Chapter 64: Fake Death Bed
"USSSSShoo!"
The hamr shot forward with full force, aid directly at Tony’s head. People in the back rows stood up on food tables to witness the impact.
Gasps erupted... People leaned forward— Expecting impact. The mobiles moved eagerly to capture the mont of lifeti.
But in the next second... Everything stopped. The hamr didn’t move an inch.
Bond’s expression froze.
Tony’s left hand gripped the hamr head effortlessly, stopping it mid-swing as if it weighed nothing.
"Impossible....!"
"How did he stop it...!!!!!!" Shock exploded across the hall.
"How...?" Bond muttered weakly, trying to pull back the hamr, but it didn’t budge.
Tony smiled before attacking.
"Bang!"
His leg shot forward.... The kick landed directly on Bond’s stomach, sending him flying backward before crashing onto the floor.
Before Bond could recover, Tony stepped forward, grabbed the hamr, and slamd it down.
The weapon shattered instantly, the tal splitting apart as the head embedded itself deep into the ground beside Bond’s face.
Bond closed his eyes, expecting death... But it didn’t co.
"Today you will know what will happen when you place your butt in other people’s affairs."
Tony snapped his fingers... The snow leopard moved like a shadow jump.
It leapt onto Bond, claws tearing through his ass and painful screams erupted throughout the hall.
The crowd froze... The sa people who cheered monts ago now watched in horror.
Tony bent down, grabbed Bond’s belt, and with a single motion, tied him and hung his body from the iron rod above.
Then—
He turned... Facing everyone.
"Does anybody want to beat ? Please co up. I won’t do anything to your family or your mothers or your sisters or your wives, I promise."
His voice echoed inside the food hall... No one moved.
Tony snapped his fingers again... The snow leopard returned to his side instantly.
And without another word— He walked out.
Leaving behind silence... And a story that would spread across the entire academy by nightfall.
***
Sword Peak...
The eastern corner of Sword Peak was not a place most disciples ca at night.
There was a rock fort that stood at the corner. The lavish building had no na plate. It didn’t need one. Because it belongs to the top core disciple of the Academy, Mark Smith.
A female figure moved quickly along the upper path, hood pulled forward, checking behind her twice before she reached the door. She waited... Looked left... Looked right... Confird the path was empty in both directions.
Then she pushed the door open and slipped inside.
First Prince Mark Smith sat in the center of the room with a glass of red wine in one hand and a lit cigar in the other, watching the door with the unhurried patience of soone who had already decided how this conversation would end. The room slled of aged wood and smoke. Two servants stood motionless near the far wall.
The woman who had entered walked to the chair across from him and sat down without being invited. She didn’t touch the second glass he had already poured for her.
"I assu the prince didn’t call
here for body pleasure," she said.
Mark studied her for a mont, then smiled slowly. "Kelly. Always direct. I appreciate that." He set the cigar in the tray beside him. "What is your current rank inside the Healing Tower?"
Kelly Don’s expression stayed neutral. "I’m Rank Five Doctor. Why?"
"I hear you and Moon Goddess Hikaru hold roughly similar positions," Mark said casually.
"Don’t compare
to that woman," Kelly said, her voice going flat and cold. "My ability exceeds hers by a significant margin. She carries that goddess title because of her family lineage and nothing else. If we stood on equal ground with equal resources, I would have ten tis her reputation by now." She picked up the wine glass after all and held it without drinking. "Don’t compare us."
"Of course," Mark said pleasantly, like he had been waiting for exactly that reaction. "I ant no offence. In fact, I called you here precisely because I believe your talent is being wasted in your current position." He leaned forward slightly. "I want to change that. If you do one small thing for ."
Kelly looked at him steadily.
"If the prince is looking for pleasure... I won’t deny your request" she said, reaching for the top button of her robe, slightly revealing the clevage.
"I’m not interested in that," Mark said, with the flat dismissal of soone turning down a cup of tea they didn’t ask for. "If I wanted company, there are a hundred won outside that door right now. This is a business conversation, Kelly. Keep your robe on."
