Kings On The Horizon (Vol. 1-3) ✓

67 | Playing With Fire

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MAX SLOWLY OPENS HIS eyes, his head aching like someone just hit him. He processes the situation and realizes that he's in a dark room, and the only light that was there was coming from the spotlight on top of his head.

    The situation felt familiar since both his hands and feet were tied to a chair, but at least this time, unlike the time Jokers strapped him on a toilet, there weren't any weird writings on his body.

     "Max! You're awake!" Someone suddenly shouts, surprising Max.

     Max squints his eyes to see clearer, and to his surprise, Felix, Ari, and Ervin were in front of him, also strapped on a chair like he was.

     "What's going on? Where are we?" Max asks.

     "We don't know," Ari answers.

     "I can't believe you just returned and now we're kidnapped. I'm starting to think if befriending you was a good idea or not," Ervin manages to joke despite their current situation.

     Before Max could even say anything after Ervin's sarcastic remark, the door suddenly opens, revealing the four Ashes who they encountered earlier.

     "You bastards! What do you think you guys are doing?! Do you even know who I am?!" Ari starts shouting, making Felix look at him, practically begging him to just shut up.

     One of the Ashes approaches Ari and looks at him with a serious expression. "We know better than to get involved with a gaffer, let alone an underling of the Dukes, so you're only here as a spectator."

     Ari didn't quite understand where he was going, and he wanted to ask why they were there in the first place, but then the door opens again, revealing a white uniform that Ari, Felix, and Ervin were very much familiar with.

     "You fucking son of a bitch," Ervin says as he watches the white uniform walk towards them with a wide grin.

     The four Ashes walked out of the room as the white uniform made his entrance. 

     The white uniform was the white uniform that got into a feud with Master Joker before. After that, he got kicked and shamed at the Great Hall by Viktor himself. He was also supposed to be a gaffer, but based on his blue armband, Gavriil did suspend him and took a thousand points from him, making him a dweller instead.

(If you don't remember, he's in Chapter 49: A Painful Reminder)

     "I should have known that only a coward would do such a stunt," Ervin says, but then the White Uniform chuckles before approaching Ervin and suddenly punching him in the gut, surprising everyone.

    "Ervin!" Max shouts before looking at them with an angry expression. "What the fuck do you think you're doing? I don't even know who you are!" Max says, which was true since Max wasn't there when that incident happened.

     When the white uniform heard what Max said, he approached him next and suddenly grabbed him by the cheek. "Let me introduce myself then. My name is Arthur McKay, an underling of the counts. I was a Jack too before, but because of what you did, I had to leave that brotherhood you call Jokers. And because of you, I had to be humiliated by Master Joker, and my gaffer title was stripped away from me!" The guy named Arthur angrily explains, finally making Max realize who this man was.

     "You're an idiot to be blaming all that on me," Max says, and Arthur lets go of Max's cheeks. He laughs at Max's comment, and without any warning, he punches Max's face, causing the side of Max's lip to bleed.