Surviving the Death Hunt-Chapter 75: The Agreement

In room 266...

Scar had been unconscious for hours, lying dormant without any sign of stirring. The fight for his life was happening in the Supreme Council room, where a few people were doing what they could.

In the room itself, beside his unresponsive body, there was only Julien and Purple.

Julien had anticipated a reaction from Purple, a tantrum at minimum, given that he had killed Mike, one of the Kugo clan’s Four Wings.

That was the kind of thing that carried consequences. But Purple, for all her unpredictability, wasn’t giving him anything that looked like displeasure.

Nothing about her pointed toward punishment. Julien didn’t fully trust her, but he trusted what he could observe, and this wasn’t it.

"You believe me now, don’t you? The Kugo clan is beyond my control. The agreement still stands, and the Vey family will receive the credit once V is eliminated, but not under my conditions. If they are severely weakened in the process, my plans will lose much of their value. But without Adisa, this favors me a little."

Julien stared into her purple eyes and he frowned. Something was wrong with the logic. Why plan something this foolish? Purple was the only one who knew how to kill V, so why would they cut her out of it? Unless... unless they never believed her.

"Wouldn’t that mean this works against us? They clearly don’t want to give you credit for your efforts, which is why they allied with the Heart family. Worse, I killed one of their promising members."

But what was strange was Purple herself. She looked like someone who had reached a borderline and stepped past it. Whatever caring remained in her wasn’t visible.

"There isn’t much we can do now, is there? They won’t know you killed Mike unless someone survived to tell them. If no one did, this could actually work in our favor. The Four Wings will most likely blame the Heart family for Mike’s assassination."

A soft smile tugged on her lips.

"Besides, you’re a Moon Killer now. Once you join a base, allies will gather around you, and their strength will become ours. The Kugo clan wouldn’t be foolish enough to challenge a Moon Killer, not after betraying me and aligning themselves with the Supreme Council."

Julien exhaled and shook his head in disbelief.

"How long will this continue? I have no intention of reporting my evolution until next month’s evaluation test. We finish this, I get my end of the bargain, and with the power of a Moon Killer, I’ll finally have the strength to stand before Quagmire."

The conviction in Julien’s words was real, but it didn’t reach Purple.

Purple remained unmoved. She settled onto Julien’s bed with the kind of reluctance that made it clear she was tolerating the suggestion rather than agreeing with it, while Julien pulled himself close to Scar’s unconscious body and stayed.

"Your revenge means nothing to me, Julien. What you ask for is sacred to my family, and I will decide the terms under which it is given. Yes, I promised you a reward for helping eliminate my family’s enemies, but did you honestly think it would come so easily?"

Julien’s face contorted, the anger moving through it openly. Purple gave him nothing in return, not the slightest shift in expression. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

He had been on the receiving end of that blankness more times than he could count, and it had never particularly rattled him. This time was different. This time, it genuinely pissed him off.

"Why do you act as if you lose something by giving it to me? The moment I use that artifact, my life will belong to you. I’ll be bound to your will... I’d be your sword until death. So why are you still holding back?"

Purple fell into silence, eyes drifting upward, her thoughts pulling her somewhere inward. She stayed there for a while.

And there was something in her face that looked a little like sadness, shaped by whatever she was remembering.

"Is your revenge truly that important? Important enough to sell your soul? Whenever I look at you and Scar, I feel nothing but sadness. Neither of you desires the future... you’re both trapped in the past, clinging to what you should have already left behind.

"I don’t want you to be soulless. Do you know how sad that will make me?"

She exhaled deeply.

"If I don’t give you a chance to reconsider before binding yourself as my slave, I’d seem far more heartless than I already am. Think it over... take a day, two, or even a month. I cannot give you what you desire yet, and even if I could, you haven’t removed my enemies. Perhaps by the time you do, you’ll finally come to your senses."

Julien’s fist tightened into a white-knuckle grip, his crimson eyes burning with rage. Why had she agreed to any of it if this was how she intended for things to end? She could have given him that advice before their agreement, not after he had already worked so hard for the Vey family.

"I won’t change my mind. Sometimes, certain things from the past must be settled before one can truly move on."

Not once during their conversation had Purple looked at him directly, and even the brief, sideways glances told him nothing. Her eyes, when he caught them at all, were as empty as they had ever been.

Whatever was moving through her, if anything was, it wasn’t showing.

"Don’t rush. We still need to deal with V’s attack. I’ve tried requesting an audience with the Supreme Council countless times, yet they deny me. But I have an idea of what might happen...

"None of that matters. Once this incident is over, the praise, the wealth, and the fame will save the Vey family. The alliance between the Voss and Heart families might pose a problem... but not for us. After all, I have you."

Tiresomely, she stretched her rigid body on the bed.

"Do not fight during the Epic Competition. I don’t know if Scar will be permitted to participate if he’s awake by then, but none of us can risk fighting. You must either forfeit or deliberately incapacitate yourself to stay out of the arena."

"Why’s that?"

Purple shrugged.

"I’m not sure... It’s only a gut feeling. But the Supreme Council clearly sees that V’s supporters are well informed. They’ll likely attempt something new, something designed to flush V and his followers out."

"Do you honestly think they’d let a God Killer get involved in this?"

Purple shook her head in contrast.

"God Killers wouldn’t expend effort on something so trivial, and the Supreme Council won’t go through the trouble of making them act. The burden falls squarely on the students, the Royal Knights, and the Moon Killers."

She gave her words a beat.

"V is bound to appear; his principles leave him no choice. He doesn’t kill to demonstrate power but through his own twisted version of salvation. The issue is... in what way will he manifest?

"I have a feeling both parties are hatching something cruel, and their schemes will leave us Akumas in the dust. The Supreme Council wouldn’t hesitate for a second to throw us aside to save their own skins."

Julien gritted his teeth in annoyance.

"If they make a single mistake, V might gain the chance to summon a Scarlet Kin. Theo, Ally of Mankind, it could be that serious. If it comes to that, we could all truly die. They’ve tried something like this before... during the necromancer’s attack."

He exhaled.

"Do you want me to stop them?"

Finally, Purple looked into Julien’s eyes with a twisted smile.

"Why do that? We just need to let things play out. In the end, the Vey family will triumph. We don’t have to risk our lives in the process."