Kings On The Horizon (Vol. 1-3) ✓

48 | Only Temporary

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MAX STOOD IN THE middle of the rooftop, his white PE uniform covered in dirt, almost as if he fought with someone in the mud. He takes a deep breath as the wind blows on his face. Without saying anything, Leo - a member of BND - stands in front of Max and says, "Are you ready?"

     Max takes another deep breath and grips on the paint gun that he's holding.

     "Are we seriously going to stand here all day? Or are we going to do this?" Max answers instead as he looks at the two groups of men waiting in front of him.

     BND and Jokers look at each other before standing in a circle around Max, putting Max in the middle. They were at least a couple of meters away from where Max is.

     Krist, who's also covered in sweat, glances at the man beside him. To be more specific, he glances at BND's leader, Hans. 

     Hans takes a deep breath and suddenly removes his coat and undoes a couple of buttons on his polo before wiping the sweat on his forehead. Krist gets annoyed by this, so for some unknown reason, he takes his coat off as well and undoes a couple of buttons on his polo, instantly making the member of Jokers howl at him.

     "Was that really necessary?" Marcus asks the jester.

     Master Joker, who's busy folding his sleeves up, smirks and answers him, "Definitely."

     Max has been training for the past weeks, at least eight hours a day. He's trained with BND on most days, but sometimes he'd go face to face with the Roses, and even the members of Jokers.

     Today is Max's last day of evaluation. When Mr. Brains and Brawn revealed the contestants, it instantly became the talk of the town, especially when J.S High announced that this year's representative was Max. Of course, the media blew up, and that instantly added pressure on BND. But Max made sure to work even harder so he wouldn't have to embarrass them.

     "Alright Max, let's begin," Ari, who was also at the rooftop to watch Max's final evaluation, says as he approaches him with a cloth. He then stands beside Max and covers his eyes with the said cloth.

     The members of Jokers and BND places their target on their chest while Ari moves away so he can stand beside Ervin and Felix, who were also there to show their support to their dear friend.

     For Max's final evaluation, he'll be playing a game of tag with the two brotherhoods. Of course, as a handicap, the members are asked to go a little easy on Max since the physical level and strength of a brotherhood member is still too high for someone like Max, who barely exercised when he was sixteen.

     "Alright...we'll begin in five, four, three, two—" Arjun - who's holding a stopwatch - blows on his whistle, automatically making all twelve members run towards Max.

     Max takes a deep breath and maximizes his concentration. Without any hesitation, he starts shooting towards the sounds coming from their boots, and even from their heavy breathing.

     Ari, Ervin, and Felix look at their friend in amazement.

     Hans and Krist, who were only a few inches away from Max, got ready to touch his back because if they successfully touch him, Max will lose.

     Thankfully, Max heard the golden chain from Hans's collar when he got too close. So Max immediately goes down and swings his leg, instantly making Hans fall. Max then shoots him with the paint gun, and just when Krist was about to tackle him from behind, Max turns around, throws a punch, and immediately shoots him too.