All Hail President Reyes

"What!"

Aiden gasped at the scene, his eyes widening to the point where it seemed his eye sockets might burst forth at any moment.

Since he had been inseparable from his brother since the convergence of the game and reality, Aiden had witnessed the true capabilities of Brawler X. He had seen the hulking figure tear apart the jaws of a beast with bare hands and obliterate numerous creatures simultaneously with a single swing of his mighty sledgehammer.

Having witnessed this spectacle more than once, Aiden had reached the undeniable conclusion that, at this stage of the game, his brother possessed unparalleled strength!

The announcement of his brother being the first player to reach level 20 had already eradicated any lingering doubts.

But…

'I was mistaken.'

Fearful of his role model, Gabriel Reyes, losing face, Aiden had convinced his brother to cease his senseless actions, believing that he would spare the white-haired youth from humiliation.

Well, that plan backfired.

The aforementioned matter didn't even concern Aiden as much as something else did. This…

[Ding! The players Gabriel Reyes and Brawler X have entered into a pact. Failure to fulfill the deal will result in severe consequences.]

'Damn this muscle brain!! I'm I to be his subordinate for life now?'

Aiden harbored no doubts regarding the authority governing the game system. That pact was undoubtedly binding. He didn't even want to contemplate the repercussions of failing to fulfill the agreement.

For now, all he could do was sulk and assign blame to his brother.

But perhaps it wouldn't be so terrible if it were Gabriel Reyes, right?

Yes, Aiden was aware that human personalities could change at any given moment. However, in Gabriel's case, the likelihood of such a transformation was nil.

The white-haired youth had not abused his power in the past. He carried himself with righteousness, or at least that's what Aiden believed.

Maybe this turn of events was actually beneficial.

Besides… Gabriel was formidable; didn't that imply that he could safeguard them in this new world?

Meanwhile, Brawler X fixated his gaze upon his hands, still firmly planted on the ground, wearing an expression of utter disbelief. His colossal hands quivered as he clenched his teeth before finally raising them from the ground.

Brawler then directed his stare at Gabriel, who remained comfortably seated, entirely unharmed, a derisive and provocative smirk playing across his face.

Terrified that his brother might act impulsively, Aiden opened his mouth to speak, but a hearty laughter silenced him.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

Gabriel, still seated in the chair leaned back, looking at Brawler X with a gaze as though he was staring at a rare alien species.

Even Fiona and Aiden also looked at The now standing behemoth human, confused.

"This…is great! HAHA! I knew it. We would gladly follow you, President Reyes. What do you want me to do, my lord, this subordinate is at your service."

With a resounding thud, Brawler collapsed to his knees, gazing at Gabriel with admiration in his eyes; the muscular stud seemed to behold a monarch from ancient times.

'This is a first. He didn't request a rematch?'

Aiden couldn't believe his brother would accept defeat so easily.

"Why are you kneeling?"

Brawler shot a confused look at Gabriel.

"Um, isn't this a way of showing you my loyalty? Or should I prostrate?"

Gabriel took deep breaths, eyeing Brawler intently.

"Now that I'm still being civil, get up."

"Huh? Okay, if you say so."

Brawler scratched his head, glancing around. The onlookers fell silent, and an awkward atmosphere settled.

"So boss, what can I do for you?"

"Let's go join the group."

"Wait, there are others?"

Fiona responded:

"He saved them hours ago,"

"And who might you be?"

"I'm Fiona."

"You must be the right-hand person—woman, in this case, I suppose?"

"Yup, something like that."

"By the way, are you single?"

'...?'

The trio walked out through the outline of the giant human in silence. Fiona stared at the muscular stud and eventually spoke:

"You know the door is right over here?"

Brawler looked away with an embarrassed expression.

"Oh, that, I wasn't really in the right mindset at that moment, you see.

Indeed, there were doors that would have easily allowed him to access the rooms.

"How did you and your brother come into possession of so many treasures?"

Ahead of the group, Gabriel perked his ears up, curious to know how these two had acquired their treasure trove.

