The silence that followed Logan Lee's collapse was heavier than the slam that shook the floor.
Students who once trembled at Logan's name now stared at Daniel as though he were some creature out of myth. Fear, awe, disbelief—all of it bled into the air.
Logan's cronies didn't even dare help him up. They were frozen, watching Daniel straighten his blazer, as if he hadn't just fractured the arm of the school tyrant and humiliated him in front of everyone.
Whispers spread like fire through dry grass.
> "He… he beat Logan?"
"That's not possible."
"Who the hell is he?"
Some of the boys clenched their fists in envy, their pride burned by the sight of girls' wide, admiring eyes fixed on Daniel. The girls whispered too, voices soft but sharp enough to sting Logan's fallen empire.
> "He's… actually kind of scary."
"No… he's different. Look at that smile."
"That's not a boy's smile… that's a man's."
The teachers, who arrived late, saw Logan lying unconscious and Daniel standing tall. Their faces were pale. They didn't dare intervene—not with the way Daniel's cold eyes swept the room.
Daniel didn't gloat. He didn't shout. He simply looked at the crowd, eyes half-lidded, a faint, chilling curve tugging at his lips. Calm. Calculating. Ruthless.
It was the silence, not the violence, that cemented his dominance.
---
By lunch, the story had already spread to every corner of the school.
In the cafeteria, students moved aside when Daniel walked in, his steps unhurried, precise. He didn't need to ask for respect. Respect bent itself to him.
Logan's cronies sat in the corner, whispering, their faces pale. The new reality had already taken hold: their leader was broken. A throne sat empty.
But not for long.
---
Outside the school walls, the shockwaves rippled further. Word reached nearby middle schools, even the ears of older delinquents. Logan Lee—the so-called "beast of this district"—had fallen. And not to a senior, not to a gang of rivals, but to a first-year.
Some laughed.
> "An upstart kid? That's all?"
Some were cautious.
> "Logan was cruel, but strong. If he was crushed, what does that say about this new boy?"
And some, the wise ones, stayed silent, eyes narrowing. They knew. When empires fall, new kings rise.
---
Back in class, Daniel sat at his desk as though nothing had happened, his pen moving across his notebook in neat, unshaken strokes. But inside his head, calculations turned.
This was only the beginning.
Logan's defeat wasn't the end of a fight.
It was the announcement of a reign.
---