The Deceitful One

As soon as Sean finished his sentence, five figures wearing red cloaks appeared out of nowhere and knelt down in front of him, "We are at your service, Lord Marx."

Sean did not even spare a glance at them as he headed back inside the cave mine, "Guard the entrance with your life."

"Yes!" All five of the Rank 2 Blood Path Transcendents replied simultaneously.

The higher-ups in the Holy Blood Sect already knew that Sean was about to advance to a Rank 4 Transcendent! Hence, they sent reinforcements from Nadir in order to make sure that everything went smoothly.

After all, having a Rank 4 Transcendent in any organization was a very big deal. Mid-String Transcendents were the backbone of any organization.

When Alfredo saw five other figures appear, he was taken aback. Because he hadn't even noticed them in his spiritual sense perception.

He couldn't help but gulp involuntarily and wonder, 'Were they here all long?'

But what he couldn't understand was that they were of the same rank as him, so why was there such a gap between them?

What Alfredo didn't know was that the resources available to the Transcendents of any organizations in Nadir were far superior to the ones in Damascus.

Even though Damascus was a proper city in its own right, compared to Nadir, it was just another backwater town.

Alfredo shook his head as he rid himself of such thoughts. He only glanced at the five figures a few times, and that was all.

He didn't even try and go strike up a conversation with them. He thought that it was unnecessary. Similarly, the five new Transcendents also didn't approach Alfredo.

When Bryan saw that five new people had appeared all of a sudden, he couldn't help but sigh dejectedly, 'So we never had a chance, to begin with…'

After listening to Sean earlier, he knew that his death was now imminent. Hence, he tried his best to remove the runic paper from his neck. If he was going to die anyways, then he might as well go out putting up a fight. Although, a part of him did want to survive.

Since his right hand was still pinned to the ground by a dagger, Bryan used his amputated left arm and tried to scrape the runic paper from his neck.

"Aarrgghh!!" When the wound on his arm brushed off against his skin, he felt a stinging pain. But it wasn't worse than the pain he was feeling in his left eye. Hence, he continued to persevere.

'A little more….' Bryan gritted his teeth as he felt the paper coming off of his neck. However, right at that moment, from the corner of his right eye, he saw a bright flash of red!

And then came the pain!

"Aaaaaaaggghhhhhh!" Bryan screamed at the top of his lungs as his left arm was now completely severed from his shoulder. The bright red light earlier was Alfredo casting a spell and launching a blood blade!

Alfredo slowly walked towards Bryan and crouched down as he patted the runic paper back on his neck, "You're still so desperate, I see."

Bryan completely ignored him as he tried to resist the pain. He was beginning to lose consciousness from the severe blood loss. His left arm was completely severed and he was shot in all the other limbs.

Not to mention the stab in his chest and his face that was now completely bloodied after having been kicked by Alfredo so many times.

'NO! I can't pass out yet.' Bryan gritted his teeth as he tried to stay awake. He then looked at Alfredo and muttered, "Heal…me… Or Sean will…kill…you!"

Alfredo sneered and was about to retort but he realized that Bryan was right. Sean had indeed instructed him to keep Bryan alive until Sean had gotten his hands on the artifact.

'If he loses excessive blood, not only will he die but I too will die at the hands of Master.' He thought in apprehension.

Alfredo then controlled the blood around all of Bryan's wounds and coagulated it. The blood on Bryan's wounds instantly solidified and the blood loss also stopped. Bryan breathed a sigh of relief as his eyelids began to droop.

After having gone through so much torture, he was completely drained out. Finally gaining a moment of respite, he decided to rest for a bit and try to plan his next move.

However, before Bryan could even think, Alfredo once again viciously grabbed his hair and lifted his head as he said, "Who gave you permission to rest, boy?"

He removed the dagger from Bryan's right arm and then turned him around. He tore his shirt as well as the suit jacket from his body as he crouched down beside him.

Looking at Alfredo and the dagger in his hand, Bryan didn't feel fear. No, he was way past that already. All he felt was annoyance!

