Jay's POV
The morning light felt like a heavy weight pressing down on my eyelids. As I opened my eyes, the reality of Hell University rushed back to meet me.
Turning my head, I saw Keifer waking up beside me. For a fleeting second, the warmth of his presence was a sanctuary. But the ticking clock reminded us of the dangerous game we had set in motion the night before.
We had a plan to maintain. We had to pretend we were falling apart.
Leaving the room separately was an agonizing chore. When we stepped into the bustling hallways to attend our morning classes, the distance between us felt miles wide. I walked past him without a single glance.
He kept his eyes locked firmly onto the floor, his shoulders slouched to perfectly mirror a broken spirit. The surrounding students didn't miss it. The whispers spread like a wildfire through dry brush.
The trap was working beautifully, yet every cold shoulder felt like a tiny tear in my own skin.
By lunch, the act moved to the grand cafeteria. Our regular circle sat together at a long wooden table, the atmosphere thick and incredibly tense. I deliberately chose a seat at the far end, staring blankly down at an untouched tray of food.
Keifer sat near the middle, quietly picking at his lunch. A few paces away, Ace and Zein were sitting in a quiet corner, their eyes darting toward us with heavy, unresolved concern.
Keifer lifted his glass to take a slow drink. Suddenly, his body stiffened violently.
A sharp, choked gasp cut through the ambient chatter of the room.
Before I could even register the sound, a violent spasm wracked his chest. A dark, thick crimson torrent of blood erupted from his lips, splattering across the white surface of the table and his tray.
"Keifer!"
The scream tore from my throat before my brain could even process what I was doing. The plan, the hidden cameras, the Observer, the strategic rebellion—everything vanished into thin air. I didn't care if our cover was blown to pieces. I didn't care if the entire university was watching us.
I vaulted over the benches, my boots skidding wildly against the floor as I sprinted toward his collapsing form. "Keifer! Keifer, please look at me!" I cried out, my hands trembling violently as I cupped his pale face, dark blood instantly staining my fingers. His eyes were rolling back, his breath coming in shallow, terrifying hitches.
The rest of our friends noticed the commotion and ran toward us in a blind panic. Ace slammed into the side of the table, his fingers instantly pressing hard against the side of Keifer's neck to check for a pulse. His eyes widened into circles of pure shock.
"He's poisoned!" Ace barked, his voice booming over the screams of the cafeteria. "We need to get him to the clinic right now!"
Jare and Percy lunged forward without a second thought. With the brute strength of Ace leading them, they quickly hoisted Keifer's limp body between them. They tore out of the cafeteria doors at a dead run, sprinting down the long corridors toward the medical wing.
Minutes later, I found myself collapsing onto the cold floor of the clinic waiting room. The white double doors shut firmly ahead of us as the school nurse started treating him.
My mind was completely breaking. The logic of our master plan was shattering to dust, and I didn't give a single damn. The image of the blood spilling from his lips looped endlessly behind my eyes. I felt entirely small, utterly helpless, drowning in a sea of absolute panic.
Keifer is my world. He is the very air I breathe, the only anchor keeping me grounded in this living nightmare. I absolutely cannot lose him.
Suddenly, a pair of slender arms wrapped tightly around my shaking frame. I looked up through a thick blur of tears to see Zein. She was hugging me tight, her own body trembling but her grip fierce and unyielding.
"He's going to make it, Jay. He has to," Zein whispered into my shoulder.
Then, Percy dropped to his knees right in front of me, wrapping his arms around my waist and burying his face into my shoulder. Jare joined the embrace immediately after, his heavy hand resting securely on the back of my head.
"Hey, come on, baby sistah," Percy whispered, his voice cracking as he desperately tried to force a weak joke to lighten the suffocating air. "You know Watson. That absolute idiot won't leave you this early. He knows you'd hunt him down in hell just to kick his butt."
"He's right," Jare joined in, squeezing us closer. "That idiot isn't going anywhere. He's too stubborn to die."
Ace stepped forward next, his massive frame casting a protective shadow as he joined our hug, locking all of us into a tight, unbreakable circle of safety.
