Sanctuary Agency

〘Date: 2/10 - Sunday〙

〘Time: 9:30 AM〙

〘Location: Texas, Austin - Bonnell Falls〙

The next day was very peaceful, the morning birds singing their songs, the winds whispering their gentle secrets, and the sun blessing the earth with her warmth. Gaia, the Mother Earth was at a rare time of peace, the world seemingly taking a day to just relax.

Chloe, Daphne, and I sat at the dining table enjoying a nice breakfast with one another, listening to soft worship music in the background and talking about our plans for the day. While we were planning the day, the doorbell rang, the sudden interruption catching our attention.

"I'll get it," I offered, standing up from the table to answer the door.

"I'll go with him, just in case it's those Liberator Witnesses. They've been at it a lot recently," Daphne said, standing up as well to accompany me to the door.

"Alright, hun. Let me know who it is at the door," Chloe said, collecting our plates then got up to clean up around the kitchen.

Daphne nodded, hurrying toward me to the door to see who was here at this time of day. We finally made it to the front door, the doorbell ringing once again but with a bit of impatience. I swung the door open, my gaze landing upon a gorgeous woman.

The young woman exuded an air of grace, elegance, and a hint of royalty. She had long curly blonde hair, radiant caramel brown eyes, and a slender yet mature built. She wore a decorative white and purple dress with a lavender cloak around her shoulders complete with a white bow.

With her, she carried an umbrella to block the sun from her face and wore a crown to symbolize her status and wealth. She also wore multiple jewelry, each piece sparkling and dazzling within the light.

"It's about time the door gets answered," The woman scoffed with a slight impatience, turning her nose up at the two of us. "I deserve the upmost respect. It shouldn't take more than one ring to answer me."

〔Phroa: Oh brother...it's one of these chicks.〕

'A female version of Tony I'm assuming,' I thought to Phroa, looking the woman up and down with slight judgement.

"And who are you?" I asked, unaware about the woman that stood before me.

The woman scoffed with slight offense to my question, looking at me with a critical eye. "Hm...I haven't seen you around this area before, so I'll let your blatant ignorance slide, peasant."

"Peasant..?" I repeated quietly, crossing my arms then glanced over at Daphne for answers.

Daphne let out a nervous chuckle, leaning against the doorframe and crossing her arms, her gaze shifting between me and the young woman. "Ry, meet my friend and the Student Council President of Oceanview, Juliet von de Estrella. Juliet, this is my rock, Ryder Dawn."

Juliet stared at me with a critical gaze, scanning me from head to toe then snapped her fingers, her eyes lighting up with instant recognition. "I recognize you!~ You were trending BrawlMania all day yesterday!"

"I was...?" I asked, tilting my head slightly with confusion.

Suddenly, the night at Matt's party clicked in my head, moment of the fight against Tony playing in small fragments. I grunted softly at the memory, slightly disappointed in myself for losing myself that night, but deep down I knew it was justified.

"When I saw that video, I laughed until the sun dipped below the horizon. The prestige King of Trinity Valley University getting manhandled by the supposed Zero~ Ahh, it certainly made my day," Juliet snickered, covering her mouth with the tips of her fingers.

'I'm glad you found a deeply emotional moment humorous,' I thought to myself, staring at Juliet with a dull expression.

"Anyways, what do you want?" I asked, my tone filled with slight impatience for Juliet's attitude.

Juliet scoffed lightly at my tone, flipping her hair with a bit of sass. "Lowly oafs like you think you can just talk to Royalty like me any type of way. Barbarians like you need to learn—"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah...I already deal with one of your kind enough in my city. Just tell us what you want. You're ruining a peaceful breakfast," I interrupted, barely interested in whatever speech she was about to spill.

Juliet's gaze hardened slightly at my retaliation toward her, her gaze shifting over to Daphne, giving her a sweet smile. "Daphy, allow me to enter your home. I'd like to speak to you without...Commoners in the way."

Daphne chuckled softly and sighed lowly. "Alright, but you're gonna have to get along with Ryder while you're here. It's just for one day."

"Ugh...fine, but if he says one wrong thing to me," Juliet threatened, her gaze shifting over to me with an authoritative expression.

