Chapter 66: Supremacy

“Hmph. My family hasn’t lost this many people in a single week for a century. This isn’t random. The Heart family wants to strike me where it hurts.”

Scar had been absent. He’d been buried in training lately. Right now, he was locked in a duel he had no margin to lose… Adisa was a day away, and the pressure of that wasn’t something he could afford to ignore.

In Room 266, without him, Purple and Julien sat together and talked, carrying a struggle of their own.

“I knew it was coming… but I didn’t think they’d use the Epic Competition to strike my family. If things keep going like this, we’ll be wiped out before I get anything done.”

Purple said, lying on Julien’s bed with her eyes darting on the ceiling, while Julien perched on Scar’s bed with thoughts quite contradicting his calm expression.

“Why does the Heart family hate your family? I’ve never known… but your people keep falling like flies. And it’s always the Heart’s doing.”

Julien’s expression became mildly skeptical.

Purple glanced through her mind for a moment and exhaled deeply.

“The Heart family’s hatred goes beyond rivalry. They want what you want, but there’s no easy path for them. So they chose violence, and we’re in their way.”

Something darkened in Julien’s expression. Of everything he had heard since forming his alliance with Purple more than a month ago, this was the worst of it.

There was a sting to knowing she had hidden something that important from him, he couldn’t pretend otherwise. But the sting would have to wait. There were more pressing things in front of them.

Julien’s reason for everything came down to one thing; the creature that killed his family, and the day he would end it.

His predecessor, Mystery, had made that possible in ways Julien hadn’t expected. He’d passed down memories that pointed to something the Vey family held, something significant enough to give him a real edge against Quagmire.

That had felt like a turning point. But the Heart family had been pursuing the same thing for centuries. That revelation sat differently. This wasn’t something he could afford to treat lightly.

“What do we do then? They’ve been stepping up their game. They’ve already gotten away with past kills, and the chaos of this Epic Competition might give them the perfect chance to slaughter everyone.”

Something knowing pulled at the corner of Purple’s lips. She had already figured it out, or so that smile suggested.

“You’re right. And now it seems they’ve joined forces with the Voss family. Lovis was already a nightmare… and with the Heart family on top of that? I might not survive.”

Her eyes rolled toward Julien. She was still smiling, though it did nothing to make her any easier to read.

“I will be telling you what to do…”

Julien scowled.

’What?’

“What do you mean?”

The smile left Purple’s face, replaced by a furrowed brow.

The energy coming off Julien was dark and heavy, the kind that made it difficult to hold his gaze for long. Whatever was boiling beneath the surface wasn’t something a composed persona could contain.

The reason wasn’t hard to find.

For weeks, Purple had been opening up to Scar, sharing plans, and offering smiles whenever the opportunity presented itself.

Meanwhile, Julien, the one she had built an alliance with, had been kept in the dark throughout all of it.

“What’s that energy for? Are you mad at something?”

When Purple spoke, Julien only stared into the coldness sitting in her eyes, it was familiar and returned. It had been gone for a while, softened out of her by Scar’s presence.

The more he thought about it, the more the sting of being kept in the dark lost its edge. That wasn’t what this was about. It was about Scar and what Purple was capable of doing to him.

“Scar might look careless or clueless, but you and I both know he isn’t stupid. He’s noticed the change in your behavior. I’m sure he’s already wary of you. Whatever you’re planning for him won’t work.

“Why do you want him? Is it because he’s willing to fight for those he loves… no matter the cost?”

Sigh

“I know the Kugo clan and the Supreme Council aren’t really out of your control like you claim. This lie won’t last long. And even if it does… do you really think the Rover family would let you get away with it? And me?”

Purple looked amused. The sight of Julien, it seemed, entertained her.

Psst.

“What will you do? You think you can stop me? What gives you or the Rover family that kind of authority?”

Julien clenched his teeth, fist shaking with a white-knuckle grip.

The wickedness in Purple’s eyes wasn’t subtle, and Julien wasn’t surprised by it. If anyone in that room understood the full depth of what she could be capable of, it was him.

But understanding her cruelty didn’t change the truth of what she was saying. Scar hadn’t returned to the Rover family yet.

Without that name, without that reclamation, she had leverage over him, and there was nothing Julien could do about it.

And to make it worse, Julien had nowhere to move. The bargain he had made with Purple was the closest thing he had to a path toward Quagmire, toward the strength he needed to finish what had been taken from him.

Going against her would unravel all of it. His hands were tied, and he knew it. Until their agreement was over, until the Vey family was free of its enemies, Julien couldn’t disobey Purple.

Purple relaxed onto the bed again, gaze lifting to the ceiling, a smile playing quietly across her face. She was somewhere inside her own thoughts, and whatever lived there had her full attention. Something worth reckoning with, whatever it was.

Haha…

“You think you can save him? This world doesn’t work that way. You won’t choose Scar over your revenge… and he won’t choose you over Adisa and Dain.”

Exhale.

“The truth is harsh… but it’s still the truth. In the end, we all act for ourselves.”

Julien’s face told the whole story. It was constricted but strained, with veins pushing visibly from his forehead.

He looked like a man operating at the very edge of what restraint could hold, a single strike away from doing something irreversible to Purple.

But he stopped himself. This was a path he had walked into willingly, and that meant seeing it to the end, however much it cost him.

Purple locked eyes with him.

“Do you want to quit? If staying with your friend matters more than our alliance… I’ll understand.”

“…”

Hmph. Silent?

“Figures…”

With an annoyed sigh, she sat upright on the bed.

“You’ll be dealing with three members of the Heart family the same day Scar fights Adisa. The family head is a thirty-five-year-old Moon Killer, ranked 177th. He won’t be easy, but with proper preparation, you can handle him.”

Julien watched Purple go. She had said her piece and left, but those words weren’t easy to swallow.

She wanted to pull him and Scar apart, and on top of that, she wasn’t even sure the encounter with Adisa would happen.

Worse, if it did, Adisa might not be coming alone. Every part of that sat wrong with Julien. His concern for Scar grew heavier.

“What’s she planning? Is she trying to kill Scar? What will it cost?”

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