One by one, the our friendsjoined the embrace, trying their best to console my breaking heart, creating a wall of flesh and bone to shield me from the horrors of the school.
But as the warmth of my friends filtered through my skin, the paralyzing panic inside me began to curdle into something else. It transformed into a freezing, razor-sharp, murderous rage. The tears stopped flowing
My eyes snapped open, locking onto the closed clinic doors with a terrifying intensity.
"If anything happens to him," I whispered, the words dropping like blocks of ice in the silent room, "I will destroy everything. I don't care about the rules. I don't care about the hierarchy. I will personally rip this entire university apart piece by piece, and I will slaughter whoever did this with my bare hands."
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Author's POV
While the boys remained anchored outside the clinic doors to guard the perimeter, Zein wiped a stray tear from her cheek and stood up. Her jaw was set in a firm, dangerous line.
She looked toward the other girls—Mia, Vanessa, Rakki, and Freya. A silent, mutual understanding passed between them. They needed to find out what had been slipped into Keifer's food before the cafeteria staff cleared the evidence.
They slipped back into the main building, quietly investigating the poison's origin near the kitchen disposal areas. They were still deeply investigating the trays when a sudden, heavy shadow fell over the corridor.
Without warning, someone hit Zein hard from the back with a blunt object.
"Zein!" Mia screamed, her eyes widening in horror as Zein stumbled forward, gasping for breath.
Mia, Vanessa, Freya, and Rakki immediately threw themselves forward to fight back, their fists flying as they tried to reach their friend. But suddenly, dozens of students swarmed from the intersecting hallways, physically blocking them and cutting off their path.
As the crowd parted, the girls felt a cold dread settle in their chests. Nearly all the prominent members of the notorious DBG gang were present, weapons drawn, sealing the hallway.
In the center of the clearing stood Roxanne and Angelica.
Zein was already on her knees, clutching her bruised back, coughing heavily. Angelica stepped forward with a sickening, twisted grin and delivered a brutal slap that sent Zein crashing against the concrete wall.
Roxanne followed up with a harsh kick to her ribs.
Spitting dark blood, Zein's survival instincts flared. With a sudden burst of adrenaline, she pushed off the ground, launching a precise, heavy punch that cracked right against Roxanne's jaw.
Before Angelica could react, Zein whipped her leg around in a fierce kick, striking Angelica squarely in the midsection and sending her stumbling backward.
"Tie her hands! Now!" Angelica screamed, her face contorting with absolute fury.
Four large DBG members lunged forward, overpowering Zein's struggling form, pinning her limbs and binding her wrists tightly with thick rope. She was completely defenseless.
Angelica grabbed a heavy wooden log from a nearby maintenance pile. With a cold, merciless expression, she swung it with full force. The wood connected with Zein's shoulder with a sickening thud. Zein gasped, her knees buckling as Angelica started hitting her brutally, over and over, striking her ribs and arms.
"Your turn, Roxanne," Angelica panted, tossing the blood-stained log to her partner. "Show this bitch who rules HU."
Roxanne caught the timber, her chest heaving. She stepped forward, raising the weapon high. But as her eyes met Zein's—pale, bleeding, yet still staring back with an unyielding defiance—Roxanne hesitated. Looking down at the battered girl, Roxanne suddenly started feeling pity for her.
"What are you waiting for, Roxanne?! Hit her!" Angelica bellowed.
Nerved by the shouting, Roxanne closed her eyes and brought the log down, striking Zein's leg. But the hit lacked any real force. Seeing Roxanne's hesitation, Angelica snatched the log back with a furious snarl.
"Useless space," Angelica hissed. She raised the heavy piece of timber high above her head with both hands, aiming directly for Zein's skull. It was a fatal, crushing trajectory meant to end it permanently.
She delivered the fatal hit with blinding speed.
SNAP.
A massive, white-knuckled hand clamped around the wooden log mid-air, stopping it less than an inch from Zein's face. The sheer force of the sudden halt vibrated through the wood. Angelica blinked, her breath catching as she looked up into a pair of pitch-black, murderous eyes.