Kelly paused. Then slowly lowered her hand. A flicker of sothing— surprise, reassessnt moved across her face before she buried it again.
"Then what do you need from a Rank Five healer?" she asked.
"Do you know Tony Clark?" Mark said.
Kelly was quiet for a mont. Behind those careful eyes, sothing was turning over— what the question ant, what ca after it, what kind of situation she was being pulled toward. Then a slow smile crossed her face and she let out a short laugh.
"Tony Clark!! Of course I know him— everyone knows him after today!!" She shook her head, still smiling. "I almost fell off my chair laughing when I heard about your ninth brother Edward. Tony beat him like a pig in that fight at the Seventh Octopus House!!" She laughed again, openly, not trying to hide it. "I’m sorry, my prince, I know that’s not what you want to hear but—"
"Enough," Mark said. Quietly.
Kelly stopped laughing.
Mark looked at her with eyes that had gone completely still. "Laugh at family matters again and this conversation ends badly for you. Am I clear?"
"Yes..." Kelly said.
"Good." Mark picked up his cigar again. "Here is what I need. Tony Clark is now assigned to the Healing Tower for one month. Starting tomorrow, I want you to position yourself close to him. Direct him — subtly, without him realizing — toward the patients who are closest to death. The ones who are already at the edge. The ones who won’t survive regardless." His voice was level, precise. "Every one of those patients who dies while Tony Clark is near them becos evidence. The academy, the outside families, the public — they will all co to believe that Tony Clark is not incompetent. That he is deliberately killing people. That whoever goes near him dies." He paused. "I want the entire academy to see the Healing Tower’s newest mber as a walking death bed."
Kelly listened to the whole thing without expression. When he finished, she was quiet for a long mont.
"You want to destroy his reputation using dying patients," she said.
"I want to destroy the Clark family’s reputation," Mark corrected. "Tony Clark is the thod."
Kelly tapped one finger against the wine glass slowly, thinking it through. She was not a sentintal person. She had grown up in a Russian underground family that weighed decisions in losses and gains, not feelings. She ran the calculation.
"This is not a simple task," she said finally. "Tony Clark is not an idiot. He might be a disaster on two legs in public but he is not stupid, and he is not soone who forgets a debt. When he figures out what I did — and he will figure it out — he will co for
directly. Why should I put myself in front of that?!"
"Because the alternative is worse," Mark said simply. "And because if you succeed, the Imperial Family will personally back the Don family’s rise. Resources. Connections. A position at the World Tree Blessing that your family currently has no hope of accessing." He exhaled smoke slowly. "Your family is dealing with underground difficulties in Russia right now. I know that. You know that I know that. This is your way out of those difficulties — and up."
Kelly stared at the wine in her glass for a long ti.
The gains were real. The risks were real. Tony Clark as an enemy was not a small risk — villain or not, talentless or not, he was a Clark, and the Clarks had reach. If this went wrong —
But if it went right.
She lifted the glass and drained it in one long swallow. Set it down on the table with a quiet click.
"When do I start?" she said.
Mark smiled. "As soon as possible..."
***
After Kelly left, the two servants stepped forward from the wall.
"She agreed quickly, Master," the first one said, with a careful tone that ant he was surprised but wise enough not to say so directly.
"Of course she agreed," Mark said, refilling his glass without looking up. "She had no real choice. She knows what happens to people who turn down requests from the Imperial family." He swirled the wine once. "Besides— ambition is very easy to work with. Much easier than loyalty. Loyal people have limits. Ambitious people will walk through anything if the destination looks good enough."
He set the bottle down.
"You two— tomorrow you start spreading the next layer. Tony Clark, the death bed of the Healing Tower. Every patient he touches, every room he enters — I want the story already in circulation before the first patient dies. By the ti it actually happens, everyone will believe they already knew." He looked at each of them in turn. "Understood?"
"Yes, Master," both servants said, with smiles that matched his.
Mark leaned back in his chair, lifted the cigar, and stared at the ceiling through the smoke.
’One month, Tony Clark... Let’s see how you survive this...’
Reviews
All reviews (0)