VR WARS Volume II - Coalition Army

PASSING JUDGMENT

Behind the tall glass building that resembled a giant mirror, where the vibrant duel between commanders had taken place, dark clothed figures stalked the shadows under the veil of the night sky, waiting impatiently for the man that had summoned them. It was imperative they kept their appearances under wraps due to the delicate matter to be discussed that could easily be seen by any outsider as treachery, even treason.

For Pedro, a request from a former prodigy leader could not be dismissed or overheard by anyone outside his circle of trust. The reason for that was simple; he knew how meticulously Angelo was in his work. If there were any sparks left in Valadão’s will to start a fire, Pedro would be the person he would approach. Not only did the UL ranked first in the prodigy community, but Pedro’s exerting control over its council was also absolute, its resources and energy diverted to whichever direction he deemed fit. So, without even hearing his deposed colleague utter any words, the Supreme Commander already had an idea of what the conversation would be, along with his answer on the matter.

But before the discussions had started, Pedro witnessed first-hand how broken this negotiator was when voices alerted them to the presence of someone else nearby. By the time the conversation between both men had ended, Valadão was left clenching his fists and grinding his teeth; the feeling of being powerless by a simple argument slowly devoured him from the inside out.

To any bystander there at that moment, it was clear.

Angelo had destroyed Valadão without any shred of doubt; that fact was noticeable even to a blind man. If the former UAT commander still possessed somewhat of a will left to fight back, the truth was there was no one to support him. All his subordinates had deserted him. How the mighty have fallen. “There’s nothing of value that man can offer us,” Pedro spoke melancholically, more to himself than to his people. “Let’s go.”

Turning a blind eye to the suffering man was the best thing the Supreme Commander could do to uphold Valadão’s dying dignity, even if the latter didn’t want it. As soon as his eyes spotted movement in the shadows fading away, he ran towards them and begged them to stay and listen to his pleas for justice. The way out Pedro had silently provided to that pitiful sight of a man kneeling with tears in his eyes had been discarded in mere seconds, without a second thought. Although he understood the reason for it, Pedro could not intervene. Nothing had changed, not even if Valadão had presented him with the best arguments on how to deal with Angelo, which he didn’t, or of a plan to take back his seat, which he failed to do. Nothing was going to make Pedro change his mind. Instead of the sound logic he so delightfully admired, all he heard were mumblings and pleas, and when these failed to reach any hearts, wishful thinking of uncertain futures came next, entailing the young rising star's demise, holder of the AWP, that was the ‘Angel of Death.’

“Enough!” He pushed past Valadão's hold with a swing of his arm, making him trip and fall on that cold gravel pavement. “Are there no limits to your stupidity!?!” The shout he gave dismissed all secrecy, making the other prodigies watching flinch from instinct.

“No, no, wait! No, please!...My family name, my future! Please, just listen to me! I’ve sent him to the hospital once…we can do it again, more permanently this time! Give me a chance, please!”

“Don’t make me warn you twice…”

“You’re all the f*****g idiots for allowing this! I am one of you and a member of the council! I demand you to do as I say!”

At first, his demands didn’t cope well with the few prodigies from the UL standing nearby; the judgment they bade on the threatening yet powerless man was harsh. When threats and demands didn’t work, Valadão further diminished himself by behaving like an animal begging for scraps.

That poor sight of a prodigy with a pristine status, such as Valadão’s, was the final straw. It made the entire entourage of Pedro break into laughter. “Ha! Against Angelo, you don’t stand a chance!” “…It’s your fault for losing control of the UAT,” “Man, this guy is pathetic. Give up already,” were only some of the remarks that came to haunt Valadão, but they seemed to disgrace Pedro much more. He quickly put a stop to that shameful behavior from his own personnel.

The enforced silence after that public humiliation weighed down on Valadão more than his loss of dignity. As he stood there without raising his head, all the silent tears he could spare had already vanished from his still wet face; he knew what came next, and so did Pedro.

“Damn you for making me do this,” voiced Pedro, not proud of what he was about to do but given no other choice. His hand had been forced. He could not appear weak in front of this many spectators. And so he raised his open hand barely above Valadão’s still head and sentenced what had never been done in the history of their organization. “Within my power as the holder of the first seat in the council of prodigies, I hereby revoke your status. You are no longer a member of this organization.”

“Wha–” “Sir!” “Supreme-Commander…”

While most of the prodigies under Pedro wanted to speak against him, none could follow it. They were witnessing something beyond their grasping scope, something they couldn’t decently process; that was how extreme and unprecedented those measures were. Generation Prodigy, since its creation ten years prior, not one case of banishment had been cast. The severity of Valadão’s actions was that great. They were the selected individuals supposed to lead the country to greatness; even if one of them failed in his responsibilities, the consequences would be significant. But then again, since the UAT's entire incident had been quieted down by the academic board and its events not known publicly, the prodigy administration’s reputation and public image had been secured for the moment. So what other choices did he have if not to get rid of the dead weight while he still could?

Damn you, damn you! Pedro couldn’t stop cursing in his head, not at the man for who he had passed sentence. He actually pitied him; his mind was instead directed at the one responsible for all that, the UAT’s acting commander.

“Not all people are not born to be leaders…it wasn’t only the UAT that lost faith in you; you lost faith in yourself too. I can understand your desperation, but to propose using violence… is the final straw,” he declared, without any refusal by his people or by Valadão, who simply lay there, disbelieving his fate. If Angelo hadn’t destroyed him before, Pedro certainly did now by declaring, “You are no longer one of us” as his final say in the matter.

A life capsized.

Following his first family's footsteps that had denounced him, his second family now condemned him as well. Yet, the kneeling man didn’t mumble a word or make any sound; he simply got up and returned from which darker corner he came from. His mind couldn’t believe what he had heard, but in his heart, it was something he knew to be true. It’s not that he didn’t love or admire the people he was responsible for, but because he didn’t know-how. He had never been truly loved before or received one word of praise for his few accomplishments. For a long time, as long as he could remember, his father, mother, and siblings hadn’t shown any affection towards him; he was a mere necessity, someone to carry on the torch, the family legacy. So how could he reciprocate feelings like Angelo could when he wasn’t given the proper tools to do so? He treated everyone like stains on a shirt. And that was one of the reasons the people had deserted him for a better leader who could recognize deeds and instruct them on what needed to be done and had the patience to do so.

What Marco had told him earlier about both prodigies and regulars needing the SCRF fund to survive in this world was no lie; Valadão had known it all along. Nonetheless, he took the job lightly, acknowledging that whatever course he took did not affect his life as much as it affected others. His ego and his selfishness had been his doom.

Now, he dragged his empty vessel, almost drained of a soul, back to the dorms, and all the way, his slow steps dared not break the wall of silence surrounding him. A part of Valadão had died on that night, and although darkness blinded him to the future, the light would find its way to him to give birth to a better version of himself.