The Deceitful One



"Illuminatos…." Bryan muttered under his breath. He then looked at Lady Fate and awkwardly asked, "Uhm, how do I join, and where is this gathering held?"

The silver-haired woman smiled and raised her hand. The next moment, a silver string shot out of her fingertip and dove inside Bryan's head, to be more precise, his soul. Bryan was alarmed, he was completely defenseless against it.

"No need to worry," Lady Fate assured, "this is how you join my organization, by taking an oath. The oath will be bound by this silver string of fate that you see."

Bryan gulped nervously and nodded. It's not like he could do anything about it. The next moment he heard her solemnly speak, "Now, repeat after me."

A holy aura began to emanate from Lady Fate as the silver string connecting her to Bryan began to glow with resplendent light. "I vow to never disclose the name of the organization as well its members to outsiders…."

Bryan repeated her words, "I vow to never disclose the name of the organization as well as its members to outsiders."

"I vow to never harm the organization and its members directly or indirectly.

"I vow to never divulge any ancient teachings that I learn here, to outsiders."

After finishing the initiation rites, Lady Fate looked at Bryan and faintly smiled, "Bryan Lombardi, are you willing to abide by the rules of The Illuminatos and keep its secrets?"

Bryan's heart began to wildly beat for some reason. He solemnly nodded. "I am willing."

The next moment, the entire silver string burrowed inside Bryan's soul and began to coil around his mind runes. He felt slightly uneasy about it, hence he asked, "What does this string do?"

"Should you break any rules that you've just sworn to abide by, the string will annihilate your mind runes and instantly kill you," Lady Fate spoke nonchalantly.

Bryan stumbled a few steps backward in fear. Seeing his expression, Lady Fate added, "At the same time, it will also purify your spiritual force. All you have to do is never break the rules and your spiritual force will be constantly purified."

Although Bryan felt that the precautions that the woman was taking were indeed reasonable, he couldn't help but feel frightened. On the bright side, at least the string provided him with daily benefits.

He took a few deep breaths and tried to calm himself down as he repeated in his mind, 'Don't break the rules! Don't break the rules!'

A few moments later, he asked her, "And what about the location of the gathering?"

Lady Fate shook her head with a faint smile. "Just make sure to conduct this ritual at sunrise at the beginning of every month."

The next moment, Bryan's mind was invaded by a cluster of information related to a ritual as well as an array formation. His eyes widened when he realized just how easy it was for Lady Fate to break into his mind and implant new knowledge.

His back was drenched in a cold sweat as he thought, 'Just how strong is this lady?'

The following moment, Lady Fate turned her head in a certain direction and mumbled, "Looks like they're here already." She then looked at Bryan and continued, "Your fight earlier has caused a lot of commotion."

Bryan looked in the direction she was looking but couldn't find anything, even with his spiritual sense.

Lady Fate added, "I will be seeing you at the next gathering, Bryan Lombardi. Before I leave, here's a parting gift for you and your little friend here."

"Meow?" Benny tilted his head in confusion.

The next moment, Lady Fate flicked her finger, and two specks of silver light entered Bryan's and Benny's souls. Before either could inquire about it, she said, "With this, no one will be able to divine your past, present, and future."

"Anti-divination!" Bryan was greatly surprised. He then curiously asked, "But there must still be people who'd be able to divine about me, right?"

"Yes, only beings stronger than me have that ability," Lady Fate's lips curled up into a smirk. "And there aren't a lot of beings stronger than me."

The next moment, her body transformed into countless silver strings and soon she disappeared, her voice echoing in the surrounding. "I expect great things from you, young Transcendent."

Bryan stared at the spot where she was earlier standing in a daze. As he heard her parting words, his fists clenched tightly and his eyes shone with resolve. The next moment, Benny jumped atop his shoulders and mentally said, 'We need to leave!'

Snapping out of his thoughts, Bryan nodded. Then, Benny waved his paw and opened a portal to the Dreamworld. Following that, the pair jumped inside and left.

...