Ace had arrived.
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Ace's POV
I had left Jay back at the clinic with the boys and her brothers, knowing she was well-protected. My gut had told me to head toward the old abandoned warehouse where Raze and I usually meet to discuss tactical movements.
But the moment I crossed the courtyard, Fritzy came sprinting toward me, her face completely drained of color.
"Supremo... Supremo, you need to go to the west corridor right now," she gasped, her voice shaking violently. "They're hitting Zein. The DBG... Angelica and Roxanne are killing her."
The world went entirely, blindingly red.
I didn't just run; I moved like a physical hurricane. When I burst into the storage hallway, I saw Angelica raising a wooden log, aiming to deliver a fatal blow to Zein's head. I lunged forward, my hand clamping around the timber with enough force to dent the wood, stopping it dead in its tracks.
Angelica stumbled backward, her eyes widening in pure terror as she recognized my face.
I let the log drop to the floor and immediately looked down at Zein. My heart stopped dead in my chest. Her condition was worse than anything I had anticipated. Her clothes were torn, her skin was covered in deep purple contusions, and dark blood was pooling from her lips. She was barely conscious, her eyelids fluttering weakly.
I knelt down, gently scooping her fragile, battered body into my arms, lifting her against my chest. I didn't say a single word to the DBG members surrounding us. The absolute, lethal aura radiating off me made the entire crowd back away in dead silence. No one dared to even breathe.
I carried her at a dead sprint back to the clinic, slamming the double doors open. "Get the doctor to treat her right now!" I roared.
Jay, who was still waiting outside Keifer's room, let out a horrified panic-stricken gasp when she saw Zein's bloody condition in my arms. As the medical staff rushed Zein into an emergency room, Jay turned to me, her eyes burning with an unholy, desperate fire.
"Don't leave those who hurt her alive, Kuya," Jay said, her voice shaking with a terrifying, raw authority.
I looked at Jay then at Zein , my knuckles cracking as I clenched my fists into iron. "I promise, Jay."
I turned on my heel and walked straight back to the main cafeteria. I entered the hall and immediately invited all the students of the campus, my voice blasting through the main public address system.
Within three minutes, the room was packed to maximum capacity, students standing shoulder-to-shoulder in absolute apprehension. Soon enough, Raze, Nicky, Nazzer, and the remaining other students of the hell university came walking in.
I stood on top of the central table, looking down at the massive crowd like an executioner. My eyes locked onto Roxanne, who was trying to maintain a brave face in the front row.
"Roxanne," I called out, my voice dangerously calm. "Why did you hit her?"
Roxanne smirked, tilting her chin up in a desperate attempt to hold onto her crumbling authority. "I can do whatever I want, Ace. I'm the Queen of HU. The DBG holds the power here."
A low, dark smirk crept onto my own face, devoid of any actual humor.
"Is that so?" I leaned forward, my voice dropping an octave. "Then let me make an official announcement. As of this exact second, there will be no queen from the DBG. Your little reign is completely dead."
The entire crowd gasped, a wave of panicked murmurs rushing through the room. Raze stepped forward, his eyes locking onto mine, a mutual, dark understanding passing between us. It was time to completely rewrite the rules of this school.
"I, Ace Craige, the SSG Supremo of Hell University, officially announce Ms. Zein Shion to be the new Queen of HU," I thundered, my voice echoing off the concrete walls like thunder.
Raze immediately raised his voice projecting with equal, absolute weight. "And I, Raze Silvenia, announce Matthew Heart to be the new King."
The cafeteria erupted into sheer chaos. The old power structure was being completely obliterated before their eyes. I raised my hand, and the room snapped back into an instant, dead silence.
I looked over at Onel, who was holding the official rank ledger.
"Onel," I commanded. "Say the new list of the Top 10. Let them know exactly who holds the power over their lives now."
