“And what is this condition you speak of?”
Ron raised his brows and asked that. He had an inkling that Eren’s condition wasn’t going to be in his team’s best interest.
“We want a 70:30 split in our favour.”
Said Eren with a straight face. Dino opened his eyes wide in surprise while Ron looked like he was shocked to silence.
“I told you Ron, this guy’s nuts. We don’t need him for anything. I say we…”
“What did I tell you?”
“But…!”
“…..”
“Al… alright. I’ll just zip it.”
Ron finally silenced loudmouth Dino with his blank face and sharp gaze. Then he looked at Eren with the same intensity before replying:
“Eren, we want to be in alliance with you. Not turn into your slaves, you know. Surely, we can come to a mutual understanding. But there’s nothing mutual about that split.”
Eren didn’t budge an inch and pressed on:
“It can be mutual if we consider who brings the most benefit to the alliance.”
“Eren, I agree that your battle prowess is exceptional. But it’s still not much against the second-year students to completely dominate them. Even we…”
Ron wanted to talk some more but was interrupted by Eren with his next statement:
“I’m not talking about my battle powers. And I know that you know what I’m talking about as well.”
Eren looked straight into Ron’s eyes after he said that. The latter understood what he was talking about and sighed. Only Steve was confused about what Eren was implying. He asked Eren by opening a private audio channel with him.
‘Eren, what are you guys talking about?’
‘Battle passes, Steve. They want me to use my battle passes in the inter-year war and benefit from them. The ones that I haven’t disclosed till now.’
Only then did the realization dawn on Steve. The battle passes. The perks and advantages the first-year students would receive by winning the intra-class and inter-class battles with exceptional performances.
The top-tier first-year students who had won the battle passes would only use them in the inter-year ranking wars to tilt the match in their favour. This was how the first-year students had been given a fighting chance to score a win against second-year students. If they could pull this off of course.
Ron knew that Eren must have won a good battle pass because of the performance he displayed against them. The cunning berserker thought that he should gain some advantage out of his loss.
“60:40 in your favour. That’s my bottom line.”
Ron said and clenched his fist. He wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for the battle pass. He knew that some exceptional battle passes gave the first-year students the advantage they needed to bulldoze over the second-year students.
The price for winning against the second-year squad was extremely tempting. The sheer amount of Merps the second-year had to pay was one thing. That’s because the second-year students would have to pay at least ten times the betting amount if they lost against first-years. And that multiplier would go higher if it was pre-planned before the starting of the match.
But the Merps payload was not the only thing. LA also offered attractive rewards that could only be gained by winning these matches.
“There’s no such thing as a bottom line, Ron. it’s just in your head. You’ll come to realize this if you live long enough.
Anyway, A 65:35 in our favour. And let me tell you one thing before you decide to refuse this offer. It certainly ain’t our bottom line, if you know what I mean.”
Said Eren seriously and folded his hands. Steve also subconsciously decided to follow the butcher’s lead and folded his hands as well. Then he resumed his previous position, thinking that he would look like a copycat if he were to follow everything Eren does.
Ron understood what Eren meant when he said this wasn’t his bottom line. Eren was going to say something deal-breaking if he didn’t take his offer now.
Ron realized that they were the weaker side in the negotiation. Eren had at least two battle passes that he knew of while they had only one. Technically, Eren’s team had more leverage to ally with any other team, which might gladly accept his absurd split after thinking about the potential reward.
Ron clenched his lips under his teeth before finally nodding. Dino wanted to say something at that point but Ron kept his index finger over his lips, shushing the loudmouth.
Then he looked at Eren again and said:
“Now that you have your way, can we finally get back to the alliance formation? I suggest our team A should be…”
“There seems to be some misunderstanding, Ron. I’ll tell you how we are going to split our teams. And you’ll have to follow my suggestions to a T.”
“And why would I do that?”
Ron asked with suppressed anger. He was going to lose it talking to this cunning asshole.
“Because I know my passes. Let’s just say one of them would only be effective when it is used with the split I’ll be suggesting.”
“Then tell me about your battle pass first.”
“Hahaha! You are funny, Ron. I’ll give you that. That was a good one. Why don’t you tell me which battle pass you’ve received first?”
Ron sighed before shaking his head. He was just trying his luck here. He knew the first-year students would never declare which battle passes they received until the moment they used it. This was done to prevent any leak from taking place and opponents taking countermeasures against those passes.
Eren was confident Ron would budge from his position. That was because he had more battle passes than them. The edge he would bring to the alliance could not be scoffed at. And his predictions were on point.
“Alright. The split will take place as per your suggestions as well. Now tell us your strategy.”
Said Ron after dropping his shoulders. Then he called his teammates over. Eren and Steve also did the same. It was time the alliance decided how it was going to score big in the upcoming inter-year ranking war.
