of her oversized cream sweatpants, which were covered in bold, mismatched graphic prints—orange vintage emblems, black lettering, coordinates, and industrial-style markings.
Her chunky red-and-white sneakers matched the colors of her outfit perfectly.
A small white crescent-shaped shoulder bag rested high beneath her arm, its thick silver chain decorated with oversized metallic star charms that jingled softly whenever she moved.
Instead of her usual elaborate hairstyle, her fiery red hair flowed freely today. Soft curtain bangs framed her face while the rest fell in loose, slightly messy waves over her shoulders, giving her a relaxed look that somehow made her look cute and stylish.
But the air around her was anything but relaxed.
"It seems they're not even scared of you."
Matthew glanced at the two girls before shrugging.
"It's alright. I've already spent enough. I don't want to be dragged into more mess."
He sounded almost as though he had forgiven them.
Ava stared at him for a moment before taking out her phone.
She raised it and took several photos of the blonde girl and Lora's sister.
"Wait."
Sophia's voice came from above them.
"Ava, are you trying to blacklist them?"
Everyone looked toward the upper level of the hall.
Sophia stood there with her friends.
To be honest, she had been standing there the entire time, watching everything unfold.
She had also noticed Matthew spending 21 billion CU dollars without even blinking, as though he had just spent pocket change.
That only strengthened her suspicion that Matthew's family was among the top twenty families in the world.
She wanted to see how he would handle the situation so she could use his reaction to investigate him further.
Then Ava had shown up.
If Ava blacklisted Lora's sister, it would be the same as ruining her best friend, Lora.
Even though Lora's sister wasn't directly related to her, she was still a distant relative who lived with the family.
What kind of friend would Sophia be if she simply ignored that?
"Do you think Matthew can't protect himself?" Sophia asked.
She looked directly at Ava.
"He's using you."
Matthew smiled.
He rested his head against Ava's shoulder and casually played with a strand of her hair.
"She's helping her new friend."
He glanced toward Sophia.
"How is that using her?"
Ava looked at Sophia.
"Sophia, for someone whose dad used her shares to start a failed business, you sure do have a lot to say."
She lifted her phone and waved it slightly.
The screen showed the confirmation that she had already blacklisted both girls.
"I'm just starting."
Ava's gaze swept across the group.
"Those who support my handsome can stay. The rest of you can leave the group yourselves."
Her smile disappeared.
"Don't make me go looking for you."
She glanced toward the remaining members.
"New members will be selected again."
Then she seemed to remember something.
"Oh, right."
Ava turned toward the blonde girl and Lora's sister.
"What Aiden did to that girl is a tiny version of the hell waiting for you."
She smiled.
"I want to see what you, darling Lora, can do."
Ava kicked the blonde girl in the stomach.
The girl stumbled backward.
Two notifications suddenly rang through everyone's phones.
The students immediately checked the school page.
The announcement was simple.
The blonde girl and Lora's sister had been expelled from the school.
Both girls' eyes widened.
Ava looked around the hall.
"You want to use your family status to bully people?"
Her voice was cold.
"What if Matthew couldn't protect himself? You would've bullied him without hesitation."
She pointed toward the two girls.
"You love bullying every new student in every school you've entered—whether it's in this city, another city, this country, or another country."
Her expression hardened.
"As long as you're in this nation, if you want peace in your school life, call me bastard."
Nobody dared laugh.
Ava immediately turned back toward Matthew.
Her expression transformed into a cute smile.
"Don't I deserve a reward?"
She widened her eyes and gave him a pair of exaggerated puppy eyes.
"No."
Matthew walked away without even slowing down.
Felix wasn't there, but Rick couldn't help muttering under his breath.
"Felix would've loved this drama."
"Don't worry."Jay leaned closer to him."I already recorded everything."
Meanwhile, the green-haired girl who had supported Matthew, the pink-haired girl, and the girl who had scored seventy percent in the Brainiac test all breathed sighs of relief.
They were the only three remaining original members besides Ava, making four out of the original ten.
The other six original members were kicked out.
The same thing happened to the new members.
Except for Rick and Jay, who had supported Matthew, the remaining new members were removed from the group as well.
The green-haired girl clapped her hands.
"Okay, okay! Who wants to join the Legion Group?"
She looked around at the students.
"Come and register. You've heard the benefits."
The pink-haired girl quickly counted the remaining members.
"We're four girls and three boys."
She looked around.
"So we need nine more boys and nine more girls."
The girl who had scored seventy percent immediately stepped forward.
"And don't cause a fight here."
She pointed toward the hall entrance.
"If you want to fight, take it outside."
That warning came just in time.
Several students who had been kicked out rushed toward the blonde girl and Lora's sister cause of them they were removed.
Chaos erupted.
Sophia watched for a moment before waving her hand toward her friends.
"Take Lora sister away."
Her friends immediately moved toward Lora sister.
If they didn't, Lora would probably get caught in the chaos before Sophia had a chance to pack her things and leave.
Sophia turned away and walked out of the hall.
By then, the drama had already begun spreading through the school.
But one detail spread faster than everything else.
Matthew Carter had spent 24 billion CU dollars without blinking.
He had done it calmly, casually, and without even treating the amount like something worth thinking about.
The students who had been jealous of him before suddenly fell silent.
Because at that point, the question wasn't whether Matthew came from a powerful family.
The question was just how powerful his family actually was.
Sophia walked toward the resting area near the Activity Building.
The resting areas were spread across several floors and were well equipped for students who wanted somewhere quiet to relax between activities.
She went all the way to the top floor before entering one of the private rooms.
