My Scumbag System-Chapter 279: The Top 5 Rankings are a Declaration of War
Julian Valerius shot to his feet like someone had stuck a rod up his ass. His chair skidded backward, almost tipping over. Everything about him screamed old money and entitlement, from his expensively cut blonde hair to his custom-tailored uniform. I’d bet my baseball bat he’d never washed a dish in his life.
"This entire discussion is pointless," he declared, voice ringing with the confidence of someone who’s never been told ’no.’ "Mixing oil and water is a waste of time and resources. This isn’t about democracy; it’s about common sense and proven ability."
He gestured toward his fellow Sentinels, each in their pristine silver-and-blue uniforms. They sat straighter in their chairs, like show dogs responding to a command. "We are the elite. The top-ranked students in the academy. The best of the best. These..." his lip curled as he looked at our side of the table, "...people...are the scraps. The leftovers. The ones no other guild wanted. Working with them as equals puts us at unnecessary risk."
I watched him with mild interest, like a scientist observing a particularly stupid lab rat trying to solve a maze by repeatedly running into the same wall. His argument was so predictable I could have mouthed the words along with him.
"They should stay behind and clean up our mess," Julian concluded with a dismissive wave of his hand. "It’s what they’re best suited for."
Raphael slammed his fist on the table hard enough to make the hologram flicker and distort. The Hydra-Lich’s multiple heads momentarily merged into a nightmarish tangle before stabilizing. "I’ll clean up nothing, Goldilocks! I’ll be stepping over your unconscious body to kill the Boss!"
Julian’s smile was pure condescension, the kind that made you want to knock teeth out. "Volume doesn’t equal quality, Santoro. A pack of low-life rejects is still just a pack of rejects, no matter how loudly they bark."
That’s when I decided to have some fun. Time to pull the rug out from under Julian’s perfectly polished shoes.
I didn’t yell. I didn’t even stand up. I just tapped my datapad with deliberate slowness, linking it to the main projector. The movement was casual, but I made sure everyone saw it. Setting the stage was half the performance.
"Vega?" I called to the system AI, my voice carrying easily through the now-silent room. "Pull up the unadjusted Combat Power Rankings from the Entrance Exam. Raw data only, please."
"Accessing records," Vega’s silky, feminine voice responded. "Combat Power Rankings displayed."
The hologram shifted. The dungeon map vanished, replaced by a simple list of names and numbers, stark and undeniable. The room went silent as everyone stared at the rankings glowing in blue light. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞
#1: Satori Nakano (Onyx) - Thermal Incision
#2: Kenjiro Kobayashi (Argent) - Zephyr King.
#3: Natalia Kuzmina (Onyx) - Psychic Dominion.
#4: Cassius White (Scarlet) - Fire Fist.
#5: Skylar Amane (Onyx) - Phantasm Smoke
I smiled at Julian, savoring the moment like a fine wine. His face was rapidly changing colors – first white with shock, then red with anger, then an interesting purple shade I hadn’t seen before. Beside me, I felt Natalia straighten slightly in her chair. Pride. Good. She was embracing her rightful place.
"Math is hard, isn’t it, Julian? Let me help." I stood up, walking around the table with exaggerated casualness, one hand trailing along the polished surface. "In the Top 5, Onyx holds three spots. You hold one..."
I gestured to Kenjiro, a thin Japanese boy who appeared to be sleeping with his eyes open, completely detached from the drama unfolding around him. "And your Ace, Kenjiro? He doesn’t care about your hierarchy. He’s here because it was convenient, not because he believes in Argent superiority. So, statistically speaking, we are the elite guild. You are the backups with better PR and prettier uniforms."
The silence was beautiful, like the moment before an avalanche. The Sentinels looked like they’d been collectively slapped. The Hounds were grinning like they’d just been told Christmas came early. Even Braxton was struggling to hide his amusement behind his hand. And Julian... oh, Julian looked like he might spontaneously combust at any moment.
"These rankings are—" he started, voice tight with restrained fury.
"The academy’s own data," I finished, cutting him off smoothly. "Unaltered. Unbiased. Unpleasant for your ego, perhaps, but entirely factual. You can verify them with Vega if you’d like."
