The Deceitful One

A gust of wind blew through the gloomy atmosphere on the battlefield. Dozens of corpses were strewn around, however, all of them had been drained out of blood and had shriveled up.

Sean slowly made his way towards the Blood Path Transcendents who had come from Nadir. His face was pale and his steps, unsteady. After having used the gauntlet artifact, a large portion of his life essence had vanished.

As Sean stumbled towards the Rank 2 corpses, he wondered, 'So if I use the artifact to steal something from others, I will end up having my life essence stolen by the artifact… How vicious!'

He looked at the black gauntlet in his hand with lingering fear. If he wasn't a Blood Path Transcendent, he would have surely died after using the artifact only a couple of times.

Blood Path was the only Path that could take other's life essence and use it for themselves. Well, that and Theft Path! Except, Transcendents of the Theft Path didn't 'take' anything, they stole it.

Sean stood in front of the Rank 2 Transcendent that Detective Watson had killed when he first arrived. He raised his hand and the next moment, a thin blood string shot out from his palm and burrowed inside the corpse.

At a speed visible to the naked eye, the corpse began to shrivel at a fast pace and was soon drained of all its blood. Sean closed his eyes and enjoyed the pleasant feeling of the life essence nourishing his body.

However, before he knew it, that feeling had already disappeared. His eyebrows furrowed as he looked at the now shriveled corpse. He couldn't help but frown, "Already over?"

He then turned around and walked towards the other Rank 2 corpses. One by one, all the corpses were drained of their blood. However, Sean's frown intensified further and further.

"Just how much life essence did this damned artifact take from me?" He muttered in frustration as he looked at the black gauntlet on his hand once again.

The blood that he had drained was nearly not enough to recover his life essence. If anything, it had barely recovered to the halfway mark.

And the worst of all was that Sean himself didn't realize just how much life essence had been stolen from him by the gauntlet artifact. He thought that it was a manageable amount, but to his horror, it was far from manageable!

Sean looked around the battlefield to look for corpses still containing life essence. But he had already absorbed all of them when he had advanced to Rank 4.

His eyes then fell on two figures keeling down, one embracing the other!

Sean's eyes narrowed and his lips curled up into a smirk, "Good. This will be the perfect ending for you both. The student can also die by my hands."

He began to evilly chuckle as he walked towards the duo.

Detective Watson had already passed away. Meanwhile, Bryan who was hugging him with his one arm had long since lost consciousness.

His mouth was wide open, however, no sound could be heard. His blind eyes were similarly wide open, however, no tears flowed out. All that continued to flow from those cursed eyes was blood.

Bryan wallowed in agony and despair as he embraced the person who had given him a second chance in life. He was still in denial that the person whom he considered to be his family, a father figure, had died in his arms.

He had dried protecting him…

As both figures knelt on the ground, one dead and the other broken, a pall of despondence and grief shrouded their presence.

The black staff that lay on the ground beside Detective Watson trembled from time to time as if mourning the loss of its master.

As Sean approached them, his eyes landed on the God-Level Artifact and his eyes gleamed with greed. However, the next moment he shook his head as he thought,

'There's no point. The staff will choose its next owner. Even if I try to acquire it, it will be of no use. What a waste.'

Sean truly felt that it was a waste to let go of such an artifact. But he was helpless. He speculated that even if he tried to lift the staff from the ground, he would never be able to. Because that would go against the wishes of the artifact!

All God-Level Artifacts were sentient. How could they allow the killer of their master to wield them? It was simply wishful thinking.

Sean then turned to look at Detective Watson's bloodied corpse and fell silent. The man that he used to look up to, the man that pushed him to always be stronger, had perished, by his hands.

For a moment, Sean felt lost. However, the next moment his eyes gleamed with a victorious glint, "James, you were a formidable enemy. Perhaps, if there is a next life…we both could be friends."

This was the respect that was shown amongst adversaries. Although Detective Watson had died, and even for a reason that Sean considered stupid and pathetic, he respected him.

He respected him in life. And in death.