Onel stepped forward, unfolding the paper with trembling fingers, his voice projecting clearly:
1. Ace Craige (Supremo)
2. Raze Silvenia
3. Zein Shion (The New Queen)
4. Matthew Heart (The New King)
5. Jasper Jean Mariano
6. Mark Keifer Watson
7. Nazzer Lumia
8. Nicky Colt
9. Fritzy and Onel
10. Jerome Marquez
When the final name was read, I looked down at the massive crowd of students. The aura of the Supremo settled over the room like an iron shroud.
"Kneel," I commanded.
The sound of my voice echoed like a death knell through the silent room. I didn't look at the crowd; my eyes were filled with the memory of Zein's pale, bruised face.
"You are looking at the woman who holds the keys to hell and the crown of the HU," I spoke slowly, every word dripping with absolute malice. "If you so much as breathe in her direction without permission, I will personally ensure your soul never finds rest. Bow to your Queen, or bleed for your King."
In the front row, Angelica threw herself to her knees, crying and begging for mercy, her voice cracking as she realized her protection was completely gone. I ignored her entirely. I stepped down from the table, walking right through the sea of kneeling students, and headed straight back to the clinic to check on the others.
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Third Person POV
When Ace walked back into the medical wing accompanied by the other boys, the frantic energy had finally begun to settle. The doctor stepped out of the primary room and informed them that now Zein was fine, her vitals completely stable, and Keifer was also fine, the poison thoroughly cleared from his system.
Ace let out a long, ragged breath, the tension leaving his shoulders. He scanned the room, looking at the relieved faces of the group.
But as his eyes swept the corners, a cold spike of panic hit his chest.
"Where is Jay-Jay?" Ace asked, his voice sharp as a razor.
Dave blinked, looking around the room in confusion. "Wait... she was here only a few minutes ago. She was sitting right over there with Percy and Jare near the back supplies."
A heavy silence fell over the room as they started searching for her. They walked toward the dim alcove near the back exit of the clinic, and their hearts dropped.
Slumped against the concrete wall, hidden behind a row of tall storage crates, Percy and Jare were lying completely unconscious.
"Percy! Jare!" Edrix yelled, rushing forward.
Cin quickly stepped up, unscrewing a bottle of water and sprinkling it heavily over their faces.
With a painful groan, Percy's eyes fluttered open, his hand immediately flying to the back of his neck. Jare sat up right after, wincing in agony as he tried to focus his blurry vision.
"What happened?!" Rory asked, his voice tight with desperation. "Where were you guys? Where is Jay?"
"We... we were just sitting here," Percy stammered, his voice thick with disorientation. "We were watching the door when suddenly someone hit our head hard from behind. A single, heavy blow... and then, completely blank."
Ace's jaw tightened so hard his teeth clicked, his fists clenching until his leather gloves strained. His eyes went entirely dark as he thought about where Jay could possibly be. Someone had orchestrated the entire thing—the poison, the attack on Zein, and the cafeteria distraction—just to isolate Jay and tear her away from the group.
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Meanwhile, deep within the hidden, labyrinthine maintenance tunnels beneath the university's lower sectors, a burner phone vibrated inside a dark pocket.
A figure standing in the shadows of a hidden surveillance hub pulled out the device, listening quietly to the encrypted transmission coming through the line.
The voice on the other end quickly informed her that they had successfully kidnapped Jay, transferring her to the restricted holding cells in the deep basement.The figure adjusted her dark tactical hood, her eyes flashing with a fierce, dangerous intensity in the dim light of the monitors.
She closed the phone, her jaw tightening as she checked the hidden blades strapped to her wrists. A cold, unyielding resolve washed over her features."I will not let them do anything to them," she whispered into the dark, her voice dripping with an icy determination.
"They won't lose their life in this place. I'm coming back for them ."
Without a sound, she slipped into the ventilation shaft, disappearing into the blackness to begin her rescue mission.
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A/N
Hey guys! I am so incredibly sorry for not uploading chapters these past few days. Real life got a bit crazy, but I am fully back now!
Thank you all so much for your patience and endless support.
Make sure to buckle up and get your readers ready because a complete, absolute blood bath is coming in the next chapters! Things are about to get wild in Hell University! 🔥🩸👑)
See you soon 💕