"Well, you see, my brother and I are martial artists at our local gym. With our combat skills, we easily secured the fourth and third spots in Dark Fantasy Online. We are adept in gaming, and thanks to our tag team, we hunted down several monsters, maybe close to two thousand, all thanks to our experience in DFO and few of those monsters dropped treasures."

Dark Fantasy Online was a revolutionary video game launched by E—gaming, the company that introduced the highly anticipated Realm of Ascendency.

One of the major factors that made Dark Fantasy Online popular among the youth was its high level of competition.

'To be ranked 3rd and 4th in that chaotic game?' Gabriel thought.

Fiona was all ears now, her attention on Aiden, who was still speaking:

"Wait! Really?"

Brawler chimed in:

"Actually, I was the third, darl—"

But Fiona cut him off.

"Wow, even I managed to occupy just the tenth spot. You guys are something."

"I would have been the No. 1 player if not for that damn number 1."

Brawler grumbled and kicked a piece of junk on the floor.

Hearing Brawler's tone, Gabriel spoke.

"It seems like you really hate the number 1 player of Dark Fantasy Online?"

"The guy bea—"

Brawler paused, but Aiden completed what he was about to say. From the look of things, it seemed like Brawler wanted to share something sensitive, perhaps an embarrassing experience that he didn't want anyone to know about.

"He challenged the top player to a PvP match ten times, and guess what?"

"Hey, don't say anything, will you!"

Brawler nearly jumped in panic as he hurriedly rushed to the front, but he was too late.

Gabriel smirked.

"He didn't even last 10 seconds."

Brawler and Aiden stared at Gabriel with wide eyes.

"How did he know that?"

Brawler turned to his brother seething.

"Aiden…"

"I didn't tell anybody, if that's what you think."

Then, the brother duo stared at Gabriel with suspicious looks.

"It can't be!"

***

It didn't take long for Gabriel, Fiona, Brawler, and Aiden to meet the group of students again.

As expected, Helen stood in the front with a stoic expression. The clamorous students were eerily quiet, flinching at the slightest movement she made. There were silent murmurs.

After vaguely making out Gabriel's silhouette, the students collectively started breathing again.

It was still unknown what Helen had done to the students to make them behave like this. Of course, Gabriel noticed, but he paid it no heed.

Seeing the human behemoth with his muscles, the students became curious. Disregarding whatever they had gone through when Helen had taken control, all the students began bombarding Brawler with questions.

The bald-headed boy, of course, happily entertained their inquiries, even flexing his biceps and thick arms. Anyone could see he was reveling in the attention.

'Muscles, huh? Why do humans always instinctively think that anyone with muscles is strong?'

Gabriel observed Brawler, who was all smiles, his white teeth gleaming whenever Gabriel's eyes fell on him. Compared to the previous atmosphere, which felt like a cemetery, the place was now lively.

It would be a lie if Gabriel said he didn't enjoy this atmosphere.

'They should remain optimistic. It would be necessary. At least, for the time being.'

He eventually spoke.

"Okay, that's enough. We should get going."

"Hey! I'm having fun here, could you wait a second—"

"No!"

That "no" left no room for denial.

Thus the group began moving again. Gabriel assigned Brawler and Aiden to cover the rear, while him and Fiona took the front.

Fiona now wielded Brawler's dominating shield that had been resting on his back all this while. Even she didn't know the reason why, but the bald teen had mumbled some gibberish she still didn't grasp even now.

Well, this was actually good.

Now Gabriel's primary concern was finding somewhere safe to spend the treacherous night. If it were up to Gabriel alone, he would head straight to the place Fiona had mentioned, but it couldn't be helped.

Unlike him, who had extensive training, these students were just ordinary mundane humans. They needed rest for their bodies to function well.

Seconds merged into minutes, and the group eventually found a vast hall that could easily accommodate over 1000 students, with so many windows that Gabriel's eyes could scarcely count. But these windows weren't needed, and they were all closed, tightly sealed away.