"Don't send for me if I didn't shoot at you. That's how I go, so as long as you stay in your lane, we will be fine," I replied, looking Juliet up and down with a light snooty gaze.

Juliet grumbled lightly at my response, not knowing how to deal with someone actually standing their ground against her. She scoffed and flipped her hair, walking past me and grabbing Daphne's hand.

"C'mon, Daphy...Certain brutes just don't understand the hierarchy. Hmph, shame," Juliet mocked, shooting one last glance at me before entering the house.

Daphne nervously giggled, following behind Juliet and glanced back at me with an apologetic gaze. I shrugged my shoulders lightly, not too worried about Juliet since I was already used to her type of character.

Closing the door behind us, I followed the girls into the living room, the three of us sitting down to listen to what Juliet came over for. Before any announcements were made, I could feel Juliet's judgemental stare looming over at me.

I paid her no mind, looking down at my phone to help Phroa's shift go by faster by playing a few minigames. 'I don't know what her deal is...'

〔Phroa: Me neither, but I'm not going to lie to you. I'm getting cooked and slammed right now, Master! Please beat these minigames! >^<〕

'I'm working on it, I'm working on it,' I replied to Phroa mentally, swiping on the screen with my fingers to build burgers for Phroa as fast as I could, the soft jingles sounding from my phone with each completed burger.

"So, what did you need, Julie?" Daphne asked, breaking the silence to take Juliet's mind off me.

"Hm! I was bored sitting alone at home while Daddy is away on his trip, and I wanted to see if you wanted to come to Winterfest with me. It's still open and I'm in the mood for some fun," Juliet said, looking at Daphne with a hopeful gaze.

"Sure, I'm down. Oh, and today is a discount if we bring a third person. If we bring a third, we get a special wrist band that let's us get discounts from all the shops," Daphne said excitedly, leaning back against the couch to think about who they could bring.

"Maybe we could bring the peasant? Make him work for his own as our personal driver. It's only for a day, right?~" Juliet suggested, her tone sounding earnest, as if she wanted me to be her butler.

"Don't ever suggest no bullshit like that again," I answered swiftly, my gaze never leaving my screen.

Daphne giggled softly and reached over to touch my leg lightly. "C'mon. You don't have to be our butler, but it would be nice if you joined. For me?"

I let out a soft, reluctant groan, lowering my phone to look at Daphne. With a soft exhale, I decided to cave in and agree. "Alright. I'll join and take you two. But we do things my way, and the first order is we are all equal around here. None of that elitist crap."

"Hmph, demanding equality from the Queen of Oceanview? Sometimes, even a Fool should admit to his shenanigans," Juliet scoffed, eyeing me once again.

"Tell her to shut her bitc—"

Immediately, once I heard Jigoku's tone in my mind, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, knowing her belittlement was slightly getting under my skin. Once I was calm once again, I opened my eyes and cleared my throat.

"I will only take you if you agree to my demands. If not, you can call one of your boot lickers to take you," I said, keeping my tone as calm as I could.

Juliet scoffed softly, turning her nose up slightly and closed her eyes. "Hmph! The only person I'll be equal with is Daphy. Unless you can show me a reason to be equal with you...prepare to be treated as Lesser Than."

〔Juliet Analysis〕

〔Requirement: Charisma Trait - Level 4, Romance Trait - Level 2, Luck Trait - Level 5, Credi Amount: 100K〕

〔Juliet's Favorite Trait: Romance〕

〔Succession Rate: 12%〕

Looking down at my screen, the answers were revealed on why she looked down at me so poorly. She valued wealth, fame, and power just as much as the next elite did, yet...

I switched to my Love Finder app, noticing Daphne's icon on the radar, and a second dot upon the screen as well. The dot flashed a darker yellow color indicating that the nearby woman was at most 50% compatible with me, meaning my interactions with Juliet actually mattered if I chose to pursue her.

I set my phone down on my lap, glancing at Juliet with a glint of challenge in my eyes. "Hmph... alright, I'll take you."

Juliet smirked at me, believing her taunting finally broke through to me. "Ha! As I thought! I suppose little ruffians like you can be obedient."

"What, whatever. Be ready by three, if you're late I'm leaving you behind," I said dismissively, standing up from my seat.

