The Broken Halo

Because of how quite and “peaceful” everything was on the outside, very few Initiates and even instructors knew that there was actually an ongoing war between Simon and the factions… between Simon and Caesar.

It was of no surprise that the factions decided to act against Simon and the Iron Fangs because he was beginning to overreach.

The second years Simon targeted were the weaker second years or the second years who loved to move alone.

These second years tried to complain and some even tried to assassinate Simon after school hours, but they always failed.

Not only were they weak, they had no backers.

No matter how much they complained to the authorities about the bullying of the Iron Fangs and Simon, no authority bothered Simon or the Iron Fangs because they broke no rules.

Simon made more money extorting the second years, and this greatly alleviated his financial problems.

Until Caesar started acting against him.

Caesar saw this as an opportunity, and he offered the bullied second years an opportunity to join any of the three factions.

This was unprecedented and very shocking to those who obtained this information.

Why?

Because to join a faction, one would have to be very talented.

Even the second years themselves were shocked by the offer, and they could not believe their luck.

However, how could Caesar be so kind?

The bullied second years came to realize that if they joined any faction, the only benefits they would get are protection and ’reputation’.

Nothing more.

Aside from the fact that accepting Caesar’s offer came with very little benefit, it also came with its own disadvantages.

They had to pay a ’small’ monthly fee for six months to remain in the faction.

To the outsiders, they would be considered members of a faction, but to those in the faction, they would be seen as semi-faction members. They were not true faction members, and they would be given daily tasks by the faction to accomplish every single day.

Once they’ve worked hard enough and accomplished certain things, they would be regarded as full faction members.

Many of the bullied second years realized that if they accepted Caesar’s offer, they would become slaves of the faction they choose to join.

The only difference between them and the true slaves of the factions is that they would be protected by the faction and they would have the ’reputation’ of being a faction member.

Many wanted to disagree at first, but when they thought about the fact that Simon was always extorting them every week and his extortion was not a little amount, they decided to join one of Caesar’s factions.

Compared to the money they were paying Simon every week, the money they would pay the faction every month was about 70% less than what they were paying Simon.

Because of Caesar’s move, Simon income decreased once again, and he needed to find another method to make more money.

The recruitment of the bullied second years was not the only thing that Caesar did to Simon.

There has been a silent war between Simon and Caesar, and this silent war had led to multiple cases of some members of the Iron Fangs getting gravely injured.

Some members of the Iron Fangs might go missing for days, and when they’re found, their condition would be absolutely terrible.

They would not come back as a corpse, but they would need extensive medical care.

Some Iron Fangs have had their foods and water poisoned.

Some Iron Fangs would be ganged up on when nobody was present, and they would be beaten.

As for Simon, there were times where he was nearly assassinated.

There was a time his door handle was poisoned, an Initiate attempted to assassinate him the moment he entered his room, a causeway suddenly crumbling into pieces as he was walking across it, or two Initiates attempting to stab him as they walked past him.

So many things happened to Simon and the Iron Fangs as a whole in secret, and all of these things were not made public.

As for Simon, he fought this war in a completely different manner.

Using the slaves and Brama as his network of information, he now had the capability to approach this silent war in a completely different manner that actually took Caesar by surprise.

Through the slaves and Brama, he figured out some illegal deeds that Caesar’s factions were doing.

For example, they had their own private shops where they sold artifacts, herbs, ores, and certain materials in secret.

Some faction members also found a way to steal some books from the library, and some of these books contained techniques or knowledge that would normally cost a lot of merits to acquire.

The faction also had several places where they kidnapped weak male Initiates and forced them to fight against themselves or against beasts for fun.

Some factions had places where they kidnapped female Initiates, drugged them, and used them as they wished.

Some faction members even secretly sold herbs and drugs that were banned by the academy.

There were other things Simon found out, and he made sure to use them to his advantage.

What he did against Caesar was to expose some of these places to the authorities like the Shadow Enforcers.

It was obvious that Caesar had a certain level of power among the Shadow Enforcers since some of the kidnapped male and female Initiates have tried reporting to them, but it always ended up in failure.

The Shadow Enforcers would do nothing, and the male and female Initiates who snitched would be treated worse by the faction members once they found out.

The faction members always made sure that none of the kidnapped Initiates were killed, but their conditions would always be terrible.

Through the help of Ormon and Interrogator Radan- the Shadow Enforcer who interrogated him after his first fight with the Iron Fangs in the cafeteria- he not only exposed them, he made sure to shut down some of these places, he made sure that the caught faction members were punished by the law, and he also made sure to take all the hell stones he found in these places, alleviating his financial needs once again.

Caesar fought him using his fists and power, he fought him using the power of the laws of the academy.