Out of this very respect for him, Sean chose not to drain his body of blood. That would be an insult to such a formidable Transcendent and his long-time rival!

He then turned to look at Bryan. Seeing his pathetic state, Sean couldn't help but sneer, "This is the comeuppance for being weak!"

Although Sean had secretly raised and even in some instances protected Bryan for over a decade, now that the latter had served his purpose, Sean no longer needed him. The only outcome that awaited him, was death.

Sean raised his hand and a blood string shot out from his palm. The string accurately embedded itself into Bryan's heart and began to suck in his life essence! Bryan's body trembled a little, however, apart from that he didn't put up any ounce of resistance.

After going through so many battles earlier and even the severe torture that Alfredo put him through, Bryan had long since run out of fuel.

Add to that, the death of his teacher that he had to witness with his own eyes, and Bryan was simply the most miserable he had ever been in his life.

Feeling the life essence slowly enter his body, Sean smirked. However, unbeknownst to him the black gauntlet in his hand shined for a brief moment and then went back to normal!

Through the blood string connecting Sean and Bryan, the artifact had felt the presence of a member of the Medici Family. Hence, inadvertently it began to siphon the life essence from Sean back to Bryan!

And not just the life essence but also stamina and spiritual force! The siphoning was done in such measly amounts that even Sean wasn't able to instantly notice it.

A few minutes had passed and Sean's eyebrows were beginning to furrow. He frowned as he muttered, "What's happening?"

He could feel that the blood string was consuming the life essence from Bryan, however, he couldn't feel his own life essence increasing! He was greatly taken aback.

Sean observed carefully and his eyes widened, "My life essence is being stolen instead!?"

He then looked at the black gauntlet in his hand and then at Bryan incredulously, "So that's what's happening…"

Without waiting a moment longer, he walked in front of Bryan and raised his arm to instantly finish him off. What happened just now alarmed him greatly.

Although even if it did continue for a bit more, it wouldn't affect him that much. But just the fact that the gauntlet artifact had helped Bryan despite it being a mere Rank 4 artifact was frightening.

A ruthless glint flashed past Sean's eyes as he brought down his palm. He wanted to pulverize Bryan's head completely!

However, right when he was just inches away from killing Bryan, his spiritual sense was triggered. A blaring warning signal echoed inside his mind as the hair on Sean's neck stood on ends.

He knew that an attack was heading towards his way and this attack was lethal! However, he also wanted to finish off Bryan. Earlier he didn't care if Bryan lived or died.

But after seeing the reaction of the gauntlet artifact, he was once again reminded of the terror of the Medici Family that he had read in old manuscripts.

However, in the end, his priority for his own life trumped everything else. He quickly took back his hand and prepared to evade the attack. But that brief moment of hesitation cost him dearly!

Because just the next moment, a spear made of ice flew threw the air and viciously cut Sean's hand. The spear then went on and lodged itself on the ground.

Sean didn't panic, he retreated a dozen feet and looked at his left arm which had been cut off from the elbow. His regeneration also wasn't working because the area of the wound had been frozen.

As he looked at his frozen wound, Sean's eyes narrowed as he thought, 'Rank 4!'

The next moment, five figures appeared and surrounded Bryan and Detective Watson. The one leading them was none other than Victor!

He first looked at Detective Watson with gloomy eyes. He couldn't help but sigh dejectedly as he confirmed that his friend had indeed died. He then looked at Bryan who was still tightly hugging Detective Watson with one hand.

Victor's eyes narrowed, 'The kid's alive. But the curse on his eyes and forehead…'

He gritted his teeth and looked towards Sean, "I'll fucking kill you!"

Sean, however, simply smirked, "You can try."

The next moment, both their figures disappeared from their spots. Sounds of fighting could be heard all around the battlefield, however, neither of them could be seen.

Soon the sound gradually moved away. They had taken their fight elsewhere!

Robert looked at the battlefield and when his eyes fell on Henry and Emma's headless bodies, his body trembled and his eyes reddened, "No…"