The moment the door closed behind her, Sophia threw her phone against the wall.
Her calm expression finally cracked.
First, she had been humiliated by losing to Matthew.
Then Ava had ignored her in front of everyone.
And as if that wasn't enough, there was the matter of her father selling her shares in the Vale Company.
Sophia knew her father, Peter Vale, didn't like her simply because she was a girl.
If not for her mother being a daughter of the Quinn family and controlling several businesses under her name, he probably would have divorced her mother already.
Her mother loved her, but that didn't mean Sophia had ever been her first choice.
Her mother had spent years trying to have another child—a son who could eventually inherit her father's businesses and perhaps even gain a larger share of the Quinn family's power.
She had only stopped after discovering Peter's affair and finding out that he had been secretly contacting another woman.
Now, Peter had even dared to start a company with that woman's brother, selling Sophia's shares to help fund it.
Luis had destroyed the company and exposed everything.
The incident had left the Vale family in a strained state.
Sophia had been taught from childhood to be perfect.
Her mother wanted her to surpass all her cousins. She wanted her to be ruthless, intelligent, elegant, and capable of standing beside powerful people.
Sophia had been raised to believe that she had to be exceptional to deserve her parents' attention.
She hated it.
Why couldn't her mother be more like Emily, who treated Ava and Luis equally?
Sophia didn't want to be the perfect socialite.
She didn't want her value to be measured by how well she could support her parents.
She didn't want to scheme for their love.
She didn't want to manipulate people simply to keep powerful individuals around her.
And yet, those expectations had already become part of her.
Sophia stood silently in front of the mirror.
Her elegant smile had returned, but her nails were digging so deeply into her palm that blood had already stained her hand.
Who would have thought that the new student, Matthew, would have a family status this enormous?
Sophia picked up her phone and opened her messages.
She sent the files she had obtained from the school's system to a hacker she worked with.
Then she transferred 500 million Zen to him.
She wanted information about Matthew.
Anything.
His family.
His background.
His connections.
Everything she could find.
After sending the payment, Sophia turned off her phone.
"The Nyx family. The Knight family. The Voss family. The Wright family. The Quinn family. The Haye family. The Bennett family. The Nathan Empire. The Jackson family… and the other eleven."
Sophia touched her reflection's face.
The families she had named were among the most powerful families and empires in the world.
The Quinn, Haye, Nathan Empire, Bennett, Voss, and Knight families were six of the true powerhouses.
Then there were five others whose identities and influence were far more mysterious.
Sophia wouldn't have known about one of them if she hadn't been close to Aiden.
Even his own family didn't know that he controlled one of those hidden powers.
That was one of the reasons Sophia had remained close to him.
As for the remaining four, their identities were still unknown.
The other nine families—including the Jackson, Nyx, Wright, and six others—were still powerful enough to stand among the top twenty.
But the eleven at the very top were different.
They were equals.
Sophia chuckled softly.
"Ava, don't be too greedy."
She stared at herself in the mirror.
"Your mother and father are already part of the eleven. Your friends' families are powerful too, and the Quinn family is your mother's family."
Sophia's smile remained elegant.
"Even though my father doesn't have Quinn blood and his influence is mostly limited to the twenty countries of Elysia, you're still above me."
Her smile slowly faded.
"You don't have to struggle as much as I do."
Sophia lowered her gaze.
"But I need something to back me up."
Her fingers tightened around her phone.
"And now… there's Matthew whose family might be among the five unknown would it not mean among the top eleven."
She stopped chuckling.
Her expression returned to its usual calm elegance, giving away nothing about what she intended to do next.
Meanwhile, Ava and Matthew were in the school cafeteria.
The cafeteria was enormous, spanning almost an entire section of the school building.
It looked more like an upscale dining hall than a school cafeteria, with several different dining sections, long rows of polished tables, private booths, comfortable lounge areas, and huge glass windows overlooking part of the school grounds.
Different food stations were spread across the hall.
Students could choose from freshly prepared meals, desserts, pastries, drinks, international dishes, grilled food, salads, and several other options.
Some stations had chefs preparing food behind open counters while servers moved between them, collecting trays, replacing dishes, and answering students' requests.
The cafeteria was crowded.
Students sat in groups, talking over their meals while others moved between the food stations with trays in their hands.
A group of girls near one of the windows whispered among themselves while repeatedly glancing toward Matthew.
"That's him."
"The new student?"
"Yeah. Matthew Carter."
"The one who spent twenty-four billion CU dollars?"
"I heard it was twenty-one billion."
"No, the school announcement said twenty-four."
"Whatever it is, it's insane."
One of the girls discreetly lifted her phone and took a picture.
Her friend immediately lowered her hand.
"Don't make it obvious."
"I'm not!"
"You literally pointed your phone at him."
"I'm taking a picture of the food!"
"Cause I'm talking about a different type of food."the girl said with a wink
A few tables away, two boys were eating while discussing the same thing.
"His family has to be ridiculously powerful."
"Obviously."
"Do you think he's really from one of the top twenty?"
"After donating that much? What else could he be?"
Nearby, a student carrying a tray nearly bumped into another student because he was too busy looking toward Matthew.
"Watch where you're going."
"Sorry."
He glanced back toward Matthew before continuing.
Even the staff had noticed the unusual attention surrounding him, though they continued serving food as usual.
At another table, several students were laughing loudly over something on their phones.
A pair of boys were arguing over a game while eating. Some students were studying between bites, a few were sharing desserts, and others were already planning where to go after lunch.
Sorry for late update this is Saturday own on Sunday would soon come out today.