Villain: 10x Rewards Begins With The Protagonist's Mother

Solomon looked around the table once before speaking.

"Who’s going first?"

Troy started talking immediately. "Weapons shipment from last week came in clean. We moved everything safely and revenue is up 12 percent." He grinned. "Oh yeah, some idiots tried to skip their protection fees."

"And?" Solomon said.

"Naturally, they paid double." Troy shrugged like it was obvious and added with a cruel grin. "Along with an apology."

Grant didn’t even bother lifting his head and spoke in an uninterested tone. "Territory is safe. Revenue is the same as last month."

That was it. Nobody expected anything more from him.

Leon was playing with an unlit cigarette between his fingers. "Nightclubs are up 15 percent. We cleaned more cash this month than the last two combined." He tilted his head with a lazy smile. "VIP spending alone is through the roof. Honestly, the money is almost getting boring."

Claire rolled her eyes at that. She said what she needed to say and shut her mouth the moment she was done.

Miles went after her but he talked like he didn’t want to be heard and stayed invisible.

Nora raised her glass and said after a look at her note pad. "Production is stable and three new compounds are in testing."

"And one is ready to use."

"Any side effects?" Solomon asked.

"Nothing that matters."

Petra went at last. She listed off fight revenue, betting pools, and monthly memberships without trying to dress it up like Leon, even though her numbers were just as good.

Solomon nodded after everyone finished with their report.

That was the end of the usual business.

Felix and Freya silently took note of any new information they heard.

"Now." Solomon said. "Regarding the White Tigers"

Everyone tensed up after hearing those words, and just as Solomon was about to continue, Marcus interrupted them again.

"What the fuck man! Why did you kill me? I’m on your team!" Marcus said with an angry look on his face.

"Haha, sorry, young master!" Dante apologized, rubbing the back of his head. "But we won, right?"

"Well yeah. We won." Marcus admitted reluctantly.

"Then that’s all that matters, haha." Dante laughed it off and thought to himself. ’Some sacrifices are necessary for victory after all.’’ 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

Everybody in the room thought he was talking about the game except Felix and Freya, who knew he was foreshadowing Marcus’s death.

"Young master, please pay attention." Solomon said in a stern tone. "Master Vincent instructed me to show you how the organization operates. This is a part of your training."

"Okay okay I will stop playing around." Marcus immediately folded after hearing his dad’s name and put on a serious expression.

Seeing his actions, Solomon finally returned to the topic. "According to the sources, Arthur, the leader of White tigers failed at his breakthrough attempt to Mana Core formation and is currently in a weakened state."

It took a second for everyone to react before the room immediately erupted.

"Hahahaha! I knew he wouldn’t make it!" Troy laughed out loud, holding his stomach.

"Does that mean we can finish off those white cats for good?" Petra asked with an amused smile, her eyes briefly glancing at Dante and his two.

"Yeah, we should take this chance and get rid of those pests!" Marcus immediately jumped in after finding a chance to take credit. If he actually contributed something, he could escape this shitty training.

Nora stopped spinning her pen. If they took care of the White Tigers, she would get a lot of new toys to play with. Just imagining it gave her a mental orgasm.

Grant finally looked up at the mention of a fight, and Claire licked her lips, itching for some blood.

Solomon was about to tell them to calm down and that they needed to confirm the news first. But before he could speak, someone beat him to it.

"Are you guys stupid? You want to walk straight into a trap?" Dante spoke in a mocking tone.

Marcus instantly turned to glare at him, and the look on his face was basically asking if Dante was calling him an idiot too.

"Young master, how could I possibly be calling you an idiot?" Dante said in a helpless tone. ’You are a fucking retard.’

"Who said you can speak? Do you really think we need your help to deal with the White Tigers?" Troy asked with veins forming on his forehead.

"If you can’t even tell a trap from an opportunity, no amount of help is going to save you guys." Dante said with a grin, not wasting the chance to ragebait.

"You bastard!" Troy shot up from his seat.

"That’s enough." Solomon said in a neutral tone.

"But Leader..."

"Sit down."

Troy immediately sat back down as Solomon turned to look at him. Even though the mask was hiding his face, Troy could feel a pair of eyes staring him down.

Solomon looked at Dante and said, "What you said is correct. I highly suspect this might be a trap. If that guy succeeded in his breakthrough and we walked into his trap, we would suffer heavy losses."

’Heavy losses, huh.’ Dante thought, pulling up his status window. ’That sounds about right.’

Solomon was at Half Step Mana Core Formation. The captains ranged from Body Reformation Peak Stage to Circuit Expansion Mid Stage, which was higher than the White Tiger captains across the board.

Even if it really was a trap, Solomon could still stall Arthur long enough for the captains to deal with their counterparts.

However, in the end, many of them would die for the others to escape.

’But who’s gonna tell them the news is actually real?’ He thought with a smile. ’At least that Arthur guy has some brain cells left.’

In the novel, Arthur genuinely failed to break through to Mana Core Formation and was in a weakened state.

He used the uncertainty as a smokescreen to buy himself time. It worked until he met Ryan, who healed him after they discovered they shared the same enemy.

"Troy, you should try using that brain of yours sometimes." Petra’s voice pulled him out of his thoughts.

"You said we don’t need their help, right? Why don’t you see for yourself?" She said with an amused look on her face.

’What is this crazy bitch trying to do?’

"Haha, you crazy fucks actually succeeded in pissing me off." Troy spoke, barely holding his anger.

"Leader, please don’t stop me." He stood from his chair and looked at Dante. "Besides, we should know what they’re capable of, right?"

Solomon said nothing. He had already heard everything that happened that night from Petra. But he didn’t mind seeing their abilities with his own eyes, especially those mana weapons.

A grin formed on Troy’s face, knowing he had the permission.

"You with the joker mask. Come on, let’s have a spar." He said, punching his fists together.

’Go on. Let’s see what those weapons can do.’ Petra and Nora thought at the same time, each with their own reasons.

’Damn it, that crazy bitch set me up!’ Dante realized what they were after. They wanted him to pull out the mana weapons.

How was he supposed to tell them it only worked because he caught Petra off guard?

He was only at Mana Awakening Late Stage and his opponent was at Circuit Expansion Mid Stage.

Just as he was starting to panic, trying to think of a way out of this, he heard Felix’s voice from beside him.

"If you want to fight my bro, you have to go through me first." Felix stepped forward with no hesitation in his eyes.

Even though Felix was a full realm above Troy, Dante had told them to act as Body Reformation awakeners. Which meant on paper, he was picking a fight with someone who should wipe the floor with him.

Dante let out a sigh of relief inside and a genuine smile formed behind his mask.

’Bro.’

He didn’t know if Felix said that because of his role or if he actually meant it. Either way, he didn’t mind at all.

Before Troy could say anything, Grant stood up from his seat after seeing Felix step forward.

"Troy. I’ll handle this one." He said, planting himself in front of Felix.

Troy had a speechless look on his face. He wanted to let off some steam and finally got the chance, but this guy had to come and take it.

"Whatever. I wanted to fight that guy anyway." He said, staring at Dante. "You can have this one."

Seeing this, Petra and Nora both had disappointed looks on their faces.

The whole point was to get Jester to use those weapons, not watch two meatheads throw punches at each other.

Dante noticed their expressions and almost laughed out loud.

’Sorry ladies, you’re not getting a show today.’

But his relief didn’t last long. Troy was still staring at him with hungry eyes.

’Shit. I forgot ragebaiting has consequences.’