The Deceitful One

Friday, 7th November 1582.

Over the past week, the atmosphere at 16 Calm Springs had been quite lively, to say the least. Every morning, Mathew would take Benny somewhere that Bryan had no clue about. They would then return back by sunset, however, Benny would be in an extremely haggard state.

Every time Bryan would ask Benny just what had happened for him to be in such a state, the young feline would always reply with one word: torture! Bryan didn't know what was going on but Mathew had assured him it was all part of Benny's training.

In the end, he could only reluctantly agree. After all, what else could he do? Fight a high-string Transcendent and tell him to stay away from Benny? That was simply wishful thinking.

The maids and servants in the house were also quite surprised by the sudden adoption of a fat cat. They came to realize that their master was really a cat person. He had a black cat and now a white cat. Albeit, the newest one was borderline obese.

Another thing they realized was that their master seemed to be a little afraid of the chubby, white cat. However, they didn't pay much heed to it. They simply thought that the new cat might have been feral.

But that wasn't the case for Donald. When he saw his master act so formally in front of the white cat, he instantly realized that this chubby cat could possibly be another powerhouse. Hence, he too started to act very respectfully toward Mathew.

Mathew, of course, couldn't care less about the speculations of the maids and servants of the house. The only reason he descended to the mortal world was because he was bored and also because of Benny. And as for why he remained so favorable toward Benny? Only he knew the answer to that.

On this day, Bryan was sitting inside the gazebo in his garden, enjoying tea while reading the newspaper. At the center of the garden, Benny was running around Mathew. Although it looked like he was simply running around, in fact, he was actually dodging wind blades invisible to the mortal eyes.

After dodging dozens of wind blades, Benny finally fell to the ground, gasping for air. He mentally transmitted a message, 'I… can't… anymore….'

Mathew who was elegantly laying on the grass, shook his head in disappointment. "So weak, so weak. How pitiful." He then turned to look at Bryan and snorted. "It's all because of the puny human not training you."

Bryan felt a shiver run down his spine. He shut the newspapers and then walked toward the center of the garden. He then respectfully asked, "Lord Mathew, how come you haven't taken Benny out on a walk today?"

Mathew's lips curled up into a smirk. "There's going to be drama unfolding here today. It's going to be fun watching it."

Bryan was puzzled. "Drama? I don't understand."

However, Mathew didn't reply. Instead, he stood up and strutted toward the gazebo. He looked at the almost-dead Benny and instructed, "Little brat, go get me something to eat."

'I'm… too… tired,' Benny replied with great struggle.

"Hmm? What was that?" Mathew's eyes narrowed.

Benny instantly got to his feet, the fur on his back standing on end. He then rushed toward Donald who was in the kitchen. 'I meant yes, teacher. Right away!'

As Bryan saw Benny's fleeting back, his eyebrows couldn't help but twitch as he wondered, 'Just what the hell happened to him?' He was still clueless as to what Mathew had put him through. As he was wondering about what had happened, he suddenly heard the calling bell outside his mansion gates ring.

Since he was closer to the gates, he decided to open them himself. Mathew who was sitting on the table in the gazebo saw Bryan walk toward the large metal gates. He couldn't help but chuckle. "Let's see if you can provide some entertainment."

On the other side, Bryan opened the main gate and was slightly taken aback when he saw the familiar face. The black-hair and brown-eyed Nicholas looked at him with a smug look. "Anthony, forgive me for taking so long."

Bryan looked at Nicholas and then at the two men dressed in black standing behind him. From them, Bryan could feel a dangerous aura. He then muttered coldly, "Seems like you haven't come here in goodwill."

Nicholas burst into laughter. "The grace period of three weeks that I provided you was my token of goodwill."

Bryan remained silent. Suddenly he recalled what Mathew had said to him about a drama unfolding today. He couldn't help but curse inwardly, 'Fuck! The fatty could have at least given me a heads-up.'

Nicholas continued as he pointed at the two men standing behind him. "These gentlemen are from the Belize Intelligence Agency, and they're quite… how shall I say this?… Quick-tempered when things don't go their way."