"Of course, I'll be ready by the preferred time. It's you who needs to be on time. I refuse to be a second late to the festival," Juliet scoffed, snapping her fingers at me.

I rolled my eyes at Juliet's demand, leaning down to give Daphne a soft kiss. Daphne softly snickered, leaning into me and met my lips for a kiss, a low hum sounding in her throat.

Pulling away from the kiss, I gently stroked her chin, a warm smile forming on my lips. "I'll be back, bonita~"

Daphne purred softly in response, her gaze slightly lost in mine. "I know..~ Be safe getting there, okay?"

I chuckled softly at her, nodding my head then began to make my way toward the front door. "I will. Bye, Mama Chloe!"

"Bye, handsome! I'll see you later!" Chloe called out from the kitchen as she continued to clean up and hum to the music.

〔Romance/Flirtation EXP +90〕

Juliet leaned forward on the couch, watching me leave the house then turned toward Daphne, raising an eyebrow at her. "Hm, how do you deal with such a defiant man? He doesn't seem to fit in within the hierarchy at all."

Daphne glanced over at Juliet, giggling softly and leaned back against the couch, crossing one leg over the other with a melodic hum. "You just have to enter his world to understand where he truly lies within the hierarchy. Although, you've never seen his father before, he is the son of a very important man~"

Juliet only had more questions than answers to for Daphne's reply, gently fidgeting with the ribbon upon her cloak with a thoughtful hum. "The son of a very important man, huh? Even still, he needs to respect the hierarchy...or else they will come for him."

Daphne simply smiled at Juliet, twirling a strand of her hair around her fingers. "Yeah, but maybe he already knows that..~"

"He isn't the first person to want to be The Anarchist, and he won't be the last. But that's alright..~ Queen Juliet shall whip him into top shape! A~shishishi!~" Juliet cackled, covering her mouth with the tips of her fingers.

Daphne giggled softly with Juliet, shaking her head and exhaling softly. 'One day, you'll get it, Julie~'

〘Date: 2/10 - Sunday〙

〘Time: 11:15 AM〙

〘Location: Texas, San Antonio - Trinity Valley Dormitory〙

I made it back to my university's dormitory, parking my car in the parking lot and stepped outside, the sun's gaze immediately hitting my eyes. I glanced around for a moment, noticing the parking lot was basically full, each student preparing to get settled in for classes tomorrow.

I began making my way inside the dormitory, walking through the main lobby to head toward the elevators. As I made my way toward the elevators, my eyes caught a glimpse of a familiar face sitting in the lobby with a few of his friends.

〔Phroa: Hey, isn't that Danny? Doesn't seem like Tony is anywhere to be found.〕

'Must be hiding somewhere...My on sight threat still stands, so he's right to continue hiding,' I replied to Phroa mentally, walking up to the elevator and tapping the button to go up.

〔Phroa: Heh! I bet he's still thinking about that butt kicking you gave him!〕

I chuckled softly at Phroa, stepping inside the elevator and pressing a button to go to the third floor. Before the door could close, a hand slipped through the cracks coolly, stopping the doors from closing.

Looking up from my phone, my eyes locked onto another familiar face, noticing it was Jade, the silence filling between us save for the soft tune of the elevator. Jade stepped into the elevator, pressing the button for the third floor then stood beside me and looked down at her phone.

〔Jade's Analysis〕

〔Requirement: Empathy Trait - Level 2, Lust Trait - Level 2〕

〔Jade's Favorite Trait: Empathy〕

〔Succession Rate: 56%〕

Looking down at my own phone, I noticed the suddenly spike in succession with Jade, noticing I had a higher chance to woo her unlike last time. I knew I wanted to pursue her, but I still didn't know if she would give me any time of day.

I decided to take a chance, even if it was a small conversation with her. I cleared my throat gently, letting out a soft, calming exhale. "Hey, Jade."

Jade heard my greeting, her eyes narrowing to look at me for a split moment before returning to her screen. "Hey, Ryder..."

'Hm, some progress has been made...She actually acknowledged me,' I thought to myself, looking down at my screen to keep track of my succession rate.