Thankfully, the hall was equipped with air conditioning mechanisms. Now Gabriel wouldn't suffer from the collective reek of the students who were drenched in sweat due to running.

There was one major problem, though. The students were hungry, but they had no choice but to sleep on empty stomachs with the hope that tomorrow would be better…hopefully.

Gabriel stepped outside of the hall, resting his back against the wall while running his fingers through the mighty sword. His gaze as sharp as the jaggered blade of the sword.

Soon the door opened. Fiona, Helen, and the Lee brothers walked out through it.

Still staring at the sword in his grasp, Gabriel began to issue orders.

"Brawler, take the left flank of the hall, Aiden, you take the right, then I want you, Fiona, and Helen to take the front and rear."

Gabriel was now quite confident in Helen's skills. The blonde was a fast learner, so he knew she could help herself now. He didn't have to fear for her safety anymore. As long as the beasts were under level 10, Gabriel was certain she could handle them.

Fiona soon spoke:

"Then what about you?"

"I'll keep watch at the door and patrol the surroundings for any monsters."

Brawler raised his hands as if he wanted to ask a question.

"Why don't I join you?"

"You're needed here; the students' safety is our utmost priority. Now all of you scram…"

With all four of them inside the hall, the door shut closed, and Gabriel locked it from the outside.

'Well, what to do?'

Gabriel began to move away from the door.

A few moments later, the white-haired youth strolled along a narrow hallway. Gabriel squinted as he fished out a couple of [monster shards] the makeshift bag slung around his shoulders.

"A spatial storage ring would be very useful."

Gabriel crushed a shard, and the familiar message glimmered before him.

In total, there were 200 shards in the bag. With a little thought, Gabriel decided to absorb a hundred and leave the rest for his subordinates, as they were no different from an extension of his strength now.

'Anyone with enough brain cells would know that gaining loyal surbodinates in this new world is the fastest way to rise to the top and become formidable.'

Thinking about, Brawler X and Aiden a smile crept onto his face. Those two were now bound to him.

"Now I'm very certain those two will remain loyal to me even in their death."

Indeed, the world was not truly what it used to be. With a simple string of text, a brother duo were now forcefully subjected to being loyal to him.

Exiting his musings, Gabriel began to absorb the [monster shards].

After a while, he finished absorbing all the shards before he remembered something.

Food? I almost forgot that the students are hungry.

***

The next day…

Grrrrrr.

"My stomach hurts. At this pace, I don't think I can move any longer."

"Do you have any junk food with you?"

"Please let me take a little bite of your bread."

Fiona's brows creased as she watched the students complaining about food. She tried to calm them down, but it was futile. Seeing her, Brawler said something like this:

"You can never calm the stomach of a hungry man."

It made sense, she thought, because the more she tried to convince them, the louder they got. It was irritating, nevertheless.

Thankfully, the Lee brothers had a couple of junk food in their laden bag to spare. They distributed these foods to a few students, but that did nothing to quench their hunger. On the contrary, they became more agitated and ravenous.

Fiona lightly blew air on her hands. She had knocked out a few students who caused commotion, and as a result, she felt a slight sour sensation all over her delicate hands.

'Gabriel, what's taking you so long?'

Fiona averted her gaze from the students to the door. The last thing she wanted was for the students to become cannibalistic.

A few painful minutes later, the most anticipated sound of the doors being unlocked reverberated. Fiona subconsciously spat out a sigh of relief.

Creak.

The door finally opened, and her eyes finally fell on Gabriel. Instinctively, her eyes landed on his hands, and a gasp escaped her mouth.

"Food?"

That single word caused everyone to enter frenzy mode.

"Did somebody say food?"

"Where is the food?"

Indeed, in Gabriel's grasp were four heavy bags filled with food. Fiona knew this because of the delicious aroma causing her stomach to growl. Her ears burned with embarrassment. She looked around, hoping nobody saw her.

Unfortunately…

Brawler, who stood near her, gave her a weird stare.

"Haha! It's the president, he has done it again!"

Seeing the bag filled with food, the students erupted into boisterous chants.

"All hail president Reyes!"