It seemed Damien had noticed Hannah's spirit had broken, and she gave up resistance. Smirking with satisfaction, he could no longer hold back. He stretched out his hand, aiming to touch her face in front of the crowd.
Hannah wanted to resist, but Damien's earlier words echoed in her mind. Whatever shred of defiance she had left vanished in an instant.
Just as his hand was about to touch Hannah's cheek, another hand shot out, gripping Damien's wrist.
The strength of the grip was immense. Damien felt as though his wrist might shatter under the pressure, and he let out a cry of pain.
The excruciating pain overwhelmed him, leaving no room to focus on who was causing it.
Standing there, Julian stared coldly at Damien. The Dean family was one of the families that had sent Alex into the secret realm to assassinate him.
His grandfather, John, had already provided a list of key Dean family members.
And Damien's name was on it.
Julian hadn't even sought him out yet, and here the man was, delivering himself on a silver platter.
Such an opportunity wasn't one Julian planned to waste.
Hannah, meanwhile, was stunned.
She remembered approaching Julian in the library before—not out of genuine interest, but hoping to leverage the influence of his family to keep others like Damien at bay.
Her plan had failed spectacularly. Julian had been completely immune to her looks and charm, and she had even managed to irritate him.
Afterward, she had not dared to approach him again.
But she didn't expect that, at her lowest moment, with so many bystanders too afraid to intervene, the person who stepped forward to save her was none other than Julian.
An indescribable mix of emotions surged through her heart.
With a little more force, Julian shattered Damien's wrist entirely.
The sound of bones snapping echoed loud and clear, making even the surrounding students turn pale with fright.
On the other hand, Damien let out a scream, his eyes rolling back as he nearly passed out.
Julian had already let go of him by now, and Damien collapsed to the ground in pain.
"Julian—you! Is your family planning to declare war on the Dean family?"
After gasping a few breaths to steady himself, Damien finally regained his senses. In his heart, he had already decided to carve the man before him into pieces. Looking up, his expression shifted from rage to stiffness and back to fury.
He was already a spoiled rich kid, and now, having lost his reason entirely, he blurted out a declaration of war against the Walker family.
Julian walked up to him then, without a word, he delivered a powerful slap to Damien's face.
The blow was so forceful it knocked out half of Damien's teeth.
"You think you're worthy?"
Julian sneered coldly. The Dean family, a native imperial capital clan known for their Steel-types, was far weaker than the Walker family.
That single slap left Damien passed out completely, so he didn't even hear the rest of Julian's words.
Had the setting been different, Julian wouldn't have hesitated to kill him right there.
Ever since the Dean family had sent Alex into the secret realm to target him, their fate had been sealed.
After finishing what he came for, Julian turned and headed toward the library. Someone else would take care of the unconscious Damien.
As soon as Julian left, the surrounding students let out a sigh of relief. They were all stunned by Julian's fierce demeanor just now, and none of them wanted to end up on the receiving end of that slap.
Fortunately, the chaos didn't spill over to them.
Nobody felt sorry for Damien. If anything, many thought Julian had done the right thing.
However, their curiosity shifted to Hannah.
There had been rumors before about Julian fighting the civilian prodigy Zed over Hannah, and now, Julian had beaten Damien to a pulp for her. This was the very definition of a "hero saving the damsel."
But what puzzled everyone was that after all this, Julian left without sparing her another glance. It didn't make sense.
Could he be putting on a show?
"Are you okay, Hannah?"
Just then a group of Hannah's girlfriends rushed over. A girl who seemed like the leader of the group looked at her with concern.
Still in a daze, Hannah shook her head. Then the group noticed the bloodied and swollen face of the man lying on the ground. His features were so distorted he looked like a Gengar.
Honestly, with his face in such a state, they couldn't recognize him.
"He's Damien," Hannah said softly.
"What? That scumbag? Did you beat him up?"
The leader looked at Hannah in shock, as if she had just met a completely different person.
"It wasn't me. It was Julian"
Hannah clarified, shaking her head.
Then, to everyone's surprise, she walked over to the unconscious Damien. Under the confused gazes of those around her, she kicked him—right in the nuts.
'F**k, that ought to hurt real bad'
Several male students instinctively crossed their legs. Even though they weren't the ones being kicked, they felt a phantom pain that left their faces pale.
Hannah had endured three years of harassment from Damien—fear, anger, and hatred building up all that time. With that single kick, a large chunk of her pent-up emotions seemed to dissipate.
But it wasn't enough. Just moments ago, he had used her parents and sister to threaten her.
She kept kicking him as if in a frenzy, her pent-up rage pouring out with each strike.
"Enough, Hannah, that's enough!"
The girl quickly stopped Hannah. If she kept kicking, Damien might actually end up dead.
As despicable as he was and deserving of punishment, killing him in public would leave Hannah no room to escape the law.
Taking someone like him down at the cost of her own future wasn't worth it.
Soon, Hannah was whisked away by her sisterly group of friends.
The surrounding students also dispersed not long after. Not a single person bothered to check on Damien, let alone call an ambulance.
Meanwhile, the incident was already making waves across the Imperial University campus through the internet.
As for Julian, the party involved, he was already in the library, engrossed in reading materials on Dragon-Type Pokémon training.
The 'Special recruit class' group chat, was already in chaos. Someone had even uploaded a video of Julian slapping Damien. Many were tagging Julian, but with his phone on silent, he remained oblivious to the commotion.
Dalton: As expected of Boss Julian, Even your slaps are stylish.
Ian: Julian, call me next time for this kind of fun!
Luis: That guy's been on my bad side for a while now. Well done, Brother Julian.
Kate: Hero saves the day, huh? What about Shen?
Shen: We're just friends.
Hugo: Need me to finish him off? Hit me up privately if you do; prices are negotiable.
Everyone in the class: Σ┗(＠ロ@;)┛
Group Management Message: Member Hugo has been kicked out of the group chat.