"So, how've you been recently? We haven't spoken since the day you rejected me," I asked, wanting to try to catch up with Jade.

Jade seemed to be distracted by her phone, but she seemed to hear my question, her lips fixing themselves to respond. "I've been alright. I heard you got into it with Tony."

"Yeah...it was a pretty ugly brawl. But, someone had to take him down a few notches," I said, lowering my phone, glancing at the elevator screen indicating what floor we were on.

Jade let out a soft sound of acknowledgement, continuing to scroll on her phone. "Mmm. Allie told me how you were protecting Paris from him. It's a shame I missed that party, but anything to avoid him."

"Yeah..." I replied softly, leaning my head back against the metal wall and closed my eyes.

Silence fell between us once again, but this silence was different. It was a natural silence that signalled the end of a conversation instead of the awkward silences that would usually follow a conversation attempt.

The elevator finally came to a stop, a soft chime ringing from the speakers signalling the end to our ride. The doors slowly opened, Jade and I stepping out of the elevator and making our way down the hall.

As I continued down the hall, I heard the sound of a video playing behind me on Jade's phone, the voice immediately catching my attention. I began to slow my steps, falling onto the same pace as Jade. "Is that Tony?"

Jade glanced over at me, quickly hiding her screen with a nervous sweat. "Uh...yeah, but.."

"I heard my name on that video. Let me see it," I demanded, giving her a sharp stare.

Jade hesitated slightly, but she knew the damage had already been done. She let out a soft sigh, lowering her phone so I could see the video as well. "What a time for my earbuds to die..."

I sucked my teeth at her sarcastic remark, replaying the video back to the beginning. "Yeah, right... c'mon."

Jade and I began to walk toward one of the lounge areas within the halls, sitting down together on a four seated couch. Once we were settled, Jade held her phone close to her chest once more, looking at me with an unsure gaze.

"Before you watch this, I just want to warn you that...this video is highly disrespectful on so many levels. I... almost don't want to show you it," Jade warned, her gaze meeting mine for a split second before darting away.

"How bad can it be? He's a snob, I doubt he said anything I haven't heard before," I shrugged, leaning back against the couch, preparing myself for what I was about to see.

Jade let out a nervous hum, one of her many nervous ticks and let out a soft exhale. She started the video, leaning closer to me so I could see her phone. "Alright..."

The video began playing, Tony walking into the frame with a healed black eye and a bandage on his nose, his eyes filled with fury and vengeance. He let out a huff, lowering his head and chuckled softly, clapping his hands.

"Congratulations, Ryder Moji Dawn. You managed to win one fight, and got a little clout off it from all the little ants who decided to post it...and make me look like a fool," Tony began, laughing and looking around at his friend who were around him.

Tony sighed softly, shaking his head and looking up at the camera once again, holding his hand out to take a poster from the hand of his friend. "After the fight, I began doing a little research about you and clearly your family is good at hiding information about the other half of your bloodline.."

I stared at the screen, watching as he unrolled the poster, my heart skipping a beat out of recognition. I sat up quickly, my hand gripping the arm of the couch out of pure instincts.

Tony looked down at the picture then looked back up at the camera with a petty laugh, pointing at the picture. "I did some digging on the Mojis...and found out you have a deceased cousin. Hey, Ryder...you know what I do to people who piss me off?"

"You guessed it...I make their lives hell. I put failures like you back in their places at the bottom! And the first step of making your life hell...is erasing a precious Moji Memory. As your people say on the other side, Kaua," Tony said, purposely botching the pronunciation with a laugh.

I watched as he took a lighter out of his pocket, clicking the button to start a flame. The moment the flame touched the poster, the light from my eyes began to fade away slowly, my body suddenly becoming light.

Jade held her hand over her mouth, unable to look away from the screen and completely speechless about what she watched. She jumped back quickly at my sudden rise off the couch, watching as I began to walk back toward the elevators.

Quickly, she got up from the couch as well, following after me quickly. "Ryder, where are you going?"

I couldn't hear her voice, the sounds of my own anger filling every inch of my head, Jigoku's wrathful whispers fully convincing me while Tengoku's peaceful whispers helped me keep some composure. I stormed into the elevator, smashing the button to head back down to the first floor.