Bryan coldly asked. "What do you want?"

Nicholas chuckled. "I already told you before, you will work for me. If you refuse, these gentlemen behind me will imprison you. And you do know what happens to rogue Transcendents in the dungeons, don't you?"

There was no way Bryan was going to work under Nicholas. If that happened, not to mention that the bastard would constantly make use of him, he also wouldn't be able to act according to his plan.

He couldn't help but sigh as he thought inwardly, 'Oh, emperor…. Just where is that person you were going to send to help me?'

The next moment, his lips curled up into a smirk as he replied, "Are you sure you wanna do this out here in the open? Aren't you afraid the regular people will find out about the supernatural?"

Nicholas looked at Bryan's confident look and burst into laughter. He then sneered in utter disdain, "As expected of an ignorant rogue. I guess you've never heard about artifacts, have you?"

The next moment, one of the men standing behind Nicholas took out an unassuming, round mirror from inside the briefcase he was carrying. Bryan's eyes narrowed as he laid eyes on the mirror. A terrible sense of foreboding welled up in his heart.

Before he could even move, the man dressed in black injected spiritual force into the mirror and the following moment, the area around him started to transform and turn into mirror reflections! And within a few seconds, the entire area in a radius of half a mile had transformed into mirrors!

Bryan looked around in apprehension. Everything around him was the same, his house, the trees, the ground, and even the cars. Except everything now seemed to be made of mirrors and other than the three of them he couldn't see any people here. He had never witnessed such a thing before.

Seeing Bryan panic, Nicholas couldn't help but chuckle. "This is the legendary Mirror World. It is an alternate dimension that is said to house innumerable doors leading to unknown places."

He then took the small circular mirror from the hands of the man behind him. "And this is a mid-string artifact called the Prison of Reflection. It forcefully carves a small area in the mirror world and directly teleports us there. In other words, you cannot escape without this artifact."

Suddenly, his voice turned cold. "And you'll never get your hands on this artifact."

Bryan looked around and confirmed that he was indeed no more in the real world. This concept was similar to the Dreamworld, except everything here was made of mirrors.

He took a deep breath and calmed down. He then looked at Nicholas with narrowed eyes. "You'll regret this."

Nicholas sneered, "You're still so cocky? Very well, let's see what you can do." The next moment, he gestured for the two men behind him. "Get him."

The two men disappeared from their spots and then instantly reappeared in front of Bryan as they swung their fists at him. Bryan's eyes narrowed. They were simply too fast for him to dodge, thus, he could only block.

He raised his arms and blocked the two punches at the same time. The two men were taken aback to see that Bryan had blocked it so effortlessly, he hadn't even taken a step back.

The next moment, Bryan agilely grabbed each of their wrists and then injected a bit of his spiritual force inside his bracers. Following that, two thin, narrow blades protruded from underneath his wrists and stabbed the two men in their forearms.

"Aggghhh!" The two men let out a collective groan. The next moment, they were viciously pulled forward toward Bryan. In their vision, they saw the youth jump and then aim his knees at both their heads!

Seeing Bryan's knees enlarge in their vision, they didn't panic. Instead, both of them had mocking expressions.

BAM!

Bryan's knees accurately hit them, one knee for each of their faces. However, his eyes suddenly widened when he saw the outcome. After being hit by his flying knee, the men in black shattered like a fragile mirror!

The following moment, the ground around Bryan rippled and the two men jumped out of it and stabbed him in the stomach and the chest with their daggers. However, this time it was their turn to get surprised. Bryan's body dissipated into gray smoke. It was an illusion!

He appeared a few meters away from them and looked around in vigilance. He finally realized that all these mirrors around him were actually portals that the two men could use to their advantage.

And not just that, these two intelligence officers were also adept at illusion tricks that utilized mirrors. The battle had now become about who could cast a more potent illusion.

Bryan took a deep breath and then took up a battle stance from the Myriad Martial Technique—his palms balled into fists and positioned in front of him, and his legs in a slight crouching position. He looked at the two men and coldly muttered, "Come!"