A little less than ten minutes after the portal closed, a series of footsteps could be heard echoing in the cemetery. And soon, a dozen people dressed in suits arrived at the last battlefield between Ron and Bryan.

A middle-aged man with brown hair and black eyes looked at the destruction caused around him with a solemn expression. "Looks like a big battle has just taken place here."

"Captain, do you think mid-string Transcendents were involved?" One of the men standing behind him asked nervously.

The captain looked around for a few moments and then replied, "I doubt it. But the level of destruction caused in the surroundings… it's highly likely that they were Rank 3 Transcendents."

A collective gasp could be heard. A rank 3 Transcendent was the same as their captain here. And for two Transcendents of such rank to fight near Nadir was very uncommon.

The captain looked at all the people present and instructed, "Everyone, look around for clues. Make sure to go in pairs and keep your guard up. There might still be enemies in the vicinity."

At once, everyone dispersed and searched the surroundings. After about fifteen minutes they all rendezvoused back at the cemetery.

A black-haired lady spoke up, "Captain, there are obvious traces of battle in the woods behind."

Another man chimed in, "That's right, Captain. There's a large crater that has formed there. The battle really looks like it involved Rank 3 Transcendents."

One by one, everyone began to give detailed reports about their findings. The captain patiently listened to all of them. Suddenly, from the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of one of his team members who was standing in front of a fresh grave.

The captain called out to him, "Andrew, found something?"

The man with short black hair and blue eyes was standing in front of Ron's grave with an expression filled with disbelief. He was so shocked that he didn't even hear his captain call out to him.

It wasn't until his captain walked toward him and patted him on the shoulder, that he came back to his senses. "Andrew, what's the matter?"

"Huh?" Andrew looked at his captain. He then pointed at the grave in front of him. "This grave is freshly dug. And this person… I knew him."

The captain's eyes narrowed as he looked at the gravestone. The next moment he was taken aback. "This… this couldn't be the Ron you told me about, right?"

Andrew remained silent for a very long time. He already knew that this was the same Ron that he had grown up with. After all, his grave was right beside Celine's. In the end, he exhaled a deep sigh. "Only one way to find out."

The captain knew what Andrew was about to do and hence, made some distance. The next moment, Andrew began to take out all sorts of materials filled with spirituality from his pockets and began to carve a ritualistic array formation.

According to him, if the grave was fresh that meant there was a high probability that Ron's spirit still remained and had yet to pass on to the afterlife. And that meant, he still had a chance to talk to him!

Being a Death Path Rank 2 Transcendent, gave him the ability to talk to deceased spirits. And Andrew was trying to do exactly that. After setting up the ritual, and making sure everything was done right, he injected his spiritual force into the array.

The next moment, Andrew found himself in a dark void with absolutely nothing around him. However, he didn't panic. He had done this quite a lot of times, after all. The next moment, he used his Rank 2 innate ability: Spirit Summoning.

Soon, the surrounding changed and Andrew was able to see an illusory white road beneath him. And a few meters in front of him, he saw a familiar person walking toward the other end of the road.

Andrew's eyes began to moisten as he stretched out his hand and called out to that person, "Ron!"

Ron turned around and when he lay eyes on Andrew, he was initially confused but soon his expression changed to that of surprise. "Andrew, what are you doing here!?"

Andrew rubbed his eyes. "I've come to meet you one last time."

Ron walked toward him and patted him on the shoulder. Complicated emotions churned in his heart and in the end, he bitterly said, "I apologize for everything."

Andrew didn't reply. He completely broke down and began to sob incessantly. He then realized that he didn't have much time to speak with Ron. He decided to ask him all the important things first, everything else could wait.

"What happened at the cemetery? Who did you fight against? And… who killed you?" Andrew asked solemnly. It wasn't the fact that someone fought and killed Ron that bothered him, but that someone buried him after the fight.

He couldn't understand just why that person would go to such great lengths to bury Ron that to right beside Celine. And from what the person had carved on Ron's headstone, Andrew speculated that it was someone familiar with Ron.

Hearing his question, Ron smiled wryly. "It was Bryan."