Julian’s face turned an even deeper shade of red, veins standing out on his forehead. His hands clenched into fists at his sides. "You have no right to—"
"Julian, sit down. You’re embarrassing us."
Every head turned toward Celeste Vance.
If there was one person in this room who actually scared me a little, it was her. Those periwinkle eyes held intelligence that went way beyond her years, observing everything, missing nothing. And unlike Julian, she had the power to back up her pedigree. Her white-silver hair was pulled back in a simple ponytail, making her look younger than her eighteen years, but that face gave nothing away. A face trained in politics from birth.
Plus, she was the most influential hunter’s younger sister. Seraphina Vance didn’t just run the VHC; she was the VHC. And here was her little sister, telling golden boy Julian to shut up. Delicious.
Julian stared at her like she’d just stabbed him in the back with a rusty spoon. "Celeste? Whose side are you on?"
"I am on the side of success." Her voice remained calm, almost musical in its restraint. "Satori is rude, arrogant, and intentionally provocative... but his data is accurate. We cannot treat them as baggage when the numbers clearly demonstrate otherwise. That would be foolish, and Sentinels are not fools."
She turned her gaze across the table to where Isabelle sat watching the proceedings with detached amusement, like a queen observing peasants squabble at court.
"Isabelle. You are a tactician. What is the optimal play here?"
Isabelle straightened slightly, a queen acknowledging another queen. The movement was barely perceptible, but in that small adjustment, I saw the foundation of respect being laid between two of the most dangerous women in the room.
"A single unit of fifteen is too unwieldy in a C-Rank corridor," Isabelle said. "We will bottleneck at every turn. Friendly fire is a certainty, not a possibility. Coordination will become impossible in the heat of battle."
Their eyes locked across the table, two chess masters recognizing each other across a board of lesser pieces. I made a mental note to keep very close tabs on this budding alliance. Power recognized power, and these two were finding common ground that transcended guild rivalries.
"Two teams," Isabelle said with the quiet confidence of someone stating the obvious. "We split the dungeon. We clear the east and west wings simultaneously."
Celeste nodded, a barely perceptible movement. "Agreed. We converge on the Boss Chamber from different directions. Once the doors open, the truce ends. Whichever team secures the kill takes the points and the Core. Clean, fair, and in line with both guilds’ strengths."
Julian looked around wildly for support, but even his own teammates were nodding. Monica Von Astrom was already scribbling notes in her delicate handwriting. Aaron Sanders, the muscle-bound idiot who followed Julian everywhere like an overgrown puppy, looked confused but didn’t dare contradict Celeste. Even the stuck-up tech specialist, whose name I couldn’t be bothered to remember, was nodding thoughtfully.
The quiet Japanese boy, Kenjiro, finally stirred. He blinked slowly, like someone waking from a pleasant nap, and looked directly at me. His eyes were sharp, alert – he hadn’t been sleeping at all. Just watching. Observing.
"A race sounds fun," he said, his voice soft but clear enough to command the room’s attention. "I haven’t run in a while. Been getting bored."
There was something in his tone that made me pay attention. Unlike Julian, Kenjiro was the real deal – a genuine prodigy who didn’t need to boast about his abilities. He was quietly confident in a way that suggested he’d never been seriously challenged. I filed that information away for later. Every predator needs to know the other predators in their ecosystem.
Braxton grinned broadly, grinding out his cigarette on the table’s expensive surface, leaving a black mark that made Petrova wince. "Two teams. Parallel clear. Winner takes all. I like it. Simple. Violent. Fair." He counted each point on his fingers. "Gets the job done with minimum bullshit, which is my favorite kind of plan."
Professor Petrova stood, smoothing her immaculate uniform.
"Very well. Two teams it shall be," she said, each word clipped and proper. "But do not expect us to slow down for you, Mr. Nakano. If your... Hounds lag behind, we will clear the entire dungeon before you finish the first room. And let me assure you, we will not share the glory when we succeed."
I smiled back at her, all teeth and no warmth. "Looking forward to it, Professor. We wouldn’t want it any other way."
The game was on. And like any good predator, I already had my prey in sight.