Jade ran toward the elevator in soft pants, placing her hands upon the silver doors, her arrival just a bit too late. "Fuck..."

Jade quickly looked around, her eyes landing on the flight of stairs that led up and down the stories of the building. She let out a groan, dragging her feet toward the doors. "These stairs...I hate these university steps.."

Danny watched the video Tony posted, his body immediately breaking in cold sweats. He began to bite his nails, every second of the video making his body grow more cold. "What the hell...this is so fucked up..."

"Yooo! Nah, Tony's really tripping with this one," Another of Tony's friends laughed, watching the video as well in genuine disbelief and awe.

"This isn't funny!" Danny exclaimed, standing up from his seat and looked at his friends. "What Tony did was an act of war! This isn't a laughing matter!"

"Chillax, dude. Sound like you're scared of quiet nerd who got lucky in that fight. Ryder ain't gonna do anything when the King speaks," Tony's friend said, wrapping his arm around his girlfriend and looked up at Danny.

I stormed out of the elevator door once it opened, at the same time, Jade bursted through the alternative entrance to the lobby, noticing me making my way toward Danny and the others with haste. She grunted softly, unable to take her eyes off the scene she was witnessing.

I walked straight toward Danny, grappling onto him and shoving him onto the ground. Immediately, chaos ensued as I mounted on top of Danny, landing blow after blow to his face. Danny wailed out, holding his hand out in surrender to shield himself from my onslaught.

"Yo, get the fuck off him!" Tony's friend called out, springing toward me and pulling me off Danny.

I swiftly turned around, my hand flying across his face and knocking him to the floor with a pained groan. I walked toward him, mounting on top of him as well, holding him down while swinging wild haymakers at his head with force.

Tony's friends groaned after each hit, placing his hand pushing me back to get me off him. His girlfriend screamed in panic, hopping off the couch and covered her mouth as she watched the brawl.

I pushed his hand off my shirt, stumbling to the side due to how much force I pushed him wish. I looked over at him, noticing him getting up and trying to get away. I began to make my way toward him, grabbing him and flinging him over the couch onto the table with a roar.

Tony's friend groaned in pain, holding his back as he rolled off the table onto the ground. "Somebody...get someone..!"

I turned my gaze over toward Danny once again, noticing him using the couch to help him stand back up. "Where is Tony..?"

Danny sniffled loudly, tears of pain rolling down his eyes as fear began to take over his body. "I don't know..."

"Bullshit!" I roared, charging toward him and leaping into the air, landing a clean superman punch to his jaw, making him fall back down to the floor. I gripped his shirt, manhandling him into standing back up then ran my hand across his face.

Danny groaned as he stumbled onto the ground again, his body feeling immense pain from my relentless attacks. "I-I swear...I don't know..!"

"You sure you don't want to tell me, huh? I know you know..." I growled, picking Danny back up and striking him with multiple blows to his stomach, each blow pushing him back toward a wall.

"I'm only going ask you one more time! Where is he?!" I yelled, walking toward Danny with my fists balled. I quickly grabbed him again, slamming him firmly against the wall. "Where is he?!"

I let out a grunt of anger as I struck him across his face again, shoving my forearm against his neck forcefully. "Tell me where he is right now!"

"I don't know!!" Danny cried out, tears of terror and pain streaming down his face.

I continued breathing heavily, glaring daggers at him as I stared into his trembling gaze. I began to gradually loosen my pin on him, but kept my forearm against his neck. "Tell your King that he fucked with the wrong one...until he decides to show his face I'm going to wreck every last one of you on sight..."

"Including you...his docile, worthless little princess. Tell him that he just declared war on not only me...but my entire family. He will be dethroned...and I will do it personally and erase every memory of him," I promised, releasing Danny and watched him drop to the floor, walking away toward the elevators once again.

The group of students who witnessed the entire thing stood in shock, fear, and awe all at once. A few students felt bad for Danny and his friend, but most understood why it played out the way it did. Jade couldn't help but to be split between admiration and hesitation, her gaze following me the entire time.

Quickly, she knew she had to react, as she felt partially at blame for the situation. She began to hurry toward the elevator as well, sprinting behind me in hopes of making it in time this go around.