No one spoke. They didn't need to.
The gap between us was obvious — wide enough that numbers meant nothing.
Good. At least they learned something.
"Alright," I said, pacing slowly across the cracked floor. "Now that we're clear on where we all stand, listen up."
My footsteps echoed through the hall — and the sound alone was enough to swallow every voice in the room.
Even the spectators went still.
The ones who came merely to watch had arrived expecting a fight.
What they witnessed instead was something else entirely — a demonstration, a reckoning — and now they stood frozen at railings, unsure whether to leave or stay, as if moving might remind me they existed.
Good. Let them feel it too.
"I didn't beat you down because I enjoy it. Power trips are boring."
I glanced over my shoulder."
"I did it because you're wasting your abilities,"
A few flinched. Most didn't argue. That said enough.
"Complacency becomes stagnation," I continued. "And stagnation gets you killed."
