The Deceitful One

The following day, a tense atmosphere shrouded the conference room in the Silver Owl's HQ. All the members of the Strike Team were present and were seated at the round table as they had solemn expressions on their faces.

Even Elijah's mentor and Head Artisan of the Silver Owls, Old Larry, was present. The discussion that was about to take place was of the utmost importance as it involved the Holy Blood Sect.

Old Larry was in his sixties and was a very temperamental person. After sitting in the conference room for more than ten minutes, he glared at Robert and yelled in frustration, "Robert, what the fuck is going on!? I have important work to finish."

No one present was shocked at the way Old Larry addressed Robert. First of all, they were both Rank 2 Transcendents and secondly, and most importantly, they had known each other for a long time and could be considered friends.

Hence, everyone present only thought that it was natural. Perhaps, Old Larry was the only person in the whole of Silver Owls who would talk to Robert in such a way. No one else dared to. Robert was the leading authority of the Silver Owls after all.

Robert looked at Old Larry and calmly replied, "This is about the Holy Blood Sect."

Old Larry scoffed, "What about it? You guys have been after those blood-sucking scums for months now. And you weren't even able to touch the hair on their balls."

Everyone present in the room lowered their heads in shame. What Old Larry said was blunt but brutally honest.

Robert, however, was still calm, "This time we have found something conclusive."

Old Larry rolled his eyes and was about to retort but he saw Robert throwing a scroll at him. The former caught the scroll and then asked, "What the hell is this?"

Robert didn't reply. He simply gestured for Old Larry to open and read it. The latter grumbled under his breath but he still opened the scroll.

In the next few moments, however, his face turned to that of extreme shock as his eyes widened and jaw dropped. He looked at Robert and asked incredulously, "Is this fucking real?"

Robert nodded calmly. He then looked at everyone sitting around the table and announced, "We have finally discovered what the Holy Blood Sect's plans are in this city."

Except for Bryan, Andrew, Emma, and Olivia, who were present at the scene, the rest of the people were shocked out of their wits. All of a sudden, there was a loud clamor in the conference room.

"Silence!" Old Larry yelled. Causing the rest of the people to instantly quiet down. He then looked at Robert and asked solemnly, "How did you come to find this?"

Robert then proceeded to tell everyone what had happened last night between Bryan and Lara. Of course, he didn't mention the part where they made love or anything explicit.

He simply told everyone a watered-down version of the fight that happened between Bryan and Lara and how the former had coincidentally found that she was a Blood Path Transcendent.

Everyone turned to look at Bryan. Their eyes filled with shock and admiration. Bryan on the other hand mocked inwardly, 'I had to whore myself to her in order to kill her and you guys are looking at me like I'm a role model, kekk.'

However, everyone overlooked a crucial point about Bryan. Everyone except Old Larry, that is.

He turned to look at Bryan and asked, "Lad, you've already become a Transcendent?"

Only now did everyone else realize that Bryan was now officially a Transcendent!

Bryan straightened his back and replied respectfully, "Yes sir."

"Elijah seemed to have mentioned to me that you became an Apprentice sometime in May last year." Old Larry continued, "To have become a Transcendent in just a year… I'm afraid, even most kids with supreme-grade spiritual aptitude might not be able to do it."

Bryan didn't reply but instead acted humbly. However, he thought inwardly, 'Damn right, old man! I, the great Bryan Lombardi, am a fucking genius!'

His lips twitched ever so lightly as he then thought, 'Wait, why am I talking like Benny?'

Old Larry looked at the scroll in his hand and then back at Bryan, "You have done well, lad!"

His eyes narrowed slightly as he began to emit killing intent, "Perhaps, this time we can trap a handful of them and kill those fuckers."

'Looks like he too has some sort of vendetta against the Holy Blood Sect.' Bryan thought inwardly.

Robert clapped his hands twice and brought everyone's attention back to the matter, "The scroll indicates the whereabouts of an ancient ruin located on the outskirts of Damascus.

Through other details written in the scroll, we know that the ruin belongs to an ancient family from the 3rd Era. As for which ancient family it belongs to, for now, we don't know."

Everyone carefully paid attention to Robert and took note of anything important.

Robert continued, "Moreover, we have also found other crucial intel from Lara's house. The thing that the Holy Blood Sect is looking for in the ruins is an artifact. To be more precise, a Rank 4 Artifact!"

Everyone at the table drew a collective gasp of surprise. After all, even Low-String Rank Artifacts were extremely rare and valuable, let alone one that was Rank 4. Old Larry inquired, "Do we know which Path this artifact belongs to?"

Robert shook his head, "However, what we do know is when the members of the Holy Blood Sect are going to explore this ruin. It is exactly three weeks from now. Accordingly, we can start our preparation to lay a trap starting today!"

…

Later that night, inside the second-floor study of the house on 53 Augustus Street, Sean Marx was languidly sitting by the table and reading a book on Mysticism.

However, all of a sudden he raised his eyebrows and closed the book. Still sitting on the chair, he asked in a calm manner, "What is it?"

At some point, a shadowy-robed figure had entered the study through the open window. The figure was kneeling respectfully behind Sean.

He then replied solemnly, "They know!"