"Looks like I won't be able to take you with me," Alfredo chuckled coldly as he began to carve runes on the dagger, "There's no helping it. I'll just torture you until Master gets his hand on the artifact and advances to Rank 4. And then I will end your miserable life."

Bryan mumbled some incoherent words, causing Alfredo to frown, "What was that, boy?"

After mumbling some words yet again, Alfredo brought his ears a little closer to Bryan's face. But not close enough for the latter to attack him.

Bryan smiled faintly and muttered, "Fuck your…mother!"

Alfredo's eyes narrowed as he sighed, "Let's see if you're still capable of speaking with that filthy mouth of yours after I'm done with you."

He then sat over Bryan's body and began to make cuts in his torso with the dagger.

"Aaaaaggghhhhhh!!" Bryan couldn't help but scream even louder. For some reason, he felt that the wounds he was receiving right now were much more fatal than all his past wounds.

And he was right! It was because of the runes that Alfredo had carved on the blade of the dagger! The runes belonged to the Poison Path!

Hence, whenever the dagger slashed across Bryan's body, not only would he be cut, but he would also be poisoned. The poison would then slowly eat up his life essence and eventually kill him.

Alfredo began to grin like a madman as he whispered to Bryan, "This poison will eat you up and give you the most painful death! Not only will it attack your flesh but also your organs and bones!"

He then tightly slapped Bryan a few times and prevented him from fainting, "Don't lose consciousness yet, boy. I'll make sure you feel every second of this. And don't worry, I'll also make sure that you don't die soon. Not until, Master gets what he wants anyways."

The shiver-inducing screams of Bryan continued to sound throughout the area as Alfredo continued to viciously torture him. The five Blood Path Transcendents standing guard at the cave entrance didn't even bat an eyelid.

Alfredo kept feeding Bryan healing potions from time to time and then continued his torture. To say that Bryan was going through hell, would be an understatement.

Bryan lost count of how many times he was prevented from losing consciousness. And after a certain point of time, the pain from the cuts and the poison began to hurt him lesser and lesser.

He was growing numb to the pain. However, his eyes grew colder and colder as he saw Alfredo grinning and carving his torso with the dagger.

Instead of trying to find a way to survive, now the only thought going through his mind was: how to bring down Alfredo together with him!

…

At the clearing within the forest where Ron and Andrew's battle was taking place, the entire area now seemed completely different.

There were small craters littering the place, more than a dozen trees had been uprooted, the large rocks had crumbled down, and in various places, large traces of blood could be found.

Ron and Andrew were bloodied all over, both lay on their stomachs, just a few feet away from each other. Pools of blood had formed under both of their bodies as they breathed heavily.

This along with the condition of the surroundings spoke volumes about the intense battle that had taken place here. Both of them had now run out of spiritual force.

Both of them were also on the verge of passing out but were suddenly jolted awake by the loud blood-curdling screams coming from the direction of the cave entrance.

Andrew recognized this voice instantly as he mumbled, "Bryan!"

Ron too recognized this voice but he didn't care enough. However, it was different for Andrew. He forced himself to get up to his feet as he thought, 'I must get to him quickly.'

Both of them got back to their feet and stared at each other. Andrew stumbled towards Ron as he lifted his hand to punch him. Ron saw it from a mile away and easily blocked his punch.

Ron's right palm then elongated and turned red!

Rank 1 Spell: Blood Claw!

When Andrew saw Ron using the blood claw, he knew he had lost. For he didn't have any spiritual force left, but Ron did.

Andrew couldn't help but smile bitterly as he saw Ron raise his right hand and stab his chest with the Blood Claw. He spewed a mouthful of blood as he stared into Ron's eyes, but no words escaped his lips.

Ron looked at Andrew and muttered, "Goodbye…brother…"

He then took out something from his pocket and put it inside Andrew's mouth. The latter couldn't put up any resistance as he fell on his back.

Andrew's eyes slowly dimmed as he thought, 'Henry…Emma…and Bryan… I'll see you on the other side…'

Ron stared at Andrew for a long time before he finally turned around and walked away.